He was barely hanging on to life.
Moreover, from his weak cries, it could be basically determined that he had truly surrendered.
The contract process went smoothly.
After the contract was successfully completed, Xu Xin gave him a healing pill, allowing him to recover from his injuries.
After being contractually controlled, Yan Haoming became like Zeng Tao before she regained consciousnessāa tool that only obeyed orders.
Xu Xin had him use some tools, and sure enough, the efficiency doubled!
"Not bad." He nodded, "From now on, you will no longer be called Yan Haoming. Iāll call you Tool Man One, or simply One."
The first true tool man was born.
When thereās nothing else, perhaps he could hand it over to Li Wenxi and let him go mining.
One is as good as two.
"Is this how I was contracted too?" Zeng Tao looked at the fluffy-haired stranger before her, trying hard to recall.
Her memories during the outbreak mode were somewhat fuzzy, faintly remembering herself...
"Ah! Itās you again, Lou FeiāEr!" Zeng Tao remembered herself being pinned down on the ground by Lou FeiāEr, struggling awkwardly, and immediately jumped up, pointing angrily at Lou FeiāEr.
"Xiaotaozi, donāt be so impulsive. If it werenāt for my soft heart, your end might be similar to this guyās." Lou FeiāEr pointed at One, who stood straight like a sentry.
"You...!"
They started arguing again.
Unfortunately, Zeng Taoās strength hadnāt recovered yet, so she could only be bullied in various ways by Lou FeiāEr, unable to even resist, almost crying from grievance.
"Enough, you two." Xu Xin stopped them and glanced out the window.
The starry sky was already brilliantly illuminated.
It was now five in the afternoon; it was not early for the current world.
Thankfully, a crescent moon hung high in the sky.
According to his previous speculation, since it was not a moonless night, there shouldnāt be any major dangers tonight.
"...Tonight weāll set out to bring back your two treehouses," Xu Xin said.
After being busy the whole day, when everyone was rather tired, exploring the underground of the Transmission Array wasnāt a good choice.
In his eyes, the danger level there was extremely high.
Once everything is prepared, theyāll go tomorrow.
Ji Chaoyang also mentioned that his prophecy was likely for tomorrow.
Moreover, they still had to wait for news from Niu Fugui today.
Nevertheless, even if they donāt explore underground, some other issues need to be addressed.
For instance, rescuing the girl who was mistreated by Yan Haoming.
Also, bringing back the treehouses for these two.
"Setting off now? After our outbreak mode passes, weāll have a 24-hour period of weakness, right?" Qin Fu asked, "Why not wait until our weakness passes and go chopping ourselves?"
Having already been contracted now, they naturally wouldnāt have any intention of leaving and never returning.
"On your own?" Lou FeiāEr glanced at him, "Thereās no snow on the ground now; would you walk back?"
"Right! Then what?" Zeng Tao looked outside, her face creased, "Iām over a hundred kilometers away from my treehouse... Wait!"
She looked at the area around Xu Xinās treehouse.
There were three parasitic treehouses in total, one of which belonged to Li Wenxi.
Now Lou FeiāEr also had her own treehouse, leaving the one she had been living in vacant.
There were still two parasitic treehouses altogether.
Xu Xin also had, from what he got from Yan Haoming, seeds for three parasitic treehouses.
These seeds were obtained after killing people from District 188.
In this light, he actually had quite a few empty parasitic treehouses available now.
Zeng Tao looked at the few parasitic treehouses outside, asking, "Do you still have any empty parasitic treehouses? My treehouse is just a lowly small treehouse; itās almost dispensable. If you give me a parasitic treehouse, I wonāt have to go back. Anyway, my treehouse hasnāt been parasitized by anyone else, it can just live on its own."
"No way." Xu Xin shook his head, "Your watch is bound to that treehouse."
Letting that treehouse fend for itself was not an option.
If it completely died, then the precious watch on Zeng Taoās hand would probably lose its function too.
"Oh..." Lou FeiāEr explained to her about the watch situation; Zeng Tao nodded in bewilderment, then realized, "You guys used this attribute to trick me here using Yan Haomingās watch!"
"Alright, weāre all on the same side now; donāt talk about tricking or not." Xu Xin shook his head, "Where are your treehouses located?"
The group discussed their locations.
Yan Haomingās treehouse was to the west of their current location.
To his surprise, both Zeng Tao and Qin Fu were also located to the west.
"Oh? Then my treehouse is very close to Yan Haomingās treehouse?" Zeng Tao pointed at the second snow peak in the west, "My treehouse is there too?"
"Iām near the third snow peak." Qin Fu pointed over there, "Weāre all in the same direction."
"What a coincidence?" Lou FeiāEr was somewhat surprised.
Xu Xin, on the other hand, understood.
This was no coincidence.
Itās entirely normal for ability users to congregate.
The members of the explorers team formed two clusters.
Though Zeng Tao and Yan Haoming were close, Qin Fu was slightly further away.
The former was about one hundred and fifty kilometers from here, the latter was likely over two hundred kilometers.
Nevertheless, it could be regarded as being in the same area.
After all, in their area, the distance between the two most far-flung treehouses, Ji Chaoyang and Qi Xuefeiās treehouse, was also over fifty kilometers.
Maybe in that area...
There could be remnants of giants too?
If thatās the case, the distribution of these giant remnants would be very close...
However, with the direction being the same, it makes things easier.
Go have a look; if thereās indeed something there, leave a coordinate.
With labor very abundant now, coordinates can almost be produced on a large scale.
Xu Xin first contacted other members of the explorers team.
As there were more people now, many problems were emerging on the first day, and most others were also dealing with things.
Fortunately, indeed nothing had happened around.
"Heading out so late? Be sure to be careful; I still have things to do here, canāt go with you." Li Wenxi felt a bit regretful.
However, she wasnāt very worried; she had confidence in Xu Xinās current strength.
"Okay, you should rest early once youāre done. Arenāt you personally leading a team to mine tomorrow?"
Tomorrow, they were exploring the underground of the array, but he wouldnāt let Li Wenxi enter it.
"Hehe, Iāll wait for you to come back before resting!"
"You make me not want to leave." Xu Xin chuckled.
Ending the call, he looked out the window.
"Letās go, head towards the west."
Xu Xin immediately decided to set out, rescuing the girl and retrieving the treehousesāa task all in one.
He placed Zeng Tao, Qin Fu, and One into his bracelet and glanced at Lou FeiāEr.
"Iāll go into the bracelet too. Iāll connect with them, especially Xiaotaozi, hehe..."
Lou FeiāEr gave a somewhat mischievous smile: "Sheāll enter her period of weakness soon after, hehehehe..."
"... Itās all on the same side now; donāt be too excessive." Xu Xin shook his head, putting her and Snow Wolf into the bracelet.
The Silver King had already walked to Xu Xinās side, and Keke perched on his shoulder; seeing he was about to leave, it squealed excitedly!
"Meow...?" Mimi walked over.
"Weāre running quite far this time, Mimi, you should..." Xu Xin suddenly thought that Mimi seemed to have eaten a purple-level Snow Wolf heart, increasing its stamina.
"... Letās go together. If you get tired, Iāll put you into the bracelet."
Just in time to test Mimiās current stamina.
Besides, he knew Mimi actually disliked being in the bracelet. This leopard, confined for decades in a cage, preferred racing in the jungle.
As for Afu, he stayed in the treehouse, responsible for guarding it.
Arriving underneath the treehouse, Xu Xin looked towards the west.
"Alright, letās set off!"