"What...what is going on here?" Lou FeiāEr asked in astonishment as she looked at the giant beasts engaged in a chaotic battle around her.
She wasnāt particularly scared anymore; after all, these giant beasts seemed to have lost interest in her now.
"The situation is quite complicated," Xu Xin explained to her while surveying the surroundings.
Judging by the behavior of the surrounding giant beasts, Xu Xin realized they werenāt losing interest in Lou FeiāEr, but rather...
They have started to take an interest in all creatures around them!
These beasts have developed hostility towards all surrounding creatures; Lou FeiāEr is just one of them. Hence, they are bound to launch nearby attacks while ignoring Lou FeiāEr, who is relatively far away.
The ideas of these giant beasts are now extremely chaotic, as chaotic thoughts flooded Xu Xinās mind, and within his mind-reading range, not a single one of a dozen giant beasts managed a coherent sentence.
Except for killing intent, still killing intent!
"So thatās what it is..." Lou FeiāEr murmured, "What should we do? Clearly, we canāt get out of here, right?"
Xu Xin was quite troubled: "Indeed. I originally planned to go myself while you waited here for others, but somehow ended up trapped here."
"Well... arenāt we considered somewhat lucky?" Lou FeiāEr glanced back at the main vine connecting the entire underground world and sighed, "The others havenāt even returned yet."
This was also something that Xu Xin was worried about.
He scanned the surroundings again, while gently rubbing the little head of Keke, who had unknowingly fallen asleep in his arms.
"Whimper...?"
The little creature woke up from the rub, glanced around, and instantly jumped in fear in his arms, shrieking, "Whimper! Whimper!"
In an instant, it climbed onto Xu Xinās shoulder, looking left and right with its little head: "Whimper...?!"
This little one...
When did it fall asleep?
Xu Xin remembered that when the blinding light appeared, although he couldnāt see anything in that moment, he still heard a call from the little creature.
It saw the dazzling light too?
It seemed to have let out a cry before burying its head against his chest.
After that...
It fell asleep...?
Strange.
Was it affected by that beam of light earlier?
"Whimper!" The awakened Keke pointed its little paw outside and then shook its little head vigorously.
The meaning was obviousādo not, under any circumstances, go out there.
Since it didnāt urge Xu Xin and her to leave, it indicated that, in Kekeās mind, their current location was safe.
Indeed, Xu Xin and she were within the two-hundred-meter range surrounding the main vine bundle and hadnāt suffered any harm.
Even these giant beasts, though maddened, were still wary of this area. Despite the chaos, they kept their distance from here.
But in such a situation, stepping out of this protective zone meant entering an extremely dangerous region!
These crazed giant beasts were attacking indiscriminately now!
Xu Xin had already noticed that the giant insects, which originally crawled leisurely, were now being chased and stomped flat or kicked away amidst panic, almost entirely slaughtered!
The ground was littered with the smeared bodies of squashed insects, with blood in shades of yellow, green, and blue.
The air was permeated with a stench, truly nauseating.
"Then...what should we do now?" Lou FeiāEr asked Xu Xin, "Should we just wait here?"
"...It appears thatās all we can do."
Xu Xin felt his mind aching.
What kind of situation is this!
This mission is far too difficult!
His return this time was perhaps an accident.
If following the usual process, there would have been no issue with Lou FeiāEr, and six people should have gone to open the prison together.
Once the prison is opened, the vine bundle branches will retract, eliminating the need for underground exploration.
This step is actually quite simple; just returning to the branch vine bundle and inserting the key into the keyhole instantly completes the task.
It meant that the timing of unlocking the vine bundle branch prison wouldnāt vary much for the six and beyond their exploration into the underground city, nobody would have returned to the vicinity of the main vine bundle.
Under normal circumstances, all six should have been trapped outside!
The clear goal of this mission was to have everyone break into the extremely dangerous area surrounding the main vine district!
Only by returning to the main vine could they unlock the passage connecting the surface to the underground world and complete their mission!
Being here now was an incidental result for Xu Xin.
He happened to be next to the main vine when Wen Guixin opened the second underground prison.
Through the augmentation of his jumping power and mind-reading ability, Xu Xin confirmed that the swarm of giant flying insects was not hostile, enabling him to leap back swiftly and luckily.
Otherwise, he wouldnāt have managed to return.
Xu Xin glanced in Wang Leiās direction.
He now feared he wouldnāt be able to go out and assist him.
Hopefully, things are alright on his end.
"So, the other four have been trapped outside like this?"
Lou FeiāEr asked while attempting to walk outside.
As she crossed the boundary of the fuzzy protective range and walked over ten meters, a nearby giant beast suddenly turned its head towards her.