The vine ball shot upwards at an incredible speed, causing everyone inside to stagger.
Fortunately, the vine ball only ascended at this speed for a few seconds before slowing down.
Only then did the people inside breathe a sigh of relief.
"Did you guys see just now!" Zeng Tao stood up from the ground and exclaimed, "Wasnāt that... a whole field of petrified creatures?! And... they were petrified giant beasts!"
They had previously encountered groups of petrified creatures on the surface.
But those were mostly normal-sized petrified mutant creatures, at most there were two petrified pterosaurs, which were completely incomparable to the brief glance of petrified giant beasts they saw this time!
Xu Xin and Lou FeiāEr exchanged a glance.
They had seen petrified giant beasts of that size before.
They saw them in the main vine cluster.
It was at the last moments of their subterranean world exploration that they saw that group of giant petrified creatures.
Since then, they hadnāt planned on returning to the underground through the Transmission Array, because it was simply too dangerous; going there before they become very strong is just seeking death.
However...
The number of giant beasts they glimpsed just now had clearly exceeded the numbers they had seen before!
"...Have the alien invadersā petrified creature plans already succeeded..." Lou FeiāErās eyes revealed a hint of apprehension, "Should we consider those petrified giant beasts as hypothetical enemies?"
Xu Xin took a deep breath: "Letās get back to the surface first, and everyone can discuss it together."
He had briefly tested all the places this "elevator" could go, and had preliminarily understood the structure of the World Tree.
How he was going to transfer this ability to control the vine ball to others, he didnāt know.
Seeing Xu Xin say this, none of the others asked any more questions.
Quickly, the vine ball returned to the surface, the vines unfolded, and the wooden door opened.
Xu Xin and the others stepped out from the wooden door and into the dark space within that thick root.
"Follow me." Xu Xin took a few steps to the side and reached out to touch the wall.
Soon, just like leaving from a treehouse, the wall softened, and they crawled out from the vine cluster they had previously entered.
At this time, there were only three explorers left there.
Ji Chaoyang, Wen Guixin, and Wang Lei.
"So fast!" Wen Guixin exclaimed in surprise, "How did you guys come out so quickly?"
"...Fast?" Xu Xin was momentarily baffled, "What do you mean fast?"
He had thought that when he came out, everyone would complain about him being slow.
After all, he had told Ji Chaoyang and Wen Guixin that he would be out soon, but then he had gone on a circuit in the World Treeās underground space and the subterranean world.
Just the time it took for the vine ball to descend to the subterranean world and ascend again was nearly half an hour.
They should have been waiting for quite a while.
What did fast mean?
"Indeed fast." Ji Chaoyang also showed surprise, "You... couldnāt go up? Stayed in this root the whole time? Couldnāt find a way up?"
He seemed to have just finished talking to someone and was erasing the projection on his watch as he spoke.
"...What are you talking about?" Xu Xin was completely baffled, then briefly summarized what heād been doing, "Of course I went up, not only went up but also went down. Below the World Tree, there is a space that connects down to the subterranean world, we briefly explored it."
"We even made a trip to the subterranean world just now and saw those petrified giant beasts!" Lou FeiāEr added.
"Thereās space underground? Subterranean world? The World Tree connects to the subterranean world?" Wang Leiās mouth gaped open, "Whoa! You can directly enter the subterranean world from the World Tree?"
Ji Chaoyang slightly furrowed his brows.
"You guys... did so much?" Ji Chaoyangās eyes showed a hint of doubt.
"Yeah, thereās no need to be in such a rush." Wang Lei marveled, "They werenāt inside for just a few minutes, right? Yet they managed to go to three places."
...?
"...A few minutes? What does that mean..."
Xu Xin thought of something, his expression slightly shifted.
His brows slowly furrowed, then shock slowly filled his mind.
Could it be...
"What do you mean a few minutes!" Zeng Tao jumped in from behind to counter, "We were inside for almost an hour, how could it have been less than ten minutes!"
"Inside for an hour? Haha, what are you talking about, Zeng Tao, girl." Wang Lei laughed loudly, "Brother Chaoyang, after seeing you go inside, brought us over and sent a voice message to Brother Xin; Brother Xin just finished that voice call not even half a minute ago, and you all came out, so if anything, you were only inside for two to three minutes, right?"
"Ah?" Zeng Taoās face was full of confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"So, you came out in two to three minutes... Wait... were you really inside for almost an hour?"
Seeing Xu Xin and the others either looking shocked or confused, Wen Guixin realized something and her expression changed.
Ji Chaoyang pondered thoughtfully and softly speculated, "The time flow inside the World Tree differs from outside? But... I made a voice call, and we communicated normally. If the time flow was different, how could the voice call proceed smoothly?"