Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 1312 - 669: Crossing the Sea of Sand, Alien Base

In the storm, the sand and dust flew wildly, completely obscuring visibility beyond five meters.

Even with the helmet on, the erratic yellow sand found its way through every gap of the helmet.

Xu Xin felt that as soon as he opened his mouth, he would swallow a mouthful of sand.

Still, he couldn’t help but ask, "I say... cough... we’re completely surrounded by sand now, is this direction really correct?"

After he spoke, he couldn’t help but spit.

Sure enough, he had swallowed some!

"You’re asking me? How would I know?" Xu Ying turned around, facing Xu Xin, so that her back was against the sand, preventing it from entering the helmet through the gaps meant for vision. "You should ask your Silver King, it’s the one leading the way now, and its speed hasn’t diminished much."

In front of the two, Zhao Xiaochuan was already lying flat on Silver King, his entire body pressed against it.

He had even given up looking ahead, relying entirely on Silver King to navigate.

Xu Xin felt slightly speechless.

This guy had essentially given up.

But it made sense; with visibility beyond five meters completely blocked, there wasn’t much use in staring through the raging sandstorm at two to three hundred kilometers an hour.

Moreover, due to his contract with Silver King as a mount, even at its tremendous speed, Xu Xin remained as steady as Mount Tai, with only the overpowering sand being a nuisance.

But Zhao Xiaochuan was different; it was his first time riding a wolf, and if he didn’t lie flat and hold onto Silver King’s fur, Xu Xin feared he might be thrown off.

It seemed having him not ride alone was the right decision; otherwise, in case of any sudden incident, he might not even have the time to react given his current state.

In contrast, Xu Ying in front of Xu Xin was much calmer. Despite Silver King’s speed, after some initial excitement, she had settled down.

"Silver King! Are you sure your direction is correct!" Xu Xin shouted into the storm.

Now the sky was filled with yellow sand, completely obstructing their view of the towering purple-black light pillar.

"Awooo..." Silver King attempted to let out a cry but the sand blocked its mouth, forcing it to close tight, and even affected its pace slightly.

However, Xu Xin sensed its intention through their mental connection.

It assured him there was no problem.

Xu Xin had no choice but to trust it.

In fact, before setting out, Xu Xin carried an essential outdoor gadget — a compass. But...

The compass was utterly useless.

Once they were outside the World Tree, the compass, which should have pointed south, began to shake erratically.

He initially thought it was due to a chaotic magnetic field in their location affecting the compass, but upon testing, he found it still malfunctioned.

It continued to spin randomly.

Xu Xin had two theories regarding this issue.

The first was that the World Tree could disrupt the surrounding magnetic field, rendering the compass unusable. After all, both this desert and their jungle shared the commonality of having a World Tree.

The second was...

There was a severe problem with Earth’s magnetic field.

The expansion of Earth had led to magnetic field chaos, and since a compass relies on Earth’s stable magnetic field for direction, any disturbance renders it useless.

No matter the cause, the compass in his hand was ineffective for navigation.

He had previously thought that the towering purple-black light pillar was a sufficient target, making the compass redundant.

But now, with that obscured by sand, they had no choice but to follow Silver King’s lead.

"Keke, do you think the direction is right?" Xu Xin asked, looking down at Keke, who was curled up in his arms, hiding her head beneath her fluffy tail.

"Hmm?" Keke peeked out with one eye through the tail’s fur, blinked in confusion, then retracted back.

Alright.

They could only rely on Silver King.

Nevertheless, Xu Xin wasn’t too worried about getting lost.

Even if they did, with Xu Ying there, they could always teleport back.

What concerned him now was Silver King’s speed.

It was just too fast! And the visibility was only five meters!

What if there was an obstacle ahead...

Though the desert was mainly formed from weathered rocks, meaning there weren’t any large stones, and previously they could only see the smooth sand dunes rising and falling, this speed and limited visibility were worrisome.

Suddenly, amidst the storm, a shadow loomed ahead!

Silver King’s speed was so swift that the shadow appeared within their visible range in just an instant, exactly within those five meters!

It was a strange, twisted plant resembling a pretzel!

Xu Xin’s pupils contracted sharply!

He didn’t even have time to shout before Silver King slightly twisted its body, brushing past the plant without any hesitation, continuing at full speed.

"I..." The Mandarin curse stuck in Xu Xin’s throat with the gritty sand.

"What happened?" Facing Xu Xin, Xu Ying, who was teasing Keke in his arms, looked up.

Since she had her back against the sandstorm, she could speak freely but didn’t notice the bizarre plant that flashed by.

"Uh... nothing." Xu Xin felt cold sweat trickling down.

The intrusive sands had found their way into his helmet, with some sticking to his forehead.