Starting Off Survival With A Small Treehouse

Chapter 1379 - 691: The Secret Behind the Wall (Part 3)

Although there was no way Lou Fei’Er could actually stop Zeng Tao by force, Zeng Tao still stopped on her own.

"What do you think? You think this is something you can just touch whenever you want?" Lou Fei’Er raised her hand and flicked her on the forehead.

Zeng Tao clutched her head. "Okay..."

Meanwhile, the others were trying to peer inside through the gaps between those roots.

Xu Xin noticed that between these intertwined roots, there really were gaps about a finger wide.

But because each of these World Tree roots was at least dozens of centimeters thick, even over a meter, those finger-wide gaps couldn’t be seen from a distance.

Up close though, they were actually pretty visible.

Compared to the other spots where the roots were pressed so tightly together they’d even deformed a bit, this place was clearly different.

Through those gaps, Xu Xin could even hear faint mechanical sounds coming from inside.

"So there really is something inside." Xu Xin rubbed his chin.

"What do you think is in there?" Wen Guixin muttered to herself.

"Probably an exit, right?" Qin Fu guessed. "There’s no way this place is a one-way trip."

Xu Xin nodded.

That was what he thought too.

After the alien invaders mined out the crimson crystals from inside, how did they take them out?

Were they supposed to jump more than ten meters up to that ’spiral slide’ above and then climb back up spinning all the way?

Even if that was nothing for the alien invaders’ physical abilities, it was way too much hassle.

So there had to be another exit here.

It should be right here.

But...

How were they supposed to open it?

"Want to try feeling around?" Zeng Tao suggested.

"I doubt just feeling around will open it..." Li Wenxi said softly.

"Let’s just try. It’s not like we’ve got any other ideas." Zeng Tao looked over at Xu Xin.

Xu Xin gave a small nod.

Zeng Tao immediately reached out and grabbed onto the thick root.

Sure enough, nothing happened.

"I’ll try using force!"

She pushed her fingers into the finger-wide gap and began to pull with all her strength.

Under her effort, the root deformed slightly; the gap widened from finger-width to about the size of a fist.

Everyone glanced back; those little mechanical jellyfish and turrets hadn’t reacted at all.

By now Zeng Tao was already using all her strength; her little face was flushed red as she gritted her teeth and pulled.

"Alright, let go." Xu Xin tapped her on the head.

"Mm...!"

Zeng Tao immediately let go.

The instant she did, the root sprang back to its original shape.

"This is way too hard to open..." Zeng Tao rubbed her fingers, which were already a bit red, and complained.

If even Zeng Tao’s strength couldn’t open it, what were they supposed to do?

"How about we just let it out right here?" Xu Ying suggested. "It might not be safe inside anyway."

"But this place is way too dangerous." Wen Guixin pointed at the dense turrets all around. "It feels like those turrets could swing toward us at any moment. If we get spotted, we’ll be blown to bits instantly."

Everyone fell silent, thinking.

What should they do...

"Hey!" Li Wenxi suddenly let out a low gasp. "Look, is one of those alien invaders coming over here?"

They looked over and saw that one of the three alien invaders was lifting that metal basket over its head and shuffling in their direction.

It really was coming?

Xu Xin and the others were startled at first, then pleased.

Was it... about to go inside this wall? It should be able to open this spot, right!

Without needing to say anything, they all stepped aside from that spot, quietly waiting for the alien invader to come closer.

It soon shuffled over and stopped in front of the root-woven wall.

Then something astonishing happened.

The wall, formed by those thick World Tree roots, actually spread outward in all directions like some mutated vine!

The roots withdrew into the surrounding wall, revealing what lay behind.

Xu Xin and the others saw that the space beyond the wall wasn’t large at all—actually quite small, about the size of a bedroom. There was no passage leading to the outside world like they’d imagined. Instead, the ceiling was very high, nearly ten meters, about three stories tall.

The most shocking, most eye-catching thing inside was a huge machine, seven or eight meters tall, taking up most of the space!

The alien invader shuffled inside first.

The group exchanged glances and followed it in.

Then they saw the alien invader with the metal basket pour the dozens of fingernail-sized crimson crystals—just enough to cover the bottom of the basket—into a small opening in the machine.

"Ka—ga—"

The machine made a sound as the opening they had poured the crimson crystals into slowly closed shut.

After that, the alien invader put away the metal basket and headed back the way it came.

...So this was where they processed and stored the crimson crystals?

No one said anything, and they didn’t follow the alien invader out. They stayed here.

Once the alien invader left this small space, the World Tree roots that had formed the wall gathered and intertwined again. The wall reformed, trapping Xu Xin and the others inside.

The little space plunged into darkness; they couldn’t even see their hands in front of their faces. The only light came from the red indicator lights blinking on the machine.