Li Wenxi said that she found something strange in the mine, which instantly aroused Xu Xin's interest.
"I went there to mine saltpeter and black gold, but I didn't expect that a hole that hadn't been there before appeared in the black gold mine!"
Isn't this similar to what he experienced
"What does your cave look like? Is it very deep, with no bottom visible, and the soil at the entrance is light red?" Xu Xin asked.
"Yes, yes, yes. And there is actually white light deep in the cave!" Li Wenxi's eyes lit up and he sat up from the cow's back. "How did you know? Have you also encountered a cave like this?"
"Well, I have some here too, and here..."
Xu Xin told Li Wenxi that vines grew out of the cave and there was a strange fragrance.
"Can vines come out?" Li Wenxi was stunned. "Isn't that something that only happens outside the protected area?"
It seems that this kind of thing did not happen to Li Wenxi. As expected, that hill is special.
"I don't know what's going on." Xu Xin sighed, wondering why he always encountered such strange things.
"Oh, then you can't mine salt?" Li Wenxi said sympathetically. "That's tragic, but it's okay. Others have discovered salt mines now. They can't refine salt, so you can buy salt from them."
"I collected a lot before, which is enough for now." Xu Xin did not continue the topic, but asked, "How big is your hole? Does it have any weird smell?"
"Hmm..." Li Wenxi thought for a moment and said, "It's about one or two meters in diameter. It's really deep, like a well without a cover. As for the smell... I'm not sure, but there shouldn't be any, right? The smell in the mine isn't very pleasant to begin with. The metallic rust smell of the black gold nuggets is too strong."
"Then did you see anything like red gas?"
"Red gas? Um... No, there shouldn't be any, but it was strange this time. I started to feel dizzy not long after I started mining. I quickly finished mining and left." She frowned as she spoke, "But after I came out, I didn't feel dizzy anymore."
This dizzy feeling was probably caused by inhaling that strange gas. Li Wenxi didn't smell anything, perhaps because it was covered by the metallic taste.
Xu Xin told Li Wenxi his guess and warned her that if she wanted to enter the cave to mine again in the future, it would be better to be prepared first, otherwise something might go wrong.
"Oh, well! My head was swollen at the time, as if something was going to jump out of my head. Now that I think about it, it was indeed very dangerous." Li Wenxi was also a little scared. "Fortunately, I mined enough ore this time, and it triggered... It's enough for us to use for a while!"
She seemed to say something strange, but Xu Xin pretended not to hear.
However, since this is not a situation unique to him, it seems that these bottomless holes that appeared inexplicably are indeed related to the second stage.
"Xu Xin, now that I have Aniu, my efficiency in mining and quarrying has been greatly improved. Do you think I should open up my mineral resources to the outside world?" Li Wenxi asked with a somewhat conflicted expression.
"If you can take care of it, then open it up. You can also collect some resources from them that you don't have."
"Well, but you've basically given me all the resources I want, weapons, armor, and food. I don't seem to lack anything."
"You can exchange them for the things in the Points Mall. They are very useful." Xu Xin suggested. Even the cheap green-level fertilizers in the Points Mall are very useful and can make green-level plants grow quickly.
There are also those weird things, most of which are quite attractive.
"… That makes sense. I have a lot of iron ore resources now. If you want, you can sell ironware to others, but you have to give me a share." Li Wenxi lay on the cow's back again.
"If you can provide that much iron, I'll have no problem with that."
After hanging up the video call, Xu Xin opened the regional channel.
In the regional channel, a few people also discovered the bottomless hole. However, since there were only a few people who discovered it, it did not attract everyone's attention.
There is some discussion among the explorers.
Zhao Xiaochuan: "What do you think is in this hole? It's so deep, and there's light underneath!"
Ji Chaoyang: "The soil next to this hole is gray and contaminated. I'm afraid some bad things will come out of it. We should find a way to block it."
Wen Guixin: "Why didn't I find the hole you mentioned?"
Li Wenxi: "I found it too. It's in a mine I've been to. It definitely wasn't there before."
Qin Yunlong: "This sudden hole is most likely related to the mutant monster."
Xu Xin asked, "Have you ever seen any monsters from outside the protected area appear in the protected area?"
"No."
"No."
Xu Xin seemed to be thinking about something and did not ask any more questions.
Forget it, I'll go check it out after dark. Now I'll continue carving and improve the decoration of the tree house.
Picking up the carving knife, Xu Xin concentrated all his attention and began to carve on this red crystal (blue).
This time, please show me a breast.
Before, he was always immersed in carving or painting, which made him feel that time passed very quickly, and an hour or two would pass by unknowingly.
But this time, it was very abnormal.
After only carving for a few minutes, he frowned and stopped what he was doing.
no.
He seems unable to carve on blue-level materials, nor can he create blue-level carvings.
The engraving process was too difficult, and he seemed to have turned back into the person who knew nothing about engraving before he got the artist's contract.
Proficiency.
This must be the reason.
His carving skills were not yet proficient enough to handle blue-level materials. Blue-level materials were completely different from green-level materials in terms of hardness and texture, and he was unable to handle them now.
He actually had a purple-level crystal in his hand, but now he couldn't even handle the blue-level ones, let alone the purple-level ones.
Putting away the blue crystal, Xu Xin took out a green crystal and began to carve.
This time it went very smoothly and he quickly got immersed in it.
With the abundant mental strength given to him by Orange (blue), this small carving was completed very smoothly.
A cheetah red crystal wither (green) is detected in the tree house. The decoration degree of the tree house is +10. The current decoration degree of the tree house is 116.4.
After placing the small carving on the bookshelf, Xu Xin nodded with satisfaction.
I looked at the time and it was almost six o'clock in the evening.
Although this engraving and painting could add to the decorative effect, it really took up too much of his time.
Xu Xin sent a private message to Ji Chaoyang: "Do you know the function of decoration degree? My decoration degree has exceeded 100 but no one notified me."
Ji Chaoyang replied after a long while: "I just passed 100 here, and there was no prompt. Maybe I won't know until the second stage, but since there is nothing important now, it is better to improve it first. After all, our new abilities are related to it, and it must be a more important indicator."
"Indeed. Have you been to the altar again?" Xu Xin asked.
"I've been there. Apart from the statues on the pillars being completed, there was nothing unusual." Ji Chaoyang replied.
"By the way, I want to ask, is there any strange-looking terrain around your altar?"
"No, it's not much different from the area around the tree house. The resources around the altar are quite abundant."
"There are a lot of hills on my side, and it feels a bit weird."
"… Hills? Are hills weird? I have quite a few hills here. The entrance to the dungeon is in the hills."
… It seems that the situation on his side is completely different from that on my side.
Now it was getting dark, and he planned to go to the altar to take a look.
After hanging up the call, Xu Xin turned around and found Keke rubbing her eyes behind him.
Oh, it's time for dinner.
Silver King and Mimi still don't want to eat, and they have been lying down and sleeping since they came back. These two guys were not so well-behaved before. If Xu Xin hadn't been watching them, these two beasts would have made a fuss and demolished the house.
The radioactive stone was placed on the long cabinet under the screen, and had been influencing Silver King and Mimi.
It seems that it won't be long before the two beasts mutate.
Xu Xin prepared a sumptuous dinner, carried Keke to the table, and handed him a pair of chopsticks. Keke still held a chopstick in one paw and ate his meal diligently.
Xu Xin looked out the window absentmindedly, towards the direction of the hills.
Looking out the window of the tree house at the hills, one can't see anything special about them.
He ate his meal slowly with chopsticks while waiting for the night to fall.
Finally, the last trace of sunset glow disappeared, and a river of stars appeared in the night sky. Tonight is another moonless night.
Although it was night, the jungle was not very dark under the illumination of the stars.
"Let's go to the altar." Xu Xin said to the three beasts.
He ate all the edible blue-level fruits and stacked all the buffs on his body.
This night trip might be very dangerous.
Hearing Xu Xin's words, Coco climbed onto his shoulders skillfully, while Yin Wang and Mimi stood up from the corner.
Arriving under the tree house, Xu Xin looked up and saw that the blood-marked bat was still hanging upside down under the tree house.
It's night time now and it can still fly, so maybe it can be of some help.
"Come down, let's go together." Xu Xin shouted to the bat.
After hearing this, the bat landed on Mimi's back, and Mimi did not object to the bat landing on it.
It seemed that it didn't want to be put into the bracelet, and Xu Xin didn't force it.
Coco climbed onto Silver King's back, then got off his shoulders and grabbed the fur on the back of Silver King's neck.
"Let's go! Let's go to the salt mine cave first!"
"Awooo—" The Silver King let out a long roar and ran towards that direction.
The speed of the Silver King increased again. After an afternoon of settling, its speed was significantly improved compared to that in the morning.
The upgrade of the Silver King to a mid-level mutant beast should happen in the next two days.
Soon, they were close to the hilly resource area.
Xu Xin's expression became solemn. He smelled a strange fragrance, which was the smell that came from the cave in the morning.
"Stop! Don't come any closer!" Xu Xin stopped Silver King when they were still a hundred meters away from the mine.
Xu Xin stared solemnly at the hill, the "giant head".
Sure enough, night is different from day.
What comes into view is a red mist.
The entire hill was covered by a pale red mist.
The source of the fog is the salt mine cave that looks like a giant's mouth.
Red mist continued to spread out of the cave, as if a giant's mouth was exhaling, and everything around it was shrouded in red mist.
Even the internal resource area was blocked by the red fog, and the scene inside could not be seen clearly. There was only a hazy blood color.