"What crisis?" Xu Xin put down the control panel in his hand and asked.
He knew that this second stage was definitely not just a cold winter.
"In the prophecy, I not only saw the world of ice and snow, but also wild beasts." Ji Chaoyang's voice became a little solemn, "Moreover, it's not just ordinary beasts, there are also mutant beasts!"
His words startled Xu Xin: "After the cold winter comes, will all the wild beasts in the jungle return? Will there be wild mutant beasts?"
Apart from those giant beasts and the monsters guarding the golden treasure chest, Xu Xin had never seen any wild mutant creatures active on the ground.
The blood-patterned rabbit and blood-patterned cat were both summoned by him from the altar, while the blood-patterned swordfish emerged from the whirlpool. They were not ordinary beasts.
"... Not only have they returned, but there are a lot of wild beasts, very many of them. Just like... the first beast tide we experienced." Ji Chaoyang was eating something while talking, probably oranges that could restore his mental strength.
"You mean, we might have to face a wave of... mutant beasts?" Xu Xin asked after a moment of silence.
"Yes, that's what I mean. The beast tide may come again, and this time the enemy is much stronger than last time."
Beast Tide...
The last beast tide was the first activity after the end of the Novice Protection Area, and it was also the first disaster they experienced. In that beast tide, the average death rate in the entire area exceeded 30%, which was probably the activity with the most casualties.
It gave all the survivors a heavy blow right from the start.
This time, the beast tide appeared after a few days of calm.
Xu Xin suddenly realized that this time, including today, was the third consecutive day in which nothing had happened.
The last novice protection period was also three days.
Could it be that these three days are actually the second phase of the protection period
Once these three days are over, the second stage will truly begin and the real disaster will come
Very likely.
However, now they are survivors, no longer the ones who just passed the novice protection period and knew nothing. They can now fight against the beast tide head-on.
But relatively speaking, this beast tide is definitely much stronger than the last one.
Xu Xin glanced at the lake outside the window and felt a slight chill in his heart.
During the last beast tide, a giant anaconda emerged from the lake, scaring him so much that his hands and feet turned cold.
That was the first time he saw the horrific beasts of this world.
If it is another beast tide this time, the giant anaconda in the center of the lake is likely to return again!
… Let’s just hope it doesn’t attack the tree house.
As long as the giant beast does not take action, at least he himself will not be in any danger. Instead, he can allow the plant heart to attack and absorb to his heart's content.
"By the way, how did you see the new prophecy scene? Can't you only see one scene?" Xu Xin was a little surprised. "Didn't you say last time that if a prophecy hasn't come true, you can't make the next one?"
"It is indeed a scene, but the time is extended." Ji Chaoyang explained, "Before, in Qi Xuefei's tree house, the prophecy only lasted for a dozen seconds, but if I return to my own tree house, in my prophecy room, the prophecy time will be longer."
"Prophecy room? It sounds impressive." Xu Xin raised his eyebrows. This thing sounded so mysterious.
"My special functional area, most of my decorations are on it. Today I made some more decorations, which brought the increase in the prophecy room to a new height, and then I saw these things." Ji Chaoyang's voice was a little helpless, "It really consumes decorations."
Just like his alchemy room, it consumes amplification points. It seems that the functional area of special abilities has a very high demand for decoration amplification points.
"In Qi Xuefei's tree house, my ability can only last for a dozen seconds, but in the prophecy room, I can predict for nearly a minute." Ji Chaoyang explained.
"In the last few seconds of this minute, I saw countless wild beasts and mutant beasts coming out from behind the snow-covered trees, as if they had been lying in ambush there long ago. The tree house was instantly surrounded by the beasts. And... I don't know if I saw it wrong..."
Ji Chaoyang's voice suddenly became a little hesitant, not knowing whether he should say it or not.
"What's wrong?"
"At the end of the prophecy, I seemed to see... humans?"
Human
Xu Xin was shocked: "What do you mean? Are you saying there are humans among the beast tide?"
"It's not an ordinary human, um... it's not necessarily a human, it's covered in fur, blood streaks all over its body, walks upright, and holds a tool in its hand... It doesn't look like a chimpanzee either, maybe it's a special animal in this world?" Ji Chaoyang was not very sure. "I predicted it many times and wanted to observe it clearly, but every time it flashed by at the end, leaving me only a few distant outlines, and I couldn't see the overall appearance clearly."
A body of fur and blood streaks...
Xu Xin took a deep breath.
He thought of the first group of survivors in the dungeon who had been forcibly mutated by Changyin and his men using mutation drugs.
Aren’t they all covered in fur and blood
Really human? Mutated human
And also use tools...
"What tools are they holding in their hands?" Xu Xin asked immediately.
"It should be an axe, but I can't see it clearly and can't be 100% sure." Ji Chaoyang said.
ax…
Xu Xin breathed a sigh of relief.
It doesn't sound like a very powerful weapon.
"The mutant humans I saw in the dungeon looked very similar to what you just described."
He had previously told Ji Chaoyang about his experiences in the dungeon, and Ji Chaoyang also knew that he had seen mutated humans in the dungeon.
Ji Chaoyang was silent for a long time, thinking about something.
Xu Xin didn't say anything. He was also thinking about how to survive the impending disaster.
After a few dozen seconds, Ji Chaoyang spoke.
"Xu Xin, I'm afraid we'll have to fight a defensive battle." Ji Chaoyang's voice became a little deeper. "It's icy and snowy, and the temperature outside is at least dozens of degrees below zero. Most of the survivors won't be able to go out. If these mutant creatures attack the tree house, then the survivors will have to defend inside the tree house."
"Well, I think so too. Although we have plant hearts, we don't need to worry too much, but other people..."
Among the explorers, only four have plant hearts to protect the tree house.
Xu Xin, Ji Chaoyang, Wen Guixin, and Wang Lei.
If the beast tide attacks the tree house, the remaining five people will need to guard the tree house by themselves, not to mention the other survivors.
"Based on the scenes in your prediction, do you think there is a high possibility that those beasts will attack the tree house?" Xu Xin asked.
"Very big." Ji Chaoyang said decisively, "I told you, those beasts seemed to have been lying in ambush there long ago. One second they were gone, and the next second they all poked their heads out from behind the trees, as if someone was directing them."
"…Those mutant humans?"
"Very likely."
"If it can hide behind a tree, it shouldn't be very big, right?"
"Well, the biggest one I saw was a snow wolf that weighed less than 100 kilograms. But we can't be careless. I only saw it for a few seconds, but I know if there are bigger ones behind."
call…
Xu Xin let out a long breath and pursed his lips.
A tide of beasts being manipulated and directed
This reminded Xu Xin of the ant tide in the battle to defend the tree house.
This crisis is not easy to overcome.
Fortunately, the expert in tree house defense had just been subdued by him.
Although they are unable to provide advanced weapons, the new green-level heavy crossbow can be mass-produced.
They had countless green-grade fine wood and animal tendons in their hands.
Xu Xin immediately told Ji Chaoyang about Ma Hongwei and told him about the new heavy crossbow arrows.
"Tree House Crossbow?" Ji Chaoyang and Xu Xin immediately thought of the same thing, and his voice became louder. "Can this kind of crossbow be loaded with explosive crossbows?"
"I haven't tried it yet, but it should be possible." Xu Xin said.
"Go and try it. If you can, that would be great." Ji Chaoyang's calm tone revealed a hint of surprise. "The power of the explosive crossbow has little to do with the crossbow's own firing rate and penetration. It will explode after a collision. If this type of crossbow is equipped with an explosive crossbow, it only needs green level to play a big role. By the way, can the control panel be mass-produced?"
"Not yet. Every control panel requires blue-level logs." Xu Xin sighed. He also felt it was a pity. "You have to grow this stuff yourself. I'm afraid few people have grown it before."
"Blue-level logs?" Ji Chaoyang said immediately, "I still have three pieces left. I'll trade them to you now. Give priority to equipping the control panels to those without plant hearts. We don't need them for the time being."
As Xu Xin spoke, he immediately received a transaction notification.
The four of them have plant hearts, so unless there are tens of thousands of ants attacking together like last time, or unless the mutant creatures are too strong, they cannot threaten the tree house itself.
"I have quite a few on hand. Ma Hongwei has planted quite a few blue-level logs himself, and I have planted one myself. It should be enough to give one to each of the explorers."
"That's good. By the way, I have something to ask you." Ji Chaoyang asked, "Can you see the number of people in District 187? Has their total number been decreasing recently?"
The number of people in District 187 has been decreasing
It seems... that's indeed the case.
Lou Feier told him that the number of people in District 187 dropped very quickly, causing panic among everyone. Their boss Zhang Daoguang had to tell everyone the truth and warned them not to fight among themselves.
"That's right, did you find anything?"
"The survivor in the tree house east of Li Wenxi died last night. I don't know how he died. When I went there today, there was only a dying tree house left."
Dead
"Killed by our own people?" Xu Xin was a little confused. The person who could kill people from District 187 in this area could only belong to their District 188.
"No, I don't think so." Ji Chaoyang rejected it. "If he was killed, why wasn't the tree house dug up?"
"…Are you worried that there is something in the dark, hunting the survivors?" Xu Xin shook his head. "If that's the case, why is it that nothing happened in our area, but all the dead are from Area 187? Maybe he ran outside the protected area and was killed by underground creatures?"
"What you said is possible, but..." Ji Chaoyang's voice was a little doubtful, "A person who only has a one-story tree house means that when he was active in the underground city, he found the entrance to the underground city but didn't dare to enter. Can such a person really dare to run to the protected area six kilometers away in such a cold weather?"
"Well..." Xu Xin touched his chin, "It was too cold, and they froze to death? That's possible, right? No one provided them with a fireplace, and we had already warned them in advance to make a fireplace and collect as much burning wood as possible."
The furnace requires 100 green-level stones, which many people cannot gather in a short time.
"It is possible." Ji Chaoyang hesitated for a moment.
Then he said: "In addition to the explorers, I have some contact with some other people who are ranked high. Several of them told me that people in other nearby areas died inexplicably in the past two days, but the tree houses were not dug up. When they went there, the tree houses were in a dying state.
Although I don't know why it hasn't harmed our 188th District, we should still be careful. I don't have any contact with people from other districts, so I can only rely on you to ask. "
"Okay, I understand."
After hanging up the call, Xu Xin immediately contacted Ma Hongwei.
Lou Feier was still there. Xu Xin ordered her to help, so she didn't dare to be lazy and leave.
He immediately confirmed the number of people in Area 187 with Lou Feier.
What surprised him was that there were only 701 people left in Area 187!
More than a hundred people died!
this…
Xu Xin looked at the regional channel of District 188 again.
The number of people was very stable, and no one had died recently. Because he had just set Ma Hongwei as the owner of the parasitic tree house, the number had even increased by one.
"Do you know how the people over there died? They didn't freeze to death because they didn't make a fireplace, did they?" Xu Xin asked.
"How is it possible? The remaining 800 people in District 187 are the elite among the 10,000 people selected by Zhang Daoguang. How is it possible that they can't even gather 100 green-level stones?" Lou Feier immediately denied it. "Although District 187 is weaker than us, it is not this weak. As for how they died... Zhang Daoguang also asked us to keep an eye on it, but there is no result so far."
Indeed, on the day when they asked more than 3,000 people in District 188 to make fireplaces, less than 100 people needed their help in the evening because they couldn't find all the materials. The more than 800 people in District 187 were all elites, so it couldn't be that more than 100 people couldn't find all the materials and froze to death, right
But if someone was killed, why would the tree house be preserved and not dug up
strangeness…
Could it be true as Ji Chaoyang said, that there was something strange taking the lives of the survivors
But why is their District 188 okay