After Xu Xin led his men away, the lakeside became quiet, leaving behind only a piece of empty land that was cracked and dry under the scorching heat and had not yet recovered.
After about ten minutes, ripples suddenly appeared on the lake.
The school of fish that had reappeared in the lake at some point began to scatter frantically on the surface of the lake, and then gathered at the edge of the entire lake, motionless, as if they were afraid of something.
The ripples on the lake surface became more vibrating, spreading from the center of the lake to the surrounding areas, and then...
In the middle of the lake, at the center of the ripples, silently, half of a huge head rose from the water.
The rock-like scales reflected dazzling light in the sun, but the huge black eyes were incomparably deep, like an abyss that could absorb all the light in the world.
The direction these dark eyes were facing was the crystal city less than a kilometer away that was emitting a bright white light in all directions.
All other creatures in the lake were trembling and hiding at the edge of the lake, waiting for it to leave.
The head of the giant anaconda in the center of the lake finally emerged from the water as a whole. Its scarlet tongue trembled as it spit out from its closed mouth, and then it swam towards the lake with its huge body swinging.
In the direction it was heading, other fish once again became chaotic and scattered frantically to make way for it.
But just as it was about to reach the shore, it suddenly stopped.
"hiss-"
Its huge anaconda body slowly turned around, and its dark eyes stared at the bottomless lake.
In the end, it chose not to leave the lake.
It simply turned its huge head, took another look at the Crystal City, then turned around and dived into the water. Half of its extremely thick body was exposed on the water and was spinning rapidly. Finally, its tail sank into the water and disappeared.
From the moment the giant anaconda emerged from the center of the lake to the moment it dived back into the lake, everything happened very peacefully; even the sound of the water splashes was very small.
This big guy seemed to lower his voice deliberately, not wanting those around him to notice his appearance and departure.
About two minutes later, the shivering fish by the lake became active again and swam back into the lake.
The lake has once again returned to its former tranquility.
It was as if nothing had happened.
…
As for Xu Xin, the transplantation work went very smoothly.
Even though the so-called World Tree Siege had already begun, during this period of time, no powerful enemies as they had imagined had attacked, and they safely planted their tree houses in this crystal city.
There are more than a hundred people in total, and more than a hundred emerald green banyan trees, adding a bit of green to the Crystal City, which is all white and a bit monotonous.
And the explorers have already chosen suitable locations for these tree houses.
Because these survivors already have their own responsibilities, we naturally cannot let them plant at will.
The survivors who previously lived under the same explorer member's tree house have become more familiar with each other and are naturally willing to choose to live in the same area, and they are still responsible for their previous duties.
However, at this time, the group had already transplanted their own tree houses, and most of them gathered together to discuss.
“This is so cool!”
"Brother Lei just told us that this Crystal City is the strongest line of defense and can stop the attack of the beast tide! Now we can relax a little after moving in!"
"Stop the beast tide? How do we stop it?"
"I don't know. Brother Lei was too busy just now and didn't explain in detail. I didn't ask either. Anyway, I trust the elders unconditionally!"
"Indeed, just lie down, and the boss will lead us to victory by lying down!"
"Hey, hey, hey! I just identified the soil. The soil under our feet is all blue grade!" A man suddenly poked his head out of the tree house and shouted excitedly.
“Is this true?!”
He turned back to look inside the tree house, and exclaimed again: "Holy crap! One of them is purple grade! Purple grade soil!"
These survivors who joined the explorers were all immersed in great surprise.
The tree houses of their explorers were all concentrated around the World Tree.
That is, the large open space behind the palace.
They planted the tree house about a hundred meters away from the trunk of the World Tree, surrounding and protecting the still growing World Tree.
Xu Xin’s tree house is planted behind the Crystal Palace, and the entire crown of the tree is almost close to the palace.
He could even jump directly from the window of his tree house into the balcony on the second or third floor of the palace without having to go through the main entrance.
The tree houses of Lou Fei'er, Ma Hongwei and others are planted near Xu Xin's tree house.
After everyone has finished their work, they gather under the World Tree.
"So, the location of our tree house is decided here?" Wen Guixin said as she looked at the tree houses formed in a circle around her.
"This feels good." Zhao Xiaochuan was very satisfied with the existing layout. "We can finally be considered real neighbors. And isn't it just right for us to live in the center? Let the others live around it."
"It's just a temporary arrangement." Ji Chaoyang shook his head. "The current arrangement is just to make it easier for us to protect this young world tree that is about to be besieged."
"I think the current location is pretty good." Xu Xin was referring to the location of his tree house. He looked at his tree house and said, "I don't plan to change the location. If you are not satisfied with the current location, then you can change the location after this matter is over."
After all, under the influence of this world tree, their tree house can be transplanted at any time!
The situation is urgent now, so just arrange it like this first. When the World Tree is truly grown and safe, they can transplant it however they want.
They can transplant themselves to the lakeside to enjoy the lake view, or to be closer to other survivors, or even to outside the Crystal City. It is up to them to transplant themselves in any way they want.
"That's right. We'll talk about it later. Our goal now is to protect this World Tree!" Wang Lei looked very motivated. "This World Tree is so powerful. It can affect such a large area even in its infancy. It allows us to transplant it perfectly. If it grows up..."
"If it grows up, I feel like our wonderful life will be here! Haha!" Zhao Xiaochuan laughed, "A mature world tree will definitely have all kinds of functions!"
"… It would be nice if Wen Xi was here too." Qi Xuefei sighed, "Now that Wen Xi is not here, I feel like our team is incomplete."
"... Wen Xi will be fine." Xu Xin said after a moment of silence.
During this period of time, he would check Wen Xi's name from time to time, and fortunately, her name always lit up.
But I still can’t get in touch with him.
He looked up at the World Tree that was still growing and even making crackling sounds.
The current state of this banyan tree can already be called a towering giant tree.
After growing for this period of time, the tree has grown to a height of 100 meters, about the height of 30 stories. The canopy is extremely dense, blocking out the sky and the sun, and has completely covered the area in the center of the crystal.
The dense tree canopy could not reveal a single ray of light, but the light from the Crystal City itself was enough to make the surroundings very bright.
"Wait, something seems wrong!" At this time, Zhao Xiaochuan looked up at the Crystal City and said, "If the light here is blocked and there is no sunlight, how can we grow crops?"
He is in charge of planting and is more concerned about this aspect.
"Then don't plant it here." Wen Guixin glanced around. "How can we plant it in the city center? Isn't there a large area on the edge of Crystal City where we can plant it? Don't we have rice and wheat seeds? Planting it there is the most suitable. No matter how big this World Tree is, its canopy can't cover the entire Crystal City, right?"
"Then... what about the high-quality fruits? I planted them in the planting room in the tree house. They will mature slower if planted outside, right?" Zhao Xiaochuan said with a headache, "So I can only move outside in the future?"
"There's no need to worry about this for now." Xu Xin shook his head and said, "This crystal city can affect the fertility of the soil, and maybe it can also affect the growth of plants. Maybe this white light is more useful than sunlight. And..."
He looked up.
"Also, don't forget the most important tree." Ji Chaoyang also reminded.
That's right.
The young world tree before us is more than just a towering tree that can block out the sky.
The seed that planted it is called the Ultimate Tree House Seed.
This is a growing tree house!
A giant tree house!
In other words, when it grows up, there should be an extremely large space on top!
He thought of the towering tree when he was video chatting with Shi Wanyun. At that time, the canopy of the tree house was brightly lit.
Maybe when the tree house grows up, they will move in.
"Ah, that's true!" Zhao Xiaochuan clapped his hands and said suddenly, "Maybe we can live there in the future!"
"Let's talk about this after the World Tree grows up. Now..."
Before Xu Xin finished speaking, his watch suddenly vibrated.
I raised my hand and saw that it was a voice call from Lou Feier.
Because she and Jin Yue were fast, he had just asked them to go to the edge of Crystal City to check the surrounding situation and report any abnormalities immediately.
He immediately answered the call: "What happened?"
"The beast tide is coming soon!"
The beast tide is coming
Xu Xin was a little confused.
He has been paying attention to the map in his mind. There are no bright red dots around. At most, there are ordinary wild beasts that have emerged after the jungle returned to normal temperature.
But Lou Feier's explanation immediately made him and all the explorers around him look nervous.
"A teleportation array pattern has appeared on the ground! It looks very similar to the one Shi Wanyun drew!"
Are you trying to teleport the mutant creatures here directly again
The last beast tide in the cold winter was teleported here through the teleportation arrays all over the ground. At that time, they also used the thick snow layer to hide the teleportation arrays, as well as the mutant creatures that were dizzy because of the side effects of the teleportation.
You won’t hide it this time!
"The array patterns are getting brighter and brighter. They are blood patterns! What should we do? There are too many of them!" Lou Feier's voice sounded a little anxious.
"Where is the formation?" Ji Chaoyang asked, "Is it only outside the city? Or is it also on the ground inside the city?"
"Ah, there's none in the city!" Lou Feier said immediately, "There's only one outside the city, and it should be about a hundred meters away from the edge of Crystal City!"
As expected, the city was safe. The beast tide should be attacking from the outside.
The explorers around were all frowning, thinking about countermeasures.
Crystal City is... so huge.
Their current location is more than two kilometers away from the periphery, and the entire area is so large and the city edge is too long that they simply cannot take care of all locations.
Therefore, if a tide of beasts really invades the city, they will not be able to stop these fierce beasts from entering the city.
"Since it can't be stopped, then don't stop it." At this time, Ji Chaoyang said in a deep voice.
"Let them all come in. This will help us verify the capabilities of this Crystal City." Xu Xin also nodded.
"So what should we do now? These teleportation patterns are getting brighter and brighter, and it feels like the teleportation will be activated soon!"
"Don't panic!" Xu Xin said immediately, "As long as we are in Crystal City, we are in an advantageous position. Is Jin Yue with you?"
"I'm here." Jin Yue responded immediately.
"Okay, don't leave the edge of Crystal City. I'll go over and take a look right away!"
As he said that, Xu Xin jumped onto the wolf.
"You want to go over there, Brother Xin?"
"Well, I'll go and see the situation with my own eyes. You can come too, but it's best to leave a few people near the World Tree to guard this place! Silver King, let's go!"
“Ouch—”
The Silver King immediately shuttled through the crystal town, while Xu Xin, wearing a silver purple-grade steel armor, the man and the wolf were like a silver lightning, speeding through the city, causing exclamations from other survivors.
"Oh my god, is that Brother Xin?"
"So fast! This is too fast! Even cars can't be this fast!"
"You guys, hurry back. Brother Chaoyang just issued a notice that a beast tide is coming!"
Xu Xin also quickly reached the edge of the city and arrived at where Lou Feier and the others were.
"Look!"
Lou Feier immediately pointed outside the city.
The ground outside the city was densely covered with blood-colored teleportation array patterns.
Looking at it this way, it is indeed very similar to the one drawn by Shi Wanyun, even the size is almost the same.
However, these blood marks should have nothing to do with her now.
She was now being watched by Zeng Tao and Mimi, but she had no chance to act. Xu Xin also asked Zeng Tao to talk to her more to see if she could get any additional information.
"This is… "
He came at the right time.
Outside the city, the teleportation array was at its peak brightness of blood-red light. Then, the entire array was eroded bit by bit by the purple-black energy!
At the location of each array pattern, a purple-black vortex gradually formed and slowly rotated!
It was like a whirlpool trap on the ground. It seemed that as long as you stepped into it, you would fall into an endless abyss!
but…
Suddenly, a claw with blood marks stretched out from a purple-black vortex and grabbed the ground.
Then, different claws stretched out from the numerous whirlpools, and then various blood-marked creatures poked their heads out from the purple-black whirlpools!
Countless blood-red eyes all looked straight in the direction of Xu Xin and the others, and bared their sharp fangs at the same time!
The mutant creatures finally showed up!
Many mutant creatures crawled out of the vortex, and suddenly, the area outside the city was dark and looked very oppressive!
"... So many intermediate mutations!" Lou Feier said nervously.
"Almost one out of every ten is a mid-level mutant creature." Jin Yue's eyes were solemn.
That being said... judging from the current number, there are probably hundreds of intermediate mutant creatures at a glance!
This is just one direction!
However, the size of these mutated creatures is still larger than that of ordinary wild beasts.
It seems... they all have a trace of giant beast blood
Xu Xin narrowed his eyes slightly.
It all depends on whether Crystal City can play its role.
The numerous mutant creatures did not seem to want to rush over directly, but stood still without taking any action.
… side effects of teleportation
"Bing!"
Just as he was watching this group of mutant creatures, a familiar cry suddenly sounded beside him.
cocoa
The little guy came out from behind a crystal building, ran to his side in two steps, and climbed onto his shoulder.
"Ah, Keke is back?" Lou Feier turned her head and took a look. "Little guy, luckily you came back before the beast tide came!"
"Bing!"
"Why now... What is this?"
When Coco screamed just now, a crystal gem fell from its mouth. Xu Xin immediately reached out and grabbed it.
It is a gem that emits a bright white light.
Treehouse core
But... why is it so small
About the same size as a grape.
The mutant creatures around did not launch an attack. Because there were so many of them, and Xu Xin was too lazy to go out and consume them himself, he took the opportunity to look at the orb.
He grasped the orb in his hand and held it up to the sunlight.
He didn't see anything, but a familiar voice sounded in his ears.
Xu Xin, it’s me!
Um
His eyes shrank.
Wen Xi?!
Wen Xi's voice
What's going on