40 Climb!

Without another word, Xu Xin jumped onto the rusty ladder and climbed up with all his might.

Wasn't that red gas the stinky red smoke that poured out of the iron door of the underground passage when he just opened it?

The smoke would float upwards and spread along the tunnel until it filled the entire tunnel!

He couldn't let the smoke catch up to him. Whether it was poisonous or not, he didn't want to smell the hellish smell like the poop of a can of herring ever again!

Climb! Climb fast!

With the red panda, Cocoa, on his shoulder and the golden treasure chest in his backpack, Xu Xin climbed up like crazy.

It was as if he was running with a load on his back with the treasure chest on him. However, when he thought of the pattern on the chest, he gritted his teeth and did not throw the chest away.

He didn't know how long he had been climbing, but he knew that his hands and feet were almost numb.

In the end, he couldn't hold on any longer and hung on the rusty iron ladder, gasping for air.

He looked back with horror.

However, to his surprise and joy, the red mist was not right behind him. It was far below him. Xu Xin, who had night vision, could barely see the faint red mist.

The speed at which the red gas was spreading seemed to be much slower than he had imagined.

Xu Xin heaved a huge sigh of relief, and sat down on a ladder to rest.

He should eat something before the red gas came up.

He took out an apple and started munching on it, also stuffing one into Cocoa's hands.

Cocoa then munched on the apple on his shoulder as well.

After the man and the red panda had their fill, Xu Xin was also almost done resting.

He felt his body with some surprise. If it was in the past, he would definitely not be able to recover so quickly after such intense exercise. His current physical fitness was truly different from before.

He looked down and saw that the red mist was getting closer, but it was still far away.

However, Xu Xin didn't waste any time and continued to climb.

Only when he returned to the surface and stepped on the land protected by the treehouse could he feel a little more at ease.

As he continued to climb, Xu Xin maintained a pace and was no longer as flustered as before. Step by step, he got closer and closer to the exit.

After climbing for a long while, just as he felt that he was about to reach the exit, Cocoa, who was on his shoulder, suddenly began to cry out anxiously.

"What's wrong?" Seeing Cocoa so anxious, Xu Xin turned around to take a look.

Then, he turned pale with fright!

The red mist was very close to him, only five or six meters away.

What was going on?! How did it spread so quickly?

In an instant, Xu Xin understood the theory behind it. The red gas was indeed spreading slowly, but it did not mean that the room below was releasing the gas slowly. As long as the release speed was fast, the concentration of the red gas would be high, increasing the gas' air pressure, naturally speeding up the process!

"F*ck!" Xu Xin cursed and increased his speed.

This time, he had learned his lesson and no longer used his full strength. Instead, he still maintained the pace, but the extremely fast speed was still a bit too much for his body to bear, and his breathing gradually began to become disorderly.

As he climbed, Xu Xin looked back down from time to time. The red was getting closer and closer, only two to three meters away!

"I can see the exit!" He was excited. He no longer cared about the pace and started climbing up with all his might.

Just as the red mist was about to catch up to him, Xu Xin rushed out of the iron door. Then, using the last bit of strength in his body, she lifted the heavy iron cover on the other side and slammed it on the exit.

"Bang!"

A few wisps of red smoke seeped out from the cracks of the iron cover, and the rest were locked under the iron cover, in the extremely long passage.

The wisp of red smoke entered Xu Xin's nose.

"Blargh----" Just a wisp of it was enough to make Xu Xin feel nauseated. He could not believe what would happen if his entire body was soaked in the red smoke.

Sitting at the exit, Xu Xin panted heavily. Due to the excessive climbing, his arms and legs were shaking and his head was spinning.

Cocoa lay on his lap and tilted its head as it looked at him, as if it was asking why he was so tired.

"Little thing!" Xu Xin ruffled Cocoa's head with some annoyance.

After resting for a few minutes, Xu Xin felt her energy gradually recover, so he stood up.

After walking out of the passage, the sun shone on him. The sun was already high in the sky outside.

Having stayed in the relatively dark environment for so long, Xu Xin's eyes couldn't take the sudden light and he used his hands to block the sunlight.

After gradually adapting to it, he looked at the ordinary plants on the ground and finally laughed as if he had been relieved of a heavy burden.

The underground world was too depressing. Along the way, the consumption and impact on his physical and mental strength had never stopped. Having seen the monsters of the underground world, Xu Xin found the beasts above ground to be extremely adorable.

The surroundings were still the barren land left behind by the withered yellow flowers.

"Go home, go home!" Xu Xin wanted nothing more than to go back to his treehouse and have a good sleep.

Although the orange (blue) had kept his mind in a relatively excited state, his physical and mental fatigue had reached its peak. He didn't want to do anything now. He just wanted to lie on the bed and take it easy.

From his current position, it would take about an hour to get back on foot.

"Sigh... When will I get a means of transportation?" When he remembered that there was still an hour's journey to go, Xu Xin's legs, which had just rested for a while, started to hurt again.

He looked at the little guy who was sleeping on his shoulder and shook his head helplessly. Good Lord, he was the mount.

He had no choice but to walk back.

It was already the afternoon of the next day. Looking at the sun, it should be around two o'clock, the hottest time of the day. Xu Xin took out a bottle of mineral water from his backpack and took two sips. He then walked slowly towards the treehouse.

After he used the bottle of custom treehouse root potion, the protection range of the treehouse would extend for another three kilometers, which was equivalent to four times the area. The area would be too large, and he couldn't possibly explore all of it by walking.

Xu Xin opened the Map. As usual, only the hills to the northwest of the map had wild beasts. Once the protection range of the treehouse was expanded, the hills would be included as well.

"I should have unlocked the iron armor by now. Perhaps I can try hunting wild beasts there. "

After walking for more than an hour, Xu Xin finally returned to the lakeside. The treehouse was on the other side of the lake.

At this time, the lake looked very calm, and the man-eating fish in the center of the lake could be seen swimming.

"Hm? Why does it feel like the man-eating fish's range of activity has gotten a little bigger? Is it an illusion?" Xu Xin frowned. He realized that the closest piranha he could see was closer to the shore than the previous night.

"Maybe it's just a coincidence," He consoled himself. He didn't have any good ideas to deal with the man-eating fish for now.

He walked around the lakeside and picked up a lot of reeds that could be used to make ropes while he was at it.

Back at the treehouse, Xu Xin took out the gray potion from his backpack and sprinkled it on the roots of the treehouse.

[The roots of the treehouse have begun to grow. Duration: two hours. You can't enter or leave the treehouse during this time.]

Xu Xin was speechless.

What did the growth of roots have to do with entering and exiting the treehouse?!

He looked at the treehouse before him with grief and indignation. Xu Xin, who had finally returned after a long journey of several kilometers, was locked outside his treehouse.