CHAPTER 285: CHAPTER 246: AN ASTONISHING FINALE (4,000 WORDS!) - 2

Although they didn’t know why they were teleported so far away, needing to go halfway around to get there, as long as they could reach it, it was fine. Over there should be the secret they were looking for, and a way out!

The Silver King had devoured a piranha to the bone and was contentedly sitting on the ground resting.

"How was it? Does this fish have any resources?" Xu Xin asked Ji Chaoyang.

This piranha was truly huge, much bigger than any he had seen before. Normally, piranhas were only palm-sized, and this one was nearly a meter long. It could essentially be called a monstrous piranha!

"Not bad, blue-grade fish scale skin," Ji Chaoyang held up a fish skin in his hand covered in red scales, "you can make a blue-scale armor with it; I wonder what the effects of this armor set are."

"Two pieces of scale skin; that wouldn’t be enough for a set of armor." Xu Xin shook his head; if he had known, he would have killed a couple more.

"We might run into more later on," Ji Chaoyang waved the fish skin in his hand, "Want it?"

"You take it. By the way, is only the fish skin blue-grade?"

"That’s right, it’s only worth 80 points though; it’s still a primary mutated creature, with only the skin guaranteeing blue-grade resources."

Indeed, 80 points were close to an intermediate mutated creature’s value, but still fell short of the threshold for mid-level.

"Hmph! Hmm-hmm!" Keke nudged Xu Xin’s face on his shoulder, pointing her little paws deeper into the cave, as if to say, "There’s something good that way, let’s hurry!"

"Alright, I got it." Xu Xin patted Keke’s head, "Let’s proceed further in."

Meanwhile, he told Ji Chaoyang about what he saw on the map earlier.

"Since there’s a path, let’s go quickly then."

This time, the two didn’t jump back into the water but opted to walk on land.

They had already drawn a swarm of piranhas; who knew what else lurked underwater. Now, the shore was wide and flat enough that going forward through water wasn’t necessary.

"Be cautious, if there are mutated creatures in the water, there might be some on land too," Ji Chaoyang warned.

"Keke will alert us, right?" Xu Xin tickled Keke’s chin.

"Hmph~" Keke let out a comfy sound and nodded, indicating affirmation.

"Groan!" With the road wider and smooth, the Silver King moved freely.

"...It’s so spacious here and leveled; it’s like a tunnel. Let’s ride the Silver King to proceed," Xu Xin suggested a time-saving idea.

"Yes, we’ve spent nearly an hour on the road; we need to quicken our pace," Ji Chaoyang agreed.

The two mounted onto the Silver King’s back, while Keke crawled down from Xu Xin’s shoulder into his embrace.

"Hold tight. Let’s go, Silver King!"

"Awoo—" Silver King instinctively howled, echoing through the cave, then charged forward.

...

Qi Xuefei, waiting by the stone at the salt mine entrance, attentively looked inside hoping the two would suddenly appear.

Suddenly, she heard a faint wolf howl from the mining tunnel.

"Is that... the Silver King’s call?!"

She immediately stood up, looking towards the entrance.

Nothing was visible, leaving her disappointed. Though she heard the sound, at least they were on to something.

She immediately sent a voice message to Li Wenxi.

"Hello, Sister Xuefei, are they back yet?" Li Wenxi eagerly asked before Qi Xuefei could speak.

"Wenxi, I heard the Silver King’s roar from the tunnel, but didn’t see them."

"Silver King’s call? I’ll return right away!"

...

The Silver King was swift, and as the cave widened and smoothed out, it only took a few minutes to reach the giant’s skull’s location.

The river beside them also widened until it spanned seven or eight meters.

Xu Xin hadn’t expected that as they moved upstream, the river would actually get wider. How did that make sense?

"Xu Xin, is that sound water?!" Ji Chaoyang attentively listened to the increasingly close sound, "It sounds like... a waterfall. We might be near the river’s source."

"Just ahead!" Xu Xin pointed forward where there was no longer darkness, but light. "Light! There’s light there! Could it be an exit? Silver King, speed up!"

"Groan!" Silver King responded with a sound and increased his pace.

As the cave’s end drew nearer, the scenery at the destination became clearer.

"This..."

The Silver King arrived and stopped.

The two on the wolf’s back forgot to dismount, instead, widened their eyes, staring at the view in front, temporarily speechless.

"Hmph..." Keke also hung her mouth open, staring blankly at everything here.

They never expected to find such a mountain "paradise" at the road’s end!

They dismounted the Silver King, setting foot on lush green grass.

Indeed, lush green grass—a stark contrast to outside’s bleakness, vibrant with life!

At the river’s head was a lake! Countless fish and shrimp swam inside, and above the lake, a waterfall-like stream flowed from the wall, cascading into the lake, making the sound they heard before.

Surrounding the lake was the lush green grass where Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang now stood.

Countless colorful flowers grew on the grass, emitting a faint fragrance, two dense and lush trees stood on each side, everything before them bursting with vitality.

Even more comfortable and lively than the pre-winter jungle.

In the gentle white light, everything seemed unreal.

This place felt like a garden, so beautiful it was surreal.

Xu Xin took a couple of steps forward, reaching the lake’s edge and looking toward the source of soft white light surrounding him.

This was what shocked Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang the most.

"What... is that?" Xu Xin stared at the glowing object ahead, murmured.

"Is that... a pearl fragment?" Ji Chaoyang quietly speculated.

Water continuously poured from a crevice in the wall at the end, creating a small waterfall, while above the wall crevice was an object, emitting a luminescent white light illuminating everything around it.

The gentle white light was not glaring but illuminated the entire area completely.

Moreover, Xu Xin now felt the surrounding temperature had become a comfortable twenty-plus degrees!

This entire cave was cold, dropping to six or seven degrees, while here was pleasantly warm.

Perhaps it was due to this luminescent white light!

Xu Xin squinted to observe the glowing object closely, as Ji Chaoyang mentioned; it appeared to be a very incomplete pearl.

Because there was a small smooth sphere portion, they could tell it was a pearl fragment, but most parts were irregular, looking like a segment broken off from a football-sized pearl.

"...Treehouse core?"

Xu Xin instinctively associated it with a treehouse core. Treehouse cores also resembled pearls and emitted luminescent white light.

However, the treehouse core he had seen was only fist-sized, and this pearl fragment was already larger than a fist, based on the spherical edge’s curve; its complete size would be at least football-sized.

Instinctively, Xu Xin checked the map; he was now located just behind the skull.

Could this wall with a waterfall and pearl fragment be the crack from before in the salt mine cave, where Keke’s touch triggered a purple-black vortex swallowing them; that wall?

Is the wall behind this the salt mine cave?

"Xu Xin, these two trees..." Ji Chaoyang shifted his focus to the two lush trees, his voice filled with surprise and disbelief, "These two trees are banyan trees..."

"...Banyan trees?" Hearing banyan trees startled Xu Xin, he immediately turned his attention to the two lush trees.

Coiled roots like crouching dragons, robust trunks, and hair-like aerial roots hanging from dense crowns connecting to the ground. The two trees’ crowns were almost intertwined, covering a vast area.

Initially attracted by the luminescent light source, he hadn’t noticed, but now, indeed they were banyan trees!

Like their treehouse banyan trees!

...Could this be a treehouse?!