CHAPTER 495: CHAPTER 344: DISCOVERY AT THE SNOWY MOUNTAIN PEAK_2

"You can go out, but make sure the treehouse defenses are up," Xu Xin reminded.

"Don’t worry, the electric grid has been repaired. Besides, I’ve given Yajun access to enter and leave my treehouse. If anything happens, she can help me control the panel to fend off external threats."

"That’s good."

After chatting a bit more, Xu Xin hung up the video call, and Qi Xuefei sent him a message to express her thanks.

At this moment, the sound of the portal came from outside, and Ji Chaoyang had teleported over.

After all, from his place to Xue Feng, it’s much closer.

Xu Xin got up to prepare to go out.

"Ying!" Keke climbed onto Xu Xin’s shoulder, making a sound, indicating it wants to go too.

For exploration trips, Keke is indeed a great help, especially on that snow mountain. If there truly are any peculiar circumstances, it might only be Keke that can detect them in advance.

But, given the outside environment, it’s still too cold for Keke. Even if brought along inside the space ring, it can’t be taken out.

Xu Xin thought for a moment and made a snow fox scarf, wrapping Keke’s small body in the fluffy scarf.

"Ying?" Keke poked half of its little head out from the white fur ball, its furry brown and white ears twitched, filled with curiosity.

"Now you won’t be cold, I can take you out," Xu Xin said, stroking Keke’s exposed ear.

Xu Xin walked to the living room, putting Mimi Silver King and Afu into his brand-new purple-grade space ring.

He also tried to put Keke inside, but to his surprise, it couldn’t be stored!

What’s going on?

He looked at the little creature with half its head poking out of the snow fox scarf, innocently gazing at him, and Xu Xin pursed his lips.

This little thing, how mysterious.

No choice, he had to carry Keke down the treehouse.

"What are you doing..." Ji Chaoyang looked at Xu Xin holding Keke like a baby, was momentarily stunned, then chuckled and shook his head, "I almost thought you two already had a child."

"What...," Xu Xin said helplessly, "This little guy is special, it can only be brought this way, and its perception is needed."

"Ying!" Keke stretched out a little paw from the fluffy ball and made a noise.

Ji Chaoyang didn’t ask further: "Ready? Then let’s go."

Both of them slid on skateboards and quickly arrived at the foot of the snow mountain.

By the expected timeline, Lou Fei’Er should still be climbing that slippery rock section, where it’s easy to slip and fall.

However, Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang couldn’t see her. After all, beyond fifty meters, she couldn’t be perceived.

"Let’s go, we’re heading up."

The two jumped into the portal one after the other.

Once again, Xu Xin set foot on the summit of the snow mountain.

As he predicted, these stone statues had reverted to the state they were in when he reached the pinnacle last time.

All the statues, including the nearest two pterodactyl statues, positioned themselves outward in somewhat violent attack poses.

A chaotic dance of demons.

These statues seemed like soldiers frozen suddenly in a war, their fierce actions and grimacing expressions could easily frighten timid people away.

"Ying...!" Keke shrank its little head inside the snow fox scarf, feeling a bit scared yet curiously examining the surroundings.

"This is... the daytime scene you mentioned?" Ji Chaoyang frowned.

Although Xu Xin had explained it to him, the scene still inevitably evoked a sense of awe.

Xu Xin looked up at the two pterodactyl statues beside him.

Last night, the statue covered with blood-red patterns had returned to normal, spreading its ten-meter wingspan, raising its massive head, and opening its mouth as if roaring at the sky!

The two exchanged glances and started moving through the statues.

"Since the forms differ between day and night, then the time these statues become active..." Ji Chaoyang speculated while examining the statues around.

"The time of sunrise or sunset. Early morning and dusk," Xu Xin said, reaching out to lightly touch a mutant bear statue.

Just like yesterday, the statue contained a peculiar vitality.

"Ying?" The little Keke in his arms made a curious sound.

A thought crossed Xu Xin’s mind.

Did Keke discover something?

It poked half its body out of the snow fox scarf, intending to jump out of Xu Xin’s arms, but finding it too cold, it made another "Ying" sound and retreated into the snow fox scarf, its exposed eyes darting around.

"Keke, did you find anything?" Xu Xin asked softly.

It extended a tiny paw, nudged Xu Xin, and gestured in a certain direction with a "Ying" sound.

Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang began advancing in the direction Keke indicated.

The two continued outward, moving further away from the portal and closer to the cliff’s edge.

"Ying!" Keke made a sound about twenty meters from the edge, seemingly dissatisfied with Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang’s pace, and in a flash, it slipped out of the snow fox scarf, landed on the ground, then ran ahead five or six meters, hopping a couple of times at a spot while "Ying Ying Ying!"

The two immediately ran over.

Unable to bear the cold any longer, Keke quickly climbed up Xu Xin’s leg back into his embrace and burrowed into the snow fox scarf at lightning speed, then let out a muffled sound: "Ying...choo!"

It even sneezed a little.

Xu Xin rubbed Keke’s tiny head, then crouched down, reaching out to touch the spot where it hopped.

They were now at the location between the first ring of ordinary beast statues and the second ring of low-level mutant creature statues.

Underfoot was the cold, hard soil with no plant growth, showing no difference from the surroundings.

"Can this little guy’s sense be trusted?" Ji Chaoyang asked.

"Ying!" Keke made a discontented sound.

"Yes. Keke has helped me a lot, even the method to obtain the treehouse core was discovered by it," Xu Xin nodded.

"Then... let’s dig here. Perhaps there’s something beneath this soil layer," Ji Chaoyang said as he took out his shovel.

"Digging directly... should not disturb the surrounding statues, right?"

The statues poised as if they were about to attack at any moment.

"Uncertain, but unlikely," Ji Chaoyang shook his head. "Even if they do, at least the two of us can escape; being too cautious isn’t good either."

"That’s true," Xu Xin nodded, also taking out a shovel.

As they struck the ground with the first shovelful, they noticed a difference in the snow mountain.

Their shovels were high-grade, ordinarily removing one unit of soil with each scoop. But on this snowy mountain...

They had to dig the hard, dry soil one scoop at a time, like using a regular iron shovel on Earth.

Fortunately, high-grade tools had their advantages; although they couldn’t scoop out a large amount of soil at once, they easily chipped away the stone-like ground.

Xu Xin grabbed some soil, noticing it was brown with a tinge of red.

[Polluted mountain soil (gray): Soil from the mountain top, polluted, unable to support any vegetation, useless to survivors.]

"It’s polluted soil," Xu Xin said, dropping the dirt from his hand.

Ji Chaoyang nodded: "Makes sense. This giant peak must be related to the mutant creatures."

They continued digging, while Keke, held by Xu Xin with one hand, peeked out, watching the soil being dug about twenty to thirty centimeters deep.

"Clang!"

Ji Chaoyang’s shovel hit something, ringing with the sound of metal clanging against metal.

Both of them perked up.

There was really something there!

A metal thing!

A treasure chest?

They accelerated their digging.

Soon, the appearance beneath the soil layer unfolded before Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang.

"This is..."

Their expressions changed, becoming somewhat odd.

It was a square iron door covered in rust.

On the iron door was a rusty handle to pull the door open.

They exchanged a grave look, seeing the seriousness in each other’s eyes.

This style of iron door was exceedingly familiar to them.

Wasn’t this the entrance to the underground world?!

They actually uncovered an entrance to the underground world atop the snow mountain?!