Even though he had already reached the border, Xu Xin wasn't in a hurry to return.
Of course, he wouldn't court death and walk out of the three-kilometer boundary, but he was still very curious as to why he couldn't walk out of the three-kilometer range. Was it because the treehouse could only protect them within a three-kilometer radius?
On the map, within three kilometers of the treehouse, there were no wild beasts except for the red dot in the middle of the lake. Was this also the work of the treehouse? Or was it deliberately caused by that mysterious voice?
At this moment, he already had a guess in his heart, but it was not sure enough.
He cast a meaningful glance at the ground outside the boundary. That was the direction he had come from. He had walked over from there unscathed, but now he could no longer go back.
Previously, it was the novice protection period that protected him, but now, it was the treehouse that was protecting him.
He threw the matter to the back of his mind for now. Almost two hours had passed. Xu Xin walked back to the black bear's cave.
Standing at the entrance of the black bear's cave, Xu Xin used the compass for the second time.
With another crisp "ding", the needle of the compass gradually pointed in the opposite direction of the black bear cave, pointing to the other side of the stream.
It seemed that the treasure chest was on the other side of the stream, so Xu Xin had to cross it.
The stream was easy to cross. After all, it was not deep. Even though they were already downstream and the stream was very wide, the deepest part of the stream was only 30 to 40 centimeters deep.
Xu Xin was about to cross the stream when he suddenly stopped.
What if the monster wasn't on the other side of the stream, but in the stream?
Then wouldn't he be sending himself to his death if he were to just walk into the water like this? After all, forty centimeters of water wasn't exactly deep, but it would greatly affect one's normal movements and slow down his speed.
"Cocoa, wake up!" Xu Xin ruffled Cocoa's head violently as it lay on his shoulder.
"...Yin, yin!" Cocoa was extremely unhappy that it had been violently woken up. It let out angry cries at Xu Xin.
Xu Xin carried Cocoa down from his shoulders and held it in his arms, making it face the stream, "Can you feel if there's anything wrong with the water?"
After all, Cocoa had found the treasure chest last time. This might only be its intuition, but it was indeed very useful.
"Yin?" Cocoa subconsciously tilted its head. It was still in a dazed state from being awoken but had immediately been asked to work.
It jumped down from Xu Xin's arms and went to the water. It scooped the water with its little paws, then turned to Xu Yu and shook its head, "Yin~"
"It's not?" Xu Xin frowned. Was he overthinking? Both Cocoa and the Map didn't give him any warnings about danger, so perhaps he was wrong.
Loosening his frowning brows, Xu Xin put Cocoa back onto his shoulder, took off his shoes, and prepared to cross the stream.
The stream flowed rapidly and was extremely cold. As soon as Xu Xin stepped into it, he felt a bone-piercing chill. He had only taken a few steps when his feet were frozen to the point that he could no longer feel them.
He didn't know why the stream in the mountain was so cold. The temperature had already exceeded 30 degrees.
After taking two steps, Xu Xin stopped.
He didn't know why, but the further he went, the more flustered he felt. It was basically the same sense of danger that had suddenly risen in his heart when the vines were about to emerge from the ground the last time, but it wasn't as intense as that time. Instead, he felt that something dangerous was getting closer and closer to him.
There was something in the water!
There was indeed something in the water!
Xu Xin chose to believe in his instincts. He took large strides and ran back. He had not reached the deepest part of the stream, so going back was the fastest way to reach the shore!
Just as he turned around and ran, he heard the sound of water splashing behind him. It was as if something was coming out of the water!
"Yin!" Cocoa suddenly cried out on his shoulder. Its voice was completely different from its usual cute voice. It was a hoarse and sharp roar, as if it was demonstrating its strength to the thing behind them.
Xu Xin turned his head slightly and saw what was behind him.
When the creature entered his eyes, Xu Xin's pupils instantly constricted. She turned pale with fright and frantically rushed to the shore.
A crocodile had emerged in the middle of the stream. It was much larger than an ordinary crocodile. Its size reminded Xu Xin of an ancient creature from the late Cretaceous period. It was one of the largest crocodiles in history, the Deinosuchus!
No, not even Deinosuchus were this big! It was a giant Deinosuchus!
The crocodile, which was almost 20 meters long, was lying at the bottom of the stream along the direction of the flow of water. When it rose from the bottom of the stream, the water level of the entire stream dropped by a large number.
The Map that Xu Xin had been paying close attention to didn't have any red dots!
"F*ck! I can't even see anything on this map! To hell with the Creator's Authority, it's a scam!" Xu Ke was running like a ghost was after him. He frantically ran towards the shore and only took four to five steps to reach it.
However, to his surprise, the crocodile did not seem to have any intention of attacking him. Otherwise, he would not have been able to escape.
The assault speed of crocodiles in the water was very fast. If it bit him have him a roll of death, he would probably be turned into a pile of minced meat straight away.
The crocodile just looked at him, just like the python in the middle of the lake, quietly looking at him.
Similar to the python, it had a monster-like body like the giant Leviathan, as if it was not a creature of this era.
The only difference was that the python was a huge, bright red dot on the map, while the crocodile that was suspected to be a Deinosuchus was not displayed on the map.
The last one that wasn't displayed was the red panda, Cocoa, who was on his shoulder.
He looked at Cocoa, who was on his shoulder. At this moment, Cocoa was baring its teeth at the Deinosuchus, as if it was trying to scare it. However, it was of no use. It was simply too cute.
The Deinosuchus in the stream slowly opened its mouth. Just as Xu Xin's expression turned ugly and he was about to run for his life, he suddenly saw a bright silver light in the mouth of the Deinosuchus.
The silver treasure chest?
In the crocodile's mouth?
"...Can this game be fun?"
"Yin?"
The Deinosuchus swung its head, and the silver treasure chest was thrown to the shore. It fell to the ground with a loud "bang".
The treasure chest landed beside Xu Xin's feet. The Deinosuchus closed its mouth and looked at Xu Xin with its eyes, which were extremely small compared to its size. Then, under his vigilant and confused gaze, it slowly sank into the water.
The clear water had become murky due to the sand and stones from the Deinosuchus' movements. However, Xu Xin could still see that it had not left. Instead, it had once again returned to the bottom of the stream.
It had always been at the bottom of the stream! Perhaps, when Xu Xin first passed by, there was already a Deinosuchus!
After all, the Deinosuchus was a special existence like Cocoa. Since Cocoa was not bound by this world, perhaps the Deinosuchus would not be bound either.
The more Xu Xin thought about it, the more scared he felt. Even though the Deinosuchus did not seem to have any ill intentions towards him, it was still a crocodile! Its devil-like appearance and sharp teeth made Xu Xin's heart tremble.
Fortunately, the crocodile did not seem to have any ill intentions for now.
Looking at the silver treasure chest by his feet, Xu Xin felt like she was in a dream. He had just received a silver treasure chest out of nowhere.
"...This treasure chest's location is seriously too inhumane!!"