CHAPTER 289: CHAPTER 249: HEARING THEIR VOICES!

Inside the salt mine cave.

"Sister Xuefei, the call you heard from the Silver King just now, did it come from inside the cave? It wasn’t from outside, was it?" Li Wenxi had already circled the cave once and even ignored Qi Xuefei’s attempts to stop her as she touched the wall that Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang had touched before they vanished.

However, nothing happened.

Qi Xuefei recalled the sound: "Now that you mention it... no, it should have come from inside the cave, although it seemed faint and elusive, but it indeed came from within."

"But..."

Li Wenxi looked at the stone wall in front of her. She really had the urge to blast this wall to pieces with an explosive crossbow bolt, feeling that Xu Xin and the others were just behind it.

If she were alone, she might really have done it.

But Qi Xuefei was here too, and she wasn’t sure if it would affect Xu Xin and the others, which made her hesitate.

Just then, faint and indistinct sounds suddenly came from beyond the stone wall.

"Huh?" Li Wenxi’s eyes widened, "Sister Xuefei, did you hear anything?"

"It’s... voices? Human voices?" Qi Xuefei also quickly stepped forward to listen carefully.

Although the voices were somewhat indistinct, Li Wenxi couldn’t care less and pressed her ear against the wall to listen attentively.

"...It’s Xu Xin and Ji Chaoyang’s voices, definitely them!" Li Wenxi exclaimed excitedly, "I knew they were behind this wall!"

Qi Xuefei pulled Li Wenxi away from the wall, a touch of exasperation in her voice: "Are you still daring enough to press against the wall? Do you want to disappear too?"

"Hehe, I’m just excited!" Li Wenxi heard their voices and knew they were temporarily safe, so she relaxed a bit, speaking more lightly.

The voices on the other side of the stone wall became clearer, so clear that both Li Wenxi and Qi Xuefei could hear them without pressing against the wall.

"Do you think... if we smash through this wall, we can return to our original position?" Xu Xin’s voice came from the other side.

"It’s Xu Xin!" Li Wenxi immediately shouted at the wall, "Xu Xin! Can you hear us? We’re right behind the wall!"

But the two on the other side of the wall didn’t seem to hear her shouts.

"Perhaps. There’s no exit around here, so it’s worth a try..." That was Ji Chaoyang’s voice.

"They really are still together!" Qi Xuefei heard their voices and finally breathed a sigh of relief, then also shouted at the wall, "Xu Xin! Ji Chaoyang! Can you hear us?"

As a result, the two on the other side had no reaction and continued their conversation.

Although they could clearly hear the normal conversation on the other side of the wall, their loud shouts from this side couldn’t be heard!

"What’s going on!" Li Wenxi was a bit anxious, slapping the stone wall with her palm, "Hey! You two over there, can’t you hear us? Is this wall soundproof on one side?"

Li Wenxi slapped and shouted a few more times, but it was no use.

"...Let’s go out and fetch the resources outside first." Xu Xin’s voice.

"Alright." Ji Chaoyang’s voice.

Their conversation ended, followed by the sound of gradually receding footsteps, and then nothing could be heard.

"Ah! They’ve left! I’m so mad, why can’t they hear us!" Li Wenxi punched the wall in frustration. Her earlier excitement at hearing their voices and her shouting had made her cheeks a little flushed, "Why can only we hear them?"

"Hmm... they just said they’ll come back later, so we can wait a bit," Qi Xuefei pondered, then suggested, "If it doesn’t work next time, we’ll try blasting through this wall."

"Hmm! That’s what I was thinking too," Li Wenxi nodded firmly and said, "If they hadn’t said they’d come back, I would have blasted this wall open right now! Sister Xuefei, there might be danger in here. You stay at the cave entrance, leave this to me."

"Alright, I’ll keep an eye at the cave entrance. You don’t do anything unnecessary, okay?" Qi Xuefei was genuinely worried that Li Wenxi might disappear suddenly, leaving her alone here. The sky was about to get dark, which was quite frightening.

"Don’t worry, I won’t, at least not before they come back!" Li Wenxi lifted her head, patting her chest in assurance.

Qi Xuefei walked to the cave entrance, seeing Bai Ma lounging there, occasionally munching on some hay, and she sighed.

These two, they sure know how to make things happen. This being their first meeting, they whisked them out here and then vanished, leaving the two of them to wait here, really...

But perhaps this is why those two are the first and second in all areas.

...

On the other side.

Xu Xin carefully swam forward.

The group of piranhas, now further away, started to become restless again, but not a single fish dared to charge at him.

Once he confirmed that the eight piranhas lying on the lakebed were dead, Xu Xin swiftly collected them all into his backpack and then left that spot.

As he swam upward, Xu Xin casually caught a red carp circling around him without any prompts appearing.

He brought the fish to the surface and used a boning knife to swiftly end its life.

[Special Red Carp (Green): A red carp affected for a short period by an unknown force, currently no different from a regular carp.]

This unknown force must refer to the glowing white light.

But, for a short period?

Why only a short period? Isn’t this space continuously affected by the white light?

Xu Xin then dissected the carp but didn’t obtain anything valuable, so he shook his head and tossed it back into the lake.

His backpack didn’t have any more space to store these ordinary carp materials.

At this moment, Ji Chaoyang had already completed the collection and excavation of these colorful flowers.

The colorful flowerbed had turned into a piece of overturned soil, and with the previous two lush banyan trees having been chopped down by the two of them, the once idyllic haven now only had a layer of turf left, looking somewhat desolate.

"Those underwater piranhas have come again, haven’t they?" Even before Xu Xin could speak, Ji Chaoyang asked.

"That’s right, but this group of piranhas doesn’t dare to enter the area illuminated by this white light," Xu Xin replied, staring at the Treasure Pearl fragment in the crevice of the stone wall.

"...Oh? It seems like this Treasure Pearl can repel mutated creatures?" Ji Chaoyang looked at the Treasure Pearl fragment. "Perhaps, this Treasure Pearl is the key to our escape."

Xu Xin gazed at the Treasure Pearl above the waterfall and fell into deep thought.

The Treasure Pearl fragment was at least six or seven meters above the lake surface. Although the stone wall was uneven, the area around the waterfall was extremely slippery, making it impossible to climb.

How could they get that Treasure Pearl?

If only Afu were here, Afu could just fly up and grab the Treasure Pearl fragment.

"Yip!" Keke stood up and nudged Xu Xin’s leg.

"Hmm? What’s wrong, Keke?"

"Yip! Yip yip yip!" Keke pointed with its little paw in the direction of the Treasure Pearl and called out a few times.

"Oh?" Xu Xin understood Keke’s intentions, his eyes lighting up. "You’re saying you can climb up?"

"Yip!" Keke called out again, then jumped onto the head of Silver King.

Silver King already knew Keke’s intention. With a roar, it jumped into the lake and swam towards the waterfall.

The two creatures quickly reached the base of the waterfall.

"Your Silver King isn’t afraid of this white light?" Ji Chaoyang suddenly noticed an issue.

Silver King was already in the brightest spot of the gleaming white light, yet it showed none of the reactions of the underwater piranhas.

"...It seems that’s the case." Xu Xin was also puzzled. "Could it be that the white light isn’t targeting mutated creatures?"

Keke jumped from Silver King’s head, grasping the wall with its four claws.

Though Keke usually looked adorable and harmless, its claws were quite sharp, allowing it to cling firmly to the stone wall.

Its small body crawled along the rough wall, even using some protruding stones as stepping stones, climbing effortlessly. Within seconds, its claws had grasped the crevice where the Treasure Pearl fragment was.

The crevice wasn’t big, but Keke was small enough to squeeze through, climbing up to the front of the Treasure Pearl.

Curiously, Keke gently poked the fragment with its paw and then tapped it twice.

Because the little paw blocked the white light, the entire underground space flickered on and off, and the fish in the lake started to swim around in panic.

The Treasure Pearl fragment seemed to be fixed in the crevice. After ensuring that the glowing fragment wouldn’t burn its paw, Keke used both its paws and mouth to pry the Treasure Pearl fragment free.

"Yip!" At the moment it pried it loose, Keke leaned back, almost falling, but managed to stabilize itself with all four limbs.

"Well done, Keke!" Xu Xin cheered as he saw Keke had gotten the Treasure Pearl.

"Yip!" Keke replied, picked up the fragment, dodged the waterfall below, and crawled down the side of the stone wall in a few steps, jumping back onto Silver King’s head.

The entire space dimmed significantly. As soon as Keke jumped onto Silver King, the fish swimming in the lake stopped panicking and began to circle around Silver King collectively.

Soon, Silver King swam back to shore. Keke jumped down and climbed up Xu Xin’s leg, reaching his arms in a couple of leaps.

Xu Xin picked up Keke and took the Treasure Pearl fragment, still glowing with a white light, from its mouth.

The surroundings brightened once more, and the fish in the lake returned to their calm state.

Although the light from this Treasure Pearl fragment could illuminate the entire space, it wasn’t glaring even when Xu Xin held it directly.

However, what puzzled Xu Xin was that the Treasure Pearl hadn’t triggered any prompts.

"How could there be no prompt?" Xu Xin was a bit perplexed.

This Treasure Pearl fragment, like the core of the treehouse, showed no rank color. Xu Xin had assumed that merely holding it would reveal its nature, but to his surprise, it neither displayed rank color nor offered any information.

This was the first time he had encountered such a situation.

"You try?" Xu Xin handed it to Ji Chaoyang.

Ji Chaoyang took the Treasure Pearl fragment.

"How is it, any prompts?"

"Even with your abilities, there’s no prompt, so I certainly won’t have any," Ji Chaoyang examined it carefully but found nothing, handing it back to Xu Xin. "Your little pet got this thing; you should keep it."

Xu Xin took it back. Although there was no description of this thing, the environment around them allowed at least some guesses regarding its effect.

"You really don’t want it?" Xu Xin pinched the Treasure Pearl fragment with two fingers, holding it high, making the surrounding area even brighter under the gleaming white light.

"Keep doing that, and I’ll change my mind," Ji Chaoyang joked with a smile. "When you eventually figure out its use, just share the benefits with me. By the way, you mentioned those piranhas were afraid of this white light, right? We might be able to use that."

"I had the same thought," Xu Xin nodded in agreement.

Those piranhas had blue-level scales, and since they had come into sight, it would be a waste to let them go.