Because he has a map, Xu Xin won't lose his way or walk in circles like most people in the jungle, so he doesn't need to leave any marks and can walk straight in a single direction.
As he walked on for who knows how long, that mysterious voice once again echoed in his mind.
[Reminder, do not stray more than three kilometers from the small treehouse, or you'll face something you do not wish to see.]
It seems like he's now at the farthest edge of the three-kilometer limit. Xu Xin paused to observe his surroundings. He had already stepped out of the resource zone, and from his perspective, the surrounding plants mostly emitted a white glow, with only a few spots of green light.
Xu Xin checked those green lights and regrettably found that they were all ordinary green-grade resources, which were abundant in his resource zone.
"Meow!" The little panda Keke on his shoulder suddenly made a sound and jumped down from Xu Xin's shoulder.
"What's wrong, Keke? Did you find something?" Xu Xin asked quickly when he saw this.
Keke tugged at Xu Xin's pants leg, signaling for Xu Xin to follow it.
The treehouse was at the very center of the circular range, while Xu Xin was currently at the easternmost part of this circle, and Keke was now leading him towards the southwest.
This little one must have found something. Xu Xin was delighted in his heart; this little creature truly was his lucky star.
The direction Keke was leading him was one Xu Xin had never ventured into before.
The small stream flowed from west to east, and he traveled east along the stream to reach the western side of the entire resource zone, where he'd planted the treehouse, and journeyed east through the whole resource zone to his current location.
But the direction Keke was taking him was towards the south of the resource zone, a place he had never visited, and even the map was blacked out. Fortunately, there were no red dots within the darkness, which reassured Xu Xin.
Following Keke, Xu Xin gradually noticed differences.
The surroundings resembled the places Xu Xin had traversed before, consisting of white poplar woods since it was summer, with grass and shrubs growing densely on the ground. However, Xu Xin faintly felt that the grass and shrubs on the ground seemed to have slight differences from what he had previously seen.
Something felt amiss, yet he couldn't immediately pinpoint it, leading Xu Xin into deep thought.
Keke, walking ahead, frequently turned back to check, fearing Xu Xin would fall behind and get lost. Seeing him slow his pace due to his contemplation, Keke quickly came over to tug his pants leg.
"Keke, why are you heading this direction?" Xu Xin felt he was about to discern something.
"Meow?" Keke tilted its head.
It seemed asking was in vain; this little guy was probably just following its instincts. Xu Xin shook his head helplessly, continuing to scrutinize the shrubs and weeds.
"Eh?" Xu Xin seemed to notice something, looking at the weeds and shrubs ahead, tilting his head to the left, then the right, suddenly revealing an enlightened expression, clapping his hands, "I know it!"
"Meow!" Keke was startled, leaping up and doing a somersault in mid-air.
Xu Xin finally understood why he felt there were subtle differences between the weeds and shrubs here and those he had seen before.
Grass and shrubs growing naturally in any place are chaotic and grow wildly; all the places he passed before were like this, overgrown with weeds like neglected fields, very chaotic.
But here, the weeds and shrubs were different. If observed carefully, they were slightly inclined towards one direction, a degree so minimal yet distinguishable from chaos to order by Xu Xin.
There was no wind in the jungle at this time, so it wasn't wind causing this, and if it were the wind, these weeds and shrubs should be swaying, but they weren't.
Xu Xin raised his head to look at the surrounding poplar trees, astonished to find that while the trunks and branches of the poplar trees showed no orientation, every leaf seemed slightly directed towards one direction, aligning with the ground's grass and shrub orientation.
Something in that direction must be attracting these plants.
With his inner thoughts confirmed, Xu Xin felt joyous, taking out a large red berry from his backpack, smiling as he said, "Come, Keke, here's your reward! Without you, I wouldn't have discovered this pattern so swiftly."
Seeing the red berry in Xu Xin's hand, Keke instantly meowed, standing on its hind legs and grasping onto Xu Xin's pants leg again.
After Xu Xin fed the red berry to Keke, its steps became lighter, hopping around joyfully as it meowed repeatedly.
Watching the little creature before him, Xu Xin relaxed, smiling as he shook his head.
The further he walked, the more Xu Xin felt the inclination of grass and shrubs on the ground, and by now he could sense that the surrounding grass and shrubs were no longer directed towards just one direction but converging on one point.
He knew it was almost there. Yet, there was no red dot on his map, no higher-tier colors within his view, only vast fields of white with scattered green.
Walking ahead, Keke's pace slowed; it seemed to hesitate whether to proceed as if sensing danger up ahead.
"Keke, come back." Xu Xin didn't want Keke to lead anymore, unsure of what lay ahead. He didn't want anything happening to his treasure of a little panda.
Keke jumped back onto Xu Xin's shoulder upon hearing him, laying obediently with its big tail wrapped around the back of his neck, resting on his other shoulder, its eyes intently fixed forward.
The direction pointed by the grass and shrubs on the ground became increasingly apparent, and Xu Xin couldn't help but feel excitement.
This is a treasure chest! Who could resist a treasure chest?
Xu Xin quickened his pace forward, suddenly a pang of danger surged in his heart, causing the muscles around his eyes to twitch.
In his consciousness, a red dot was gradually lighting up on his map at his location.
"Not good!" Xu Xin immediately pushed against the trees beside him, forcibly changing his direction, quickly lunging to the side.
Just as Xu Xin lunged sideways, the ground beneath him and the path ahead suddenly cracked open, with countless sharp vines thrusting straight up from within!
Each vine was as thick as an arm, with red threads vaguely flowing amidst the dark green, appearing incredibly eerie.
"Meow meow meow!… Meow?" Keke, having been thrown to the ground due to Xu Xin's quick movements, was about to grumble but saw the vines emerging suddenly, widening its panda eyes in amazement.
The bizarre vines emerged from the ground, entwining into a massive drill-like shape, spinning swiftly towards Xu Xin's position.
"Damn!" Xu Xin couldn't help but curse, rolling once more to narrowly escape the second attack from the emerging vines.
A loud "bang" echoed as the drill-like vines struck the ground fiercely beside him, scattering countless rocks, which hit Xu Xin's arm and cheek, causing sharp pains.
Fortunately, after they struck the ground, it seemed the vines had exhausted all their strength and ceased moving.