Chapter 161: Chapter 158: Real or Fake Cavern (Another 4000 Words!)_2

“Arf!” Keke suddenly barked, pointing a small paw in one direction.

That was farther from the tree house now, with Xu Xin already around five to six hundred meters away from it.

However, he still trusted Keke and ran towards that direction.

Sure enough, after running less than a few dozen meters, he sharply detected a faint scent.

It was the smell of that diluted red mist!

Xu Xin quickened his pace, and finally found a hole about one to two meters in diameter between some trees.

“Nice job, Keke, as expected, we still have to rely on you!” Xu Xin rubbed Keke’s head vigorously.

“Arf!” Keke lifted its small head.

The hole was indeed as Ji Chaoyang described, sloping downward at about a thirty-degree angle, directly pointing under the tree house.

It seemed this was the hole.

Xu Xin took a deep breath, preparing to call out to bring the other three creatures over.

“Awoo–”

Before he could shout, the wolf cry of Silver King from the east of the tree house rang out.

“…Huh?”

What happened?! The hole wasn’t on his side? Did something happen to Silver King?

Xu Xin glanced at the map; there were no red dots around Silver King’s position, and it had stopped at one spot without moving further.

Meanwhile, on his side, there appeared a black circular marker representing the hole Xu Xin had just discovered. Being able to tag discovered holes on the map was indeed convenient.

“Let’s go to Silver King first; something might have happened there.”

“Arf!”

Xu Xin had just taken two steps when, from the northwest of the tree house, Afu’s sharp scream came, and Afu also stopped at a cave edge on the map without moving.

“What’s going on?” Xu Xin had already sensed something was wrong.

Could it be there are many holes?

Mimi was unaffected; after hearing Silver King’s howl, it dashed toward Silver King and quickly arrived at its location, then heard Afu’s cry. It paused for two seconds, then ran toward Afu’s position.

“Let’s find Silver King first.” Xu Xin didn’t waste time and ran quickly towards Silver King.

The distance was nearly a kilometer; with Xu Xin’s current physique, he reached it within two minutes, without even panting thanks to the boosts on him.

Within tens of meters, Xu Xin smelled the fragrance.

Indeed, there’s also a hole here!

Quickly passing through the jungle, he saw Silver King lying down and a two-meter diameter hole beside it.

The moment he discovered this hole, another hole marker appeared on the map. Looking at the two identical hole markers on the map, Xu Xin sighed.

Indeed, there are several holes. This is troublesome.

Xu Xin stepped forward, looking inside the hole, and found it also sloped downward towards the tree house’s base. The faint aroma drifted out, almost identical to the hole he found.

“Arf!” “Awoo?” Keke started communicating with Silver King.

Mimi had returned too.

After some communication among the creatures, Keke began gesturing to Xu Xin.

Xu Xin understood immediately: “Afu also has a hole there?”

“Arf.” Keke nodded.

Xu Xin mounted the wolf: “Let’s go there first!”

He wanted to mark the holes first to avoid losing track later. Perhaps only one hole truly leads to the “heart.”

Ji Chaoyang could find it at once likely because he relied on amplified hearing to search. Only the hole truly leading to the heart would emit the sound of a heartbeat.

If there were many entrances, Ji Chaoyang should’ve informed him that the sound came from multiple directions, but it didn’t. So it’s likely there’s only one true hole.

He sent a message to Ji Chaoyang again, still no response. Fortunately, his name wasn’t grayed out, indicating he’s still alive.

Silver King was fast; in less than a minute, Xu Xin saw Afu hanging upside down from a tree and the hole beneath it.

Sliding off the wolf, Xu Xin meticulously inspected this hole. With his extraordinary vision, every detail of the hole was captured, but unfortunately, it didn’t differ significantly in size, shape, slope, or the mildly polluted red earth at the mouth from the other two holes.

At least he couldn’t discern any differences.

“Keke, can you detect any differences in these three holes?”

Keke tilted its small head, then gestured with its paw: “Arf!”

“All three holes are dangerous?”

“Arf!”

…It seems the only option is to choose randomly and hope his luck is decent.

Having marked these three holes, Xu Xin was still uneasy, instructing Silver King to run around the area to ensure no other holes were left undiscovered. Silver King’s endurance could make a lap a warm-up exercise.

He then raised his wristwatch and opened the [Explorer] group.

Inside the group chat, those who hadn’t ventured out–Li Wenxi, Zhao Xiaochuan, Qin Yunlong, Qi Xuefei–were still chatting.

“Everyone, has any of you gone out?” Xu Xin asked.

Wen Guixin: “I’ve already come out, currently looking for the holes you mentioned, haven’t found any yet.”

Wang Lei: “I came out too! Made it out using Sister Xuefei’s pills!”

Wang Lei coming out surprised Xu Xin a bit; he checked the records to find out how he managed to get out.