Xu Xin now felt that he was in danger.
He did indeed have thoughts of wanting to go out and try, but it was merely a thought. His caution would not allow him to put this idea into practice.
But the fact was that he seemed to have lost his mind, conquered by the desire in his heart, and easily stepped out.
"There must be something around here influencing me!" Xu Xin looked around vigilantly, still seeing the familiar white poplar forest and low shrubs.
It was then that he realized the invigorating effect of the orange (blue) he had eaten in the treehouse had worn off.
Xu Xin took out an orange (blue) from his backpack and ate it. His spirit was lifted again, fatigue was swept away, and his mind instantly became much clearer.
It was very quiet around. The jungle at night always gave a sense of dark, cold, and full of danger.
Xu Xin stared intently at the crack on the ground, from which the vines had emerged earlier.
"As long as I walk out of the three-kilometer range, vines will come out of the ground to attack me?" Xu Xin's mind cleared and he began to ponder, "The place where I'm standing now is less than a meter away from that boundary. At such a short distance, can't those vines come in?"
Xu Xin suddenly remembered the vines guarding the bronze treasure chest earlier. After appearing, they only attacked him twice before becoming dry and brittle, crumbling at a touch. But the recent vines didn't, they didn't even turn back to strike at him, just gradually retracted underground.
It seemed that within the three-kilometer range, he was indeed protected.
To confirm his thoughts, Xu Xin, with tense mind and body, once again stretched his foot outward.
This time he didn't lose his mind; it was his own well-thought-out action.
Sure enough, a red dot quickly lit up on the map. Xu Xin dodged his foot to the side, and a vine thicker than the previous one broke through the ground, suddenly shooting up six or seven meters high into the air.
This vine even had dense blood-red barbs growing on it, making one's heart chill.
At this moment, Xu Xin's foot was still outside the boundary. The vine twisted in the air and directly lashed towards Xu Xin's ankle.
Xu Xin quickly pulled his foot back to his side, retreating.
But that vine didn't enter the inner boundary, as if there was an invisible wall on the three-kilometer boundary line. It abruptly stopped outside the boundary.
Under Xu Xin's vigilant gaze, this vine didn't launch another attack at him. The vine twisted and turned a few circles, seemingly giving up, and slowly retracted underground.
"Is it really like this?" Xu Xin squinted, pondering, "As long as I step out of the protected area, those strange creatures underground will come to attack me, but if I return to this area, even if those creatures have already launched an attack, they won't pursue inside."
Is it because if they pursue inside, they will crumble like the vines that guarded the bronze treasure chest before? Then how to explain that giant crocodile, why could that giant prehistoric crocodile carrying the silver treasure chest move within the protected area?
Although he couldn't understand, Xu Xin could at least be sure that something around must be influencing his mind, trying to lure him out of the three-kilometer protected area, letting these underground vines kill him.
Could it be the monster guarding the golden treasure chest?
Xu Xin patted the little one in his arms.
Coco twisted in his arms and slowly opened its eyes: "Yin?"
"Coco, can you sense anything unusual around?"
Coco rubbed its eyes with its paws, and then Xu Xin felt the originally soft little furball in his arms suddenly tense up.
"Yin!" Coco suddenly jumped out of his arms, stood up somewhat nervously facing the direction behind Xu Xin, raising both paws, making a gesture of encountering danger.
Xu Xin took out the stone spear and aimed it in that direction.
Coco reached out its paw and tugged at Xu Xin's trouser leg, indicating for Xu Xin to follow.
Xu Xin looked at it with some concern: "You must be careful, don't get ambushed."
"Yin!"
That direction was a place Xu Xin had never been to before, a dark area on the map.
After walking for a short while, probably just a few hundred meters, Xu Xin seemed to smell a special fragrance in the air, which became more and more apparent as they moved forward.
Xu Xin rubbed his nose, feeling the stimulation, and thought uncertainly: "Is this… flower fragrance?"
As they continued walking, Xu Xin found that the surrounding poplar trees seemed to have become sparser, and underfoot it was no longer all weeds and shrubs. Gradually, there were more yellow small flowers, swaying gently in the wind.
The floral fragrance was overwhelming, making Xu Xin's consciousness somewhat dizzy, unconsciously quickening his pace.
But he immediately realized something was wrong, pinched his arm hard, making his mind clear again.
"It's this flower fragrance! It was this flower fragrance that was luring me to walk out of the protected area just now!"
Perhaps because the flower fragrance was more diluted in the previous location, deceiving his sense of smell, but now Xu Xin could feel that this influence on his mind was exactly the same as before.
Realizing this, Xu Xin quickly lifted his clothes, covering his nose and mouth, then feeling it hindered his movement, he directly took off his clothes and tied them over his face.
"Coco, come back, let's walk together." Having already sensed the danger, he naturally couldn't let Coco take the lead anymore.
"Yin!" Coco seemed unaffected by this flower fragrance, nimbly climbing up Xu Xin's leg onto his shoulder.
This little one was truly mysterious.
Xu Xin, holding the stone spear, continued to walk forward.
The surrounding poplar trees became increasingly sparse, and the yellow flowers on the ground became more and more numerous. Even though Xu Xin had covered his nose and mouth, that pungent floral fragrance still made him frown deeply.
Whether it was due to his highly tense mental state at this time or the effect of the orange (blue) he had eaten, despite the pungent smell, it didn't seem to affect his mind again.
"Hmm? That is…" Xu Xin suddenly stopped in his tracks.
There were no more poplar trees around, and now under his feet was a sea of flowers, a sea of bright yellow flowers. And right before his eyes, a golden treasure chest was conspicuously placed in the middle of this sea of flowers.
"The golden treasure chest?" Xu Xin's eyes lit up. He didn't expect to find the golden treasure chest here.
"Yin?" Coco on his shoulder turned its head to look at him.
Xu Xin didn't continue walking forward, nor did he rush to open the treasure chest. He felt something was strange.
This golden treasure chest surely wouldn't be so easy to obtain. Beneath this sea of flowers, there must be hidden a great danger.
There were no red dots on the map in his mind, but Xu Xin still didn't forget to keep an eye on the map. Although the map wouldn't show underground monsters, it would give a warning before the monsters emerged from the ground, which was enough.
Gripping the stone spear tightly, slowly, slowly, Xu Xin walked towards the golden treasure chest.
According to Xu Xin's earlier deduction, this monster would infinitely magnify his inner thoughts, making him forget himself and go to fulfill this thought. So he must strive to resist the desire in his heart.
However, at this moment Xu Xin didn't feel anything unusual about himself. His mind was exceptionally clear, and he didn't have that feeling of inner desire expanding, strongly wanting to put thoughts into practice like before.
Nothing happened, and Xu Xin just walked step by step to the side of the golden treasure chest.
Standing in front of the golden treasure chest, Xu Xin was a bit confused.
Just… came over like this?