"Meow!" Coco leaped forcefully into Xu Xin's arms, burying its furry head in his embrace.
"It's alright now, it's over," Xu Xin stroked Coco's head, also feeling a sense of relief after surviving the ordeal.
Recalling everything he had just experienced, Xu Xin was still in a state of fear. If even one step had gone wrong, he would have already left this world.
The yellow flowers on the ground began to wither rapidly. Soon, this sea of yellow flowers transformed into a barren wasteland, without even weeds growing – truly desolate.
Xu Xin sat on the ground, placing Coco on his lap, and put his shirt back on that he had wrapped around his face earlier.
"Indeed, was my mind still affected?" While calming down, Xu Xin reflected on what had just happened.
Wrapping his shirt around his face earlier didn't seem to have much effect.
If his mind hadn't been influenced, firstly, he wouldn't have recklessly entered this eerie field of flowers, even if the golden treasure chest he had been searching for was placed in the middle. But he had only paused briefly, barely thinking before directly entering this dangerous area.
When he reached the treasure chest, if it had been his normal self, he would have definitely put the golden chest into his backpack and quickly left this strange flower field, opening it elsewhere. Instead, he had taken out the key, intending to open it right there.
The most obvious sign was the fake treasure chest – he had mistaken a broken rock for a chest! This must have been a hallucination caused by inhaling too much of the flower's fragrance.
He looked at Coco, who was still burying its head in his arms, and smiled. If it weren't for this little one, he would have truly perished here today. He took an orange from his backpack and stuffed it into Coco's paws.
"Meow!" Coco immediately started happily eating the orange.
This little one seemed unaffected by the flower's fragrance, which is why Coco's two puzzled calls had raised his suspicions. The first time was when he mentioned the golden chest, and the second when he took out the golden key.
Those two confused calls made Xu Xin realize that what he and Coco were seeing was different; Coco apparently hadn't seen the golden chest. So when he looked at the chest again, he started observing more carefully.
Before coming here, Xu Xin had seen the bronze and silver chests side by side in his treehouse. The patterns on the two chests formed the body of a beast similar to a qilin, so he had deduced that the golden chest should have the head of this beast printed on it.
But the pattern on the fake golden chest was chaotic.
Although he couldn't be certain about the authenticity of the chest's pattern, it was better to be safe than sorry, so he directly aimed his stone spear at the fake chest and thrust. Unexpectedly, it actually broke the illusion.
If he hadn't discovered the truth and had used the key to open the fake chest, perhaps the process of the stone cracking would have been hidden in the illusion of the chest opening. Xu Xin wouldn't have had time to run, maybe not even realizing what was happening before being swallowed whole by the man-eating flower.
What happened after that, he did his best, and ultimately saved his own life.
The danger of this man-eating flower was far greater than the previous beast tide and vines, making Xu Xin deeply aware of his own weakness. If it weren't for Coco's help and a series of coincidences, he would have been unknowingly dragged into the abyss of hell by this mind-affecting man-eating flower.
These strange creatures were truly terrifying, far more frightening than those wild beasts!
Fortunately, these things seemingly couldn't survive for long within three kilometers of the treehouse. The previous vines had only attacked him twice before withering, and although this man-eating flower had persisted a bit longer, it still couldn't escape the fate of becoming a crisp specimen.
After sitting and resting for a while, Xu Xin, having calmed down, stood up and picked up the stone spear he had thrown on the ground earlier. He began to clear away the dry, crisp remains of the man-eating flower. Such a strange flower must have been a monster guarding the golden chest. Perhaps the golden chest was hidden inside the body of the man-eating flower, just like the previous bronze chest.
However, after poking through all the flower's remains, Xu Xin couldn't find what he was looking for.
"Could it be that this time the chest isn't inside the monster?"
After sweeping the remains aside, the hole formed by the cracking rock appeared before his eyes.
The inside of the hole was pitch black. But this wasn't difficult for Xu Xin, as he had eaten the red berry and gained night vision ability. Even the darkest environment appeared as bright as day to him.
The entrance was wide enough for a person to pass through. Inside wasn't a golden chest as he had imagined, but an underground cave about two meters high. From Xu Xin's angle, he couldn't see what was deep inside the cave.
The ground at this hole opened by the man-eating flower was vertical and had been turned over. Clearly, that huge man-eating flower had emerged from deeper underground, perhaps just passing through this underground cave.
"What is this place? Could the golden chest be inside?" Xu Xin fell into deep thought.
"Meow!" Coco tugged at Xu Xin's clothes from his arms, then pointed at the cave with its paw, and made a rectangular shape with both paws.
"Are you saying the chest is down there?"
"Meow!" Coco nodded, its big tail brushing against Xu Xin's arm.
"How do you know?" Xu Xin was still curious about Coco's mysterious abilities.
"Meow?" Coco tilted its head.
Never mind, it couldn't explain anyway.
"But…" Xu Xin frowned.
The space below was too narrow, the width of the cave basically only allowing one person to pass through. If they encountered danger, like more vines coming out or something, there would be no place to dodge in such a small space, basically no possibility of escape.
If the golden chest was in this cave, Xu Xin was somewhat tempted to give up.
He had already obtained the silver chest, at least ensuring he wouldn't be eliminated at the bottom.
"Meow!" Seeing Xu Xin's hesitation, Coco immediately jumped down from his arms, grabbing his pant leg as if trying to lead him down.
Xu Xin had a thought and asked, "Coco, is there no danger down there?"
Coco nodded its little head.
Receiving Coco's affirmative response, Xu Xin's fear of the unknown in this cave lessened considerably.
He looked at the cave, pondered for a moment, and decided to go down to search for the golden chest.
At least up to now, Coco's perception of danger had been very accurate. Whether it was the first bronze chest or this man-eating flower, Coco had given similar warnings before the monsters appeared, yet hadn't sensed anything in front of the harmless alligator.
So far, its danger prediction accuracy was 100%.
So Xu Xin decided to trust it this time.
After all, having gone through such a dangerous experience, narrowly escaping death, it would be disappointing to return empty-handed, even for Xu Xin.
But before that, Xu Xin needed to widen this entrance a bit. In case something really happened, it would be too difficult to climb out of this small hole.
Taking out his blue-grade stone hoe from his backpack, Xu Xin got to work.
Within about fifteen minutes, Xu Xin had widened the vertical hole into a slope that could be walked down directly.
"Perfect, this way if something happens inside, we can run straight up," Xu Xin looked at his handiwork with satisfaction, putting the stone hoe back into his backpack.