Chapter 12. The Tree Demon's Secret Realm ⑦: Extreme Misfortune...

Lin Xiaoxiao followed everyone's gaze and looked at the giant. Her 5.2 vision allowed her to see the giant's condition very clearly.

Looking at the densely packed, round fruits in the crevice, her stomach churned, her hair stood on end, goosebumps rose all over her body, and she wished she could slap her own eyes.

People with trypophobia are not suitable for watching this scene, which looks like a giant being parasitized by a large number of insect eggs.

Xiao Weizhi seemed to sense Lin Xiaoxiao's discomfort, and subtly shifted his position, using his broad body to block her view.

With cold eyes, he stared at the giant and commanded in a stern voice: "Protect! It's about to attack."

Chen Feng quickly raised the sword, held it in front of his chest, closed his eyes, opened and closed his mouth quickly and silently, and chanted a spell.

One meter behind him stood Cheng Cheng, who also had his eyes closed, holding a staff in both hands, with the top of the staff against his forehead, and silently chanting a spell.

As the giant slowly moved his body, he continued to search through the clouds.

Finally, after a few minutes, it locked onto the bubble where the Dragon Tooth Squad was located, clenched its fist, and quickly swung it in that direction.

Just as her fist was about to touch the bubble, Lin Xiaoxiao was terrified and unconsciously gripped Xiao Weizhi's belt.

A semi-transparent knight giant radiating golden light appeared out of thin air. He stretched out his right hand to block the giant's fist, and with his left hand clenched into a fist, he punched the giant hard in the face.

Xiao Weizhi waved his staff, and dozens of fireballs the size of basketballs landed on the giant's joints. Apart from the rumbling explosions, the giant was not harmed at all.

Wang Hao put away the massive cannon and opted for a pair of uniquely designed pistols instead.

He aimed at what was likely the giant's heart, pulled the trigger hard, and two bluish-green bullets, each only 3 centimeters long, were fired rapidly.

It struck the giant's heart, creating a massive explosion. Minutes later, the giant's body remained completely unharmed.

Wang Hao sighed helplessly: "What's wrong with this giant? So many skills have been thrown at it, and it hasn't even scratched off a bit of skin."

He clicked his tongue in annoyance, finding it most annoying when dozens or even hundreds of skills were thrown at a monster without causing it the slightest injury.

Xiao Weizhi narrowed his eyes behind his gold-rimmed glasses, as if he had noticed something, and said with certainty, "No, that giant is injured, but its body repairs itself so quickly that we can't see it with the naked eye."

"Attack the same place!!"

Apart from Chen Feng and Cheng Cheng, who were controlling the giant with their eyes closed, everyone else was attacking the same place with a clear objective. Even Chen Yijin was frantically throwing alchemical bombs in that direction.

After more than three hours of back-and-forth fighting, the green giant's recovery rate slowed down.

Finally, a big hole was punched in the stomach, and it was temporarily unable to recover to its original appearance.

Xiao Weizhi, panting heavily, directed Jiang Tao beside him: "Jiang Tao, I will release a fire-type forbidden spell later, and then send you into the big hole in the giant's belly. Your task is to enter the giant's body and cut off its energy source."

Jiang Tao raised his hands above his head and saluted: "I guarantee that I will complete the mission."

Xiao Weizhi lowered his eyes and instructed, "Be careful!"

Soon, as the fire-based forbidden spell fell, a bubble quietly dodged the meteor shower falling from the sky and flew swiftly toward the large hole punched into the giant's waist and abdomen.

After completing all of this, Xiao Weizhi uncontrollably staggered back several steps.

Lin Xiaoxiao reached out to support him, her voice filled with concern: "Are you alright?"

Xiao Weizhi paused for a minute, then forced himself to stand, beads of sweat dripping from his forehead onto the ground: "I'm fine."

The war of attrition continued, and a dozen minutes later...

The translucent golden giant vanished with a roar, and Cheng Cheng was completely exhausted. Chen Feng barely managed to hold her up. Xiao Weizhi's face was deathly pale, and she was clearly at her last gasp. Wang Hao had collapsed to the ground. The light in Li Junxuan's hand flickered on and off, and the large shield beneath the Dragon Fang Squad's feet was almost invisible...

The giant clenched his fist and continued to smash down towards the location of the squad.

Xiao Weizhi's handsome face was dark as he stared intently at the fist that was about to strike. In a protective stance, he reached out and shielded Lin Xiaoxiao behind him.

Just two meters away from the punching distance, the giant suddenly let out a wail.

After the wailing, its entire body exploded, turning into a pile of green grass covered with star fruits. At the same time, the following sound also rang out:

[Congratulations to the Dragon Fang Squad for defeating the level 88 Bronze-rank BOSS – Star Giant]

...

Upon hearing this sound, Xiao Weizhi controlled the bubbles to fall to the bottom of the pit and dissipate.

Li Junxuan instantly dispelled his shield, his face covered in cold sweat, and lay on the ground panting heavily.

Jiang Tao's smug voice rang out in the team channel: "Brothers, how about it? Wasn't my rescue a timely help?"

Wang Hao rolled his eyes: "Get lost!!"

After resting for more than half an hour, the entire Dragon Fang team dragged their tired bodies around the area of ​​more than ten kilometers, but everyone's face was filled with uncontrollable excitement.

A few hours later, Lin Xiaoxiao stored the several huge containers in her space, thus completing her current task.

The group quickly found a suitable spot and set up their tent.

As the sun set, everyone gathered around the campfire, waiting for Chen Yijin to cook.

Wang Hao gave Lin Xiaoxiao a thumbs up: "Today's draw was perfect. Keep it up tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Tao immediately bit the half-eaten apple in his hand with his mouth, and as if in a competition, he raised two thumbs up. Because he was holding the apple in his mouth, his tone was a little unclear: "Meicuo, Meicuo, continue."

Chen Feng and Cheng Cheng exchanged a glance and gave each other a thumbs up in agreement.

Liu Huihui gently exhaled the smoke from his mouth and gave a thumbs-up with his left hand.

Li Junxuan squatted not far away smoking, and Chen Yijin stopped stirring his cooking and also gave a thumbs up.

Lin Xiaoxiao really wanted to ask these people if they were serious. If anything went wrong today, they would all be dead.

She turned her head in surprise to look at Xiao Weizhi, who was sitting a seat away from her, and asked with her eyes: Aren't you going to do anything about it?

Xiao Weizhi noticed Lin Xiaoxiao's gaze, looked up from the information on the communicator, and found that everyone was pointing at her. He followed suit and gave her a thumbs up as well.

Lin Xiaoxiao smiled wryly. If they weren't worried, why was she, a mascot with no fighting ability, worrying about nothing?

Her voice held a hint of helplessness: "I'll try my best."

Before falling asleep, Lin Xiaoxiao lit the sleep-inducing aromatherapy diffuser and gradually drifted off to sleep with its delicate floral fragrance.

Not long after she fell asleep, Xiao Weizhi, who was lying in the next room, more than a meter away from her, turned around, put his hands under his head, and his eyes, which were not wearing glasses, shone faintly in the darkness, clearly falling on Lin Xiaoxiao's peaceful sleeping face.

Suddenly, she recalled Chen Feng's casual remark from that afternoon: "Weizhi, if you like someone, just go for it. Adventurers like us never know which secret realm we might die in next. Don't leave yourself with regrets."

Like? He likes her?

How could that be? It's just because of her identity as the bound one, her fate was forced to be bound to hers, so she cares a little.

Amidst a jumble of thoughts, Xiao Weizhi closed her eyes and drifted off to sleep.

A faint fragrance wafted through the tent. In the darkness, Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi smiled slightly, as if they were both dreaming sweet dreams.

In the next ten days, Lin Xiaoxiao drew lots and then decided which direction to go.

As each fortune slip was drawn, the Dragon Tooth Squad either had a huge harvest or spent the time having fun as if on a spring outing:

Along the way, they passed through a large field of flowers, some twenty meters high and as tall as small buildings, and obtained a batch of special nectar.

Then, on a cliff, a large area of ​​special medicinal herbs that looked like stone were harvested;

Then, in a large lake, they defeated a silver-level boss and obtained a large amount of aquatic resources and ingredients...

As time went by, the Dragon Fang team began to approach the core area of ​​the secret realm. Every time they drew an unlucky lot, it was a life-or-death battle, and every time they managed to turn the tide in the end.

The advantage is that everyone in the team has seen a significant improvement in their leveling up.

Chen Feng, who has the highest level, has leveled up and is now level 113.

Lin Xiaoxiao's lowest level has reached 41. This is even with some experience points stored (a passive effect after obtaining the experience chest: after gaining experience each day, it will be directly stored in an experience bottle, and you will need to manually level up later) and a permanent -50% experience point buff.

Early that morning, Lin Xiaoxiao drew an extremely unlucky divination slip:

[Extremely ominous: Traveling north is fraught with peril; all dazzling brilliance is but fleeting clouds. Death is inevitable, and even turning back may bring good fortune, but how can you save yourself? Turn back quickly, depart swiftly!]

When Lin Xiaoxiao saw the fortune slip, her small hand holding the slip container trembled slightly.

The earlier divination results were all minor and ominous, but each day was a narrow victory, a desperate comeback.

If this ominous fortune slip could speak, it would jump up and point its finger at them, yelling: "If you want to live, turn back right now! Don't go north! Going north will just lead you to deliver packages, and the end result will be that you're being sent away!"

Xiao Weizhi stood behind Lin Xiaoxiao, and after reading the fortune slip, a glint of light flashed in his eyes behind his glasses, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. He had finally waited for this, and it was an extremely unlucky fortune slip.

He had been wondering before whether the ominous sign he was thinking of was the one.

He was calm but with a hint of excitement: "Pack up and get ready to go."

“Got it.” Everyone said in unison*7, except Lin Xiaoxiao.

The group quickly packed everything up and hopped onto a 10-seater flying vehicle (the previous mountain bikes had been buried underground, and this one was a spare).

As the flying car traveled north for more than two thousand kilometers, the scenery along the way changed from lush green grass at the beginning to a desolate landscape of yellow without a trace of greenery, as barren as the desert in the northwest.

Li Junxuan sat in the driver's seat, looking at the driving record on the flying car, and frowned, saying, "What's going on? More than 2,600 kilometers, and there's nothing."

Chen Feng was the first to drive, and after five hours, Li Junxuan took over. In another half hour, Liu Huihui will take over.

Xiao Weizhi tapped the armrest of the seat lightly with her fingers, her voice calm and confident: "No rush, let's keep going."

Half an hour passed quickly, and Liu Huihui took over as the driver.

As the flying car sped up, a large tree could be vaguely seen in the clouds ahead. The tree's emerald green canopy was dotted with golden specks, resembling a beautiful painting from afar.

Jiang Tao gripped the back of the chair in front of him, leaning forward to look ahead, and excitedly whistled, "Whoosh~"

Wang Hao shoved Jiang Tao aside, his expression excited: "We've finally arrived."

No one expected that, just when they thought they were almost there, the flying car ran non-stop for four days and nights, changing its energy source three times, before it barely managed to get close to the edge of the tree's canopy.

Thus, the Dragon Fang team was still about ten kilometers away from that tree trunk.

Before my eyes: towering trees over a hundred meters tall reaching into the clouds, with soft, lush green lawns beneath their canopies, interspersed with flowers of various colors and shapes, and occasionally golden rays of light drifting down from the treetops, falling onto the grass, and then disappearing into the soil.

It looks like a beautiful, vibrant painting, a paradise on earth.

But the area not covered by the tree canopy seemed to be drawn with a clear dividing line, and outside the dividing line was yellow land without a trace of life.

At this moment, the entire Dragon Fang Squad was on this yellow earth, cautiously looking at the lawn a meter away in front of them.

Chen Feng frowned and asked tentatively: "Weizhi, what do you mean?"

Xiao Wei rubbed his chin, staring at the tree for a while before speaking: "Don't rush. Retreat 5 kilometers and don't attack today. Let's rest and recuperate for a night, and then start fighting tomorrow."

Upon hearing this, the group quickly boarded their flying vehicle, preparing to find a suitable spot to set up camp and get a good night's rest before launching another major battle the next day.

Before boarding the flying car, Lin Xiaoxiao lagged behind, still staring blankly at the large tree whose canopy swayed slightly in the windless air.

Xiao Weizhi had only taken two steps when he noticed she wasn't following, so he turned around and asked, "What's wrong?"

Lin Xiaoxiao gently shook her head: "It's nothing."

I hurriedly followed everyone else, but before getting on the bus, I couldn't help but look back several times, my strange feeling growing stronger.

Why did she have this absurd feeling that the tree was greeting her?

Once seated in the flying car, Lin Xiaoxiao couldn't help but touch the connection point of the mechanical prosthetic limb. It was strange today; she felt a faint warmth emanating from the broken section of her leg. It didn't hurt, but it felt odd, as if it were trying to warn her about something.

Xiao Weizhi frowned, watching Lin Xiaoxiao's hand caress her prosthetic leg, and asked in a deep voice, "Is your broken leg uncomfortable?"

Before Lin Xiaoxiao could speak, Cheng Cheng turned around nervously and asked, "Xiaoxiao, is your broken leg uncomfortable? I'll cast a spell on you, and once we've set up camp, I'll take a good look at it."

Immediately afterwards, a milky white holy light emanated from Cheng Cheng's hand, and a fist-sized ball of light landed on Lin Xiaoxiao's leg.

She shook her head and explained softly, "I don't feel uncomfortable. Sister Cheng Cheng checks my legs every day."

From the day they entered this secret realm, every night before going to sleep, Cheng Cheng would check Lin Xiaoxiao's legs, then use his skills to nurture them, making sure she was not uncomfortable before returning to his tent to rest.

It's no exaggeration to say that she's currently the most physically fit member of the team, even surpassing Xiao Weizhi in terms of physical condition.

Cheng Cheng immediately breathed a sigh of relief: "That's good. If you feel unwell, be sure to tell your sister."

Lin Xiaoxiao nodded obediently: "Yes, thank you, Sister Cheng Cheng."

After saying that, T turned his head again, his gaze falling on the towering tree, staring at it blankly.

Xiao Weizhi pursed his lips and followed her gaze to the large tree that resembled the BOSS monster. His expression was inscrutable, and he kept his doubts to himself.