Looking down at the golden treasure chest in front of him, Xu Xin hesitated to open it.
"Did it really come this easily?" Xu Xin cautiously surveyed his surroundings.
He was in the center of a vast sea of yellow flowers, with the ground around him covered in gently swaying yellow blossoms.
In a poplar grove, there was this flower sea, which just seemed out of place.
He shifted his gaze towards the treasure chest. Could the problem be with the chest?
The chest was entirely golden, larger than the silver treasure chest, with a keyhole on its surface. It looked simply like an enlarged version of the silver chest, apart from the color.
After pondering for a moment, Xu Xin decided to take out the golden key. He couldn't just stand there doing nothing; this flower sea looked eerie, and lingering here might lead to trouble.
"Hmm?" The shoulder-perched Keke tilted its head at him, seemingly puzzled.
"What's up, Keke, did you notice something?" Xu Xin paused his action, having heard Keke's confused sound for the second time.
Is there something wrong with what I'm doing?
Once again, Xu Xin looked at the treasure chest.
Suddenly, Xu Xin sensed something was amiss, his expression gradually grew serious, as he took a step back.
He put away the golden key, stared at the treasure chest expressionlessly, and suddenly struck it forcefully with the stone spear in his grip!
With a "bang," the recoil from the stone spear left his palm aching. He heard the sound of two stones colliding, rather than the crisp clink of a spear hitting a metal chest!
Stone chips flew everywhere. Suddenly, the golden treasure chest before him began to look illusory, as if the surrounding space was distorting. A strong sense of danger surged once more in Xu Xin's heart, and a red dot rapidly appeared on the map.
Although the red dot hadn't fully brightened, it was already more prominent than a black bear or vines.
Thoughts raced through his mind, and Xu Xin had only one action in mind: Run!
He sprinted towards the nearest poplar, glancing back with his peripheral vision to see the original spot of the treasure chest.
After the illusion faded, there was no golden treasure chest, only a rock as large as the chest.
The rock was violently shaking at that moment, suddenly cracking open, and amid crisp sounds, the gap widened.
With a "bang," the rock shattered, and from the hole left by the broken rock, a huge blood-red flower swiftly sprang out! The thick stem, covered in barbs like thorns, rapidly stretched upwards, lifting the flower to nearly ten meters high!
The petals were a bizarre blood red, peppered with dense, bulging yellow spots, and the flower core was deeply hollowed out, filled with sharp red thorns, resembling a lamprey's mouth—a sight that sent shivers down the spine. The entire flower was opening towards Xu Xin like a gigantic bloodthirsty maw!
"Another gigantic monster! Is that a Cannibal Flower!"
Because splitting the rock took some time, Xu Xin and Keke had successfully escaped to the nearest poplar by now, where the yellow flowers on the ground grew slightly sparser than those in the heart of the flower sea.
With cover, Xu Xin felt a bit relieved, and Keke had long jumped off his shoulder, emitting hoarse and sharp howls at the monstrous blood-red flower far away.
The Cannibal Flower's eerie flower core undulated, a viscous liquid trickled from its mouth-like opening, and a pungent floral scent hit Xu Xin, suddenly making his head feel dizzy.
Fortunately, he was prepared, already aware that this flower could affect one's mind, so he pinched himself hard.
While clearing his head, several branches covered in barbs swung right before him!
Xu Xin immediately leaned back, barely dodging as the branch grazed his nose and face!
Just then, another branch descended from above, seemingly trying to directly impale him and pin him to the ground!
In danger, Xu Xin dropped the stone spear, planting his hands on the ground, and performed a sideflip, narrowly evading the second branch.
The ground where he had been was like soft tofu, penetrated deeply by the branch from above!
Having evaded the second branch, Xu Xin barely breathed a sigh of relief when a strong sense of danger rose again behind him. Without thinking, he lunged to one side.
All he heard was a crack, as the poplar in front of him was swept and snapped in half, collapsing to the ground with a massive sound.
This Cannibal Flower's branch can even sweep a tree in half!
Xu Xin rolled on the ground and swiftly got back on his feet.
He felt his movements slowing as the floral scent affected him, like being weighed down by something heavy. Breath after breath, but the more he inhaled, the more floral scent surged in, making him even more dazed.
Once again, Xu Xin narrowly dodged the Cannibal Flower's branch attack, but something suddenly clamped onto his foot. Looking down, he saw it was another branch!
"Damn it!!" Without giving him time to react, Xu Xin was lifted by his ankle and dangled upside down in mid-air, dragged toward the Cannibal Flower's flower core.
"Eeek eeek eeek!" Keke shrieked in panic below. It wasn't targeted by the Cannibal Flower, which seemed uninterested in it; all branches were aimed at Xu Xin.
Seeing Xu Xin dragged into the air, Keke charged at the Cannibal Flower's root. All the branches sprouted from that root.
Just as Xu Xin was about to be hurled into the Cannibal Flower's gaping maw, Keke bit down on the base of the branch that bound Xu Xin's ankle.
The branch trembled slightly, and Xu Xin quickly pulled a stone ax from his backpack, fiercely striking the bloodthirsty maw-like flower core near his head.
The stone ax felt like chopping wood, and shockingly, Xu Xin heard a shrill scream from the Cannibal Flower, which echoed like a piercing whistle from the maw-like flower core.
At the same time, the vine around Xu Xin's ankle loosened, letting him fall onto the blood-red petals.
The texture of these petals felt very raw-meat-like, and the yellow protrusions on the petals felt like fleshy bumps, a touch sensation that made Xu Xin's hairs stand on end, raising goosebumps on his arms.
The stone ax works! Ax-like tools have an exceptional effect on plants! While thinking, Xu Xin struck the petal fiercely with the ax.
The Cannibal Flower winced in pain, wailing once more as the enormous flower violently trembled, sprawling its petals out before swiftly closing inward.
"This flower's going to trap me inside!" Xu Xin's face changed drastically, frantically hacking at the petals with the ax.
Unexpectedly, the petals abruptly stopped closing, and the momentum of Xu Xin's continued ax swings slapped the ax onto the petals hard, with a "crack" sound embedding the ax head deep into the thick petals.
"What's going on?" Xu Xin stood amidst the half-closed flower, his heart pounding fiercely while his hand holding the ax trembled slightly.
With a slight exertion, he withdrew the ax from the petals, and the ax-penetrated petal gradually cracked along the ax's cut, soon shattering into pieces that scattered on the ground.
Xu Xin touched the other petals, finding the previously fleshy sensation had hardened. When he applied pressure, the petals crumbled like dried thin pancakes.
It's the same situation again, just like the vines around the copper chest earlier, after a few attacks, they seemed drained of moisture, becoming dry and brittle, cracking upon touch.
Thankfully, when the Cannibal Flower's petals closed, the stalk inclined forward, leaving the flower hanging just over three meters from the ground. Xu Xin grabbed the brittle flower's edge, hooked himself onto it, and then released, easily jumping down.
The Cannibal Flower, now dry and brittle like a specimen due to Xu Xin's efforts, broke apart directly, with the enormous flower dropping to the ground and shattering everywhere.