Taking one last look at the seemingly bottomless, calm lake, Xu Xin was worried that the giant cavern under the lake might continue to expand, but there was nothing he could do. He sighed and carried Keke back.

Back at the mine's location, his pet had been digging for a long time. The pit was already filled with coal, yet it continued to dig incessantly.

"Alright, that's enough for now!" Xu Xin hurriedly stopped his pet.

The pet let out a dissatisfied sound. It seemed to have a penchant for mining, treating it as a hobby to expend its energy.

In that one hour, his pet had significantly expanded the mining pit. The ground was covered in coal; each piece definitely amounted to thousands.

The efficiency was simply extraordinary!

Xu Xin spent quite some effort to collect all the coal from the ground into his backpack, totaling 26,534 pieces!

Over twenty thousand pieces!

Such a large amount was unexpected, yet made perfect sense. After all, the coal was easy to mine - a single swing would yield over ten pieces; his pet was far more efficient than him, so mining over twenty thousand pieces in an hour was quite normal.

Luckily, he now had a high-grade backpack; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to carry all this coal at once.

However, despite over twenty thousand pieces seeming like a lot, it would be used up quickly. Each batch of steel required 25 pieces of coal, plus Li Wenxi's furnace was constantly using coal, causing consumption at a rapid pace.

Since his pet wasn't tired and wanted to keep digging, Xu Xin let it continue for another hour and planned to come back to collect the coal in the evening.

The pet made a sound and then dove back into the pit to keep mining.

Xu Xin walked toward the treehouse.

At this time, Lou Fei'Er was already standing under the tree, leaning against the Silver King, and fiddling with her wristwatch.

On Silver King's back, there was a person securely tied up - apparently unconscious.

Isn't that Le Youfang?

Wow, they directly knocked him out and tied him up?

Seeing Xu Xin return, Lou Fei'Er quickly waved at him: "You're finally back; I've been here for almost half an hour!"

When she returned, Xu Xin was still in the water. Not knowing where Xu Xin was, and not daring to wander off, she had no choice but to wait under the treehouse until he returned.

"You went... mining?"

When Xu Xin got closer, Lou Fei'Er looked at him with a peculiar expression, wanting to laugh but holding back.

Although he hadn't been mining just now, having come from the lake with water all over him and then entering the pit, his body was naturally covered with coal's blackness, especially his hands and feet.

"Eep?" Keke jumped down from Xu Xin's shoulder and onto Silver King's back, nudging Le Youfang's head with its little paw, and then started conversing with Silver King, "eep eep eep".

"How did you handle this? Did you knock him out immediately without explaining the situation?" Xu Xin looked at the unconscious Le Youfang on the wolf's back and frowned.

"No," Lou Fei'Er shook her head and said, "I directly entered his treehouse relying on my position in the top ten of District 187, persuaded him, and explained the situation. If he didn't want to die, he had no choice but to come with me."

"Persuaded?"

"My dagger is named 'Virtue'!" Lou Fei'Er pointed to the dagger attached to her waist.

Xu Xin: "… What's his situation? Can you share?"

"Oh, this kid is a disgruntled youth in District 187, especially loves speaking in the district channel, and likes stirring other survivors' emotions. I've seen his name several times; after 'talking' with him, I learned Zhang Daoguang instructed him to act like this in the district channel."

The king of online trolls in District 187.

"I asked him if he wanted to live or die. He was perceptive and agreed to come along without much resistance."

"Then why is he unconscious?" Xu Xin pointed at the still motionless Le Youfang on the wolf's back, puzzled.

Hmm? Did he move a bit?

"Oh, to bring him back, I didn't want him holding onto me behind, so I had to tie him to the wolf's back. He refused, so I knocked him out." Lou Fei'Er shrugged, expressing helplessness.

Xu Xin approached Silver King.

Le Youfang's breathing had become a bit uneven, and his heart rate was accelerating.

Clearly, he had woken up.

"Untie him."

"Oh, okay." Lou Fei'Er swiped her right hand across her waist, and a gleam of cold light cut through, severing the ropes that fell to the ground.

Le Youfang realized they knew he was awake and awkwardly lifted his head: "Um, hello, I… Holy crap! Aren't you… Xu Feng, bro? Wait, you're Xu Xin, the big shot?"

Le Youfang was dumbfounded the moment he saw Xu Xin. Immediately, he pushed himself off the wolf's back, eyes wide open.

His impression of Xu Xin's face was deep, given that Xu Xin was the first person he met in this world, and the only person he'd seen until Lou Fei'Er arrived today; coupled with Xu Xin's memorable face, his impression was indeed deep-set.

No wonder the voice seemed familiar earlier!

"Haven't you been disparaging outsiders in the district channel? Why call him a big shot now?" Lou Fei'Er stood half a step behind Xu Xin, looking at Le Youfang with a hint of sarcasm. She had long disliked his inflammatory behavior in the district channel.

"Ah, Zhang Daoguang gave me resources to do that." Le Youfang scratched his head, "I was originally quite friendly to outsiders; Xu Feng, um no, Xu Xin knows my previous attitude."

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