Chapter 4

*Creak—!*

Gao Xi pushed the door of the treehouse open with all his might and stepped inside. He had expected the room to be pitch black due to the lack of light, but to his surprise, the room was bathed in a very soft glow. This light was not blinding, but it illuminated everything inside the room clearly.

He tried to find the source of the light but found it impossible to pinpoint. It seemed as if the entire wall of the treehouse was emitting this light. For now, he would consider the walls as the light source. After all, this was the camp of the Night Elves; why couldn't there be magical things here?

The treehouse had no windows, yet the air inside was very fresh, and the furniture was spotlessly clean. It was only then that he realized there seemed to be no dust in this place at all.

Outside, he had wiped his shoes clean and placed them inside, and within half a day, they were covered in dust. But in here, the air was so pure, like a gas without any impurities, and there was certainly no smog or anything like that.

He took a deep breath and continued to observe the interior of the treehouse. The treehouse was about 200 square meters and seemed to have more than one room. A spiral staircase led to the upper levels.

All the furniture in this room appeared to be crafted by nature itself. Whether made of wood or stone, everything looked exquisitely detailed, with patterns and carvings that seemed to blend seamlessly with nature.

The floor was covered with a thick carpet. Gao Xi even lay down and rolled around a couple of times, but when he got up, he found no dust on his clothes, just as clean as before.

This floor had few items, but it was quite spacious, likely used for work and entertaining guests. He stood up and followed the spiral staircase to the second floor, where he found a large number of books. However, these books were not made of paper; some were scrolls of parchment, some were bound with leather, and others were made of silk. He even saw some ancient bamboo slips.

The text on these books was completely unfamiliar to Gao Xi. He was certain it was neither Chinese nor English, nor ancient Chinese or ancient Arabic. The script resembled the Night Elf language from the *Warcraft* world, but it was more systematic and comprehensive.

Of course, he didn't open all the books, just a dozen or so. The text was the same in all of them, and he felt like he was blind, even though his English was decent and his Chinese was excellent. Here, with so many books in front of him, he couldn't recognize a single word. What else could this be but being blind?

Decades of hard study in the real world had not helped him advance, and now, in this place, he was even worse off. If he were to look for a job, he might only be able to do manual labor, and he might not even recognize the currency.

Gao Xi felt very depressed.

The second floor was essentially a library, but since he couldn't read the text, he quickly lost interest and went up to the third floor.

The third floor was clearly a bedroom, with a bed, a table, and a chair. There was nothing else in the room. However, the bedroom had windows, and through them, he could see the distant scenery, though only the areas not shrouded in the fog of war were visible. The rest was pitch black.

Through the windows, he could see the two wells, the flowing river, and the fish playing in the water, occasionally jumping out of the surface.

"Huh? What's that?"

When he entered, he had only looked at the front of the treehouse and not the back. Now, through the window, he saw something behind the towering tree that looked like a mine. It wasn't very large, but it was shining with a strange golden light under the light.

Could it be a gold mine?

He decided to check it out later. If it was a gold mine, he would be rich.

When he tried to go to the fourth floor, he found the door was locked. The lock was very much like something from the *Warcraft* game, but unfortunately, Gao Xi didn't have a thief's lock-picking skills, and there were no tools nearby to help him.

Since he couldn't go to the fourth floor, he decided to satisfy his curiosity about the golden mine he had seen through the window. The thought of it kept nagging at him.

He quickly ran down the stairs and rushed outside, not noticing a faint light flickering in a dark corner.

When he reached the place that was shining with golden light, Gao Xi was so excited he wanted to laugh out loud. It was indeed a gold mine, though it was almost collapsed due to over-mining. But there was definitely still gold to be found. Even if it wasn't much, it was still a bonus, and he couldn't help but be happy.

Based on his years of gaming experience, this camp was likely abandoned by the Night Elves when the gold mine was depleted. He didn't know if there were other creatures in the fog of war, like elves or orcs, but he was sure this space was like a map in a game. There would definitely be new gold mines on this map, and he might find them in the future.

Of course, he hoped there were no other races here, or he wouldn't be able to fight them and would have to run for his life. He didn't think there were any, given the lack of large footprints around, only the tracks of small animals.

Forget it, no point in overthinking. This place was different from the game, and it might be an independent map space. He had really hit the jackpot.

Next, he needed to test a few things.

First, he needed to verify if the two wells had any special effects. One was a life spring, and the other was a magic spring. He needed to confirm this.

Second, he needed to see if he could take things out of this place. If he couldn't, then even if the place was full of gold, it would be meaningless.

Third, he needed to see if he could bring things in from the outside, like people or items. He didn't count himself, as he was a special case. If he couldn't bring things in, many things would be difficult, like cooking here. There were no pots or pans, and he needed to test if signals from the outside could come in, as being cut off from the world would be a problem.

These three things were what he needed to do for now. Of course, the order didn't matter, so he would test them based on difficulty.

He took out his phone from his pocket and checked. The signal was full, meaning the place didn't block phone signals, and he could even connect to the Wi-Fi in the room.

This was very important for a modern person.

Gao Xi didn't long for a simple, rustic life, as he was born in the countryside and knew the hardships of living without electricity or a phone. Everything was inconvenient.

Of course, he wouldn't make too many changes to this place. This space belonged to him alone, and he only needed to meet his personal needs, like putting a computer in the bedroom, a TV in the living room, and a gas stove in the kitchen. The main goal was to make life convenient, and he didn't plan to make any other changes. After all, a beautiful environment was also a form of enjoyment for him.

A person could always find a balance between convenience and the environment.

After confirming the signal, he decided to take something out to test. This was a crucial test. If he couldn't take things out, the appeal of this place would be greatly reduced.

What should he take out?

Gao Xi looked around for a while. When he passed the river, he noticed how clear the water was. Someone had once said that the clearer the water, the fewer the fish, but that was nonsense. The river was so clear, yet it was full of fish, swimming happily and not afraid of people at all.

Such big, fat fish.

Gao Xi casually reached into the water and caught a large fish. The fish didn't seem to fear him, making him feel a bit awkward, so he threw it back into the water.

Stupid fish, just like a silly deer.

Don't you know I want to eat you?

Actually, Gao Xi didn't particularly like eating fish because he wasn't good at it. Every time he ate fish, he would accidentally get a bone stuck in his mouth. He hadn't eaten fish with bones in years and usually only ate boneless small yellow croakers, which were fried and tasted good without the worry of bones.

But just because he didn't eat fish didn't mean he couldn't give them to his family. These fish were so fat and definitely natural and organic. It would be a waste not to eat them.

No, he couldn't take the fish out because he couldn't explain it. If he had been in the room all along and suddenly came out with a big fish, it would be too strange.

Gao Xi shook his head and left the river, then walked to the well. He wanted to take some well water out. The well water looked ordinary, but it must have some special properties, though he wasn't sure what.

He had a very evil and bold idea: to take some of the well water out and give it to his family's sheep to see what would happen. It wouldn't turn them into druids, would it?

If it did, that would be interesting.

A druid that could turn into a sheep.

The thought of it was so tempting that he couldn't resist. He ran into the treehouse, took out a leather bag, and filled it with the life spring water.

The magic spring water sounded too magical, and he was afraid something might go wrong, so he decided to test the life spring water first.