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“A treehouse?” Dan Xingyu thought for a moment as he listened to his description, then exclaimed sincerely, “That must be beautiful.” 

Qiyu suddenly thought, “Wait a minute, I remember the survival panel lets you take photos. I’ll snap a picture and show you.” 

He had seen others use this feature both in the zone chat and in the 01 Survival Squad.

However, since he’d never had a need for it, he hadn’t bothered to look into it.

It was very simple to use on the Survival Panel. He stepped back a bit and snapped a full-view photo. 

【I Love Survival Game: Check this out—my new house.】

Dan Xingyu clicked on it with high expectations, but when he saw the photo, he realized his imagination had been far too limited.

The background of the photo was the dead of night.

A deep, dark night, cold, heavy rain—that lush, magnificent tree spread its enormous canopy, and the exquisite treehouse was perfectly nestled within it. The two blended seamlessly, as if the house had grown right out of the tree’s branches and leaves.

The glowing tree and the treehouse it cradled were, at that very moment, the very center of the world. 

It looked just like the poster for some fantasy epic movie. 

“It’s so beautiful,” he marveled. “It’s just like watching a scene from a movie.”

“Movies?” Qiyu had heard Dan Xingyu mention them before, and that was enough for him. “Even though I’ve never seen a movie, if you say my territory is like something out of a movie, that’s as good as having seen one.” 

“You’ve seen it, right?”

“It’s way more than just watching.” Dan Xingyu’s tone was tinged with a hint of jealousy. “I’m telling you, compared to your District 01, we in District 88 are basically left to fend for ourselves.”

Who wouldn’t want to live in a fairy-tale treehouse like that? Does he roll around in the sand every day just because he likes it? 

He wonders what his sanctuary will look like after it’s upgraded? 

Receiving that affirmation once again, Qiyu was satisfied.

He said cheerfully, “Don’t worry, I’ve already learned how to engrave magic arrays onto items. Once I’ve successfully crafted one, I’ll send you one.”

He pondered, “Now that my territory has a constant-temperature magic array, I wonder if I can grow flowers here?”

Dan Xingyu shook his head: “Never mind. Let them live wherever they like.” 

Hearing this, Qiyu comforted him, “It’s okay. If you like flowers, I can give you some.” 

He said, “I haven’t inspected my new territory yet. I’ll end this call for now and talk to you later.” 

Dan Xingyu chuckled: “Alright, Great Lord, let’s talk later.” 

He actually wanted to ask if the Lord had eaten yet, but judging by Qiyu’s demeanor, he was probably still buzzing with excitement right now.

Anyway, most professionals these days wouldn’t suffer from skipping a meal. He’d call him for a late-night snack once his excitement had died down.

After ending the call, Qiyu finally noticed the information on his interface.

Level 3 Shelter: Elven Treehouse.

Durability: 2000/2000. 40 Shelter (including territory) area: 20,000 square meters. 

【Bonus structures upon upgrading the shelter: Garden, Farm, or Winery. Choose one of the three】

【Garden: Beautiful flowers bring joy to the mind and body. Effect: Mental energy regeneration speed increased by 10%.】

【Farm: A shelter building that allows you to capture wild mutated creatures and, with a certain probability, turn them into domesticated animals.】

【Winery: Includes a full set of winemaking equipment. Effect: Increases the selling price of brewed wine by 10%.】

Elven Treehouse? Is that where the elves live? 

Qiyu couldn’t help but think: “No wonder they once ruled the world—even their houses are this unique.”

The bonus building that came with the Level 3 Shelter actually offered a choice.

Qiyu looked at the three options and, without much hesitation, chose the garden. 

He had little interest in keeping pets; whenever he saw a living mutant creature, all he could think about was what it would taste like. As for the winery, he’d never drunk alcohol, and he wasn’t short on money.

【Obtained Exquisite Garden x1. Click to place.】

Qiyu didn’t place it right away.

He opened his territory module.

His territory, which had been starting to feel a bit crowded due to the growing number of subjects, suddenly seemed completely empty.

20,000 square meters—it seemed as if not even a single corner could be filled.

He saw that in the territory module, his treehouse was at the very center, and all other buildings, farmland, and subject modules could be repositioned and rearranged.

The most significant change involved the Advanced Magic Energy Tower.

Previously, it had hovered silently above the sanctuary like a formidable guardian, serving as a powerful deterrent to all outsiders. But now it seemed to have been tucked away inside the elven treehouse, which had a second story—Qiyu hadn’t yet climbed to explore.

Qiyu opened the territory module, and the first thing he saw was the demon vine fence.

Because the demon vine lives in symbiosis with the fence, it has indirectly become part of the territory as well. With this upgrade to the sanctuary, it, too, has been upgraded.

The fence still surrounds the entire 20,000-square-meter sanctuary—it took a lot of effort to finally cover two-thirds of the territory.

The demon vine has shrunk significantly as a result, and now only a small section remains. 5

Clearly, raising the fence doesn’t affect the entire demon vine.

However, despite taking a bit of a hit, the demon vine wasn’t upset at all; on the contrary, it was thrilled by its sudden “growth.” 

During the shelter’s upgrade, it seemed to be a “safe period” with no Swift attacks. So Qiyu had no idea that, upon discovery, the Server 01 regional chat channel had nearly exploded.

Speculation ran rampant: some said the top player had run into some kind of problem; others guessed he’d crashed after trying to farm points with Swifts; still others speculated he’d stumbled upon some kind of stroke of luck.

Those who shared his “grudge”—like “My Fate is Determined By Me, Not The Heavens”—couldn’t have been happier to see him in trouble.

But even though his points were gone, the name “I Love Survival Game” still loomed large on all the major leaderboards, showing no signs of fading.

The survival squad was also speculating and asking questions in the group chat, but they didn’t think anything unexpected had happened to Qiyu. Since none of them messaged him privately, Qiyu didn’t say anything…

Time will tell.

Then, the players received a server-wide announcement.

That’s when all hell broke loose:

【Cockroach Taste Is So Weird: Level 3 Shelter… I’m not surprised at all.】 

【Reaching for the Moon in the Heavens: +1 for not being surprised. The moment I saw the points, I knew this moment was bound to come sooner or later.】

【Liver Emperor: So that’s why it was stuck for so long—upgrading the shelter? Does upgrading a Level 3 shelter really take this long?】

【Traveler in the Misty Rain of Jiangnan: Level 3 shelters require way more resources than the previous ones. We’d speculated that maybe Level 3 shelters would mark a qualitative leap compared to the earlier ones.】

【A Stray By The Road: It’s a shame the top player is so aloof; otherwise, I’d really hope he’d enable the “Pay-to-Be-a-Friend” feature so that after each friend paid, we could see what a Level 3 Shelter looks like.】

【Civil Engineering Brother: That’s a bit far-fetched. Anyone who’s upgraded to a Level 2 Shelter knows that a Level 3 Shelter is likely to be related to your profession, which involves some privacy.】 

Qiyu is currently reviewing the Territory module.

The Territory module has a planning assistant feature that’s very useful. 

Qiyu clicked on the preview.

It still consisted of four large areas, but they didn’t feel as cramped as before.

A large area in front of his treehouse sanctuary had been divided into residential and recreational zones. Qiyu placed the garden there, then set the statue of the Divine Mother Nature in the middle of the garden. 

He thought to himself, “With a floral crown on her head and the Sacred Tree—the Golden Apple Tree—she must really love flowers and plants.” 

That was partly why he chose the garden. 

He was no longer the illiterate newcomer to the survival game; he was now a mage who had taken classes from the magister. 

So Qiyu now knew that the Nature Goddess was the “Supreme God of Magic” and “Ruler of All Natural and Magical Elements” that Chairman Sean had spoken of.

In short, whether it was his profession as a mage or as a farmer, both were subject to the glory of the Goddess. He hoped the statue of the Goddess would also live happily within his domain.

It’s a pity that the gold apple sapling must be planted in farmland; otherwise, he could have planted it right next to the goddess. The pretty little lake is right beside the garden, and the two together create a surprisingly harmonious scene.

For now, all the farmland has been temporarily placed to the left rear of the shelter, with the emerald crystal peach orchard and the Crimson Maple Grove to the right rear. As a result, the entire territory still feels rather empty. 

The territory module suggests that Qiyu could plant a large number of flowers and plants to divide the territory into sections and add decorative touches.

Qiyu looked around for a moment, then placed the large black tree along with the farmland to the front-left of the shelter. 

【The territory is under attack.】

Qiyu spotted several swifts. It seemed the “safe period” had ended.

Without hesitation, he set the territory arrangement aside for the time being and immediately… began crafting an energy tower.

All the wood he’d gathered from the Red Maple Forest over the past few days was in his backpack.

He’d also been selling emerald crystal peaches every day; whenever he had free time, he’d send them to Dan Xingyu every morning, and in the evening, Dan Xingyu would send him the green-quality materials he’d traded for them. 

Sometimes, when he was busy, they might only exchange once every two days. 

In any case, emerald crystal peaches have always sold well in Zone 88. As time goes on, players will accumulate more resources and sell more of them.

One emerald crystal peach exchanges for 20 units of green-quality resources, so a day’s worth of emerald crystal peach production is enough for him to build 20 energy towers.

Qiyu has absolutely no shortage of materials for building energy towers.

Previously, the factors limiting his ability to build energy towers were the size of his territory and the availability of Magic Crystals.

Now that his territory has expanded, he’s also gathered enough magic crystals from the resource zones. 

Therefore, fire coverage—activate!

Because the area was too large and too empty, Qiyu didn’t follow the optimal planning scheme for the territory module; instead, he instantly created 200 energy towers and placed them along the outer perimeter of the territory. 

He felt instantly at ease.

This single action consumed 2,000 Level 1 Magic Crystals. 

It’s fair to say that aside from burning through gold coins, energy towers have absolutely no drawbacks. 

Qiyu felt a slight sense of relief, and just then, a notification popped up on his interface. The screaming lily of the valley had also completed its evolution.