Chapter 133: 132 Released After Serving Sentence

A pitch-black tunnel, its walls woven entirely from mycelium.

Norris carefully climbed upward bit by bit with his hands and feet, lest he accidentally slide back down.

Today was a special day, for Norris.

The Huang Pishu was tucked into his trousers; although the Huang Pishu had emphasized several times that it was a noble scripture and could not be treated so casually, Norris truly had no spare hands to attend to it.

Finally, light appeared above; he was about to reach the exit.

When Norris half-climbed out of the tunnel, he saw a forest of mushrooms!

The tender branches planted by the tree spirits had not yet grown into demon wood, yet the mycelium planted at the same time had already grown into giant mushroom trees.

For a moment, Norris could not tell whether this was the fifth floor or the sixth.

After Norris emerged, a group of Puji swarmed up, among them even a giant black mushroom.

At the same time, the boss of the mycelium network shouted, "Congratulations on your release from prison!"

The Puji immediately tossed a large quantity of flower petals into the air; upon close inspection, one could recognize them as petals from flower spirits.

Ding ding ding—

Among the petals, some shards of glass seemed to be mixed in, striking Norris's scales...

The Puji extended mycelial tentacles and lifted Norris entirely out.

The Puji's tentacles slapped against his body, knocking off dust and adhering mycelium.

Facing the Puji who cared for him, although he knew they were all controlled by the boss, Norris still felt a mood he had never experienced before—the taste of being cared for.

If only the few slaps from the giant black mushroom hadn't been so heavy, nearly knocking him flat on the ground...

Facing this newcomer, Lin Jun spoke with deep seriousness:

"Norris, now that you are out, you must truly repent and become a new mushroom.

Next time you plan to kill someone, remember to report and apply in advance; act only after approval.

You must not act without organization or discipline again.

You must believe that the Mushroom Garden will always stand on your side; it is your home!"

Hearing the word "home," Norris could no longer control his tears; crying and excitedly, he said, "Yes! Boss!"

Suddenly, a Puji brought out a bowl of soup.

"You suffered down there, eating only mushrooms every day; come, drink some meat soup!"

Norris wiped his tears and did not put on airs.

He lifted the bowl of soup covered with a slice of meat on the surface, first sniffed this long-lost scent of meat, then drank it down in one gulp.

After drinking, Norris smacked his lips; it turned out to be mushroom meat soup. He had thought it was pure meat soup, but it was not bad.

The meat and soup in the bowl were gone, leaving only two mushroom slices. Not wanting to waste the boss's kindness, Norris decided to eat them clean.

Hmm?

Picking up a slice of mushroom... why is it green...

Norris's eyes rolled back, and he collapsed onto the ground.

Several Puji rolled up the unconscious Norris—he was due for the second round of enhancement.

The Huang Pishu at Norris's waist was also pulled out; during the days Norris lay there, it had to return to the Happy Little House.

Besides the usual combat power increase in the second round, Lin Jun also planned to add a few other functions to Norris.

The current list was: 【Rolling Charge lv7】, 【Sonic Detection lv6】, 【Evasion lv7】, 【Acceleration lv6】, 【Saliva Arrow lv5】.

【Saliva Arrow】 was intended to coordinate with the neurotoxin Norris already possessed.

As for 【Rolling Charge】... Lin Jun really wanted to know what it would look like when used by a human!

The Puji carried Norris away, and Seeing Xiao Hei also went to help enthusiastically.

While helping, he accidentally plucked off two silver scales; seeing no reaction from Norris, he accidentally plucked off two more...

When Norris returned to the mushroom house, a small patch on his back was already bald.

... Having dealt with Norris, Lin Jun once again turned his attention back to the seventh floor.

During this period, through diligent "fishing," Lin Jun had gathered enough skills for the minimum requirements of underwater exploration.

The first batch of diving Puji had already been produced.

【Underwater Adaptation lv6】 + 【Wake Jet lv3】 + 【Water Current Perception lv4】 + 【Sonic Detection lv6】 + 【Swimming lv4】 + 【Scale Armor lv6】 + 【Infrasound Attack lv6】

Seven skills, and even agility had been raised to 10 points; they were absolutely an expensive breed among cannon fodder.

Among them, 【Scale Armor】 had to be added; without scales, every small fish in the water would want to come and take a bite. The main function of the scales was to defend against small fish.

One could hardly swim everywhere and kill everything with infrasound along the way, could one?

Through 【Water Current Perception】, not only could dangers be detected, but any leaking fissures nearby would also be sensed.

Then, due to the 【Swimming】 skill, in the absence of interference from Lin Jun, the lower halves of all the Puji transformed into the shape of fish tails, although they were still composed of mycelium.

According to this world's naming conventions, calling them Puji Fish now would be no problem.

These diving Puji could only lie stiffly on land now; pushing them into the water required help from other Puji.

The first batch of diving Puji totaled 60, divided into groups of five, entering the water from different locations to explore.

Under Lin Jun's unified command, now, officially enter the water!

Tentacles pushed the diving Puji down.

At one entry point, a giant catfish that had been waiting for who knows how long surfaced, opened its huge mouth, and swallowed all five diving Puji.

!!!

Refusing to show respect, are you?

In a fit of rage, Lin Jun... simply switched his viewpoint.

Fifty-five diving Puji successfully entered the water and began exploration!

The seventh layer differs from the other tiers; take the fifth and sixth layers, which have the largest area, for example: since there are no subdivisions, although the space is relatively large, the actual explorable area is not excessively vast.

In the seventh layer, over 80% of the space lies underwater, and the aquatic ecosystem is distributed in three dimensions.

Thus, even though its overall size is slightly smaller than the sixth layer, the effort required for complete exploration is several times that of the sixth layer, at the very least.

The underwater space of the seventh layer is roughly divided into three layers.

The uppermost is an area resembling a sewer, with crisscrossing waterways and mountain peaks inverted from the ceiling into the water on both sides.

The middle layer is a pure water area containing nothing.

And the lowest layer, that is, the bottom of the seventh layer, contains some ancient buildings covered in water weeds.

These buildings were clearly not originally underwater; it is unknown why they became this way.

Could it be that the seventh layer was once a tier without water?

The upper waterway area was explored first; this counts as the smallest area and the easiest to explore.

But even in this simple-difficulty area, nearly twenty diving Pujis were lost before the sweep was completed—no rifts were found.

And once the Pujis reached the middle layer, the survival difficulty became even greater.

In the upper area, fish sizes were limited by terrain constraints; in the middle layer, with no such limits, the Pujis quickly encountered monsters that were larger in size and more dangerous.

Some relied on their large size and speed to catch up with and swallow a Pujis in one bite.

Others possessed unique skills.

For instance, sucking a Pujis over from more than twenty meters away, or possessing a mouthpart that could extend thirty meters to strike with precision.

Many of these creatures made Lin Jun feel as if he were on the verge of developing thalassophobia.

Just two hours after entering the middle layer area, Lin Jun had only three diving Pujis remaining.

And Lin Jun had entered the strongest manual control mode!

Two minutes later, the first batch of diving Pujis was completely wiped out...

(End of this chapter)