Chapter 54: 54 Again, the Chest Room

Underground City, Level Three.

Unlike other layers themed around combat, this layer is almost entirely composed of puzzles, traps, and hidden doors.

It produces some wooden chests, far inferior to the stone chests inside hidden doors, but still of some value to ordinary adventurers.

The few demons in this layer are primarily trigger-based stone guardians, chest monsters, or harmless demons that feed on corpses.

The Underground City has been closed these days, so this place naturally looks lifeless and dormant.

But today is different—a group of Pukji arrived here.

Beneath swinging circular blades, a group of scaled Pukji are methodically passing through.

One less intelligent Pukji, while stepping forward, accidentally got its short leg stuck in the gap beneath the blade, and couldn't pull it free no matter how hard it tried.

The returning blade struck the Pukji without surprise.

The Pukji wasn't cut in half outright; instead, it was launched like a baseball, slammed into the wall, and fell down.

Although part of the reason is that some of these blades aren't sharp enough, the Level 5 scale defense is already satisfactory to Lin Jun.

Of course, this Pukji still died—scales don't protect against blunt force.

After passing the swinging blades, the Pukji continued forward.

They crossed the Death Platform using 【Assault Launch LV5】, and bypassed trigger traps thanks to their light weight.

Finally, they gathered before a stone door, beside which stood the Pukji that first discovered it.

This stone door looks familiar!

Lin Jun was locked inside for over three months—he wouldn't forget the design.

This is definitely the Chest Room!

The reason for such a massive effort is that this Chest Room perfectly integrates into the rules of Level Three.

Before the door is a giant pressure plate, a massive Shi Zhu hangs from the ceiling, and beside the door stands a small stone tablet with a keyhole.

Clearly, one must find the key or use a lockpicking skill to lower the stone, activate the pressure plate, and open the door.

But can Pukji even do lockpicking?

Actually, they can—Lin Jun has Lockpicking LV2 himself…

But producing a Pukji with that skill is necessary, and LV2 is clearly too low.

No choice—only a dumb solution works, as long as the pressure plate activates.

The Pukji lined up one by one, lying flat on the pressure plate; when the first layer was full, they climbed atop their companions to form a second layer, stacking like a pyramid.

Thanks to the extra mass of their scale-covered bodies, when the stack reached the fourth layer, the mechanical device finally sank into place.

As expected, the stone door slid smoothly open on both sides.

The interior resembled the Chest Room Lin Jun had been in, but without the central pond—it was clearly not the same room.

That's not surprising; it would be strange if the entire Underground City had only one Chest Room.

So now—it's Chest Time!

One Pukji dashed forward, skillfully leaping and kicking the stone chest lid open.

Let's see what's inside~

A… scroll!

Lin Jun recognized it—the Escape Scroll!

Quickly control the Pukji to transport this treasure back; shoot every slime they encounter along the way to ensure absolute safety.

It's not that Lin Jun plans to use the Escape Scroll to send his own body out.

This scroll teleports randomly—it only ejects you from the Underground City, and you might even get stuck underground.

Too dangerous; his body absolutely cannot use it.

In Lin Jun's view, this is just a sunlight experience voucher.

His body isn't suitable, but a Pukji can be sent instead.

Though he himself can't feel the warmth of sunlight, being able to see the sun through a Pukji, to glimpse the World of the Surface, is still worthwhile.

Of course, to ensure this Pukji doesn't die the moment it's teleported.

Giving it extra survival skills is essential.

【Rock Eating LV3】 for digging, 【Underwater Adaptation LV4】 to prevent drowning…

But how to land from the air?

There are flight skills from demonic creatures, but they're all incompatible with Pukji.

Use 【Assimilation Absorption LV3】.

This skill was obtained during the Demon Tide Period from a flesh monster called Sarges' Blood.

Those monsters used this ability to continuously absorb surrounding flesh and resist Pukji cannon fire.

But this skill has changed slightly in Lin Jun's hands.

It can only absorb substances similar to itself to assemble a body.

In short, Pukji can only absorb mycelium, not flesh like Sarges' Blood.

It feels a bit useless—perhaps only marginally helpful during defense, when the battlefield is covered in mycelium.

But here it's perfect: build a fluffy mycelium shell around the Pukji.

When it appears in midair, use it to absorb the impact of landing.

As for other combat or defense skills, add a few of each—otherwise, it might get snatched by a stray dog after only a few minutes of sunbathing, and that would be hilarious.

In total, it's essentially a weakened, one-time-use Knight Pukji.

Call it Explorer One.

Of course, Explorer One is still in development—many skills to add, and haste won't do.

This precious escape scroll could only be hidden in Lin Jun's small treasure vault for a while.

"Boss!"

Hm?

Right now, only Seeing Xiao Hei can chat inside the fungal network—and she's even started calling him "Boss."

Although Lin Jun doubted whether she even understood what "Boss" meant.

She had just returned after finishing her walk.

Her whole body was soaked, water stains clinging to her scales, dripping occasionally.

In her hand, she dragged the corpse of a giant turtle-like monster, its head gone.

She must've caught it from the seventh-level waterway.

The only reason Seeing Xiao Hei came back and called out to him was one thing.

"Good, good—this kind is rare today. What flavor of Pukiji do you want?"

"I want filled!" Seeing Xiao Hei answered instantly.

"Alright, alright, we've got some."

Hearing there was filled Pukiji, Seeing Xiao Hei immediately dropped the turtle corpse and ran toward the mushroom forest—her nest was over there.

Several other nearby Pukiji drifted closer, dragging the fresh corpse into the swamp zone.

"Filled Pukiji" was actually Pukiji infused with slime digestive fluid—the same stuff once used in the deep zones to stick to mosquitoes.

It was one of Lin Jun's many bizarre combinations that Seeing Xiao Hei particularly liked.

By the time Seeing Xiao Hei entered the mushroom forest, two filled-flavor Pukiji were already waiting beside her bedroom, next to a hollowed-out mushroom.

This dragon-person didn't care about dirtying her sleeping spot—she grabbed the two Pukiji and marched straight into the mushroom, lying down to eat!

Only the mycelium could break down the residue and slime, or else her little nest would've been unrecognizably filthy by now.

After settling Seeing Xiao Hei, Lin Jun had planned to focus on his latest research—the combat Pukiji's skill combinations.

After assimilating the skills from the Demon Tide wave, he could now create decent combat Pukiji, but he still needed to find the most cost-effective, mass-producible combination.

But it seemed he had no time now—the upper levels sent a feed: adventurers had finally begun entering the dungeon!

The first wave was large; everyone wanted to be the first to try.

And Lin Jun spotted a familiar figure in the crowd.

Dilan had finally returned!

(End of chapter)