Chapter 79

Fifth-floor cave.

The various mine tunnels that were blown up by Lin Jun during the magic tide had now almost all been dug through, and even a few more tunnels had been widened than before.

This was all thanks to the fifty or so digging Puji that had been working here, as well as some humans who had figured out the mine tunnel rules.

Ding-ding-dang-dang echoed in the mine tunnel.

Norris walked out from the depths with a pickaxe in his hand and a basket of stones mixed with magic crystals on his back.

He encountered quite a few digging Puji along the way, and there were some magic crystals scattered under their feet, but Norris didn't pick any of them up.

One of the mine tunnel rules was not to steal the Puji's labor results; Norris had seen quite a few people with sticky fingers, and the ones who ended up better were stripped naked, and as for the bad ones, they probably became part of the fifth floor.

He wasn't unaware of the Big Black Mushroom incident that was making a huge noise outside, but he wasn't worried about it.

He had encountered the Big Black Mushroom twice, and each time it was sent away with a glass bead; in his view, the Gold team's wipeout was highly likely because they violated the rule of not attacking Puji on the 5th floor and were beaten to death by a swarm.

As long as you follow the rules, the fifth floor is simply heaven for a Copper-rank adventurer like himself.

There are no monsters that will jump out and attack him at any time, and he can earn a slightly higher reward than the upper floors by digging magic crystals, and the only thing he needs to do is prepare the toll for the return trip—two monster corpses.

However, the situation today was slightly different; when he finally walked out of the cave, he encountered a middle-aged man dressed like a noble.

Norris first subconsciously wanted to cover the magic crystal ore on his back, but then gave up on this behavior.

The other party's attire—probably a single button on his clothes was worth more than everything he had on his body; what he needed to guard against were those who were as poor as him.

However, why would such a big shot appear here in the cave?

Norris didn't know, but the other party's gaze had been fixed on him; under the invisible pressure, he had to be the first to speak: "Si... Sir, is there something?"

Aiding looked curiously at the young man in front of him; he had wandered around the fifth floor and only encountered this one living person.

Most adventurers were scared out of their wits by the Big Black Mushroom incident.

"Why are you here alone?"

Norris looked at the pickaxe in his hand, then at Aiding...

Aiding also realized his phrasing was wrong and asked again: "Aren't you afraid of encountering the Black Puji?"

"Not afraid, I brought glass beads."

Norris shook his head while revealing the small bag at his waist, which contained 5 glass beads of different colors.

"You've encountered the Black Puji?" Aiding seemed interested, "So the saying circulating among adventurers that the Black Puji likes glass products is true?"

Norris nodded.

"Really interesting, can you sell me two beads? I'm willing to buy them for one gold coin; of course, the gold coin will have to wait until we go up, I didn't bring money now."

As he said this, Aiding also checked his pocket, indicating he hadn't brought money.

Norris handed over two glass beads without any emotional fluctuation.

Not to mention glass beads, such an existence that looked like a big shot, even if he opened his mouth to take away the results he had dug in the past two days, he could only agree.

As for the one gold coin reward?

Just listen to it.

After handing the glass beads to Aiding, Norris intended to leave.

He didn't dare to get too close to Aiding, so he stepped off the mushroom path and onto the fungal mat, but was pulled back by Aiding in the next moment.

Norris was a bit puzzled.

Aiding just cleared the way and said: "Walk along the path properly, don't step outside."

Watching Norris walk away, Aiding took out a scroll from his bosom.

Mobilizing mana to activate the scroll, a large amount of information appeared before Aiding's eyes.

【Race: Mushroom-Puji】

【Race: Mushroom-Puji】

【Race: Mushroom-Puji】

【Race: Mushroom-Puji】

...Sure enough.

Although it wasn't the first time he had seen it since coming down, looking at the Puji with self-destruct skills all over the ground scanned by the reconnaissance scroll still made Aiding's scalp tingle.

Just in the circle around him, there were seven or eight, and you couldn't tell them apart just by looking!

He felt that he didn't even need to look for the Big Black Mushroom; the situation on this ground was enough to explain the reason for the wipeout of that Gold team.

With this quantity, he wouldn't be surprised if the entire fifth floor disappeared one day!

Of course, the Big Black Mushroom still had to be found, otherwise he couldn't finish the job.

But the problem was, with so many scanning targets, each one scanned would cause mana consumption, greatly reducing the effective range of the reconnaissance scroll.

He had originally thought he could find the Big Black Mushroom with 5 scrolls, but now it seemed impossible; maybe this trip would end in vain...

Just when Aiding thought so, the Big Black Mushroom appeared in his field of vision.

It was strolling leisurely on the fungal mat outside the mushroom path, and after seeing Aiding, it actually approached.

This didn't surprise Aiding; the intelligence said the Big Black Mushroom liked shiny things, and with him dressed so gorgeously, it would be strange if he wasn't attracted.

However, Aiding still threw out a glass bead, observing the Big Black Mushroom's actions.

The Big Black Mushroom seemed to be attracted by the glass bead, ran onto the fungal mat, and painstakingly picked up the glass bead.

Aiding threw the second glass bead hard, and the Big Black Mushroom also followed the direction the glass bead flew and chased after it.

After doing this, Aiding took out another scroll from his bosom and waited quietly in place.

When the Big Black Mushroom approached him for the third time, Aiding activated the scroll in his hand: Wind Blade.

The Wind Blade flew out, directly cutting off the Big Black Mushroom's cap.

The cap that fell to the ground scattered into a pile of white mycelium, and a Puji that looked very ordinary crawled out from inside the Big Black Mushroom.

This scene seemed to be somewhat beyond Aiding's expectations, but there was no time to think about it, and the landmine Puji all around jumped out together—

Without any resistance, after a series of explosions, Aiding was nowhere to be seen, leaving only a shattered magic crystal in place.

Lin Jun, who had been directing this play from behind, was not surprised by this scene.

Lin Jun had noticed this Aiding from the moment he entered the dungeon.

Not because of anything else, but because he had no panel.

Puppet? Illusion?

Probably these; anyway, it couldn't be the main body.

Too special; one look and you knew he was here for the fifth floor.

Lin Jun used 【Assimilation Absorption lv3】+【Mimicry lv4】 to mold a Big Black Mushroom, trying his best to act like some kind of monster that followed fixed rules in front of him.

Following rules means it's controllable, and controllable means there's no need to forcibly eliminate it.

If this information could be passed on, then this problem would be over.

It's just that Lin Jun smelled a trace of his own kind on this guy who hadn't exposed his main body throughout the whole process; he hoped this temporary solution wouldn't be seen through.

——

In a hotel room in Dumb Wind Town.

Aiding slowly opened his eyes, looking at the magic crystal broken into two pieces in his hand, his expression somewhat playful.

Attacking the Big Black Mushroom equals triggering an explosion trap, glass beads can perfectly lure away the Big Black Mushroom, as well as the "true face" of the Big Black Mushroom.

He should have no problem handing in this information now.

It's just that he felt that from the appearance of the Big Black Mushroom to the completion of his experiment, the series of events was a bit too smooth.

Smooth, just like when he walked to the barn back then.

Should he go back and investigate?

Hmm...

Rubbing his chin, Aiding didn't think for long before giving up.

Losing two special magic crystals and several scrolls in one trip, wouldn't he lose money if he came a few more times?

At the end of the day, there's no extra reward for doing more...