Chapter 20: The First Fungus Speaker
In the pitch-black forest, Dylan held a torch and called out anxiously:
"Bella! Bella, where are you? Answer your father!"
"Dad... Dad..."
A faint voice echoed, and Dylan hurriedly pushed aside the underbrush, finding his daughter leaning against a tree, covered in blood.
"Bella! How did you get such severe injuries?
Bella, don't be afraid. Dad's here. Dad's here."
Dylan wept as he embraced his weakened daughter.
"Daddy, I… I…"
"I'm here, I'm here. Take your time and tell me."
"Daddy," Bella wrapped her arms around Dylan's neck and opened her blood-red eyes, "I'm so hungry…"
Sharp teeth pierced his neck, and Dylan's blood gushed out. Through his blurred vision, he saw Bella tearfully swallow his flesh and blood.
—
"Ah!"
Dylan suddenly woke up, gasping for breath.
It was a dream, thankfully just a dream...
Where am I... ?
Dylan looked up to see a Puji moving away from him in disgust.
A monster... a mutated Puji...
He remembered the scene before he lost consciousness. Where were the parasitic trees?
Then Dylan noticed the scattered remains of parasitic trees on the ground, with mushrooms growing out of them.
At a glance, there were far more than the five that had been chasing him.
Did these... did these pujis do this?
Dylan couldn't quite believe it. Even if the Puji had mutated, could they really kill so many parasitic trees?
But the vague memories from before he lost consciousness and the scene before him seemed to be telling him that this was indeed the case.
This was the hidden room, and he saw the stone slab treasure chest that had been opened.
It was a treasure chest room after all.
The Puji might be the monsters guarding the treasure chest.
However, the Puji around him didn't seem hostile toward him. Strangely, he didn't feel uncomfortable either, as if this was how it should be... How strange...
Wait, what about his injuries?
Dylan touched his abdomen, and the wound was gone. Upon closer inspection, it sent shockwaves through his heart.
The wound had been filled with fungal threads, and even a small mushroom had grown on top of it...
He had seen a similar scene before, on people who had been captured and parasitized by parasitic trees.
No wonder the mutated Puji didn't attack him, no wonder he felt a connection with them—it turned out he had been parasitized.
But his consciousness was still relatively clear, and he wasn't bound like those captured by the parasitic trees.
Before being completely controlled, he seemed to have a little time left.
He looked at the remains of the parasitic trees, still hanging with many seeds, and a bold idea emerged in his mind.
Dylan didn't care about his own life or whether he would be controlled by the parasites. He just wanted to get the money to save his daughter. If he didn't have enough time, he would entrust the fat man to help him save his daughter.
What he needed now was to take the parasitic tree seeds back to the surface.
He climbed to the side of a parasitic tree, carefully plucked a seed, and tucked it into his chest.
Looking around, the Puji seemed unconcerned by his actions.
This reassured him, and he collected all the seeds inside one by one.
Enough, this is definitely enough.
Holding the seeds, he approached the stone door and glanced back once more. The Puji remained unchanged.
It was... peculiar.
————
Watching Dylan disappear beyond the stone door, Lin Jun didn't exchange a single word with him, even though he was currently connected to the fungal network.
Saving him was his principle, but that didn't mean he trusted him.
Dylan was indeed parasitized and was on the verge of death.
If Lin Jun were willing, the fungal threads within Dylan would completely destroy his consciousness, turning him into a puppet-like existence.
However, that would contradict the original purpose of saving him.
Let him be. Lin Jun had already repaid the debt of saving his life and providing tree seeds. Whatever happened afterward was none of his concern.
Speaking of which, this man had taken such a great risk for the tree seeds. They seemed like valuable items. Should he stockpile some for himself?
They might come in handy later. Besides, breaking them down would only yield a few scraps of magic.
While Dylan was unconscious, he took the Puji out for a walk and hunted some fertilizer.
He also took a look around using the panel and determined from the level that this was the fifth layer.
That teleportation array maze was really unreasonable, directly sending him from the eighth layer to the fifth layer. Could there be teleportation arrays that send you to the tenth layer or even the deeper layers?
Fortunately, he hadn't encountered any, so he silently marked the eighth layer as extremely dangerous in his mind.
Now, Lin Jun was most concerned about the location of the new mushroom garden.
Although this treasure room had magical water, first of all, the supply wasn't actually that much, and once the pool he had stored up was used up, this place wouldn't be worth much anymore.
Secondly, he had a bit of an understanding of how this dungeon worked. It probably wouldn't let him keep the door open forever. Who knows when some mechanism might be triggered? If he was still inside then, he'd be in trouble.
As for rushing out of the dungeon to bask in the sun?
He would like to, but he dares not.
The dungeon has only one entrance and exit, and he is bound to encounter a large number of humans, some of whom may be experts.
He does not want to fall before dawn.
Better to play it safe, even if it means waiting a bit longer. Now that he could see hope, he could endure it.
Regarding the new mushroom garden, he wanted to choose a location that was both safe and convenient for hunting and acquiring skills.
In fact, he discovered that this marshland area was indeed suitable.
Dangerous swamp terrain isn't something adventurers would choose to pass through, and even if they did, they'd move slowly.
But for the shell-less, lightly armored Puji, the swamp was no different from solid ground.
If the mushroom garden were in the swamp, his true form could hide beneath the swamp, which would be a fairly safe method.
The local residents were a bit troublesome, though.
When he first encountered the five parasitic trees, Lin Jun didn't take them seriously, but when he went out exploring, he ended up in a fierce battle.
These parasitic trees love to call their friends to gang up and fight, which is very shameless.
They also possess a variety of skills and magic of varying levels.
Lin Jun encountered a parasitic tree that had parasitized a Level 36 mage. Without checking the stats first, he made a mistake and suffered some losses, losing a few pujis.
Before this, he never imagined that such a high-level mage could fall victim to this...
There must be countless other powerful beings parasitized throughout the swamp. What if there's one at level 50 or higher… Probably not…
More importantly, fighting these parasitic trees doesn't yield much reward, which is the real issue.
The parasitic trees only have a few skills: [Fusion Parasitism], [Wrap], [Resilience], plus some resistance to various elements.
What's truly powerful are the bizarre techniques of the hosts they've parasitized.
However, Lin Jun tried it and found that decomposing these parasitized bodies yielded no skills, and even the magic was scarce, as if they had been drained from the inside.
Just for the few skills of the parasitic trees themselves, the difficulty of fighting them clearly doesn't match the rewards.
But if she adds the need to claim territory and build new mushroom gardens, it seems barely acceptable.
After some thought, Lin Jun still decided on the swamp area.
With the target set, she will begin the plan once she produces another batch of Puji adapted to the swamp terrain!
(End of this chapter)