secret dice.

Chapter 748 Mycelium?!
As the film progresses, after the hunt, Ling Yao returns to the rebuilt stronghold with his spoils. Clearly, not long has passed since the beast horde attack in the first film. The residents of the city greet the hero warmly.

This scene focuses on capturing everyone's respect for the protagonist, creating a towering image. It gives the protagonist many close-ups and highlights Ling Jun's handsome face, causing many fans in the audience to scream, including the two girls who had just glared at Luo Jun.

No wonder they were so angry; it seems they thought Luo Jun was mocking their idol.

The plot quickly progressed to the second action scene, where a team sent out to explore the base was attacked by monsters. The protagonist, "Ling Yao," went to the rescue, treating the wounded while fighting against multiple monsters.

This action scene is completely different from the previous one. Not only is it one against many, but it also involves protective burdens. Moreover, the monsters have more skills than before, such as being able to breathe fireballs, making the effects even more dazzling.

Faced with even greater challenges, the protagonist, relying on his agile physique and superb skills, fights his way through numerous monsters in incredibly thrilling ways.

The action scene was even more exciting, drawing cheers from the audience, with the two little girls in front screaming with excitement.

But just as the protagonist successfully killed all the monsters and breathed a sigh of relief, a huge beast king suddenly emerged from the dense forest and rammed into him while he was off guard. The protagonist spat out a mouthful of blood, flew out, and crashed into a rock in the distance, where he fell to the ground, unable to get up.

This sudden turn of events gripped the audience's hearts. Just as the biggest threat had been eliminated, the Beast King turned to the injured group, opened its blood-red maw, and pounced!

Just then, the male protagonist gritted his teeth, suddenly opened his eyes, golden light shone from them, roared, raised his hand and shot out a beam of golden light, instantly splitting the monster in two!
This moment of awakening sparked cheers from the entire audience, and the two girls were especially excited.

This move made Luo Jun's eyes widen, and he blurted out, "Demon-Slaying Golden Edge?"

He spoke very softly, barely a whisper, so soft that even a person sitting next to him wouldn't hear him. But unexpectedly, in the noisy theater, the two girls in the row in front of him turned around and glanced at him again.

Are their ears that sharp? And I didn't even make fun of their idol this time, so why are they looking at me?

However, unlike the angry look in his eyes last time, this time his gaze was filled with doubt, which made Luo Jun even more confused.

The movie continued, and it seemed to be about Ling Yao's younger days. No wonder they cast Ling Jun, who was younger than him, as the lead... But judging from Ling Jun's appearance, he must be around twenty years old. Based on Luo Jun's understanding of Ling Yao, the fighting prowess shown in the movie was probably something he achieved at the age of ten...

In an attempt to cater to the audience's reaction speed and level of understanding, this fictional film is actually inferior to real-life masters...

The action scenes that followed were more and more exciting. The focus of the protagonist's growth was on discovering the secret hidden in his bloodline, slowly awakening and mastering the secret of the Demon-Slaying Golden Edge, and finally defeating the final BOSS with the newly mastered ultimate move, pushing the scene and the audience's emotions to the climax!

The final boss's defeat was incredibly realistic, even somewhat gory. However, considering the monster's previous acts of devouring humans and committing numerous atrocities, viewers felt a sense of satisfaction at the monster's demise.

However, Luo Jun didn't feel that way at all. This BOSS was a level five monster, which Luo Jun had seen in the wilderness. Although it looked huge and ferocious, it was actually an omnivore, with 80% of its diet consisting of plants. It only occasionally hunted small animals and had a relatively docile temperament. Its massive body and barbs were designed to defend against predators, and it posed almost no threat as long as humans didn't bother it.

Therefore, from a practical standpoint, Luo Jun guessed that the Ling family chose this creature as the final boss because it was docile and easy to bully among high-level monsters, and its frightening appearance made it easy to cooperate with the filming. And the final kill was clearly a genuine one…

The Demon-Slaying Golden Edge that the male protagonist used earlier was probably generated by special effects, but Luo Jun could tell that the final strike was real...

Ordinary qi is invisible to the average person, let alone recorded. However, once qi is transformed into a concrete ability—for example, the creative school transforms it into objects or living beings, or the elemental school transforms it into fire or lightning—it becomes visible to ordinary people. The Demon-Slaying Golden Edge falls into this category. At the very least, the Ling family has methods to record qi.

Therefore, Luo Jun guessed that this last golden blade should really have come from Ling Yao or Ling Xin.

"Tsk tsk tsk... How pitiful..."

Luo Jun shook his head. To others, it was a satisfying killing of a specially generated monster; to him, it was clearly monster torture… As far as Luo Jun knew, these monsters weren't unintelligent. While not quite as close to human intelligence as depicted in the movies, and certainly not capable of scheming, they were at least smarter than dogs. Judging from their behavior in the film, many of their actions didn't align with their natural habits; they had clearly been domesticated. They'd acted out an entire scene, only to be cut in half at the end—what was the difference between that and a dog actor being blown up for the sake of a dramatic effect?

As the end credits rolled, Luo Jun left the theater with a touch of regret. From an average person's perspective, it was indeed a spectacular special effects blockbuster, and the box office would likely be quite high, possibly even surpassing the first film. However, in Luo Jun's opinion, it was rather small-scale.

After leaving the cinema, Luo Jun continued to stroll around the mall for a while. Suddenly, he raised his eyebrows and, taking advantage of passing a group of pedestrians, suddenly slipped into the fire escape behind a shop.

At this moment, the two girls also came in, but they looked left and right but couldn't see Luo Jun. They looked at each other and went into the stairwell.

"Lost them?" said the short-haired girl. She looked to be around twenty years old, with delicate features and a tall figure. What was most striking was her enormous bust, which was disproportionate to her slender waist.

"Has this guy spotted us?" asked another short girl with pigtails. She looked a bit younger, around fourteen or fifteen years old. Her childish features made her look like a middle school student, but her eyes revealed a maturity beyond her years.

"It's so obvious, of course we noticed!" A voice suddenly came from behind them. The two were startled and turned around to find Luo Jun standing behind them.

"Where...where did you come from?" the girl with pigtails asked.

"Weren't you the ones following me? What, didn't you see me?" Luo Jun said with a mocking expression, his gaze sweeping over the two of them before finally landing on the short-haired girl's face. He paused slightly, then his gaze moved downwards...

"What...what are you looking at!" The short-haired girl crossed her arms over her chest, but her slender arms couldn't hide anything; instead, they were squeezed and distorted, making her look even more...

Luo Jun narrowed his eyes, then suddenly showed a look of realization.

"Are you Zheng Xiaoou?"

"You know me?" The short-haired girl was taken aback, blinked, and looked at Luo Jun. "You seem somewhat familiar..."

"My name is Luo Jun," Luo Jun said with a smile, "I graduated from No. 2 High School, just like you..."

"Oh, I remember now!" Zheng Xiaoou exclaimed suddenly, "You're the one from Class 3..."

At this point, she suddenly shut her mouth, somewhat embarrassed.

"An orphan, it's alright..." Luo Jun no longer cared about such labels. "No... I meant to say I'm from a poor family..." Zheng Xiaoou waved her hand: "I didn't expect to meet you here. I heard you stopped coming to school a month before the college entrance exam. Did you drop out?"

"No, I'm also... in college," Luo Jun said with a smile. "It's just that my school is a bit special."

"A private university?" Zheng Xiaoou asked in surprise, "The tuition must be very expensive, right?"

"Thank goodness, I have a benefactor to help me." Luo Jun waved his hand.

"Hey, you guys!" the short girl with pigtails said, displeased. "Why are you chatting like this?"

As she spoke, she raised her hand and poked Zheng Xiaoou: "Have you forgotten why we followed him?"

"Oh right..." Zheng Xiaoou then realized what was happening and looked at Luo Jun with a slightly wary expression.

"You've reminded me." Luo Jun looked at the two of them: "You two were sitting in front of me in the movie theater, right? You kept turning around and glaring at me then, and now you're following me after the movie. What's the meaning of that?"

"Um..." Zheng Xiaoou felt a little guilty when asked the question, but the girl with pigtails next to her was quite confident: "We just want to ask, what is your relationship with my brother?"

"Your brother?!" Luo Jun was even more confused: "How would I know who your brother is?"

"That's Ling Junjun, the male lead in the movie 'The Wild Hunt'!"

"Ling Jun?" Luo Jun was even more confused: "I only knew he was an actor, I don't know him at all!"

"Then how do you know the inside story of the industry?" Zheng Xiaoou asked.

"What industry secrets do I know?" Luo Jun was even more confused, shrugging his shoulders.

"You said the new skill 'Ling Yao' awakened in the story is called Demon-Slaying Golden Edge!" the girl with twin tails said angrily. "How did you know that?"

"How would I know?" Luo Jun was taken aback: "Didn't it mention it in the movie..."

“No, you said that word when you first awakened the golden light, I heard it!” This time it was Zheng Xiaoou who denied him.

"Uh..." Luo Jun explained, "This movie has been out for over a week, and I've seen clips of it on short videos, so..."

"That's not right either!" the girl with pigtails said. "The term 'Demon-Slaying Golden Edge' was never mentioned in the entire movie, not even in any of the movie's promotional materials..."

"No?" Luo Jun recognized the Demon-Slaying Golden Edge first, but he hadn't really paid much attention to whether the name was mentioned in the movie.

"That's a name I made up..."

"That's not right either!" the girl with twin tails insisted. "The correct name is 'Demon-Slaying Golden Edge,' not something you made up!"

Luo Jun was completely baffled: "What exactly are you trying to say?"

Zheng Xiaoou sighed and explained, "Actually... we are fans of Ling Jun. In order to better support our idol, we usually pay attention to his schedule and don't miss any related information!"

"That sounds nice... but isn't it just sasaeng fans?" Luo Jun frowned. "The name 'mycelium' sounds a bit disgusting."

"Don't portray us like we're perverts!" the girl with twin tails snapped. "We're an organization; we just want to better protect our brother!"

"Alright, alright..." Luo Jun soothed the little firecracker's emotions: "So, what does this have to do with me?"

Zheng Xiaoou continued, "Recently, according to intelligence within the organization, Ling Jun quietly arrived in Ningdong. This was not on his officially released itinerary; it was exclusive information obtained by our organization's top fan, Sister Sasha."

"What is 'big fan'?" Luo Jun was somewhat unfamiliar with this term.

"She's one of the leaders of our fan club!" the girl with twin ponytails said. "This Sister Sasha is amazing. She knows a lot of inside information about Ling Jun. According to Sister Sasha, the newly awakened ability in this movie, although it hasn't been officially announced yet, has already been named in the script: Demon-Slaying Golden Edge!"

“I see…” Luo Jun nodded: “So you think I have inside information? But it’s a bit too hasty to judge based on just one name.”

“It’s not just the name.” Zheng Xiaoou looked at Luo Jun. “I… am very sensitive to people’s emotions. You were sitting behind me, and I could clearly feel your emotional fluctuations. You were different from others when watching the movie. For example, when the big monster died at the end, everyone else felt relieved, but you only exuded a sense of pity…”

“According to the inside information mentioned by Sister Sasha, the final monster was motion-captured using a very docile dog, but the dog died unexpectedly during filming. So, this monster, you could say, also died in the real world,” Zheng Xiaoou said. “You can show compassion, does that mean you know this?”

"A dog?" Luo Jun was somewhat surprised upon hearing this. This description didn't seem fabricated. It seemed that their Sister Sasha really knew the inside story and was probably a cultivator who had revealed a lot of inside information to them in a way they could understand...

"That's not all!" Zheng Xiaoou thought Luo Jun was still unwilling to admit it, and continued, "Many of your other unusual emotional fluctuations also match the behind-the-scenes information we know about the movie... So we followed you here, actually to ask if you know Ling Jun?"

Seeing the expectant looks on the two girls' faces, Luo Jun thought for a moment and didn't answer their question. Instead, he asked in return, "I'm more curious about something else now: how do you sense other people's emotions?"

To avoid disturbing others, Luo Jun barely made a sound while watching the movie. However, there's no need to hide emotions in normal times, since normal people can't perceive emotional fluctuations at all.

Sitting in the row in front of her, Zheng Xiaoou was able to clearly and completely perceive all her own emotional fluctuations, which was clearly beyond what could be explained by ordinary sensitivity.

The only explanation is that this high school classmate is also a cultivator!
(End of this chapter)