This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 149, Section 148: Failed Incorporation
In the swamp area, four Puji were trapped in cocoons made of mycelium, in a state of [rigidity].

The specific effects of this skill are unknown, so Lin Jun can only try it out and wait for the results.

The reason for placing the cocoons in the swamp instead of the mushroom forest was mainly to prevent Little Black from seeing them and eating them one day.

The swamp area smells bad, so Little Black doesn't like coming here. You can safely hatch there.

I wonder what will hatch from it?

The other expedition is progressing relatively smoothly for now.

While the deeper areas may contain high-level monsters like the Balrog or the giant worm, they are not so numerous as to be everywhere.

Most of the caves are inhabited by a large number of ordinary monsters.

With the Puji army and Louisa, most caves can be conquered without incurring too much loss.

However, problems still exist.

Since each cave has numerous interconnected passages, Lin Jun needs to assign some Puji to guard the territory every time she occupies a cave.

Otherwise, if some monsters suddenly appear and destroy the creep in the rear, causing a network outage at the front, that would be fatal—it could cost Louisa her life.

Depending on the situation, each cave requires dozens or even hundreds of Puji guarding the fungal carpet, and Lin Jun's originally ample troop capacity is rapidly decreasing.

The mushroom farm needs a capacity of 800 to operate normally, with 400 of them on the fifth floor. Lin Jun would feel uneasy if the number were reduced further.

With the remaining capacity, at the current pace, after conquering another ten or so caves, the expedition will be forced to stop due to insufficient cannon fodder without encountering any boss-level enemies.

Therefore,
We need to find usable intelligent beings as soon as possible to serve as intermediate nodes to expand our ranks.

This is why Lin Jun gave Louisa a strict order: intelligent humanoid beings can only be captured, not killed.

However, so far, only two minotaurs have been captured.

Lin Jun had high hopes for, but she didn't even see a shadow of the cave dwellers.

It's highly likely that the direction the Great Expedition was heading was not in the same direction as the cavemen's lair.

In an effort to find traces of the cave dwellers, Lin Jun has been sending out reconnaissance bats, Puji, from the caves he has already occupied to explore the interconnected passages, but so far there have been no results.

However, while there was no good news about finding cave dwellers, there was still bad news!
Cracks...more cracks!

Lin Jun has now occupied 4 caves, explored more than 100 passages, and found no fewer than 6 rifts.

Although they were all small and the opposite sides were empty spaces without any danger, Lin Jun couldn't help but feel as if she were living in a dilapidated house.

A sense of security! A sense of security!

Why is it so hard to stay in one place peacefully?
Lin Jun had even considered the worst-case scenario: that she would fail to seize the core and the dungeon would shatter.

They had no choice but to slink away like stray dogs to the outside world to start developing again.

Just thinking about that scene is heartbreaking.

Of course, Lin Jun also considered other methods—perhaps she could find a way to let humans know about the situation in the deep zone?
Humans can't just stand by and watch the dungeon crumble, can they?

While this method isn't as good as seizing the core yourself, it's still a hundred times better than being homeless.

There are just too many uncertainties involved...

Returning to the present, the two minotaur captives have awakened, but their incorporation is not going smoothly.

Even after being [fused and parasitized], the thoughts emanating from the fungal web remained resistant and violent.

"War! War! War! War!"

As it turns out, the affinity bonus from [Merge Parasite] has almost no effect on the raging and stubborn Tauren.

These two minotaurs weren't lacking in intelligence; they were simply unwilling to compromise even at the cost of their lives.

At first, Lin Jun wondered if these minotaurs had some kind of warrior's honor, and that one had to win a one-on-one duel to subdue them, or something like that.

It turned out that wasn't the case; the two minotaurs were simply being racist and looking down on Puji.

They even looked down on Louisa, that vampire.

Lin Jun couldn't understand the source of their inexplicable sense of superiority, but the minotaurs never showed any sign of backing down.

In the end, Lin Jun had two minotaur puppets in her hands... The attempt to recruit them failed, and Lin Jun's mood worsened.

In situations like this, it would be great if the Yellow Book could use charm to control the Tauren and make them obey.

Unfortunately, the Yellow Book was too useless; it had no way of dealing with the Minotaur, whose culture did not have a written language.

What use is such a useless book?
Wait a minute, it seems to actually be somewhat useful!

Lin Jun remembered that the Yellow Book's exploration range seemed to be quite large.

……

Norris is actually quite diligent. After leaving, he focused on improving his strength, training his combat abilities on the sixth floor almost every day.

The Yellow Book uses its detection abilities to help him select suitable combat opponents, and because of its excellent skills, it always allows him to fight opponents of higher levels.

With the experience points gained, I've now reached level 27, not far from Silver rank.

However, today, Norris, who was suddenly summoned to the side of the rift valley, looked down at the bottomless abyss and had a vague sense of foreboding.

"Boss, what's up?"

"Norris, have you noticed lately that the monsters on the sixth floor are a bit too weak?"

Upon hearing this, Norris nodded.

Ultimately, the sixth floor is only up to level 30, so it's hard to say how much of a challenge it will pose for him at his current level.

However, the seventh floor is a waterway, and he has absolutely no skills in water, so it's not suitable for him to train there.

Putting aside the difficulty of the eighth floor, the fungal carpet couldn't be laid successfully, and it's not suitable to go there.

"Today I'm taking you to a new place where there are more monsters for you to practice on."

“That boss… that new place wouldn’t be…” Norris’s eyes were fixed on the rift valley below, clearly he had already guessed something.

Sigh, Norris has grown up; he's not so easy to get emotional about anymore.

Seeing this, Lin Jun didn't hide anything and said definitively, "It's down there!"

"But boss, I can't fly..."

"It's okay, I'll just plop down for a bit!"

No sooner had he finished speaking than four bats grabbed Norris by his limbs and lifted him up.

Norris instinctively tried to struggle, but Lin Jun kindly reminded him, "Don't move around, or you'll fall."

Norris, who had already reached the top of the rift, instantly straightened up and let the bats slowly carry him down.

Half an hour later, Norris finally flew to the bottom cave and vomited uncontrollably as soon as he landed!

With my mind in a state of high tension and my body constantly tense, the feeling of nausea that I couldn't suppress after suddenly landing safely was unleashed.

After he rested for another half hour, Lin Jun gave him a task—to search for traces of cave dwellers together with the Yellow Book.

Of course, this is on the premise that the fungal carpet remains within a controllable area.

At the same time, Lin Jun also transferred control of the two minotaur puppets and the 10 elite Puji to him.

With this combined with the Yellow Book's detection capabilities, Norris can be considered relatively safe.

Norris swallowed hard as he looked at the two monsters that were more than twice his size.

This was the first time he had ever seen a puppet, and it was a minotaur whose strength far surpassed his own!
The feeling of freely commanding monsters stronger than himself was incomparable to controlling a few Puji, which gave Norris a strange sense of excitement.

Knowing that this was the Deep Zone, Norris became more cautious, but not afraid.

The boss arranged for thugs, provided a fungal network, and even a yellow book for assistance.

If you don't even have the guts to explore the area, then you shouldn't even think about becoming stronger!
As for the Yellow Book, it showed far more enthusiasm than when it was playing with Norris on the sixth floor.

[Boss, don't worry about this, leave it to us. We guarantee it'll be a breeze!]
　There's also a chapter that was posted last night.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)