This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 256, Section 255: The Wheat Field Maze
On the deadwood frame, one black and one white.

The crow tilted its head, its dark eyes fixed intently on the "neighbor" it had never seen before.

Its body was slightly rough, pure white, and rounded... It was neither of its kind, nor those creaking straw dolls, nor a two-legged adventurer exuding fear and the smell of sweat.

The presence of something never seen before drew all of the crow's attention to Puji.

Scout Puji paid no attention to the scrutinizing gaze; Lin Jun was currently checking the panels of the surrounding items one by one.

[Race: Weed]

[Level: LV2]

[Racial Trait: Cursed Creature (Adapted to cursed environments, vulnerable to holy attacks)]

[Skills: Corrosive Curse LV1, Resilience LV1]

Do you believe it?
This is the panel of wheat in the wheat field!

Lin Jun initially thought she had pulled up the panel to reveal the weeds, but it turned out there were no weeds at all in the wheat field.

The main crop in this "wheat field," these swaying, plump ears of "wheat," is actually called "weed"?!

Even more bizarrely, the source of the curse that permeated the entire space was not some powerful core or evil monster as one might imagine, but rather the boundless "grass" itself!
The level of the [Corrosion Curse] on a single weed is generally only level one, which is not worth mentioning.

However, while such a large quantity may not achieve a qualitative change, it can still achieve a more advanced effect. If one walks through a wheat field and is in close contact with the weeds, the situation will likely become even more serious.

That's quite interesting. The scout promptly grabbed two handfuls of the nasty grass, planning to take them back and try them later.

"Gah——!"

The crows nearby had been staring at the scout and cawing for quite a while.

The rustling sound grew louder as several scarecrows emerged from the wheat field, their empty eye sockets fixed on the white shadows on the wooden frame.

[Race: Scarecrow - Withered Servant]

[Level: LV26]

[Racial Traits: Cursed Creatures, Shattered Mind]

[Skills: Claw Strike LV5, Wither Touch LV3, Physical Resistance LV3...]

Although they are weak, the Scout Puji is not a Puji specifically designed for combat. Besides, there are many of these small fry, and fighting multiple enemies at once is not Lin Jun's style at all.

Of course, it can fly away, but it's quite annoying that the scarecrow follows it wherever it flies.

So, amidst the crow's wide-eyed stares and the scarecrows' relentless encirclement, the air around Scout Puji suddenly rippled like water, and Puji vanished instantly, as if blending into the background!
"Gah——!"

The crow was startled and flapped its wings, but did not take flight.

The pitch-black eyeballs trembled violently, blood vessels spread and diffused, and finally transformed into two scarlet blood eyes.

[Sensory Enhancement LV4]

It saw it!

The light is subtly distorted!
It's right in front of me!!!

Chirp——

The scout slunk the crow's carcass, stuffed it inside his body, and placed it with the weeds from before.

Honestly, even though she pretended not to see it, Lin Jun was too lazy to care and insisted on coming up to deliver it.

The scout, maintaining its invisibility, flew up over the wheat field.

Without witnessing Puji's invisibility firsthand, the crows don't usually maintain their enhanced senses. Therefore, the invisible scout Puji moves freely over the wheat fields like a ghost.

Lin Jun made a new discovery while observing the other crows: some crows had the label "Puppet" in their status bar, while others did not. These were probably the "bribeable" targets that the dwarves were talking about.

Lin Jun just couldn't understand why these crows wanted the gemstones.
Surely it's not like Xiao Hei, who's simply obsessed with sparkly gems? Speaking of sparkly gems, Lin Jun thought of the gems she plundered from the dwarves, among which was a particularly crystal-clear emerald.

Little Black loves it!

Holding the gemstone with such delight, he only ate half of his favorite treat, Puji, before leaving it aside. He kept comparing the emerald with his own glass beads and Norris's silver scales, his eyes sparkling with excitement.

Clearly, the dwarves have some expertise in gem mining.

The scout flew for a long time before finally landing on the dusty roof of a tall barn.

"Wheat Field Maze" is exactly what it sounds like.

No matter where you fly, the horizon is always a rolling, boundless expanse of wheat fields, dotted with only three types of buildings: barns, windmills, and scattered huts.

The hierarchy was unknown, but the scouts never quite reached the top.

There are some special monsters in the hut.

【Straw Man - Farmer】

It mechanically bundles the harvested weeds into human shapes and fixes them to wooden frames in the fields, eventually turning them into those withered servants that can be seen everywhere.

Lin Jun had never seen the windmill used, but judging from the bloodstains on the millstone, it was probably a privilege reserved for adventurers.

The barn was filled with what was supposed to be grain, which the guide mentioned would yield the rare forging material "Cursed Golden Wheat Grains." But what Lin Jun saw through Puji was mostly bloodstained adventurer equipment and a few scattered coins on the grain pile.

Some barns were even filled with motionless scarecrows, clearly indicating they were trap rooms.

Overall, it's a rather monotonous social class.

What is most significant to Lin Jun is the ubiquitous weeds.

Both [Corrosion Curse] and [Resilience] are useful skills. Even if a plant is only LV1, you can increase its LV by decomposing more plants.

As for the "farmer" making other scarecrows, it seems to rely not on its own abilities, but on the rules of this underground city.

The "farmer" is just a level 30-something straw man with a little intelligence.

That's normal, though. The Scarecrow Abyss dungeon is also divided into many levels, each with its own characteristics, and there are more diverse monsters in the deeper levels.

What Lin Jun was most looking forward to was the so-called "layer replacement".

According to them, if you stay on each floor for about a day and don't leave according to the compass's guidance, you will unknowingly fall into the next floor.

Lin Jun really wanted to try it.

I wonder if it's like the hidden room on my side, a kind of spatial transfer.

If so, then the spatial transfer in the Scarecrow Abyss is much more advanced than that in the Amethyst Dungeon, since it allows for transfers without location restrictions!
……

The scout just waited there.

There is no day and night cycle in the Scarecrow Abyss. There is no moon in the night sky here, and even the stars are fixed and motionless, which is obviously fake.

However, Lin Jun doesn't need to perceive time through the celestial phenomena inside; she can simply observe the changes of the sun and moon on the surface of the land in Silent Wind Town.

They stayed there for more than a day, but the scout, Puji, still couldn't get any deeper.

The guide did mention that the time to enter the next level might vary slightly, but this still exceeds several hours...

what's the situation?
Is it like the amethyst, that it discriminates against itself because it is a monster and won't let it change floors?
But I have the Hero's Pass!

What's going on? !
……

After waiting another day, Lin Jun finally felt that faint tug at her soul...

(End of this chapter)