This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 299, Section 298: The Little Pig's Interest

"Is it delicious?" the voice assistant coiled around her neck asked softly.

Even though the soup was so bland that you could barely taste any salt, Slick still wiped his mouth hard and yelled, "Delicious!"

"That's good!"

puff!

Before he could finish speaking, a mushroom suddenly burst open through the hard scales and flesh on Slick's thigh, spraying blood everywhere!

"Ughhhhhh—!" The excruciating pain that felt like his bones were being torn apart instantly broke Slick, and he screamed and rolled to the ground.

"What...what the hell is this?!" He stared in horror at the strange mushroom on his leg, completely unable to understand what had happened.

Puff, puff... More mushrooms were slowly and cruelly breaking through his scales and emerging one after another.

The prisoners stared in horror at the scene before them—Slick, who had just been smugly accepting his "reward," had suddenly become this gruesome and terrifying figure.

A small number of prisoners who had seen the completely parasitized mushroom-like creatures on the battlefield had a terrifying suspicion in their minds.

However, Slick was not among these people.

“Of course, the strong deserve respect, but…” The voice still clung to Slick’s neck, but every word it uttered plunged his heart into an abyss, “You… are you considered strong?”

"Look at these guys around us, missing limbs is common, or at the very least, they're covered in scars. How come you're the only one..." The tone of his voice suddenly turned sharp, "...covered in shiny scales, not a single decent scratch can be found?!"

“I…I…” Slick tried to explain, but his voice was choked by pain and fear.

Lin Jun revealed the answer for him: "Because when I blew your leader to pieces, you ran faster than anyone else! When my Poji caught up with and surrounded you, you didn't even have time to brandish your claws before kneeling down and begging for mercy! Is that... what you call a strong person?"

"Of course, most importantly, how dare you, a prisoner and a criminal, point fingers at me?"

Two more mushrooms burst open, spewing blood and foam. Slick curled up on the cold ground, coughing up blood and foam, his body trembling violently, pleading incoherently, "I was wrong... I was wrong! Please... spare my life, I can still... serve you..."

With a soft, whistling sound, he released his neck, and was lifted up by Shou and placed back inside the brim of Marshal Puji's large hat: "Of course you will still serve me... in another way!"

puff!

With a final thud and an abrupt end to his screams, Slick finally escaped his captivity as he had hoped.

He stood up stiffly, covered in mushrooms, and became one of the prison guards.

"Is there anyone else who thinks they're superior, wants to cut in line, or wants special privileges?"

No one answered. The newly recruited "Mushroom Lizardman" Slick stood straight at the front of the group, and most of the prisoners lowered their heads in unison, not daring to meet his gaze.

The subsequent food service proceeded in an orderly fashion, with no one cutting in line. The invisible barrier between the half-demon and the lizardman seemed to have dissolved, and everyone remained silent, spending nearly two hours to complete the first meal of this "re-education."

Only then did Shou rise again, pick up a thick cowhide scroll covered with rules, and loudly proclaim:

“You are a bunch of invaders, you are sinners, and I really want to drag you all to the fertile fields! But the boss is merciful and is willing to give you a chance to repent!”

"New rules for prisoners of war in the Mushroom Garden! Listen carefully, remember them, and follow them! Violators will bear the consequences!"

"No private fights, no theft, no vandalism, no disturbances, no spreading rumors..."

"All sinners must complete a certain amount of work each day to atone for their sins. Extra work completed will accumulate contribution points!" "Contribution points can be exchanged for various resources, including food, animal hides, weapons, and even... freedom!"

……

After transferring control of Slick to Hunt, Lin Jun stopped caring about it.

Training prisoners is a long-term battle. For now, we need to use the iron fist of fear to establish rules, and later we need to use a net of interests and the gentle influence of the environment to slowly smooth out their rough edges. This takes time and cannot be rushed.

It will take three to six months to fully assimilate these prisoners, and then Mushroom Garden's power will reach a new level!
As for complete parasitism, Lin Jun would not use it unless absolutely necessary.

What's valuable isn't the fighting ability of these prisoners, but their ability to expand the Puji's ranks as nodes.

Once completely parasitized, the mushroom-man loses its ability to function as a node and is essentially just another kind of Puji that also occupies control capacity.

Moreover, at the moment of complete parasitism, the soul will leave the body, leaving only the skills and the body in place.

The departure of the soul prevented Lin Jun from adding further skills to these puppets, or from disassembling them to gain skill proficiency.

Those previously created, apart from those of gold grade and above which still had value, were not even as useful as ordinary Puji due to their low strength. After the war, they were recycled by Lin Jun into pure magic power.

Of course, while making mushroom people is a waste of money, it's still worthwhile for a scenario like this where you make an example of someone.

If any of the prisoners try to cause trouble again, just a glance at Slick will surely calm them down.

Shift your attention to the pig.

She leaned lazily against the wall, her scarlet eyes half-closed, lightly licking her bloodless lips, savoring the lingering screams in the air.

When she recalled how the boss used those horrific methods on others, it always gave her an almost chilling pleasure.

If the object of her affections were her former colleagues in the empire who had schemed against her for promotion, the pleasure would probably be doubled!
For example, there's the vampire count, Lady Yunier, who is currently imprisoned in the dungeon.

Although they belonged to different dukes and had little interaction, Louisa had already labeled Yunier as a "fake" in her heart.

A dignified earl, yet he was entangled in a long battle with himself and Xinghuo, along with a bunch of idiots. He's clearly a good-for-nothing who rose to power through nepotism!
She despised this kind of person more than those openly competitive rivals!

It was these useless people who took up precious promotion slots, forcing her to fight tooth and nail with other vampires for the remaining spots. Otherwise, she wouldn't have taken such a dangerous mission...

Louisa unconsciously ground her sharp canines, thinking that she should find an opportunity to persuade her boss to also plant a few pretty mushrooms for that "noble" Count Eunice!

"piggy."

“I’m here!” Louisa straightened her back instantly.

"Come to the conference room."

"Yes!"

It was called a conference room, but it was actually just a simple, secluded room that had been dug out, with stone chairs and tables.

The moment Louisa stepped in, her gaze was immediately drawn to the strangely thin, yellowed book in the center of the stone table, which had only one page and looked as if it might fall apart at any moment.

"The Holy Scriptures..."

(End of this chapter)