The scout Puji quietly withdrew without alarming the cave-dwellers.
Now that Lin Jun knew the location of their nest, he didn’t fear them running off.
Since this scout was under 【Vassal Control】, it couldn’t link directly to whatever mycelium network might still exist over there. Lin Jun decided it was best to spread his carpet across first.
Even the front-line expedition could be put on hold.
…
“What? Retreat!?”
Louisa had just blasted a snake head apart with her blood-drill when she heard the order, hardly believing it.
The snake cavern was crawling with serpents, but its terrain was narrow and winding, preventing the Puji army from unleashing their signature ranged bombardments.
Every step forward cost Puji lives.
And since the expedition had already lost half its numbers, progress was painfully slow—yet they were nearly at the core nest.“Boss, we’re almost at their nest!
If we wipe out the hatchlings inside, they won’t be able to replenish.
Pulling back now means giving up all the ground we’ve taken. These past days’ work would all be wasted!”
It wasn’t loyalty to the mushroom garden driving her. Those snake hatchlings, distilled for their blood essence, would make excellent delicacies.
“How much longer?”
“Two more days would do it!”
“Too long. The other matter is more important.” Lin Jun shifted his focus away.
Louisa scowled, crushing a serpent in her grip.
She glared once more at the cavern’s forks, but still turned back—orders were absolute.
…
Compared to fighting monsters and drinking fresh blood, laying mycelium toward the cave-dwellers’ nest was dull work.
The “safe routes” the cave-dwellers had mapped were nearly empty of threats—just a stray wandering beast here or there.
Louisa was listless, even though they still had stored blood rations. They weren’t fresh, not potent.
After feasting for so long, she could hardly stand going without.
The food was secondary though—the real problem was that the Holy Tome was with them.
She called it “Holy Tome” like the others, but all she knew about it came from tasks.
Yet seeing how the demons whispered in awe and fear of it was enough to show how dreaded the book was.
And Boss had simply let a tailless lizard carry it around openly! Reckless!
In her view, the Tome should be sealed—or better yet, hurled into one of the countless fissures around here.
Working alongside it only set her nerves on edge.
And the Tome didn’t like her either.
[“Little Norris, don’t stand so close to that she-ogre. She might suddenly go feral and drain you dry. And I’m just a book—I couldn’t save you then.”]
“Senior… if you don’t provoke her, she shouldn’t go feral, right…?”
After traveling together so long, Norris had grown familiar with Huang Pishu’s antics.
But this time, it whined pitifully.
[“What power do I have left to provoke her? Look at me—I’m so thin now, nearly a useless book. Woe is me, Little Norris!”]
Feeling its weightless pages, Norris sighed. It did seem miserable… though it was its own fault.
Seeing his subordinates getting along so “well,” Lin Jun was satisfied.
Bringing them all here showed how seriously he took the cave-dwellers.
Louisa was for frontal assault. Huang Pishu and Norris would handle those who might flee through side passages.
Not that violence was mandatory. If the cave-dwellers surrendered on their own, that would save him trouble.
Still, aside from obedient Norris, the other two weren’t motivated. Time to offer some carrots.
So, as they neared the old mushroom garden, Lin Jun sensed the living barricade and promised:
“Louisa, do this well and you can drain a few of them.”
“Huang Pishu, if you ensure none escape, you’ll get two cave-dweller souls.”
“!!!”
[!!!]
Louisa’s blood aura flared, and she began counting her elite Pujis.
Huang Pishu’s pages filled with frantic scribbles, instructing Norris what to do.
Seeing their renewed vigor, Lin Jun mused that his team was quite efficient at exploiting enemies.
Blood for Louisa, souls for Huang Pishu. Pity Norris wouldn’t eat humanoid flesh.
Letting Huang Pishu have two souls was calculated.
Souls replenished its pages, and ripping out pages destroyed souls.
Since it had torn out so many before, giving it two replacements was harmless.
Better to give it hope, lest it waste energy trying to trick Norris again.
As for the risk of it growing too dangerous on souls—well, he could always rip more pages.
Why sacrifice precious cave-dwellers this way?
Because clearly, when they had taken over the old mushroom garden, they had preserved the existing fungi, even cultivating them as food.
Now, as Lin Jun’s carpet spread, those mushrooms reconnected naturally into his network.
That gave him vision inside the living fortress.
And what he saw were useless cave-dwellers.
Fat, wide-bodied, pig-like, fed to excess.
They could never be carried as commanders—what, assign four Pujis to haul them?
It made no sense.
In the harsh deep, even leaders shouldn’t get that fat. They should maintain strength for challengers.
But facts were facts. And there were several of them.
Strange—but irrelevant. They would just be Louisa and Huang Pishu’s snacks, hopefully not too greasy.
…
When Lin Jun’s three lieutenants brought the Puji army to the cave-dweller nest, the enemy was already prepared.
They had scouted during the carpet’s advance, and their scouts had never returned.
A tribe with organization knew what that meant—danger was coming.
Now, the tunnels bristled with traps, far more than before.
Masses of cave-dwellers clutched spears and rocks, packed around the wooden barricade, holding their breath.
But when the Puji horde appeared, their lines wavered.
Too many!
They couldn’t gauge Louisa’s strength, but the swarm’s sheer numbers were obvious.
Overseers lashed the fearful back into line with vines, but trembling limbs betrayed their terror.
Lin Jun wasn’t a brute. Facing another intelligent race, however primitive, he chose courtesy first, violence second.
The Pujis parted, opening a corridor.
A cave-dweller scout, body overgrown with mushrooms, staggered forward and bellowed at its kin.
Their language was crude, primitive. But the meaning of its long cries was clear:
Surrender—or die!