Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 326 - 318: Strange Dream

Watching Xiao Lan on the ground turning into a human shape, and gradually showing signs of being scorched, a few Pukis carried Xiao Lan away from this secret room.

Lin Jun then turned his attention to the Pink Puki: "About to die... why?"

It looks quite healthy!

If anything, has it been living too comfortably and freely lately, becoming a bit plump? But it’s still far from being fatally plump!

"I might... die from having a nightmare." Inanna’s voice carried a sobbing tone and fear.

"There’s a way to die like that?!"

But on second thought, maybe it’s possible!

Although Lin Jun had never tried it himself, if one were to use [Spiritual Guidance] to incessantly torment someone’s spirit, it might indeed be possible to drive them insane or even to death in their dream.

The reason he hadn’t practiced it was purely because he grew bored playing the same person’s dream a few times and lacked the patience to "clear" it repeatedly.

Inanna recounted her nightmare, her mother’s similar passing, and all her worries and suspicions to Lin Jun.

Upon hearing her mother’s story, Lin Jun’s first reaction was: The butler is the murderer, and the Beautiful Dream Flower is probably a connecting medium similar to his Hallucinogenic Spores!

But combined with Inanna’s situation, this assumption was clearly incorrect.

The opponent’s method of invasion seemed different from his, seemingly not requiring such a medium.

Otherwise, directly invading Inanna’s bedroom should’ve been detected by Knight Puki long ago, even if he hadn’t noticed it.

Checking the Pink Puki’s panel, he indeed found an additional [Strange Dream] in the status bar.

This proved it wasn’t Inanna’s delusion of being harmed, but something that actually existed.

Lin Jun informed her of the existence of "Strange Dream," but unfortunately, Inanna was also clueless about the term.

The foreboding feeling was confirmed; Inanna seemed to see herself meeting the same early demise as her mother, or perhaps even sooner.

"Boss... is there any hope for me? If I must die... I... I want to die on the Fungal Mat..."

"Even according to your mother’s experience, you wouldn’t die so quickly! I’ll have Edin investigate this ’Strange Dream,’ and tonight I’ll go into your dream and see what’s happening."

Inanna questioned, "Go... into my dream? What do you mean?"

"Literally."

"Boss, can you enter dreams?"

"Yes."

"Th-then... did you... ever come into my dreams before?" Inanna’s voice became flustered, visibly shaken.

"Hmm... no."

Honestly, Inanna’s dreams, in Lin Jun’s view, were the most boring—either having tea parties with Pukis or having a party, with no twists and turns in the storyline, perpetually ranking at the bottom of his "Dream Interesting Ranking."

In any case, he managed to pacify the Pink Puki. Lin Jun had to abandon his original "battle royale" entertainment plan in Norris’s dream and focus all his energy on Inanna tonight.

At night, Inanna slowly fell asleep with unease.

The entire mansion was under the strict surveillance of the Fungal Mat and Knight Puki, and no physical intruder was found.

It seemed the problem could only lie within the dream itself.

[Spiritual Guidance Level 5]

Following the connections of the Fungal Network, Lin Jun sank into the Pink Puki’s dream.

...

Beside a gnarled old tree, a bluish-gray mushroom silently broke through the ground.

As usual, first observe the scene.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves, leaving dappled light spots in the serene forest; the stream gurgled as Inanna was having a picnic with a group of Pukis by the riverside.

As expected, it’s another storyline-free, relaxing dream, utterly boring.

Some Pukis frolicked through the woods, others splashed in the stream, while Inanna herself crouched on the bank, seriously grilling a few fish.

Lin Jun noticed there wasn’t any Fungal Mat in the dream; he was curious how they would distribute the grilled fish to the Pukis.

At this moment, Inanna appeared devoid of the unease and fear she had before falling asleep. In the dream, she found it difficult to fully carry over memories of reality, wholly immersed in this tranquility.

Seizing the moment when Inanna wasn’t paying attention, the Green Mushroom continued to swell, quickly transforming into a Puki with a green mushroom cap, mingling with the Puki crowd naturally.

The dream was still peaceful, seemingly without the nightmare starting yet, giving Lin Jun an opportunity to set things in advance.

He kept scattering spores through the woods, the Fungal Mat swiftly spreading at an impossible speed from reality, silently claiming territory in the dream.

Then, suddenly, a pair of hands grabbed the green Puki from behind.

"Yikes? Are you new here, little cutie? I haven’t seen you before!" Inanna muttered curiously, stroking the green mushroom cap.

???

Among the forty or so Pukis present, the green mushroom cap wasn’t unique. How did she recognize it?

Wriggling out of Inanna’s embrace, Lin Jun needed to continue his arrangements.

Fortunately, as the dream’s owner, Inanna didn’t intervene further but went back to focus on grilling fish.

After a long while, just when Lin Jun thought today was a wasted effort, a sudden wolf howl in the distance tore through the peace of the dream.

Soon after, more howls followed, growing closer.

Simultaneously, Lin Jun clearly sensed a foreign spiritual power invading the edge of the dream!

Beyond the forest, in what was initially a blank area, suddenly appeared a terrifying forest with a completely different, eerie twisted art style. Countless fierce-eyed wild wolves surged out, charging straight towards the tranquil picnic area!

Upon hearing the wolf howls, an alarmed Inanna hurriedly gathered the Pukis for retreat, only to be quickly driven back to a narrow cave entrance by the wolves.

The Pukis voluntarily crowded at the cave entrance, engaging in a desperate fight with the wild wolves. Inanna, hiding at the back, was extremely anxious, occasionally throwing out some magic to assist.

All this was seen by Lin Jun, who had flown to the treetop.

The Pukis fighting heroically by Inanna’s side were not under his control; they were manifestations of her spiritual defense power.

As for why they were in Puki form, it was purely a reflection of her personal preference.

In most people’s dreams, such defenses could be friends, guards, or other symbols.

The form and number didn’t matter, the key was the strength of the spiritual defense.

Like the current situation, although the wolves seemed to have the advantage in numbers, Inanna appeared imperiled.

But in reality, the battle was in a stalemate at the cave entrance, indicating the invader hadn’t achieved an overwhelming advantage yet.

This situation was familiar to Lin Jun; dream invasion is like a timed offensive-defensive battle, where the invader’s power gradually strengthens over time.

Even if they failed to completely crush the target this time, as long as they exhausted the opponent’s spirit, the next invasion would be easier.

What truly concerned Lin Jun was the ominously twisted forest that appeared out of nowhere; what did it represent?

His [Spiritual Guidance] allowed for minor dream scene adjustments but couldn’t create entire maps out of nothing on such a scale. This reinforced the idea that the opponent wasn’t using [Spiritual Guidance].

Having observed enough, he couldn’t just sit back and watch his Pink Puki get beaten.

It was time to take action.

On the Fungal Mat laid by Lin Jun in the forest, one Puki after another emerged.