Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 348 - 340: Delicious and Juicy

The imposing Marshal Puki stood atop Gida’s cap, one mycelium tentacle wrapped around a strangely iridescent, clearly dubious Big Mushroom. He addressed Norris in the cockpit: "Come, Norris, open wide, ah—"

Norris looked up at the shadow cast by Marshal Puki, his face full of reluctance: "Boss, can’t... can’t someone else try it this time?"

"Norris!" The boss appeared deeply offended, "What do you mean by that? Do you really see me, your boss, as someone who just gets a kick out of picking on you?"

Though he knew this anger was probably ninety percent feigned, Norris instantly caved in.

Resigned to his fate, he closed his eyes tight, tilted his head back as if facing death, and opened his mouth wide, ready to meet his unknown fate.

"That’s more like it."

Marshal Puki squeezed the tentacle, and colorful juice splashed all over, messily pouring into Norris’s mouth and face.

Soon Norris realized something was off; he even leaned in closer, so more of the dripping juice could accurately fall into his mouth.

The mushroom was quickly squeezed flat, and Norris eagerly wiped the remaining juice from his face, licking his palm as he asked, "Boss! What, what is this?"

He had never tasted such an amazingly delicious juice!

"Hmph!" Marshal Puki casually stuffed the squeezed, shriveled mushroom remnants into Norris’s mouth, "The latest Delicious Juicy Mushroom! Share the rest with Xiao Hai."

[Delicious Level 8] combined with [Juicy Level 2]!

As for the dazzling colorful effects, Lin Jun thought something this extraordinary had to look impressive enough.

This special "Delicious Juicy Mushroom" was excellent even when eaten raw, and could be squeezed to yield sweet juice as an advanced beverage!

Lin Jun even considered monopolizing the technique, launching this dreamy drink exclusively at Puki’s House to make a fortune.

But on second thought, fabricating a plausible origin story was too much trouble, so the idea was temporarily shelved.

Unfortunately, the [Epidermal Penetration] skill couldn’t be successfully extracted from the "Pale Pilgrimage" fruit, otherwise, his poisoning abilities would have reached a new level.

Currently, the situation deep within the Divine Wood Dungeon was worrisome.

If the Elves couldn’t come up with an effective solution, the rich ecosystem accumulated over countless years would likely suffer a devastating blow.

This wasn’t beneficial for Lin Jun either; in the short term, he might decompose more Demon corpses, but in the long run, the sustainable output ability of the Divine Wood Dungeon, this "treasury," would decrease significantly.

There was no choice but to hope the Elves could be effective while accelerating the laying of fungal mats and excavation of web-paths, aiming to recover as much as possible before the ecosystem completely collapsed.

This journey was mainly thanks to the Half-demon Leader, to whom Lin Jun gave an entire barrel of mushroom juice, awarded five thousand Contribution Points, and approved a month-long paid leave.

Now, Bastardos lay leisurely in a chair next to his little house, sipping chilled mushroom juice like a retired cadre, watching other captives work.

However, the Skill Bow lent temporarily to him was reclaimed by Lin Jun. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

Not because Lin Jun was stingy, but Bastardos’s skill with the bow was mediocre, far from the original owner’s prowess.

And now was the time to return it to its rightful owner!

"Light Bee..." Elf Ranger Peragel received the beloved bow, finally returned, from Marshal Puki’s tentacle, gently stroking the bow with his fingertips, whispering its name.

Lin Jun only now learned that this bow actually had a name.

"Peragel, I hope you will reform and become a new Mushroom!"

"Yes, Boss!" Peragel snapped to attention, eyes blazing with near fanatical light, "For the prosperity of the Mushroom Garden, I’m willing to give my all!"

[Status: Brainwash (Cognitive Replacement)]

[Too evil]

"Uh, uh... What evil?" Norris, competing with Xiao Hai to stuff the Delicious Juicy Mushrooms into his mouth, confusedly looked at the Yellow-covered Book beside him.

In just that moment, Xiao Hai devoured nearly half with a couple of gulps, not even chewing.

[Keep it up, junior!]

Norris blinked, completely unable to understand what the Yellow-covered Book meant.

...

On Sigmund’s side, he’d managed to construct a defense line by continuously expending prisoners and Illusion Potions, barely resisting Lin Jun’s spirit invasion, and had to endure only two hours of exhausting connection daily.

As for the imprisoned Elf Ranger Peragel, he could rely solely on his pure willpower, exposed round-the-clock to the pervasive erosion.

Under such extremely harsh conditions, his resilience was extraordinary.

Unfortunately, all this persistence eventually became meaningless.

Lin Jun, through operations in dreams, experimentally and gradually replaced Peragel’s deep-seated fanatic belief in the "Ark" organization with loyalty to the "Mushroom Garden."

No one expected to actually induce a "brainwash" status.

Would this status be broken by a heartfelt call and shared memories from family or friends?

But at least for now, Peragel had become the most devoted and fearless Warrior of the "Mushroom Garden"!

Of course, this forced cognitive restructuring brought significant side effects—partial memory loss.

His brain naturally sealed off logically conflicting memories to harmoniously integrate the new belief in the "Mushroom Garden," leading to noticeable confusion and gaps in his memory.

Despite this, Lin Jun still extracted considerable information from his fragmented memories:

For example, the essence of the "Frenzy" ritual is a form of Abyss Magic intended to pollute the entire Divine Wood Dungeon’s ecosystem, causing large-scale chaos.

The spread of "Frenzy" primarily relies on emotional resonance. Intense excitement and rush of blood during close combat are the easiest triggers, while calm-minded Mages used to rational thinking are the hardest groups to corrupt.

Additionally, he disclosed several "Ark" members’ identities, but unfortunately, these names were unfamiliar and worthless to Lin Jun.

It’s a pity that Lin Jun wasn’t an ally of the Elf Race and didn’t intend to report to the Elf leadership or get overly involved in the conflict between Elves and the "Ark."

By informing the Elf squad to raise early awareness of [Frenzy], enough has been done.

Compared to the issues on the Mushroom City side, elves’ matters hold much less importance.

Recently inducted Demon Race spy Keroro brought new information: he received a task to confirm the position of Duke’s Daughter Inanna and report back promptly.