Chapter 87: The Key to Opening the Homeland

Chapter 87: The Key to Opening the Homeland

Wu Yue was surprised. “These two teams surrendered so quickly?”

Jian Suiyu replied, “Not surprising. Both are noble house teams, and the current situation is really bad for them.

The leaders of noble house teams are future heirs. Staying alive means they can still get treasures later.

Better to cut their losses and bail early rather than risk more casualties.”

Wu Chong nodded. “Yeah, Yue Yue, they must’ve seen we’re cleaning up all the points and just gave up.”

Wu Yue asked, “Won’t they try for the final Boss?”

Jian Suiyu explained, “In past years, the dungeon usually drops around 200K points.

But this year, we’ve bagged pretty much all 200K—plus extra. So it’s unlikely a stronger treasure will show up.”

Wu Yue nodded. “With Shadow on the ropes, why don’t we grind out the remaining materials needed to appraise the Golden Trident?”

Jie Chen agreed, “Doable, but snagging loot mid-air over the river’s tough.”

Wu Yue grinned. “I’ve got a plan.”

Shen Que got instant PTSD flashbacks whenever Wu Yue used that tone saying “I’ve got a plan.”

He asked cautiously, “What’s the play here?”

Wu Yue said, “Remember those flowers with crazy water-absorbing skills?

Back when the captain told us to collect some for research, I stocked up.”

As she spoke, Wu Yue pulled out a water-absorbing flower from her space.

Within three seconds, soaked in all that humidity, the flower ballooned in size.

Once only as thick as an arm, the stem grew thicker than Wu Yue’s thigh and looked ready to shoot up into a giant tree.

At the same time, the once harmless-looking petals sprouted razor-sharp thorns glinting cold.

And at the center, a gaping maw formed, radiating deadly danger.

Once fully grown, Wu Yue tossed it into the river below. It took root fast.

Whenever a Chinese giant salamander entered its range, the flower snapped its maw shut around it.

Soon after, bone-crunching chewing echoed from inside the closed petals.

When the sound stopped, the flower reopened, hocking up a mess of salamander chunks.

Seeing everyone's stunned faces, Wu Yue smiled and said,

“Remember the system alert earlier? When the brain-eater died, it said a new Boss could spawn.”

Jian Suiyu nodded. “Exactly. Looks like these water-absorbing flowers *are* the new Boss.

They eat fish, keeping things in check.

But these things’ll probably agro on us next.”

Wu Yue, "Don't worry, I've got this."

Rummaging through her spatial storage, Wu Yue pulled out the fisherwoman’s remains, now turned to blackened water.

She tossed half of it around the sculling boat and evenly divided the remaining half into seven portions for all Blaze team members.

Everyone immediately noticed that once they held the black water, the once-threatening braineating flowers shrank back like mice from a cat.

Wu Yue nodded knowingly, "These flowers have been suppressed by the braineating parasite all along, unable to grow. Of course they’d fear the corpse water it became."

Confident now, Wu Yue guided the sculling boat over the braineating flowers.

She began collecting salamander scraps spat out by the flowers. Though the quality wasn’t great, she could still gather skin, meat, legs, and eyes.

Wu Yue let out a creepy chuckle, a weird smile playing on her lips.

Shen Que, "...What are you thinking?"

That was seriously unsettling.

Wu Yue pulled out several surfboards from her storage. "Alright team, time to hustle."

Shen Que stared at the familiar board. A chill ran down his spine remembering his first day in the dungeon—getting chased down and nearly killed by a river full of fish.

Shen Que, "You want to lure all the fish over?"

Wu Yue nodded, "Exactly. Now that the siphoning disaster’s hit, there’s no way we’ll kill ten thousand salamanders in time otherwise."

"Blaze has some serious guts! Other teams are so terrified of the disaster and the salamanders that they’ve already withdrawn, yet they’re actively trying to attract the monsters?!"

"The S+ Golden Trident’s upgrade needs ghost drops from this dungeon. If we don’t gather enough before the dungeon ends, it’s just a fancy fork."

"But with the siphoning effect, the river’s currents are converging toward the center. Surfboards are useless here, right?"

Jian Suiyu, "Wu Yue, the siphoning’ll drag us under."

Clearly, the team and the audience shared the same concern.

Wu Yue smiled mysteriously. "Uncle Zhou said the dungeon’s endgame is home defense.

But now that the braineating village is completely destroyed, it means it wasn’t the real home we were meant to protect.

My guess is—the true home we must defend lies deep within the siphoning abyss.

The siphoning’s not just doom—it’s our way home.

Home’s gates are open—they’re waiting for us.

It’s risky, but... You guys in for this crazy ride?"

Wu Chong immediately raised his hand, "Me! I’ve been dying to try this since the captain’s surf stunt!"

Jie Chen grabbed a board without hesitation. "No shot I’m sitting this one out."

Richard naturally took one too. "What kinda man says no to surfing?"

Fu Yanqi sheathed his peachwood sword and picked up a board decisively. "I’m game."

Shen Que excitedly reached for a board but suddenly turned back to Jian Suiyu, puppy-dog eyes.

Jian Suiyu massaged his temples, annoyed. "Wu Yue and I will keep an eye on the boat. You all have fun."

"Roger that! Move out!"

Wu Yue shouted, "Hold up!"

She pulled parachutes from her inventory and handed them out.

"Put these on—just in case."

Once ready, the five members of Chiyan disembarked from five different directions. As soon as they hit the river, the violent whirlpool dragged them deeper and deeper.

Countless Chinese giant salamanders chased after them, attacking nonstop, churning into a massive swarm behind them.

Wu Yue and Jian Suiyu arrived above the whirlpool first. She eased the boat down, facing the inky, bottomless abyss below.

Wu Yue started strapping on her parachute.

Jian Suiyu frowned. "Wu Yue, what are you doing?"

Strapping on her goggles and protective suit, Wu Yue replied calmly, "I'm going down first. Stand by for my call. If I don't respond, have everyone deploy their jet boosters—they’ll make it back to the ship."

Jian Suiyu caught on instantly, "Those aren’t parachutes at all."

Wu Yue nodded. "Jet boosters—enough to reach the ship’s altitude."

Without waiting for his response, Wu Yue turned and dove straight into the whirlpool's depths.

Seeing Wu Yue drop from the boat, Shen Que—who had eagle-eyed vision—was the first to react.

"Suiyu, what is Wu Yue doing?"

Jian Suiyu hesitated for a second before answering firmly, "She’s going to unlock it. Trust her."

Wu Yue kept falling. The river plunged hundreds of meters down. After darkness, her surroundings gradually brightened, opening into a vast, glowing expanse.

...

The view shifted abruptly—from pitch black, to dim, then to dazzling light.

A massive golden door appeared before her at the riverbed.

On the keyhole were three uneven grooves.

It seemed the key to open this door was exactly the golden trident Wu Yue had obtained.