Chapter 69

Chapter 69

The mushroom forest in daylight lost some of its nighttime mystique. Under the sun, the thick, snow-white stalks blended seamlessly with the gills beneath the caps, glowing so brightly that it was clear how the name "Holy Light Mushroom" came to be.

The caps were densely packed with finger-length green leaves, a vibrant emerald hue set against the snowy-white mushroom bodies, resembling clusters of tender sprouts thriving in the snow—a truly striking sight.

Shen Yi tapped a stalk, and the dull thud echoed as if he were knocking on solid wood. Pressing with his knuckles left no mark: "No wonder it's called Tree Grandpa—it's practically no different from a tree."

"Didn't the system say it mutated? Maybe it merged with a tree species."

Xi Ye wandered through the mushroom forest, carefully observing, though he was really trying to locate Tree Grandpa's true form.

But even after accumulating Poison Debuff stacks, he found no clues and had to return to the Firefly Forest for the time being.

Although the system had captured some information about Tree Grandpa's true form after binding with the NPC panel agreement, perhaps due to its deep connection with the mutated Holy Light Mushroom cluster, the system judged it and the mushroom cluster as one entity, making it impossible to pinpoint Tree Grandpa's exact location.

Through chatting with the small mushrooms, Shen Yi learned that in their consciousness, Tree Grandpa was the giant mushroom cluster (Holy Light Mushrooms), and since the giant mushrooms in the forest don't move, it made sense to them that Tree Grandpa wouldn't either—no one found it strange.

"It has never appeared in its true form," Shen Yi marveled, unable to resist speculating, "Could it have merged with the Holy Light Mushrooms?"

At this, Shen Yi suddenly thought of something. He quickly opened the game control backend—NPC category—Tree Grandpa's data profile and went straight to the Talent section.

"Talents: Healing, Dispel"

Healing was straightforward, likely a healing skill for restoring health, while Dispel could explain why players near the mushroom forest would inexplicably leave and forget about it.

But—

"Why wasn't the knockout effect from the broken mycelium that trapped us reflected in the data profile?"

Xi Ye guessed, "Maybe that's a Talent of the Holy Light Mushrooms."

Shen Yi was surprised, "Have the Holy Light Mushrooms developed sentience too?"

Looking at the adorable, broad-bean-sized little cutie on the data profile, Shen Yi grew more convinced of this guess. "That day, I faintly heard a few childish giggles—I thought it was the small mushrooms below, but now I think the old man's voice might have been the Holy Light Mushrooms, and the child's voice came from this little sprout." Shen Yi tapped the little sprout on the screen, which had a small fuzzy ball on its head.

Unlike Shen Yi, who had certain stereotypes about voices and appearances, Xi Ye pointed to the nickname section on the data profile and remarked casually, "Maybe it's the opposite, after all, it's called Tree Grandpa."

"..." Shen Yi thought back to that aged, kindly voice and then looked at the soft, tender little sprout on the screen with its rosy cheeks—he simply couldn't connect such an adorable creature with a little old man.

After discussing for a while without reaching any conclusion, they realized Tree Grandpa was extremely wary, never showing itself even to the small mushrooms. Now, with outsiders entering the Enchanted Mushroom Forest, it was even less likely to appear rashly.

The system finally spoke up: "Host, perhaps it refuses to show itself to the small mushrooms because its true form isn't imposing enough." After all, its true form was even smaller than the mushroom sprites. As Shen Yi's system, it was very familiar with this kind of behavior pattern.

Shen Yi had a sudden realization—it was definitely possible. But even if that were the case, there was no way to change its appearance for it.

"Anyway, I think we should avoid approaching it with ulterior motives. Let things take their natural course. Since there's no storm now, we can stay for at least two hours each time we enter—plenty for exploration."

Shen Yi closed the system interface and clapped his hands, summarizing, "Let's just treat this as a dungeon. We can occasionally come in to open blind boxes and explore. We're not planning to stay here long-term; 30% poison resistance is enough."

>>

After three consecutive days of opening blind boxes, the treasures Shen Yi and the others had collected piled up in the Queen Bee's nest. Most were useless to them, so they gave many away to the small mushrooms who were curious but only dared to watch from afar.

Over the days, using gifts as icebreakers, Shen Yi had grown familiar with the small mushrooms, and his followers had even become close friends with these little ones. Every time they entered the Enchanted Forest, a group of mushroom sprites would come hopping over.

Xiao Lan, boasting that she knew Second Sister and the others first, had now become the most envied little mushroom in the mushroom kingdom. She skillfully jumped onto Fourth Sister's shoulder and shouted excitedly, "Let's go!"

Xiao Yin mushroom was much smarter, immediately recognizing who was really in charge. It climbed onto Shen Yi's shoulder in a few quick moves: "Shen Yi, Shen Yi, where are we opening blind boxes today?"

The other mushrooms quickly found spots on the sprites' shoulders. Those who couldn't get one settled on A Fu's back instead—no mushroom dared to approach Xi Ye; that sprite was too intimidating and frightening.

The small mushrooms had all learned the term "open blind boxes." Ever since Second Sister and the others made some mini daggers for them, the little ones had become obsessed with opening blind boxes.

But even the most fun activity becomes dull after three days straight. Moreover, Shen Yi felt that the chances of getting good items were decreasing lately—it seemed luck couldn't be overused; it needed to be saved for crucial moments.

"No blind boxes today," Shen Yi said. They had been opening blind boxes since arriving and hadn't properly explored the forest. Now with so many little guides, it was a good opportunity to go out and have fun. "Do you know any fun places?"

"Fun places..."

Most small mushrooms had lived in Tree Grandpa's territory since they could remember. When it came to fun places, they could only think of one.

A few minutes later, led by the small mushrooms, Shen Yi and the others rode A Fu to a cave.

The cave entrance was narrow—a crack the size of a bowl, pitch-dark without a trace of light, as if hiding some terrifying beast in the darkness.

Xi Ye had A Fu stop. As soon as they landed, the small mushrooms cheerfully rushed into the cave.

"Wait," Shen Yi released his spiritual energy to probe the cave entrance, but the small mushrooms had already disappeared from sight.

Shen Yi's spiritual energy only detected a long, narrow passageway winding forward endlessly, seemingly without end. Xiao Lan, still perched on Fourth Sister's shoulder, hadn't left yet and urged impatiently, "Hurry, hurry! Don't worry, it's not dangerous."

Xiao Yin also pushed Shen Yi's cheek and said, "This is within Tree Grandpa's territory. We come here every few days to feed."

"Feed?" Second Sister's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yeah, although the little bugs in the forest are tasty too, the absolute best are the rainbow eggs in the cave."

"Rainbow eggs?" Fourth Sister grabbed a Tangyuan and burst into laughter as if tickled, "I've only heard of rainbow farts, hahaha!"

As they spoke, they reached the cave entrance. Unlike the small mushrooms with their tiny bodies, they had to line up to enter through the narrow crack.

With Shen Yi leading the way using his spiritual energy for reconnaissance, the followers in the middle, and Xi Ye bringing up the rear, Tangyuan and the small mushrooms perched on their shoulders to guide them.

The mushroom sprites that had run in earlier were already out of sight. This naturally formed tunnel was narrow and rugged. Shen Yi's spiritual energy had already detected a suddenly widening cave over ten meters ahead.

Several cracks in the cave ceiling let in strands of light that dispelled the darkness inside. Speckles of colorful hues partially exposed in the dark, damp soil—likely what Xiao Lan called rainbow eggs.

The small mushrooms that had entered earlier were cheering as they jumped in and dug through the soil, soon emerging with eggs the size of beans, cracking the shells open and devouring them happily.

Most of these eggshells had different colors, covered in vibrant patterns and spots. Shen Yi examined them carefully but couldn't figure out what kind of eggs they were.

The Enchanted Mushroom Forest had no beasts, so they were probably eggs of some insect.

Confirming there was no danger, he withdrew his spiritual energy and quickened his pace.

By the time they reached the cave, the small mushrooms were rolling around excitedly with eggshells.

"You're so slow."

A pink-blue capped mushroom burped as it dug out an egg and tossed it to Xiao Yin: "Burp, today's rainbow eggs seem especially delicious."

A gray mushroom lying in the soil flipped over and spread out like a pancake, looking dazed as if drunk: "The spiritual energy is richer than before... Mmm... warm... cool..."

"Ah, such pretty eggs." Second Sister and the others ran over curiously and joined the egg-hunting group.

Shen Yi quickly cautioned, "These eggs probably have toxic properties. Don't eat them randomly."

The small mushrooms' current excitement and dazed state seemed abnormal, but they were likely tolerant to the toxicity. Just like dolphins indulging in pufferfish toxin, the small mushrooms were clearly enjoying themselves.

Tangyuan had no such reservations. Hundreds of clones jumped out from the Queen Bee's nest and crowded into the large soil pit, joining the festive frenzy.

Shen Yi simply picked up the egg Xiao Lan had unearthed and touched it, only to find a [Paralysis Buff] added to his status bar. However, with just a slight numbness in his fingers and weak toxicity, he continued holding it for closer inspection.

The younger crew members had all eagerly started digging for eggs, leaving only Xi Ye standing by Shen Yi's side, showing little interest in the activity.

"Hey, what do you think these eggs might be?"

The egg in his hand wasn't like ordinary bird eggs with distinct large and small ends—it was nearly perfectly spherical, colored in shades of pink mixed with aqua blue, adorned with gradient linear patterns that looked entirely natural.

"Ahhhh—"

Suddenly, Number Six’s scream echoed throughout the entire cave. The little mushrooms that had been joyfully rolling around instantly burrowed into the soil, and Shen Yi swiftly rushed toward the source of the sound.

"What happened?"

Number Six was frantically shaking her right hand, her wings flapping wildly, each limb moving independently as if in sheer panic. Her screams were loud enough to nearly shake the cave, a stark contrast to her usual drowsy demeanor.

The Second and the others quickly gathered around.

The Fourth: "What's wrong with her?"

The Ninth: "No idea. I didn’t notice anything unusual. There's no danger here either."

"It’s okay, it’s okay, I’m here," Shen Yi carefully scanned Number Six with his mental energy but detected nothing abnormal. He tried to calm the nearly hysterical girl, gently stroking the projection of her spiritual form within the Mental Sea.

"Wahh," Number Six, sensing Shen Yi’s presence as if finding her anchor, finally regained a sliver of rationality. "Boss… wahh… it’s a snail, it’s a snail, ahhhh!"

False alarm. Shen Yi breathed a sigh of relief.

These eggs turned out to be snail eggs.

Before gaining sentience, Number Six had once been sprayed with mucus by a slug. For some reason, she remembered it vividly, and after awakening, this fear only intensified, extending to snails as well.

Normally, seeing them from a distance was bearable, but just now, she had dug up a particularly beautiful egg and was marveling at it when she suddenly heard a cracking sound. She immediately realized the creature inside was about to hatch.

Such a beautiful egg naturally made her curious about what kind of life would emerge. She held her breath, leaned in close, and eagerly awaited the hatching.

But the first thing to emerge was the all-too-familiar, nightmare-inducing pair of retractable tentacles!

In that instant, Number Six felt as if her soul had left her body, especially when the soft, slimy sensation crawled onto her hand...

She shook off the snail as if electrocuted, breaking into a frantic dance on the spot as though covered in snails from head to toe.

Even in this state, she stubbornly refrained from throwing herself at Boss Shen Yi, instead backing away to avoid contaminating him. She held her hand far from her body, as if disowning it: "Wahh, don’t come near me, I’ve got snails on me!"

"It’s okay, it’s okay, there are no snails anymore," Shen Yi stepped forward and pulled Number Six into his arms, gently patting her back. "The snail has been scared away."

Under Shen Yi’s comfort, Number Six gradually calmed down. He then took out some fresh water from the Queen Bee's nest and carefully washed her right hand. "There, all clean now."

The little mushrooms, realizing there was no real danger, gathered around. Upon learning that Number Six had been terrified by a snail, they found it utterly unbelievable.

"What’s so scary about snails, especially newly hatched ones..."

A familiar-looking pink little mushroom popped up, suddenly produced a newly hatched snail, and popped it into its mouth, enthusiastically offering to share the experience with Number Six: "Fragrant and crispy, wanna try?" !!!

Number Six’s antennae shot straight up. She appeared calm on the outside, but inwardly, her soul had already fled.

Shen Yi quickly sent her into the Queen Bee's nest.

With the excitement over, the little mushrooms scattered and resumed digging for eggs, planning to gather more to eat later.

Just then, the system suddenly alerted him.

"Host, there is an orange-grade treasure 400 meters straight ahead."

Shen Yi quickly looked up. Directly in front of him stood a rock wall. "Could it be inside the wall?"

He muttered the question almost absentmindedly, his mental energy already seeping through the wall. After penetrating about two meters of thickness, Shen Yi detected a large cavern. Inside the spacious cave, the faint sound of rushing water could be heard.

He didn’t detect anything unusual regarding the orange-grade treasure the system mentioned.

However, such a thick wall could easily block psychic perception. After discussing with Xi Ye, they decided to tunnel through to the other side for investigation.

Given their size, they didn’t need a large opening. Using his mental energy, Shen Yi identified the thinnest part of the wall. By removing loose soil on both sides, they would need to dig through less than a meter to break through.

As his mental energy morphed into a psychic spike and slammed against the wall, debris and shattered stones cascaded downward with a dry rustle, drawing the gazes of The Second and his companions—alongside the watchful Mushroom Spirits.

"What are you doing?" the little mushrooms kindly advised. "Rainbow eggs only grow in soft soil. There aren’t any here."

The Second quickly guessed: "Boss, is there something on the other side?"

Shen Yi casually explained: "There’s another cave behind this wall. I plan to dig through and check it out."

"What?" The little mushrooms excitedly jumped up, unable to contain their anticipation. "Are there 'Rainbow eggs' on the other side too?"

Thanks to his prior experience carving cliffs for landscaping, Shen Yi was quite skilled at tunneling. In just a few minutes, he had opened a 30-centimeter-wide hole. Since they had wings, flying sideways through it would be more than sufficient.

After passing through the opening, his mental perception revealed his surroundings suddenly expanding.

The cave on this side was larger, with stalactites hanging from the ceiling, dividing the space into several sections. Further ahead, even larger chambers extended.

The ground was damp, with several small puddles forming in places. It was unclear whether it was rainwater seeping from above or groundwater forming a shallow stream.

Xi Ye released a string of spiritual lights to float around them for illumination.

After advancing nearly a hundred meters, the excited little mushrooms gradually fell silent, huddling together and trembling, too afraid to go further.

"T-this isn’t Grandpa Tree’s territory anymore. There’s no scent of Grandpa Tree here..."

"L-let’s go back."

Xiao Yin immediately objected: "Go back? Aren’t you curious? This place is clearly within Grandpa Tree’s territory but lacks his presence. We need to investigate and eliminate any potential threats for Grandpa Tree."

Shen Yi glanced back at Xiao Yin, inexplicably feeling like he was watching a horror movie where a reckless teammate's curiosity leads the whole group to their doom. But at this moment, he was also that curious, reckless teammate. Having come this far, turning back now would feel strange.

As they advanced, the cave space gradually narrowed.

Faint, rustling sounds echoed through the cave. The little mushrooms trembled as they huddled together, their voices shaking: "I-I feel like this sound is somewhat familiar?"

"Me too, I feel like I’ve heard it somewhere before."

They had arrived.

The orange-grade treasure the system had mentioned was right ahead.

Guided by intuition, Shen Yi extended his mental energy. Under a massive stalactite, a small puddle had formed, crowded with countless spiky objects.

"Devil's Thorn Ball! It’s the Devil's Thorn Ball!"

The dense spikes grated against the stalactite, producing the rustling sound. Upon seeing the Devil's Thorn Ball, the little mushrooms suddenly lost their fear.

Although Devil's Thorn Balls enjoy feeding on mushrooms, their movements are slow and sluggish, making them too slow to catch their prey. Moreover, the Mushroom Spirits around them are capable of killing Devil's Thorn Balls.

Shen Yi looked up at the stalactite hanging above the puddle, sensing intuitively that the orange-tier treasure mentioned by the system was hidden within it.

Just as Shen Yi habitually extended his spiritual sense to investigate, a strange sound suddenly echoed from the other side of the cave—like the slithering and scraping of a giant snake, moving at an extreme speed.

A massive mouth filled with sharp teeth abruptly surged into the range of Shen Yi's mental awareness, causing him to instinctively tense his mental defenses.

How to describe the appearance of this monster—a bizarre monster mushroom.

Standing about one meter tall, its massive cap was covered in irregular, bumpy protrusions, resembling the skin of a toad, constantly oozing a dark crimson fluid nearing black.

Between the cap and its folds formed a huge mouth, with sharp teeth interlocking above and below, faintly revealing a crimson tongue licking the drool on its teeth.

Its stalk was thick and sturdy, with tentacle-like protrusions on both sides, while countless fungal filaments formed several leg-like structures at the base, allowing it to crawl swiftly and eerily with agility.

It seemed like a fusion of a mushroom and a beast, or perhaps an enlarged, mutated version of a Mushroom Spirit that had undergone a flawed Evolution.

Shen Yi quickly glanced at the level of this monster mushroom—only level 37. Even if Xi Ye didn’t intervene, he could handle it himself. So he alerted the group, "Something’s coming."

First, he sliced off the stalactite from the cave ceiling and stored it in the Queen Bee’s nest.

In the blink of an eye, the monster charged into their section of the cave. The small mushrooms screamed in terror, "Ahhh, what is that?!"

Shen Yi, who had released his spiritual energy to confront the enemy, asked in surprise, "You don’t know what this is either?"

"Monster, ahhhhh—"

"Such a monster has never appeared in the forest—"

"This must be an outsider too—"

Terrified, the small mushrooms scrambled madly, clinging onto Number Two and the others, screaming even more frantically than Number Six had earlier.

As Shen Yi’s spiritual energy transformed into slender, sharp spikes that grazed the top of the monster’s head, six layers of [Poison Debuff] immediately stacked up in the status display.

The poison of this monster was exactly like the deadly toxin permeating the Enchanted Mushroom Forest, only even more potent. If he used manifested spiritual attacks, the poison would travel through his psychic weapon and affect him directly.

After all, spiritual energy was a part of him.

It was at this moment that Shen Yi realized this monster covered in poison happened to counter him perfectly. While killing low-level wild monsters hadn’t been an issue, this weakness would become glaringly obvious when facing monsters of the same level or higher.

If this continued, he wouldn’t last more than a few attacks before having to leave the Enchanted Mushroom Forest.

Seeing this, Xi Ye immediately took action. Light Blades formed from spiritual energy easily sliced several gashes into the monster mushroom’s body. Crimson fluid oozed from the wounds, but in the blink of an eye, those gashes healed completely.

After testing it a few times, Xi Ye stopped holding back. Two Light Blades severed the monster’s tentacles, and with a follow-up strike along the base, he completely severed the mushroom cap.

Even after falling to the ground, the monster’s cap continued to twitch, as though it couldn’t be killed.

If one strike wouldn’t finish it, then two; if two weren’t enough, chopping it into pieces ought to do the trick.

Xi Ye released several Light Blades, shredding the mushroom cap into fragments.

"What’s that?"

Suddenly, from the center of the shredded mushroom cap, a round pearl the size of a longan dropped out.

It was entirely transparent, nearly invisible on the dark cave floor. If not for Shen Yi’s continuous psychic awareness, it would likely have gone unnoticed.

Xi Ye summoned two spiritual energy orbs to float over, their faint glow dimly illuminating the area around the mushroom debris.

Just then, the Devil's Thorn Balls gathered around the puddle suddenly surged madly toward the scattered flesh on the ground, devouring it. In the moment Shen Yi was stunned, one hedgehog-sized thorn ball swallowed the transparent pearl in one gulp.

Then it suddenly crawled to the side, curled into a ball, and remained motionless on the ground.

Shen Yi had a strange feeling that this thorn ball was somewhat unusual. Just as he intended to observe it closely, he suddenly heard a "crack" sound—a fissure split open on the thorn ball’s back.

As the fissure widened, a dull gray mushroom cap emerged from within.

Its cap was covered in irregular, bumpy protrusions, resembling the skin of a toad.