A familiar large cave environment.

When Lin Jun's Fungal Network finally spread out, various chewing and wriggling sounds interwove in the darkness below — a grand feast was taking place.

The large spider tore apart mayfly carcasses with its sharp pincers, the Slime squirmed as it dissolved the insect shells, the group of beetles emitted faint munching noises, Cave Dwellers slyly sliced legs still bearing meat, and lizard creatures rolled food into their mouths with long tongues...a medley of demons crowded together.

Lin Jun even saw a giant turtle the size of a person slowly gnawing on the remains.

Since when were there turtles in the Deep Area?

These demons coexisted surprisingly peacefully, solely focusing on devouring the mountainous pile of mayfly corpses, showing no intention of hunting each other.

However, this scene was not so pleasant for Lin Jun.

These creatures, shamelessly feasting on the prey I have hunted!

Even the Great Worm was no exception; although its thick shell was impenetrable, the brains blasted open by Lin Jun were another matter.

Now, only a small portion of the Great Worm's head remained.

Over thirty Puki landed on the worm's back, with a nearby large spider noticing the little creatures and cautiously reaching out a spider leg, only to be met by a Blade Whip in response.

All these thirty Puki were Elite Puki.

Just like elite special forces are not meant to be used as expendables, Lin Jun didn't deploy these Elite Puki when battling the Great Worm; whether elite or cannon fodder, both would be equally obliterated by its charge.

The spider leg flew off, and a shrill cry of pain erupted from its venom-dripping mouth.

However, less than half a second later, the spider's head was blown off by several power-enhanced Mushroom Cannon shots.

Its body wobbled twice after losing its head, then heavily collapsed.

The moment the spider fell, the Puki indiscriminately attacked the demons stealing their prey, causing immediate chaos.

A lizard creature, upon being attacked, attempted to retaliate but stepped into a Slime.

Sensing the disorder, the beetles scurried around in confusion, trying to hide themselves.

Two Cave Dwellers tried to sneakily drag a chunk of meat away during the chaos; however, one was blasted in the leg by a Mushroom Cannon and left behind by its companion, who abandoned the meat and fled.

The cleanup operation did not last long because, although numerous, the demons each had different habits and did not unite to fight against the Puki.

Added to this was the fact that this troop of Elite Puki had strong combat power; after a surprise assault by a lizard creature's long tongue resulted in the loss of two Puki, the scene was quickly cleared.

The close-combat Puki, clad in Scale Armor, maneuvered among the remains, finishing off crippled demons that couldn't escape, leaving only the disabled Cave Dweller and the turtle.

The turtle simply couldn't be harmed; once attacked, it retreated into its shell, sealing all six openings without leaving any gaps.

Attacks on its shell were largely ineffective; its defense wasn't inferior to that of the Great Worm's shell, so Lin Jun decided to leave it aside for now.

As for the Cave Dweller, Lin Jun was somewhat intrigued by these eyeless humanoid creatures, never having seen them near the Mushroom Garden before.

The two Cave Dwellers were relatively low-leveled, only in their twenties, with weak skills, wielding primitive short spears that hardly seemed formidable combat-wise.

This explained why they only dared to nibble on insect legs at the periphery, avoiding the juicier meat in the center region.

Judging by attributes and skills, a Cave Dweller would have struggled even against a single Fire Mosquito, not to mention the likelihood of them outnumbering swarms of Fire Mosquitoes.

After dragging the Cave Dweller to a corner and pushing the turtle over, they left it alone.

The Puki then began spraying spores all around the cave.

This cave did not have native demons, only some ferns commonly found in the Deep Area.

That's understandable, as the Thousand Core Mayfly colony resided above, making regular descents to forage, likely consuming any previously existing demons entirely.

Unlike my secluded Mushroom Garden, this cave connected to over a dozen tunnels, which is about the average number for Deep Area caves.

Who knows where exactly my old Mushroom Garden lies, with limited power back then, too little territory was explored.

After a few hours, the Fungal Mat spreading downward finally connected with the newly grown Fungal Mat from the Puki's spore spray.

In the Deep Area, large creatures might appear anytime, so to avoid unnecessary trouble, Lin Jun expended extra Magic Power to expedite the decomposition of carcasses, reducing days' work to a mere two hours.

[Seven Sins of Greed Triggered]

[Plunder Skill: Chitin Shell Level 7→Level 8]

[Plunder Skill: Insect Silk Level 3→Level 4]

[Plunder Skill: Cocoon Level 1]

...

After finishing the decomposition, the Puki brought forth the Cave Dweller with the broken leg.

[Fusion Parasite] had already been used, but its leg was entirely blown off, making reattachment impossible.

Lin Jun tied a piece of insect shell to its stump, so it could barely move by itself.

Then let it go.

If the Cave Dweller's home was nearby, Lin Jun could track its location through sensing.

If far away, given its current state, it would likely become some demon's dinner.

From examining the Cave Dweller's intelligence via the Fungal Network, Lin Jun determined—they were primitive, not dumb.

Lin Jun had a bit of interest in them.

Currently, Lin Jun could directly control about 3000 Puki.

That number was more than sufficient for the controlled area of the Seventh Floor, but clearly inadequate for the enormous unknown Deep Area.

Before descending, Lin Jun planned to take control of some humanoid creatures, much like delegating the Sixth Floor Puki to the Tree Demon, in order to conserve operational capacity.

The initial target was the Minotaur, since it was the only humanoid creature previously encountered in the Deep Area.

However, Lin Jun wasn't too confident in this strategy.

The Minotaur left an impression of being aggressive and easily angered, with immense power.

As [Fusion Parasite] isn't mind control, if they resolutely resist, Lin Jun's only option would be to turn them into Puppets.

Furthermore, the number of Minotaurs seemed limited; Lin Jun encountered only solitary ones a few times.

Encountering Cave Dwellers now provided another option; at least there were two acting together.

After releasing the Cave Dweller, Lin Jun also commanded a Puki to discreetly follow it.

However, ironically, shortly after, in just over ten minutes, this Cave Dweller disappeared in one of the tunnels.

When the Puki arrived at the disappearance site, it saw the broken spear of the Cave Dweller on the ground and a manhole-cover-sized Rift on the tunnel floor.

Beyond the Rift, there was no curse, no sound, only endless darkness...

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