In the largest passage of Cave No. 3, the Cow and Horse Puki were busy spreading spores.

Although letting the Fungal Mat spread on its own could work, Lin Jun obviously intended to speed things up a bit.

This Yellow-covered Book did have some skills, but it was not united, always calculating its own little schemes every day.

The tunnel extended in twists and turns, ending at a desolate cave.

Inside the cave, there was only a bit of moss and tiny insects. The space, though not small, offered almost no cover, unable to hide anything.

The only demons were a few slow-moving giant snails, coiled inside their shells, quietly clinging to the rock walls.

Compared to the Snake Cave that Little Pig was attacking fiercely, this place seemed much lonelier.

Moreover, there were no cave dwellers in sight.

Lin Jun didn't immediately turn back to find the Yellow-covered Book to demand an explanation, but instead let the Puki search all around, and indeed, there were findings—some footprints with three toes.

This matched the characteristics of the cave dwellers Lin Jun had seen before.

Unfortunately, this only proved that cave dwellers had been here but didn't reveal where they came from.

Unlike the soft soil in the cave, the tunnels were reinforced by Earth Worms, making it hard to leave traces.

And this cave, like most caves in the Deep Area, was connected to more than a dozen tunnels.

Without trying any exhaustive search method, Lin Jun didn't have many spare Puki now; the grand expedition was like a bottomless pit, no number of Puki thrown in were enough.

Those footprints were relatively new, indicating recent visits by cave dwellers.

Lin Jun had some mimicry Puki turn into stone-like forms, waiting.

They waited for two days, during which a mimicry Puki even got noticed by a giant snail and was half-eaten by the time Lin Jun detected it.

Fortunately, it was not in vain.

Seven cave dwellers emerged from a relatively gentle sloped passage, carrying a giant curved piece of tree bark.

Upon emerging, most of them immediately began collecting moss and placing it on the carried tree bark.

So, it was like that, eating moss fit their image and status.

But... why was there one that didn't start working?

Only the standing cave dweller was holding a rudimentary long spear, while the others were empty-handed.

On guard?

If cave dwellers could use simple tools, division of labor was only to be expected.

But this one with the spear didn't feel like a sentry to Lin Jun.

It wasn't keeping a watchful eye around, nor was it chasing away any snails getting too close to disturb the dwellers' moss collection.

It just hugged the long spear, leaning against the rock wall, with an apparent attitude of idling, waiting for the others to fill the tree bark in Lin Jun's view.

A word involuntarily surfaced in Lin Jun's mind—Supervisor.

Primarily, its behavior aligned too well with that of a Supervisor, existing solely for "being present," using its oppressive presence to drive the slave laborers to work while itself required no physical labor, its spear meant more to intimidate its kind than to fend off outside threats.

What happened next almost confirmed Lin Jun's conjecture.

A slave laborer, while vigorously scraping off a sizable chunk of thick moss, moved too much, unintentionally flinging a piece of mud-laden moss, splattering the "Supervisor's" foot claw as it leaned on the rock wall.

"Squeeee!" A sharp, ear-piercing screech burst from the Supervisor's mouth, carrying clear wrath.

It didn't even bother wiping off the dirt on its claw but instead stepped forward abruptly, its spear slicing through the air, stabbing fiercely toward the startled slave laborer who looked up in fear!

The target wasn't a vital part but the slave's tail.

"Splurt!" The stone spear tip hesitantly pierced into the slave laborer's tail, clearly indicating that even against its kind, such a primitive weapon was barely usable.

The slave laborer let out a painful cry, clutching its wounded tail, curling on the ground with fearful whimpers.

The actions of the other slave laborers halted immediately, bodies crouched low, trembling, not daring to make a sound.

The Supervisor seemed quite satisfied with this outcome.

It casually wiped the bloodstained spear tip on the moss, ignoring the injured slave, just uttering a series of low, threatening sounds from its throat, seemingly warning everyone to keep working incessantly.

The injured slave gritted through the pain, using a trembling claw to press a clump of moss against the wound to stop the bleeding, then continued scraping moss with even more cautious, fear-filled movements.

Seeing this, the "Supervisor" slowly paced back to the rock wall, resuming its leaning stance.

Unknowingly, just ten steps away, a rock was actually a mimicry Puki, while an observing presence had enjoyed watching its performance.

Indeed, enjoyed it thoroughly.

A group of cave dwellers had developed a slave system!

Moreover, it wasn't the sort maintained purely by individual violence; there was barely any difference in panel attributes between the Supervisor and slave laborers, these few slaves could easily tear the Supervisor apart if they swarmed.

Yet, faced with the Supervisor's abuse, they dared not retaliate.

This indicated that the cave dwellers' slavery was already a relatively complete social structure.

Though they were obviously of the same species, with minimal differences.

However, this news was good for Lin Jun.

Initially thought to be somewhat primitive beings, now they appeared to possess a higher level of intelligence than he had anticipated.

Rather than suddenly having the Puki capture these cave dwellers, he instead watched them fill the large tree bark with moss mixed with some dirt, then carried it away under the Supervisor's direction.

And a scouting Puki, under the control of Subordinate Control, followed from a distance.

Although the cave dwellers also possessed the Vibration Perception skill, its level was around Level 3.

Lin Jun's detection skill level was higher and of a greater range, making tracking them effortless.

The cave dwellers headed upward, crossing several completely barren caves with no demons, evidently routes explored by cave dwellers as "safe passages."

Nevertheless, Lin Jun had a strange feeling throughout...

When reaching a particularly scarred cave caused by Earth Worms' burrowing, Lin Jun realized the source of this oddity—wasn't this where he had fought the Earth Worms before?

Meaning the old home was not far?

The cave dwellers were living nearby, after all?

Lin Jun was certain that he'd never encountered cave dwellers before, suggesting they indeed arrived with the Demon Tide.

Watching the few cave dwellers ascend a familiar passage, a theory emerged inside the mushroom cap.

No way...

Following the cave dwellers, through familiar paths, down familiar passages.

After hours of trudging, the cave where the Old Mushroom Garden was located finally appeared in his perception...

Had the cave dwellers taken over after my departure?

The scenery before him bore no resemblance to the Mushroom Garden in his memory.

The once-guarded passage entrance by the combat Puki was now entirely sealed by a colossal, living, giant tree.

The massive, vein-like gnarled, deep brown trunk deeply rooted into the rock.

On the side of the giant tree facing the passage, there was a conspicuously rough, irregular entry-exit, claw and gnaw marks remaining on the edges, akin to unsightly scars.

A few cave dwellers wielding rudimentary weapons were guarding this entryway.

At this entrance, Lin Jun even discovered the traps they had set.

Several pitfall traps covered with foliage; large rocks suspended using vines.

These traps weren't overly disguised, probably because their usual enemies were unintelligent demons incapable of recognizing them.

The scene before him could be described as a primitive, rudimentary fortress.

Evidently, these weak cave dwellers surviving in the Deep Area were not by mere chance.

However, they seemingly hadn't eradicated the original mushrooms growing here. Beyond the wooden fortress, Lin Jun could sense a vast amount of Fungal Mat, mushrooms, even... Puki?

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