At the collapsed cave entrance, twenty Diggi creatures were tirelessly chipping away at the fallen boulders, while behind them, ten Cow and Horse Pukis were continually using fortified fungal tendrils to move the debris to the side.

This was a slight miscalculation by Lin Jun, who had planned to place some automatic attacking landmine Pukis at key points to effectively strike at enemies.

However, he forgot that the cave was too fragile, and the Puki's self-destruct ability had improved significantly.

This time, it wasn't even a direct explosion inside the cave, but occurred over a distance of more than ten meters.

In such moments, Lin Jun longed for the passages in the Deep Area that could withstand any bombing and were as stable as a mountain.

Speaking of which, mining properly requires reinforcing the tunnels, right?

Lin Jun didn't have any civil engineering knowledge. If he had to think of a reinforcement method, it would be to erect some frames in the tunnel, but it's hard to say how effective that would be.

He wondered if such knowledge existed in this world and wished he could find some experts.

After all, if he could eventually control the Underground City, there would certainly be more than one place on the fifth level to be mined, and if collapses occurred every day, no one would be able to stand it.

About a day later, the collapsed cave entrance was finally cleared.

Some of the Diggi creatures trapped inside came running out one by one, rolling onto the fungal mat outside to replenish their energy.

Only about half of the original working Diggi creatures were still active, the rest had fallen into standby mode due to a lack of timely nutrition replenishment, and a few even starved to death.

The Cow and Horse Pukis entered and moved each of these creatures out one by one.

Lin Jun inspected the tunnels inside again, and the good news was that almost none had collapsed, meaning the loss wasn't too great.

Among them, Lin Jun paid special attention to tunnel number 22, sending a Puki to explore all the way to the bottom, confirming there were no issues before feeling relieved.

Lin Jun was particularly concerned about tunnel number 22 because it wasn't dug for mining purposes.

Its purpose was to dig an upward-sloping path out of the Underground City!

The reason the Underground City had only one exit meant that even if Lin Jun extended outside, when faced with enemies who understood his situation, they could take massive amounts of fungal mats at the entrance to cut him off from the outside.

This method, at worst, would cause significant delays in Lin Jun's control over the outside.

This is why, when considering the issue of outward versus downward expansion, Lin Jun focused on downward growth, and only allowed some minor outward spread of fungal tendrils to explore.

But if he could dig out a second exit, or even a third or fourth…

Then these concerns would no longer exist.

Of course, it's not that Lin Jun believed the Underground City would have such a huge flaw; if there were such flaws, it would have been riddled with holes long ago.

There's a high probability that upon reaching the boundary, there would be a limitation like an air wall.

But didn't he have Hero privileges? If he could solve these limits with these privileges, then there would be no issue!

After all, the cost of trying was just requiring about ten Pukis to take turns working each day.

...

This cave collapse wasn't a total loss; Lin Jun did gain something.

In a Mushroom House in the Mushroom Forest, Norris lay on a fungal bed, wrapped in semi-transparent fungal threads.

His left arm, leg bones, and spine were crushed, and several organs damaged.

Even with fungal threads repairing his body, Lin Jun had used up several bottles of Healing Potion just to keep him alive.

However, while fungal threads could repair flesh and organs, and barely reattach broken bones, they couldn't handle the kind of fragmentation he had, so even if he awoke, he would be a paralyzed cripple.

Lin Jun did know that in the human world, there existed top-notch items like Limb Regeneration Potions, which could heal someone on the brink of death.

But he didn't have it!

Everything in his inventory was contributed by traveling Adventurers, and these folks wouldn't have such high-level potions.

Besides, even if he did, they would be classified as strategic resources, not casually used to save a stranger.

The reason this young man named Norris was considered Lin Jun's gain.

Is because he had the fewest skills among the people Lin Jun had seen!

Normal humans, even Low Level Adventurers entering the Underground City, would be loaded with skills.

Though the skill levels were generally low and mostly impractical, they existed!

If it were someone older like Dylan, they would have even more skills, making the cost for Lin Jun every time he added a skill exorbitant.

So, trying to pile up skills to get Dylan to Diamond Level was simply impossible.

Similarly, Lin Jun could only give Xiao Hai a few key skills, each time having to gather enough magic power in advance.

But this young man in front of him was different; he had so few skills, his panel could even be described as… clean!

And he wasn't like Dylan.

Though Dylan depended on Lin Jun, he didn't owe him anything.

Their first encounter involved Dylan releasing Lin Jun, Lin Jun saving him — it evened out.

Later, it only developed into a superior-subordinate relationship, like boss and employee.

So Lin Jun didn't dare to test many ideas on Dylan; after all, if he turned him into a three-headed, six-armed being, even Lin Jun would feel a bit embarrassed.

But this young man was different.

His nearly dying was on those two Adventurers who had already sunk into the Swamp.

And now, having saved him, Lin Jun found it fair to ask for his help in exploring the effects of combining human and monster skills!

But before that, he needed to first investigate this young man's background.

A Puki approached, and the fungal tendrils slapped "slap slap slap" across Norris's face.

"Hmm—?"

Before long, Norris slowly woke up: "Where is this…"

He tried to get up, only to find he could only move his right hand…

Soon, Norris understood his situation. He didn't know why he was saved, but it seemed worse than dying on the spot.

At that moment, feeling that nothing mattered, he wasn't even curious about why a Puki stood beside him.

"Do you remember answering me saying you wanted to live?" Lin Jun's voice suddenly echoed in Norris's mind.

Norris was first startled, but quickly regained his despondent look, casually asking back:

"Who are you? A Death God? But I heard Death God is a goddess..."

"You don't seem like someone who wants to live; is it because of your disability? It can actually be restored, you know."

"Really?" A glimmer of spirit appeared in Norris's eyes.

"Indeed, though there might be a small cost... But that's not important, let me confirm once more, if you had a healthy body, would you still want to live? Answer yes or no."

Norris: "..."

He actually wanted to ask what the "small cost" was, but the mysterious voice didn't seem inclined to chat much.

Norris thought of his previous life review, thought of that girl he had barely met.

He wanted to get close to her, wanted to know her, speak to her, wanted…

"I… want to live!"

"Alright then, let's move on to the second phase of the interview."

The second phase?

The mysterious voice seemed filled with anticipation?

Norris wanted to keep pondering, but somehow, he suddenly couldn't focus?

"Young man, now let us talk about your story!"

This voice, as if coming from the heavens, carried an irresistible magic…

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