The Red Lotus Fire Bead exploded, sending a surge of violent flames that illuminated the face of the Wisdom Mushroom King, turning it bright red.

"Stop fighting, stop fighting, I surrender, waving the white flag."

The Wisdom Mushroom King shook the white flag again.

Li Cunxu was a bit taken aback; miraculously, the flames hadn't burned the white... or rather, gray cloth like a rag.

He immediately realized that the cloth was a valuable item.

As for what kind of treasure it was, the panel couldn't display it since it already had an owner.

This matter could be examined later; for now, figuring out how to deal with the Wisdom Mushroom King's surrender was more important.

If it was a genuine surrender, that was fine, but the real fear was a fake surrender, which could mean trouble.

Li Cunxu, being mortal, could easily fall victim to the Golden-tier Wisdom Mushroom King's trickery, and Xiaoruan couldn't keep an eye on it all the time.

As for the life-preserving jade?

The life-preserving jade is limited; the fewer times it is used, the better.

Li Cunxu quickly thought and came up with a strategy.

First, give it a good beating.

If it was a genuine surrender, a beating wouldn't matter.

If it was a fake surrender, a good beating wouldn't matter either; on the contrary, it might serve as a warning.

"What white flag? I didn't see you waving a white flag, only a gray one. Xiaoruan, keep attacking, stop when it's too weak to resist."

The Wisdom Mushroom King wanted to argue that it was indeed a white flag, not gray, but Xiaoruan's assault was too fierce for it to find the words.

The Wisdom Mushroom King was beaten up badly, sprawling on the ground.

Li Cunxu wasn't worried, as the Wisdom Mushroom King is a wood-element beast known for its recovery skills.

After half a day, the Wisdom Mushroom King had completely recovered.

In fact, it could have recovered even faster but slowed down purposefully to avoid arousing suspicion in Li Cunxu.

Li Cunxu examined the dirty gray flag and the azure trident.

[Item·Surrender White Flag]

[Level]: Tier Four

[Effect]: Surrender to others; after surrendering, the enemy can't attack you, nor can you attack the enemy. The effect lasts for a period, shorter with stronger enemies.

"Great item, but why didn't the surrender white flag work earlier?"

Li Cunxu said to the little white spider, "Hit me, just lightly."

The little white spider, sitting in doll form on his left shoulder, swung a light and floaty fist. As it was about to hit Li Cunxu, he shouted surrender, but the fist still landed on his cheek.

Li Cunxu was bewildered.

There's a panel, so it should work!

Why wasn't it working?

Asking the Wisdom Mushroom King revealed it was clueless, not even knowing its white flag was an item.

The white cloth was something it picked up from the sea, thinking it might be useful, so it kept it by its side.

Li Cunxu shared his questions with the little white spider, asking the smartest one to analyze the situation.

The little white spider stared at the surrender white flag for a long time, softly saying, "Could it be because it wasn't properly cleaned, and thus looked gray, not white?"

Li Cunxu took the surrender white flag to the seaside for washing.

An oblivious venomous sea urchin took the chance to attack Li Cunxu.

Li Cunxu's hand turned into gold jade, and with a punch, killed the Black Iron-tier venomous sea urchin.

Hand turning into gold jade was a skill called Gold Jade Body, acquired by consuming the gold jade liquid produced by the Golden Jade Gourd.

Just as the little white spider speculated.

The surrender white flag didn't work simply because it wasn't clean, still dingy gray.

After testing the surrender white flag, Li Cunxu felt a bit disappointed.

"One can't surrender to two enemies, and after one surrender, a second surrender requires a cooldown."

The cooldown duration for the surrender white flag still needed testing.

By the next day, Li Cunxu discovered the cooldown for the surrender white flag was one day.

While waiting for the surrender white flag's cooldown, Li Cunxu examined the trident's panel again.

[Weapon·Fishman Trident]

[Level]: Silver tier

[Skills]: Salted Fish Thrust, Torrent Thrust

"A Silver-tier weapon with only two skills, a bit weak."

Normally, a standard Silver-tier weapon should have three skills.

The alliance's standards stipulated that Black Iron-tier weapons have one skill, Bronze-tier two, Silver-tier three, and Gold-tier four...

"Whatever, as long as it works."

"None of you can really use this, so it's mine."

Li Cunxu slung it over his back.

The Dark Crow and Blood Lotus Carp didn't have hands, and the Mechanical Pupil used hot weapons, not cold ones.

Xiaoruan's crashing skills were much more formidable than the two on the Fishman Trident.

As for the little white spider...

The little white spider said, "I can use it."

"You can't use it, you don't have hands."

"I can use mimicry to create hands."

Li Cunxu patted the little white spider's head, softly saying, "Be good, listen. You can't use it."

The little white spider's eyes curved into a smiling shape, giggling and no longer asking for the Fishman Trident.

In truth, the little white spider wasn't interested in the Fishman Trident.

It's a spider, not a fishman, why would it want a fishman's weapon? It only asked as an opportunity for Li Cunxu to pat its head.

Why, it didn't know.

Li Cunxu's head pats felt immensely enjoyable.

In fact, it wasn't just the little white spider, the other pet beasts felt the same, including the Mechanical Pupil with no sense of touch.

The little white spider suspected Li Cunxu had a hidden talent for head-patting.

Once the Wisdom Mushroom King recovered, Li Cunxu started to question it.

"You're called the Wisdom Mushroom King?"

"Yes."

"Gender?"

"None."

"Do you have any kin?"

"None."

"None?"

"The name Wisdom Mushroom King is self-chosen; I am a mutant pet, mutated from a Foolish Mushroom. I believe there's only one Wisdom Mushroom King in the world, so I have significant research value, please don't kill me."

Hearing this, Li Cunxu was startled, setting aside why the Wisdom Mushroom King knew so much about humans.

"Did you say there are Foolish Mushrooms on this island?"

"No, I am not native to this island; I came here crossing the sea."

Li Cunxu breathed a sigh of relief.

Good that there are no Foolish Mushrooms on the island.

Though Foolish Mushrooms are non-aggressive and silly, they're categorized as a high-risk pet due to their Foolish Spores. Inhaling them drastically reduces intelligence, and prolonged exposure can cause permanent IQ loss.

More terrifyingly, after inhaling Foolish Spores, intelligence drops to the point of not recognizing Foolish Mushrooms, not even acknowledging paths, becoming utterly clueless.

People who inhale Foolish Spores, unable to navigate or find directions, can't escape. Long-term inhalation leads to permanent IQ loss, eventually resulting in their starving to death on the Foolish Mushroom's territory, becoming its fertilizer.

This is why places with Foolish Mushrooms are classified as forbidden zones.

"You seem to know a lot about humans?" Li Cunxu asked.

The Wisdom Mushroom King replied, "I lived by a human village for two hundred years. Because a villager reported it, someone from a place called the Royal Research Association came to capture me for research, so I escaped, bringing a flower pot, and floated on a wooden basin down the river, drifting for a long time until I crossed the sea to this island."

Village, that was something only before the Great Disaster.

This Wisdom Mushroom King likely drifted to Bengma Island before the Great Disaster.

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