Lin Jun was currently investigating his mycelial network.
Over and over again, he couldn't find the source of that voice.
If some sound had suddenly emerged from within the mist, that would have been fine, but appearing directly within the mycelial network was somewhat horrifying.
It was like coming home and hearing a stranger's voice from the next room.
"Keep going"?
Was it meant for him or for Dylan?
It should have been meant for him, after all, Dylan was unconscious.
But who could have said it?
A monster from the mist?
That monster had quite a pleasant voice—it could rival the sea sirens from books.
Or perhaps some god, outer god, old god, angel, or demon?
Lin Jun couldn't help but consider all the various settings from his previous life.
Maybe this world was a drama arranged by some deity, and he was just a clown on the stage?
He sincerely hoped it wouldn't be that kind of development...
A whole night of incomprehensible events, but at least they had finally escaped the mist, and it was morning.
Six hours later.
Having absorbed enough sunlight to replenish his magic power, Dylan awoke on the small boat. The first thing he saw was the wilted scout...
Dylan, equipped with photosynthesis, enjoyed basking in the sun, but the scout not only lacked photosynthesis but hadn't even brought high-temperature resistance. Under the scorching sun, it was pure torture.
Not to mention having been soaked in seawater earlier—now Dylan was actually in much better condition than the scout.
Dylan looked around. No mist, no giant ship, and of course, no water ghouls.
"Did we... survive?"
"Not quite," Lin Jun poured cold water on his hopes.
Even though the sun could replenish magic power, Dylan couldn't survive just by basking in sunlight—half of him was still flesh, after all.
He needed water, needed food.
Food might be manageable by catching some fish, but water was impossible.
If they had glass bottles or something similar, they could consider using evaporation to get some fresh water, but their luggage had sunk to the bottom of the sea along with the Wind Feather. They had no containers at all.
Without a breakthrough within a few days, Dylan and the scout would probably become one large and one small dried mushroom.
Day passed and night fell once again. Without the sun, the scout finally regained some vitality.
Puffshrooms used its mycelial tentacles to catch a strange fish from the sea.
Lin Jun checked the status panel—no poison—so he tossed it to Dylan to eat.
Of course, it had to be eaten raw; there were no conditions for making fire on the small boat.
Halfway through their midnight snack, a beautiful voice drifted from afar.
In the middle of the night, on the vast ocean, singing?
Actually, it was fine—as long as it wasn't another strange voice appearing directly in the mycelial network, Lin Jun could accept it.
【Sound Detection LV6】
Lin Jun immediately locked onto two figures on distant reefs.
The upper body of a human girl, and the lower half of a fish.
Sea siren?
He opened the status panel.
【Race: Mermaid】
【Level: 21】
【Skill: Enchanting Voice LV4】
Well, this world called them mermaids—that worked too.
However, Enchanting Voice... enchanting?
How to put it... so disappointing...
Shouldn't it be that kind of heavenly voice?
But this singing, to Lin Jun's ears, felt... ordinary, very ordinary.
Lin Jun couldn't help wondering if even Gian's singing could produce an enchanting effect with skill enhancement.
At least this song, which sounded mediocre to Lin Jun, was effective on the uncle beside him.
"Charmed" had appeared in his status bar.
Dylan's eyes became glazed as he reached out, paddling the boat, trying to approach those reefs.
This was naturally futile—his hand paddling couldn't push them farther than the waves.
Seemingly noticing that prey had taken the bait but wasn't coming over after a long time, one mermaid dove directly into the water and swam over.
Before long, a pair of bare arms gripped the edge of the small boat.
A girl with emerald-like shining eyes hummed softly while leaning against the boat's edge, gazing at Dylan with tender affection.
Then she immediately broke character at first sight.
Uncle Dylan's face was green and oily, covered with a bunch of mycelial threads, looking like some kind of moldy meat left out too long.
The tender affection in the mermaid's eyes instantly transformed into great shock—she had never seen such a thing in all her life!
Her facial expression kept changing, as if hesitating whether to eat something that might cause diarrhea. For a moment, even the song she was humming became perfunctory.
Really perfunctory. If before it could be considered ordinary singing, now it was noise pollution.
Lin Jun couldn't stand it anymore.
The scout's mycelial tentacles shot out suddenly, wrapping around her neck the instant the mermaid realized something was wrong.
At the same time, another tentacle lashed out, violently awakening Dylan from his shallow charmed state.
This enchantment effect was completely incomparable to the Yellow Leather Book. During that incident, Dylan had been beaten half to death and the charm still hadn't been dispelled.
"Wha-wha-what's happening?"
Being charmed didn't mean losing memory. Before Lin Jun could answer, the now-clear Dylan quickly figured out the situation himself.
He looked at the mermaid being held up by the neck by Puffshrooms' coils, his face grave.
His gravity wasn't because he had just been charmed, but because he didn't understand why they had brought this thing onto the boat.
He had an unpleasant suspicion.
"Boss, we're not going to... eat this thing, are we?"
"If I said yes, would you?"
Dylan frowned and shook his head, then after a moment of silence, reluctantly nodded.
Good grief, he really had the potential to abandon his humanity.
"Unfortunately, this isn't for eating."
Hearing it wasn't for food, Dylan felt relieved.
Then he asked in confusion, "Then what's this for?"
Dylan didn't understand—if it was simply an enemy, just kill it. Why drag it onto the boat?
Lin Jun explained, "This thing has intelligence."
Dylan nodded. Mermaids naturally had intelligence; he knew that, but he still didn't understand why.
"Stupid! Intelligent and can swim! What does that suggest to you?"
Dylan still didn't get it.
Sigh, this child was unteachable.
Lin Jun simply gave a direct order: "Dylan, beat her up."
Dylan: ?
Although he didn't understand, since it was the boss's command...
Fists rained down on the mermaid. Dylan didn't hold back.
What lay before him was just a man-eating monster with a girl's appearance that had just tried to kill him.
When the sun rose, there was already a black-and-blue mermaid pulling the boat at the front.
Mycelial tentacles wrapped around her waist—if she dared to slack off, the scout would whip her.
Having intelligence made her easy to tame. If it had been a big fish, it would definitely swim around wildly and be impossible to control.
Thanks to the mermaid's efforts, the small boat escaped its state of drifting with the current.
They randomly chose a direction and proceeded at full speed, trying their luck.
If their luck was truly bad, they still had reserve food supplies to last a few more days...
...
The mermaid was rather lucky—before being worked to death, she led the small boat to a small island!
Kicking the half-dead mermaid back into the sea, Puffshrooms stepped onto the island's beach.
"Finally!" Dylan wept tears of joy over there.
Lin Jun felt no sense of salvation from desperate circumstances, since only a Puffshrooms was here anyway.
Out of habit, he casually opened the status panels of nearby things he could access. They were all ordinary items—no magical creatures visible for the time being.
【Skill: Delicious】
Hmm?
The "Delicious" that flashed by made Lin Jun pause. He turned back to examine each panel he had just closed.
Finally, Puffshrooms stood under a tree at the beach's edge. The tree bore several red-shelled fruits...
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