In the icy river water, Qisi trembled amid violent shocks.
Puchis turned into suicide torpedoes exploded one after another. Shockwaves rippled layer by layer to the riverbed depths.
Even though Qisi had curled its core deep in the mud, the relentless pressure still reached it.
Its “heart” was too fragile; it could only rely on the remaining bugs as meat shields, struggling downstream through murky water to evade the endless bombing.
The cost was brutal.
Bug after bug had organs ruptured by shockwaves. Broken corpses floated upward, only to be shredded into finer chunks by subsequent blasts, finally becoming purple stains drifting on the surface.
Too many… these mushrooms were far more numerous than memory!
Even with its former army intact, it couldn’t match the current Puchis.
The thought that the power gap was already this huge yet the mushrooms still ambushed it filled Qisi with terror; they really wanted to devour it!
Lin Jun absolutely did!
And knew how hard that would be.
On the river surface, scout Puchis kept locked on Qisi’s main body while several reconnaissance Puchis headed upstream and downstream, searching for split bodies.
Yet even after flying far, no split bodies were found.
This forced Lin Jun to suspect Qisi had hidden its split body outside the river; the search area would be massive.
The current awkward situation stemmed mainly from lack of preparation.
If he had known Qisi’s location earlier and understood [Split Body], Lin Jun would have first found its escape routes, then struck all at once, leaving Qisi nowhere to run.
Unfortunately, this unexpected encounter meant locking onto the “heart” was already Qisi being caught off guard.
Continuous self-destruct Puchis dropping into the water kept pressure on Qisi, preventing full-speed escape while deliberately not pushing it to death; all to buy time searching for the split body.
But rapid Puchi consumption also imposed a time limit on Lin Jun’s search.
This wasn’t on the fungal mat; Puchis couldn’t be replenished in real time.
When over half were spent, Lin Jun finally gave up searching.
“Kill it!”
Receiving the order, Little Pig immediately changed tactics. More Puchis leaped into the river like dumplings. Explosions made even those standing on the ice feel the ground numb. The already fragile ice shattered on a large scale; chunks collided with grating screeches.
Then the explosions stopped.
Little Pig, who had commanded from the rear, finally acted personally. She led her dedicated bloodsucking Puchi squad into the freezing water. Blood threads wrapped the Puchis layer by layer, finally forming sharp blood cones. With her, they shot rapidly toward the riverbed.
Passing floating mycelial debris and insect remains, guided by Lin Jun’s positioning, Little Pig quickly closed on the exhausted Qisi heart.
“Mushroom!”
Qisi seemed to go all out. The last bugs guarding it charged Little Pig.
The sudden telepathy surprised Louisa, but didn’t affect her actions at all.
The blood threads wrapping the bloodsucking Puchis suddenly loosened. With the Puchis’ high-speed rotation, they turned into countless hair-thin yet razor-sharp blood blades radiating outward.
In an instant, the entire river section seemed sliced by invisible blades, covered in dense cuts.
This was Little Pig’s signature move with bloodsucking Puchis: Blood Blade Storm.
Lin Jun had tried it; the thrown blood threads were finger-thick and could only slap someone’s face…
After the skill, the field cleared instantly. Even Qisi’s heart was no exception.
Of course, using it underwater cost dearly. These elite bloodsucking Puchis without pre-installed [Underwater Adaptation] were instantly flooded after losing blood-thread protection. Their short legs kicked helplessly a few times before stopping.
Such a price bet on whether Qisi could react to the sudden strike.
Unfortunately, on Lin Jun’s panel, after Qisi’s telepathy, it activated a skill and turned into a split body.
Looking at the Qisi split body Little Pig dripping wet brought up, Lin Jun wasn’t too disappointed.
After all, he hadn’t been fully prepared, and this trip’s harvest already exceeded expectations.
Qisi’s army, aside from existing skills, aquatic Qisi carried many underwater creature skills. Salvaging remains would yield a wave of decomposition.
One split body acquired; now he could have two.
And the toothed beast had a special skill [Behemoth]; felt like it could make some special Puchis.
Besides Qisi, the drowned tribal warriors were another gain.
Qisi had killed but not yet digested them; many were wrapped in tumors on the riverbed. Explosions destroyed many tumors; the river surface now truly floated with corpses.
Fortunately nearby tribesfolk had fled. Lin Jun picked a direction and quietly sent these unlucky souls where they belonged.
But none of this was the greatest harvest. The greatest was…
…
Meanwhile, in the far north city.
Under willing multi-race labor, the fortress was taking shape.
Per Lin Jun’s request: circular walls, four gates: North, South, West, and Call Gate.
In the future, captives would move here instead of crowding the mushroom garden.
These captives weren’t just fighters.
When Qisi had stolen from the half-demon tribe… thinking of Qisi still made Lin Jun mad. The bastard had taken his loot and vanished. Lin Jun couldn’t even find him for revenge…
Anyway, the half-demon tribe had only fighters left, but Lin Jun had packed up the entire lizardman tribe.
Later, buying various slaves from other tribes, his population had grown diverse.
Demons, humans, even dwarves; most weren’t combatants.
A proper fortified city was necessary.
With completion nearing, chief overseer Xing came to the marshal Puchi on her head, asking Lin Jun to name the city.
Lin Jun thought. “Make it domineering: Mycelium Puchi Fortress!”
Xing felt no dominance at all, opened her mouth several times, then gave up.
While Lin Jun dreamed of turning Mycelium Puchi Fortress into the world’s most desirable city, Spark reported bad news to the marshal Puchi.
“You’re saying nearby tribes might band together against us? How did you figure that?”
Lin Jun’s vision swept several northern spots; nothing unusual.
“Boss, trade. Recently those tribes have been bringing only weak, disabled, or child slaves; all trading for plain mushrooms, none for delicious ones.”
“Your point?”
“They’re guarding against our growth. And hoarding plain mushrooms instead of enjoying delicious ones; likely preparing for war. Spring is coming; food will be plentiful even here. No reason to stockpile unless war’s coming. And since they all changed at once, they’ve probably coordinated. We’re the most likely target.”
Spark paused, then added, “Of course, just my guess. Needs verification.”
“Hmm… makes sense.” Though Lin Jun said that, he was thinking: you deduced all this from trade?
They were doing business fine. Why suddenly attack? He hadn’t even struck first!
Verifying Spark’s theory wasn’t hard; just watch them for a while.
Even if true, Lin Jun wasn’t too worried.
Those tribes combined weren’t weak, but his far-north forces had grown massively, plus wider fungal mats.
Forget the rest; with raw power and vision advantage, crushing them one by one would be easy.
Compared to that, the continental shift on the other front mattered far more.
(End of Chapter)
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