CHAPTER 51: CHAPTER 51: DOUBLE-CROSSED?

"Xiao Hai, those with two hands and two feet are not demons, you can’t just kill them arbitrarily."

"Oh... but green ones can be?"

Green ones?

Is she talking about the Flower Demons on the sixth level?

After clearing most of the demons on the fifth level, when Xiao Hai wanted to burn off energy, Lin Jun would let her go play below.

Lin Jun didn’t know what she played with, but the first few times she would get lost, and Lin Jun had to go down to fetch her.

Once familiar with the path, every time she went to play, she’d bring back one or two demon corpses, and Lin Jun remembered seeing a green Flower Demon among them.

But Flower Demons don’t have legs; their lower bodies are attached to flower buds.

If not a Flower Demon, then what?

Forget it; in any case, green ones definitely aren’t humans.

"Hmm... green ones can be, but don’t kill ones like today again next time."

Xiao Hai pouted and nodded, only then did Lin Jun give her some special spicy Puki flavored with [Strong Acid Level 3]—she recently liked things a bit sour.

Those two humans had already hurriedly left, looking quite frightened.

Although they were almost taken out, they weren’t dead yet!

Besides, Lin Jun had already compensated them.

That enchanted longsword was way better than the broken one.

So we’re even!

However, this reminded Lin Jun that if Xiao Hai often interacted with different human adventurers, there was bound to be conflict.

Today, Xiao Hai initiated the attack; tomorrow could be clueless adventurers seeking death themselves.

The probable outcome is Xiao Hai going on a mad killing spree, and Lin Jun having to clean up her mess.

This won’t do!

Need to find a way, if not to prevent, then at least to reduce the chances of human adventurers interacting with her.

Having her stay put peacefully is unrealistic.

With her excessive energy all day long, managing to keep her still for two days is thanks to the parasitic favorability bonus.

Unless by force, long-term confining her is impossible.

As for using force?

Her Bedrock backing left Lin Jun with no such thought.

But then, if stopping Xiao Hai is not an option, restricting the adventurers might be!

Picking on the easier target is always right.

From now on, the forest... well, now it’s Mushroom Forest.

From now on, the Mushroom Forest will be marked off as a forbidden zone, so at least during Xiao Hai’s feeding and sleeping times, no one will disturb her.

As for the other times...

Maybe I should upgrade my [Disguise Level 2]?

Although there are no demons on nearby levels that can provide this skill, skills can indeed be upgraded through practice.

I’m leveraging Puki for practice, then radio back the experience.

Though this method transmits reduced experience, having more Puki coupled with Disguise being only Level 2 makes it relatively easy to upgrade.

Perhaps it can be trained to Level 4 shortly, and then we’ll see if this skill can hide all of Xiao Hai’s scales.

Of course, bestowing skills on Xiao Hai would require a vast amount of magic power.

Recently, I’ve been scraping by frugally.

With plans set, a batch of Pukis loaded with the [Disguise] skill started production.

What puzzled Lin Jun a bit on the other side was: it seemed no other adventurers were entering the Underground City?

So were those two breaking the rules by sneaking in?

Anyway, it’s good news; I have more time to prepare.

Speaking of which, because of the Demon Tide, ever since Dylan was dispatched, there’s been no word from him.

I told him in the end not to meddle with the Demon Tide, and if he listened, he shouldn’t be in danger.

But it’s been more than a month.

I wonder if he brought enough money to buy blue potions...

I hope my first human subordinate doesn’t starve to death out there.

-----------------

"Hah... hah..."

Dylan groped for the arrow shaft at his back and yanked it out forcefully.

The intense pain made him clench his teeth, and cold sweat instantly soaked his back.

Throwing the arrow smeared with mycelium and blood aside, Dylan took a long time to recover.

Praise the boss!

As expected, only a few gushes of blood emerged from the wound before it gradually clogged.

Fortunately, not being human anymore meant many vital spots were no longer vital.

However, on second thought, if not for earning money for magic potions, he wouldn’t have taken this arduous task at all.

This time, the leader was a close acquaintance of the tavern owner, a bald man reeking of fish, along with three other workers like Dylan.

A group of four, each carrying a bulging deerskin bag.

They needed to cross the forest west of Dumb Wind Town, transporting the stolen goods to Fish Sail Port.

In Dylan’s view, the most dangerous part of this trip was the likelihood they might encounter demons still roaming after the Demon Tide.

But he never imagined that even such a small-scale, one-off smugglers’ run would encounter a rival gang!

The first surprise attack arrow was aimed right at him.

The muffled sound of the arrow breaching the leather armor was lighter than he expected, striking precisely at his back heart.

Upon realizing what had happened, as he fell, he deliberately broke several dead branches, allowing his body to roll down the slope into the bushes.

Soon, the clashing of swords resounded around him.

Initially, he speculated which of the other three might be the traitor.

But discovered he was overthinking it.

The group of black-robed attackers had a posture of annihilating everyone.

His "death" gave the other three time to react.

Those daring to engage in this couldn’t be weaklings. Seeing eight attackers, they were outmatched and promptly fought while retreating; after covering a distance, they split up to escape.

It seemed the black-robed men didn’t want to spare anyone, unwilling to even leave behind the bags.

Before leaving, the last black-robed person picked up the bag next to Dylan.

"Ugh, ah—"

Shortly after everyone had left, a familiar scream came from the front, the leader’s voice.

It looked like they wouldn’t last long, and he had to flee quickly.

Dylan wanted to just lie there and wait for everything to be over, but the half-burning tree trunk beside him indicated the black-robed men included a Fire Mage!

If they came back to cremate the bodies to cover up, he would be dead for sure.

He pulled the arrow out and crawled out of the bushes, the back wound aching made Dylan grit his teeth, not lethal didn’t mean it was fine.

So this is what a heartache feels like!

No time to deal with the leaves and branches clinging to him, Dylan clutched a notebook in his arms and ran in the opposite direction.

Hmm?

No, when did I...

The warm object in his palm caught Dylan’s attention.

The wrinkled cover of an unknown material bore ridges that could be felt by his fingertips, and when held, emitted a slight warmth.

Dylan had some recollection of this notebook; it was probably part of his bag of stolen goods.

But when and why did he take it out and hold it?

Did it just happen to fall into his arms when he fell?

No clues, no time to sort it out.

Screams echoed again in the forest, possibly none of the three had survived.

If the attackers intended to cover up their tracks, they’d surely discover he wasn’t dead yet.

He had to run faster, and farther!