Survival for All: I Can Extract the Essence of All Things.

Chapter 260: Cave Exploration and Enslaving the Myconids!
The wind is rolling and the clouds are relaxing.

It was windy along the coast, and Kui Weng was flying at an altitude of a thousand meters, shuttling in the manic air currents.

Lin Xiao sat on the leader's back and used shielding to block the strong wind.

Of course, the comfort level could not be improved, but the leader flew very steadily, and Lin Xiao did not feel any discomfort.

But the long journey was too boring, so Lin Xiao chose to read a book to pass the time. Occasionally, with the reminder of the leader, he would record useful information such as the landforms and populations along the way.

It was not until more than three hours later that Lin Xiao arrived at the area where the cave was located.

"Lower the altitude and let's search in the air first."

Lin Xiao gave the order to Kui Weng, then stood up and looked down at the dense forest below.

According to the description by Wei Qing and others, the entrance to the cave is not large and is located in a crack in the rock wall.

From the outside, it looks like a huge rock that is about seven or eight meters high and grows out of the ground, covered by dense trees.

The only point of reference is a not-so-wide river a hundred meters west of the cave entrance.

It's actually not too difficult to find a rock wall that is not too small, grows in the ground, and has a crack on the surface.

The difficulty is how to determine which river is nearby.

After all, it is close to the sea and has many rivers.

Lin Xiao spent a lot of effort to roughly determine the river.

Then began to follow the river to search for the location of the cave entrance.

Because the woods in the area below are too dense and obstruct the view.

Lin Xiao could only jump off the leader's back and search the forest on foot.

After some effort, I passed several similar places, but none of them were the same.

It wasn't until Lin Xiao found human clothes near the distant rock wall that he confirmed the location of the destination.

"That's it!"

Arriving in front of the rock wall, Lin Xiao looked at the crack extending upward from the ground, as if staring into a bottomless abyss.

The dim light was swallowed up by the darkness in the cracks, and only a few bloody handprints and scratches were faintly revealed, telling the story of the tragedy that happened here not long ago.

Lin Xiao did not go in directly.

He has even been hiding in the shadows, condensing his aura, and not showing up in the cracks to avoid being discovered by unknown entities.

So after thinking briefly, Lin Xiao took out the white essence crystal that sealed the ghost.

In terms of the stealthiness of Shadow Stealth alone, Ghost may still be above Lin Xiao.

It itself is part of the shadow. As long as you pay attention to restraining your mental power and don't take the initiative, it will be difficult to be discovered.

After releasing the ghost, Lin Xiao drove it into the cave.

Within a quarter of an hour, the ghost returned and took the initiative to let Lin Xiao search its memory.

The ghost with memory now became Lin Xiao's human camera.

And because it is a product of shadow energy, the dim environment of the crack does not affect the ghost's sight.

Thanks to this, through the memory of the ghost, Lin Xiao did not find anything wrong with the journey from the narrow passage of the cave to the cave space.

Putting the ghost away, Lin Xiaoying fled Youxing and entered the cave.

Initially very narrow, talented people.

After walking around for an unknown amount of time, Lin Xiao arrived at the spacious cave.

Along the way, Lin Xiao encountered several rotting corpses, as well as equipment, food and other things.

The disgusting stench filled the passage, but Lin Xiao seemed not to have heard it.

The cave extends inward and becomes wider and wider.

Scattered fluorite gave off a faint light, and Lin Xiao could already see some moss and insects, and the sound of water flowing echoed in the distance.

Lin Xiao planned to take some fluorite back when he left.

When Wei Qing and others arrived at Lingxiao Village, they also brought a batch of fluorite.

This is a rare grade material that can emit a certain amount of light and can be used to make some lamps. It has a wide range of applications. Even the Fox Caravan has purchased it.

Go deeper.

After a while, Lin Xiao arrived at the place where the Cangliu villagers once stationed.

There are some tents standing here and there in the camp, as well as some debris and mutilated corpses.

Some small wild monsters were selflessly eating away at the corpses that were not highly decomposed, and the entire space exuded a strong smell of blood and putrefaction.

"Why don't these corpses have brains?"

By chance, Lin Xiao discovered that all the corpses had their skulls opened and there was no brain tissue inside.

This reminded Lin Xiao of a creature from the Underdark - the Brain Eater.

Then I thought of their creators, the most dangerous race in the Underdark - the mind flayers.

Thinking of what happened to the Cangliu villagers in the cave, Lin Xiao already understood what they had encountered.

But why do these races that usually operate in the deepest parts of the Underdark appear here?

With doubts, Lin Xiao observed the environment and continued to explore the depths of the cave.

Lin Xiao came here with the purpose of exploring the cave.

Therefore, he did not collect the resources in the cave, nor touch the dead animals at the scene, and almost did not touch anything, so as not to trigger warnings or traps and attract the attention of unknown beings.

Especially after learning that the person behind the murder of the Cangliu villagers might be the Mind Flayer, Lin Xiao became even more careful.

This race has strong spiritual power and keen perception, and can easily enslave a large number of creatures for their own use.

If the mastermind behind this is really the Mind Flayer, Lin Xiao must be careful about every creature in the cave.

Even a fly could be the mind flayer's slave.

Sneaking all the way, Lin Xiao took the lead in finding the Myconid tribe based on the information provided by Wei Qing and others.

The mushroom forest was very quiet, and a few mushroom men could be vaguely seen walking slowly. They seemed to pose no threat.

However, this race was introduced separately in "The History of the Galan Plane Era".

Most myconids are neutral races and rarely attack other creatures.

The fungus people lead a monotonous and silent life. They are either tending fungus fields, collecting resources, maintaining fortifications, or engaging in special activities of "thinking together". They rarely leave the tribe.

But if other creatures dare to offend them, the myconids will fight back.

Their main method of attack is to use the spores they emit to attack people.

Every myconid tribe has a myconid king who can use spores to create spell-like effects.

The Myconid King can also control corpses to act as puppets through spores. If it is in the mushroom forest, the Myconid King is the most difficult opponent.

Living in the shadows, Lin Xiao was not too worried about being invaded by ordinary spores.

He activated his spiritual sense, activated the shield technique as an early warning, and then sneaked into the mushroom forest.

Although the mind flayer is most likely the murderer of the Cangliu villagers, it is not impossible for these myconids to be accomplices.

After all, myconids had similar abilities and could also be controlled by the mind flayers. Lin Xiao thought it would be best to investigate.

Sure enough, not long after entering the mushroom forest, Lin Xiao discovered many human corpses buried under the huge mushrooms.

These corpses looked like they had been moved to serve as mushroom nutrients, but some of the relatively well-preserved corpses were covered with mycelium and were most likely made into puppets of the myconids.Finally, Lin Xiao found the tall Myconoid King in the center of the Myconid tribe.

Based on the aura, Lin Xiao judged that the Myconid King had a fifth-level rank, and felt a little relieved.

But what surprised Lin Xiao was that not long after he got close to the Myconid King, the Myconid King woke up while he was thinking.

It looked blankly at where Lin Xiao was.

Lin Xiao keenly felt that the density of spores around him had increased, but they were all blocked by the shield.

Only then did Lin Xiao realize that he had done something stupid.

The entire mushroom forest was shrouded in the spores emitted by the Myconid King. He protected himself with a shield, which was equivalent to lighting a candle in the darkness.

If the distance is too far, it will naturally be difficult to attract the Myconid King's attention.

But now that he has walked in front of others, the Myconid King will certainly be able to react.

Although "History of the Galan Plane Era" states that myconids will not actively attack targets.

But Lin Xiao didn't think that the Myconid King would look good on someone who invaded his tribe.

Of course, the main reason is that Lin Xiao will not hand over the initiative to a foreign race.

wow——

A red flame suddenly appeared, burning all the spores near Lin Xiao.

Lin Xiao held a flaming sword in his hand and rushed towards the Myconid King.

At the same time, a strong spiritual impact, mixed with spores, enveloped Lin Xiao.

But facing Lin Xiao's exaggerated mental attributes, the Myconid King's mental shock was of no use at all.

As for those spores with unknown functions, they were completely burned by the raging flames when they approached Lin Xiao.

However, the moment Lin Xiao showed hostility, all the mushrooms in the entire mushroom forest stopped thinking and rushed towards the king of mushrooms as fast as possible.

The puppets whose bodies were covered with mycelium inside and outside also stood up unsteadily and attacked Lin Xiao.

Clang!
The Myconid King used his iron-hard fist to meet Lin Xiao's flaming sword Chi Ming.

At the same time, spores all over the sky rushed toward Lin Xiao like a snowstorm, and Lin Xiao's Fan Yan could barely resist.

However, no matter how hard the Myconid King's fist is, it still can't be compared with a collection-grade structure.

Although Yan Dao Chi Ming did not cut off his fist, he cut into most of it and directly ignited the Myconid King's arm.

The Myconid King had no vocal organs, but its chaotic and manic mental fluctuations revealed the pain Lin Xiao had caused it.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao directly activated the multiplication, and his body instantly expanded to four meters, only slightly shorter than the Myconid King.

Then he swung his sword at the Myconid King again.

Brush brush!
The fire flickered and the sword danced like a dragon.

With more than 1000 points of physical attribute bonus, Lin Xiao's strength, speed, etc. have reached a level that is difficult for the Myconid King to match.

Without any ability to resist, the Myconid King was chopped to the ground by Lin Xiao and lost the ability to move.

call--

The flames of Yan Dao Chiming exploded, and Lin Xiao threw several slashes, cutting off the mushrooms near the Myconid King, causing a fire that slightly prevented other Myconoids and puppets from assisting.

After doing this, Lin Xiao put away the flame sword Chi Ming, compressed his spiritual sense to the extreme, and then stretched out his hand to press on the Myconid King's head.

Most of the races in the Underdark have relatively strong mental powers, and the Myconoid King's mental attributes are naturally not weak.

However, he was defeated by Lin Xiao like he was chopping melons and vegetables, and was tortured by the flames, and his willpower was irresistibly weakened.

So Lin Xiao forcefully invaded the Myconid King's spiritual realm without much effort.

While receiving some disjointed memories, he was getting closer and closer to the Myconoid King's spirit body.

There are not many human corpses buried in the mushroom forest, maybe only more than 100, which is inconsistent with the number of people involved in the crash in Cangliu Village.

There is a high probability that the myconid is not the murderer, but he is not an accomplice, but Lin Xiao is not sure.

Moreover, the Myconid King has discovered him. In order for the follow-up plan to proceed smoothly, Lin Xiao must eliminate this hidden danger.

After all, unparalleled infiltration counts as infiltration.

As long as I kill everyone who sees me or who I see, it can be regarded as a successful infiltration, right?
In addition, Lin Xiao also needs to use the memory of the Myconid King to understand the situation in the cave.

It would be better if it could be controlled.

According to the "History of the Galan Plane Era", the mushrooms grown by myconids, a very ancient race, have various magical effects and are the favorite materials of many pharmacists, potion masters and magic pattern masters.

If he could control the Myconid King, Lin Xiao could not only have a group of Myconids to help him guard the cave, but also arrange for them to grow mushrooms to produce economic products.

It can be said to serve multiple purposes.

Even the red dragon Conrad couldn't resist Lin Xiao's enslavement at the beginning, let alone the Myconid King.

After a lot of effort, Lin Xiao finally imprinted the Life Eye mark on the Myconid King's spirit body.

After controlling the Myconid King, letting his myconids and puppets extinguish the fire, they dispersed.

Lin Xiao began to place thought restrictions and psychological suggestions on the Myconid King's spirit body.

At the same time, some memories of the Myconid King also began to emerge in Lin Xiao's consciousness.

The first is mindfulness.

This is the favorite and only form of entertainment for all myconids.

Mind union means that during rest, the myconids will use spores to link everyone's minds together, and then use hallucinogenic spores to put all participants into the same fantasy world, where they can interact and entertain.

In addition to Nianhe, Lin Xiao also knew the reason why the myconids appeared here.

About ten years ago, due to crustal movement, the caves here were connected to the Underdark.

The Myconid King, who was still a Myconid at the time, came here with a group of lost Myconids, and then took root.

Later, more and more creatures from the Underdark came here, and the environment here was also affected by the unique energy of the Underdark, becoming more and more close to the ecology of the Underdark.

Half a year ago, several mind flayers came to the depths of the cave.

Seeing this, Lin Xiao roughly guessed what happened next, and the memory of the Myconid King also confirmed Lin Xiao's guess.

Those mind flayers hunted the creatures in the caves in an attempt to reshape the mastermind and reproduce their offspring.

They succeeded in the end, but the humanoid creatures in the cave were nearly extinct.

Because of their unique body structure, myconids are not on the mind flayer's diet.

But those mind flayers still had conflicts with the myconid tribe, and both sides ended up settling the matter.

When the Cangliu villagers came to the cave and prepared to stay here, and accidentally broke into the mushroom forest, the mushroom king once issued a warning.

This was naturally a well-intentioned reminder, but the most important thing was that the Myconid King did not want those mind flayers to truly multiply.

It's just that the Mind Flayer's movements were too fast, and the Cangliu villagers were too weak, so they fell prey to him without even realizing it.
However, through the memory of the myconids and the information in the "History of the Galan Plane Era".

Lin Xiao knew that the reproduction of mind flayers was not very easy, and that living humanoids were only needed during the "transformation" period.

The number of mind flayers seems to be small, their reproductive capacity is limited, and the humanoid creatures in the cave are almost extinct.
Moreover, every adult mind flayer must eat at least one fresh brain a month, which is difficult to achieve in caves with a lack of species.

Those humans were almost the main source of food and breeding ground for the mind flayers for a long time.

Thinking of this, Lin Xiao understood that those Cangliu villagers might still be alive!

(End of this chapter)