The bard fantasized again.

Chapter 146 should be called "Sending One's Life to Death" (10,000 words, please subscribe and vote!)
Exploring dungeons is not a spring outing; unexpected situations are common.

Besides being wary of the lurking withered vine monsters, you also need to watch out for the pythons and crocodiles lurking in the jungle, and even the mad frogmen that suddenly emerge from the rivers—

They are short in stature, only reaching the waist of a human.

It will stick out its sticky, long tongue, catching flies from the sky and tiny carrion worms on the ground, serving them as dessert during conversations, and demanding payment for your passage.

You can choose to ignore them and confront them directly.

Or, like me, you can use your personal charm to persuade them to let you pass, since they understand human language anyway.

But if you're unwilling to trust your own rhetoric and persuasive abilities, then the only thing I can remind you of is to be wary of the poison hidden beneath their spears—

It's a spear covered in the slime of carrion beetles. If you don't exercise regularly and accidentally get scratched by it, you'll experience a numbing sensation like being electrocuted.

This is the inside story that these crazy frogmen told me themselves. Now you should believe in the charm of a bard, right?

Dwarfs need not be afraid of this—hey, hey, relax, don't overreact and think I'm joking.

I mean, your robust physique is enough for you to ignore these things.

So swing your weapons with abandon! This time you won't have to jump up to easily smash their heads!
In addition, you must also be wary of the adventurers who have died—

The humid environment of the third level and the forest terrain of the fourth level are ideal for providing nutrients for the mushrooms in the underground city, so much so that most gold prospectors collect mushrooms on these two levels.

But these mushrooms can also fight back.

They reside within the corpses of adventurers, bringing these dead bodies to life and allowing them to act as bodyguards.

Adventurers who can reach the third level have already moved beyond the realm of novices.

So you'd better pray they were less powerful than you in life, otherwise this will be the biggest obstacle to your progress into the third level...

"But it's not mine."

Tang Qi commented truthfully as he watched the dawn dismember the adventurer who was being taken over by the mushrooms.

A former 'legend' who, even without using the power of glory, could easily overwhelm a group of adventurers with his combat skills alone.

This was because Tang Qi was worried that her body couldn't handle it, so he deliberately made her hold back her strength.

Even so, the frequent battles caused cracks to appear at the joint of her arm.

Fortunately, Tang Qi was carrying Hope on his back and promptly used healing gel to treat and heal the wound, so it wasn't too much of a problem.

"Do you still feel like you're being followed?"

"It has always existed."

"Then you can act even more tired, so that the Red Scarf Gang can intercept us on our return journey."

“I can’t act.”

"It's okay, just sit here with me for a while longer."

Tang Qi put the Dawn's arm armor back on her hands.

"As our rest intervals become shorter and our rest periods become longer, they will sense our fatigue."

"it is good……"

"unhappy?"

How did you figure that out?

"Because you can't act, your emotions will show in every answer you give."

Chenxi answered truthfully:
"This level's challenges were somewhat uninteresting to me; they were all challenges I'd faced before. I also don't understand the point of finding a group of snail shells—"

I want to go deeper, to the fourth and fifth levels, to pursue that [Dragon's Treasury].

Tang Qi had to admit that exploring the third level was becoming increasingly boring:
"Why don't you treat enduring boredom as a challenge?"

"What do you mean?"

"It's a challenge of mindset. You've succeeded when you stop feeling bored."

"That seems to make some sense. But why do I always feel like you're trying to fool me?"

"Is it too obvious?"

"a little bit."

"So, are you willing to be fooled by me?"

"I can try."

She hesitated for a moment.

This made the air fall silent for a moment.

Then, she suddenly explained:
"Perhaps being forgotten for so long has made my soul restless. Suppressing this restlessness is indeed part of the challenge."

Tang gave her a strange look:
"That's exactly what I thought, which is why I asked you to do it. Wouldn't it be redundant for you to explain?"

"me--"

Chenxi was silent for a moment, then said firmly,

"I was taking on the challenge of 'interpreting every instruction Don Qi gave'—yes, that's it."

Tang Qi almost burst out laughing:

"What kind of weird challenge is this?"

"It's a challenge, anyway." She was somewhat stubborn.

"Let's postpone the challenge for now. It's time to complete the 'Find the Snail Shell' challenge."

"Listen to you."

Seeing the two of them stand up at the same time, Hope, who was sitting not far away, also moved closer and asked:

"Are we leaving again? Wouldn't it be better to rest for a few more hours and get some sleep?"

"We can already smell the biogas, wouldn't resting a little longer just waste more time?"

Tang Qi pinched his nose, trying to block out the stench wafting from afar—a smell that resembled rotten cheese, long-stale diapers, or a combination of both.

Seeing this, Hope didn't offer any further advice, only reminding him:

"Once you step into the swamp, the path will only become more difficult, so be careful of the sinkholes under your feet."

"I know that, like quicksand, the more you struggle, the faster you die."

They didn't linger long, each taking an antidote and quickening their pace, heading deeper into the stench.

Dawn doesn't need it, because she doesn't even have a head.

As they walked, their shoes and boots gradually waded through the dark green, sometimes bubbling, sometimes foamy sewage, until they reached above their trouser legs and knees.

"Rua!"

Kuru exclaimed again, and Tang Qi turned around to look, only to find that the foul-smelling sewage had already reached its waist and abdomen.

“The gravel will definitely not like it here.”

He could only look towards the dawn.
"Next is the challenge of carrying Kuru across the swamp."

This explanation seemed to actually work, piquing Chenxi's interest to pull Kuru out of the sewage so that the kobold could ride on his heavy armor.

Meanwhile, Tang Qi, deep in thought, used the [Spore Replicator] to create a copy of himself. He then had the copy placed at the front, and used rope to connect several people with both feet on the ground together, so that if anyone collapsed, they could be rescued together.

Once this point is reached, the role of the clone becomes apparent.

Besides perfectly deceiving others' vision, it can even be seen as a kind of 'magical pet' that enjoys shared senses, used to explore paths and dangers in specific situations.

Although Hope was curious about the new clone, she didn't intend to ask any more questions.

Adventurers always possess trinkets that are incomprehensible to ordinary people. Asking about everything only makes one seem to lack a sense of boundaries.

The sewage seemed to reach its limit when it reached mid-thigh, allowing the group to wade through it for quite a distance.

Surprisingly, they didn't encounter any further dangers after entering the swamp.

This is hardly a lucky thing—

"When you find that minor troubles that should have appeared have disappeared from your surroundings, you should realize that there may be some major troubles that they also fear."

Tang Qi wrote this sentence down in his notebook.

Hope couldn't help but ask:

"Wouldn't this be considered a jinx?"

"It is merely a reasonable inference based on existing conditions."

Tang Qi tried to defend himself, then used the map in his hand to determine the direction, and then became surprised.

"There is only a cave in front of us, but on the map, this should be a wetland."

He and Hope said in unison:
"So the layout of the third floor has actually changed quietly."

"What should I do?"

Hope felt there was something eerie about the cave.
"Shall we look elsewhere?"

"Having spent so much time and effort, we should at least go in and take a look."

As Tang Qi spoke, he had his clone untie the rope around its waist, and then let it move towards the cave on its own, using their shared senses to perceive the strange phenomena around them.

But he soon discovered that the further he went into the cave, the more sewage overflowed.

Kuru realized this as well and quickly used the [Earth Shaping Technique] to create a fairly solid earthen path under the clone's feet, preventing him from sinking deeper.

The remaining people then followed the underwater dirt path and safely crossed the deep water at the entrance.

"Release [Detection Trap] and [Detection Magic]."

Tang Qi had Kuru take out his two wands and charge them one by one.

"No, no trap!"
Illusion, magic!

Kuru answered clearly. Tang Qi frowned: "Illusion? In which direction?"

Kuru pointed to the cave: "All of them!"

"Does that mean...this cave is actually an illusion?"

Tang Qi touched the stone wall in front of him, and a cool sensation traveled to his fingertips, making him feel incredibly real.

Unsure of the situation, but also not wanting to turn back.

He simply had the others stand outside the cave while he controlled the clone to continuously penetrate deeper inside.

After a long pause, he exclaimed in surprise:
"You're really here?"

“What?” Hope asked.

"Giant snail."

Tang Qi pondered,
"They seem to live in the cave. There are about six or seven of them."

"Perhaps this was originally a cave, but the bald guy and the others forgot to tell you?"

“Little Baldy is very meticulous, he shouldn’t have forgotten this point—but in any case, the target is right in front of us, we should go in and take the snail’s shell first.”

They still moved forward in the same queue, except that the clones were now at the very front.

But even when they reached the deepest part of the cave, Tang Qi's "Alertness" failed to activate.

Before them lay a deep, dark cave, devoid of any light. Only the [Light Spell] emanating from Tang Qi's ring allowed him to see anything within.

The seven giant snails appear to be asleep, curled up in their shells, sleeping upright in various corners.

Because of the congenital absence of a sound-producing organ, snails do not snore like humans when they are resting, making it impossible to determine whether they are actually hibernating.

Even when Tang Qi took two steps closer, shining light into the entire spacious cave, and even the clanging sound of the plate armor colliding as it moved, they were not awakened.

"Shall we try using the wand to scan the vicinity again?"

"No, no trap!"
Illusion, magic!

"where?"

"all!"

"Dawn, sense it."

An invisible ripple swept across the cave, and dawn responded with a telepathic message:
"Nothing unusual."

"Okay—just stick close to me and stay alert."

Tang Qi narrowed his eyes, considering the situation carefully, but still issued the order.

Because they remain upright even while sleeping, I cannot deliver a fatal blow to these mollusks directly through the opening in their shells while they are sound asleep.

But he was prepared:

"This actually saves a lot of trouble, and avoids any conflict with them."

As she spoke, she took out salt crystals that she had bought in the [Trading Corridor] beforehand from her dimensional bag, and with the Dawn almost touching her body for protection, she sprinkled them around the snails, spreading them as much as possible throughout the cave.

"You bought salt before because of these snails?" Hope asked in surprise.

Tang Qi explained as he sprinkled salt:

Here's a little biology tidbit for you—

Snails have extremely high levels of mucus on their bodies and water in their cells. When they come into contact with salt, a high osmotic pressure environment is created, forcing water to seep out of the snail's body.

At the same time, some components of salt can react with proteins in the animal's body, causing damage to cell structure, interference with the respiratory system, and ultimately, suffocation.

Hope couldn't understand some of the technical terms he used, but he felt that Tang Qi seemed quite impressive—as a bard, his knowledge was as extensive as that of the mages.

But in reality, Tang Qi was simply using the knowledge base to apply what he had learned in a flexible and practical way.

"Giant snails are still snails. Although they are larger and have harder shells, their essential nature as snails remains unchanged—"

You can think of it as salt, a substance that can corrode their flesh, thus killing them at a physiological level.

"In other words, all we need to do now is wake them up—"

"They will die during the crawling process."

As Tang Qi spoke, he raised the curved knife in his hand and tapped the shell of a snail next to him with the hilt.

His strength was no match for that of a warrior like Shatterstone; no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't damage the structure of the entire carapace.

However, the vibrations produced by striking it can directly awaken these sleeping creatures.

[Alertness] Sudden onset—

A tentacle, hidden beneath the carapace like a flail used to pound grain, suddenly burst out of the shell and slapped towards Tang Qi's cheek in a winding motion.

"Zizzi!!!"

Snails do not have vocal organs, but when air flows through their mouths used for chewing food, it rubs and vibrates against their tens of thousands of sharp teeth, producing a shrill 'scream'.

This also woke up the other sleeping companions.

The giant snail in front of Tang Qi, realizing that the human who had woken it was retreating, immediately began to crawl and pursue.

But as its skin pressed against the salt crystals that had been sprinkled beforehand, a mournful howl, like the sound of the wind, instantly echoed throughout the entire empty cave.

By the glow of the light, Hope saw its forelegs, which had come into contact with the salt, suddenly curl up.

Immediately, a sizzling sound began to linger in the air, and a large amount of water began to splash into the cave. The foreleg, as if corroded by something, disappeared without a trace.

The pain drove them to try crawling in a different direction, only to discover that another 'way out' also led straight to hell—

To prevent them from standing still, Tang Qi even had Kuru use the [Earth Shaping Technique] to send salt crystals into the giant snail's shell using flowing sand.

"It's somewhat cruel."

Hope told the truth.

But it does work.

During the long ten minutes that the snails were exposed to salt, most of their flesh turned into water. Amidst their screams and pain, they were left behind only intact shells.

In contrast, Tang Qi seems to be able to obtain at least 1000 gold coins worth of 'complete carapace' simply by relying on 30 gold coins worth of salt crystals and the infinite release of [Clay Shaping Technique]...

Will you also include other interesting biological facts in your books?

Hope pointed to the notebook in Tang Qi's hand.

"I never imagined that making money could be so easy."

"Yes, everything will happen. Please look forward to 'Tang Qi's Guide to Longjin City'."

He couldn't resist placing an advertisement, but his brow gradually furrowed.
"Strange, why are those three snails still crawling..."

As Tang Qi grew puzzled, Hope also turned her gaze to the three surviving giant snails.

They seemed unaffected, as if they were completely unaware of what was happening, crawling from one end to the other, and from the other to this end...

"Mutated?"

Tang Qi was somewhat confused.

"But they don't look much different from ordinary giant snails..."

Out of curiosity, he tried to control his clone to get closer to the three snails.

This time, seemingly realizing that 'Tang Qi' was approaching alone, the three snails suddenly tore off their disguise, let out a sharp laugh, and stretched their claws toward the lone 'prey'!
"puff--"

The clone transformed into a cluster of spores and suddenly vanished into thin air.

"what?"

The three 'culprits' who had come up empty-handed were taken aback.

"That's... a witch?"

Tang Qi witnessed everything before him and clearly saw the three human-shaped women with hunched backs.

They have almost identical faces—

He had long, dark green, seaweed-like hair, and a nose and chin that were almost equally sharp. He looked very old, and his loose skin had created deep wrinkles on his grotesque face.

Like those mean and mean witches in fairy tales.

"No wonder they weren't detected by divine perception; they belong to the spirit class."

The Green Witch is a spirit-like monster that appears in various desolate places. She loves withered forests, desolate swamps, or wilderness shrouded in mist.

"one two Three--"

Tang Qi counted their numbers, feeling a cold sweat trickle down his forehead to the corner of his mouth, causing him to twitch involuntarily.
"Dawn".

"I'm here."

"Don't you think this adventure lacks challenge?"

Now comes the challenge you've been waiting for—

Gathering of hags.

You can handle this, right?

Do you want to hear the truth?

"Of course, that makes me feel more at ease."

"No."

The dawn is as sincere as ever.
If it were just me alone—

It should be called suicide.

(End of this chapter)