Warning! The evil god's minions are invading the eerie dungeon.

Pfft—!

The girl's head was forcibly ripped off.

Chen Mu, standing behind Qi Xie, watched as Qi Xie expressionlessly ripped off the girl's head. His heart skipped a beat, and he felt a dull pain in his neck.

But soon he realized something was wrong.

What was attached to the girl's head was not flesh or spine, but dark green fluid and several tubular tissues of the same color.

It didn't look like a human at all, or even an animal.

"plant??"

Chen Mu said with some surprise.

"Yes, it looks like a plant containing strange energy. I wonder if the mutation was caused by that strange energy."

Qi Xie carefully examined the half-closed "head" in his hand and discovered that it was less of a head and more of a mimicry of leaves—it contained no skull structure, but rather several tubular, dark green, plant-stem-like structures that connected and supported it.

"The texture is wrong too, it feels like the hardened outer layer of a plant..."

He made up his mind, threw his head into the shadow at his feet, and went to examine the strange plant's body again. He grabbed the 'girl's' collar and tugged at it gently, only to find that the clothes did not come off her body. Instead, the part covered by the clothes moved slightly.

Sure enough, the clothes were attached to the skin.

Or rather, he didn't have any physical body at all.

This layer of clothing is also a mimicry of the leaves of a strange plant; underneath, there is no simulated human body, but the plant itself.

"Have your dwarf move this layer of earth and stone."

After thinking for a moment, Qi Xie naturally gave the instructions to Chen Mu.

Being spoken to in a commanding tone made Chen Mu a little annoyed.

No matter what, he is a well-known figure in the traveler's circle, how could he bear such humiliation!

So, he weakly offered a rebuttal:

"That's called 'Druid of the Evil'..."

Then, before Qi Xie could look at him, he quickly commanded the "Evil Soul Druid" to complete Qi Xie's instructions.

Splash splash splash splash...

The soil and rocks pressing down on the 'girl's' lower body softened and receded like a viscous liquid. At the same time, the soil spikes supporting the 'girl's' body slowly withdrew, shrinking back into the ground with dark green sap, making it easier for Qi Xie to observe.

Qi Xie looked closely and discovered that the strange plant disguised as a girl indeed had no lower body—buried under the soil and rocks was a brown, hardened tissue and root system, just like the roots of an old tree.

Beneath the exposed roots, besides the soil and rocks, there were several half-buried, decaying human skulls.

Clearly, this eerie plant has been growing here, like many orchids, using camouflage and mimicry to lure its prey and then devouring many people.

"Amazing..."

Qi Xie felt that he had really learned something new.

This was the first time he had ever seen plants that had been contaminated by something strange.

No wonder the rules say to be careful with plants.

That's truly malicious.

If it were someone kind-hearted but lacking discernment, they could easily be deceived and killed.

Fortunately, I am kind-hearted and have good judgment.

Thinking this, Qi Xie then gripped the roots of the strange plant tightly with both hands, pulled hard, and with a "poof" sound, uprooted it and threw it into the shadow space.

"Let's keep going."

Having dealt with this minor inconvenience along the way, he dusted off his hands and turned to Chen Mu, saying:

"Let's walk a little further while we still have time, and then we can take care of the food and shelter."

Although his motives for following Chen Mu were not pure, he found Chen Mu to be quite useful after what had just happened.

Whether fleeing or attacking, he possesses considerable abilities and doesn't require Qi Xie's concern. At most, he can be pulled out of the ground after the fight.

What's even more useful is the dangerous and bizarre creature he controls that can issue malicious warnings.

This function works not only against the supernatural, but also against people.

The "Echo" of the Ghost Sword can only distinguish the eerie, and the current situation in this dungeon is not suitable for Qi Xie to waste time using the Human Skin Handkerchief to check whether the people around him have any ill intentions.

Since he didn't have a specific destination in this instance anyway, carrying Chen Mu with him was a good choice.

Of course, Qi Xie was willing, but whether Chen Mu was willing was another matter.

It doesn't matter anyway.

"Ah... okay..."

Chen Mu forced a smile, but his anxiety grew stronger inside.

He really didn't want to bring this cold-blooded madman to his team.

Of course, it's best not to keep them by your side either.

His mind raced, and he began racking his brains to think of any way to escape...

And so, each with their own ulterior motives, the two continued their activities in the dilapidated city.

After walking for an unknown amount of time, Chen Mu suddenly stopped again and turned his head to look.

Qi Xie, who was behind, saw Chen Mu stop, walked to his side, and followed his gaze.

Before me was a shop with a collapsed corner. Judging from the arrangement of steamers, small tables, and other items on the side, it seemed to be a breakfast shop.

Inside the breakfast shop, clumps of mushrooms grew, some spreading onto the walls and steamers, seemingly growing on the food that had once been there, but most clustered on the floor in the center, vaguely forming a human shape, which, judging from the outline, seemed to be growing on a corpse.

These mushrooms look no different from ordinary mushrooms, with white and black being more abundant in white and less abundant in black, in a ratio of about ten to one.

"This...this is the kind of mushroom that the rules say you have to be careful with, right?"

Chen Mu swallowed hard.

The scene was indeed somewhat eerie.

His recent experience had made him realize that these cultivable things could also be infected by strange phenomena, becoming sinister and dangerous.

If the strange creature he was riding hadn't failed to issue a 'malicious warning,' he would have definitely turned around and left.

Of course, the lack of a warning only means that this thing is not dangerous in a subjective sense, and may not even have subjective consciousness, but it does not mean that it is not dangerous.

The rules clearly state to be careful of mushrooms, so there must be some danger.

"Shall we go around it? Let's not touch these things..."

Chen Mu looked at the cluster of mushrooms gathered on the central floor and whispered to Qi Xie, while slowly backing away.

He instinctively felt that there was a person inside this thing, which gave him goosebumps all over his body.

However, after he stepped back a few paces...

He suddenly noticed that Qi Xie was standing still with his brows slightly furrowed.

"What's wrong? What did you find?"

He looked at Qi Xie with a puzzled expression.

Qi Xie looked up and glanced at him upon hearing this, then pointed at the mushrooms and said:

"These mushrooms... are not strange; they do not contain any strange energy."

"Um?"

Chen Mu was taken aback.

How is that possible?

Dangerous mushrooms are all written into the rules.

How could it not be eerie?