153: Chapter 153 Nourishment for Spores

The poison arrow left the string.

Martin had been holding his breath in the pit of rotting flesh for ten minutes, waiting precisely for this blind spot while Lin Ye killed Blake and Zhao Mengmeng turned to pack her bag.

The poison arrow pierced through the grayish-white spores, aiming straight for Zhao Mengmeng's heart.

Lin Ye did not turn around.

On the retina of his Left Eye, a glaring red line had already marked the trajectory the moment the arrowhead left the string.

He threw his left hand backward.

The Fire Axe with the rolled edge flew from his hand, leaving a sharp afterimage in mid-air.

Clang!

The broad, thick axe head precisely struck the side of the poison arrow.

The poison arrow deviated from its trajectory and plunged headlong into the cluster of dark brown explosive mushrooms nearby.

The mushroom caps immediately swelled up.

Lin Ye raised his right arm.

The mechanism hummed.

The Dark Weaver's final high-tension anchor did not shoot toward Martin; instead, it passed over his head and nailed diagonally into the poisonous fungal column behind him.

The Nano-wire jerked back sharply, skimming the mud.

Just as Martin was about to roll away, his ankle and waist tightened.

Deep welts were cut into his flesh.

The mechanism was pressed, and the engine roared to full speed.

Martin was yanked out of the mud pit by the terrifying tractive force, flying backward and slamming heavily into the poisonous fungal column.

Bang.

His back shattered the hard outer skin of the fungal column.

Viscous, pale yellow venom gushed out along the crack, seeping directly into his tactical suit.

Martin's features distorted from the excruciating pain, and the crossbow slipped from his hand, falling into the black mud.

Zhao Mengmeng turned around abruptly.

Locking her gaze on the poison arrow stuck in the mushroom, anger welled up in her.

"He shot at me?"

Lin Ye's left hand was empty, hanging by his side.

"Yeah."

Zhao Mengmeng leveled her crossbow, pointing the arrowhead at Martin's face, and spoke while suppressing her temper.

"Hiding in a pit like a tortoise, only to shoot a sneak arrow the moment he shows his head."

Martin was firmly pinned to the fungal column.

A large piece of the rotting flesh disguise on his body had fallen off.

The grayish-white spores nearby sensed the scent of fresh flesh and immediately gathered around.

He panicked.

"Don't kill me! I can lead the way!"

Martin screamed in broken Great Xia language.

Lin Ye walked over, the bone blade flipping out of its sheath.

He didn't even glance at the Fire Axe that had fallen in the distance.

Martin stared at the bone blade, his vocal cords trembling.

"I know the path behind the Fifth Floor! I've been watching from behind the whole time; I can help you!"

Zhao Mengmeng sneered.

"Help with a poison arrow?"

Half of Martin's body was covered in venom, the intense pain stimulating his nerves.

"I just wanted to live! My legs are ruined, my companions are dead; if I don't loot, I'll rot here!"

Lin Ye stopped two steps away; the scent of the blue ball algae repelled the surrounding spores.

"Looting to survive is fine."

Lin Ye turned his wrist slightly, the blade pointing upward.

"But shooting someone in the back means you have to die."

Martin's eyes were bloodshot.

"The rules allow for surrender! I can be your lackey!"

He loudly brought out his final trump card.

"All my supplies will go to Great Xia! All my daily upload earnings will be yours! Keeping me alive is useful!"

The Great Xia Live Stream immediately boiled over.

[Disgusting! Raising a white flag after a failed sneak attack!]

[John Bull's classic move is back; if you can't beat them, acknowledge them as your daddy.]

[This kind of treacherous dog can't be kept; if you keep him, he'll bite back sooner or later!]

[Brother Eye, don't hesitate, take him out!]

Hearing those words, Zhao Mengmeng tightened her finger on the trigger.

"Be a lackey? Do you think this is playing house?"

Lin Ye raised his hand, the bone blade giving a gentle flick.

Sshh.

The anti-poison leather armor on Martin's chest was cleanly sliced open, and the inner straps snapped.

His fresh skin and wounds were completely exposed to the air.

"What are you doing!"

Martin broke down.

He twisted frantically, but the Nano-wire around his waist tightened deeper and deeper, cutting blood grooves.

Lin Ye stepped back half a pace.

He retreated back within the safe boundary of the blue ball algae.

Without the leather armor blocking them, a mass of grayish-white fluff stuck to Martin's chest, drilling into his body through the wounds and pores.

The pale yellow liquid from the poisonous fungal column also flowed onto the back of his neck.

Martin's wailing changed in pitch.

Beneath the skin on his chest, several pus-filled blisters swelled up, visible to the naked eye.

White mycelium burst through his blood vessels, spreading wildly along the subcutaneous tissue toward his neck and face.

He tried to claw at it with his hands, but his wrists were locked tight by the Nano-wire.

The venom corroded his spine, and the fungi devoured his internal organs.

"I surrender! Great Xia... I surrender!"

The voice turned into a muffled gurgling sound within seconds.

A puff of gray fluff sprayed out from his open mouth.

Zhao Mengmeng watched everything with cold eyes.

"Dying too easily."

Lin Ye pressed the retrieval button on his arm guard.

The Nano-wire retracted.

Martin's body turned soft and mushy, sliding down halfway, and was subsequently wrapped layer by layer by the thick, long mycelium growing from the fungal column.

He became fodder for the plants of the Fifth Floor.

Lin Ye turned around.

"Let's go."

Zhao Mengmeng walked to the edge of the black mud and picked up the short crossbow.

There were still two arrows left in the groove.

The arrowheads were smeared with the black pollution blood from Blake's body.

She shook her wrist in disgust and threw the crossbow directly into the cluster of explosive mushrooms nearby.

Pfft.

The venom exploded, melting the crossbow and arrows into waste.

"Dirty things."

Lin Ye retrieved the Fire Axe, which had its edge rolled again.

He rubbed the venom off the surface with black soil and reapplied the blue ball algae juice.

The two bypassed the patch of still-churning toxic mist and continued to advance deeper.

At the edge of the fungal forest behind them.

Ivan stood on a high black rock.

He covered his mouth and nose tightly with animal skin, his thick arms resting on a broken pickaxe.

He did not approach, nor did he take advantage of the chaos to loot.

He had seen with his own eyes Blake being melted by the toxic mist.

He watched Martin being devoured by the fungi.

Those two Great Xia people hadn't even lost a single hair, yet they had sent this group of stalkers straight to hell.

Ivan looked down at his broken pickaxe.

He turned and walked toward another path that was further away and more circuitous.

Lin Ye and Zhao Mengmeng moved forward along the hard soil area.

The spores in the air gradually became thinner.

The cold blue fluorescence of the mushroom caps dimmed.

The black stone surface replaced the black soil.

The end of the Fifth Floor finally revealed its full appearance.

A massive black stone gate, nearly twenty meters high, was firmly embedded in the rock wall.

There were no bronze decorations, only rugged rock textures.

Thick, grayish-white mist seeped out from the gap in the gate, swirling slowly along the ground.

In the center of the massive gate hung two heavy stone rings, each the size of a human head.

Below the stone rings were carvings of fungal patterns, and the gaps were stuffed with dried spore shells.

Zhao Mengmeng held her crossbow, scanning the bottom of the gate.

A light screen popped up in Lin Ye's right eye.

[Fifth Floor Final Gate]

Extremely brief.

There were no rule explanations, nor any information about the next layer.

Lin Ye closed his right eye.

He instantly opened his Left Eye.

Behind the gate gap was a completely chaotic mass of thick color blocks.

It was impossible to distinguish red or green.

The stinging pain of his mental energy hitting rock bottom pierced into his brain marrow.

Lin Ye's vision went black, and he quickly closed his Left Eye.

"What's wrong?"

Zhao Mengmeng hurried to his side.

"I've reached my limit."

Lin Ye's voice was slightly hoarse; he didn't try to force it.

He fished out the last small half-piece of blue ball algae larva from his inner pocket.

He squeezed out the last few drops of pale blue juice.

He evenly applied it to the edges of their masks, the inside of their gloves, and the stone rings on the gate.

The half-piece of algae shriveled up completely, turning into a useless shell.

Zhao Mengmeng watched him throw away the empty shell.

"Is it really all gone?"

"Yeah."

"Next up is walking through a minefield blindfolded."

"So don't rush when we open the door."

Lin Ye walked to the stone ring on the left.

Zhao Mengmeng put aside her usual chatter and firmly gripped the stone ring on the right with both hands.

The fungal powder on the stone rings was repelled by the blue ball algae juice, revealing the hard black stone texture.

"Lift."

The two lowered their waists and exerted force simultaneously.

The door was heavy.

Heavier than imagined.

Zhao Mengmeng's shoulder and back muscles tightened, and the veins on her forehead bulged.

The soles of Lin Ye's boots ground against the black stone, making a friction sound.

Having forcibly used the Dark Weaver to fight earlier, the old wound on the web of his thumb had reopened.

Blood seeped into his glove and was pressed into the texture of the stone ring.

Click.

A dull sound of a mechanism snapping echoed from deep within the door hinge.

The entire black stone wall trembled accordingly.

A large amount of white fluff shook down from the mushroom caps in the fungal forest behind them.

"Push to the bottom!"

Lin Ye barked.

The two of them forcefully pulled the stone rings to the very bottom.

The two twenty-meter-high massive black stone doors slowly retreated inward amidst a harsh, screeching sound of friction.

The gap in the door widened.

Thick, grayish-white mist poured out, submerging their knees.

Zhao Mengmeng immediately let go, stepped back half a pace, and leveled her crossbow again.

Lin Ye stepped forward half a pace, reached out to hook the edge of the stone ring, and pulled the massive door open.