Chapter 1 A Mushroom

Bang!

A gigantic, mushroom-shaped monster fell from the ceiling, which was covered in a black, oily liquid, blocking Bai Haozheng's path and sealing off the corridor.

The mushroom person's cap was a vibrant, glossy yellow, shaped like a trumpet.

The stem (which was the mushroom person's body) was white, gradually fading to light yellow, with fine hairs along the edges.

Based on Li Ang's many years of mushroom-eating experience, this should be an elm yellow mushroom, or a golden oyster mushroom. There are many ways to prepare it. When Li Ang first moved out and rented his own place, he wanted to repay Wang Congshan for frequently treating him to meals in the past, so he specially invited her to his new home for a mushroom hot pot.

She enjoyed it immensely, praising Li Ang for finally showing some conscience after all these years, and said that the various mushrooms in the hot pot were incredibly delicious. She asked Li Ang where he bought them, so she could recommend them to her mother.

Li Ang smiled confidently and led her to the side bedroom. Inside was a human-shaped object covered in various kinds of mushrooms, next to a drip stand. The floor was covered in plastic sheeting.

On the sheeting were a basin of water for washing, a kitchen knife, bowls, and so on.

Wang Congshan stood there holding her bowl, stunned. She thought Li Ang was cosplaying the Hannibal TV series, using some kind of "large animal" as a mushroom culture medium. Her face turned pale with fright.

Only after Li Ang turned on the light did she realize that the human-shaped object covered in mushrooms was actually a hollow wooden mannequin from a shopping mall.

The drip was just for watering the mushroom culture medium.

Yeah, after that, Wang Congshan refused to come to Li Ang's house for mushroom hot pot no matter what. What a pity.

The sweet memories vanished in an instant.

The golden oyster mushroom person, unaware that some of the players were considering how to eat it,

shook its blurry face without eyes, nose, or ears,

opened its sunken mouth, roared at Bai Haozheng,

and swung its enormous fist, made entirely of mushrooms, down from above.

The force of the punch created a gale, and one could feel the terrifying power it contained.

The black, oily liquid sprinkled by the Terror Elder had the ability to connect spaces in different locations.

Before, it used the black mud to shuttle back and forth in the corridor, hunting players.

And now, having gained some kind of enhancement,

the Terror Elder seemed to be able to cover a large number of hotel rooms with black mud, and teleport different creatures out of those rooms.

The players had never seen this mushroom person before, but since it was blocking their path, there was only one thing to do...

Yuyi Xinzhong, wearing a jetpack, punched her chest.

Bang!

The red crystal buried deep in her heart trembled violently, and a hair-thin blood streak leaked from a crack on its surface.

The blood from the demon instantly merged into her entire body,

transforming into the purest demonic power,

savage, violent, destructive...

Violent emotions surged into Yuyi Xinzhong's mind,

her originally slender, fair arms swelled to more than twice their size,

and her skin turned a deep black-red, covered with bulging, earthworm-like veins.

Despite having tried it countless times,

the pain of forced demonification still made Yuyi Xinzhong's mind tremble.

She gritted her teeth, forcibly enduring the violent impulses,

and wielding her thunder-wrapped katana, she slashed forward.

Boom!

Thunder snakes and electric serpents roared out, arriving before the punch,

striking the mushroom person's chest before Bai Haozheng could meet its fist, causing it to explode and clear the way for the players.

A good opportunity!

Bai Haozheng slapped the corridor floor diagonally below, using telekinesis to provide thrust, propelling him to accelerate again towards the elevator doors.

The heavy objects that were originally blocking the elevator doors had already melted and disintegrated under the corrosion of the black mud dripping from the ceiling.

With no obstacles, the elevator doors slowly closed.

The indicator panel above the elevator showed that someone, or something, had pressed the elevator button downstairs.

There's still time.

Bai Haozheng flipped his left hand, took a dart with a red tassel from his inventory, and threw it towards the down button of the elevator on the left side of the twelfth-floor corridor.

The red tassel dart flew gracefully in a "z" shape in mid-air, disappearing every so often to avoid the constantly dripping black mud, and reappearing in front.

If the dart hit, the elevator doors could remain open.

The time was currently 01:06. In another 5 minutes, the elevator shaft would enter safe mode.

At that time, the players would get a chance to catch their breath and rely on the elevator shaft's instant-kill effect on the hotel's aberrations to formally counterattack.

However...

Clang!

The red tassel dart, which was drifting along a z-shaped path, was directly knocked away by a dark red metal short spear that shot from behind, failing to hit the down button of the elevator a short distance ahead.

【Piercing Death Thorns】

All the information about this dark red metal short spear instantly appeared in Bai Haozheng's mind.

A high-quality weapon,

cannot be used in close combat, can only be thrown at non-biological targets in sight,

once thrown, it will inevitably hit the target,

does not have any killing effect other than kinetic energy, nor can it apply additional buffs,

after being thrown and hitting the target, it will automatically return to the user's hand,

and can be thrown again after a period of time—the specific cooldown time depends on the distance and time of the previous flight.

It was a modified copy of the Gae Bolg from the anime *Fate/stay night*.

It belonged to a functional item, and could have unique effects in specific situations.

The previous owner was...13mArk.