"What do you mean?"

Liu Zheng somewhat understood but not completely.

"You humans have immune systems, right?"

"I know that."

His expression turned somewhat strange.

Today two eerie residents were both giving him biology lessons - did he need education to clear dungeons now?

"For non-native residents like us, we're equivalent to foreign viruses or bacteria to it."

"Once we enter the sewer, we'll trigger its immune response. The stronger our power, the more intense the reaction."

"So while I can protect you, I might not always be able to react in time."

The plane tree explained.

"So that's how it is..."

Liu Zheng fell into thought.

Clearly, Bullhorse's plan had flaws.

But it probably wasn't intentional.

Currently, both its and the plane tree's intelligence had blind spots that needed to be cross-referenced.

"Something is better than nothing. I still need to go down and try."

He quickly made his decision.

From the moment Liu Zheng entered this dungeon, when hadn't he sought wealth through danger?

"Fine then. Take these."

The plane tree's two arms automatically detached, then were delivered before him by roots.

"Each arm can help you once. After they're used up, you'll be on your own."

The plane tree said.

"Alright. By the way, do you accept this?"

Liu Zheng took out the Chaos Club membership card.

"Bien! How did you get this thing?"

The plane tree exclaimed in surprise.

"Ghost Hand probably gave it to me."

"Chaos Club..."

The plane tree looked at the membership card with complex emotions.

Its roots rubbed through the air but didn't dare actually touch it.

"I've never truly seen what Chaos Club looks like, but since I can remember, that unique aura has always lingered around me."

"In some ways, Chaos Club could be considered my hometown."

"Even my genius-level intelligence might be related to Chaos Club."

The plane tree was unusually sentimental.

"However, precisely because of this, I can better sense how terrifying Chaos Club is."

"That aura feels like one thing, yet also several. One among them is especially terrifying, seemingly capable of completely erasing my existence - whether body or soul, even past and future."

The plane tree retracted its roots as if electrocuted. ɴᴇᴡ ɴᴏᴠᴇʟ ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀs ᴀʀᴇ ᴘᴜʙʟɪsʜᴇᴅ ᴏɴ N0v3l.Fiɾe.net

"I won't accept this thing, and I advise you not to use it either."

After a moment of silence, it said.

"Some things aren't for me to decide."

Liu Zheng shrugged.

What if he received an order from Chaos Club someday?

He had never hesitated to assume the worst malice from this world.

"Then remember to stay away from me before you get yourself killed, so your blood doesn't splatter on me."

The plane tree said.

"Don't you want to visit your hometown?"

"I remember in your human language, 'returning to hometown' also means going to hell."

The plane tree gave a cold laugh.

"Why does a tree have such high cultural literacy? Planning to take graduate exams?"

Liu Zheng grabbed the two arms and attached them to his shoulders.

"Where's the entrance?"

He asked.

"There."

The plane tree pointed to a manhole cover not far away.

He walked to the manhole cover and lifted it open.

A wave of foul odor assaulted him, making Liu Zheng choke.

But interestingly, it wasn't the mixed smell of hydrogen sulfide, methyl mercaptan, methanol, amines and other compounds.

Rather, it was the smell of bad breath combined with gastric acid reflux.

Holding his breath, he climbed down the hanging ladder.

The shaft was very long - he climbed for several minutes before touching ground.

Complete darkness surrounded him, just like in the delivery passageway.

Liu Zheng deliberately stomped his hooves - the texture felt somewhat soft, with a bit of bounceback.

Four tentacles probed the surroundings, quickly finding the walls.

Wet, warm - the sensation felt like inserting hemorrhoid suppositories.

This made him think of the delivery passageway again - were they actually the same thing?

But upon closer consideration, they weren't quite the same.

The darkness in the delivery passageway felt stable and peaceful once you got used to it.

While the sewer's darkness wasn't as thick, it carried a subtle malice that made him somewhat anxious and restless.

But regardless, Liu Zheng continued forward.

He moved sideways, pressing closely against the wall as he advanced.

With each step, he waited for his front hoof to firmly settle before shifting his weight forward.

This looked ridiculous but was necessary.

In this bizarre world, he needed to do everything possible to increase his survival rate.

No one knew which moment of carelessness would become the final straw that broke the camel's back of luck.

After advancing five hundred and seventy-six steps, light finally appeared ahead.

Clusters of glowing moss grew on the walls, emitting faint dark red light.

Unlike the stem-and-leaf structure of ordinary moss, these looked like rotten bananas, or rather.

Well, no need for "or rather" - they literally looked like shit, specifically the constipated-for-a-long-time kind.

Liu Zheng remembered the ingredient list of Ascension Moss - could shit moss be this stuff?

After making these associations, even with all he'd seen since coming to this world, he couldn't help dry heaving several times.

Wiping the corner of his mouth, Liu Zheng continued forward.

The further he went, the more luxuriant the shit moss grew.

And he could see the surroundings more clearly, including the so-called "walls."

Blue-black surfaces covered with ring-shaped bulges, each groove filled with fine wrinkles.

Liu Zheng didn't know whether he was in the sewer's intestines or its brain.

"Rationality decline exemption successful."

The system notification sounded.

Indeed, it was right to explore while the Legendary Vest was active.

Steadying himself, he continued forward.

Finally, he heard water sounds.

Not the gushing sound of flowing water, but the fizzing sound of opening a cola.

Liu Zheng carefully peered out while leaning against the wall, and his view suddenly widened considerably.

A approximately three-meter-wide sewage river flowed before him, with no end visible in either direction.

The river's base color was black-brown, but mixed with red, green, yellow and other colors, with a layer of white foam floating on the surface.

Simultaneously, bubbles continuously rose in the river, bursting immediately upon reaching the surface and releasing brown-red gas.

What gas was brown-red again?

Liu Zheng forgot.

Anyway, he remembered it should be toxic.

But with his current physique, generally toxic gases weren't much threat - at most somewhat uncomfortable.

Liu Zheng observed for a while longer, feeling no immediate danger, then stepped out from the passageway.

Reaching the riverbank, the smell of bad breath combined with gastric acid reflux became more pronounced.

"Even if you're not human, you should brush your teeth more."

He couldn't help saying.

The sewer didn't respond to him.

Of course, this was probably a good thing.

After watching the bubble-popping for a while longer, Liu Zheng decided to try here first.

If he couldn't catch anything, he'd move further forward.

After all, this was closer to the exit, making escape easier if needed.

With his mind made up, he ate two bait pellets, then extended his tentacles into the sewage river.