Chapter 17 The Mother of All Silkworms

In the southeastern part of the Crystal Labyrinth, there was a place called "Fearleaf."

The so-called "Fearleaf" was both a place name and a thing.

And the owner of this place, or rather, this leaf, was the aerial overlord of the labyrinth – the "Canmu" (Silkworm Mother).

Just as Feng Bujue and the others received their mission…

Accompanied by a strange "fu si fu si" sound, a huge white shadow wriggled towards this place. She was very fast, and her massive form was far more agile than it appeared.

Before long, she had climbed onto this giant mulberry leaf, which was about the size of a soccer field, and perched on its veins.

"Eh… ooh…"

The Canmu (Silkworm Mother) used her loli-like "moe" voice to emit an extremely eerie vomiting sound.

The next second, a gush of mucus poured out of her mouth. Then, a pinkish-white humanoid pupa fell out and landed on the leaf.

"Heh heh heh… so he hasn't gone mad yet…" the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) muttered with a cold laugh, "This is the first time I've seen a human who can hold out for so long…"

As she spoke, the "human pupa" was pulled up slowly by silken threads, and ascended towards the higher sky (the height of Fearleaf was parallel to the silk webs in mid-air, and the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) always moved in the world above the silk webs).

"Normally, after being controlled by me, people will immediately fall into extreme panic. Even if I leave them alone, they will go crazy within ten minutes," the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) continued, "But you… after being swallowed into my stomach and brought all the way here, you still show no signs of mental breakdown…"

Around Fearleaf, there stood four or five extremely tall crystal pillars that gradually converged upwards. In the interlude of the Canmu's (Silkworm Mother) words, the pupa containing Uncle Waste Wood had risen to the top edge of one of the crystal pillars and was suspended there.

"But don't worry… I can wait," the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) sneered. "You should be able to hear me now, right? Heh… that's right, among those pupae beside you, there are a few stubborn guys like you, and they're still alive."

She was referring to the pupae suspended on the other crystal pillars. However, those pupae were all larger than the one Uncle Waste Wood was in, and judging from their appearance… the things inside the pupae were clearly not humanoid creatures.

"They've been there for much longer than you can imagine… hehehehe…" the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) continued, "And don't expect to starve to death… you won't. My pupae can keep you alive until you become a delicious, mentally deranged meal." She laughed smugly again, then her tone suddenly turned cold, "Hmph… I know you still have hope." She snorted coldly, "It's true that your companions successfully severed the ‘brain threads’ I implanted, but don't fantasize that they will be able to rescue you."

Speaking to this point, her body shook again.

In that instant, the silk webs above the entire Crystal Labyrinth returned to their invisible state.

"I won't let them succeed…" the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) said gloomily, her moe voice a sharp contrast to her tone, "I'll just wait here… and wait for them to walk right into my trap…"

…………

The Crystal Labyrinth, another location.

"Eh? The web disappeared again," Atobe said, looking at the changes above his head.

"It didn't disappear, it just returned to its invisible state," Feng Bujue replied.

"The way I see it…" Honghu pondered, "It might be a sign that the Canmu (Silkworm Mother) is returning to its nest…"

"Say…" Tianma Xingkong turned to Feng Bujue at this time, "Are you sure we're going in the right direction?"

"Yeah, I was wondering too, why are you confidently leading the way again?" Atobe also asked.

"It's not that I'm brimming with confidence, I'm only about sixty or seventy percent sure this time…" Feng Bujue explained, "You all saw the silk web that had been repaired earlier, right? I roughly deduced the order and direction in which the 'Canmu' (Silkworm Mother) weaves its web based on the depth of the silk's color, and thus determined which way she was retreating." He gestured upwards, "Furthermore… the direction we're currently going is basically the same as the path she took when she approached earlier."

"Aowu—"

Before Brother Jue could finish speaking, a very standard wolf howl suddenly came from ahead.

The four players immediately stopped in their tracks and vigilantly prepared for battle.

They were now as skittish as frightened birds; even the slightest disturbance had to be treated with caution…

At this point, the terrifying nature of Nightmare difficulty gradually became apparent… Even though the five people who entered the instance this time were all strong players, it didn't make the script any easier. Because they barely had any chance to display their own advantages in strength. From the beginning of the script until now, they hadn't fought many serious battles, but the group's physical strength was almost exhausted; under the triple debuff of hunger, thirst, and fatigue, they didn't even need any powerful monsters to attack, just the disgusting scenery settings were enough to make the players run for their lives in a miserable state.

"Eh…" A low beastly moan gradually approached, and a beastly shadow faintly appeared behind a translucent crystal pillar on the side.

Just when the players all thought that some kind of wolf-like creature would come out, the system played with them once again…

"Aowu~" With another wolf howl, the phantasmal beast finally jumped out from behind the crystal pillar and revealed its true form.

It was a goat…

And it was a wild goat, seemingly of a highland breed. Its fur was brownish-grey, with a darker upper body. On top of its head grew a pair of slightly curved horns, with many horizontal ridges that looked like continuous mountain ranges.

"Aowu—" The goat stared with bulging eyes, lowered its head, shook its horns threateningly, and let out another wolf howl.

The players' expressions at this time, however, showed no sign of fear; the group just looked at the creature in front of them with an incredibly pained expression.

"This… is a goat, right…" Atobe said, his lips twitching.

"Yeah, it looks like a goat no matter how you look at it," Honghu replied.

"Hmm… perhaps it evolved the ability to imitate the calls of its natural enemies out of necessity for survival…" Feng Bujue said, stroking his chin.

Just as the three of them were commenting on the goat in front of them, Tianma Xingkong stepped forward and jumped forward.

"Evil creature!" Tianma Xingkong pointed his arm and shouted imposingly, "Do you want to stop the footsteps of a hero!"

"Aowu—" The goat howled again, as if it could really understand what Little Ma was saying.

"I advise you to turn back while you still can!" Tianma Xingkong turned to the side, changed his angle, and pointed at the other party with a completely symmetrical posture, "I can still see a trace of kindness in your eyes… even if the affair between your mother and a wolf caused your childhood to be full of discrimination, you can't give up on yourself, you must…"

"Kindness my ass!" Feng Bujue rushed up from behind, slapped Little Ma's face, and pushed him aside. "What mother and a wolf? What kind of childhood are you talking about? What country's discrimination? What kind of mouth-cannon are you spouting at a goat? Do you think you're Naruto?"

Before he could finish his complaints, there was a "zheng" sound, and Brother Jue's kitchen knife was already out of its sheath.

"You all step back, this moment should be handled by this great one who possesses the strength of the 'Five Tiger Stars'." Feng Bujue grabbed the kitchen knife and was ready to take action.

In his eyes, wolves and goats were no different… He had even eaten sprites, so what chance did animals have when they fell into his hands?

"Uh… what's he saying?" Honghu asked, looking puzzled.

"In the setting… the Five Tiger Stars are the five strongest chefs in the Dark Cooking Society (also translated as the Shadow Culinary World)," Atobe replied, but a second after saying that, he sighed, covered his face, and shook his head, "Ah… why do I know such things…"

While they were talking, Brother Jue had already pounced on the goat…

Then, amidst the moans and roars of the one person and one beast, a scene of extremely ugly wrestling unfolded.

In order to protect the integrity of the "ingredient", Feng Bujue chose to wield a kitchen knife and engage in close combat, but he was exhausted…

In the end, he had no choice but to activate [Ling Shi Ju Shen Shu – Modified] to complete the kill.

When the goat was pinned to the ground and its neck was slit, Feng Bujue did something that others considered quite disgusting… He went straight up and drank several large mouthfuls of raw goat blood.

After drinking the goat blood, he generously wiped his mouth with his sleeve, stood up, and burped; "Ah… not bad at all."

"I really don't know how to evaluate your behavior…" Honghu licked his lips inadvertently, "I can only say that you are an extreme pragmatist."

"If you want to drink, hurry up and come over, I'm going to cut it up after you're done." As he spoke, Feng Bujue mischievously drew a smile on both sides of his mouth with blood.

"This… is it really drinkable?" Tianma Xingkong asked, swallowing a mouthful of saliva. Obviously, he was as thirsty as his teammates, but he still had some psychological barriers.

"I think I've seen raw goat blood on the menu at hot pot restaurants before…" Atobe replied, "I just didn't dare to order it, afraid of parasites."

"I see…" Honghu heard this and felt a lot more relieved, so he immediately walked towards the goat's corpse, "Then there's nothing to worry about, maybe it tastes pretty good." His thinking was also very pragmatic; he didn't care about parasites… After all, you don't have to worry about getting sick in the game, and even if you really trigger some abnormal state, you can use potions to remove it.

He knelt down, lowered his head, and took a few sips from the goat's neck. Three seconds later, he stood up and said with a strange expression, "I'll go… why is it so hard to drink?"

"I never said it was delicious," Feng Bujue shrugged.

"Then why did you say 'not bad at all' with a satisfied expression?" Honghu shouted.

"Because it can quench my thirst, and I didn't get any abnormal status after drinking it," Feng Bujue replied, "If it meets these two points, it's a qualified drink, what else do you want?"

"Well… as for me…" Atobe continued, "I want to put it in a bowl and add some coriander and crushed peanuts…"

"I want to boil it to kill the bacteria, and then add some salt," Tianma Xingkong also replied.

"Enough nonsense!" Faced with these two guys who answered a rhetorical question as a real question, Feng Bujue was quite helpless, "If you want to drink, hurry up, I still have to deal with the corpse after you're done. Do you still want to save Uncle Waste Wood? Are you planning to divide up your luggage and go back to Gao Village or what?"