"Assemble! Form up!"
At Louisa’s command, the twenty selected prisoners quickly moved into action, forming two neat lines. Along the sides of the team, nearly four hundred Puki, controlled by these prisoners, followed in a white mass.
Only the end of the line was quite peculiar, as the prisoner there controlled not a regular Puki, but a sowhat clumsy Gida.
Louisa scanned the crowd with her eyes and, upon confirming everything was in order, swiftly turned and gestured for the whole team to start moving obediently behind her.
These twenty war prisoners were carefully selected for their outstanding performance and high compliance.
They themselves were well aware of the rarity of this opportunity and cherished it greatly.
After all, daily labor could only earn them ten contribution points per day. If they wanted to redeem their freedom, they would need nearly three years of continuous accumulation, and that was under the ideal premise of resisting all temptations and never spending a single point unnecessarily.
In reality, however, ever since the cafeteria limited the supply of that unforgettable "delicious mushroom," nearly half of the war prisoners would occasionally spend their contribution points to satisfy their appetites.
Those with even less self-discipline couldn’t save any points at all and appeared to have given up on pursuing freedom, content to lay flat.
In contrast, participating in this operation earned a base of fifty contribution points daily!
It was said that those who perford exceptionally well would receive additional rewards, thus everyone was naturally full of enthusiasm and acted cautiously.
The team passed through the space rift, and the surrounding temperature gradually rose.
Baroque the Lizardman felt his cold scales stretch out comfortably, shivering slightly in contentnt.
He glanced at Louisa leading the front, then leaned slightly closer to his Half-demon companion and asked in a low voice, "Eugen, where do you think we’re headed this ti?"
When they first beca prisoners, there was significant friction and mutual disdain between the Lizardn and Half-demons, and conflicts occurred frequently.
However, under the managent of the Puki, when it was ti to "grow mushrooms" they never spared any just because one was a Lizardman.
As fellow prisoners, combined with the mixed living environnt, over ti, apart from a few stubborn individuals, the gap between most Lizardn and Half-demons diminished significantly, with many, like Baroque and Eugen, becoming friends.
Eugen thought for a mont, "Maybe it’s to deal with the Werewolves? I heard soone made connections with those Werewolves and found out there’s a group of them unwilling to yield to the boss, holed up sowhere. Perhaps this ti it’s to subdue them?"
Although the prisoners also referred to soone as "boss," they all assud that the Marshal Puki in the scarlet cloak was the leader. Lin Jun had never given them access to the Fungal Network communication permissions.
Baroque considered the team’s size, "Isn’t this number of people a bit too few?"
"Mmm mmm... mmm mmm mmm mmm!" a muffled, apparently obstructed voice ca from the Gida behind the two.
Baroque looked back at the Gida and asked Eugen, "What’s Stick saying?"
Eugen translated, "He said, ’Who cares about so much, as long as the contribution points are plenty!’"
"You are really impressive; you can even understand this!" Baroque sincerely praised him.
"Stick" referred to the Half-demon piloting that Gida.
He was extrely unlucky, losing his limbs and even severely injuring his throat in a decisive battle.
One would normally consider such injuries as equivalent to death, but the Puki rescued him and developed his talent for operating the Gida, allowing him to earn contributions in this manner.
Because of his torso-only appearance, he naturally earned the nickna "Stick."
Unlike other war prisoners who earned contributions to exchange for freedom, Stick’s primary goal was to acquire the expensive "Limb Regeneration Potion" from the exchange list.
Therefore, he was more eager and desperate than anyone else to earn each contribution point.
"Mmm, mmm!" Stick made another mumbled sound from inside the Gida.
"What does that an this ti?" Baroque inquired.
However, this ti, Eugen didn’t imdiately translate like usual. When Baroque slightly raised his voice to ask again, Eugen seed entirely unresponsive, his gaze fixed intently ahead.
Just as Baroque was about to inquire further, he suddenly sensed sothing was wrong—a cold gaze had landed on him. He turned his head to find himself eting Louisa’s crimson eyes...
...
The final destination of the team was naturally the Divine Wood Dungeon.
The team first ascended to the tenth floor, then used the hidden room to transport the team in batches to the Rift on the seventh floor.
The hidden room was excellent in all aspects, except that its range was limited to the first to the tenth floors, not including the Deep Area.
When stationed in the Far North, the prisoners followed nurous rules and handled various daily tasks.
Most of these arrangents were actually busy work, created by Lin Jun specifically to keep them occupied.
The fundantal goal was to correct their wayward habits from the tribal period.
Now, in terms of discipline, they had improved significantly and learned to follow rules and obey orders from their superiors—even if the commanding officer might not be stronger than they are.
It was now ti to begin training them to collaborate in combat with the Puki.
Louisa was their practical combat instructor.
Currently, the number of "Frenzy" demons appearing within the Divine Wood Dungeon was not very high, averaging one or two straying to the sixth floor daily, making them perfect targets for these recruits to practice on.
With twenty people in a combat unit, even if there were accidents, the loss would be controllable.
When these recruits from the Northern Territory first set foot in the Divine Wood Dungeon, they were all awed by the magnificent, majestic sight of the ancient forest before them!
One giant tree stood a hundred ters tall, needing seven or eight people to encircle it!
Where in the Northern Territory existed such a towering, dense forest?
Even "Stick," hidden inside the Gida, emitted a string of more rapid "mmm mmm mmm" sounds in excitent.
After a brief mont of amazent and commotion, Louisa reorganized the group and thodically deployed them to various points along the defense line.
However, unexpectedly for Lin Jun, the team’s first opponent was neither a Frenzy demon nor a random ordinary monster. Instead, it was an Elf, and not just any Elf, but an old acquaintance of Lin Jun’s—the Elf Ranger known for his bizarre archery and ability to shoot curving arrows!
He had appeared directly from the Lower Area, seemingly intending to return to the upper floors.
Previously, Lin Jun had no clue when he had infiltrated to the lower levels.
But this was understandable. Even in the first six floors, where the Fungal Mat had already been laid, there were large areas not covered due to various reasons.
For instance, in the territory of frequently moving Migratory Trees or the waters where Mud Monsters breed. If one was lucky enough, descending without being detected by Lin Jun beforehand was indeed possible.
However, clearly, the Elf’s luck had run out on his way back. The mont he stepped into the range of the Fungal Mat, Lin Jun recognized this Elf as the one who killed Scout Number Three and prepared a welco "ceremony" for him.
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