It was showtime!

Su Ze’s expression went blank, his eyes losing their focus as if his very soul had been hollowed out. He stared blankly for a moment after hearing what Mutuo said.

Then, as if recalling something horrifying, a flicker of terror surfaced in his eyes, and his body began to tremble.

"They’re dead. All of them..." he mumbled, his voice distant.

Behind Su Ze, Mr. Ya also wore a look of shell-shocked horror. It seemed Su Ze had forced a performance out of him, too.

"Be clear. Who’s dead?" Mutuo demanded, his brow furrowed.

Gu Chengguang also asked gently, "What on earth happened?"

"President..." Su Ze looked up at Gu Chengguang, and the terror in his eyes subsided slightly, as if he’d found his pillar of support. His trembling stilled. He swallowed hard and said with difficulty, "Amida... Ye Muni... They... they’re both dead!"

"What?!"

Gu Chengguang, Li Fayi, and Mutuo cried out in unison.

This was completely unexpected.

"Amida and Ye Muni came in here too?" Heto asked. "How did they die?"

Gu Chengguang patted Su Ze on the shoulder reassuringly. "It’s all right. Take your time and tell us everything you saw, from start to finish."

And so, Su Ze and Mr. Ya took turns recounting their well-rehearsed story, their delivery absolutely perfect.

According to their tale, they had explored this path and found nothing, so they had turned back. That was when they’d unexpectedly run into Amida and Ye Muni.

"President, you know Amida and Ye Muni held an old grudge against me. When we spotted them, Mr. Ya and I didn’t dare get any closer. Fortunately, they were stopped in front of this giant mouth and hadn’t moved forward, so we remained hidden..."

"Wait," Mutuo interrupted. "You spotted them, but they didn’t spot you? Amida is an Overlord specializing in Spiritual Power. His sensory range in this place should be greater than any of ours. Even if we ran into him, he would have detected us first."

Su Ze had been waiting for this question. "I have the ’Eye of Truth’ skill," he replied. "My sensory range isn’t affected by the fog in here. Mr. Atago of your country was the one who helped me find the extract needed for it."

The people from the Great Desert Kingdom could verify this just by asking Atago, so Su Ze had no reason to lie.

Besides, for a lie to be believable, it must be padded with as much truth as possible.

The most masterful lies often consist of a single falsehood woven into a tapestry of truth.

Mutuo nodded, accepting Su Ze’s explanation, and gestured for him to go on.

Su Ze pointed at the Big-Mouth Flower behind them. "That giant mouth seems to be a gateway. The first time we passed by, we didn’t know how to open it, so we searched the area. We couldn’t find a mechanism and left. But when I returned, I sensed Amida and Ye Muni pressing something on the centermost tooth of the top row."

Mutuo and the other two immediately looked toward the centermost tooth on the Big-Mouth Flower’s upper jaw.

The tooth looked no different from the others; unless you touched it, the password entry screen wouldn’t appear.

"What were they pressing? Didn’t you see it?" Mutuo asked suddenly.

"My ’Eye of Truth’ skill works by ’feeling’ things, not ’seeing’ them. So, if some kind of pattern appeared on the tooth, I wouldn’t have been able to perceive it. But from their posture... it looked like they were entering a password." Su Ze’s answer was flawless.

Mutuo gave a slight nod. He had deliberately set a small trap with his question, but Su Ze hadn’t fallen for it. This made him trust Su Ze’s words a bit more.

"And then what?" Li Fayi asked, burning with curiosity.

"Then..." Su Ze’s pupils constricted, and he shuddered. "Then that giant mouth opened wide and swallowed Amida, chewing him up as blood splattered everywhere! Ye Muni tried to run, but it shot out its tongue and dragged him in too..."

A jolt went through the group. They stared warily at the nearby Big-Mouth Flower. ’To devour two Overlords so easily, just what level of Spiritual Plant is this?’

The Big-Mouth Flower was currently snoring, apparently stuffed from its meal. Its mouth hung slightly ajar, and it didn’t seem aggressive.

If Mutuo were to pry open the Big-Mouth Flower’s maw and crawl inside now, he might just make it into the nursery. Of course, he might also just end up in its digestive system.

’But I’m betting Mutuo doesn’t have the nerve.’

And he was right. Mutuo knew nothing about the Big-Mouth Flower; there was no way he would just charge into its mouth. He eyed the snoring plant and asked:

"What’s going on with this flower?"

"It’s been like this ever since it ate Ye Muni and Amida. It seems like it’s stuffed."

Mutuo didn’t ask any more questions about Amida and Ye Muni, nor did he show any intention of exploring inside the Big-Mouth Flower. Instead, he changed the subject, asking what else Su Ze had discovered further down the path.

Su Ze answered truthfully, mentioning that he’d found an empty room of unknown purpose (the Lighting Room) and a tree covered in pods.

"The pods on that tree all seem to be spatial items, but I can’t see what’s inside them." Su Ze deliberately leaked this information, hoping to entice Mutuo into exploring further.

’What if I said there was nothing there, and Mutuo decided to head back with me? If Mutuo tagged along, it would be inconvenient to get to the control room.’

Sure enough, the moment Mutuo heard about a tree covered in spatial items, his interest was piqued. He decided to press on and explore.

Gu Chengguang and Li Fayi naturally had to follow along, or else they would arouse suspicion.

Gu Chengguang said to Su Ze and Mr. Ya, "You two should get out of here. This place is full of dangers, so don’t linger."

The two nodded obediently and parted ways with Gu Chengguang’s group, heading in the opposite direction.

Just then, the snoring from the Big-Mouth Flower abruptly ceased. It seemed to have woken up, and its mouth snapped shut, teeth clenched tight and perfectly sealed just as it had been before.

Mutuo hesitated, then one of his fingers suddenly stretched out, reaching across several meters to touch the centermost tooth on the Big-Mouth Flower’s upper jaw.

Instantly, a password entry screen appeared on the tooth. Though he couldn’t read a single character, he could generally understand its purpose.

At that point, any remaining doubt he had about Su Ze’s story vanished.

「...」

Su Ze and Mr. Ya made their way back to the fork in the path, then headed straight for the control room at the end of the central passage.

They passed restaurants, training rooms, and other facilities along the way, but they didn’t stop.

With Mr. Ya leading, they made good time. Before long, they saw it at the end of the path: a stalk over ten meters tall and as thick as a tree trunk, topped by the black, human-head-shaped Demon Brain Flower.

Su Ze had already learned what to do from the Mother Tree. He led Mr. Ya directly to the base of the Demon Brain Flower.

The soil at the base of the Demon Brain Flower was a blood-soaked reddish-black and incredibly hard. Digging through it was exhausting work; even a Saint-level Overlord would only manage to chip away a small piece after half a day of effort.

But Su Ze had the right tools for the job.

He kept a hoe for himself and tossed a shovel to Mr. Ya. Together, they began digging at the base of the Demon Brain Flower.

The soil, which was harder than Super Alloy, yielded like common dirt to their specially-crafted hoe and shovel.

The two of them dug with ease, going deeper and deeper. They were fast and efficient. In no time, they had uncovered the part of the stalk buried deep in the soil, revealing a mass of vein-like rootlets.

"That should do it."

Seeing the dense network of vein-like roots, Su Ze called for Mr. Ya to stop, and they both jumped out of the deep pit they’d dug.

Then, Su Ze took the cube-shaped Starry Sky Koala droppings from his storage item and dumped them all into the pit.

The overpowering stench that hit them was almost enough to knock them out for good.

They hastily swung their shovel and hoe, refilling the pit with the dirt they had just dug up.

Once the pit was filled in, sealing the odor below, they both breathed a sigh of relief and moved to the side to wait for the Demon Brain Flower to react.

After about seven or eight minutes, Su Ze suddenly saw the Demon Brain Flower give an excited shudder.

Then, as if it were on an intense high, the petals of the head-shaped flower began to open one by one, finally revealing its... brain?

Su Ze stared at the mass of white, tofu-like matter. It looked just like a human brain.

’So this is the spaceship’s control room?’

After getting confirmation from the Mother Tree, Su Ze and Mr. Ya flew up and hovered over the "brain," looking down at the massive organ.

Following the Mother Tree’s guidance, Su Ze finally found a path leading into the "brain pudding."

Su Ze dove right in.

After passing through the glistening white passageway, Su Ze finally entered the interior of the Demon Brain Flower.

The space inside could hold about four or five people. In the very center, a soft pink, pituitary-like organ dangled from the ceiling. It was over a meter long and looked like a large tongue.

"This is the central hub that controls the entire ship. Connect to it directly with your Spiritual Power, and you’ll be able to perceive and control everything inside," the Mother Tree’s voice echoed in Su Ze’s mind.

Without hesitation, Su Ze immediately released his Spiritual Power and established a connection with the ship’s central control hub.

’This spaceship is full of valuable things that will be a huge help to me in the future. That’s why I have to get this ship to the Oasis and into the Mother Tree’s hands. If I leave it here, it will only end up with the Sovereign Country. Once it falls into the Sovereign Country’s hands, I’ll lose any claim to what’s here. Besides, the Sovereign Country has probably been infiltrated to the point of being useless. It can’t be trusted! As for the other six kingdoms, none of them could hold onto this ship. Only the Mother Tree, invincible on its home turf, has the power to protect it.’

RUMBLE!

The instant Su Ze’s mind connected with the ship’s central control hub, a torrent of information rushed into his consciousness.

The ship’s main entrance, the warehouse, the bedrooms, the dining hall, the kitchen... all these locations were now under his watch.

He also saw Heto and Li Fayi in the "warehouse," trying to pluck the pods, and he saw Jasim exploring a bedroom...

He could even see the scene outside the spaceship with perfect clarity.

Just then, he saw a group of people descending from the sky, their leader a Saint-level Supreme.

The people from the Sovereign Country had finally arrived!

"Close the doors!"

Su Ze issued his first command.