Chapter Twenty-Seven: Respawning Mario Coins and the Mushroom Shop
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Boom!
Almost instantly, Wang Jian pulled a skull out of his pocket.
Whoosh!
The moment the skull appeared, it began to emit a terrifying wail.
Wooo... wooo...
It started with tears, which quickly turned into blood.
Seeing the blood-red tears, Wang Jian panicked and shoved the skull back into his pocket.
Glancing at the door where the anomaly had vanished, Wang Jian let out a sigh of relief and quickly locked the room.
He had been careless. He had wasted a skull for nothing. Wang Jian’s face was grim. This skull was something he had dug up from a graveyard during a near-death experience in a previous dungeon. He had obtained three in total; his girlfriend had taken two, claiming she would break up with him if he didn't give them to her, leaving him with only one.
This item wasn't a true supernatural relic, but a replica with limited uses. The skull’s crying emitted a curse to counteract supernatural entities, but once the tears turned to blood, it meant its lifespan was exhausted. Using it forcibly at that point would trigger a supernatural backlash.
Now, because of his excessive concern for his girlfriend, he had been tricked into using his final trump card.
Wang Jian was filled with regret.
...
Meanwhile, Bai Wan was reading a comic book he had brought in from reality.
Before entering the dungeon, he had guessed that he would likely be unable to sleep at night, or at least sleep soundly, so he had chosen a comic book.
It was an older volume of Dragon Ball; sometimes revisiting the classics was a pleasure in itself.
At first, he was reading with great interest, but when the characters in the comic began to move from static to dynamic—watching Piccolo and Son Goku fighting endlessly within a single panel—he was left speechless.
Then, the characters from the surrounding panels began to gather together, turning the first panel into a group battle between Piccolo, Goku, and Master Roshi, leaving the other panels completely empty.
Exhausted, Bai Wan closed the comic book.
The first time he had experienced this, it was amusing, but now Bai Wan was numb to it.
He just wanted to read a normal comic book, for heaven's sake!
Stop doing random manga adaptations!
Stop running into other panels!
At least show some respect for the page numbers! Have you ever considered their feelings?
Bai Wan lay limply on the bed, wondering when he would ever be able to read a comic book normally.
Just as he was feeling speechless, there seemed to be movement outside the door.
Bai Wan immediately climbed off the bed and looked toward the door. Through the gap, he saw a pair of feet.
The doorknob began to turn.
Once, then again...
The intensity increased with each attempt.
At this rate, the door would sooner or later be opened by the anomaly outside.
But Bai Wan, unhurried, climbed off the bed and pulled a portable toilet from his pocket—an item from the Skull Mall he had requested from Liu Tong before entering the dungeon.
He then pulled a water pipe from his pocket and connected it to the portable toilet.
Finally, he opened a bottle of mineral water and poured it into the toilet.
A makeshift drainage pipe had been artificially constructed.
Bai Wan tentatively reached out and was pleasantly surprised to find that his hand could indeed pass into the toilet.
As expected, an artificial drain could also provide access to Mario’s Coin Room.
He had been able to think of this thanks to waking up from a nap the day before, only to find many lines of text appearing on his ceiling.
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Things like: "Too little, let's keep it for now."
"A bug-based comedy novel is actually not bad."
"The author's typo rate is truly heaven-defying."
"Author, you got the protagonist's name wrong again; it's Wan, not Mo."
"If the protagonist carries a drain pipe, can he enter the Coin Room directly?"
...
The riddle-like statements left Bai Wan very confused, but he was used to bugs happening around him, so he didn't dwell on why.
Regardless, the words that suddenly appeared on the ceiling had given him great inspiration.
Right, why couldn't he bring a drain pipe into the Coin Room?
Now, it was verified as feasible.
Bai Wan was no longer afraid; with the drain as a retreat, the anomaly couldn't catch him.
Thinking of this, he felt a surge of annoyance at the anomaly still twisting his door.
Damn it, another ill-mannered one. All they know is twisting people's doors in the middle of the night. No upbringing at all.
The more he thought about it, the angrier he got. Bai Wan ran directly to the door, took out a hammer, and swung it downward.
"Damn you! Fingers are connected to the heart, take this!"
Bang!
The hammer slammed directly into the anomaly's toes.
After the strike, Bai Wan ran, preparing to flee into the Coin Room immediately.
He turned his head to look and found the anomaly was still twisting the door...
Oh? It can't get in yet, is that it?
Bai Wan, who had been running away, turned back, ran to the door, and started dancing...
"Hey, anomaly outside, enjoy my dance moves!"
"Three circles left, three circles right, twist the neck, twist the hips!"
"Let's work out together!"
Accompanied by the rhythm, three ink-black supernatural coins rolled in through the gap in the door.
Bai Wan was pleasantly surprised.
Good heavens, there really was a tip.
He had assumed the anomalies weren't NPCs, but it seemed that thought was wrong!
He ramped up his dancing intensity, eventually gaining a total of five coins, worth 50 supernatural coins in total.
Profit.
Outside, the doorknob shook more violently; it seemed the anomaly was twisting the handle in a rage.
Well, fair enough. Someone had just smashed its toes and then danced some unknown routine in front of it—even a highly educated, high-quality anomaly probably couldn't endure that.
Knowing the anomaly was about to break in, Bai Wan moved away from the door and immediately jumped into the toilet to enter the Coin Room.
Whoosh!
In an instant, Bai Wan felt his body being sucked into the drain.
Then, he arrived at his familiar Mario room.
The Mario room had changed.
The sky of the once-empty room now had many gold coins floating and shimmering.
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Bai Wan looked up in amazement, jumped onto the floating bricks, and gently touched the gold coins in the air.
Ding!
With a soft sound, the gold coins vanished, and the text "Gold Coin +1" appeared.
Interesting.
Bai Wan touched all the nearby coins, his total count growing.
He had collected the coins in the easy spots, but there were some harder ones to reach, so he decided to study another fun thing first.
In the corner of the room sat a machine that looked like a vending machine.
Bai Wan went over to check it and found it was the newly unlocked Mushroom Shop, selling many strange items.
[Mushroom Shop]
[Description: A mysterious shop that only opens in Mario's drain, accepting only Mario coins.]
[Currently selling:]
[1. Mario Travel Card]
[Description: After purchase, you can enter and leave the Mario drain at will within this dungeon. No limit on entries, but time in the drain is still consumed (only 10 minutes).]
[Price: 10 Mario Coins]
[2. Mario Time Card]
[Description: After purchase, you can top up 5 minutes of time in the Mario drain.]
[Price: 5 Mario Coins]
[3. Grow Mushroom]
[Description: Makes the player grow larger, enhances jumping power, and allows the player to flatten anomalies by jumping on them. Lasts one minute.]
[Price: 40 Mario Coins]
[4. Large Sun Mushroom]
[Description: After feeding it to a Sunflower, it can instantly provide a huge amount of sunlight. Currently out of stock; will be delivered by courier two days after purchase.]
[Price: Original price 100 Mario Coins, newcomer special: 30 coins.]
[Note: The goods in the Mushroom Shop refresh randomly. Players should buy items they like in time to avoid them disappearing.]
Seeing the items, Bai Wan's eyes lit up.
Especially the discounted item.
The Large Sun Mushroom could provide a huge amount of sunlight—exactly what he needed. The only downside was the two-day delivery time.
He had collected 42 Mario coins previously, which was just enough to buy the Large Sun Mushroom and the Mario Travel Card. Both were highly cost-effective.
He spent 40 coins to purchase both.
A card with Mario on the cover appeared in his hand.
The Sun Mushroom began a countdown, and it would arrive in two days, at which point the sunflower on his shoulder could finally rise.
The remaining items were also high value, especially the Grow Mushroom, which could flatten anomalies—that was excellent.
Bai Wan glanced at the coins up high; if he ate them all, he should be able to afford the Grow Mushroom.
Thinking of this, he prepared to move, but suddenly he looked at the other exit of the Mario drain.
The last exit from the ghost ship dungeon had led to the cockpit, but where would this one lead?
Bai Wan was curious. Since he could come back at any time, he crawled into the drain.
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