Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 328 - 320: Stealing from Home

In the Number Three Mushroom Garden, Norris and Louisa were resting after an intense sparring session.

"Sister Blood, thanks for the pointers!" Norris spoke breathlessly but with a bright smile, half of his body leaning out of Puki.

Louisa nodded slightly, but her gaze at Norris was somewhat puzzled.

"What’s the matter, Sister Blood? Do you need... a bloodsuck?" Norris tilted his head, exposing his neck.

"No, it’s not that." Louisa shook her head; she was no longer troubled by the need for fresh blood. She was simply somewhat confused, "You seem to be much more spirited lately."

"Ah, is that so? Hahaha!" Norris scratched his head with a laugh upon hearing it, "I guess I’ve been sleeping well lately, unlike before, always having those exhausting dreams."

"Exhausting dreams..." Louisa repeated softly, stirring something in her heart, remembering that she seemed to have had a similar experience recently, wondering if there was any connection.

Suddenly, Norris thought of something and directly communicated through the Fungal Network to Lin Jun: "Boss, I saw a Puki that could generate electricity in the prisoner punishment room last time. Can you add this functionality to Puki’s drill?"

However, the boss didn’t respond as quickly as usual. After a moment of silence, a voice came through the Fungal Network, clearly somewhat distracted: "We’ll talk about it later."

Norris leaned closer to Louisa and whispered, "What’s up with the boss? Is he in a bad mood?"

Louisa shrugged; she had no idea.

...

Lin Jun indeed was not in a good mood.

The reason was simple—he had been "getting beaten up" every night recently!

Regarding the investigation of the "Strange Dream," Edin’s side, unfortunately, hadn’t found any useful information.

And for some reason, starting from the second night, the invasion intensity in Inanna’s dream doubled!

Though it’s not so severe that he couldn’t protect Inanna, Lin Jun, who was previously coping well, suddenly found himself struggling to fend off the attacks.

Now every night it wasn’t just scratches anymore; it was at the level of sticking a finger through a water pipe and getting a needle jabbed into it, drawing blood!

Initially, Lin Jun just wanted to help Inanna resist the invasion and have everyone happy; now, he solely wanted to root out the mastermind behind this and settle the score with him.

The most direct way to quickly turn the tide is to consume a large amount of Beautiful Dream Flower and quickly upgrade the Skill Level of [Spiritual Guidance].

Inanna resolutely took on this daunting task—to steal flowers from her own treasury!

Lin Jun thought, with her abilities, sooner or later she would get caught.

But even if she got caught, it wouldn’t be a big problem.

Inanna personally wouldn’t face any severe consequences, and if the situation with the "Strange Dream" was thus exposed, Lin Jun also had a plan for dealing with it.

The most important thing right now is to consume enough flowers, increase the Skill Level, and get rid of the passive beatings every night.

As for the Fungal Network connection issue...

The Duke’s Mansion is about two days’ journey from Mushroom City, and now in this area and its surroundings, traces of mycelium can be seen scattered everywhere.

In fact, even the edge areas of the two cities adjacent to Mushroom City, Novid and Fish Sail Port, have begun to show the spread of Fungal Mat.

...

The spread of Fungal Mat expanded the range of activity for the Puki Masters, and they naturally began to become active in Novid and Fish Sail Port.

Their appearance quickly attracted hostility from local veteran adventurers and mercenaries.

The reason was simple—they were taking away business!

An assignment originally requiring a four-person adventure team could now be completed by two Puki Masters leading their Puki squad, even deliberately formed to reduce Puki losses.

Not only were the commission requests for defeating monsters affected, but even convoy hires now favored hiring Puki Masters for protection.

Unlike human mercenaries prioritizing self-preservation upon encountering enemies, the Puki were evidently more "dedicated."

They would carry out commands without hesitation, even sacrificing themselves to try their best to complete tasks.

For merchants, afterward, just paying a "Puki loss compensation" considerably lower than human mercenary compensation was enough, significantly reducing costs.

However, these two small cities were inevitably limited in scale, with just so many commission requests available.

Once relatively inexpensive yet efficient Puki Masters took most commissions, the adventurers and mercenaries originally relying on these tasks for sustenance suddenly found their livelihoods precarious.

Some embraced the principle of "if you can’t beat them, join them," and upon understanding the situation, they set off for the Underground City seeking "baptism," yearning to become new Puki Masters.

But more people refused to accept such change and couldn’t adapt. Completely crushed in the competition, they resorted to the taverns, drowning their sorrows in drink and wallowing in complaints while cursing those Puki Masters who snatched their jobs.

This sentiment spread continuously, finding affirmation through mutual confiding and fermenting into an omnipresent resentment.

And then it exploded at a certain moment!

"Get out! Freak!"

At the bustling entrance of a tavern in Novid, a figure cloaked in gray was roughly shoved out, tumbling to the ground.

The hood slipped, revealing faint white mycelium traces on his face; he was evidently a Puki Master.

The Puki peacefully waiting outside immediately rushed to him, clustering tightly around him.

The ones kicking him out were a group of drunken mercenaries.

They blocked the tavern door, their faces mixing alcohol, anger, and undisguised hostility.

While inside the tavern, there were thriving cheers and instigation.

Only the tavern owner was unhappy about the customers being chased away but couldn’t refute anything in such an atmosphere.

The sound from behind made the mercenaries even more complacent, boisterously mocking the appearance of the Puki Master.

The Puki Master clenched his fists but finally chose to hold back.

Let alone these three mercenaries, if it escalated, who knows if more inside the tavern would join in. He didn’t want to risk for a dispute offering no benefit.

Wordlessly, he got up, intending to leave with the Puki.

However, his composed demeanor made the mercenaries more audacious.

Not only did they brazenly ridicule him as "trash only daring to rely on a pile of mushrooms," one even took several steps closer, grabbing a Puki’s short leg and lifting it upside down.

"What Puki Master, just a bunch of ingredients; tonight we’ll stew this!" He didn’t spare any force in twisting the Puki’s leg, crushing it.

The Puki Master’s voice came through: "Put it down..."

"And what if I don’t?" The mercenary drew a knife from his waist, pointing it at the Puki Master.

An electric current spread from the Puki he was holding, paralyzing the mercenary instantly.

Another Puki lashed the weapon away, then a shell-encased Puki smashed into the mercenary’s face, knocking out several teeth.

"You’re asking for death!" The mercenary’s two companions drew their weapons, cursing as they charged. 𝚏𝗿𝗲𝐞𝐰𝚎𝕓𝐧𝚘𝘃𝗲𝐥.𝐜𝚘𝕞

...

Boom! (Still half an hour till the next Chapter)