Chapter 219: Chapter 216: Here to Work?

Qiong took a few shallow breaths, squatted down, and groped to adjust the angle of the rough wooden stick that served as his left foot.

After his leg was severed, the clan members made him a simple prosthetic, barely allowing him to walk, but there was no thought of comfort. After prolonged use, it would lean to one side, needing occasional adjustments like this.

Becoming disabled was indeed very inconvenient. Just trekking to the entrance of the Upper Area of the Underground City left him gasping for air.

This time, he came to seek the Puki.

You could say it was purely risking oneself, not to mention the terrifying Chis still lurking in the Underground City, Shover had mentioned that those Puki were probably not good-natured either.

But the tribe’s stored food was running low. Whether migrating south or continuing to survive here, they ultimately couldn’t avoid coming to the Underground City.

Rather than let those still-able Warriors take risks, it was better to let him, a useless cripple, scout the way.

This idea was something Shover would definitely not agree with, so he came out secretly by himself.

Moreover, deep in his heart, a vague intuition lingered: those Puki…perhaps…weren’t as terrifying as Shover imagined?

The surrounding temperature had risen slightly, and Qiong had already stepped into the range of the Upper Area.

However, after only two steps, the prosthetic slipped, and he instantly lost his balance. In a critical moment, his remaining right hand supported him on the ground, barely preventing a humiliating fall.

But when he moved his hand away, it was all sticky…

“Mycelium?”

Clearing the thin snow around with his hands, he found that the ground was already covered in mycelium!

It hadn’t been like this just a few days ago!

Carefully maintaining balance, he ensured he wouldn’t fall again. The sticky, slippery ground was very unfriendly to someone with only one leg like him.

He hadn’t gone far when he encountered a bizarre sight.

A group of Puki stood in the distance, with one particularly plump Puki, continuously drawing mushrooms from its belly and scattering them around.

The fat worms hidden in various corners all drilled out, greedily pouncing on the mushrooms and feasting.

Just as they were engrossed in eating, the other Puki silently surrounded the fattest worm!

Several tough mycelium tendrils shot out, instantly entwining and constricting it!

The unfortunate worm struggled in vain, quickly wrapped into a continuously writhing “dumpling,” and was collectively dragged into the shadows by several Puki…

The Puki could come to the Upper Area!

Was this breeding?

These Puki…do they eat meat?!

“Gulp—”

Hopefully, they only like eating fat worms…

Having snapped back after watching the feeding process, Qiong found that two Puki were standing in front of him, without him knowing when they arrived.

His inner self reminded him to be on guard!

However, when his gaze truly landed on the two round, even somewhat “honest-looking” Puki, an indescribable, almost instinctive sense of closeness oddly overpowered his vigilance.

“Hey, Qiong!” A familiar internal dialogue, “Did you come to play with me?”

The two Puki on either side warmly surrounded him, gently steadying his wavering body with flexible mycelium tendrils, almost half-supporting him as they led him towards the direction of the old castle.

About to enter the middle level, Qiong couldn’t help but stop, hesitantly saying, “Um… what if… we encounter Chis…”

“Chis? Don’t worry, Chis has moved.”

“Moved… moved?” Qiong was astonished.

“Yeah!” A Puki mimicked a shrugging gesture with its tendrils, “For some reason, it suddenly moved away! Sigh, some folks are just so cold and unfeeling, having been neighbors for so long, not even leaving a new address, can’t even visit to catch up! Qiong, you won’t treat me like that, will you?”

“Of… of course not…” Qiong forced a smile.

Moving away, he’s no fool.

But it had only been a few days?

Had the Chis, who almost wiped them out before, been eliminated?

Now Qiong realized he was wrong. Puki weren’t as terrifying as Shover said, they were even more frightening…

Luckily, they seemed friendly to him?

After entering the castle, sure enough, there were no traces of Chis at all, and instead, mycelium grew everywhere, with busy Puki scurrying by from time to time.

The Puki led Qiong to a half-formed Mushroom Forest, and then scooped a bowl of steaming mushroom soup from a Drilling Puki’s body for him.

The mushroom soup wasn’t exactly delicious, but it contained magic power, making it a rather precious food in Qiong’s eyes, so he didn’t waste any.

Moreover, Qiong felt his appetite had increased recently, or rather his demand for magic power had grown, not knowing why.

Not far away, in a Mushroom House, Xiao Hai, who noticed a stranger, peeked out, locked eyes with Qiong, and two seconds later shrank back— a gray heaps, nothing noteworthy.

Qiong felt it was quite magical.

Dragon Man, Vampire… they seemed to live alongside the Puki…

However, Qiong couldn’t quite figure out, where did they all come from?

After finishing the mushroom soup, the Puki seemed eager for him to experience sleeping in the Mushroom House, but Qiong hesitated, bashfully expressing his request.

…

“You need mushrooms? And… it’s to feed nearly three hundred Demon Race?!”

Qiong fidgeted with his only remaining hand, too embarrassed to look at the Puki across, “Yes… yes. Previously, relying on hunting in the Upper Area could barely sustain us, but the demons… have become scarce, and now with…”

Now with the Puki occupying it…

“Qiong,” the Puki’s cap wobbled slightly, simulating a human-like troubled gesture, “I’m happy to befriend you, invite you for a meal or host Shover, these are small matters. But, for three hundred people… even for the Puki family, that’s no small number.”

The mycelium tendrils helplessly spread out, “As you can see, I have a whole bunch of hungry Puki babies to feed here…”

Qiong hung his head in shame, nearly burying his face into his fur coat.

He knew that his request was extremely excessive.

The Puki had saved him, yet instead of repaying them, he cheekily asked for more…

But the tribe seemed to have limited options now, so he could only muster the courage to be here.

“However…” the Puki’s tone suddenly shifted, introducing a hint of negotiation.

Qiong looked up sharply, a flicker of hope ignited in his dim eyes, staring intently at the Puki before him.

“Giving away so much for free, even with my ’resources,’ would really be unbearable.” The Puki’s tendrils clicked like an abacus, “But… if you’re willing to help me with some tasks, exchanging your labor for these mushrooms… then the situation becomes entirely different! Totally not a problem!”

“I… is there anything I can help with?”

“Of course there is!”

What happened next was, for Qiong, like falling into a bizarre, surreal dream.

For the first time in his life, he witnessed and passed through a space rift twisted with ghostly purple light!

For the first time, he set foot in a place so warm he almost felt like sweating, a world apart from the harsh cold of the Northern Territory!

There, he was taken by the Puki to a cave where mushrooms and glowing grass grew, and what was even more unbelievable was that the Puki actually entrusted him with over twenty little Puki to lead!

The experience of commanding the Puki felt very novel to him.

In that warm cave, he clumsily but earnestly collected Firefly Grass with the Puki.

He also fought alongside the Puki, repelling two waves of grotesque alien demons wandering to the area!

Two days later.

He had earned the Puki’s so-called “twenty-six contribution points” and then exchanged them for a pile of mushrooms that were more than he could carry by himself!

The first collaboration, Lin Jun even volunteered to help him trade for the project, exchanging them for a mountain of mushrooms, far beyond what he could transport alone!

Making it back to the tribe’s camp as the huge Puki followed him, he stumbled on his not so nimble prosthetic leg and collided directly with Shover, who had set out to find him.

Seeing him dragging that huge Puki behind, Shover’s eyes widened: “What happened?”

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