Chapter 357: Chapter 349: The Fate of Mushroom City’s Emerging Gangs

As twilight descended, inside Puki’s House, Bianca quickly and skillfully tidied up the kitchen along with a few Pujis, promptly restoring everything to its rightful place.

Then, as usual, she directed the Pujis who had finished their work to line up and run one by one to the small shed in the backyard laid especially with a Fungal Mat for resting, leaving only one Puji trailing closely behind her.

As that Puji started running, a faint “thump, thump” sound echoed from within. It was today’s leftover delicious mushroom soup, which the owner, Dylan, permitted her to take home.

“Boss, all cleaned up, I’m heading home now!” Bianca called out cheerfully towards the counter.

“Wait, Bianca, today I wanted to…” Dylan, who was bending under the counter organizing things, hurriedly stood up, only to find that Bianca had already disappeared, leaving only the fleeting glimpse of a round, short Puji leg outside the inn’s main door.

“Really… Young people these days, why are they always in such a hurry?” Dylan shook his head helplessly.

Yesterday, the boss granted him a new skill through the Fungal Network and instructed him to “acquire some supplies” from Bianca’s home today, without specifying what exactly.

He had intended to go with Bianca, using it as an excuse, but didn’t expect her to slip away so quickly.

Fortunately, he knew the location of Bianca’s house and could go by himself.

Thinking it over, he realized it wasn’t appropriate to show up empty-handed, so he turned around and packed a small bag of sun-dried delicious mushrooms from the shelf.

Nowadays, with the continuous expansion of mushroom fields, this once luxurious delicacy had become a slightly pricey but affordable snack.

Logically, with Bianca’s current salary, buying a little occasionally shouldn’t be an issue, but the girl was always frugal, so this bag of mushroom dried by him, as the boss, seemed fitting to offer her.

Grabbing the small gift, Dylan leisurely headed towards the settlement area in the northwest direction of Mushroom City.

…

On the other side, Bianca jogged through the bustling streets and alleys, gradually lighting up with lamps.

She deliberately controlled her pace, not running too fast, or else the Puji carrying the soup wouldn’t keep up.

On the streets, it was common to see fellow Puji Masters like her, accompanied by one or two Pujis.

But once she turned into the settlement area, such scenes almost disappeared.

The so-called settlement area was initially designated by Fa’er for the emergency accommodation of a large number of war refugees.

The living costs were extremely low here, but the living conditions, as one could imagine, were not good.

What caught her eye were rows of simple, extended terraced shanties, overcrowded. Usually, a small room had to squeeze in a dozen or even twenty people.

As Mushroom City gradually stabilized, after the most difficult period, anyone with a bit of capability and savings moved out, seeking better living conditions.

Hence, this settlement area inevitably began to slide towards becoming a slum.

Though Bianca found a job at Puki’s House early on and had a stable income, her mother had been frail for a long time, requiring continuous medication and care, which was very expensive, and she hadn’t been able to save enough to move.

Now, after months of careful nursing, her mother’s health had improved significantly, and after she became a Puki Master, her salary increased considerably.

Having just received this month’s salary today, she felt it might be time to take her mother and leave here, finding a more comfortable and hopeful new home, a thought that made her steps home all the more light.

However, when Bianca ran home, she saw several familiar and detestable figures blocking that thin wooden door. She stopped in her tracks, wanting to turn away, but they had already seen her.

The tall, thin man leading them walked over with a fake smile plastered on his face.

“Oh, little Bianca is back? Perfect, saves us from disturbing your mother inside.” He rubbed his fingers together, “This month’s interest has to be paid, right?”

“We’ve already paid off the interest as originally agreed!”

“Paid off?” The tall, thin man sneered, pulling out a crumpled, vaguely scribbled parchment from his coat and shaking it open, “It’s written in black and white, ’Interest paid weekly until the principal is fully repaid.’ Can’t you read? There was a fingerprint on it back then!”

“You didn’t say that in the beginning!” Bianca’s voice trembled with anger, “The interest was clearly supposed to be monthly, and the rest you added arbitrarily!”

Hearing the commotion, neighbors just silently shut their windows tight or watched from afar in the shadows, too scared to come forward.

Everyone knew this was a newly risen gang in Mushroom City, targeting the poor and refugees, and crossing them would inevitably lead to trouble.

“Watch what you say, little girl. Isn’t it clear what’s written here?” The tall skinny man stepped closer. “No money? I have some jobs to introduce to you that can earn money…”

Halfway through his sentence, he noticed the mycelium marks on Bianca’s face and hesitated before pushing her abruptly, “Stop wasting time! Do you have the money or not?”

Bianca stumbled backward and knocked over the Puki trailing behind her!

The round body of the Puki rolled on the ground, spilling the warm mushroom soup inside with a splash, while Bianca’s purse fell out of her arms, scattering a few silver coins and copper coins that gleamed faintly in the dim light.

The tall skinny man’s eyes lit up as he bent down to pick up the purse first, weighed it in his hand, and showed a satisfied smile, “Hey, isn’t this money? Why were you hiding it? Okay, this will count as your interest payment for this month. You’d better gather the rest soon, or next time it won’t be so easy!”

“That’s my money! Give it back!” Bianca exclaimed as she lunged forward, trying to snatch the purse back, even preparing to bite that dirty hand!

“Bianca! Stop!” Her mother rushed out, wrapped her arms around her daughter tightly from behind, her voice choked with emotion, “Don’t be rash! Don’t be rash!”

Startled by Bianca’s sudden fierceness, the tall skinny man became angry and embarrassed, “Dare to lay hands? It seems like you need to learn a lesson!”

“So that’s the deal…”

The unexpected voice drew everyone’s attention.

“Boss…?” Bianca was surprised to see Dylan appear.

“You ran too fast, here take this, it was meant for you.” Dylan stepped forward naturally, ignoring the tense atmosphere, and handed a bag of dried mushrooms to Bianca.

“This… can wait until tomorrow…” Bianca was somewhat flustered.

“Don’t worry, perhaps heaven arranged for it to be of use right now, to ease your shock.” Dylan smiled gently.

The tall skinny man, seeing Dylan ignoring them, was instantly annoyed and interrupted harshly, “Hey! Old man, where did you come from? Here to meddle?”

“Old man… Hey… How much does my little shop assistant owe you? I’ll pay for her.” With that, he took out a fairly heavy bag of money.

Realizing he was here to pay, the tall skinny man’s eyes lit up, and after a quick scan of Dylan’s attire and demeanor, he grinned broadly and arrogantly asked, “Not much, just two more gold coins!”

“He’s lying!” The angry Bianca retorted immediately from behind.

The tall skinny man was about to glare fiercely at Bianca in threat, but Dylan, as if not hearing her objection, calmly pulled out a shiny gold coin and handed it over.

“Friend, let’s talk over here privately about the details.” Dylan put his arm around the tall skinny man’s shoulder and led him a few steps away from the crowd, turning his back to Bianca and her mother.

Holding the gold coin, the tall skinny man followed half-heartedly, and when he instinctively looked into Dylan’s eyes, he seemed to notice a faint purple glow in his pupils.

Lowering his voice, Dylan spoke as if sharing a secret:

“Rushed out and didn’t bring enough gold coins. Here, bring more of your folks to this spot tonight…” He mentioned a location near Puki Underground City’s entrance, more secluded and less populated, “Then, let’s not talk about one gold coin, there’s going to be ten gold coins, no doubt.”

Looking into Dylan’s eyes, which seemed to draw in one’s soul, the tall skinny man felt his mind become muddled, and he nodded unconsciously, “Ah? Okay… fine! As long as there are gold coins! I’ll definitely bring the guys over tonight!”

Watching his expression, Dylan couldn’t help but wonder if he looked just as foolish when he was once charmed.

…

Watching the tall skinny man and his associates swagger away with the gold coins, Bianca tightly grasped the bag of dried mushrooms, feeling both grateful and indignant, “Boss… Did you really give them the money?”

Of course, Dylan couldn’t tell her that not only did he not spend a penny, he could still earn some extra money tonight.

He simply smiled, reached out to pat her head, and comforted her with the most ordinary reason, “Disasters pass with money spent. The most important thing is that everyone is alright, don’t take it to heart.”

“Boss…!” The accumulated grievance, fear, and newfound sense of protection broke through all at once, and Bianca couldn’t hold back anymore, launching forward to wrap her arms around Dylan’s neck, sobbing lowly.

After all, she was just a teenager, and facing the vicious gang members, her previous toughness was merely a form of self-defense.

Bianca’s mother was beside, constantly wiping her tears, expressing infinite gratitude to Dylan, almost kneeling.

And the Puki, knocked over and ignored, could only slowly climb up from the sticky mushroom-soup-covered ground on its own, silently standing back behind Bianca.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep