This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 350, Page 349: The Fate of the Emerging Gangs in Mushroom Capital

As dusk fell, Bianca and several other Puji quickly tidied up the kitchen at Puji's house, putting all the pots and pans back in their proper places.

Then, as usual, she directed the Puji that had finished their work to line up and run one by one into the small shed in the backyard that had been specially covered with a fungal carpet to rest, leaving only one Puji still following closely behind her.

As the little creature scurried about, a faint "thump-thump" sound could be heard from its body. It was the leftover delicious mushroom soup from the shop that the owner, Dylan, had allowed her to take it home.

"Boss, everything's packed up, I'm heading back now!" Bianca called out towards the counter, her voice light and cheerful.

“Wait, Bianca, today I’m going to talk to you…” Dylan, who was bending over and tidying things up under the counter, quickly stood up. Before he could finish speaking, he found that Bianca had already disappeared. Only half of her round, short legs flashed past the hotel door.

"Really... young people these days, why are they all so impulsive?" Dylan shook his head helplessly.

Yesterday, the boss gave him a new skill through the mushroom network and instructed him to go to Bianca's house today to "buy some goods," without specifying what kind of goods.

He had planned to go with Bianca so he would have an excuse, but he didn't expect the girl to slip away so quickly.

Fortunately, he knew where Bianca's house was, so he could go there himself.

After thinking about it, I felt it wouldn't be appropriate to go empty-handed, so I turned around and took a small bag of dried, delicious mushrooms from the shelf.

With the continuous expansion of mushroom fields, this common and delicious mushroom has transformed from a luxury item into a slightly expensive but affordable snack.

Logically speaking, with Bianca's current salary, it shouldn't be a problem for her to occasionally buy something to satisfy her cravings, but this young lady has always been frugal, so it's just right for him, her boss, to give her this bag of dried mushrooms.

Carrying the small gift, Dylan walked leisurely towards the resettlement area in the northwest of Mushroom Capital.

……

On the other side, Bianca jogged through the bustling streets that were gradually being lit up.

She deliberately controlled her speed, not running too fast, otherwise the little dumpling carrying soup behind her wouldn't be able to keep up.

On the streets, you can often see people like her, accompanied by one or two other Puji masters.

But once she turned into the resettlement area, such a scene almost disappeared.

The so-called resettlement area was originally an area urgently designated by Far to accommodate large numbers of war refugees.

The cost of living here is extremely low, but you can imagine the environmental conditions.

What comes into view are rows of simple, extended prefabricated houses, extremely crowded. Usually, a dozen or even twenty people have to be crammed into a small room.

As the mushroom capital gradually stabilized and the most difficult initial period passed, people with some ability and savings moved away to find places with better living conditions.

This resettlement area inevitably slid into a slum.

Although Bianca found a job at Puji House a long time ago and had a stable salary, her mother had been ill and needed to buy medicine to take care of her, which was very expensive. She had never been able to save money to move.

Now, after several months of careful recuperation, her mother's health has improved significantly, and her salary has also increased considerably since she became a Puji artist.

Having just received her salary for the month, she felt that perhaps it was time to take her mother away from here and move to a more comfortable and hopeful new home. This thought made her steps home lighter.

However, when Bianca ran home, she saw several familiar and annoying figures blocking the thin wooden door. She stopped and tried to turn around to avoid them, but they had already seen her.

The tall, thin man in the lead walked over with a fake smile on his face.

"Oh, little Bianca's back? Perfect, saves us the trouble of going in and bothering your mother." He rubbed his fingers together. "The interest for this month, isn't it due?"

"We paid off the interest we agreed on a long time ago!"

"Payed it all back?" The tall, thin man scoffed, pulling a crumpled piece of parchment from his pocket and unfolding it. "It's written in black and white: 'Interest is paid weekly until the principal is fully repaid.' Can't you read? You even put your fingerprint on it back then!"

"That's not what you said at all!" Bianca's voice trembled with anger. "The interest was clearly calculated monthly; you added all those extra charges randomly!"

Hearing the commotion, the neighbors simply closed their windows silently or watched from the shadows in the distance; no one dared to utter a word. Everyone knew that this group was a newly risen gang in Mushroom City, targeting the poor and refugees, and that messing with them would never end well.

"You can't just say things like that, little girl. It's written very clearly on this paper." The tall, thin man took a step closer. "No money? I do have a job I can introduce you to that can earn you money..."

He paused, looking at the fungal marks on Bianca's face, and hesitated for a moment. He didn't continue talking about the "job," but instead shoved Bianca hard: "Stop talking nonsense! Do you have money or not!"

Bianca stumbled and fell backward, knocking over the Pooji that was following behind her!
With a thud, her round body rolled to the side, and the warm mushroom soup inside spilled out with a "splash." At the same time, the money bag that Bianca was carrying fell out, and several silver and copper coins rolled to the ground, gleaming faintly in the dim light.

The tall, thin man's eyes lit up. He bent down and picked up the money pouch first, weighed it in his hand, and smiled with satisfaction: "Tsk, isn't this enough to cover your money? Why are you hiding it? Okay, consider this as payment for this month's interest. As for the rest, I advise you to gather it up as soon as possible, or next time it won't be so easy to talk to you!"

"That's my money! Give it back!" Bianca looked at the spilled soup and the stolen money bag, lunged forward to snatch it back, and even tried to bite the dirty hand!

"Bianca! No!" Her mother rushed out upon seeing this and hugged her daughter tightly from behind, her voice trembling with tears, "Don't be impulsive! Don't be impulsive!"

The tall, thin man was startled by Bianca's sudden ferocity, then became enraged: "You dare to lay a hand on me? Looks like you don't know the rules unless I teach you a lesson!"

"So that's what it is..."

The sudden sound drew everyone's attention.

"Boss...?" Bianca was surprised to see Dylan's figure.

“You ran too fast. Here, take this. It was meant for you anyway.” Dylan seemed oblivious to the tense atmosphere and naturally stepped forward, stuffing the bag of dried mushrooms into Bianca’s hand.

“This…this can be done tomorrow…” Bianca seemed a little lost.

"Don't worry about it. Maybe it's just fate's arrangement, that it comes in handy now to calm your nerves," Dylan smiled gently.

Seeing that Dylan was completely ignoring them, the tall, thin man became annoyed and interrupted in a harsh tone, "Hey! Old man, where did you come from? Are you here to meddle?"

"Old man...tsk...how much money does my little shop assistant owe you? I'll pay it off for her." As he spoke, he pulled out a rather heavy-looking money bag.

Upon hearing that they had come to return the money, the tall, thin man's eyes lit up. He quickly sized up Dylan's clothes and demeanor, then grinned and made an outrageous demand: "It's not much, just two more gold coins!"

"He's talking nonsense!" Bianca immediately retorted angrily from behind.

Just as the tall, thin man was about to glare fiercely at Bianca and threaten her, Dylan seemed not to hear her rebuttal and calmly took out a shiny gold coin and handed it over.

“Friend, let’s talk over here. We can discuss the details privately.” Dylan put his arm around the tall, thin man’s shoulder and led him a few steps away from the crowd, with their backs to Bianca and her daughter.

The tall, thin man holding the gold coins followed reluctantly. When he subconsciously looked into Dylan's eyes, he felt as if a very faint purple halo flashed in those pupils.

Dylan lowered his voice and said in a tone as if sharing a secret:
"I was in a rush to leave and didn't bring enough gold coins. Here's what we'll do: bring a few more brothers with you tonight and head to this location..." He gave a relatively secluded and less crowded spot near the entrance to the Puji Dungeon. "Then, you'll get at least ten gold coins, let alone one."

Looking into Dylan's eyes, which seemed to draw one in, the tall, thin man felt a little dazed and nodded subconsciously: "Ah? Good...good! Gold coins are good! I'll definitely call my brothers over tonight!"

Looking at him, Dylan couldn't help but think of himself when he was bewitched. Was he just as foolish?
……

Watching the tall, thin man and his men swagger away with their gold coins, Bianca clutched the bag of dried mushrooms tightly, asking with a mixture of gratitude and resentment, "Boss...you...you really gave them the money?"

Dylan naturally couldn't tell her that not only did she not have to spend a penny, but she could also earn some extra money at night.

He could only smile, reach out and pat her head, comforting her with the most ordinary reason: "Losing money is a way to avoid trouble. The most important thing is that you're alright. Don't take it to heart."

"Boss...!" The pent-up grievances, fear, and the sense of relief of finally being protected burst forth instantly. Bianca could no longer hold back and rushed forward to hug Dylan's neck, sobbing softly.

Ultimately, she was just a teenager, and her previous toughness in the face of vicious gang members was nothing more than a form of self-protection.

Bianca's mother was also wiping away tears, thanking Dylan profusely, and almost kneeling down.

Meanwhile, Puji, who had been knocked down and ignored by everyone, could only slowly struggle to get up from the sticky mushroom soup-covered ground and silently stand back behind Bianca.

(End of this chapter)