This dungeon has mushrooms growing on it.

Chapter 391. 390. The Serial Disappearances Case (Supplement)
Jingle Bell--

The crisp sound of the doorbell echoed through the tavern.

As the wooden door of Puji House was pushed open, Bianca hurried past carrying a stack of freshly washed wine glasses. She accidentally bumped into someone, cried out in surprise, and fell to the ground, nearly dropping the glasses.

"I'm so sorry, sir! I didn't mean to!" Bianca rubbed her reddened forehead and apologized repeatedly, feeling as if she had just hit a steel plate.

"Are you alright?" A gentle voice asked as the person helped her up and patted her head.

When Bianca looked up, she only caught a glimpse of a tall, imposing figure, and couldn't help but wonder to herself if this guest was wearing armor under his robe.

Dylan, who was checking accounts behind the counter, noticed the light was blocked, looked up, and immediately smiled broadly: "Brother Norris! What brings you here?"

Norris, now in human form, leaned against the counter and smiled wearily. "I asked the boss for a vacation. I have to come up here occasionally, otherwise I'll almost forget who I am..."

Norris didn't continue, but Dylan clearly understood him.

Looking at Norris's deep dark circles, one can imagine that he must be working very hard down there.

"Now that you're up here, relax! I'll get you a top-class room on the second floor, the kind with a small balcony where you can lie down and sunbathe!"

"Thank you very much!"

Jingle Bell--

The doorbell rang again, and this time a familiar adventurer party entered.

"Hey, Bianca!" Vera greeted the shop assistant as she entered before walking to the counter. "Brother Dylan, do you still have that Windwhisperer's Brew from last time? It was amazing. I'd like to stock up on a few more bottles this time."

The beautiful and charming elf Sirian nodded in agreement: "Of all the elven potions in the entire Mushroom Capital, yours are the most authentic. Some of them I've never even seen before. I'm really curious which fellow alchemist came to this area to make a living."

Dylan naturally wouldn't answer this "trade secret," but he quickly placed several bottles of "Windtalker's Brew" in front of Vera, who readily paid for them.

Fei Ling stepped forward and happily stuffed all the potions into the pouch at her waist. These potions were for her, the archer.

After chatting for a couple more minutes, Vera and the others left.

Dylan then noticed that Norris was still standing by the counter.

"Oh dear, it's my fault for forgetting to take you to your room. Come on, come on!" With that, Dylan grabbed the key and led Norris upstairs.

Norris, looking at the closed door, followed after a while, somewhat dazed, at Dylan's urging.

After Dylan returned to the counter, Bianca quietly approached and whispered, "Boss... who was that just now?"

"Norris? He's... kind of a friend of mine."

“Oh, the boss’s friend…” Bianca nodded, then disappeared back into the kitchen.

Dylan glanced at his shop assistant with some confusion, then, thinking of Norris's appearance, he suddenly understood.

Dylan had never seen Norris when he was a miner, looking thin and frail.

All he knew was that Norris was now a strong, tall, and handsome young man, at least that was how he appeared as a human.

He shook his head, thinking to himself how easily Bianca was fooled.

However, that's someone else's business, and Dylan doesn't intend to say anything. Rather, in Dylan's view, this is what youth is all about.

Besides... that's probably impossible...

……

Puji House was unusually lively today. After seeing off several guests who came to purchase potions, Dylan was unexpectedly approached by a team of officials.

At first, he felt a pang of anxiety, thinking that one of the captured demon spies had betrayed him.

But then I thought, if that were really the case, the boss would definitely have given a warning beforehand.

Suppressing his unease, Dylan quickly put on the hotel owner's signature warm smile and strode forward to greet him.

He soon discovered that these people were not targeting him.

Solalyn of the Wings of Judgment, accompanied by several government officials, displayed several portraits before Dylan. "Excuse me, have you seen these people before?"

After carefully examining the evidence, Dylan shook his head: "At least he's never been to the store."

Dylan wasn't lying; he genuinely didn't recognize the people in the portraits.

"My lord, if I may ask, what has happened?" Dylan asked tentatively.

Solalyn and the others clearly had no intention of hiding anything.

“It’s a missing persons case,” one of them explained. “These are all residents who have recently gone missing. If you have any leads, boss, you can report them to the city lord’s mansion at any time. As long as the information is true, the reward will be substantial.”

"I see, that must be it! That must be it!"

With Dylan bowing and scraping, Solalin led her men away from Puji House.

Dylan suppressed his smile and sat back down behind the counter. He remembered the gang of thugs he had encountered when he went to Bianca's house. Although the gang wasn't among the people they had hired, Dylan still wondered if these disappearances were related to the boss.

……

With the official adoption of the Puji Master Management Regulations by Fishing Port, which are in line with those of Mushroom City, the city's security environment has been significantly improved, and the mission of the Wings of Judgment to maintain security there has been completed.

Now, her new task is to cooperate with Far in investigating the series of disappearances in Mushroom City.

Fal was concerned that this matter might involve demons or cults, so he specifically invited the church to participate in the investigation.

Although Solalyn repeatedly emphasized that it would be difficult to use her [Vision of Truth] in areas covered by creep, the higher-ups, with the mentality that "something is better than nothing, maybe it will be useful!" still assigned the task to her.

Solalyn could only do her best in response.

However, hard work does not always yield results.

After several days of visits, although many residents recognized the portraits of the missing persons, no one knew their final whereabouts.

The only clear clue is that these missing persons are almost all villains and scum.

The people who provided the tips were either victims of their bullying or had heard of their misdeeds.

This discovery made Solalyn wonder if there was a powerful figure obsessed with extreme justice "protecting" the peace of Mushroom City in what he believed to be the right way.

This kind of thing isn't unprecedented, but the "precedent" wasn't handled very carefully and was quickly exposed by the authorities.

Of course, the possibility of a cult organization cannot be ruled out, as exploiting marginalized individuals is a common tactic of theirs.

As for the hypothesis of demonic intervention, it seems the least likely.

After all, if the goal was truly to abduct people, the operation should have taken place in the border areas; going deep into human territory to kidnap civilians would have been redundant.

Regardless, the case still needs to be investigated, and Solalyn is frustrated by the lack of progress.

But this case wasn't the only thing giving her a headache.

After finishing her inquiry with another resident, she returned to the street and suddenly stopped, looking intently at the narrow gap between the two houses.

Sure enough, the Puji, radiating iridescent light, was standing in the crevice, its alluring body swaying slightly.

Solalyn struggled to suppress the surging emotions within her, silently gazing at the dreamlike creature until it turned and disappeared around the street corner, without uttering a single word.

She had experienced this scenario countless times, but her teammates, friends, and even her superiors had all searched with her, only to find nothing in the end.

The dreamy, colorful Puji seemed to have never existed. Over time, not only others but even she herself began to believe that she was just being overly sensitive to Puji and was having some kind of hallucination.

The sound disappeared, and Solalyn took a deep breath to rouse herself, continuing her seemingly futile visits.

Unexpectedly, this time we unexpectedly obtained a potentially useful clue!

A blacksmith shop owner suddenly remembered that he had seen one of the missing people late one night. The man was drunk and muttering, "I'm going to have some fun in the ruins to the north tomorrow."

(End of this chapter)