Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 395 - 387: Xiao Hei’s Contract Spirit

"Roar—"

In response to Xiao Hai’s menacing low growl, Shu decisively raised his hands to indicate he meant no harm and slowly backed away.

Everyone in the Mushroom Garden knows that if you have a conflict with someone, you can go to the boss for judgment. The boss quite enjoys such matters.

But if you’ve angered Xiao Hai, then all you can do is accept your misfortune.

Fortunately, Xiao Hai, though not very smart, has his own code of conduct.

Having stayed in the Mushroom Garden for a long time, everyone knows how to deal with it. Carrying one or two glass beads in your pocket has become customary here.

But today, these ordinary glass beads have clearly lost their usual charm.

In front of that pure, radiant, precious gemstone, they were completely outmatched.

In the corner, two Dwarves looked at the Demons blocked outside, afraid to approach, and felt the situation was becoming increasingly bizarre.

The two shrinking scrolls given by Jiro were unexpectedly useful, saving their lives. It’s simply unbelievable!

At this moment, they are even more curious about the "luck" that Jiro always talks about. Sadly, they’ve parted ways, not knowing when they’ll meet again, and considering their current situation, they might not ever reunite.

But obviously, even Jiro didn’t anticipate that they would escape to the Demon territory!

Look at these guys here!

Half-demon, Lizardman, Demon Race, Vampire... and this Dragon Man... There’s no doubt, they’ve accidentally stumbled into the Demon Race’s lair.

When Tolin and Gleam realized their situation, they both felt they were doomed this time.

They were trapped in a cage, but fortunately, the Demons didn’t intend to freeze them into ice blocks, and brought over a strange buzzing Puki.

The heat emitted by this Puki kept them barely alive, while the Demons prioritized dealing with that space rift.

But this couldn’t change their fate. Recalling the various rumors heard at the tavern, they could foresee their ends.

Either become slave laborers or be blood cattle for Vampires, it’s downright tragic, perhaps even worse than dying!

In this moment of despair, a tall Dragon Man covered in heavy black scales came to their cage, the clear eyes particularly striking.

Tolin thought the Dragon Man was eyeing his tender flesh, but Gleam corrected his error: "Your flesh isn’t tender at all, and what she’s looking at is the pendant on your neck!"

Curiously, this Dragon Man, while constantly gazing at the gemstone pendant with desire almost overflowing, showed no intention of snatching it from the two prisoners.

After some chaotic gesture exchanges, they surprisingly managed to use the pendant as a bargaining chip, convincing the Dragon Man to open the cage!

Unfortunately, this Dragon Man, seemingly not very clever, clearly didn’t understand the meaning of "act quietly," and the loud noise attracted everyone.

Now, they were completely surrounded.

...

Little Pig crossed her arms, watching from afar, showing no intention of intervening.

Nowadays, the Mushroom Garden is teeming with people, and for the core members, the boss has started to preliminarily define each person’s responsibilities.

She is responsible for mixing the captives with the Cave Dwellers, training them into a combat-ready Puki army.

Hunting is responsible for the construction and defense of that city in the Far North, Xing Huo is in charge of some diplomatic activities with other tribes in the Northern Territory, besides their own initiation ceremony.

Norris, on the other hand, is responsible for training the Jida warriors, and also some odd jobs.

Simply put, the two captives are actually Norris’s charge, and Little Pig doesn’t plan to get involved.

In the Fungal Network, Norris asked, "Boss, can’t we let Sister Xiao Hai leave?"

The boss didn’t respond for ages.

Surely the boss can hear, evidently it’s another spectacle for her amusement.

Norris sighed, lamenting the poor working environment, and pushed through the crowd to step forward.

"Roar!" I must say, Xiao Hai’s commitment to the contract spirit is stronger than many Adventurers. Even facing acquaintances, she bares her teeth and snarls.

Norris grabbed the beast skin clothing, tore it off and tossed it behind him, his silver scales glimmering under the Glowing Mushroom’s fluorescence.

Xiao Hai blinked at the glare; her roaring quieted down, almost turning into a gurgle.

Then, Norris took out a few silver scales from his waist pouch, fallen during battle with Karen, all cleaned and collected by Norris, prepared for times like these. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Staring at the silver scales wavering in Norris’s hand, Xiao Hai fell silent, unconsciously inching towards him.

At that moment, Tolin shouted in desperation, "Wait! I have more! I’ll up the price! Up the price!"

Eyeing the lifeline about to switch sides, the Dwarf hastily rummaged out four top-tier gemstones shining with brilliance.

Although Xiao Hai didn’t understand what the Dwarf was saying, the gesture of holding gems in front of her was clear enough.

In an instant, the gemstones vanished from Tolin’s hands, no one except Lin Jun saw where Xiao Hai hid them.

"Roar!!!" A louder roar forced everyone back!

With no one daring to really act, the two Dwarves dashed out alongside Xiao Hai.

Watching Xiao Hai’s disappearing figure, Norris felt an inexplicable sense of loss, yet wondered why it felt so off?

And then, with the boss’s word, that feeling turned to pain: "Norris failed the prisoner guard task, lifting the no sneak-attack restriction on Karen."

"Hooray! Boss is the best!" Karen’s cheers echoed from a corner.

Norris: "..."

He began pondering where to hide and sleep safely tonight.

...

As for the two Dwarves, they fled alongside Xiao Hai, amidst the puzzled gazes of unaware Lizardmen and Half-demons, running out from the Stone Castle Dungeon.

They passed by a newly built city, seeing from afar the half-constructed walls and the working Demons within it.

No one stopped them, no pursuers followed.

After running for half a day, the hungry and tired Xiao Hai nudged Tolin’s bag with her tail-tip, indicating she wanted more shiny things.

Upon confirming no new gems, Xiao Hai flew back to the Mushroom Garden without hesitation, ate a passing Puki, and retrieved those super shiny crystals from her scale crevices before retreating to the Mushroom House to sleep.

Meanwhile, Tolin and Gleam, suddenly bereft of a backing, found the Puki they took during their escape strangely limp and inactive.

Though somewhat uneasy, having already escaped, relying on firewood for warmth, they continued southward, towards freedom.

Two days later, several Pukis dragged two frostbitten Dwarves back to the Mushroom Garden.