Mushroom Lord in the Underground City-Chapter 316 - 308: I Did It

The "Puki’s House" inn was especially quiet after nightfall. Bianca had already gone back to take care of her mother, leaving Dylan to sit alone behind the counter, slowly reviewing the accounts by the light of an oil lamp.

On the surface, he was checking the income and expenses, but in reality, he was reporting the recent progress to Lin Jun through the Fungal Network:

"Today I went to the Guild to ask about the bounty mission at the Scarecrow Abyss. The bounty has been raised to 800 gold coins, but there still seems to be no progress.

I heard that there have been many accidents there recently, and the adventurers are exploring new strategies for dealing with it, unable to delve deeper for now.

However, there has been some progress in acquiring the corpses of the other two types of demons.

The Electric Rat task has been taken, and the bounty for the Earth Bear has been completed. The bear’s corpse has been preserved, and it will take some time to transport it here."

"Oh? That’s not bad!" Lin Jun seemed quite satisfied.

There’s no progress yet on the Negative Energy Collection task in the Abyss, but there’s no rush for it.

The "Electric Rat" was carefully chosen from Edin’s catalog. It’s a thunder-attribute demon with several thunder skills, and it might be suitable for Puki.

As for the "Earth Bear," Lin Jun had long coveted its Gravity Field skill.

Though the elf family already raised a bear cub, that little thing now regarded Scout Puki as its big brother. Eating it might cause a psychological barrier, so a bounty was posted instead.

In fact, the demons he was interested in were far more than just these two types, but posting too many bounties at once would be too conspicuous. It had to be done gradually.

"Boss, there’s also the recent financial usage..." Dylan said, opening the ledger at hand.

But he was interrupted by Lin Jun before he could really start: "Hold it, don’t bother with the specific numbers."

Lin Jun was not interested in the tedious account details. As long as the money was sufficient, he couldn’t care less about any surplus.

Taking it a step further, if he really needed to check for embezzlement, wouldn’t monitoring through the Fungal Network be more direct than listening to reports?

Dylan put down the ledger, looking a bit disappointed.

"But the current funds are almost used up. Should we post more bounties next?"

Of course, more bounties would be posted, but Dylan’s point was clearly about needing money.

Waiting for adventurers to ’donate’ was too slow. Maybe it’s time to sell another A-Level Demon Crystal? 𝕗𝚛𝚎𝚎𝐰𝗲𝗯𝗻𝚘𝚟𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝕞

"Boss, have you considered doing potion business?" Dylan suddenly suggested.

Common potions had low profit due to competition, but he knew the boss clearly had some unique formulas not circulated here.

From Dylan’s perspective, as long as the source of the raw materials could be well disguised, this business could definitely be profitable.

"Selling potions... could work."

Lin Jun hadn’t really thought about making money from selling potions before. Alchemy was just for internal use, and even the two bottles of hair-growth potion in Dylan’s hands were initially just for his own use.

Dylan hadn’t realized that his hair was getting sparser recently.

However, selling potions...

Like the hair-growth potion, it obviously couldn’t be sold in bulk. Its core ingredients were all specialties of the elf territory, hard to explain the source.

But there were enough strange and ancient recipes from the old elf there. Carefully selecting some with common materials but unknown to the locals should work.

Given the elves’ expertise in alchemy and isolationist policies, finding suitable recipes shouldn’t be too hard.

Then, symbolically publishing some procurement tasks for the related materials, the source could be well concealed.

Just then.

Knock, knock—knock, knock—

Heavy knocking hit the already locked wooden door of the inn, sounding particularly abrupt at night.

Dylan immediately grasped the longsword hilt hidden under the counter, while asking through the Fungal Network: "Boss?"

Lin Jun’s response came quickly: "Ah, there’s probably no danger."

It was only then that Dylan walked to the door and opened it a crack.

Standing outside was Rita’s rookie partner, looking pale, breathing heavily, and glancing around fearfully as if scared of being followed.

This kid might be in trouble, desperately running to me for help?!

Dylan’s heart tightened, instinctively wanting to slam the door shut.

However, Lin Jun’s voice spoke up again: "It’s fine, let him in."

With the boss’s words, Dylan no longer hesitated and turned to open the door wider.

The rookie stumbled inside, intending to speak but was silenced by a sharp look from Dylan.

No matter how quiet the inn’s business was, it wasn’t empty. How could he be allowed to babble here?

Dylan didn’t speak but pointed downward with his index finger.

The rookie hesitated, then understood, forcibly swallowing back his words and nodding nervously.

Upon entering the concealed basement, the rookie’s fear could no longer be suppressed. He spoke incoherently and urgently: "Di-Dylan, sir! Have... have you seen Rita, sir, today?"

Dylan shook his head.

"Rita, sir, she... she’s missing!" The rookie’s face showed an expression of extinguished last hope.

Seeing his panic-stricken state, Dylan couldn’t help but sigh. "Don’t panic, calm down, and explain slowly."

In front of a senior that even Rita "trusted," the rookie did not hide anything and spilled it all: "Rita said this morning she was going to check on the new ’parasite’ rumor, asking me to drop the previous report at the old contact point. But after I returned, I never saw her again! I secretly searched everywhere she could be and she wasn’t there! I thought she might have come to you... but, but..."

"Calm down!" Dylan shouted quietly, "Didn’t they teach you how to handle this situation?"

"I think they did... should... should immediately assume Rita has encountered an accident, prioritizing retreat and hiding, ensuring safety before seeking a chance to report to superiors..." The rookie recited textbook-like under Dylan’s reminder.

"Then what are you doing now?"

The rookie was stunned and then looked ashamed: "Sorry! I’m leaving now!"

Dylan grabbed his arm with a tone of iron mixed with frustration: "Just thought of leaving? Useless! If you’re exposed, it’s already happened! Now running out in a panic makes it easier to get yourself caught! You rookies are just..."

"I’m sorry! I’m sorry!" The rookie apologized repeatedly, so ashamed that he could hardly keep his form, almost collapsing.

"Alright, stay here for now, wait until the heat dies down to act."

"Than-thank you, sir... My first mission, and I encounter this, it’s really... so scary..." The rookie’s voice still trembled.

Looking at his condition, Dylan’s tone softened, patting him on the shoulder: "Alright, I understand. Everyone starts as a rookie. Remember in the future, think before you act."

After finally settling the frightened rookie spy, Dylan found time to contact Lin Jun again through the Fungal Network: "Boss, do you know what’s happened to Rita?"

The boss’s Fungal Mat was all over Mushroom Town, so he might know something.

Lin Jun’s response didn’t disappoint him, simple and direct: "I know, she’s dead."

Dylan was not surprised by this answer but curiously asked, "Was it the Church that found her? Or was she caught by the Guild?"

"I killed her."

"Ah..."

Dylan scratched his thinning hair, suddenly feeling he should have been a bit gentler to that rookie...