Chapter 217 216. Want to work?

Qiong took a few breaths, squatted down, and fumbled to adjust the angle of the rough wooden stick that served as his left foot.

After he returned home with a broken leg, his tribesmen made him a simple prosthesis that could barely support him walking, but forget about comfort. It would tilt to one side after long use and needed to be adjusted from time to time.

Being disabled is indeed very inconvenient. Just trudging to the entrance to the upper level of the dungeon makes him out of breath.

This time, he came to find Puji.

It can be said that it was a pure act of risking one's life. Not to mention that the terrible Chiss was still lurking in the dungeon. As Shou said, those Pujis were probably not good people either.

But the tribe’s food reserves are running low. No matter whether they migrate south or continue to survive here, they will always have to go to the underground city.

Rather than letting those still healthy warriors take risks, it is better to let this useless cripple explore the way.

Shou would definitely not agree with this idea, so he sneaked out by himself.

Moreover, deep in his heart, a vague intuition lingered: those Puji... maybe... are not as scary as Shou thought?

The surrounding temperature has risen slightly, and the dome has entered the upper area.

However, after taking only two steps, the prosthesis slipped and the body instantly lost balance. His only remaining right hand propped up the ground at the critical moment, barely avoiding a miserable fall.

When he moved his hand away, it was sticky...

“Mycelium?”

I used my hands to sweep away the thin snow around me and found that the ground was already covered with mycelium!

It wasn't like this a few days ago!

He carefully maintained his balance to prevent himself from falling again. The sticky ground was too unfriendly to a one-legged man like him.

Not far away, he saw another bizarre sight.

A group of Puji were standing in the distance. One of them was particularly fat and was constantly taking out handfuls of mushrooms from its stomach and scattering them around.

The fat worms hiding in every corner came out one after another, greedily pounced on the mushrooms on the ground and feasted on them.

Just as they were eating enthusiastically, the other Pujis quietly surrounded the fattest fat worm among them!

Several tough mycelium tentacles shot out, instantly wrapping around and tightening it!

The unfortunate fat worm twisted in vain, and was soon wrapped into a struggling "dumpling", and was dragged into the depths of the shadows by several Pujis...

Puji can come to the upper area!

Is this farming?

These poofs...are they meat eaters?!

“Gulu——”

Hopefully they only like to eat fat worms…

After watching the whole feeding process, Qiong came to his senses and found that there were two Puji standing in front of him without him noticing.

I remind myself in my heart to be vigilant!

However, when my eyes really touched those two chubby and even somewhat "honest" puffies, an indescribable, almost instinctive sense of intimacy strangely overwhelmed my vigilance.

"Hey, Qiong!" A familiar conversation in my head, "Come and play with me?"

Two Pujis came up to him enthusiastically, one on the left and one on the right. They gently supported his shaking body with their flexible hyphae tentacles, helped him to stabilize his center of gravity, and almost half-supported him, leading him towards the direction of the castle.

Just as they were about to enter the middle level, Qiong couldn't help but stop and said hesitantly: "Well...if...I meet Qis..."

"Chis? Don't worry, Chis has moved."

"Move...move?" Qiong was stunned.

"Yeah!" A Puji used its tentacles to imitate the action of spreading its hands. "I don't know why, but they suddenly moved away! Alas, some people are so cold and heartless. After all, we have been neighbors for so long, but they didn't even leave a new address. I can't even find a place to visit and reminisce about the past! Qiong, you won't do this to me, will you?"

"Of course... not..." Qiong smiled reluctantly.

He's not a fool if he wants to move away or something.

It's only been a few days?

The Chiss that almost wiped them out was destroyed?

Qiong now knew that she was wrong. Puji was not as scary as Shou said. In fact, it was even scarier than Shou said...

Fortunately, I am still kind to myself?

After entering the castle, there was indeed no trace of Chiss at all. Instead, mycelium was growing everywhere, and busy Pujis ran by from time to time.

Puji brought Qiong all the way to the semi-finished mushroom forest, and then scooped a bowl of hot mushroom soup from the body of a burrowing Puji and gave it to him.

The mushroom soup was not delicious, but it contained magical power and was considered a very precious food by Qiong, so it was not wasted at all.

Moreover, Qiong felt that his appetite had increased recently, or his demand for magic power had increased, but he didn't know why.

In the mushroom house not far away, Xiao Hei, who sensed a stranger, poked his head out, made eye contact with Qiong, and then shrank back after two seconds - a gray guy, nothing worth noting.

Qiong felt it was magical.

Dragon people, vampires...seem to be living with Puji...

However, Qiong couldn't quite figure out where they all came from.

After eating the mushroom soup, Puji seemed to want him to experience sleeping in the mushroom house, but Qiong didn't want to waste time and made his request with a little embarrassment.

…

"We need mushrooms? And... to supply rations for nearly three hundred demons?!"

Qiong rubbed his only remaining hand awkwardly, too embarrassed to look at Puji across from him: "Yes... yes. In the past, we could still survive by hunting in the upper area, but the monsters... are becoming fewer and fewer, and now..."

Now it is occupied by the Poojis again...

"Qiong," Puji's mushroom cap swayed slightly, simulating a humane attitude of embarrassment, "I am happy to make friends with you. Inviting you to dinner or hosting a hunt is no big deal. But three hundred people... this is not a small number for the Puji family."

The mycelium tentacles spread out helplessly, "You can see that I still have a large group of hungry Poojis to feed at home..."

Qiong lowered her head deeply in shame, almost burying her face in her fur coat.

He himself felt that this request was excessive.

The Pujis saved him, but instead of repaying them, he demanded more...

But the tribe doesn't seem to have many choices now, so he can only stay here with his head held high.

"But..." Puji's tone suddenly changed, leaving room for negotiation.

Qiong looked up suddenly, a spark of hope instantly ignited in his dim eyes, and he stared at Puji in front of him.

"Giving away so much for free is too much for me, even with my wealth." Puji's tentacles nodded like an abacus, "But... if you are willing to help me do something and use your labor in exchange for these mushrooms... then the situation will be completely different! It won't be a problem at all!"

"Is there anything I can do to help?"

"Of course!"

Everything that happened next was like falling into a bizarre dream for Qiong.

For the first time in his life, he witnessed and passed through a space crack that was twisting with dark purple light!

For the first time, he set foot in a place that was so warm that he almost sweated. Compared with the bitter cold in the north, it seemed like two different worlds!

There, he was brought by the Pujis to a cave full of mushrooms and glowing grass. What was even more unbelievable to him was that the Pujis actually gave him more than twenty little Pujis and asked him to lead the team!

The feeling of commanding Puji was also very wonderful for him.

In that warm cave, he clumsily but seriously collected fireflies with the Pujis.

He fought side by side with the Pujis and repelled two waves of strange, hideous monsters that roamed here!

Two days later.

He obtained the "twenty-six contribution points" that Puji mentioned, and then used them in the exchange project that Puji mentioned to exchange for mountains of mushrooms that far exceeded his ability to carry alone!

For their first collaboration, Lin Jun thoughtfully prepared a free delivery service for him - a fat dog named Puji stuffed all the mushrooms into his stomach and helped him deliver them back to the tribe.

In order to keep warm, I also brought a self-heating ground-drilling foam.

And when Qiong, who had been missing for three days, returned to the tribal camp, dragging his unsteady artificial leg with the giant Puji following behind him, he ran into the hunter who had set out to look for him.

Looking at Puji behind Qiong, Shou's voice was full of disbelief: "Qiong...you...what have you been doing for the past three days?!"

(End of this chapter)