Puchi's Home.
In the afternoon, the crowd of customers had finally thinned out.
The little clerk, Bianca, rested her arms on the counter, her foot tapping the floor rhythmically behind her.
"Boss, Boss! Do you want to come to my house for dinner after closing up today? To celebrate moving into our new home, Mom went out early this morning to buy groceries. She's definitely making a lot of delicious food, so you should come along too, Boss!"
Relying on the wages she earned from Dylan, Bianca had finally managed to buy a place in Mushroom City. She and her mother no longer had to squeeze into a dilapidated little shack in the resettlement zone.
The new home wasn't large, but its advantage was being close to Puchi's Home. Before heading out today, Bianca's mother had specifically instructed her to invite Dylan over to properly express their gratitude.
"Of course, I'd love to," Dylan replied with a smile.
"That's great!" Bianca cheered. Grabbing a brush, she slipped into the backyard to get a head start on her daily task of scrubbing the Puchis.
After Bianca left, the Empire spy who had been drinking alone in the corner, the shapeshifter Clolo, finally came over to Dylan and revealed a piece of news he had just obtained: There was finally word from the long-unheard-from Hero!
Hearing the word "Hero," Dylan, who hadn't paid much attention initially, instantly became agitated.
The Boss had said that his daughter, Bella, was on a ship suspected to belong to the Hero.
At first, he felt relatively at ease. After all, the Hero hadn't participated in the war between Humans and Demon-kin, which meant Bella was still safe.
However, as the great war ended and time passed without any news, Dylan's worries only deepened.
Suddenly hearing news of the Hero, he naturally found it hard to conceal his inner excitement.
"Really?"
Clolo nodded. "Naturally it's true. The intel came from above. The Hero's side contacted the Kingdom in advance, though it seems they aren't coming in person this time."
Ever since the fungal mat covered the land, the Empire's espionage activities within the United Kingdom had become increasingly difficult.
Spies either disappeared inexplicably or, like Clolo, became double agents.
However, besides spies, traitors were also one of the Empire's important sources of intelligence.
Because they had lost the relatively covert communication channel previously provided by the Archbishop, the Hero's communication this time directly utilized a transmission crystal connected to the capital, Oath City. Unsurprisingly, the hidden traitors managed to intercept the news.
Thinking of this, Dylan's heart clenched again.
He immediately relayed this news to the Boss, but as expected, the Boss already knew.
"The Empire causing trouble? Relax, the Hero isn't even coming in person this time. The Empire probably doesn't have the time to care about this right now," Lin Jun analyzed.
After all, the Empire was so busy they were on the verge of abandoning their northern territories. A few of the Hero's subordinates were indeed unlikely to attract the Emperor's attention.
Taking a step back, even if the Empire wanted to stir up trouble, wouldn't they have to ask if Lin Jun agreed first?
Receiving the Boss's assurance, Dylan finally put his mind at ease.
But his thoughts couldn't stop revolving around Bella. It wasn't until Bianca called out to him for the fifth time that he snapped back to reality, somewhat absentmindedly following her to go celebrate the new home.
The United Kingdom, West Coast.
Since the Demon-kin evacuated this region, the Kingdom had gradually reclaimed the land.
At this moment, the pier of this recently repaired port was densely packed with people.
Soldiers, clad in armor and holding halberds, formed neat ranks on both sides of the pier, their armor glinting coldly in the afternoon sun.
On the outer perimeter, a defensive line consisting of thousands of Puchi Masters and tens of thousands of Combat Puchis stood ready to respond to any unexpected situations.
Everyone was craning their necks in anticipation of the arrival of the Hero's envoy.
"There it is!"
On the horizon, a ship with a distinct Archipelago style cut through the waves, eventually docking at the pier.
Well-rehearsed cheers erupted from below, and several officials in charge of the reception straightened their attire.
The gangway was lowered, and a figure appeared by the ship's rail.
It was a young woman wearing adventurer's gear, her long dark hair blown somewhat messy by the sea breeze.
The cheers grew even louder.
But Bella's complexion was not looking good at all.
Standing at the top of the gangway, her fingers gripping the railing were pressing so hard they left indentations on the wood.
Bella's gaze fell upon the pier, looking at the mycelium that could be seen everywhere below.
Further away, massive numbers of Puchis surrounded the pier.
This reminded her of the last time she saw Puchis, making her unsure for a moment if these ones also looked like that in reality.
And even up close, there were traces of mycelium on the bodies of those soldiers—and even on the face of one of the officials stepping forward.
Let alone Bella, even the other crew members were somewhat stunned to see this person so obviously parasitized by a foreign entity. The key point was that the people around acted as if they were completely used to it, which was incredibly bizarre.
Bella couldn't understand what had happened on the mainland, or why it had turned into this after a war.
Had no one tried to stop this thing from spreading?
Although the welcoming officials noticed Bella's poor complexion, they mistakenly attributed it to seasickness.
While somewhat puzzled as to why the Hero would send a subordinate prone to seasickness, mature officials would not show such doubts on their faces.
They walked up with smiles, and one of them had a symbiotic relationship with the mycelium.
Bella watched this mycelium symbiote approach her, her gaze falling on his smiling face.
Cheeks, forehead, jawline—there was white mycelium woven amidst flesh and blood everywhere!
Although these mycelial threads were groomed very neatly, they still made her breath hitch.
The man smiled and extended his hand to her.
Bella knew she ought to shake that hand; it was basic courtesy.
But the suspicion in her heart intensified fiercely.
Would it be that kind of chaos?
Not just the Puchis, but this fungal mat below, the mycelium on these people's faces... would they all be those twisted, chaotic blocks of color?
She didn't dare activate **[Truth Vision]**, afraid she would lose her composure on the spot.
Remembering that she represented Lady Sophia, Bella steeled her heart and firmly grasped the hand.
Yet, the moment they touched, as if triggering some sort of instinctive emergency response, silver light flared in Bella's eyes.
With eyes overflowing with silver radiance that seemed capable of seeing through everything, the three officials in front of Bella were startled by this sudden occurrence, staring blankly at that pair of beautiful and divine eyes.
And Bella, she saw a chaotic world akin to the abyss.
Looking around, there wasn't a single patch of pure land!
And the person in front of her was also a massive patch of chaos mixed with a tiny bit of the pale yellow of a normal human.
What in the world... had happened to this world?
"Blergh—!"
The next moment, Bella bent over and directly vomited onto their still-clasped hands.
The three veteran officials had never seen a scene like this. The guy with the symbiotic mycelium just stared blankly at the vomit on his hand, his brain crashing into a frozen state.
The crew members on the ship couldn't understand what was going on with the usually reliable Bella this time either.
The pier instantly descended into utter chaos.
Lin Jun, who was openly watching Old Dylan's daughter through the Fungal Mat Vision, actually felt quite curious—is it really that disgusting?
(End of Chapter)
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