"Owen... take good care of your mother and... your little sister... you must, take good care of them..."
"Mom will draw them away for you. Owen, take your sister and go, go quickly!"
"Big brother, big brother, save me!"
His little sister being dragged away, the slave trader's whip, the never-ending torment in the Blood Livestock Factory...
Scene after scene appeared chaotically in Owen's mind.
"Ah!"
Owen jolted awake, panting heavily.
It was a dream, but also a memory—in the end, he hadn't managed to protect anything.
This kind of remorse could be considered Owen's daily routine, so after his consciousness returned, he quickly noticed the anomaly.
His wrists were completely empty. The callus-worn ligature marks were still there, but the things binding him were gone.
Although the air couldn't be called fresh, there was no smell of rust, nor was there that rotting stench mixed with blood and feces.
A jar of water was handed over from beside him. The hand offering the water was as thin as a stick, with enlarged knuckles and dirt embedded under the fingernails.
"You had a nightmare too, right?" It was an old man with a hoarse but cheerful voice. "The Ji-Captain said this is a normal phenomenon. Drink some water to calm down."
Owen took the jar and looked up, surveying his surroundings. He seemed to be inside some kind of enclosed structure. The space was very large, and it was packed with people all around. From their faces, it wasn't hard to tell that they were all slaves just like him.
Some people were already awake, leaning against the walls staring blankly or conversing in low voices. Some were still lying on the ground, their brows tightly knit and their lips trembling, seemingly also having nightmares.
A few glowing mushrooms provided dim illumination. The structure seemed to be divided into several levels, as he could faintly hear sounds coming from above as well.
There was also an even stranger sensation: this entire structure seemed to be rising and falling slowly and rhythmically.
"Where are we...?" Owen asked, lowering his voice.
"The Fungal Lord saved us." When the old man said this, a light gleamed in his clouded eyes. "We're currently being sent from the seabed to the Mushroom Fortress."
Owen did know of the Fungal Lord—it was that voice that had suddenly appeared in his head—but...
"The seabed? The Mushroom Fortress?"
"I only heard it from the Ji-Captain too. If you're not clear about it, you can ask him." The old man shrugged, a motion that made the joints of his frail shoulders stick out. "Anyway, everyone was rescued. I heard those guys who tortured us all got their retribution. Who knows? Being able to escape that place, I'm already content."
Owen wanted to ask something else, but his gaze inadvertently swept past the ladder connecting the upper and lower levels. A figure was climbing down the ladder.
Scales, a tail, vertical pupils... that was a lizardman!
He abruptly sprang up, splashing the water in his jar all over the floor: "Demon-kin!"
The lizardman who landed rolled his eyes, too lazy to even bother with Owen. He was already used to seeing situations like this.
Instead, it was the old man who hurriedly pulled Owen back: "Don't panic, don't panic, he is the Ji-Captain! He's here to save us!"
"But... but he's a Demon-kin..." Owen's voice was still shaking, but he had already been pressed back down into his seat by the old man.
"I know, I know, I was just like you at the very beginning." The old man released his hand and jutted his chin in that direction. "Look closely, doesn't he also have that growing on him?"
Owen looked over and indeed saw traces of mycelium on his body.
At the same time, the lizardman's voice also rang out in their minds: "Those who wake up first, remember to explain the situation to those who wake up later. Don't run around or make reckless movements, and don't cause a disturbance. Those who need to relieve themselves, go to the cubicles marked with a white mushroom. There will be a name registration in a bit, remember to cooperate..."
Seeing that the lizardman was indeed maintaining order, Owen finally quieted down with an odd expression on his face.
After a while, a Puchi came up to the two of them and handed over paper and a pen.
It was already filled with names, accompanied by information such as previous residence, age, and relatives.
This was clearly the registration the Ji-Captain had mentioned.
Having begun to accept the current situation, Owen honestly wrote down his own information. When it was the old man's turn, Owen saw the latter write down "30" in the age row...
People around them woke up one after another, and Owen followed suit by giving them a brief explanation of the situation.
People gathered into small circles, chatting under the dim fluorescent light about their respective experiences and their fantasies about that Mushroom Fortress. Just like this, an unknown number of days passed.
If one had to say, the environment here wasn't good.
It was crowded, gloomy, and the air was murky...
But to Owen, it already felt like heaven.
No having blood drawn, no verbal abuse and beatings, and being able to eat his fill and sleep enough...
More importantly, the hope named Mushroom Fortress!
Of course, there were also terrifying moments of unexpected accidents.
After several days of communication and figuring things out, Owen and the others had already learned from the Ji-Captain that they were inside the body of a magical Giant Puchi.
And for a period of time, this Puchi suddenly accelerated.
The rising and falling bumps became more pronounced, and unidentified vibrations could faintly be heard from outside.
During the most dangerous moment, Owen watched as a ferocious bug head bit through the Giant Puchi and drilled inside.
Surging in along with it was seawater!
Owen almost thought he was going to die here. Fortunately, the lizardman Ji-Captain who rushed over controlled the Puchis to kill this monster full of purple blood, and then used two Puchis to plug the leaking hole. There was only one unlucky soul whose arm was torn to shreds by the bug, but he ultimately survived.
Fortunately, this thrilling scene only happened once. Afterward, the Giant Puchi resumed its steady, slow pace.
After an unknown amount of time, so long that Owen had already adapted to the rhythm of life inside the Giant Puchi's body, the Ji-Captain suddenly announced that they had arrived at their destination!
With a thud, the Giant Puchi sat on the ground. Other Puchis temporarily sliced off those two giant, short legs, turning them into natural exits.
The wind and snow struck his face the moment he landed. Owen subconsciously wanted to wrap his arms around his body, but quickly found that he actually didn't feel cold.
Seeing the light of day again, all the slaves felt as if a lifetime had passed. Some even knelt on the spot and began weeping bitterly, forcing the staff outside to command the Puchis to drag these guys blocking the way to the side.
Owen was also immersed in joy, when a half-demon growing mycelium suddenly sought him out, flipping through the booklet Owen had filled out earlier.
"Owen, right? Your little sister is in temporary barracks number thirty-three."
"Wh... what?" Owen stared blankly at the other party, seemingly not having understood.
The half-demon exhaled: "Your little sister is among the personnel rescued in the previous batch. Do you want to go see her?"
"Yes! I want to!" Owen fiercely grabbed the other party, tears brimming in his eyes. "You... you're not lying to me, right?"
"Calm down, calm down!"
The half-demon pushed Owen's hands away and was just about to lead him off. At this moment, however, the thirty-year-old "old man" who had been with Owen earlier stepped forward and asked excitedly: "Then... then what about me? Is there any information about my family?"
"If there is, a staff member will come find you. Right now, I have to take this Owen to find his sister first." Saying this, the half-demon left behind the disappointed "old man."
However, after walking a short distance further, when Owen looked back, he saw that another staff member seemed to have found the "old man" and was telling him something. The latter was nodding his head desperately with tears streaming down his face.
In temporary barracks number thirty-three, Owen saw his little sister, who was already so skinny she was nothing but skin and bones, and had also lost both her hands.
Owen hugged his sister, continuously saying "I'm sorry," while on the contrary, his sister smiled and comforted him, saying "It's okay."
The half-demon who brought Owen here looked up at the sky and waited for a long time. Only after the emotions of Owen and his sister had passed their most intense peak did he unhurriedly speak through the mycelial network: "Actually, there's no need for you two to be so sad. It's just severed hands. In the Mushroom Fortress, as long as you work hard, the two of you together should be able to scrape together enough contribution points needed for the Water of Life within a year. It's just about the same as those super expensive limb regeneration potions. Just like me, I only had one hand before too."
Saying this, the half-demon even waved his own two complete hands, leaving the siblings staring in stunned disbelief.
(End of Chapter)
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