The morning sun rose, spreading golden-red light across the land and illuminating Dylan’s mud-streaked face.
Leaning on his iron shovel, he spoke hoarsely, his voice trembling with disbelief. “Boss… what you said… is it all true?”
“Of course it’s true. When have I ever lied to you?”
Dylan gripped the crumpled piece of paper in his hand tightly, saying nothing.
But soon, the gloom in his heart was swept away by the sudden surge of joy. Tears welled uncontrollably, carving two clean tracks down his dirty cheeks.
“Bella… Bella’s really still alive!” He laughed and cried like a child, repeating over and over, “I knew it! I knew she wouldn’t leave so easily! She’s my daughter, after all!”
“Oh, please. You’re nothing special. Honestly, your daughter’s much stronger than you. She’s already Level Forty-Eight, almost at Diamond-rank Adventurer level.”
Suddenly remembering something, Dylan threw down the shovel and scrambled out of the pit. “I’ve got to find her! I’ll go right now!”
Just then, a puji bounced up to the edge of the pit, its mycelial tendrils snapping out like lightning.
The next thing Dylan knew, the world spun wildly. His body twirled two and a half times in the air before landing back in the pit with a solid thud.
“Feeling better now?” Lin Jun asked.
Dylan lay there for a long moment before nodding weakly.
Things weren’t like before—over on the western shore, chaos ruled. Even if Dylan went looking for Bella, he might not find her. More likely, he’d lose his life instead.
“You don’t need to worry too much,” Lin Jun said. “They look like a strong group. I don’t think anything bad will happen.”
That archer who could kill you from three kilometers away had left quite an impression on Lin Jun.
After a while, Dylan slowly sat up and wiped his face. “You’re right, boss… I lost my head.”
No matter what, finding out his daughter was alive—and seemingly doing well—was incredible news.
He spent the rest of the morning lost in thought, torn between joy and anxiety, and didn’t return to the Puji Home until noon.
As soon as he opened the door, Bianca’s enthusiastic voice greeted him:
“Welcome ba—wait, boss?! Where have you been? Do you even—ugh, you’re filthy!”
She had been ready to scold him, but after seeing his mud-covered figure, Bianca jumped back a few steps and quickly pulled a maid puji out of the way.
If the maid uniforms got dirty, she’d be the one scrubbing them.
When Dylan slumped back into his seat behind the counter, Bianca began mopping up the muddy footprints, puffing her cheeks in frustration. “We had several customers come by this morning asking about those new potions! I didn’t even know the prices, so I had to turn them all away! We lost a bunch of business!”
It wasn’t just her pride talking—Bianca got a small cut for every bottle sold.
Unfortunately, Dylan seemed lost in another world, mumbling absent-mindedly, “Okay, okay…”
Bianca narrowed her eyes suspiciously. Swallowing her remaining complaints, she secretly observed her oddly distracted boss.
Absent-minded… gloomy one moment, beaming the next…
That was clearly the look of a man in love!
Drawing on her vast life experience, Bianca made her diagnosis.
Retreating into the kitchen, she sighed. Once there was a “lady boss,” she wasn’t sure if her job would still be this pleasant…
——
Meanwhile, in Golden Valley City.
Though nearly half of the transport team had been lost, they’d successfully brought back a large number of corpses.
Compared to the expected civilian and soldier bodies, the fresh corpses of Pigman warriors provided far more mana for the Mycelium Carpet.
With Lin Jun’s deliberate support, more pujis sprouted from the fungal mats.
At the same time, ordinary soldiers were reassigned and trained as Puji Masters.
Within days, the number of Puji Masters had reached nearly a thousand.
Among them was Angela, who had somehow become one herself. Now she truly lived up to her title as Puji Commander.
As expected, the demons launched their attack soon after.
This time, the familiar Serpentfolk were joined by a group of Lizardmen they hadn’t encountered before.
The enemy numbered over four thousand.
What worried Angela most were the Lizardmen.
Though not as physically strong as the Serpentfolk, the Lizardmen had a far higher proportion of archers—deadly opponents for pujis.
When Angela voiced her concerns, the viscount made a surprising decision.
He abandoned the city walls entirely, ordering everyone to retreat into the more complex inner districts.
Another commander objected immediately—and reasonably so.
Urban combat would scatter their forces throughout the city, putting enormous strain on morale.
These were garrison troops, not elite warriors; their morale was already low. In a street battle, they could break at any moment.
But the viscount argued that facing the enemy head-on would be suicide. The demons already knew about the pujis and wouldn’t throw lives away as before.
The Puji Artillery only had a range of about a hundred meters—no match for the Lizardmen archers.
And with the enemy’s superior numbers, open combat was hopeless. Street fighting was their only chance.
Sure enough, when the demons began their assault, the Lizardmen rained arrows upon the walls, slaughtering most of the pujis stationed there.
Once they confirmed there was no resistance, they surged forward.
Climbing the empty walls, they assumed the humans had fled—and began to debate which direction their prey would run.
Not that it mattered. In the end, most would be caught and taken back to the Empire as slaves.
But when they pushed deeper into the city, they met the pujis again.
In the narrow streets, the pujis exceeded all expectations.
The Serpentfolk managed to resist somewhat, but the Lizardmen suffered heavy losses immediately.
Whenever a single Exploding Puji slipped into their ranks, four or five Lizardmen would end up half-dead, writhing on the ground.
The small creatures darted between houses, or hid among piles of garbage, springing out when the enemy passed.
The Puji Masters stayed a safe distance away—one or two hundred meters—and didn’t even need fine control. They simply gave attack orders when the time was right.
One Puji Master, sensing most of his pujis had perished, turned to retreat—only for a stray arrow to pierce his chest clean through.
He collapsed with a scream.
Angela strode over, snapped the shaft in two, and yanked it free. “Quit screaming! You’re not dead yet! Take him away!”
A soldier dragged the wounded man off—still groaning.
A first-time Puji Master wouldn’t yet realize how absurdly tough their kind had become.
Some had even survived being shot through the heart and lungs, as long as the arrow was pulled out quickly. A hole through the chest was practically nothing.
Angela gazed at the demons floundering in the poisonous fog and explosions ahead. She knew they’d won this battle again.
A Puji Master’s street fight wasn’t about morale like traditional combat—it was a war of attrition, the enemy’s flesh and courage traded against expendable pujis.
Once they got close, those little creatures were every army’s nightmare.
Sure enough, before the invaders even advanced a kilometer, both the Serpentfolk and Lizardmen commanders realized something was wrong and ordered a retreat.
They’d spent all this time fighting what seemed like endless magical pets—and clearly hadn’t reached the limit yet.
Who in their right mind would keep attacking?
The Serpentfolk leader could only slap himself in frustration. Why had he bothered coming back to this cursed place?
Even after all this time, there were more pujis than before!
How did these humans keep replenishing them?
Before leaving, he glanced once more at a patch of glowing Mycelium Carpet—and began to understand.
——
After their retreat, word spread quickly among the demon raiding parties: Golden Valley City was a nightmare to assault.
By the time the Demon Duke recalled his scattered troops to the main army, the city had never again faced a large-scale attack—becoming one of the few western strongholds to hold out until the very end.