Chapter 2: Attending the Trade |
Finally, the plan to alter his fate had succeeded.
From now on, his food supply was guaranteed, and he could sell mushrooms for money, completely freeing himself from heavy physical labor.
Lino's lips curled into a smile, and he pumped his fist.
"Confirm settlement. Obtained Milk Mushrooms."
At Lino's command, the mycelium, culture medium, and nutrient solution vanished, leaving behind only an empty glass jar, a plastic bag, and a watering can.
At the same time, an illusory white interface appeared in his vision.
[System Name: Mushroom Farm]
[System Host: Lino]
[System Functions:]
[Recorded Simulation Plan: Cultivate Milk Mushroom mycelium.]
[Fungal Storage: 30 kilograms of Milk Mushrooms.]
[Fungal Storage can store and access items related to the fungi kingdom, such as spores, mycelium, fungal bodies, molds, mycotoxins, yeast, etc.]
Out of the five system functions, the first four were already usable. Only the fifth—Fungal Ability—remained locked for some unknown reason.
But that didn't matter. For now, the Fungal Simulation alone was enough to solve his basic survival problems.
Thirty kilograms of Milk Mushrooms could fill a hundred and twenty boxes, assuming two hundred and fifty grams per box.
Selling this quantity of Milk Mushrooms for three hundred and sixty ration cards would be no problem at all.
Subtracting the costs, he would net two hundred and sixty ration cards—roughly equivalent to a full month's earnings from backbreaking labor.
Lino chuckled, the exhaustion from hauling cargo completely swept away.
He took a mushroom from the Fungal Storage and bit into the cap.
A rich milky aroma filled his mouth. The juice, mixed with a faint sweetness, flowed between his teeth.
The fragrance was overflowing, leaving an endless aftertaste, as if he were drifting in a sea of milk surrounded by milky-white waves.
Lino's eyes widened.
This was way too delicious!
The mushrooms grown by the system were ten thousand times better than the ones sold at the stalls!
Lino finished the mushroom in two bites, took out another, and savored the delicious food once more.
He was certain the stall mushrooms couldn't even compare to what he held in his hand; the latter's texture crushed the former in every conceivable way.
What was going on?
Using the exact same mycelium, culture medium, and nutrient solution, why were the mushrooms he grew so incredibly tasty?
Was there something wrong with his sense of taste?
Lino ran over to a stall and bought a box of Milk Mushrooms.
He tossed one into his mouth, chewed twice, and spat the mush into the sink.
Trash.
The stall mushrooms were utter trash.
Lino had eaten the vendor's mushrooms before.
At the time, he only thought the texture was average—not terrible, but nothing noticeably wrong either.
But after tasting his own homegrown crop, the stall mushrooms were practically inedible.
Not only did the cap taste like rust, but even the squeezed juice had a flavor resembling secondhand smoke.
Why was there such a massive gap between mushrooms?
Lino frowned, pondering the question.
He opened the system information for the simulated cultivation, hoping to find an answer within the simulation process.
A line of system text entered his vision, and realization dawned on him!
[During the simulation process, the system will provide the sunlight, water, and air required.]
That was it. The problem lay in the water and air.
Judging by the results, the water and air provided by the system during the simulation were absolutely pristine, completely devoid of any pathogens or pollution.
The situation in the Underhive was entirely different. Here, the air was controlled by the Air Guild.
Every breath of air had been filtered through purification devices countless times, but that didn't mean the Underhive's air was truly clean.
In reality, the quality of air a person enjoyed depended on their social tier.
Only the residents of the upper hive could breathe clean air.
Down here in the Underhive, the air was filled with inhalable particulates, pathogens, and other impurities.
The same went for the water.
The Water Guild controlled the distribution of water resources, and Underhive residents were allowed to enjoy rust-flavored water for free.
If they wanted pure water, they had to cough up the money at the Water Guild's counters.
When cultivating their crops, the unscrupulous stall owners used the free water and made no effort to ensure air quality, which resulted in such awful-tasting mushrooms.
In contrast, the [Mushroom Farm] system used clean water and air when simulating the cultivation of Milk Mushrooms.
Mushrooms grown under these foundational conditions would naturally be a hundred, or even a thousand times more delicious than those grown in the Underhive.
The [Mushroom Farm] was far more powerful than he had imagined.
Setting aside the fact that it replaced the physical cultivation process with a simulation, merely providing pure water and air was enough to let his mushrooms utterly crush the competition.
With the system being this exceptional, he needed to put in some hard work too.
Lino took a deep breath, calming his racing heart.
He tossed the mushrooms he had just bought into the Fungal Storage, snacking on his own homegrown crop as he tidied up the clutter in his home.
He had already formulated a sales plan for his mushrooms, and he could put it into action tonight.
A short while later, Lino headed out again.
The Underhive currently had no curfew, and since many jobs operated on inverted day-night schedules, the streets were still packed with people even though it was evening by Terra time.
Lino navigated the messy streets and stepped onto a road adjacent to the Ruins Zone.
The Ruins Zone was originally Sector Seven, a residential area for Lower Hive denizens, but it had been abandoned for some reason and was no longer fit for human habitation.
It was a sunless, dilapidated place. Caved-in floors and collapsed buildings had turned what used to be a living space into a desolate wasteland.
Acidic liquids, toxic fumes, and pathogenic dust poured down from above, burying everything in the Ruins Zone in decay.
To the enforcers of the Underhive, the Ruins Zone was a breeding ground for mutants, monsters, and cultists.
But to the people of the Lower Hive, the Ruins Zone was a treasure trove, a vault—a gold mine.
As long as one was bold enough, lucky enough, and didn't end up disemboweled by enemies lurking in the dark, anyone could find high-value items in the Ruins Zone to exchange for cash.
Lino's destination wasn't the Ruins Zone.
With his scrawny frame, he wouldn't even be enough to wedge between a monster's teeth. There was no need to march into the Ruins Zone and throw his life away.
Upon reaching the street closest to the Ruins Zone, he slowed his pace, trying to pick out his partner from the noisy crowd.
Drunken Lower Hive residents brawled in the street while the surrounding onlookers cheered loudly.
Fists whistled through the air, landing with heavy, meaty thuds. Amid the cheers, a spray of vomit splattered toward a roadside alley.
A figure at the alley entrance took a few steps back, avoiding the vomit that landed right in front of her.
When she looked up, her gaze met Lino's, and a flash of joy crossed her eyes.
"Here, I'm over here."
The figure waved her right arm, signaling to the youth across the street.
Some of the people watching the brawl caught the soft female voice and instinctively glanced toward the person in the alley.
Illuminated by the streetlights, a young woman with half her body hidden in the alley's shadows came into view.
She stood about a meter sixty-five tall and was wrapped in a black cloak, the wavy folds of the fabric accentuating her slender figure.
Her face was concealed by a hood and a wide scarf, leaving only her deep purple eyes exposed—shining like two breathtaking amethysts.
