Chapter 139
The Eternal Life Abyss’ new tentacle was thinner and shorter than the previous ones.
Si Chen couldn’t help himself from pinching it. It felt very good.
The Eternal Life Abyss let out a short and brisk “squeak”, stuffing the mycelium tentacle back under its belly.
It now had a notion of aesthetic. The newly grown tentacle didn’t look good at all and it felt a little embarrassed to let others see it.
The muscles in Dr. Sheng’s face began to twitch.
He noticed that with the fusion of the mycelium and the Eternal Life Abyss, he had completely lost control of the spores.
Dr. Sheng had been fighting these mycelium for countless years when he was still a human being. He knew the power of mycelial infection better than anyone else. If you’re infected by mycelium, you either become a mycelium man or you become controlled by mycelium. Maybe there were exceptions for Evolutionaries but they were rare.
When he gave the mycelium to Si Chen, it wasn’t only because he’d been forced to do it; he’d also done it the intention of watching as Si Chen made a fool of himself.
Unexpectedly, the clown was actually himself.
Those tough and difficult-to-remove hyphae brought endless disasters to the world where he lived but within the body of the Eternal Life Abyss, it was as docile as a ball of mud that could be pinched at will, completely losing proactivity.
He looked gravely at the Eternal Life Abyss, his eyes red as if they were about to bleed. “What is that?”
“An Eternal Life Abyss.” Si Chen replied, “It’s also a high-dimensional creature. It can be implanted in the human body, equivalent to parasitism. But it doesn’t possess infectious qualities.”
After all, it was quite difficult for the Eternal Life Abyss to breed one.
Dr. Sheng covered his face, his laughter sounded dejected and filled with unspeakable pain.
He wiped the water seeping out of the corners of his eyes. “I’m sorry. Just when I was thinking about how the entire whole world is ruined, I find out there’s something that can suppress mycelium infection. It’s absolutely laughable.”
There was a strange sense of contradiction in Sheng Wu. Sometimes he looked like Dr. Sheng and sometimes he looked like a mycelium man.
Si Chen thought of the founder of Khaos Manufacturing and said: “Don’t get the wrong idea. The Eternal Life Abyss also produces pollution, causing ordinary people around it to mutate. Mutants are just as difficult to handle as mycelium lifeforms.”
Thinking about it this way, Si Chen’s world was actually very fortunate.
Several different kinds of natural disasters mutually restrained each other, suppressing the disasters within a tolerable range.
It was a night of silence. At night, the mycelium men looked to be much more active. But so long as there was no contact, it was fine.
Si Chen could even appreciate these fungal beings as a sort of special tourist attraction. But it was difficult not to get a strange feeling when he remembers these had once been humans.
It was 10 am when we arrived back at the museum.
Almost as soon as he arrived, Si Chen noticed something unusual.
The concentration of spores in the air has increased.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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The Eternal Life Abyss wasn’t wearing any sort of air filtration apparatus. It hung on Si Chen’s body and sneezed several times in a row.
Dr. Sheng raised his head and frowned deeply. “Isn’t this a sign on an incoming mycelium tide? But it’s clearly winter now.”
During spring, the mycelium reproduce and spray out countless spores. In the decades when humans had been battling against the mycelium, the mycelium tide every spring had been the bane of every survivor’s base administrator.
He pursed his lips. “Forget it, there’s no point in thinking about this. They can’t get out anyway. Let’s find a way to get the slime mold solution first.”
The museum looked like it had already been engulfed by mycelium. Si Chen had only gone to the first floor before and the mutants inside were still alive. According to Dr. Sheng, the mutations of the mycelium lifeforms on the second floor were even more abnormal. These were their main targets for spore control.
Si Chen opened the armory of the RV, which contained no less than an entire wall of firearms.
He picked out a portably floating cannon. A product of the Machine Core, it was the most expensive product in their entire arsenal.
This floating cannon was powered by a Level Four energy core.
While it might not be easy to use against high-level mycelium lifeforms, it was very convenient for clearing areas.
Si Chen glanced at Sheng Wu, then at Song Ziyu, who looked like he was five months pregnant. He said, “We go together this time…okay?”
He had subconsciously used a tone of command and only stiffly tacked on the interrogative ‘okay’ a few beats after.
Ever since he got himself powerful backers, Si Chen’s true nature had been gradually emerging. The most obvious one being the domineering and self-centered side of his character.
Since it had no impact on his life for the time being, he had no plans of changing it.
There are times when a nice explanation simply isn’t as handy as a clear instruction.
Sheng Wu has worked in the laboratory for so many years and the way was as familiar to him as the back of his hand.
As for Song Ziyu, Si Chen simply felt that since he was already on the Fifth Step and should be taken out to enrich his experiences.
All three people put on protective clothing and goggles and then stepped out of the RV.
Sheng Wu actually didn’t need protective attire, he just didn’t like the feeling of being covered in spores.
As they made their way to the museum, Dr. Sheng kept looking at the road leading to it. A look of extreme nostalgia taking over his face behind the protective mask. “The mutant species displayed in the museum are the result of our careful selection and cultivation. In the beginning, as how Prometheus stole fire to give mankind, did we used mycelium to create these mutant species.”
The pride in his voice was obvious.
Si Chen: “I read the introduction in the museum. It said that they lifeforms were captured in the wild…?”
“That’s right.” Dr. Sheng smiled. “They were captured in the wild then hybridized, transplanted, and cultivated. In the end, they became the exhibits you see. Speaking of which, I have to thank these different varieties of mycelium.”
Si Chen said ruthlessly, “Without the mycelium, your world might still be fine.”
Sheng Wu refused to express an opinion. “Maybe. But without mycelium, I definitely wouldn’t have had my dream job back then and I wouldn’t be alive today.”
The scene in the lobby on the first floor was no different from what Si Chen saw yesterday.
In the huge glass display cases, strangely-shaped mycelial lifeforms lived.
They’d woken up once yesterday because of Si Chen’s arrival and they seemed more active after seeing people today.
Si Chen even saw, in a display box in the distance, a giant silkworm with half of its body pressed against the glass, banged its head against the glass door, spitting out sticky threads from its open mouth.
Because it was so huge, its body almost fills the entire display case. It was like a coiled snake. The entire counter shook with its movements.
Song Ziyu has been dealing with mutants since he was a child and he took in these ugly things in stride. His face didn’t change even when he first saw them. He even held the camera hanging around his neck and took a photo.
This was valuable Space Fold information.
Only Sheng Wu instantly changed his expression. “…How could this be?!”
Si Chen turned his head, his face full of confusion.
Dr. Sheng took a deep breath. “These mutant species have become weaker.”
He pointed to the display case by the entrance. There was a spherical sea urchin in the green liquid. “This is an Ashen Sea Urchin. It was originally at the Fifth Step, but now it is lower than the Third.”
Sheng Wu pointed to the extremely active silkworm in the distance. “The Emperor Moth was on the Sixth Step. It is now only on the Third.”
“After so many years, some change I don’t know about must have happened in the museum, causing the mycelium lifeforms here to become weaker.”
If the mutant species hadn’t become weaker, Si Chen wouldn’t have been able to kill that lizard in the stairwell so easily.
This was a good thing, as it meant that the museum had become a lot safer. But this time, in addition to looking for the slime mold solution, they had come to the museum with another purpose: to control powerful mutant species to help deal with the mother plant.
Sheng Wu’s expression had turned very ugly. “The most likely scenario was that the slime mold solution on the third floor leaked. It flowed through the ventilation ducts, affecting these mutant species.”
He still had something to say, but everyone present already understood.
Improper storage of the solution, accidental leakage and the inactivation of the reagents originally meant to eliminate the mother plant. They will most likely find a puddle of wastewater in the laboratory on the third floor.
Si Chen asked, “Can’t the bottle I have now work?”
Dr. Sheng shook his head and said, “The concentration is not enough and its not the right type of slime mold… It would be best if I’m simply overthinking. I would rather believe that these mutant species died naturally because they were left for too long without any nutrient supply.”
The scene on the second floor of the museum was equally horrific. Perhaps because it was closer to the laboratory, half of the lifeforms here were dead.
When they died, the remains they left behind resembled dry branches.
“The mutant species on the second floor were a bit stronger. The strongest ones were even on the Eighth Step.”
Dr. Sheng strode forward until he reached the display cabinet in the center.
The mutant species in this display looked like a ball of minced meat, with a ring of fluff growing on the dark red fleshy layer on the surface. The fluff attracted various forms of spherical objects.
Sheng Wu stroked the glass layer and almost shed tears of distress. “This is the only mutant cell type mycelium lifeform in the world. It was originally an immune cell. Those things on the villi are phagosomes, lysosomes and vacuoles. I had named each of those bubbles.”
This big meatball could glue mycelium into its own body. It then relied on the phagosomes and lysosomes for digestion. It had swallowed many mutated strains of mycelium and made great achievements.
But now, this mutant species was obviously dead. The fluff covering the body was like shriveled leaves; they had yellowed, with yellowish green cell fluid leaking out.
It took Sheng Wu several minutes to collect his emotions.
He took Si Chen and Song Ziyu to the third floor.
The laboratory door was locked and required an employee card, password and fingerprint; a triple authentication.
Fortunately, when Sheng Wu first established this lab, he had set an initial password that only he knew, just in case.
The moment the door opened, a huge amount of semi-solidified gel material spurted out, like a dam releasing a flood, nearly overwhelming them.
It was pitch black inside.
After a while, Si Chen had a realization. It wasn’t that there was no light but that the slime mold growing in the laboratory petri dishes had filled up every available space here.
He took out his flashlight and shone it inside.
Slime molds of different shapes, sizes and colors grow freely wherever they could climb. Some of them looked like grapevines, with producing clusters of drop-shaped spores. Some were shaped as an irregular network of fungi, like growing mushrooms. Others were stuck together tightly, like the elongated eggs laid by some insect.
Thick slime mold slowly flowed on the ground.
Slime molds were essentially living organisms; mold-like organisms.
In other words, they were actually alive.
Fruiting bodies were also wrapped in this gelatinous substance.
Sheng Wu began to count his lucky stars that he’d wearing protective clothing. Otherwise, when the slime mold emerged, his body, while it wouldn’t have melted, certainly wouldn’t have felt good.
“It seems that they had reproduced by themselves,” Dr. Sheng said. “The concentration of these slime molds is not high. The solution made to destroy the mother plant is stored in a sealed freezer. It’s a black box the size of a suitcase and can be taken out directly. ”
Song Ziyu stood at the door with a particularly hesitant expression. “Are we still going in?”
No matter how you look at it, it’s too risky.
Entering the third floor lab was like walking into the mouth of a monster.
Si Chen replied, “We’re going in.”
Space Folds never leave much of a choice.
Si Chen has always understood this truth.
What we have: crazy mushroom scientist, pregnant man and 5 step mother with starving baby
Thank you for your translation 💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙💙
Coincidentally, I just read about the radioactive energy eating fungi. And they’re also black and grow towards radioactivity.
Seeing lots of similarities!
Thanks for translating as always.
Noooo I don’t like it, let’s go back to Si Yuan being cute