Chapter 144
Inside the RV.
Song Ziyu didn’t know how long he had been unconscious for before he regained consciousness.
The blood on his clothes had soured and gone smelly; it had turned from red to brown.
There were still some withered mycelium left in the cab, like strips of meat that had dried and shriveled. Disgusting and tenacious, they clung to the walls and ceiling.
Song Ziyu used his remaining left arm to take out the electronic watch attached to the inside of his pocket.
He had been in a coma for 47 hours.
No wonder he’d woken up so hungry.
He wasn’t the only one in the RV’s carriage. Shen Yanxing, who was lying on the ground, was also with him.
Shen Yanxing seemed to be in worse condition than he was. A large chunk of flesh had been ripped from his back and dense white bones could be seen underneath. There were still some mycelium left. They were alive but they didn’t have autonomy like Sheng Wu.
Song Ziyu did not expect that while he was seriously injured and pregnant, he would still have to take care of another seriously ill patient.
He held his swollen belly and supported his waist to find the medicine box in the cold storage room. Inside was life-extending medicine prepared by the Song Family for him.
Because it isn’t very portable and because of the strong side effects it can cause, injectable gene medicine is very rarely made available to the public. However, the efficacy of the drug will be much more powerful than similar orally taken gene medicines.
For example, the medicine the Song Family prepared for him had been extracted from a certain adult Eternal Life Abyss. Its component was blood.
That Eternal Life Abyss had been caught by Song Bai from a certain Space Fold decades ago. Seven of its tentacles had been cut off and it was locked in the basement of the Song Family’s ancestral home.
After being tempered, the blood of an Eternal Life Abyss has a strong regenerating effect on living things, second only to the skin shed during its evolution. However, that sheded skin would basically be eaten by the Eternal Life Abyss itself.
The side effects of using the Eternal Life Abyss’ blood as gene medicine are mutation, temporary loss of mobility and temporary insanity. It is said that hallucinations like ones from mushroom poisoning can occur.
But now that it was a matter of life and death, who could possibly care about the side effects?
Song Ziyu used a curved needle to siphon the medicine and then injected it into his body.
Because he was missing an arm, he stabbed his thigh.
The cold gene medicine flowed through his body. Song Ziyu’s injected leg turned into a swollen carrot. The injection site bulged conspicuously.
Then, he gave Shen Yanxing an injection. It was now in destiny’s hands whether he’d make it through alive.
After taking the medicine, Song Ziyu finally regained some energy. He went to the small kitchen, opened the refrigerator and dug out some processed food.
There had been a housekeeping robot in the RV but unfortunately due to its “protect the owner” program, it was beaten into pieces of scrap metal when it tried to block Sheng Wu from entering.
The Space Fold wasn’t over yet.
Song Ziyu placed the pot on the induction cooker, tore the packaging bag with his pointed teeth and heated up a bag of braised beef brisket.
This processed food uses vacuum pump packaging and ethylene decomposition preservation technology. It can also be quickly frozen and refrigerated. It won’t go bad if stored in the refrigerator for a year. It was ready to eat so there was no need to add any seasonings. Just heat it up and you can eat it right away.
After finishing his meal, the burning feeling in his stomach finally eased.
Shen Yanxing still hasn’t woken up.
Fortunately, Song Ziyu took a look at the vital signs detector and found that his vitals, which had previously dropped to the bottom, were steadily rising. It seemed that the medicine was still somewhat effective.
Gene medicine is indeed very expensive, but in this case, companions are more important.
He didn’t know how Si Chen was faring.
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.
Song Ziyu was inevitably a little worried. But in his current state, there was really nothing he could do to help.
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Song Ziyu thought for a moment and slowly walked to the car window.
His fingers touched the glass slightly and the dark glass instantly revealed the view outside.
Outside, mycelium was blooming all over, as far as the eye could see.
The spores above their heads fluttered down layer by layer, in a myriad of colors, creating a gorgeous display. The feared mycelium men were nowhere to be seen but some mushrooms grew as tall as two stories high.
Song Ziyu’s mouth fell open slightly, his eyes full of shock.
He didn’t know what had happened during his coma. But he have a vague feeling that things were developing in a good direction.
Because of the side effects of gene medicine, he soon felt very tired.
So Song Ziyu quickly went to lie on the bed and fell asleep.
This kind of living lasted about a week.
Song Ziyu’s pregnant belly had shrunk by a lot and his mental and physical condition had greatly improved.
He used what he learned of simple modern medicine and used repair medicine and sprays on Shen Yanxing every day.
Shen Yanxing still hasn’t woken up but his overall vital signs had returned to within normal range.
During this week, he had carefully observed that the mycelium men seemed to have disappeared. Only fungi and mushrooms were left to grow around.
For this reason, Song Ziyu decided to explore that night. His body had been exposed to many spores but he no mutations had occurred.
At this point, although they had yet to leave the Space Fold, Song Ziyu was sure that the crisis was over.
He decided to go find Si Chen.
Song Ziyu set out early in the morning. The sun rose and dew condensed on the mushroom canopies.
He borrowed Shen Yanxing’s previous robotic arm and walked carefully to the museum.
He encountered no danger along the way. It was because of his excessive caution and nervousness that Song Ziyu didn’t finish the hour-long journey until the afternoon.
The entire museum’s outer surface was riddled with hyphae.
The soft mycelium were like the roots of a tree, piercing the hard steel. This was a nest drilled with holes.
Song Ziyu took a deep breath and holding a flashlight, walked into the museum.
The ground was broken up with red roots, portions of the ceiling had collapsed, revealing the original keel beams. It was obviously a very dilapidated scene, but because of these blooming mushrooms, it looked magical and full of life.
The fungi changed from spores to fungi in a few breaths. They sprouted and then withered. What goes around comes around.
Song Ziyu held his breath. He reached the third floor, but the path leading to the laboratory was blocked by slime mold.
He hesitated for a moment and then used the flamethrower to burn the slime mold blocking his way.
They melted like butter.
Song Ziyu slowly burned a path. Finally, he found Si Chen near Laboratory 13.
He admitted that he hadn’t held out much hope but went anyway mainly because he was afraid that it would be difficult to explain if White King were to ask him about this in the future. But when he saw Si Chen, a smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
But Song Ziyu soon discovered something.
Si Chen wasn’t breathing.
His smile froze and he stepped forward in disbelief. He felt for a pulse on Si Chen’s neck with trembling fingers.
He hadn’t seen wrong. There was indeed no pulse.
Song Ziyu unbuttoned the top button of Si Chen’s clothes, pulled it down, and saw liver mortis underneath his shirt.
Song Ziyu couldn’t bear to look anymore.
What he was looking at was a corpse.
Si Chen was lying on the experiment table with his hands folded in front of him. His complexion was cold and white, he looked like a perfect and lifeless sculpture.
Song Ziyu rarely uses beauty to describe a person.
But he did think for a moment that Si Chen looked beautiful like this.
Like the princess in the fairy tale lying in a crystal coffin waiting for a rescue; like the nightingale trapped in a cage by thorny flowers.
Song Ziyu didn’t know how to describe this feeling. His whole body went cold; his hands and feet were cold. Tears were filling his eyes.
He bit down on his lower lip, tears falling heavily on Si Chen’s face. He was choking with sobs.
At this moment, Si Chen, who was lying on the experiment table, slowly opened his eyes.
His eyes, one silver and one black, were like beautiful glass beads, with a soul-stirring coldness or like the glint off a sword.
Song Ziyu’s first reaction to the resurrection of the dead was not excitement, but horror.
After all, this was a Space Fold. In here, anything could happen.
But Si Chen only uttered a single sentence. “Stop that noise.”
Saying so, he closed his eyes again.
Song Ziyu: “…???”
Although he didn’t know exactly what had happened, Song Ziyu at least knew one thing. Si Chen was still alive.
He tentatively put Si Chen’s arm on his shoulders and hoisted him up with difficulty.
The hyphae on the wall squirmed consciously a few times. Song Ziyu felt a momentary sense of crisis, a chill pierced the back of his neck.
But the murderous aura disappeared quickly.
Song Ziyu looked at the wall on one side.
There were a lot of bulges there, like extremely ripe fruits. The bulge cracked and translucent mycelium like grapefruit flesh exploded within.
These hyphae have a strange fleshy texture, like coral polyps gathered together. It even squirmed and rose with the flow of air.
Song Ziyu didn’t dare look any longer, quickly looking away in an evasive manner.
With his big belly, it was very difficulty to carry Si Chen, who was half a head taller than him. With great effort, he walked towards the stairs.
The mycelium made no move to block his way.
Song Ziyu also picked up Si Chen’s backpack off the ground.
He managed to smoothly bring back Si Chen to the RV; a feat that surprised even him.
But because of this, the number of people he needed to take care of every day changed from one to two.
Song Ziyu grew up without his fingers ever touching spring water. The limit of his housework ability was heating up food and yet he managed to live smoothly until the age of 23. And now, belly heavy with child, he was taking care of two unconscious patients despite being still seriously injured.
He injected gene medicine into Si Chen and Shen Yanxing every day. He recorded their vital signs, cooked meals and thought about how to get out of the Space Fold. After a while, his face began to turn sallow from overwork.
On the seventh day, the dead Si Chen began to breath once again.
On the tenth day of recuperation, Shen Yanxing, one of the sick patients, woke up.
Shen Yanxing had undergone mechanical transformation since very early on. Looking at his newly grown arms made him very uncomfortable.
However, given the medical resources of the RV, it was impossible to perform reconstructive surgery on him.
Shen Yanxing had some faint memories of what happened before. But it was like watching a movie, separated by a layer of reality.
He stood up with difficulty and an indescribable pain tortured his spine. Great deep sea fishes probably feel the same way when their tendons are pulled out.
Si Chen was in the next bed. There was an infusion needle inserted on the back of his hand. The IV drip bag contained nutrient solution to maintain his vitals.
Song Ziyu didn’t understand Si Chen’s condition, whether he even needed to maintain his body’s activity. So, Song Ziyu had no choice but to administer IV drip as well.
Shen Yanxing pulled out the needle on the back of his hand.
He came to Si Chen’s bedside and observed him quietly for a moment. Seeing that nothing seemed wrong, he felt relieved.
He walked outside where he saw Song Ziyu sitting on the ground, repairing the RV that was damaged by mycelium.
Song Ziyu had actually studied mechanical maintenance but he wasn’t proficient at it. The main problem with this car was the power system. More than mechanical maintenance, they needed auto repair technology.
His right arm shone with a metallic cold light. It was Shen Yanxing’s former robotic arm.
Song Ziyu had torn off his arm to save himself.
Later, he picked up his broken arm in the lobby on the first floor.
Unfortunately, it was too late. The arm was permanently damaged and there was no way to reattach it. He would have to wait to go to a proper hospital to find a new replacement.
It was inconvenient doing anything with just one arm, so Song Ziyu installed Shen Yanxing’s robotic arm on himself.
Although he could only use the most basic functions because he had none of the permissions, it was enough for him to cope with daily life.
Seeing Shen Yanxing getting out of the car, Song Ziyu’s face was full of joy. “You finally woke up!”
He was really happy.
If he had to wait out this Space Fold by himself for half a year, Song Ziyu felt that he would develop some mental problems.
Moreover, their medical resources were starting to run low.
Shen Yanxing walked over and said, “En, thank you for taking care of me at this time.”
He smoothly took the maintenance tools from Song Ziyu’s hand. “I’ll do that.”
When he was studying at Baidi University, he always got A+ in the mechanical repair course.
Song Ziyu did not refuse. He hesitated for a moment and said, “The matter is a bit complicated. When I picked up Si Chen on the third floor of the museum, he wasn’t breathing… I was actually a little worried…”
He was worried that the Si Chen who woke up wasn’t “Si Chen”.
The mycelium grew more luxuriantly in the Space Fold.
But Si Chen never woke up.
Si Chen, I hope you won the mushroom wars…
Thank you for translating! ❤️ 🍄 ❤️
Si Chen, fighting!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
Bro’s finally relaxing
*bro’s finally relaxing
This chapter feels very domestic, like a slice of life but horrifying.