Chapter 145
Shen Yanxing asked: “What do you mean?”
Song Ziyu tried his best to keep the narrative free of personal emotions: “What I picked up was a corpse.”
Whether through visual observation or instrumental testing, Si Chen was “dead”.
But he clearly remembered Si Chen opening his eyes and telling him to be quiet.
Song Ziyu thought about it and convinced himself that it must have been a side effect of injecting himself with Eternal Life Abyss blood. He’d probably been hallucinating.
But the body did not decompose further. It maintained its newly dead state. If it weren’t for the liver mortis spots on the body, it would be as though he were peacefully asleep.
Then, Si Chen’s body grew hyphae. His body was a field and these hyphae were freshly sprouted wheat.
Although these fungal threads showed no aggression, Song Ziyu felt an unspeakable danger.
At the time, he wanted to bury Si Chen but he was also worried that he would be silenced by these hyphae. He could only watch as Si Chen grew mushrooms.
During this period, Song Ziyu was under great pressure and lost a lot of his hair.
Song Ziyu: “Seven days later, the corpse came back to life. The hyphae on his body were gone and he began breathing again. I don’t know what happened. During this period, Si Chen didn’t wake up. And now, you’re awake.”
After listening, Shen Yanxing fell into a long silence.
“He should be merging with the mother plant. I will guard him.” Shen Yanxing frowned and said, “If the person who wakes up is not Si Chen, I will find a way to end this mistake. Even if it costs me my life.”
While Song Ziyu admired him, he couldn’t help but feel sad. “That sounds cool and all but I really don’t think even the two of us combined would be enough to stop him.”
He still remembered how Si Chen, who had just reached the Fourth Step, had been the weakest one at the postgraduate entrance exam a few months ago.
Now, many days have passed and Song Ziyu’s level has continued to decline due to his pregnancy. Shen Yanxing had also been seriously injured and his condition was only a little better than Song Ziyu’s.
Because they were stuck in the Space Fold, if the worst were to happen, there would be nowhere to hide.
Day 14.
It had rained last night and Shen Yanxing went to the roof of the RV to collect clean water from the reservoir.
Their water reserves have fallen to a critical level. Fortunately, the world here had been destroyed centuries ago and the rainwater quality was very good. After simple filtering, it could be used immediately. Completely unlike in their world.
While he was filling up the water bag, Song Ziyu’s voice suddenly came through his headset, a barely discernible tremble amidst the excitement in his voice. “Shen Yanxing, Si Chen is awake! Get back here quickly!”
**
Si Chen felt he’d had a long dream, a dream with very bizarre scenes.
In the end, Si Chen remembered two of them.
In the first…
He was climbing a long stairway to the sky.
The stairs were pure white, leading from the sea to the clouds. There were no handrails and no one else was climbing with him.
Every time Si Chen took a step forward, the stairs behind him would disappear. He went higher and higher, getting closer and closer to the clouds.
This was a path that could only be traversed forward. There was no going back. To take a step back was to fall into the bottom of the ocean.
Finally, Si Chen stood on the clouds. He had reached the end of the stairs.
Si Chen understood. This was the end of the Sixth Step.
The sixth cave in his body was filled, filled with red hyphae bearing fruit-like spores.
At the end of the stairs was a closed door blocking Si Chen’s way forward.
White Dress was sitting by the door waiting for him.
“You’re here,” White Dress said with a gentle smile, “Long time no see. You seem to be doing well.”
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.
White Dress’s voice was very weak.
Ktfgf kjr j sfiibk tjib bc abq bo tlr tfjv jcv akb rwjii klcur ugfk bea bo tlr yjmx. Llr fcalgf qfgrbc kjr agjcriemfca.
Vl Jtfc kjr j ilaaif regqglrfv. “Cgfc’a sbe reqqbrfv ab yf lc atf wjhf?”
Qtlaf Ggfrr gfqilfv, “P kjcafv ab rff sbe rb P rcemx bea. Obbx.”
He walked forward, fell into Si Chen’s arms and passed right through.
White Dress had no substance.
He stretched out his hand and hooked Si Chen’s little finger. “You have to keep this matter secret for me, alright? You can’t tell anyone, not even Turing.”
White Dress’s tone wasn’t at all serious.
Si Chen was dazed. “Alright.”
White Dress took a fairy wand out of nowhere and gave it a little wave.
From the sky, light rain suddenly began to fall.
Red dots of light fell from the sky one by one, converging into a red ball of light the size of an apple, slowly making its way before Si Chen.
This red ball of light represented a brand new characteristic called “Mycelium Man”.
[Mycelium Man: The properties of one’s living body are permanently changed, infinitely close to immortality.]
[Associated characteristics: Spore Burst, Mycelial Infection, Mycotoxins, Slime Mold Activity.]
White Dress smiled and said, “This is one of the reward options for completing the level. Choose it and you can now open the door behind you. Although there is only the Seventh Step after waking up, you will definitely be able to reach the Ninth Step unimpeded in the future. ”
“The Ninth Step on Heaven’s Stairway. That’s amazing. White King didn’t even succeed at first.”
But he wasn’t originally part of the plan. That was just an accident.
What was the concept of the Ninth Step?
There was no need for the Ninth Step. Just the Eighth Step would already allow Si Chen to establish in his own world a new force comparable to the four major groups.
He wouldn’t have to worry about being eaten by Song Bai.
Si Chen admitted that he felt a little tempted.
However, it was only for a moment and Si Chen quickly regained his composure. “What is the other option?”
White Dress ‘hmm-ed’ and the smile on his face deepened. “The second reward option is to leave here without asking for anything.”
Si Chen couldn’t hold back and raised his eyebrows. He asked, “Is this also a reward for completing the level?”
“Yes.” White Dress rested his head on his shoulder, “The first option presents a certain path; the second, an unknown path.”
Si Chen pondered for a moment and asked, “The certain path means that I can only stop at the Ninth Step?”
White Dress’s eyes narrowed. “What a smart boy. But if you choose the second path, I can’t guarantee that you can make it to the end.”
This was like saying to a millionaire, ‘I will give you 100 million now, you can take it or leave it.’
‘The price you pay for getting this 100 million is that you can only have so much in your life and you will never make more money.’
But if you give up this 100 million, your future will have endless possibilities.’
Si Chen responded decisively, “I choose the second option.”
“Why? Do you know how many people want what you just gave up? You only have one chance.”
Si Chen said slowly, “I know.”
He didn’t make any extra moves but his tone was calm and firm.
The most painful thing is not “I didn’t”, but “I could have”.
If Si Chen hadn’t known that there was another Step after the Ninth, he might have settled.
But now that he knew, he couldn’t give up.
White Dress asked, “Will you regret it?”
Si Chen smiled. “I never regret my choices.”
White Dress wasn’t too disappointed.
He crushed the ball of light and scattered it into the sky.
The tiny red dots of light slowly dimmed, like extinguished ashes.
White Dress said, “Since you have already chosen, I won’t force you.”
He handed the fairy wand in his hand to Si Chen.
“This is a key. I picked it up a long time ago. Now, I give it to you as a reward for your bravery.”
Si Chen lowered his head and looked at the key in his hand.
It was a very fancy key. The key handle was a metal heart with an “X” engraved on it. There was a pair of small silver wings on both sides of the heart.
The second dream was also strange.
In the dream, he turned into a little mushroom growing in a dark corner.
What type of mushroom he was couldn’t be discerned but countless white spots took root and sprouted on the moist soil.
There was a man whose appearance he could not see clearly, who came regularly to water the mushrooms. It hummed softly and seemed to be in a very happy mood.
Si Chen wanted to stop it. But he was just a mushroom and couldn’t make any sound.
This rice-sized mushroom was submerged in the thick soil, inconspicuous.
Si Chen instinctively began to plunder air, soil, and nutrients.
The mushrooms continued to grow and more and more mushrooms also continued to die. Si Chen became the most handsome one among the mushrooms, with plump flesh and a huge canopy. Mushroom Si Chen looked very delicious.
Finally, the waterer noticed Si Chen.
“It’s ready?” Its tone was excited.
It held the mushroom at its based, pulled it out with a slight force. It patted the dirt off it as if it were a treasure. It then held the mushroom high.
In mid-air, Si Chen finally saw its face clearly.
In front of him was a human head, with no hair or facial features. On the bald head, there was only a raised mouth. This mouth had no lips and the open slit was like a sleeping abyss, the scarlet tongue, like a rolling flame in the abyss.
He fell into this abyss.
Si Chen suddenly opened his eyes.
Before the vital signs detector connected to him had time to alarm, Si Chen pressed the shutdown button.
Si Chen sat up from the hospital bed.
The Eternal Life Abyss, now much thinner than before, had its tentacles wrapped around Si Chen’s neck as it rubbed against his chest.
“Chirp chirp——”
It didn’t say a word, but it sounded like it was about to cry.
The Eternal Life Abyss had originally been in Si Chen’s body but was later driven out by the growing mycelium.
The most important thing was that this mycelium was grown by mom and cannot be eaten!
It looked at those hyphae like an eldest son who was originally an only child looking at an unwelcome second child.
Si Chen instinctively hugged Si Yuan back, patting its body comfortingly.
He gradually began to recover the memories before the coma.
He had encountered the mother plant in the third floor laboratory.
The mother plant wanted to parasitize him but encountered strong resistance from himself.
The two lifeforms devoured each other. Si Chen absorbed and digested the slime mold while fighting with the mother plant. He finally succeeded in killing the mother plant.
But Si Chen couldn’t wake up immediately because his fusion with the slime molds and mycelium was still on-going.
Si Chen’s body began fungal-ization and he no longer needed lungs, instead breathing through his skin. Then the “corpse” that Song Ziyu saw appeared.
Not only that, his body also grew mushrooms.
Then there were those dreams.
Although Si Chen gave up becoming a mycelium man, he still gained many new characteristics after absorbing the mother plant.
The first was the fungal-ization of the body. Not only could he breathe through his skin but after his limbs are injured, he could also use mycelium to form a new body.
The second was life absorption through mycelium, a new characteristic produced after the fusion of the mother plant and the Eternal Life Abyss.
The third was Spore Burst. He could produce spores, which grow into hyphae that could be controlled by Si Chen.
When Si Chen woke up, he discovered something.
He had replaced He Jinglin and became the new “mother plant” of this Space Fold.
Si Chen pursed his lips.
His body’s strangeness didn’t end there.
He went up to a mirror and unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his upper body to the air.
Everything that needed to be there was there. It was also very seductive. Like red jelly beans dotted on white milk foam.
Si Chen put his hand over his heart.
Through the warm skin, Si Chen couldn’t feel the beating of his heart.
But that’s wasn’t the main point.
Si Chen used a knife to cut open his chest, exposing the organs underneath.
Si Chen measured the size with his hand and then put his hand in.
No pain, but some inflammation-like swelling.
His face remained expressionless.
Only a very small amount of black blood spilled out and stained his fingertips.
The blood in his body hadn’t disappeared but the strange silkworm cocoon like mycelium prevented the blood from flowing out of the wound.
Si Chen grabbed his heart.
Only then did the sleeping heart start to beat.
He looked in the mirror, pushed open his chest and took out two things from his heart.
A key, and a black realm gate fragment.
By the time Si Chen had taken out the things and put them away, the wound on his chest had almost healed.
This amazing self-healing ability might even be unmatched by an actual Eternal Life Abyss.
Si Chen changed his clothes and took a shower again. He then he turned on the Bluetooth headset placed on the table and connected to Song Ziyu’s dedicated line.
The traveling RV stopped instantly.
When the call was answered, Song Ziyu held his breath, not even daring to breathe.
Si Chen paused and said comfortingly, “It’s me, Si Chen, it’s okay now. We can leave.”
New baby
Thank you for your translation 💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛💛
What I really appreciate about this author is how truly alien they’re willing to make the characters. That scene of Si Chen cutting himself open is so fun and interesting.
Thanks for translating! You brighten my day every time 🙂
“like red jelly beans dotted on white milk foam” 🤣🤣🤣
😂 the little sailor moon key