’If that’s the case... couldn’t I attract a large number of rabbits to get high on these mushrooms for the long term?’
Ye Fei couldn’t help but feel a surge of joy.
By extension, rabbits were probably not the only creatures that would enjoy this hallucinogenic effect. After all, even intelligent humans often risked their lives for this deadly delicacy. Ye Fei had seen news reports about it every year, and he’d even fallen victim to it himself as a child, leaving a very deep impression on him.
He waited patiently for a while. Sure enough, Ye Fei sensed one of the mushrooms being pecked at. He looked over and saw an all-black Two-headed Monster Bird. It had followed the scent up from downwind, observed cautiously from a branch for a moment, and then landed in the mushroom patch to eat.
Ye Fei took a careful sniff. The wind carried a faint, barely-there aroma, somewhat like roasted meat—the scent of the evaporated slime.
Clearly, the bird had been drawn by the scent the mushrooms were emitting.
While the mutations had made animals more formidable, they had also greatly enhanced their sensory organs. Before the mutations, this bird would never have been able to find the mushrooms by following such a faint scent.
’From now on, this mushroom patch will attract more and more animals. They can all help me spread my Spores.’
Ye Fei analyzed.
An idea struck him. Ye Fei immediately commanded the mushrooms to secrete large amounts of the hallucinogenic slime. Simultaneously, he had the mushrooms that were ready to release their Spores open their Mushroom Caps.
His original plan was to have the animals eat plenty of mushrooms, get covered in the freshly released Spores, and spread them on his behalf.
However, what happened next was completely unexpected.
The slime on the Mushroom Caps was so thick that it began to slide off, mixing with some of the Spores that hadn’t detached. The mixture then rapidly evaporated, dried out, and scattered on the wind.
Coated in a layer of dried slime, these Spores took on an oxidized red color. At a glance, they looked like a faint Red Mist spreading through the air.
This strange mist startled the animals, causing them to scatter. However, they soon discovered that not only was the Red Mist harmless, but inhaling it felt incredible!
CAW CAW~ CAW CAW~
The Two-headed Monster Bird started rolling around in the eerie Red Mist, its tongues lolling out as drool streamed from its beaks.
SNIFF SNIFF~
The rabbit’s nose twitched frantically. It leaned against a mushroom, slowly laid down, and its four legs began to kick sporadically...
Ye Fei stared, dumbfounded, at the animals staggering about in a state of euphoria.
’Is this... have they all fallen into chemical bliss?’
And just like that, Ye Fei, who had only intended to use the animals to spread his Spores, had inexplicably helped the survivors "find" two rabbits.
Rabbit meat and warm pelts were both premium goods in the apocalypse!
Ye Fei didn’t let anyone collect the other rabbit or the Two-headed Monster Bird. He was planning to play the long game.
More than ten minutes later, the effects of the hallucinogenic toxin slowly wore off. The mutant Two-headed Monster Bird flapped its wings, and... Ye Fei’s Spores successfully spread to another mountain five hundred meters away.
This rate of expansion was completely beyond the scope of any normal organism!
The number of mushrooms had also accumulated to over 6,000.
He sensed the degree of heat flow accumulation again. With any luck, it would take at most another four days of growth to reach the critical point for Evolution once more. Ye Fei was very much looking forward to it.
Having observed the mushrooms with his own eyes for the first time today, Ye Fei had gathered a great deal of new information. He hurried back to his room, took out a pen and paper, and began to update his log:
[Observation Log of the External Organ Doomsday Fungus]
[Appearance]: The Mushroom Cap is circular. The top is blue-black, with a light gray ring around the edge. The Fungus Rod is 1-6 cm tall. The Mushroom Cap secretes a viscous liquid that oxidizes into a red substance (hallucinogenic) upon contact with air, while also emitting a fishy smell. The Fungal Hyphae form a white, web-like mesh, approximately 0.1mm in diameter, and are fragile.
[Quantity]: 6,000
[Abilities]: Rapid Growth, Fungal Infection, Spore Diffusion
[Organs]: Mushroom Cap, Fungal Hyphae, Fungus Rod, Spores
[Evolutions]: Hallucinogenic, Gigantification
[Summary]: After two evolutions, the Doomsday Fungus is no longer just a delicious mushroom. It has developed preliminary offensive capabilities. The ’hallucinogenic’ toxin it secretes has psychoactive properties and can evaporate into the air, emitting a ’fishy smell’ to attract more animals. By releasing ’Hallucinogenic Spores,’ it can also launch large-scale, long-range attacks!
After recording the day’s new developments, Ye Fei was in high spirits. The feeling of constant growth and reaping rewards was incredibly satisfying.
Next, he told Luo Zai about the two rabbits. An excited Luo Zai dragged them to the kitchen, while Ye Fei began looking through the records kept inside Tunnel 0.
Mine 301 was surrounded by mountains, so signal reception had always been poor. After the mutation disaster struck, all contact was lost, as if it were completely cut off from the rest of the world.
All news about the outside world could only be obtained from the television signal tower on the mountaintop or from the nearby town, and only Superpower Users could risk traveling to these locations.
As a result, Ye Fei was completely in the dark about the state of the outside world.
Fortunately, he was now a member of the Hunting Squad and could access the intelligence everyone had gathered.
The intelligence was a mixed bag, consisting of paper records, audio and video recordings from phones, and even video files collected before the internet went down.
Many of the combat and mutation clips left a deep impression on Ye Fei.
"Wild dogs growing three heads that spewed thick smoke."
"A man who fell into a deadly Abyss, re-emerging in flames like an angel."
"Plants growing uncontrollably, spanning from earth to sky, their tips stretching beyond the atmosphere to entangle satellites."
There were also records on the overall situation of the Human Race, which was what concerned Ye Fei the most.
After the initial ten-some days of bloody slaughter and chaos, the Human Race established survivor camps of various sizes, centered around places where large numbers of young people gathered, such as schools, military bases, and factories.
As the camps were established, Superpower Users communicated via radio and categorized Superpower Power into four levels:
Neo-Humans, Elite Level, Captain Level, and Continent Level.
Even the most basic Neo-Humans possessed physical attributes roughly twice that of an ordinary person.
The Elite Level was even more incredible; they could essentially ignore small arms fire.
The Captain Level was even more monstrous, capable of tearing steel with their bare hands and sending a multi-ton car flying with a single punch.
As for Continent Level, they were already comparable to powerful Mutant Beasts, possessing the ability to explore the continent on their own.
It was speculated that an even stronger Planet Level existed above Continent Level... but for now, no one had reached that rank.
The Human Race itself was evolving at a rapid pace. Many people even began to fantasize about achieving immortality and godhood. As a result, various religious and scientific Sects began to flourish, finding a very receptive audience.
One of these scientific Sects, called the ’Steel Brotherhood,’ had even made contact with Mine 301.
After excitedly browsing through the changes wrought by the mutations, Ye Fei went on to summarize the information about the origin of Superpowers. Based on the changes in themselves and the monsters around them, the Superpower Users had concluded that the mutations were likely caused by Spiritual Power—a force that could not be observed, only perceived through consciousness.
"Based on observation, the vast majority of individuals under the age of 12 and over the age of 60 are fundamentally unable to withstand the mutations brought on by Spiritual Power. They die quickly, their flesh decaying over large areas, somewhat similar to radiation sickness. It’s speculated this is cellular death by hydrolysis, caused by genetic collapse." Find the original chapter at g.com.
"Although humans over the age of 30 survive, the difficulty of awakening a Superpower increases sharply. The probability is only one percent of that for a twenty-year-old."
"Intense emotional fluctuations are the most likely trigger for awakening a Superpower. The most effective stimulus is combat; awakening in the face of a life-or-death crisis is how most people gain their powers."
"Because consciousness can be used to guide Spiritual Power, methods such as hypnosis and fantasy are most effective."
Reading this, Ye Fei couldn’t help but sigh. In other stories, people transmigrated and got a new set of parents, or at the very least a cute little sister. He, on the other hand, had transmigrated just in time for everyone’s parents to die together.
Continuing down the records, he found a few more lines written in an elegant script:
"It’s just a pity that hypnosis isn’t one hundred percent successful. This is perhaps related to differences in each person’s innate Consciousness Strength."
This handwriting likely belonged to Doctor Liu Ru.
She had also made a rough assessment of the strength of a Superpower User’s Talent.
Those who awakened a Superpower at the very start of the mutation were undoubtedly the most powerful. Such individuals could quickly grow to the Elite Level naturally, and with deliberate training, could even reach the Captain Level.
For those who awakened later through stimulation, the timing of their awakening was irrelevant. Instead, some individuals with an exceptionally strong will to live had surprisingly high Talent, and their Cultivation speed was also very fast.
As for those who couldn’t awaken even after experiencing life-or-death situations, she believed that even if they were to awaken by some fluke later, their Cultivation efficiency would be appallingly low.
For such people, there was no point in trying to awaken. It was a pointless effort, a waste of time.
But she didn’t think this was necessarily a bad thing, nor did it mean these people were ’unable to advance.’ On the contrary, as someone with a medical background, she knew full well that a successful bacterial mutation is built upon the foundation of countless members of a vast population sacrificing themselves one after another.
The same was naturally true for Neo-Humans.
She believed that the population of those unable to awaken had to be sufficiently large. By surviving, striving to reproduce, and continuing to mutate, they would give rise to more powerful individuals. This was the main driving force that would allow the Human Race to eventually return to its peak.
Reading Liu Ru’s thoughts, Ye Fei felt she had a point. Her proposed path of development was consistent with the current logic of their world.
However... he also remembered the dream he’d had.
In his dream, many ordinary people and mutated creatures had pledged their loyalty to him.
The foundation for this was that they had all undergone Infection by his Spores.
If he could make the situation from his dream a reality... then ordinary people like Liu Ru, Wang Gang, and Xu Yi would no longer be mere kindling for the birth of ’Neo-Humans.’
On the contrary, they could make a difference.
’Perhaps my mushrooms could infect and arm these ordinary people... allowing them to continue moving forward.’
The bold thought occurred to Ye Fei.
Terrifying Mushroom People covered in cauliflower-like fungi? Or Cthulhu-esque monsters with tentacles and outward-facing teeth?
It wasn’t that Ye Fei was being morbid, but there were many such examples in works of fiction, like the Flood Demon or the Insect Race. Of course, there were more aesthetically pleasing options too, like the Holy Tree on the Pandora Planet.
But... Ye Fei shook his head. The gravity of reality was heavy. Even with the wings of a Superpower, for his mushrooms in their current state, this could only be a fantasy for now.
’But no matter what, it was the worst of times, it was the best of times.’
After reading through everything, this was Ye Fei’s strongest conviction.
In this magnificent, surging tide of evolution, could the Human Race once again stand at the crest of the wave and become the planet’s overlord?
In an environment like this, what kind of powerhouses would ultimately emerge? What new heights would an individual’s Power be able to reach?