Life Game In Other World
Chapter 435: The Infected (Big - for Monthly Tickets)

Chapter 435: Chapter 435: The Infected (Big Chapter for Monthly Tickets)

He Ao rummaged through the storage box in front of the car and pulled out a pair of binoculars, pushed open the car door, and peered through the thinning curtain of rain toward the building shrouded in a light mist ahead.

Shadowy figures were faintly visible beneath the building, walking slowly through the fog.

He Ao toggled a button on the binoculars, activating its thermal imaging function, only to receive a chaotic jumble of images in return.

The thermal imager was affected by the rain and heavy fog, rendering it essentially useless in this environment.

He Ao turned off the thermal imaging and settled back into the driver’s seat.

At that moment, a towel was draped over his head, "Dad, don’t move."

Ennie carefully dried He Ao’s hair with the towel, "Your clothes are all wet, do you want to change? I brought a set of your clothes."

The girl had actually thought to pack clothes for her dear old dad.

He Ao smiled wryly, pulled the door closed, and restarted the vehicle, "Hold tight, we’re about to make a break for it."

"Ah?"

Ennie hadn’t realized what was happening when the SUV suddenly accelerated, nearly causing her to stumble and fall.

"Stinky old dad."

The young girl quickly hugged the passenger seat headrest and pinched her father’s shoulder, "You’re teasing me again!"

He Ao laughed, his foot on the pedal, "Hold on tight."

Ennie pouted and hugged the pillow as she settled back into her seat.

The moment she was secure, He Ao floored the accelerator.

The SUV sped along the road.

"Dad, isn’t there a house up ahead, why are you speeding up?"

Looking briefly at the hazy buildings in front, Ennie asked with some confusion.

"This road will probably be abandoned soon."

He Ao didn’t respond, but closed all the windows and pushed the vehicle to its top speed.

In this weather, driving at such speed was extremely dangerous.

But stopping, perhaps, was even more dangerous.

As they got closer to that ’small town,’ Ennie also noticed that there was something off about these buildings.

It was just as her father had said, ’too quiet here.’

The entire town was in a kind of eerie, seemingly lifeless ’silence.’

No matter the weather, when approaching a human settlement, you would always hear some subtle sounds and see traces of human creation.

These are signs of life that a human habitation should possess.

Arriving here, you would get a first impression, ’people live here.’

But the ’small town’ before her didn’t give Ennie that feeling at all.

Some broken walls, unmanned guard posts, and doors that swung in the wind, producing a sharp, squeaking ’creak.’

All of these were telling Ennie that this place was ’uninhabited.’

Yet, on their way here, she had a vague sight of figures wandering around these buildings.

She shifted her gaze from the buildings next to the road, looking around, and then she saw what looked like white spots appearing on the road ahead through the light rain.

"Dad, there seems to be something on the road ahead," she leaned between the front seats, peering forward, "could they be white mushrooms? Do mushrooms grow on the ground like that?"

Mid-sentence, she paused, swallowing nervously, "These mushrooms, they look quite tasty..."

She looked at He Ao, her eyes sparkling with an unusual excitement, "Dad, can we stop and pick some?"

"Don’t move."

He Ao also swallowed his saliva, shifting his gaze away from those mushrooms. He pressed down hard on the accelerator, forcing his body not to look at the mushrooms.

"Why?"

Ennie was somewhat bewildered, her bright brown eyes appearing to be completely filled with those white mushrooms. She reached out and pulled at He Ao’s arm which was holding the steering wheel, "Dad, stop for a moment, I’m so hungry, I want to eat those mushrooms."

The speeding vehicle swayed slightly.

He Ao released his right hand and abruptly grabbed his daughter’s hand, pushing her back into the back seat as he barked sharply, "Close your eyes! Apply the breathing techniques I’ve taught you!"

This shout awoke some semblance of reason in Ennie. Striking the back seat cushions with a dazed look, she glanced at He Ao but still obeyed his command and closed her eyes.

At the same time, she began to breathe deeply, absorbing the diffused power in the air.

Martial Arts Training could not quickly enhance Ennie’s mental resistance, but focusing solely during the initial stages of training could help her concentrate and resist the temptations of the unknown.

One by one, dark shadows emerged from the curtain of rain.

They were ’people.’

Their bodies had long been cracked open with countless fissures, exposing the faintly rotting flesh and the pure white mushrooms sprouting from the cracks in their flesh.

With their movements, mushrooms from their bodies fell to the ground one by one, emitting an indescribable, enticing scent.

The scent was so strong that even though He Ao had closed all the car windows, he could clearly ’smell’ it.

These ’people’ could no longer be considered human; they were the culture base for these mushrooms.

Their lives had long been extinguished, their bodies manipulated by the mushrooms, seeking the next ’culture base.’

He Ao suppressed the surging, intense hunger, clutching the steering wheel and heading straight towards whatever was in front of him without hesitation.

And on the road ahead, shadowy figures were slowly drifting over, blocking the path of He Ao’s stealthy advance.

Deadly temptation permeated the air.

He Ao floored the accelerator, charging toward the obstructions ahead.

"Dad, I’m so hungry."

Ennie opened her eyes.

In that instant, the SUV’s front collided with the shadowy figure blocking the road.

The controlled ’monsters’ with the shape of humans crumbled with ease under the impact, as though they were made of tofu; their muscles had long since melted away, replaced by dense white mycelium.

Witnessing this scene, Ennie’s gaze became vacant.

She should have found the sight horrifying, should have been repulsed, but the first thought that rose from the depths of her heart was ’delicious.’

The mushrooms that had fallen from the people, crushed into a pulp, must be incredibly ’tasty.’

So hungry, so eager to taste it.

Through the rearview mirror, He Ao saw his daughter’s vacant expression; at this point, shouting loudly was no longer effective. His foot never left the accelerator, as the speeding car drove over mushroom after mushroom, pressing forward.

Mushrooms covered both sides of the road densely.

It seemed to be a field of mushrooms, with pure white mushrooms stretching endlessly to the edge of the sky, where the dark clouds met the horizon.

The smooth caps of the mushrooms, dotted with sparkling raindrops, reflected tempting colors under the dim light.

As the mushrooms around him became more numerous, He Ao’s desires grew stronger, as if another force was controlling his body, urging him to hit the brake, stop, and savor this supremely delicious treat.

Pure white juice burst upon the rain-drenched tires.

Ennie, from the back seat, tried to crawl forward to wrest control of the vehicle but was pushed back by He Ao.

This struggle between the two repeated continuously.

Meanwhile, one shadow after another was sent flying by him.

The white mushrooms on the road were becoming increasingly scarce.

Until the dim sky was completely engulfed in darkness, and the whole world fell into silence,

there was not a single white mushroom left on the road.

He Ao finally let out a sigh of relief.

Looking back, Ennie, exhausted and no longer enticed, had already fallen asleep in the back seat.

He turned on the car lights, slowed down, and continued forward at a leisurely pace.

The rain had gradually lessened.

The wilderness at night was very dangerous, with no knowing where an exotic beast might suddenly emerge.

Powerful exotic beasts, unlike the ’people’ controlled by fungal mycelium, had something more or less solid in their bodies. If he collided with one at high speed, it was highly likely that both the person and the car would not survive.

And with the visibility so short at night, he could only slow down.

The air still carried that strange, enticing fragrance, which was from the juices of the white mushrooms splashed on the SUV, but they were gradually being washed away by the rain.

He Ao was very clear about what they had just encountered.

Phantom Mushrooms.

These were a kind of mushroom-like organism capable of enticing animals to consume them and then germinating and growing within the host’s body, using flesh and blood as a hotbed for rampant growth.

After being ingested by the host, it would drive the host to find the gathering place of its species, inducing more lives to become its ’fungal base’.

If the host died before reaching the gathering place, it would also control the host’s body with mycelium to keep moving, until the host’s body collapsed, and new Phantom Mushrooms fell to the ground.

Or, they would reach the host species’ gathering place, attracting more lives to eat the Phantom Mushrooms on the host’s body.

From Ronald’s memory, once infected with Phantom Mushrooms, there was almost no cure.

Only a continuously burning, blazing fire could completely incinerate the mycelium of Phantom Mushrooms.

The last time He Ao heard about Phantom Mushrooms was during Ronald’s Copy World.

At that time, he had rescued a young man outside of the Wilderness Wanderers Factory, who told He Ao that he had seen a vast field of dense ’Phantom Mushrooms Field’ outside of Dawn City, and the young man’s parents had also died from the infection of Phantom Mushrooms.

Thinking of this, He Ao realized that if the area they had just passed through had such a vast group of Phantom Mushrooms, then the gang’s caravan that gave He Ao a ’ride’ would probably be annihilated even if they didn’t encounter those Wilderness Wanderers.

Thus, it was also possible that those Wilderness Wanderers had discovered the Phantom Mushrooms here, so they chose to strike first and rob the caravan’s goods.

After all, once the caravan entered the range of the Phantom Mushrooms, even if all the people died, the Wilderness Wanderers would not dare to go in to retrieve those goods.

Every Wilderness Wanderer knows one rule, ’The further away from those dangerous things, the better.’

This is one of the rules for survival in the wilderness for Wilderness Wanderers.

However, judging from the caravan choosing this road, it must have been safe before, at least when the caravan passed through last time it was safe.

The interval between the caravan’s trips through here generally doesn’t exceed one month.

That means that at least a month ago, the area they had just passed through did not have Phantom Mushrooms, and the actual time might be even shorter.

By that account, the growth speed of Phantom Mushrooms is too fast.

Ronald’s knowledge about Phantom Mushrooms was limited to the data collected by his father and the stories of a few Wilderness Wanderers who had entered their camp.

The whole wilderness had very little understanding of the Phantom Mushrooms.

Because generally, after encountering this thing, the vast majority would be tempted, and entire Wilderness Wanderer camps or clans would be wiped out overnight.

In such cases, just surviving and escaping was already the limit, let alone conducting research.

However, even something like Phantom Mushrooms couldn’t just appear out of thin air.

That area must not have had Phantom Mushrooms before, so someone must have brought them there.

For some reason, He Ao thought of what the teenager had mentioned, the vast ’Phantom Mushrooms Field’ he had seen outside Dawn City.

Could the source be from there?

Then he shook his head.

Limen City is north of Dawn City, hundreds of kilometers away.

And the teenager went straight south, eventually arriving at the southern gate of Dawn City, which means the Phantom Mushrooms Field is probably a bit south of Dawn City.

He Ao followed the caravan heading towards the northern Ains City.

One south and one north, the distance was even greater.

And the spread of Phantom Mushrooms usually only depends on the movement of animals themselves.

Of course, this kind of situation is not entirely impossible, such as encountering a particularly fast exotic beast which could have run a long distance straight from Dawn City to Limen City.

It’s also possible that Phantom Mushrooms were already present nearby, spreading from not far away.

However, there is another possibility.

What if someone could move with the ’spores’ of the Phantom Mushrooms?

A term surfaced in He Ao’s mind,

’Seeding’

But then he discarded the term from his thoughts, as the possibility seemed too remote.

However, he still remained vigilant about the Phantom Mushrooms.

Given the characteristics of Phantom Mushrooms, if they appeared in the densely populated Fortress City, the consequences could be catastrophic.

And having just confronted the Phantom Mushrooms himself, He Ao had discovered some information he had never known before.

The ’temptation’ of Phantom Mushrooms could be cumulative; the larger the quantity, the stronger the temptation.

And those ’corpses’ controlled by the Phantom Mushrooms moved with a certain convergence, not chaotic instinctual movement.

In other words, these ’corpses’ were somewhat ’directed’.

This direction obviously couldn’t come from the dead bodies themselves, most likely it came from the Phantom Mushrooms.

The Phantom Mushrooms might possess some form of ’intelligence’.

It was just unclear whether this intelligence was genuine, or a more sophisticated hunting instinct.

To He Ao, these Phantom Mushrooms were a potential danger.

There were hardly any roads in the wilderness, and if He Ao were to head back the same way, he would certainly encounter the Phantom Mushrooms again.

He Ao shook his head, temporarily clearing these thoughts from his mind.

Through the rear-view mirror, he glanced at his daughter sleeping in the back seat.

The Phantom Mushrooms might need to be dealt with, but for now, his priority was to find a place where he could trade and obtain supplies.

The place he had just passed, which the Phantom Mushrooms had consumed for their growth nutrients, was likely the nearby Wanderer Camp.

Under normal circumstances, the same region cannot support two Wanderer Camps.

He had no idea where the next Wanderer Camp was.

If it came down to it, he would have to try to find a Wilderness Wanderers family.

It was at this moment, He Ao’s gaze towards the front became focused.

In the depths of the night, two car headlights slowly emerged.