Chapter 67

Chapter 67

He kissed fiercely, relentlessly, with the taste of blood. An Zhe couldn't breathe; he turned his head away, only to be pushed back again.

He had just been feeling sorry for Lu Fen, but now he was trembling in anger. Fungal threads sprawled in masses, and all he could do was instinctively try to strangle Lu Fen with them.

His vision suddenly blurred – a scene unfolded before him.

A figure fell before him, and his heart contracted abruptly as he caught the person, holding them tightly in his embrace. "An Zhe?"

In this haze, An Zhe realized that this was a fragment of Lu Fen's memory. Drinking Lu Fen's blood granted him access to certain things, and what he was witnessing now was the moment he himself had just fainted.

"An Zhe?" Lu Fen called his name repeatedly, but the person in his arms didn't respond at all, only furrowing their brows slightly and trembling violently, as if enduring immense pain.

Lu Fen had no idea why An Zhe had suddenly changed like this; all he could do was hold him tight.

It was as if he was about to die – just like how unpredictable this world could be.

An Zhe, dazed, experienced that fleeting sensation. In this instant, his feelings aligned with Lu Fen's.

Lu Fen was afraid.

He was actually afraid.

What was he afraid of?

Was it the fear of losing the person in his arms, as if... as if losing him meant losing everything?

An Zhe's body trembled violently.

This person—

Why could he be so kind to him and yet so fierce?

The pressure on his shoulder momentarily pulled him back to reality, dividing his consciousness in two. Half of it was being kissed almost punitively by Lu Fen, while the other half submerged in past memories, witnessing this person hold him tightly, repeatedly calling out his name.

But no matter how hard he called, he couldn't wake up. He looked so pained, so obedient, so fragile, yet he was enduring such intense suffering.

Lu Fen wiped away the fine cold sweat from his brow. Unconsciously, An Zhe clutched at Lu Fen's wrist, as if grasping for a lifeline. In that moment, what was Lu Fen thinking?

He thought, I can bear his pain for him, do anything, as long as he wakes up.

An Zhe closed his eyes. He was still struggling, but not with as much strength – it was as if all his energy had been drained at once. In the end, he gave up in despair, surrendering to Lu Fen's invasion of his lips, his mind, his very being.

It was like a protracted war.

Intense emotions gradually waned amidst this prolonged stalemate.

When he was finally released, he leaned against Lu Fen's chest, not wanting to say a word.

Lu Fen held him in silence, mirroring his quietness.

An eternity of emptiness stretched on indefinitely. There was never much to say between the Judge and the Aberrant.

In the prolonged silence, Lu Fen suddenly spoke.

"I wonder," he said, "how did you become human?"

"Because of An Ze," An Zhe replied.

Resting in Lu Fen's embrace, they had already laid bare their souls to each other. In that impulsive kiss, they had bared themselves to one another.

Thus, he saw no need to conceal anything further.

In truth, he was not an alien creature.

He was powerless, unable to infect anyone; he was, in fact, a mushroom infected by a human.

At this moment, Lu Fen gazed at his mycelium. The pristine white threads still bore traces of blood, a result of An Zhe's fierce bite just now. It seemed that even this little mushroom could be fierce when angered.

The bloodstains were gradually vanishing, absorbed by the mycelium.

An Zhe also looked at that spot.

Suddenly, he said, "Die."

Lu Fen's grip on his fingers tightened as he asked, "Why?"

"I'll grow on you," An Zhe replied expressionlessly. "I'll consume your blood, organs, and flesh, then sprout from your bones."

Lu Fen's other hand gently clasped his wrist, tracing the pale skin with his fingertips, leaving behind a faint red mark, like a mushroom freshly emerged after rain, its juices seeping out. He whispered, "Do you know what you're saying?"

An Zhe shook his head, his throat constricting. His eyes were filled with tears as he looked up at the moldy green walls and the distorted, dripping chandelier. The window had been shattered by the gale into a radial crack, allowing rain to pour in, mingling with the whispering wind.

He thought that he wasn't sure how to label his emotions either. But if he wanted to coexist peacefully with Lu Fen, there was truly no other path to take.

He stared at the seemingly unattainable sky.

Lu Fen: "You're crying again."

An Zhe turned to look back at Lu Fen, having to tilt his head slightly upward from this angle.

Their eyes met.

For some inexplicable reason, looking at Lu Fen, An Zhe started to smile again.

His lips held a slight flush, and his beautiful eyes still held traces of moisture.

In response, Lu Fen also smiled.

He held An Zhe's face in his hands, "…So foolish."

An Zhe simply gazed back at him. After a long while, he asked, "Has the base already come to retrieve you?"

Lu Fen replied, "They have."

An Zhe didn't respond. Lu Fen continued, "Do you like the base?"

The moment the word 'base' left his lips, the pain of electrocution surged through An Zhe's body once more. He trembled uncontrollably, burying himself tightly into Lu Fen.

Lu Fen embraced him, gently stroking his spine. He apologized, "I'm sorry."

An Zhe shook his head.

It wasn't until three minutes had passed that An Zhe finally calmed down.

He looked up at Lu Fen, their hands clasped tightly together.

Lu Fen thought that An Zhe seemed to be waiting for something.

With this thought in mind, he acted accordingly. As if guided by unseen forces, Lu Fen leaned down and kissed An Zhe once more.

There were no passionate movements, no resistance. It was a deep, tranquil kiss.

An Zhe's supple lips and tongue no longer resisted. During the brief moments they drew breath, Lu Fen gazed at him—An Zhe's breathing was shallow and rapid, his eyelashes slightly lowered, with teardrops glistening on them like fragmented stars. His hands gently clasped around Lu Fen's shoulders, an timid acquiescence filled with vulnerability, a naive tenderness that bordered on compassion. There was a divine quality to his sorrow, as if he was bestowing a spiritual offering, allowing himself to be taken advantage of.

Yet, he continued to cry.

Lu Fen kissed away his tears, as if doing so could erase all the sadness between them.

By the time their kiss ended, the rain outside had gradually ceased. It was late afternoon, and the sky was illuminated by a murky, yellowish glow.

An Zhe knelt on the bed, his fingers trembling as he held onto Lu Fen, slowly, ever so slowly, laying him down on the bed.

Lu Fen's eyes closed, and he fell asleep, his breathing even and steady. Nothing could rouse him now. Achieving this was simple; during the kiss, the tip of his tongue transformed into a tender filament, undetectable even by a colonel.

Sleeping Lu Fen couldn't grab hold of him anymore, nor could he control An Zhe. A small smile tugged at An Zhe's lips—he realized that Lu Fen had never truly been able to control him. This truth dawned on him suddenly.

The decision to leave or stay was his alone to make.

Suddenly —

An Zhe's vision turned pitch black as a searing pain assailed him. The final mycelium strand snapped.

His body felt utterly empty, a void more profound than the loss of an immature spore. It was like a pause in a melody, severing his connection to this world in an instant.

An Zhe froze abruptly.

In that moment, he was certain he heard destiny whispering sinisterly in his ear like a devil.

He stared blankly ahead, lifting his hand with a tremor.

Until just now, he believed he still had a choice.

He truly thought he could choose.

But when the moment arrived, he realized he had never had any choice at all.

He was completely stunned.

Spores emerged from his body, held gently in his palm. An Zhe stared blankly at the tiny white cluster before finally managing a faint smile.

"I'm... sorry," he said.

"I... What should I do?" he asked.

The spore's mycelium brushed against his fingers as if forgiving him, and in that moment, they reached a silent understanding.

"Why do you like him so much?" An Zhe inquired.

The spore rubbed against his finger again, unable to speak.

An Zhe sighed softly, placing it on Lu Fen's body.

With its newly grown, soft mycelium, it crawled onto Lu Fen's chest and nestled into his pocket on its own accord, seemingly overjoyed as if it had been longing to do this all along.

Watching this scene unfold, just as An Zhe couldn't understand why the spore was so attached to Lu Fen, he also couldn't fathom how things had suddenly escalated to this point.

Taking out a sheet of paper from his backpack, he leaned on the coffee table and wrote a line of words on it.

"It's matured; it's not the same as before. Keep it in a damp place, and it'll grow."

"It needs plenty of water and is afraid of rodent creatures and insects."

"If you're going to study it, please don't hurt it too much. Don't let it die."

"Thank you for always looking after me."

"I'm leaving."

Leaving the note aside, he reached into Lu Fen's chest pocket and retrieved the tracking agent. He unscrewed the cap.

Splash.

He poured out all the liquid, letting it flow through the cracks in the floor until, finally, he released his grip—the bottle shattering on impact with the ground.

As if making an essential decision in his life, he reached out and detached the badge from Lu Fen's chest, placing it in his own pocket.

Lastly, he slung the backpack that had been left aside over his shoulder, gave Lu Fen one last look, and exited the room.

Xi Bei noticed him and asked, "Where are you going?"

An Zhe replied, "I'm going out to check the situation."

"Alright," Xi Bei seemed to have regained some composure as he said, "Be careful."

An Zhe nodded. "Sure."

Pushing open the rusted metal door of the room, he headed upstairs. The staircase was steep, and with his body feeling weak, it took him a long while to reach the top floor. Following the opening at the very top, An Zhe stepped out onto the roof.

After the rain, the air outside was chillingly cold.

During those days when the artificial magnetic field had vanished and the atmosphere had thinned, he had already heard the human scientists predict, back when they were still in the Lighthouse, that this year's climate would be abnormally extreme, with winter arriving at least three months earlier than usual.

—His own personal winter was about to arrive as well.

It was only at the moment when the spores matured that he fully understood the subtle hints of fate.

Just as he had lost all connection with the mushroom that had nurtured him from the moment he landed on the ground, he was destined to be unable to protect his own spores until they grew safely.

Amidst the drought and gale, with monsters lurking, even in the Abyss devoid of rodents and arthropods, he could still be inadvertently crushed by some colossal creature or swept away in a battle. In his final moments, he had no choice but to trust Lu Fen.

For he was on the brink of death.

A mushroom's life was inherently brief, and he had already outlived most. Everyone had their purpose, and once they fulfilled that task, their existence found meaning. For a mushroom, nurturing its spores to maturity was its sole mission.

In the chilly wind, An Zhe trembled slightly, hugging his arms. Without needing to feel, he knew his body was faltering. He had seen mushrooms die—their caps withering and curling as their spores fell, eventually drying up and disintegrating into a pool of black liquid, consumed entirely by other elements in the soil.

Now, he too was set to undergo that process. He didn't know how long it would take, but it would be swift, before humanity vanished completely. In a fleeting moment, he wished to return to the base with Lu Fen, regardless of what lay ahead.

But let Lu Fen believe he survived in the wild, for the Judge had witnessed enough death firsthand.

On the rooftop was a dilapidated garden where he sat with his knees drawn to his chest, facing the east, watching the nightfall and then the dawn break. This place wasn't too far from the base—just a day's flight for a bee.

As expected, when the sun pierced through the morning mist, human armored vehicles halted in the square before the complex. Lu Fen must have informed them about the situation—equipped with sufficient heavy weapons, they weren't overly fearful of monster attacks, hence relatively safe. A giant eagle circled overhead, eyeing them warily yet refraining from any aggressive action.

Gray clouds, soaring eagles, an endless expanse of ruins, and the convoy—it was like a scene from a dream. The wind whispered again.

An Zhe watched Lu Fen and Xi Bei exit the building, engaging briefly with the military before boarding the vehicle. He caught a glimpse of the doctor too. As the doors closed, the convoy promptly departed, leaving behind the desolate site. Would Lu Fen glance back at the city from the car window? He wouldn't know, for his place was in the Abyss. He needed to return to that cave, find that skeleton; everything began there, and would end there.

Confronted with the inevitability of decay, Lu Fen had his own destiny, just as he had his own.

It all came to an end.