Chapter 285: The City of Mold (7)

Chapter 285: The City of Mold (Part Seven)

Lin Xiaofeng still had Zhu Ning on her back; if she were an enemy, Zhu Ning would have retaliated even with her last breath.

Lin Xiaofeng recognized Pei Shu's voice. Pei Shu hadn't loosened his grip, and Lin Xiaofeng glanced sideways to see the bodies of Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu lying deep in the alley, one large and one small, their bodies burning with flames that barely spread due to the damp mold, soon to extinguish.

No wonder they suddenly disappeared; it turned out Pei Shu had taken care of them.

This time, a senior had come to the house, so she wouldn't have to bear everything alone. Before she could feel relieved, she saw another figure appear at the intersection ahead.

Pei Shu pulled Lin Xiaofeng into the alley, the shadow falling over them, perfectly concealing them from view. If not for Pei Shu dragging her away in time, Lin Xiaofeng would have run straight into the person.

The moment she saw, her scalp tingled, more terrifying than seeing the mother and son. Standing at the alley entrance was Qi Xueliu, someone Lin Xiaofeng knew all too well, even if she were ashes.

If Qi Xueliu had entered, others couldn't be far behind. Indeed, Lin Xiaofeng already heard footsteps.

Tap, tap, tap—

This was undoubtedly the most terrifying sound heard since entering the City of Mold. Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu's threat was limited, but that terrifying monster could split Zhu Ning in two.

Qi Xueliu stopped at the intersection, holding a gun, likely searching for clues.

Lin Xiaofeng finally understood why Pei Shu had dragged her away without a word. She closed her eyes and, as Qi Xueliu's head appeared, activated her transparency Psychic ability.

Transparency was ineffective in contaminated areas, but it worked against enemies.

Pei Shu tightened his grip around Lin Xiaofeng's neck, making both of them invisible along with Zhu Ning.

Qi Xueliu looked over. Levi was dead, and Qi Xueliu had become a new pawn. Honestly, No. 0056 definitely wouldn't do such menial tasks, so the real work fell to her.

Qi Xueliu had just heard some noise here, and Prometheus was still in her mind, asking, "What is it?"

Qi Xueliu realized that when Prometheus didn't fully take control of her body, he couldn't receive all her information.

For example, now her sixth sense told her that someone was in this alley, possibly hiding Pei Shu. But unless he saw it with his own eyes, Prometheus wouldn't sense it.

Another weakness—only able to use the puppet's five senses. Qi Xueliu silently noted this, feeling it wasn't easy to die before completely becoming a mycelium person.

"It's nothing, just mold," Qi Xueliu said, shaking her leg. The mold in this alley was rampant, covering part of her leg. To be honest, this contaminated area was quite troublesome.

They had killed three pairs of mold-infested mother and child on their way, finding no significant clues. Qi Xueliu didn't want to die at Prometheus's hands, nor did she want to become moldy.

Looking back, No. 0056 had disappeared again, probably hiding in a corner, ready to hunt the target like an assassin.

Qi Xueliu asked casually, "Where's No. 0056?"

Prometheus glanced at her, "Don't worry, he's there."

Prometheus didn't intend to share any more information, leaving Qi Xueliu feeling embarrassed.

"Zhu Ning is half-dead; she will surely seek out a pollution source to replenish herself. We'll wait near the pollution source," Prometheus said.

Understanding his own spark, he could predict most actions. Blindly searching was meaningless; waiting at the endpoint made more sense.

Qi Xueliu found it hard to believe that Zhu Ning fed on pollution sources, but she holstered her gun, more practical as a soldier, "Alright."

Now their goal was to find the pollution source. Qi Xueliu gave up searching and prepared to look for clues.

Before leaving, she deliberately avoided looking at the alley, pretending to pass by casually. Fortunately, something else soon caught their attention. Not long after, two figures, one large and one small, appeared on the distant square.

Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu appeared before them for the fourth time.

...

Pei Shu's grip on Lin Xiaofeng was tight, almost choking her if not for his controlled strength.

After a long while, with no sounds heard, Pei Shu finally released his grip, wary of a feigned departure and potential ambush nearby, which was driving him nearly paranoid.

With their team, another attack would mean total annihilation.

As soon as Pei Shu let go, Lin Xiaofeng's Psychic ability couldn't cover them, and they reappeared fully in the alley.

Mold climbed the walls of the alley, and during that brief moment, Pei Shu's back had started to grow mold.

"Is Zhu Ning okay?" Pei Shu asked.

"Not... dead..." Zhu Ning replied listlessly.

Lin Xiaofeng felt a surge of life, no longer alone. She thought for a moment and deactivated her Psychic ability, allowing Pei Shu to see her protective suit and the unconscious Zhu Ning behind her.

Pei Shu checked Zhu Ning's body. As soon as he touched her, he felt her temperature was high enough to fry an egg. This was too hot, even a computer would burn out.

"How many injections has she had?" Pei Shu asked.

"Two," Lin Xiaofeng replied, "I'm conserving them."

"Don't conserve them. The enemy is right in front of us. Use everything you have; otherwise, there won't be another chance," Pei Shu said.

Zhu Ning: "..."

Lin Xiaofeng untied the body bag. Thanks to the fire control, the mold hadn't spread further, giving her some peace of mind.

She injected all the available medication, needles scattered on the ground. After two minutes, Zhu Ning's fever subsided, and her mind cleared slightly.

Lin Xiaofeng noticed Pei Shu's body was also covered in mold. How did he get here?

"Oh, right," Lin Xiaofeng asked, "Where's Sister Bai?"

Pei Shu paused before saying, "Dead."

A dog had traded its life for Bai Cheng's, and Pei Shu still felt disoriented thinking about it.

Lin Xiaofeng's mind exploded with the news, thinking she must have heard wrong. Dead? Wasn't he supposed to be immortal?

Pei Shu didn't know how to explain, "Two bodies are dead, but maybe not completely."

Pei Shu had always been concise in his speech, but now he was a bit confused, shaken by Bai Cheng's death.

Zhu Ning was also stunned, asking a crucial question, "Did Bai Cheng say anything before dying?"

Huo Wenxi said Bai Cheng was immortal and couldn't die.

Pei Shu: "He mentioned a place, I don't know what it means, maybe he wanted us to find the next Bai Cheng."

This was the only possibility Pei Shu could think of. When Bai Cheng's head flew off, his mouth opened and closed, uttering an address that Pei Shu, as an investigator, happened to know.

Zhu Ning: "Let's go."

She lacked energy, speaking in brief sentences.

Pei Shu: "We can only search after we get out of here."

Pei Shu kept watch outside the wall while whispering, "Bad news, Prometheus has brought that killing weapon inside."

Lin Xiaofeng had seen it, so did their previous plan fail entirely?

"I just found out that the weapon model is 0056," Qi Xueliu had mentioned it earlier, and Pei Shu frowned, "I heard a little about it when I was at the Lu family. It seems to be a new federal weapon, but its performance is unstable. They initially planned to release it for sale, but Lu Yao expressed interest in buying one for fun, so I looked into it. A rich man got the first batch and bought it as a bodyguard, but later he was found brutally murdered in his home."

Pei Shu finally recognized it, "That rich man and his thirty top Psychic abilities were all killed, chopped up like dumpling filling. Outsiders who opened the door saw nothing but shredded meat and went mad. The remains were later recovered, and the weapon never hit the market again. I wonder how it performs now."

Dumpling filling... Lin Xiaofeng grimaced, Mr. Pei, you really have a way with metaphors.

"Since I'm still alive, let me give you a heads-up." Pei Shu said pessimistically, "I've seen the front of 0056; it's a flat person, like a two-dimensional being. You can only see it clearly from the front. Once it turns sideways, you won't notice it."

It was an incredibly powerful ability. Bai Cheng sacrificed himself so Pei Shu could escape, but the problem was, there weren't many Bai Chengs left to distract it. Now, only they remained.

Zhu Ning listened silently, no wonder they seemed to be suddenly attacked. If it was two-dimensional, could it only see forward and not to the sides? After all, peripheral vision exists only in three dimensions.

Pei Shu, sensing the oppressive atmosphere, tried to lighten the mood, "Good news, the dog is dead, so no one will track us."

They had lost their only tracker, and now they were in the same contaminated area as Prometheus.

Pei Shu glanced at the corpses; the mother and son had fused into two moldy beings after death, their surfaces scorched black by flames.

Pei Shu had seen this before; it wasn't resurrection but endless reproduction, each pair of mother and son being brand new.

"This place is different from when I came before. Back then, setting a fire was enough, but now there are living contaminants." Pei Shu suggested, "Let's have a meeting, gather information. How much do you know about the contaminated zone?"

Lin Xiaofeng, who had been worried about having no outlet for her information, immediately recounted everything she had read in the newspaper.

Pei Shu listened with a frown, "Interestingly, my experience was the opposite. Listen to this."

"After I entered, I encountered a strange mother and son. At first, I followed their logic, learning they were seeking medical help. But I didn't follow them; instead, I decided to find Moon Street and target the doctor."

Lin Xiaofeng: "Then you met them again?"

Pei Shu: "Yes, every encounter was like the first time, but mental contamination repeats itself, so it's normal."

Lin Xiaofeng noted this point, reminding herself not to fear if she saw the same things again.

Pei Shu: "I kept following the path they directed me to, searching for clues about the Holy Doctor."

Lin Xiaofeng listened intently; she only knew about the mother and son, not the doctor.

Why was he searching? To cure something?

Pei Shu: "The doctor is quite famous, often doing free clinics. She's a renowned oncologist, and her child died. She was a single mother, and suddenly her child was gone."

So it was a female doctor. Lin Xiaofeng recalled the newspaper she had read and asked, "How did the child die?"

Pei Shu: "Fell from a building."

Lin Xiaofeng still couldn't connect it to Aunt Lan. Could Aunt Lan have been a trapeze artist who witnessed the scene?

"An accident?" Lin Xiaofeng asked.

"I don't know," Pei Shu replied, "Not that I don't know, but no one knows. There were no cameras, and the building hadn't been put into use yet, so no surveillance was installed."

It wasn't their world where surveillance coverage was extensive, making it easy to lose information.

Pei Shu, being a professional investigator, had more information, "Two children went to the rooftop to play, and one of them fell. There are various theories—suicide due to academic pressure, murder by the surviving child, or a third party at the scene, but no one was found. Then the city had an outbreak of mold infection, and the unsolved case was forgotten."

Pei Shu: "Anyway, it became a cold case."

Lin Xiaofeng was silent for a moment. The information Pei Shu provided largely matched the newspaper, except for the doctor's child's death. She asked, "Why are they looking for the doctor?"

Why keep appearing and searching for the doctor?

Pei Shu: "I don't know."

There was still not enough information. Zhu Ning asked, "What are Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu now?"

Pei Shu pondered, "You can consider them another kind of being from a different world."

Pei Shu: "They are completely different from what you saw inside the wall. They have no reason or human logic. They might have been driven by some form of resentment, but the pollution outside is deep. I observed that they have long lost human thought processes and can only repeat the contamination. If you were good at persuading people before, I can tell you it won't work. Don't try to communicate with them."

Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu were now beings from another dimension, like ants trying to speak to humans. You can't persuade someone unless you're sure they understand.

The contamination here is actually quite simple: it involves repeatedly encountering the same mother and son, who always attack us, causing more and more fungi to grow on our bodies, but we currently have no way out.

Lin Xiaofeng's calf has already been infected, and Pei Shu's infection is on his back. The most severe case is Zhu Ning, who, without protective gear, has a growing patch of fungi on her neck that seems to be about to snap if touched.

Pei Shu looks at Zhu Ning with deep concern, fearing she won't last much longer.

Zhu Ning, either indifferent or perhaps not fully aware, remains unusually calm and asks, "What if we find and consume the source of the contamination?"

Pei Shu carefully considers Zhu Ning's suggestion, "With so many mother-son pairs, one of them might be the true source of contamination, but we can't be sure."

Zhu Ning: "Your suggestion?"

Pei Shu: "The home of this mother-son pair, the crime scene, and the Moon Street where the doctor is located—these three places have a high probability."

"It could be an exit or the location of the contamination source; we can't determine which." Pei Shu knows too little, and everything here is completely different from when they first arrived.

"Also, Prometheus might be waiting for you in these places," Pei Shu adds, sounding dejected.

This is like being caught between two fronts, leaving little room for escape.

Zhu Ning: "Will Prometheus also be contaminated once he enters?"

Prometheus is a mushroom, and this place is filled with mold; who would win in a fight between them?

Pei Shu: "Definitely. As long as the contamination source hasn't changed its host, everyone who enters must follow the rules."

Zhu Ning ponders, considering one last desperate move: using the characteristics of the contamination source to counterattack Prometheus's side. Now they are in the same arena, like two teams fighting, where the one with more information wins.