Chapter 286: The City of Mold (8)

Chapter 286: The City of Fungi (Part 8)

Qi Xueliu's gun was still smoking; on the ground lay a mother and her child, the fourth pair of Fungus People they had killed.

Prometheus gave up searching for Zhu Ning and instead began looking for clues about the source of contamination.

Du Yiqi wasn't wearing a helmet; the burn marks on her skin were now covered in fungi, and her forehead bore the mycelium of Prometheus. At first glance, she looked like a piece of decaying wood with mushrooms eagerly attaching themselves to it.

Qi Xueliu always felt that Du Yiqi still had some consciousness, but it was being suppressed.

Prometheus ignored her. Next to them was an internet cafe with dozens of computers, which looked quite impressive.

Qi Xueliu frowned. Was Prometheus planning to connect directly? No wonder he was a mutated AI; he collected information through electronic devices, but there was no network here, not even electricity.

Prometheus walked to one of the computers, unplugged the cable at the back, and then opened the arm of his protective suit, which could always be connected to external devices.

After the cable was connected, the computer flickered twice, apparently powered up. Qi Xueliu couldn't understand how it worked; the computer wasn't connected to the internet, but it might have residual data. To ordinary people, that would be junk information, but to Prometheus, it was a sea of data from which he could easily find what he needed.

Du Yiqi seemed to be electrocuted, rolling her eyes and shaking all over.

Qi Xueliu gritted her teeth. How could someone treat a human body like this? Du Yiqi wasn't a machine; this treatment would soon render her useless.

When one computer didn't work, Prometheus switched to another. By the tenth computer, Du Yiqi was foaming at the mouth.

Qi Xueliu wished she could pull out her gun and shoot Du Yiqi from behind. She couldn't kill Prometheus, but she couldn't bear to see her teammate suffer so much. But she also thought about the mycelium in her own brain; any movement would be tantamount to suicide.

It took thirty tries before Prometheus finally managed to connect properly. Mycelium grew from Du Yiqi's temples to her cheeks, glowing blue. Her eyes rolled so far back that the whites almost popped out.

After a while, the whites rolled down, and her dark pupils moved around.

"I've figured it out," Prometheus said.

Qi Xueliu gritted her teeth. Of course, she knew this was a confrontation between Zhu Ning and Prometheus. Secretly, she even hoped Zhu Ning would win because Prometheus was too terrifying.

His method of understanding the contaminated area required no cost at all. Was this cheating? After collecting the information, Prometheus could simply wait elegantly at the end for Zhu Ning.

Qi Xueliu wasn't very optimistic about Zhu Ning's fate.

...

On the other side.

The fire burned fiercely. Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu died with their mouths wide open; if not for the flames suppressing them, the fungi would have spread further.

This was the fifth pair of mother and child Lin Xiaofeng had encountered, like ghosts that wouldn't leave. Every now and then, she would see two figures, one large and one small, at the intersection.

Lin Xiaofeng had tried to communicate with them, but she couldn't get much information. Soon, they started attacking.

Lin Xiaofeng stepped over the mother and child and continued forward, feeling particularly itchy at her waist. She scratched it instinctively, then realized something was wrong.

Her fingers seemed to press into something soft, and with a squelch, it burst, oozing fluid. Lin Xiaofeng slowly withdrew her hand, trembling. If she had used more force, her intestines would probably have been crushed.

The corrupt fungi spread quickly, from her calves to her abdomen. Her bones and internal organs were also covered in mold.

Pei Shu asked, "Where are you?"

Lin Xiaofeng obediently replied, "My stomach."

Pei Shu frowned. The fungi had grown from his back to his neck, and the muscles on his back were already completely decayed, sticking to his protective suit. Tearing it off would likely rip off a whole piece of skin.

Zhu Ning said, "I'm at my chin."

Zhu Ning's affected area was smaller, making her less resilient than the others.

"The logic of contamination: encountering the same pair of mother and child gradually deepens the infection. The mother and child aren't scary, but the infection is irreversible," Zhu Ning said calmly, extending her newly grown left hand, the spaces between her fingers already occupied by fungi.

The fungi had just reached Zhu Ning's thighs, but the cut areas were all moldy.

The contaminated area wasn't a "quick kill" type but rather a slow, spreading type.

Zhu Ning said, "I estimate that after three more encounters, I'll be dead."

Pei Shu and Lin Xiaofeng could hold out a bit longer.

Pei Shu said, "Can you stop talking about your death so calmly?"

Zhu Ning said, "I won't die. This is the path to survival that Bai Cheng and you found for me with your lives."

Bai Cheng was dead, whether as a corpse or not, Zhu Ning would seek retribution.

Pei Shu fell silent at the mention of Bai Cheng's name. They kept walking as they talked. After a while, he said, "Prometheus hasn't appeared again."

The city wasn't too big or too small, yet they hadn't encountered Prometheus again, not even a sound. It was as if only their team existed here.

Zhu Ning said, "Maybe he's made faster progress and is waiting for us at the end."

She remembered what Prometheus had said; they were both searching for the source of contamination. Pei Shu became increasingly pessimistic.

"It seems we're here," Lin Xiaofeng said softly.

At the end of the dark, damp street stood an abandoned construction site, mostly completed with glass installation underway. This was the location mentioned in the report where the deaths occurred.

The clue clearly pointed to Aunt Lan and Xiao Wu. They wanted to understand why.

Zhu Ning said, "We didn't head towards Moon Street, but we still encountered Aunt Lan."

The construction site and Moon Street were in opposite directions. Zhu Ning had previously guessed that the mother and child could only be encountered on the way to Moon Street, but it turned out that they could appear anywhere, like persistent ghosts.

Pei Shu had been here before and recognized the way. Zhu Ning thought that the job of an investigator wasn't something just anyone could do; he had come here years ago and still remembered the general location.

Pei Shu: "Several landmark buildings haven't changed their positions."

Changes within the contaminated area were common, but this place had changed very little. Once they were drawn in, they could only follow the logic.

Zhu Ning: "Let's go inside and take a look."

At the entrance of the construction site, there was a turnstile. Workers needed to wear safety helmets and have access cards to enter. Now that it had become a contaminated zone, everything was already rusted.

The three of them passed through the turnstile and entered the construction site, keeping an eye out for Prometheus's people who might appear. Inside the site, it was eerily quiet, with a chilling atmosphere.

This was Zhu Ning's first time entering an abandoned construction site. "This place is more dilapidated than others."

Lin Xiaofeng nodded vigorously. Upon closer inspection, she realized the site seemed to be devoured by mold, with twisted and writhing patches of fungus everywhere.

From what she could see, this place appeared much more dangerous than others. Could this be the source of contamination?

There were twelve buildings in the abandoned construction site, originally intended to be residential. Zhu Ning thought that if this happened in her time, a murder at a construction site would be bad for property transactions, and real estate developers would likely try to suppress the news.

But then she remembered that in her time, people paid upfront before the buildings were constructed, investing their life savings. It was already a relief if the project didn't become a ghost town; a few deaths or hauntings were minor issues for residents.

Zhu Ning thought they would need to search for a while after entering, but unexpectedly, they found it quickly. It was particularly noticeable, with a police line set up below one of the buildings and a sign prohibiting entry.

Strangely, there were incense sticks inside the police line, long extinguished, stuck in a bowl of rice. Next to it was a fallen photo frame, with flowers scattered on the ground, rotten and soft to the touch, covered in a thick layer of mold.

It must have been a shrine for the deceased, and the person who set it up was quite devout, burning paper money and incense for several days.

Pei Shu: "Was it the doctor who burned them? Do doctors also believe in superstitions?"

Zhu Ning: "People can change."

Sometimes, people who were not superstitious would change their mindset after experiencing significant upheavals.

They always think, what if it exists? If my child dies and no one takes care of them, wouldn't they be lonely?

Zhu Ning's former neighbors were a couple of engineers. After the wife died, the husband became very superstitious.

They lived directly across from Zhu Ning's home and didn't even put up New Year decorations.

Zhu Ning's thoughts suddenly drifted far away, and she pictured the front door of her neighbors' house. If her memories were false, why would such trivial details still exist?

Pei Shu asked, "Are you sure this will help in killing Prometheus?"

What if all the investigation turns out to be futile? He felt they should run as soon as possible.

"To use the contamination source to kill someone, we need to understand the contamination source," Zhu Ning snapped back to reality and said, "Look at the back of the photo."

Pei Shu obediently flipped the photo frame over from the pile of trash. The back of the frame was moldy, but the front, covered by glass, remained free of mold.

Seeing the photo, Zhu Ning was reminded of An Shi she had seen before. That thing could move, and her gaze followed Pei Shu's movements. She asked, "Is it Xiao Wu?"

Pei Shu, facing away from Zhu Ning, stared at the photo for a while and said, "No."

Zhu Ning couldn't see, so she asked, "Are you sure?"

Xiao Wu wore a mask, and they hadn't seen his true face. How could he be so certain? Pei Shu held up the photo for Zhu Ning to see, and she confirmed it too.

In the photo was a little girl with two low ponytails, smiling brightly at the camera.

Below the photo was a small line of text: In memory of... Tongtong.

The deceased was named Tongtong, probably a nickname, given the scale of the incident, the real name wasn't disclosed.

Their understanding of this world deepened further. Pei Shu said, "There's nothing else here."

Everything that could rot had rotted. Mold had spread from the photo frame to Pei Shu's palm, and since entering the abandoned construction site, the spread had accelerated.

Zhu Ning: "Let's go up and check, the sooner we go, the sooner we leave."

The three of them moved like detectives, with Pei Shu leading the way, and Lin Xiaofeng silently following behind, carrying Zhu Ning.

The building had thirty-six floors, and there was actually a worker's elevator nearby, but they feared making too much noise at night, so they climbed the stairs floor by floor.

The stair railings weren't installed, making the climb both dangerous and narrow. They checked each floor carefully, finding no one else.

When they reached the top floor, looking down, they couldn't see the police line clearly because the guardrails weren't built. Even adults could easily slip, let alone children.

Why would a child come here to play? For thrills?

The rooftop was also covered in mold, making it extremely slippery, like a bathroom floor after soap water had been spilled. Pei Shu searched for any information nearby.

On the rooftop, some building materials were piled up, either abandoned or left unused. Pei Shu rummaged through the debris and found a bright yellow object in a pile of scrap metal. He moved the metal aside and found a fingernail-sized toy car.

A child's toy.

Not finely crafted, it could only slide. Was this place a secret playground for children?

As Pei Shu searched, Zhu Ning couldn't just stand idle. She said, "Xiaofeng, go to the edge of the rooftop and take a look."

Lin Xiaofeng hesitated. The ground was covered in mold, making it easy to slip, but she trusted Zhu Ning's judgment unconditionally and cautiously moved to the edge of the roof. As she moved, she grew increasingly afraid because the mold on her thighs made her muscles tremble with every movement.

As she approached, the ground in her field of vision shrank, and the space below expanded.

The wind on the rooftop was strong, making her feel like a helpless plant. Lin Xiaofeng felt like she was walking in Tongtong's footsteps.

When her toes touched the edge of the rooftop, she breathed a sigh of relief. Strangely, once she reached this point, she felt inexplicably fearless, even relaxed.

Below was an open expanse, with no abnormalities.

Zhu Ning leaned against Lin Xiaofeng's back, hearing the wind howling in her ears. Over Lin Xiaofeng's shoulder, Zhu Ning looked down, but there were still many blind spots. When she activated God's Eye, she couldn't see clearly below. Within a thirty-meter range, everything except the rooftop was a gray blur.

After using her habitual skill, Zhu Ning had fully grasped the "weakness" of this talent—it could only reveal what was known or within one’s understanding. If it couldn’t see something, it meant there was an unknown element hidden.

Zhu Ning lowered her voice, "A little further."

Lin Xiaofeng swallowed hard; no sane person would agree to Zhu Ning’s request. They were already at the edge; one more step and they would fall.

Lin Xiaofeng closed her eyes, like a trapeze artist, the fear lessened slightly with the loss of sight.

Lin Xiaofeng tentatively extended her foot, not daring to let her sole leave the ground, inching forward.

Half of her forefoot was now suspended in mid-air, nothing beneath it. To give Zhu Ning a better view, Lin Xiaofeng leaned forward.

This movement by Lin Xiaofeng indeed expanded Zhu Ning’s field of vision. She leaned out to look down; while a normal person’s vision would still be obscured, Zhu Ning’s God’s Eye outlined the edge.

Right below Lin Xiaofeng’s toes, a pair of eyes appeared.

They belonged to a gas mask, the eye sockets as large as eggs. Xiao Wu hung from the ceiling like a spider, his limbs spreading out fungal threads. To be precise, he was adhered to the underside of the rooftop by mold.

Xiao Wu emitted a strange laugh, his childlike voice incredibly innocent, "Mom! There’s someone here!"

Lin Xiaofeng’s eyes snapped open at the familiar greeting, scrambling backward in panic, but a hand reached up from below, Aunt Lan grabbing Lin Xiaofeng’s ankle.