Chapter 105 Blue Mushroom, Commander, My Head Hurts

Chapter 105: The Blue Mushroom Commands: My Head Aches

The badges, being metal, were impervious to the flames.

The sheer number of badges found here was unsettling. What had transpired? Why were there so many?

As they knelt, searching, they discovered badges not only from the 24th Army but also from the 25th.

“The 25th Army didn’t vanish,” Di Shensi explained, assuming Yu Xing and her companions were unaware. “A portion of its members have been relentlessly trying to uncover the truth behind the fall of the 25th City.”

“But why are there so many badges here?” Zhao Lan asked, glancing around nervously. “There might be hidden dangers we haven’t yet discovered.”

The surroundings resembled a primeval forest, teeming with bizarre plants, with potential hazards lurking everywhere.

“Is this fruiting plant a newly discovered species?” Miao Yuanjin suddenly inquired.

Di Shensi nodded, and Miao Yuanjin’s excitement surged. “Let’s name it! Yu Xing, quick, record this!”

Yu Xing remained silent.

Yu Xing returned to the vehicle to retrieve her camera. Miao Yuanjin pointed to some unburnt vines in the distance. “This plant is a vine that bears fragrant fruit. How about we call it… the Cute Fragrant Vine?”

Yu Xing’s hand trembled as she recorded the name, casting a look of utter disbelief at Miao Yuanjin.

The others wore equally bewildered expressions. Di Shensi looked at Miao Yuanjin, then at Yu Xing, his gaze seemingly conveying, *You two truly are kindred spirits.*

“What?” Miao Yuanjin asked, noticing their peculiar reactions. “Is the name not good?”

“No…” Zhao Lan replied. “It’s… quite good.”

Yu Xing kept her head down, diligently recording, determined not to offer any opinion on the matter.

With no other anomalies found besides the badges, the convoy resumed its journey.

In the rearview mirror, Yu Xing observed Di Shensi’s unusually grave expression.

*Why the sudden solemnity? Is it because of those badges?*

After a short drive, their path was blocked by several large trees, making further progress impossible. They either had to detour or fell the obstructing trees.

Di Shensi exited the vehicle to assess the surroundings and decided to have the convoy halt temporarily. He considered a detour but first needed to ascertain the conditions of alternative routes.

“Half of you stay here,” Di Shensi commanded, squinting at the environment. “The rest, form five-person teams and scout the area.”

He raised a hand, adding, “Check your communication devices. Report any findings immediately.”

Di Shensi then turned to Yu Xing and her three companions, a flicker of indecision in his eyes regarding whether to involve them in the scouting.

Finally, he made up his mind and beckoned to them. “You four, come with me.”

Fully armed, the five followed Di Shensi towards a phoenix tree approximately a hundred meters to their right.

Di Shensi led the way, holding a flamethrower (though not igniting it), gently tapping the surrounding plants as they advanced.

“In an environment like this,” he cautioned, “any plant could be a contaminant. It’s best to move carefully.”

The four nodded in unison, mimicking his cautious movements as they tapped the plants around them.

Da Ya whispered to Miao Yuanjin, “Can you sense where the contamination is most severe?”

Miao Yuanjin sniffed the air. “The pollution is ubiquitous here. I can’t pinpoint anything.”

“Generally, in such environments, unless one is a high-ranking Moon God Chosen, it’s impossible to discern contaminants by instinct alone,” Di Shensi explained as they walked, aiming to impart some knowledge of the world beyond the walls.

“I think the plants here grow better than those elsewhere,” Yu Xing remarked.

Di Shensi paused, asking, “Why do you say that?”

“Huh? Just look,” she said, pointing to a shrub at their feet. “See this? It’s the same plant, but its leaves here are larger, thicker, and even darker in color.”

She then pointed in another direction. “Over there, the plant leaves are much smaller.”

“She’s right,” Da Ya agreed. “The plants here are also taller.”

Zhao Lan bent down and pushed aside a knee-high shrub, wrinkling her nose. “It stinks.”

Indeed, a foul odor permeated the air. But in the wilderness, any strange smell was to be expected.

Di Shensi crouched, picking up a pinch of black soil. He brought it close to his nose. “There’s animal feces in the dirt.”

“So, there’s an animal living here?” Zhao Lan also knelt, pushing aside plants to examine the ground. “But there are no animal footprints anywhere.”

The vegetation was dense, but as they approached the phoenix tree, the ground became completely devoid of weeds.

The odor intensified near the phoenix tree, and the soil was even blacker.

“This tree isn’t contaminated, is it?” Da Ya asked, gazing up at the fiery-red phoenix tree. “There isn’t even a single weed growing around it.”

“This tree is so beautiful,” Miao Yuanjin murmured, admiring the colossal phoenix tree. “I’ve seen these in the Perfect World Game. It’s called a phoenix tree—an ornamental tree from the Old Era, common in many places.”

Yu Xing also studied the tree. Its leaves were an intense red. She recalled that phoenix trees on Earth had either green or yellow leaves. Why were these so crimson?

“Commander, should we go around this tree?” Zhao Lan asked.

Di Shensi surveyed the surroundings. To be safe, he decided to bypass the tree. “We’ll go to the right.”

The five immediately turned, skirting the phoenix tree to their right.

Suddenly, a bloodcurdling scream erupted from their left. “AHHH—!!!”

They instantly turned in that direction, but dense vegetation obstructed their view. They could only vaguely discern five figures moving erratically in the distance.

Soon, a soldier burst forth from that direction, sprinting wildly towards the convoy.

Clad in protective gear, the man stumbled as he ran, shrieking and frantically clawing at himself.

Di Shensi immediately spoke into his communication device, “What’s happening?”

He received no response. The soldier ran for a short distance before collapsing, thrashing wildly on the ground.

Di Shensi’s brow furrowed. He turned to Yu Xing and her companions. “Let’s go.”

Due to the distance and dense vegetation between them, even with Di Shensi using the flamethrower to clear a path, it still took several minutes to reach them.

By the time they arrived, the soldier’s screams had ceased.

At the sight of him, all five gasped in horror.

The soldier was not yet dead; his body still twitched, but his appearance stunned all five of them.

He lay on the ground, his limbs still twitching. His eyes were wide open, fixed on Di Shensi, filled with both terror and desperate pleading.

His head, originally covered by a protective helmet, was now bare. In its place, a massive blue mushroom sprouted from his skull.

The mushroom grew directly from the crown of his head, its stem thick—almost as wide as his skull—and topped with a blue cap. The mushroom’s gills and patterns were disturbingly clear. It looked as though he was wearing a blue hat…

The soldier lay there, oblivious to his own grotesque transformation.

Di Shensi frowned at the sight. He crouched down and asked, “What happened?”

By now, the soldier had calmed. He seemed to no longer feel pain and tentatively moved his fingers, realizing sensation had returned to his limbs.

He abruptly sat up, a note of relief in his voice. “Reporting, Commander. We just passed through an area covered in mushrooms. I accidentally coughed, and then—suddenly, the pain was everywhere. My head, my whole body… But I’m fine now. I feel completely normal.”

His demeanor was calm, almost grateful to have survived.

But soon, he noticed something was amiss. The five people before him, including the commander, were staring at him with grave expressions.

A flicker of fear crossed his face. “What… what’s wrong with me?”

Di Shensi examined him with a grim expression before turning to Miao Yuanjin. “Can you purify him?”

Miao Yuanjin replied solemnly, “I’ll try.”

“What’s wrong with me?” the soldier demanded frantically. “What’s happening to me?”

He looked down at his body, then suddenly sensed something. Slowly, he raised a hand and touched his head.

He didn’t feel his helmet. Nor his hair. Instead, his fingers met something cold and slick.

“Don’t move!” Di Shensi seized his wrist. “We’ll help you!”

The soldier froze, his eyes hollow, as if his soul had fled.

Miao Yuanjin stood, chanting quietly. A shaft of holy light descended, landing on the soldier’s head.

“AHHH—!!!”

The soldier screamed, writhing on the ground in agony. “It hurts! My head—it hurts so much!!”

His pain seemed unbearable. He raised both hands and suddenly clawed at his own head.

The blue mushroom seemed tender—his fingers sank into it effortlessly. His face twisted into a grotesque smile. “Got it… I got it.”

With that, he wrenched upward with all his might.

The next second, he went still. Even his screams ceased.

He lay on the ground, limbs contorted at unnatural angles, hands still raised in that pulling motion. From his shattered skull, crimson blood seeped around the remnants of the blue mushroom.

And clutched in his hands—was an intact human brain.

He had torn out his own brain.

At the sight, Miao Yuanjin’s face turned ashen, and she recoiled in horror.

Di Shensi’s expression also darkened. He remembered—each unit had five soldiers. Only one had escaped. Where were the other four?

He immediately marched towards the direction the soldier had come from. Zhao Lan grabbed Miao Yuanjin and Da Ya. “Follow me!”

They hurried after Di Shensi. After just a minute, they found him standing frozen ahead.

“Commander!” Zhao Lan called as she approached. “Where are the others?”

Di Shensi didn’t answer. He simply stepped aside.

And then, they witnessed a sight they would never forget.

Before them stood four giant mushrooms.

Yes, standing.

Four figures in protective suits, motionless, their entire heads replaced by massive blue mushroom caps. The caps were even larger than the first soldier’s, broad enough to shelter a person from rain.

Beneath the massive caps, pale stalks displayed disturbingly human features.

And the four mushrooms were speaking.

“Commander… I can’t move my legs.”

“Commander… my head is so itchy.”

“I’m so thirsty… so hungry… I need to eat something…”

Yu Xing looked down at their feet. Of course they couldn’t move—their legs had fused with the earth. White fungal threads spread from their feet, tiny blue mushrooms sprouting all around.