Life Dungeon Game

He Ao smiled and said softly.

"That is."

The middle-aged man nodded.

He Ao knew that the middle-aged man was just giving him the runaround. The other party had his own rhythm and arrangements, and it was impossible for him to change the defensive posture of the entire camp just because of one sentence.

Moreover, he was only speculating and couldn't provide any concrete evidence.

However, after his reminder, middle-aged people will more or less pay attention.

The three of them quickly arrived at the chieftain's small wooden house.

The middle-aged man opened the door for He Ao, and He Ao calmly sat back down in the seat he had been in that morning.

"Young friend Pete said he has a way to deal with the man-eating mushrooms. Could you tell me a little about it?"

The old patriarch, sitting at the innermost side, looked at He Ao and spoke slowly with a smile.

“I saw information about this man-eating mushroom in the wilderness of Dawn City. They call it the Ghost Mushroom there, and the information included methods for dealing with it,”

He Ao laughed, "However, there haven't been any ghost mushrooms active around Dawn City for a long time, so not many people know about this method. I only obtained this method by chance."

"This method isn't difficult, but I'm personally very curious about this kind of creature called Ghost Mushroom. I noticed you guys seemed to be researching this mushroom at the hospital. Is there anything strange or unique about this mushroom?"

"Speaking of strange things, the life cycle of this man-eating mushroom is indeed strange,"

The old clan chief said slowly, "Generally speaking, these mushrooms are fungi. We currently believe that fungi and algae are of the same origin, belonging to eukaryotes and having a complete cell nucleus."

"The reproduction, growth, and some physiological characteristics of the man-eating mushroom are typical of fungi, but they do not have a complete cell nucleus."

The old patriarch paused for a moment, "In fact, they don't even have a relatively complete nucleoid of deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) aggregates, and their genetic material is not just deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) like that of cellular organisms."

"Their genetic material includes both deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), which are evenly distributed inside the cell."

"Based on our current understanding, the cells inside alien beasts generally undergo mutations, producing organelles that other organisms do not have."

"We do not currently know whether these organelles are related to their supernatural powers, but the vast majority of alien beasts possess organelles that are different from those of ordinary life."

"However, under normal circumstances, there is only one or two of these special organelles that exist only in the cells of alien beasts, and the special organelles in different alien beasts are different."

"And this man-eating mushroom..."

Inside the cell, there are nine completely different specialized organelles.

At this point, the old patriarch paused for a moment, "And among these nine special organelles, we saw three organelles that we had seen in other alien beasts before. We suspect that the remaining six organelles also came from different alien beasts."

Speaking so much in one breath was a burden on his aging body. He grabbed the water glass under the table, slowly lifted it, and took a sip of water.

"Ghost mushrooms can devour the organelles of other alien beasts?" Annie scratched her head. What the old man was saying was exactly what she had learned in high school biology, and she subconsciously began to think about it.

"Or did someone deliberately implant these organelles into the Ghost Mushroom? But is it really possible to implant organelles from one organism into another without killing that organism?"

“Don’t underestimate the mysterious and extraordinary power,” the old patriarch nodded with a smile. “Your guess is correct. Our current guess is a combination of your two guesses.”

“A mysterious entity ‘created’ the Ghost Mushroom.”

He Ao said slowly.

"what?"

Annie was clearly taken aback; this was somewhat beyond her existing knowledge.

"Yes, we suspect that these man-eating mushrooms are experimental products created by some higher being."

The old man said slowly.

"Then what are we?" Annie finally understood what her father and the old patriarch were talking about. She looked at the old patriarch in surprise. "A culture medium?"

Ghost mushrooms can absorb human flesh and blood to grow and reproduce.

For some reason, Annie felt fear for the world she had grown up in for the first time.

He Ao turned around, patted his daughter's head, and smiled, comforting his daughter who was gradually seeing the truth of the world.

Looking at her father's composed face, Annie's shoulders, which had been hunched over with tension, slowly relaxed.

She smiled at her father, indicating that he could rest assured.

At this moment, the old patriarch turned his gaze to He Ao, "These are all the results of our current research. As for the high-level beings behind the man-eating mushrooms, that is beyond our reach."

Although we cannot touch those at higher levels, we must still destroy the Ghost Mushroom.

Even though it is an experimental subject existing at a high level, it has already threatened the lives of wilderness wanderers.

The continuous proliferation of these ghost mushrooms means that wanderers in the wilderness will face either displacement or death.

The wanderers in the wilderness already had nowhere left to retreat.

“The document I saw said that the way to get rid of the Ghost Mushroom is very simple,” Heo turned his head and replied, “burn it. The ashes of the Ghost Mushroom are very easy to burn, which can create a continuous fire.”

"The heat from the flames will make the 'fragrance' of the man-eating mushroom even stronger,"

The old clan chief said hoarsely, "Even a single mushroom roasted would be irresistible to a D-level superhuman. The allure of man-eating mushrooms would be amplified when they are gathered together. If we set them on fire, we would not only have to resist the man-eating mushrooms, but also face alien beasts."

The old clan chief was referring to the difficulties encountered when burning the ghost mushroom.

Ghost mushrooms being roasted

When it is cooked, it will emit a stronger fragrance, which will entice the arsonist to eat it, thus saving it from being burned to ashes and allowing it to continue to take root and sprout inside the arsonist's body.

However, robots can also be used to set fires.

However, there is no network signal in the wilderness, and the signal will be strongly interfered with if it is even slightly far away. Even if a repeater is used to relay the signal, it will still be interfered with.

This means that the distance between the operator and the robot cannot be too far, and the cumulative allure effect and allure area of ​​a large number of Ghost Mushrooms are very large, so the operator will most likely still be within the allure range of the Ghost Mushrooms.

Regardless, the person who started the fire will have to face the temptation of the ghost mushroom; he may not be able to resist it.

The second issue raised by the old chieftain was that the attractiveness of Ghost Mushrooms increases significantly when they are clustered together. If they are set on fire, the cumulative allure of Ghost Mushrooms will become even stronger.

Then the entire mountain area might be filled with the aroma of roasted ghost mushrooms. People around might be able to evacuate, but the strange beasts that roam the mountains and fields will not obey human commands.

These strange beasts will charge madly at the Ghost Mushroom.

If the ghost mushrooms are eaten by the alien beasts and move away, the fire plan will fail.

"We can set up a defensive line on the perimeter and clear out any alien beasts that break through. As long as we prepare enough fuel, the ghost mushrooms will burn very quickly."

He pondered for a moment, then said slowly, "It seems that the members of the Andavi family are naturally able to resist strong mental temptations?"

In fact, he had discovered long ago that the souls of the Andavi family members were more solid than those of other people.

On the third floor of the hospital, the Andavi family researchers walked around the Ghost Mushrooms, which were not far from them, without being attracted by them.

Although there was only one Ghost Mushroom, and it was separated by a glass dome, the fact that the Andavi family members could resist this temptation still demonstrates the special nature of their physique.

The entire Andavi family has light-colored hair, and the young man from the Merck family that Heo brought over also has light-colored hair. That young man may also have some Andavi family blood, which allows him to walk on the edge of the Ghost Mushroom's coverage area.

This characteristic may be related to the secret hidden by the Andavi family. He Ao does not know what the secret is, but he knows that with the Andavi family's mental resistance, they should be able to move around the edge of the Ghost Mushroom area, build defensive facilities, and block the alien beasts that are attracted there.

This would be a huge loss for the Andavi family.

However, failing to deal with the ghost mushrooms will result in even greater losses.

The old patriarch seemed to fall into a silence. After a moment, he slowly raised his age-spotted face and said softly, "It's alright."

Then he looked at Heo, “But none of us can light the fire.”

The person who lights the fire needs to go deep into the area covered by the Ghost Mushroom to spread fuel, and must face the temptation of the Ghost Mushroom when the flames start to burn.

At this level, the Andavi family's innate resistance becomes useless; even D-level superhumans would be easily tempted.

This person is extremely crucial; they are the core of the entire operation. If they are controlled by the Ghost Mushroom before the fire is even started...

'Cultivation medium', then there was no further action.

Based on He Ao's observation, even a C-level fighter could potentially die there.

However, He Ao was able to resist this level of mental temptation.

“I can go,” Heo said softly. “Aim the plasma cannon at me, and fire as soon as I’m tempted.”

The old clan chief straightened his hunched back slightly, seemingly shocked by He Ao's decision.

Ultimately, He Ao was just a passerby who happened to be stranded here. The Ghost Mushroom did not involve his core interests, so he could have simply run away.

"what do you want?"

The old patriarch asked slowly.

Every effort has a reason.

He Ao is willing to work so hard, he must have something in mind.

"I want to know what the Fountain of Youth is, where it is, and how to find it."

He Ao calmly met the old patriarch's gaze and spoke slowly and deliberately.

"I have already told you the legend of the Fountain of Youth."

The old clan chief answered slowly.

“I know that’s not the whole story.”

He said slowly, "The ghost mushroom has devoured a wilderness wanderer camp."

The old patriarch was silent for a moment, then said, "We don't know if your method will work."

He Ao: "We can conduct an experiment first to see the effect."

The old clan chief became increasingly silent.

Finally, he sighed deeply and said, "Do you know that knowledge itself attracts the attention of high-level beings? The higher the level of extraordinary knowledge involved, the more terrifying the extraordinary events you will be involved in later."

"I know."

He replied calmly.

He not only knew that he had more than one good friend.

The old patriarch raised his head and stared at He Ao. He seemed to be thinking about something. Finally, he shook his head. "Although your soul seems very powerful, your body is too weak. You cannot enter the core area of ​​the man-eating mushroom, nor can you withstand the vortex brought by the Fountain of Youth."

He sighed softly, "That's it then..."

boom--

Just then, a deafening cannon shot rang out in the sky, like a thunderous roar.