The world enters the fungal world

Chapter 78 Heading to Lingxu City (Thanks to Yimeng Hongchen for the donation)

Li Yu nodded slightly and said, "Do you remember the crying gourd fruit we encountered yesterday? That fruit could make a sound like a baby crying to lure prey, and could even confuse prey that got close to it."

"If the plant on the third floor also has a similar ability, let's say it can release some kind of special power or scent to make us fall asleep, or even lure and bewitch Zou Dapeng, who is on duty, so that he will voluntarily enter the third floor and get close to its true form. Once Zou Dapeng is bewitched, he will have no ability to resist and will be caught and eaten by the fly trap. That would not be surprising."

Hearing Li Yu's guess, everyone looked at each other in confusion. Zhou Xigang suddenly said, "No, if this thing really has such a terrifying ability, why does it only prey on Zou Dapeng? It could easily bewitch all of us and prey on us one by one."

Li Yu shook his head and said, "It doesn't have that ability. Do you know how many days it takes for a Venus flytrap to completely digest an insect after it catches it? It takes 5 to 10 days, and sometimes even up to two weeks."

As he spoke, a figure came to mind. This person had once kept Venus flytraps for a period of time, and by chance, he learned about Venus flytraps through this person.

"Assuming it preyed on Zou Dapeng in the middle of the night, several hours have passed, and it has only melted the surface flesh. Based on what we have just seen, it would probably take it a very long time to completely digest a person."

Lin Muying nodded slightly, understanding that Li Yu's words made sense. Even if the plant had truly bewitched them and led them into its trap, given its abilities, it would take at least several days to devour one person.

Zhou Xigang said, "I still feel something's not right. For example, why did it choose Zou Dapeng? Because he was on duty? But I was on duty too, so why wasn't I chosen?"

Li Yu gave him a deep look before saying, "Because you're thinking about it with a human mindset. Its hunting and behavioral patterns are more like those of a plant. After the Venus flytrap has completely digested its food, it will reopen its trap to catch new prey. But do you know how long that simple process of opening the trap takes?"

"It takes anywhere from 5 hours to a day. For it, just having the thought of hunting takes half a day, so you should be glad you were lucky and it was the first half of the night."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Xigang suddenly understood, felt a chill run down his spine, and was filled with lingering fear.

Qian Lili found it hard to believe and couldn't help but say, "It takes half a day to even form a thought? How is that possible?"

Lin Muying frowned slightly, took a deep breath, and said, "I understand what Li Yu means. Although this plant is terrifying, it is still a plant after all. It does not have the brain of an animal and cannot make quick judgments or decisions about things."

"I think we alerted it when we entered the residential building. Although we can't be completely sure about its hunting mechanism, Li Yu's guess is quite reasonable. It must rely on some special ability to influence or confuse its prey. We felt weak and tired when we woke up, which may be a side effect of this ability."

"But it takes at least half a day or even a whole day for it to have the idea to hunt. From the time we arrived and disturbed it until the second half of the night, it took it to form the idea and carry out the action. So Li Yu said that Zhou Xigang was lucky because he was on duty in the first half of the night. If he had been on duty in the second half of the night, he would have been the one to be preyed on."

Hearing Lin Muying's explanation, Qian Lili nodded slightly, the color slowly fading from her face. She felt a chill in her heart, which meant that whoever was on duty in the middle of the night last night was the one who was captured and melted into jelly.

First it was Yu Xiang and his wife, then Wu Limei, and now it's Zou Dapeng's turn. Each death is more tragic than the last. The five people are heavy-hearted, especially Li Yu, Fang Mingxuan, and the other three, who are classmates of Zou Dapeng and usually have a good relationship with him. They feel even more depressed now.

"Li Yu, Mu Ying, Fang Mingxuan, Zhou Xigang, everyone think of a solution! If we don't come up with one soon, it'll be our turn sooner or later—"

"We're all going to die." Qian Lili became more and more frightened as she thought about it, her hands tightly gripping the hem of her clothes, her legs trembling slightly.

"How can we figure this out? What can we possibly do? This damn place."

Zhou Xigang gritted his teeth. He originally thought he was the chosen protagonist and firmly believed that he had great luck. However, he had encountered dangers in the past few days and watched Wu Limei and Zou Dapeng die one after another. In particular, Zou Dapeng, who was chatting with him last night, suddenly turned into a human-shaped jelly this morning. This had a very strong impact on him.

He began to doubt himself.

Suddenly, as if struck by a thought, Qian Lili exclaimed, "Zhou Xigang, didn't you say we were supposed to enter the second stage of the spore stage last night? But why don't I feel like I've gotten stronger?"

Zhou Xigang was taken aback, and he also thought of this problem. They entered the spore stage one day later than Li Yu. Based on this time, they should also enter the second stage of the spore stage one day later than Li Yu.

However, Li Yu had already entered the second stage the night before last, while they did not enter the second stage last night. Even now, they are still at the initial spore stage level.

"What's going on?" Zhou Xigang couldn't figure it out this time either.

Seeing that the three of them had not yet entered the second stage, Li Yu vaguely guessed the reason.

According to the booklet, to grow faster, one needs to constantly fight and hone their skills to accelerate the absorption and digestion of nutrients by the fungi in their body. In the past few days, I have worked harder than them, killed the most fungal beasts, and eaten the most edible fungi, so I have evolved faster than them.

Lin Muying glanced at Li Yu, then looked at Zhou Xigang and Qian Lili, and said, "The reason is simple. You forgot what that booklet said: constant fighting can accelerate growth. Li Yu has killed more fungal beasts than we have, so he will definitely grow faster than us."

Upon hearing Lin Muying's words, Zhou Xigang fell silent. He naturally remembered what was written in the booklet. He had initially dismissed it, but now it seemed that Lin Muying's explanation was the most reasonable.

Upon hearing this, Fang Mingxuan silently gripped the crowbar in his hand. He wanted to become stronger, because only by becoming strong enough could he go to the Southern District to find Lingxu City and reunite with Xiaoyue and her son as soon as possible.

"Killing as many fungal beasts as possible will accelerate my growth, right? —" Fang Mingxuan pursed his lips slightly, silently thinking to himself, a resolute expression slowly appearing on his face.

For the sake of Xiaoyue and her child, he had to become stronger, stronger than anyone else.

"Then let's find suitable fungal beasts to kill. The more we kill, the stronger we'll become, right?"

Fang Mingxuan's voice rang out, and everyone looked at him. Li Yu looked at the expression on his face and understood what he was thinking. He nodded slightly and said, "In some respects, that is indeed the case."

As he said this, he felt a pang of hunger in his stomach.

A full day passed after he finished eating the jelly mushrooms, and he finally felt hungry again.

Zhou Xigang sighed and said, "I understand the logic, but finding a suitable fungal beast isn't that easy. Forget it, let's not talk about this anymore. Let's eat something first. Are you hungry?"

Everyone felt hungry as soon as they woke up in the morning, but they couldn't care less about their hunger after Zou Dapeng went missing. Now that they had escaped here, Zhou Xigang finally couldn't hold back any longer.

Fang Mingxuan took off his backpack, which was filled with small umbrella mushrooms. Everyone gathered around the backpack and started eating.

Everyone initially thought the residential buildings would be safe, but now it seems that they are not safe at all. No one knows if any strange or eerie creatures are hiding in any of the buildings. If they are not careful, they may end up like Zou Dapeng.

Compared to Zou Dapeng's confused death, they would rather fight the fungal beasts, so that even if they die, they can die knowing why.

After finishing their meal, Zhou Xigang said, "Everyone, what do you think we should do next? If we're heading towards the hotel, we should go north; if we go south, we'll be heading towards Nanshan District."

Li Yu had a larger appetite than the others, and he was the last to finish eating. After he finished, he sat on the curbside, squinting his eyes slightly, silently sensing the changes in the pupil fungal spores.

Two days have passed since the spores entered the second stage of the spore stage, and Li Yu can clearly feel the change in spore size, which has increased significantly compared to two days ago.

This excited Li Yu. As the fungal spores continued to grow, his strength also increased. The second stage of the spore stage was not the limit; he could become even stronger.

He then thought of a passage written in that booklet: "Reach the peak within a month." What does "peak" refer to? Could it be referring to the peak of the spore stage?

He heard Lin Muying speaking as he was deep in thought.

"Both options are fine, but going back to the hotel now wouldn't make much sense."

She frowned slightly as she said, "When we went to the hotel, we encountered a group of Blood Mushroom Monkeys as soon as we entered. Not to mention what might be on the second or third floor, or even in that deep pit. And now, two days have passed, these Blood Mushroom Monkeys may have become even stronger. With our current abilities—"

She shook her head as she spoke. Wu Limei's death had greatly shocked them. Now that their strength had increased, they were confident they could kill a group of ordinary fungal beasts. But when it came to hotels, Lin Muying felt that if they went to a hotel now, it would be no different from sending them to their deaths.

Fang Mingxuan, who had been quiet all along, spoke up, saying, "We can't go back to the hotel, so we have to go to Lingxu City."

Zhou Xi glanced at them before saying, "Since you all feel that we can't go back to the hotel for the time being, then we can only continue to Nanshan District. However, the fungal beasts we encountered in that direction are getting stronger and stronger. I think we can change direction and take a detour. Maybe there won't be such powerful fungal beasts there."

Qian Lili's eyes lit up, and she nodded hurriedly, saying, "This is a good method. We can go to Lingxu City and avoid those powerful fungal beasts at the same time."

Li Yu glanced at Zhou Xigang, thinking to himself, "Who can guarantee that there won't be any powerful fungal beasts if we change to another direction?"

However, he didn't say it aloud. Everything was uncertain at the moment, and they had no better choice. Although Zhou Xigang's suggestion might not be entirely correct, they could give it a try.

Seeing that no one objected, Zhou Xi pointed to the distance along the road and said, "Then let's follow this road to Yuexiu District, and then take a detour from Yuexiu District to enter Nanshan District to search for Lingxu City. My initial estimate is that it will be about 5.6 to 5.7 kilometers longer. I can't calculate it any more precisely."

Qian Lili exclaimed in shock, "You even have decimals in your mileage calculation? How did you figure that out?"

Most people would say about five or six kilometers more, but it's rare to find someone like Zhou Xigang who can give a decimal.