Immediately, he became lighter, floating in the air. The sunlight from the window turned into a vast sea of water and the paper and notebooks on the table turned into a vast expanse of whiteness. An Zhe blinked. He didn’t feel uncomfortable but he felt that all his movements had become very slow and erratic. He couldn’t control his body. It was as if he was flying and was about to fall.
Then—the world before him gradually darkened and he completely lost consciousness.
He was awakened by the cold. Once he opened his eyes and woke up, he found that the continuous grey buildings outside the window were immersed in the golden-red sunset and onto him. He had passed out for at least seven or eight hours. It turned out that the toxicity of his mycelium was to make people sleepy.
The temperature in the room was much lower in the evening then it was in the day time. An Zhe lay on the bed and wrapped himself in a quilt, restoring the temperature. After the numbness from the cold dissipated, he was hungry again.
An Zhe preferred to use mushrooms to absorb nutrients but along the way, he couldn’t find even a piece of wet soil in the entire base. He could only eat food. Human beings were truly troublesome creatures. An Zhe frowned.
Fortunately, An Ze’s residual memories told him where to go to eat. The base was divided into eight districts. Districts 6, 7 and 8 were the main living areas. Here, each building was a community and the first floor was the hall. Water and food were provided on a daily basis. Children under the age of 16 had a free quota while adults over the age of 16 needed to pay using the base currency. The currency unit was the letter R.
There weren’t many people in the hall. It was approximately 50 people. There were only two windows for selling food. One was a mud-like dish made from the tubers of some type of plant and the other was a soup made from the same plant tubers. An Zhe searched his memories and remembered that this plant was called a potato.
An Zhe paid by credit card.
For mashed potatoes, the price was 0.5 and his balance was 9.5
For potato soup, the price was 0.3 and his remaining balance became 9.2.
An Zhe stared at the number that represented the balance of the card and realized that he would be on the verge of starvation in a few days. He felt like a mushroom rooted in dry soil and was facing death at any time.
This feeling became more apparent when he returned to the fifth floor after eating and spent 0.1R in the common water room. Thus, he added finding a source of money on his things to do. After screwing on the cap of the standard stainless steel bottle, An Zhe held it in his hand and was about to turn around when a voice was heard behind him. “An Ze?”
The voice was loud and trembling as it echoed in the small space. An Zhe turned around. In the corridor stood a young man who was tall and handsome. At this moment, the man was staring at An Zhe, lips shaking. It was difficult to judge if his expression was shock or joy.
“An Ze?” He exclaimed again. “You… you’re back? You’re not—”
Here, he shut up again. His face was blue like he didn’t know how to continue. However, An Zhe knew what he wanted to say. It was because he knew this man. The man’s name was Josie.
Josie was An Ze’s neighbour and friend who grew up with him. Sometimes, Josie would take care of An Ze. More often, An Ze would take care of him. The remnants of these memories appeared before An Zhe.
Still, his understanding of Josie wasn’t entirely derived from An Ze’s memories. As a mushroom, he had met this person. His observations and An Ze’s memories combined to complete the real cuase of An Ze’s death.
An Ze was a person who lived by writing. His job was to write novels, essays or poems for people’s amusements. He contributed it to the base every month and the base would regularly publish such pamphlets to people. However, just three months ago, the base removed this department to save manpower and resources.
At that time—
“An Ze, what are you reading?” Josie asked.
“I want to prepare for the selection test of the base’s supply station.” An Ze drew a circle in the book. “I think I would like the work there and the salary is good.”
Josie frowned.
“You want to get away from civilian status?” He asked. “The test is difficult.”
“It’s fine.”
“An Ze.” Josie’s tone became harsh. “You’ve always known that I want to go out into the wild with you.”
An Ze smiled. His tone was very light, like coaxing a wayward friend, but there was also a helpless sigh. “I’m not fit to go outside.”
“I will protect you.” Josie grabbed his shoulder, voice soft. “I can’t live without you. Follow me into the wild and we won’t go to any dangerous places.”
The fragments of memories were roughly the same. Eventually, under Josie’s soft persuasion, An Ze promised to go on an adventure into the wild. Josie was the member of a large mercenary team. He did some work and introduced An Ze very smoothly. An Ze was responsible for the distribution and statistics of materials.
However, in the wild, anything could happen. One day, the team lost its way and entered the edge of the Abyss. By the time they found out that the mushrooms here were unusual, it was too late. The monsters in the Abyss wouldn’t let go of any food.
For humans, even the edges of the Abyss were terrible. Three of the five armoured vehicles were damaged. The people on these three panicked and moved to the intact armoured vehicles. As they were escaping, An Ze pushed Josie to barely dodge the attack of a winged monster in the air and tripped over the vines on the ground.
Josie paused for a second. After this second, this survival instinct surpassed everything. Between pulling An Ze up and escaping, he chose the latter. He flew forward and was pulled by the captain into the armoured vehicle. At this moment, An Ze stared at their figures while being stabbed through the chest by the monster’s bone spurs.
Immediately, the mercenary team used the heaviest firepower to start a fierce battle with the monsters and then withdrew. Their movements were too loud and they woke up An Zhe. He came out to look for the spore but returned empty-handed every time. This time was the exception. He took advantage of the fierce fighting to quietly bring An Ze deep into the cave.
Thus, facing Josie at this moment, An Zhe had nothing to say. The first reaction of any creature facing death was to escape. Josie did nothing wrong but An Zhe didn’t like him.
“You… are a bit different.” Josie’s Adam’s apple moved. “Is your injury okay? You escaped from the Abyss?”
An Zhe just looked at him calmly.
“No, you’re not An Ze. You’re not human.” Josie took a sharp step back, his face white. “You are a different kind.”
“I’m sorry.” An Zhe passed by him. “I accidentally ate a poisonous mushroom and can’t remember who you are.
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