Dual wielding volcanoes, killing through the west

“There’s nothing left around.” Ren pulled open the last drawer and shook his head in disappointment. “That old man probably packed up before he left. Even if Newman loses, he won’t leave us anything useful.”

"Since we're already here, we can catch up on sleep tomorrow morning." Zhang Renfeng once again applied the four principles of conduct of this ancient Eastern power, waving his hand, "Let's go, let's see what they're up to!"

----

The equipment can be taken away, and some precious experimental samples can be taken, but the fungi planted in the ground cannot be taken away. Unless they evolve two legs and can run with Im, but clearly, that day is still a long way off.

Following the passageway, through the darkness and narrowness, Zhang Renfeng turned on the lantern at his waist and took the lead.

An unexpectedly long time passed, long enough for him to silently calculate in his mind how much manpower and resources would be needed to dig such a tunnel beneath the town. A businessman doesn't make meaningless investments; he invested all the money he had raised from the inn into this project, undoubtedly hoping that it would give him a thousandfold return in the future.

This world has never lacked ambitious people.

……

At 4:47 AM, the group finally finished traversing the long tunnel. Zhang Renfeng checked his pocket watch and realized they hadn't slept all night and had walked through the underground tunnel for so long; they should be quite tired.

However, what appeared before him still caught him completely off guard.

It was a silvery ocean, covering the entire hillside.

This was the first time they had ever seen a strain of bacteria that did not parasitize any living organism; it was like a vast field of flowers that could sway on its own without relying on the wind.

“I see, it was them.” The wolf seemed to sense something, looked around, and then confirmed, “I know, Mr. Tao and I were coming back from the neighboring town. On the way, we heard someone calling my name.”

"That voice came from the mountains. It sounded like one person, but also like many voices were speaking to me at the same time..."

"Is that why you went crazy?"

Having finally solved a mystery, Zhang Renfeng's expression did not ease much; instead, it became even more complicated.

Perhaps it's related to the wolf's unique physique, but... for this fungus to be able to affect a living person's mental state from a distance is a bit too exaggerated. Even this visually stunning silver ocean appeared eerie to him.

At the center of the strain, there is also a stone tablet with a sentence inscribed on it.

"With this, I would like to thank Mr. Jon Arryn for his great contribution to the future of mankind."

“Jon Arryn?” Ren murmured. “Have you ever heard of him?”

“…I don’t know.” Zhang Renfeng shook his head.

Chapter 459: Burn it!

"Ms. Namelia..."

"Just call me by my name." Wolf wasn't being formal at all; in her view, since they had fought side by side, they were already partners.

“Nameria, you just said you heard the call of the colony… what exactly did it sound like?”

Yinshuang crouched down, took out a ruby-colored solvent from her pocket, poured a little onto the silver bacterial colony, and observed the solvent's reaction. She asked, "Is it a very clear, explicit, and logical language; or is it a faint, mysterious auditory hallucination that sounds like a divine oracle; or is it a more vague intuition?"

"Hmm? Hmm..." This was the first time the wolf had been asked such a detailed question. He closed his eyes and thought for a long time before answering, "The third one is like a dream. In the dream, I remember everything very clearly, but after waking up, I quickly forget it."

"Oh, I see."

The red solvent began to change color. Silver Frost gave a meaningful "Eh," pulled out a small knife, cut off a tiny bit of mycelium, and put it into an iron pot hanging from her waist.

"This is just my guess. I think they might be identifying you as one of their own kind in some sense."

"The same kind?" The wolf was startled by this conclusion, pointing to itself, "Me?"

“Mr. Zhang said that you have a super self-healing ability called ‘Rama Kung Fu’, is that correct?” Silver Frost’s gaze shifted slightly downwards, looking at the wolf’s right arm.

Whip strikes that exceed the speed of sound come at a price.

When speed exceeds the sound barrier, seemingly harmless air exerts an unparalleled reaction force on the body—this is the origin of the "sound barrier." High risk, high reward; wolves use it as a means of attack, and naturally, they must bear the price behind this immense power.

After knocking the five- or six-meter-tall Frankenstein away with a single blow, her entire right arm exploded, a gruesome sight.

Flesh and blood were torn open, tendons and veins were severed, and even the white radius bone was exposed. Even if the wolf was incredibly resilient, it didn't mean she was immune to pain, and she remained silent for a long time. The blood within her body didn't even flow out, but instead transformed into a red mist that drifted into the air.

However, this kind of injury, which in reality would require replacing an arm, was healed in about thirty minutes.

At this moment, Wolf's right arm was smooth as new. There were still a few noticeable scars on her skin, but compared to how it looked just now—enough to be on a pornographic film set—it was infinitely better! Not to mention, even these scars were slowly fading away.

Scalding white steam continuously seeped from the wound, suggesting that even a powerful being like Rama must adhere to the law of conservation of energy. She still needed to expend a certain amount of energy to heal a wound of this severity. And this energy, dissipating in the cold night, turned into steam.

"Look, this strain of bacteria can parasitize humans and help them repair wounds, right? They don't have brains and can't recognize anything too complex. Perhaps your healing abilities are similar to the properties provided by the mycelium, which is why..."

……

What seemed like an absurd statement actually made some sense after her analysis.

"The same kind...?"

It wasn't an animal, and strictly speaking, it couldn't even be considered a plant. Being recognized as one of its own kind by this creature left the wolf with mixed feelings.

"This is really weird." Ren crossed his arms and shivered. "It feels like it's alive."

“They’re alive. I think there’s some kind of consciousness residing behind these colonies.” Silver Frost’s tone was very certain. “Although they’re still very primitive now, as the colonies increase, they might be able to form a network, and then…”

"Could they be fungi that have come to life?"

"Like the [ancestral people] over there in the tall trees, they can also respond to human thoughts. My mentor said that this happens occasionally. The concept of the soul is not unique to humans; some larger, more silent groups can also develop souls. Perhaps stones also have souls, but their physiology is too different from ours..."

……

The words of his companions gradually faded away amidst the buzzing of the bees.

Zhang Renfeng stared blankly at the silvery sea, his gaze unfocused. As it rose and fell, fragments of sounds and images gradually surfaced in his mind. He was certain that these were not his own memories, but they had intruded, as if a crack had opened in the sky and a giant hand had reached out and forcibly stuffed these things into his thoughts.

Sensing his presence, the mycelium turned towards him in unison, like sunflowers, and several mycelium strands rubbed together to form tendrils.

"?!" Silver Frost sensed something was wrong and immediately stood up.

"Senior brother?" Wolf nudged Zhang Renfeng's shoulder, but he didn't react and remained standing there in a daze.

----

He saw a sea of ​​fire, and a man standing high above, arms outstretched, laughing heartily. Because of the distance, the man's face was blurry, but Zhang Renfeng felt that his figure and outline were somewhat familiar, as if he had seen him somewhere before.

Her flowing red hair shone even brighter in the firelight.

"Burn! Burn! Burn it all!"

The red-haired man burst into laughter, his voice booming with such power that even the crackling of the flames couldn't drown it out. The laughter echoed through the dark night sky, like the roar of some indescribable beast.

----

"Om-!!"

The dark green magic seal flashed before his eyes, and Zhang Renfeng was jolted awake, escaping from the illusion.

"Are you alright?" Seeing that he had regained consciousness, Silver Frost removed the hand seals and muttered, "Sure enough, these bacteria are alive, and they've started targeting you."

“…It…they…” Zhang Renfeng shook his head, as if trying to shake the scene he had just witnessed out of his mind.

He couldn't be sure if those were really hallucinations.

Standing there, he could almost feel the heat of the flames and hear the crackling sound of them burning the houses apart.

“I’ve noticed that you seem to be quite susceptible to this… ‘unclean’ stuff.” Ren pulled out a small red brocade pouch from some unknown pocket. It was decorated with delicate brushstrokes depicting crimson flames and auspicious cloud patterns in gold foil.

"This is a Kagutsuchi amulet that I collected when I climbed Komatsu Shrine."

"Can you just give this away like that?" Zhang Renfeng didn't rush to take it, wiping the cold sweat from his forehead. "What will you do if you give it to me?"

"Don't worry, I have thirty of these," Ren said seriously. "We've been through thick and thin together, so don't be shy. Consider it a small gift."

“…Alright, thank you, I’ll remember this.” Zhang Renfeng pondered for a moment, then took the talisman from his hand without saying anything more.

To be honest, before this, he had never paid much attention to the teachings of gods and Buddhas; otherwise, he wouldn't have hung Colin on the spire of someone's church.

But recently, a series of strange things have been happening one after another, and Zhang Renfeng has indeed felt that his understanding of the world may still be very shallow. They meant well, so he'll just accept it and consider it a way to change his luck.

……

"These mushrooms... can't be kept, not a single one." Zhang Renfeng waved his hand and said in a deep voice, "Burn them all!"

Chapter 460: Physics is still more useful

"At present, it seems that death in the true sense is only a few minutes away at most."

Tao's tone was calm and even, as if Death himself were proclaiming his written decree, "Once the heartbeat stops completely, the damage to the brain is almost irreversible. Unfortunately, I don't have any truly effective means of saving her. Perhaps I could give her a cardiac stimulant..."

……

His voice echoed in Mrs. Tuden's ears; she hadn't yet recovered from the shock and stared blankly at Tao. Like a kitten or puppy trying to understand human language.

Less than half a body length away, her daughter was lying on a makeshift bed.

Her right leg was dangling outside; her shoe had fallen off sometime during the night, leaving her right foot hanging limply. The tall girl was holding a syringe, tapping the girl's arm, trying to find an injection site. In the dim light, she felt that all of this was absurd, unreal, more like a nightmare.

She slapped herself hard, but strangely, her face seemed numb and she didn't feel any pain at all.

But she didn't wake up.

Only then did her mind process what Tao had said and begin to truly understand the fact that she might, very soon, lose her only daughter forever.

Vivian sat in a room not far away, without turning on the lights, but instead set up her easel and silently watched the scene.

"Why? Why did it turn out like this?" She seemed to suddenly regain her strength, sitting up abruptly, and asked in a hoarse voice, "She was perfectly fine just now, how could she suddenly... just... just become like this?!"

“I don’t know much about human physiology and medicine,” Tao said in a deep voice. “However, based on the current situation, it may be caused by a disorder of the autonomic nervous system.”

"When the human body experiences a huge emotional shock, it will produce a series of physiological reactions, the most serious of which is the autonomic nervous system disorder. It will affect heart activity, weaken the myocardial contractility, slow the heartbeat, or even stop it completely—sounds very similar to the symptoms you are experiencing now, right?"

"Simply put, it's because she was too traumatized and didn't have the ability to deal with the terrible situation, which is why she ended up like this."

Tito finally found the spot to insert the needle, and with one stroke, he said into the little girl's thin arm, "This is just right for you, isn't it?"

“Just now, after seeing the tear in her lower body, didn’t you say things like, ‘Why did you do this?’ ‘How am I supposed to live here in the future?’ These are probably the causes of her illness. After talking to you, the child’s condition deteriorated rapidly.”

"Now that she's really dead, no one will mention this anymore, and you can continue to live peacefully in Dover Valley. Congratulations, congratulations."

Mrs. Tuden's mouth opened slightly, her legs buckled, and she knelt on the ground, shaking her head in anguish. "No...no...I...I had no other choice in that situation. I just...I just didn't know things would get this bad..."

“You simply didn’t choose her,” Tito said expressionlessly. “Have you ever considered why your daughter would rather seek help from a group of strangers than tell her own mother what happened?”

"Because, subconsciously, she has already realized that even if she tells you, you won't choose her."

----

Following the underground passage again, the group returned to the Newman Hotel.

As I went outside, I saw a large crowd of people spontaneously gathered there, standing in unison at the entrance as if they were witnessing some kind of miracle. They remained silent and motionless, craning their necks in anticipation, as if hoping that their god would emerge from within and provide a reasonable explanation for everything that had happened that night.

After a night, the torrential rain finally stopped, and the sky began to lighten with the first hint of dawn.

Zhang Renfeng yawned, no longer having the energy to deal with them. Just as he was about to leave, several people blocked his way.

They weren't wearing gray robes, and they didn't look like they were infected by the bacteria, but perhaps the real bacteria were parasitizing in places that couldn't be seen.

heart.

"Who are you people, and why are you out of the inn?" One of the young men shoved Zhang Renfeng, taking five steps back himself. Annoyed and embarrassed, he raised his voice several decibels. "Where is Mr. Newman? What happened last night? How could you allow these bastards to break into the inn's sanctuary without permission?"

"You'd better watch your mouth." Ren frowned and pretended to draw his sword. Clearly, even as an East Asian, he couldn't escape the term "yellow barbarian."

"..." Zhang Renfeng made a gesturing gesture to him, looked around, and sighed, "Newman Rudinburgh, you all came here for him, right?"

"he died."

He skipped the details because the process was quite convoluted, and even now, he still didn't understand Newman's motives.

Inside the sanctuary, they did manage to seize quite a few letters, documents, and manuscripts, but he was too busy that night to examine them closely. He'd analyze them slowly back home to see if he could find anything. As for Im's whereabouts, the case was pretty much closed.

There was an uproar at the scene.

"This guy you all respect is actually not what you see at all. And this inn, from beginning to end, is part of a huge conspiracy. Last night, quite a few people must have seen that pieced-together monster, right? It came out of here..."

……

He condensed and roughly recounted Newman's rape of Aurora, but omitted Aurora's name. In his view, there was really nothing more to say about such a thing; he had killed someone who deserved to die, and that was all.

This isn't the first, and it certainly won't be the last. In a few months, he'll probably forget everything about Newman's appearance.

However, the townspeople clearly did not see it that way.

----

"Nonsense, all nonsense! Mr. Newman would never do such a thing! Absolutely not! These outsiders are just making things up. Don't be fooled by him!!"

“Oh my god… what will happen to my business without Mr. Newman? I’ve already reached an agreement with the hotel about this money…”