Chapter 299: Giant Fungal Body

"It's this logo!"

Kiki recognized it immediately and recalled: "So the research convoy Uncle Wu and the others encountered before belonged to this Crimson Pharmaceuticals?"

"It should be the Crimson World," Xiang Xiang Ningjing said at this moment. "This isn't the Crimson Pharmaceuticals logo, but it is definitely this organization."

"Director Ding, scan it. Abai, see if there are any issues," Lin Lin Xian said to the two, gesturing toward the main building.

"Nothing. The fungal mat outside is too thick; I can't probe what's inside at all," Ding Ding Junyi said, and Abai also shook his head.

"It's been parasitized to this extent—are there really still living people inside?" Xiang Xiang Ningjing frowned. The entire building was completely wrapped in fungal mats. If not for the shape of the building, it would have almost become a giant fungal plant, covered in various mushroom spores and fungal tumors, looking utterly bizarre.

"Caution is paramount."

*Scritch, scritch, scritch! *

After saying this, Lin Lin Xian directly manufactured two drones. He could now control them remotely; the small drones he created didn't need remote control equipment to be operated. Lin Lin Xian then had the drones charge ahead, and he led the group behind them as they walked into the main building.

Above the sky, a large number of white downy fungal caps were falling continuously, accompanied by the surrounding brownish-yellow spore mist. The line of sight gradually became blurred. The revolving door at the main entrance had been completely blocked by fungal threads, and the automatic glass doors were glued open by them. Kiki immediately grabbed them with her telekinesis and ripped the entire door assembly down with a *boom*.

"Hurry in, don't touch those fungal caps!"

*Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh! * Just as everyone rushed into the dark main lobby, a continuous *hissing* sound began to rise from the ground behind them. Those fungal caps landed on the fungal tumors clinging to the building's structure, and white fungal threads began to spread instantly. The zombie corpses wrapped inside seemed to suddenly come alive, emitting shrill screeches. Tumor-like fungal sacs grew all over their bodies, and their skin peeled off inch by inch.

Upon entering the outer lobby, Lin Lin Xian directly manufactured a large floodlight and raised it into the hall, instantly illuminating the main lobby. The once magnificent and grand hall was now a mess. Everywhere there were human-fungi—some running, some climbing—all already parasitized by fungal threads and solidified in place. When the light appeared, these human-fungi began to twitch continuously and flocked toward the direction of the light.

"Find their laboratory, quick battle, quick decision!"

"Alright."

Lin Lin Xian couldn't care less about whether he would alert these human-fungi. He kept manufacturing floodlights to clear the path, while the two drones swept rapidly through the corridors, scouting for suspicious targets.

"This kind of pharmaceutical company usually has a core laboratory containing many subjects. If we want to find it, it might take a lot of time." Ding Ding Junyi followed behind Lin Lin Xian. Many corner areas of the dust-free corridor were now covered in fungal mats, with signs of mold everywhere. She used the Black Hawk combat suit's visual system to quickly capture the building's area map and said after performing a zone detection: "It's in Building C; we can go down via the central elevator."

*Zzzzt, zzzzt, zzzzt! *

Electric surges erupted from Lin Lin Xian's palms, and the lights in the entire corridor flickered continuously as the team moved forward, forming a temporary lighting system.

The deeper they went, the more fungal root systems were attached and parasitizing, and even some corridors were completely occupied.

*Bang! *

Xiang Xiang Ningjing punched a wall of fungal roots to pieces, clearing the passage. To avoid triggering an explosion, the path-clearing work could only be left to Xiang Xiang Ningjing and Kiki. Abai and Fire Brother's abilities were both flammable and explosive, so they could only follow silently.

"Something is coming!"

At this moment, Abai and Ding Ding Junyi spoke almost at the same time.

Lin Lin Xian and the others stopped immediately. They were currently passing through a narrow corridor. Under the drive of Lin Lin Xian's mechanical ability, only one area was brightly lit, while the other areas were hidden in fungal threads and darkness.

*Tsk, tsk~*

A sound of rapid climbing kept coming from the empty corridor. Lu Lu Xingchen immediately gripped fire in one hand, ready to strike, but was blocked by Lin Lin Xian raising his hand the next instant.

"Don't act rashly. There are fungal threads everywhere here; if we ignite them, none of us will be able to run."

"Let me." Xiang Xiang Ningjing walked forward, her gaze fixed on the darkness ahead. In the entire team, only she and Kiki were relatively suitable for combat. Hearing something approaching rapidly in the darkness, she immediately clenched her fists.

But who would have thought that just as the sound was about to break through the darkness, it suddenly stopped abruptly. The entire corridor went quiet, leaving only the fungal threads twisting continuously under the light.

"Ran away?"

*Gurgle, gurgle. *

At this moment, a sound of rolling rose from behind. Lin Lin Xian directly waved his hand, and the two drones flew into the darkness ahead and behind. Very quickly, everyone saw the source of the sound. They saw a large number of human-head fungi rolling over from the distant corridor behind—each one with a green, rotten face, wrapped in fungal threads, looking extremely terrifying!

"Run!"

Lin Lin Xian immediately led everyone to run forward. The drones' lights attracted a large number of human-head fungi and human-fungi with twitching joints to gather in the building. Fortunately, these things were relatively slow and posed no threat to the group.

Just as the group was preparing to cross a laboratory area, Luo Yang, while running, suddenly saw a black shadow rapidly approaching him from a corridor to his side!

In the next instant, a strange fungal corpse, covered in sharp claws, hunched over, with a greenish complexion, and wearing an experimental cleanroom suit, suddenly darted out from the darkness and lunged directly at him.

Argh!!!

This zombie was extremely fast, its sharp claws gripping the ground like a wild beast as it lunged forward, its entire body carrying a pungent scent of laboratory disinfectant.

Luo Yang's pupils instantly constricted, and he subconsciously prepared to use his ability, but Lin Lin Xian suddenly stepped in front of him and shouted, "Watch out!"

Hum!

A translucent AT Field expanded in front of Lin Lin Xian. The strange corpse that had darted out collided head-on with the field, and a large amount of black, ash-like substance instantly erupted from its body, spraying onto the wall. Upon closer inspection, that black ash was actually squirming, continuously splitting into slime mold like a spider, and it quickly covered most of the wall—it was extremely bizarre.

"Hey!" Kiki hurriedly pushed out a wave of telekinetic energy, blasting the strange corpse away, *bang bang bang*, crushing out a large amount of black mist.

"These things can't be touched. Sister Ning, don't make a move either!" Seeing this scene, Lin Lin Xian's expression turned somewhat ugly. He had brought so many powerful people out, but the things they encountered were more bizarre than the last, leaving them with no way to handle them.

Upon hearing this, Ning Jing frowned: "Looking at the clothing on this strange corpse, it should be an experimental subject kept in the laboratory."

"There are too many types of fungal characteristics we have encountered so far. Based on the information we can grasp, it is best not to act rashly." Ding Ding Junyi looked at the abnormal information of various air parameters in the holographic field of view and said: "I suggest we quickly find the people from the Deep Red World; they must know a lot of relevant information."

"In this situation, it's not even certain if there are any living people left." Lin Lin Xian looked at this scene, his feet not stopping, and led the group to run toward the direction of the building's atrium.

From the area map, it could be seen that the upper levels of the Deep Red Pharmaceutical Group were mainly administrative and business areas, while the core cryogenic laboratories were all underground, requiring passage through the vertical elevator in the atrium. Aside from that, there were basically no other search areas of value in the entire building.

"It's right ahead. Kiki, use your telekinetic shield to protect us well. Don't worry about anything you see on the road!"

Lin Lin Xian arranged things while running forward, but the strange part was that the closer they got to the atrium, the fewer the fungal threads around them became, as if suppressed by some special power.

At the same time, the lights gradually became brighter. He didn't need to use his mechanical ability to provide light, and the originally dirty and messy ground and walls became spotless. An interior scene of a high-end, luxurious pharmaceutical company began to appear before Lin Lin Xian.

With spacious and bright floors, the holographic advertising screens in the corridor displayed the corporate culture of 'Deep Red Pharmaceutical'. A bald, middle-aged man in a suit and wearing smart glasses appeared on the screen, talking enthusiastically.

"Deep Red Pharmaceutical is committed to reshaping the infinite possibilities of life from the perspective of gene technology... We have allowed CRISPR gene scissors to transcend the dimension of 'editing'—through AI-driven quantum base folding, we can not only repair faulty genes..."

"Professor Valen, a leader in federal biology, once said that humans are the top biological template in biological reproduction. Diseases, viruses, and defects are all inevitable processes of biological evolution, even including external factors like natural disasters. Someone asked: Does gene editing cross the forbidden zone of life? My answer is—when a mother, thanks to our mitochondrial regeneration therapy, sees her daughter with a congenital metabolic defect run for the first time, when AI for early cancer screening reduces the mortality rate by 90%, saving millions of families from terminal illnesses... what we are touching is not a forbidden zone, but the glory that civilization should possess."

Lin Lin Xian walked through the corridor. At this moment, a huge, bright atrium hall appeared in his line of sight, like a large technology building. *Woo~* Countless administrative drones were shuttling through the air, appearing very busy.

A cylindrical central elevator was situated in front, surrounded by a ring-shaped information desk. Surprisingly, a young woman in uniform was actually standing in front of the information desk, looking like a lobby manager. Other than that, the entire atrium hall was empty; Lin Lin Xian could only hear his own footsteps.

The woman was extremely beautiful, looking to be in her early thirties, and was currently looking at Lin Lin Xian with a polite smile.

"Hello." The woman seemed to be saying to Lin Lin Xian.

Lin Lin Xian did not speak. He observed the surrounding environment, then immediately looked behind him. A familiar feeling struck him—everyone else was gone, leaving only him and the woman in front of him.

*Click, click, click. *

Lin Lin Xian's gaze immediately tightened. His Mechanical Heart rapidly expanded, capturing available things to determine his current situation.

Yet the woman in uniform just looked at Lin Lin Xian with a calm expression and smiled.

"I understand you. The escape along the way is inevitably physically and mentally exhausting, with crises lurking everywhere, and you could lose your life at any moment. Now, seeing such a clean, bright, modern scene without any apocalyptic imagery, you must think you've come to the wrong place or entered a hallucination."

*Click, click, click. *

Lin Lin Xian's eyes glowed with the light of his ability, and his Mechanical Heart began to expand to a larger range.

"Have you ever thought that your understanding of death might be wrong?" The woman watched Lin Lin Xian's movements and continued: "As long as what you see, touch, perceive, and smell is not the apocalypse and death, then what does the form of life's existence matter?"

As soon as the words fell, a burst of noisy footsteps suddenly rang out in the atrium hall. Lin Lin Xian looked up and saw a large number of people walking out from all the passages in all directions. These people were men and women, all completely naked, and regardless of gender, they were all incredibly handsome and beautiful, like perfect human creations.

These pale human bodies walked toward him. Lin Lin Xian immediately began to retreat, and as his gaze shifted, Lin Lin Xian discovered that the number of men in the crowd began to decrease, stopping in place and leaving. All those surging forward were now only women. These women were of different heights, weights, skin tones, and hair colors, and even their figures and bust sizes were all different.

And as these people approached, it was as if a rapid screening was taking place. Those slim women with fair skin gradually became the mainstream, and the hair, bones, and hair color on their bodies gradually changed into the types Lin Lin Xian found most pleasing or liked best. Most bizarrely, the appearance of the women being screened out gradually changed toward beauties Lin Lin Xian had deep impressions of, such as Chen Chen Sixuan, Kiki, Ding Ding Junyi, and even Mo Mo Nika.

Before long, hundreds of stunning 'Chen Chen Laoshi', 'Kiki', 'Mo Mo Nika'... had arrived by Lin Lin Xian's side, surrounding him. These beauties were stark naked, the luster of their skin filled with the seductive aura of reproductive sex. They looked at Lin Lin Xian with clear eyes, some smiling, some serious, some cunning, some shy, almost invading all of Lin Lin Xian's senses.

At the same time, the crowd began to open up, and naked beauties walking up from behind were holding all kinds of delicacies: steak, roast duck, hot pot, fresh fruit, tempting desserts, and exquisite, mellow wine.

They did not speak, only continuously offering various delicacies, or striking various submissive poses, or expressing a loyalty willing to be dominated.

Suddenly, more men began to appear, crawling and kneeling on the ground around the beauties toward Lin Lin Xian, seemingly expressing submission and respect.

For a moment, Lin Lin Xian's front was filled with all kinds of food and fragrance, female bodies constantly twisting their torsos, and men kneeling before him in dense crowds, like a bizarre Shura field of human desire, pulling at all his senses and psychology, pulling frantically.

*Click. *

At this moment, Lin Lin Xian's Mechanical Heart finally captured something. He immediately took a deep breath, raised his left hand to deploy an AT Field shield, and at the same time, his right hand gripped fiercely!

*Boom! Boom! *

A huge, strange sound echoed in the hall. The woman in uniform in the distance suddenly had her face contort, and then, along with the women twisting and begging for intercourse beside Lin Lin Xian, a chain reaction occurred. Some postures twisted too much, actually turning into anti-joint movements, instantly shattering human cognitive norms and making the originally incredibly erotic scene become bizarre.

Yet these women seemed not to notice. As Lin Lin Xian's ability tore through them, the movements of these women began to become increasingly strange, as if an AI drawing had gone wrong. Some silently grew an extra arm, some women grew 7 or 8 fingers on their hands, and some even showed the terrifying scene of genital displacement—it was like a hell of female bodies!

"Eternal living bodies are... the final solution to life's reproduction. Hello, hello... I understand you. The escape along the way is inevitably physically and mentally exhausting. You must be tired. Don't be afraid..." The woman in uniform was still incoherently saying things with bizarre logic.

*Sizzle! Sizzle! *

Lin Lin Xian's ability surged rapidly. The elevator door of the central elevator behind the woman began to be constrained by his ability and opened. The carriage door seemed to encounter great resistance, and the process of opening became extremely slow. Lin Lin Xian exerted his full power, and the elevator motor made a *woo-woo-woo* sound. In the next instant, the carriage door seemed to tear something apart.

At this moment, all the twisted female-body hell in front of Lin Lin Xian disappeared, and the image reflected in his retinas began to gradually become clear.

Suddenly, the smell of rot and mold churned in his nasal cavity. In his vision, his two drones were falling onto a strange, mountain-like fungal mound in front. The illumination lights flickered. In Lin Lin Xian's current line of sight, the vertical elevator in the central hall was covered by a huge fungal mat. That fungal mat presented an enchanting color and grew bizarrely, like exposed human internal organs, looking just like a living creature.

At the same time, a large number of white fungal threads had already spread from under his feet onto his body, beginning to cover his lower body. Various stimulating energies were continuously transmitted, and the alarm sound of the TRP armor in his ears gradually changed from blurry to clear.

*Beep, beep, beep, beep. *

【Pilot heart rate abnormality warning】

【Pilot brainwave signal abnormality warning】

"This thing can cause hallucinations; gas masks are useless!"

*Crack! * At this moment, Ding Ding Junyi, wearing the Black Hawk armor, walked over and tore the fungal vines off Lin Lin Xian's feet. Seeing Lin Lin Xian turn his head to look at her, she immediately said: "You're awake?"

"How long?" Lin Lin Xian immediately asked.

"2 hours."

"So long?" Lin Lin Xian said in surprise: "How come I feel like only 5 minutes passed?"

Ding Ding Junyi immediately responded: "Just now, your brain underwent 200% overload operation, and all your body's senses and dopamine pleasure information were mobilized, which is why you saw scenes that were realistic enough to be fake. That was all rendered by your brain!"

"How do you know?"

"The Black Hawk armor's vital sign monitoring system told me. If you feel dizzy, it's normal; incontinence is also normal. It's just that we don't have time to change pants now."

After Ding Ding Junyi finished speaking, she immediately turned and walked toward Kiki and the others behind. At this moment, these people were all the same as Lin Lin Xian just now, standing in place, with a large amount of white fungal threads covering them.

"When did we get hit? How come I have no impression at all?" Lin Lin Xian felt a lingering fear and hurriedly rushed over to rescue the others with Ding Ding Junyi. At this time, Kiki, Ning Jing, Abai, Luo Yang, and Huoge were all closing their eyes, their eyeballs constantly rolling; clearly, they had fallen into some strong hallucinatory scene.

Lin Lin Xian was the first to tear off all the fungal threads on Kiki, checked that she had no injuries, and breathed a slight sigh of relief. Just as he was about to wake this girl up, he found her mouth opening and closing, seemingly shouting something in the hallucination. Lin Lin Xian frowned and hurriedly leaned his ear in.

"Yes, kneel down for this young lady and say you were wrong!"

"Lin Lin Xian, sing me a song and perform a show!"

"Don't laugh, slap yourself!"

"Is 'girl' what you call me? You should call me Queen!"

"You dare touch me? Come here, Sister Chen isn't here, hurry up and let this young lady kiss you~"

"Come, come, come, take off your pants and let this young lady..."

"Wake up!" The more Lin Lin Xian heard, the more wrong it felt, so he reached out and pinched Kiki's nose to wake her up.

Kiki felt a sudden pain and immediately opened her eyes. Seeing Lin Lin Xian in front of her, her big eyes blinked in astonishment. It took a long while before she finally reacted, and she hurriedly said:

"How is this hallucination so realistic? I... didn't we already return to the train and safely escape the Polar Night? Why are we still here?"

Lin Lin Xian glanced at her: "Are you okay?"

"I'm... I'm fine."

"Ouch~"

Seeing Lin Lin Xian's gaze, Kiki suddenly remembered something. Her face turned pale, and she hurriedly covered her head and looked around: "Ouch~ my head hurts so much."

Seeing that Kiki was fine, Lin Lin Xian breathed a slight sigh of relief. The situation with the others was about the same. The hallucinations caused by these fungal threads would continuously make one generate strong desires, thereby activating the human body's pleasure factors and continuously developing, eventually causing people to completely freeze in place and be covered by fungal threads.

In just two short hours, the fungal threads had almost covered more than half of his body—it was simply terrifying.

"Mommy, what happened?" Luo Yang kept scratching his head, feeling as if his head was splitting with pain.

Ning Jing and the others also had strange expressions, only Huoge was slightly frowning at this moment, with an expression that was a bit nostalgic and a bit self-reproachful.

"This hallucination is truly hateful; it actually made me walk the path of becoming a god and ascending to immortality for nothing. Sigh, it seems this humble one was too obsessed..."

Lin Lin Xian took a look and then said in a deep voice: "Everyone, pay attention. We must speed up. There are some things our gas masks can't block; we need to be more vigilant."

"Is this thing alive!?" Kiki was very angry at this moment. She looked at the huge fungal body above, gritted her teeth fiercely, raised her hand to use telekinesis to tear at it, and actually tore the huge fungal body directly apart. In an instant, the fungal vines all over the ground seemed to be pulled and began to vibrate.

*Gurgle, gurgle~*

At this moment, the sound of fungal-thread human heads rolling came from the corridor, and besides that, there was the *rustling* sound of some fungal root system continuously spreading.

Countless human-head fungi began to roll into the hall from outside.

"Hurry, run! This thing also has territorial awareness; we killed the big one, and now the small ones are coming."

"Kiki, tear open the fungal mat in front."

Seeing more and more fungal-thread human heads rolling in from the corridor behind, Kiki immediately listened to Lin Lin Xian's words and used her ability to directly tear and rip apart the thickest piece of fungal threads. At this moment, this huge fungal aggregate seemed to emit a painful tremor, and a large number of spores were continuously sprayed out. Lin Lin Xian took this opportunity to directly open the elevator door with his Mechanical Heart.

"Hurry, get in!"

Everyone quickly rushed into the elevator. The moment the door closed, a tide of fungal human heads had already surged into the hall outside, and scarlet light was continuously flowing inside all the fungal threads.

(End of this chapter)