Chapter 71: The First Mutation Experiment

"How are you talking?" He Qizheng did not want Liu Mu to be misunderstood, "Listen to the Boss first; if they can be saved, she won't ignore them."

Cai Zhenlong regained a sliver of reason, his eyes resolute, and he immediately spoke, "They are already like this, Boss Liu. No matter what the method is, it is better than them turning into that kind of thing!"

His speech carried a heavy local accent, and as his tone softened, it sounded several degrees more pleasant.

"It will cause mutation," Liu Mu pulled out a clean dagger, made a cut on her own arm, and showed them the wound.

It was just that this healing did not look 'aesthetic' enough; the wound barely bled a drop, and then the separated flesh and skin sprouted strands of granulation tissue, which intertwined and fused with each other, completing the repair extremely quickly.

Even if one were not squeamish about blood or afraid of wounds, it was still very uncomfortable to watch.

"If the situation is good, they will be like me. If they cannot endure it, death is not bad either. The worst case is forming an unpredictable mutation, or even losing their sanity and becoming monsters... A Zheng, those failed mutations you have seen... so..."

He Qizheng gritted his teeth tightly, the terrifying memories rolling like a tide in the heavy rain, but looking at the struggling young men, he still turned his head and said to Cai Zhenlong, "If they become monsters, we will have to kill them. Without sanity, they are no longer themselves. But I think it won't be worse than the current situation."

Because, right now, anyone with eyes could predict that these few young men would soon become things like the White Web.

He was speaking in the local dialect, and the speed of explanation and the accuracy of the description were much higher. Liu Mu could understand a part of it, but she did not interrupt, waiting for Cai Zhenlong's decision.

Having heard He Qizheng talk about the monsters he had seen before, Cai Zhenlong hesitated; if his brothers became like that, it would indeed be more terrifying than death.

Just as he was hesitating, his hand was suddenly gripped. Amidst the cold, damp, and slippery sensation, he looked down and saw Yang Pingxi, whose face had already begun to sprout mycelium.

"Sis, good, save... live!"

Yang Pingxi opened his mouth, which was densely covered with wisps of mycelium; clearly, he could no longer hold on, but he still managed to say two more words, "Monster, kill..."

"Okay!" Cai Zhenlong understood his brother's meaning, his gaze quickly sweeping over the faces of the others; none of them wanted to die.

"Boss Liu, I agree, my brothers also agree."

This sentence was spoken very calmly; compared to losing everyone, perhaps being able to save one or two was also good.

Liu Mu nodded and let the two men step back ten meters before taking out a Giant Sun Fragment the size of a fist.

Because of long-term isolation, a layer of almost solid Red Mist had condensed on the surface of the fragment, showing no signs of dissipating as it flowed.

Of course, she dared not let them inhale such a concentration directly. She took out a metal syringe used for animals, sucked up half a tube of Red Mist, and put the fragment away.

Without having experimented, she dared not inject the Red Mist into a body, so she could only push a little into each person's nasal cavity.

This process was very fast; the two men in the distance only saw Liu Mu's figure move into a blur, and then she stopped.

But even though the whole process took no more than ten seconds, there was still movement in the cave.

Liu Mu stood up, produced several boxes out of thin air, and threw them into the mud.

She said to the two men in the distance, "If they regain consciousness, feed them immediately. If the mutation goes wrong, kill them directly."

While speaking, she listened carefully to the movement in the cave. The things inside were indeed attracted by the aura of the fragment, stirring restlessly.

"I'll go in and take a look; it won't take long."

After finishing, her figure moved, disappearing into the cave entrance like a ghost.

The few people on the ground, spaced from a few meters to ten meters apart, remained still for the first half-minute, but just as the two men ran over with unsteady steps, they saw a scene they would never forget for the rest of their lives.

First, the White Mycelium grew wildly, wrapping the few people into snow-white balls in a few seconds.

Before they could step forward, the mycelium turned black, molded, and withered at a speed visible to the naked eye, revealing the people whose skin was red and swollen to the point of being almost transparent.

He Qizheng didn't even think; he took out the phone Liu Mu had given him earlier and began to record the transformation process.

Cai Zhenlong wanted to check the situation, but he was afraid of rashly stepping forward and destroying some unknown thing. Turning his head and seeing He Qizheng's actions, he couldn't help but feel a bit angry.

"Brother He, what are you doing?"

"Recording the process. The Boss needs to know the effect of the medicine; it should be useful in the future."

Actually, Liu Mu had not asked him to record it, but before they set off, Liu Fugui had instructed him that once there was anything special, he should take the initiative to help the Boss record it.

Moreover, ever since he met Liu Mu, he had never seen her be so cautious about a matter, so he thought this must be the special thing that needed help.

Just as the two were talking, the people on the ground, who were as red as cooked shrimp, began to tremble.

There was already a layer of black mud on the surface of the mountain rocks, and the amplitude of their trembling grew larger and larger; they inexplicably looked like fish stranded in silt, and soon they became 'black loaches'.

"Will they suffocate?" Cai Zhenlong asked, but immediately denied it himself, "The White Web had long since destroyed their respiratory tracts, but..."

The unknown was undoubtedly terrifying, and when the unknown situation happened to people he was familiar with, he was even more at a loss.

He Qizheng had never seen it either, so he could only comfort him while pretending to understand, "It doesn't look like they will turn into monsters. Those monsters are all this and that; as long as we don't let them get close to each other, they won't fuse into a lump. Let's wait a bit."

Just at this moment, a significant commotion came from the cave, and then they clearly heard Liu Mu cursing.

For a moment, the two did not know whether they should go into the cave to help or stay where they were and watch the people.

And from the time Liu Mu went in, it had only been two or three minutes.

Just as Cai Zhenlong wanted to ask He Qizheng what to do, he saw a white thing dart out from the cave, sliding across the mud like a snake, and fleeing into a mountain gully in the distance.

That was clearly the White Web from before.

"Damn it, you can even store food, huh! Hey, someone come in and help, there are people inside!"

When Liu Mu shouted, she had already rushed out carrying one person in each arm, threw them into the black mud, and went back in.

He Qizheng shoved the phone, which was in a sealed bag, into Cai Zhenlong's hand, "Record clearly, I'm going in to help save people."

"Okay, okay, okay!" Cai Zhenlong hurriedly held up the phone, but his eyes uncontrollably looked at the people being rescued; one of them was his cousin he was worried about.

He wanted to go over and check the situation, but he was 'entrusted with an important task' and dared not move. However, seeing that although his cousin had White Web on her, she had not grown mycelium, half of his heart was put at ease.

Holding the phone to continue recording, the few people who were trembling suddenly stopped, as if they were corpses rising, and sat up in unison.

Their faces were covered in black mud, making it impossible to see what the situation was. Cai Zhenlong swallowed a bitter mouthful of saliva and called out softly, "Xi Zai? Shunzi! Mangzai, Qizai? How are you all? Don't scare me, hold on, we are supposed to live and die together!"

Liu Mu came out again, bringing out two more people, and took a look, "The mutation has started. You go in and carry the people out, dead or alive, all must be carried out."

Cai Zhenlong wanted to watch his brothers, but he was also worried about the people inside. He gritted his teeth and leaned the phone against a large rock, trying to keep the scene in the frame as much as possible.

"I'm counting on you!"

Saying this, he strode toward the cave as if to escape. He was a little afraid; besides fearing the result of the mutation, he was even more afraid of having to kill his own brothers with his own hands.

Liu Mu twisted one in each hand and carried the four people to a place where the rain had washed away the mud and the mountain rocks were exposed.

She took out a bottle of water, washed the faces of the few people clean, and pried open their eyes and mouths to check.

They sat at a perfect ninety-degree angle, as if they had been placed into a right-angled mold.

Their eyeballs were almost bulging out, and streams of transparent, sticky liquid gushed from their seven orifices; they looked... like they were about to die.