Chapter 2641

Fungi have another advantage: they grow much faster than ordinary plants. There is no need to wait for a six-month growth cycle anymore. With Shi Misi's cooperation, the experiments soon yielded results.

The answer is yes, but they still need further improvement. What Pamela put in at the time were ordinary fungal strains—that is, the shiitake mushrooms people often eat. Schiller mainly considered that this type of mushroom grows in a more approachable way; if there were any mutations in shape, they wouldn't look too ugly.

But he clearly underestimated the range of mutations mushrooms could undergo. One might mistake the grown shiitake mushrooms for hand grenades.

The entire mushroom is no longer a flat, round shape, but a towering oval, covered with countless terrifying black-purple bumps. Even if a Chinese person came along, they wouldn't first consider whether this thing was edible.

The appearance is indeed a big problem. If it looks too ugly, even if it is touted as a medicinal herb for longevity, it might still arouse public suspicion, and clinical trials alone would be difficult to conduct.

After repeated experiments by Shi Misi, he discovered that the appearance of the mushroom's mutation mainly depends on the substrate used for cultivation—that is to say, the mushrooms will grow according to the nature of the corpses of those demons and monsters.

The Black Ghost Lady was a purple-haired zombie, so the mushrooms that grew were naturally black-purple and looked very terrifying. Later, they found the corpse of an animal spirit, and the mushrooms that grew were golden, which looked much better.

Schiller pondered that Chiyou was also a tribal leader. According to Ying Long's description, he didn't look too ugly. Although he had horns on his head and looked different from modern humans, the aesthetic of mushrooms is different from that of humans; as long as they don't grow in a way that completely kills one's appetite, it's fine.

After discovering that this was feasible, the Spear Bureau brought more samples for Shi Misi to experiment with. Finally, they found that the mushrooms grown from ordinary humanoids and animal spirits were relatively ordinary. Schiller and the others were unlucky; they picked a thousand-year-old zombie, and no matter how they planted the corpses of such demons, they couldn't grow anything that looked edible.

As for the efficacy of the mushrooms, it also has something to do with the substrate. If the corpse is flesh and blood and some energy is injected into it, the mushroom can inherit and well preserve this energy, which can enhance human magical affinity. Internal use can slightly improve immunity, but external application is more effective. The most effective use is scar removal; regardless of the type of scar, it can basically be restored to its original state.

If the corpse itself is an energy entity condensed from spirits, similar to a compressed version of a demon god, the planting and growth of the mushrooms are very laborious, and the survival rate is very low, but the effect is the best, truly achieving the goal of extending human life.

As for those zombies, the mushrooms grown from them are all poisonous. Mild cases lead to limb tremors, and severe cases lead to unconsciousness. Visibly, as long as the quantity is large enough, they can be used as poison.

However, some poisonous mushrooms are also useful, such as those that can relieve pain, induce sleep, or even keep a person in a state of minimum power consumption without damaging the human body, and they are completely non-addictive, which can replace many sedative drugs.

These mushrooms can more or less change human magical affinity, but improving magical affinity doesn't mean one can immediately learn magic. As the subject, one's magical talent hasn't changed, and active use is still not possible; it only improves the degree of accepting magic as an object. At the very least, one won't feel dizzy sitting in a portal.

After so many experiments, the Spear Bureau probably has a count, but Chiyou is, after all, not on the same level as these low-level demons and monsters, so in the end, facts must speak for themselves.

Then there is the final problem that needs to be solved: where to put Chiyou after moving him out. Open-air placement is definitely not okay. The Spear Bureau's plan is that although he won't be buried so deep, he must be placed inside the mountain, and heavy obstacles must be set up to ensure safety.

Strange thinks this method is very good, but when facing Zheng Xian, he was still hesitant. Zheng Xian asked a few more questions before he realized that the blueprints were good, but they couldn't be built.

After so many days of planning and design in the village, Strange finally understood what a troublesome matter this was.

First, they have to build a road, and they have to build a road that connects all three villages. That is indeed a magical road to heaven; in any case, the mages can't build it.

It's not that they don't have the ability, the key is that it's too troublesome. In some places, one could walk through instantly just by tearing down a house, but the villagers aren't willing. Can you force it?

Not only is tearing down houses to build roads not okay, but passing by the side of the house, they aren't willing either. It's not even just the houses; passing by the edge of the fields isn't okay, and even passing by a certain tree isn't okay. If you ask, it's ancestral, and walking that way will ruin the Feng Shui.

Some people also think that building a road is a good thing, but they insist that the road must pass through such-and-such a place in their house, otherwise they won't let it be built.

They barely managed to finish the route planning map. Regardless of materials and labor, it could be built, but they have to build more than just one road. They have to build laboratories, greenhouses, and factories. They can't just be so reckless with every single one.

Wong often goes to the village chief to coordinate, but the village chief is also very distressed. The people living in these few villages are also ordinary people, not saints.

In a situation where education has been lacking for many generations and the lifestyle has remained unchanged, most people think that if you want to make us rich, why not just give us money? Why not just give us whatever supplies we lack? Why make such a big fuss?

In the end, it turned into everyone unanimously opposing it, yet they couldn't bear to part with the supplies provided by the mages, wanting this today and that tomorrow.

These three villages are small in area, have few people, are quite far apart, and have a large altitude difference, so construction was already very difficult. With everyone making a request, this work couldn't be done.

Strange has also worn out his tongue these past few days, but there has been basically no progress. The mages aren't very good at this kind of thing either, so apart from barely building one road, they haven't done anything else.

Although Strange is also a bit impatient, at least these three villages are his teacher's hometown, so he still reminded Zheng Xian not to be too tough in his attitude and to take the villagers into account when starting work.

Zheng Xian thought he was hesitant because of some major event, but he didn't expect it to be just this little thing. He waved his hand and didn't say anything, which made Strange very confused about how he was going to solve this problem.

As a result, unexpectedly, in less than a week, the villagers' work was all done, and everyone applauded and welcomed the engineering team to move in.

Moreover, no powerful mutants or mages were seen in this engineering team. They were basically ordinary people, and they used ordinary machinery. It didn't look high-tech at all, but it almost hollowed out the entire mountain at a speed Strange couldn't imagine.

This left the mages on the side stunned. Speedrunning, are we? Are you the mage or am I the mage?

One has to admit that the whole process has a beauty of order that mages don't possess. For example, if mages want to destroy a mountain top, they can use magic to blow it up, but after blowing it up, they can't control where the rubble falls.

Of course, they can also use space magic to cut it, which is crisp and neat enough, but basically, except for the Archmages, no one can cut it with great precision. If you give them a blueprint accurate to the micron, most Archmages can't do it so finely.

But these ordinary workers don't have the powerful strength of mages. One of them can't even lift a large rock, but they first set up scaffolding, install directional blasting explosives, perfectly collect every piece of rubble and transport it out, then change to another group of people to conduct soil testing, and continue to set up scaffolding.

After cleaning the surface, they use large machinery. Some are responsible for observation, some for inspection, some for starting, and some for finishing. Everyone knows what they are going to do, is very clear about why their behavior is for, what consequences it can lead to, and can collectively be responsible for this result.

Observing a similar work process is an enjoyment of the beauty of ultimate order, because it is as if one has seen how the people on this land have built such a brilliant civilization over these millions of years.

At first, it was just some younger mages who were idle and watching, but later the Archmages also came. They have longer periods of cultivation and are further away from human society, so they are more easily shocked.

In the end, the Ancient One also returned. Just like hundreds of years ago, she stood on the wind-swept mountain ridge in the distance, watching ordinary people, who were as small as ants in her field of vision, carrying things on their shoulders and hands, shouting and calling. In the time that seemed to be stagnant, they used the gravel held tightly in everyone's hands and the footprints stepped out under their feet to build a great civilization that the divine power of gods could not yet reach.

Strange looked at his teacher and saw a different kind of light flickering in the Ancient One's eyes. Through this light, he seemed to see how the Grand Preceptor, dressed in gorgeous clothes hundreds of years ago, stood on the high tower in the misty rain, watching the rise and fall of a brilliant dynasty.

At that time, standing behind her were the civil and military officials, and in front of her was a huge, peerless dragon. The dark clouds were thick, and every breath was filled with the damp, cold air of wood.

The memorial was placed on the altar, written in ancient characters that people couldn't understand. Subsequently, heavy rain fell from the sky, signaling another year of harvest.

"Only I, only God; no I, no God..." the Ancient One sighed softly.

A low voice responded to her, "You are the first person who dared to threaten me on the memorial, and also the last."

"People have almost forgotten you." The Ancient One's tone was calm, as if stating a fact. She said, "But they will never forget that they want rain."

"Most people only ever want rain and harvest, not war." Ying Long said, "So now we are still here, and Chiyou can only lie there."

"It is precisely most people who determine the return path of the gods." The Ancient One said, "History proves that I am right. Only what people believe in is a god, and only what people want is a miracle. Apart from this, there is nothing else."

Strange couldn't understand Chinese, but he seemed to be able to understand what the two of them were talking about, because every time his teacher spoke of her mother tongue in this tone, what she sighed about was nothing more than the people or gods who had sunk into the long river of history.

"They are so small, yet they are good at creating greatness." The Ancient One said, "Personally creating civilization, personally cultivating gods, spreading throughout the world, stretching endlessly, as if this world was born for them."

"But that is not the reason for you to threaten me on the memorial."

"But didn't you end up bringing the rain?"

"That wasn't brought for you."

"There is no rain in this world that is not brought for me, not brought for these common people. If there is, then change to another rain god."

"Do you think you can represent all living beings?"

"I am living for this."

"Arrogant."

Ying Long hummed, but stopped talking. After a while, he said, "Do you think if Chiyou knew that someone was growing mushrooms on him, what would he think?"

"I only know that if it were Shennong of the Xuanyuan clan, they would feel very happy, because they were also members of the common people and also lived for all living beings, knowing what they wanted most."

"But Chiyou is not. Chiyou only wanted victory." Ying Long sighed and said, "Those who act against heaven from ancient times to the present are nothing more than this."

"Did they say how to handle the mushrooms grown from Chiyou?" The Ancient One suddenly turned her head and asked Strange.

Strange shook his head and said, "They didn't say specifically, but I heard it might be intended to be made into a vaccine."

"I heard that damp places are more likely to grow mushrooms?"

As the Ancient One spoke, she shifted her gaze to Ying Long. Ying Long stared at her and said, "Why are you looking at me?"

"What do you think of the memorial I wrote?"

"You want to threaten me again?!"