Chapter 648: Crazy Mushrooms

Just as they appeared, Tu Ba Ge quickly raised his hand to cover his nose and mouth, carefully scanning the surroundings, then looked puzzled at Rekton, his bright red eyes seeming to say, "Boss, weren't we heading to the 'Future'? Why are we on the 'Mushroom'?"

Rekton lifted his hand, snapped his fingers, and a whimpering wind suddenly rose, blowing in all directions, scattering the faint green mist‑like spores and fine white mycelium in the air, creating a safe zone around them.

On the deck, along the hull, on the sails, mushrooms of various sizes stubbornly rooted on the ship, continuously spouting white thread‑like mycelium that drifted outward with the whimpering wind, forming a huge white curtain in midair that was pressed down little by little by the howling gale.

"Wow, these mushrooms are so clever!" Tu Ba Ge blinked at the surroundings and whispered a sigh.

Ignoring Tu Ba Ge's sigh, Rekton stared closely at the mushrooms, the deep blue‑purple glow in his eyes tracing one mysterious symbol after another, rapidly parsing the information contained in the surrounding mushrooms.

On these rapidly proliferating mushrooms he vaguely saw writhing flesh, crimson moonlight and a mad breeding urge, all intertwining into an abstract twisted tree that tightly wrapped the "Future", seeping in point by point, rooting itself.

"These mushrooms' breeding urge is abnormally strong and they keep evolving; what on earth did Frank use to cultivate them?"

After muttering to himself for a moment, Rekton extended his right hand, which wore a mechanical glove, and pressed down virtually; a dim, unclear light burst from the glove and quickly spread outward.

In the silent instant, the wildly growing mushrooms around lost their color, gradually weathered away into a gray‑white "dust", the spores and mycelium in the air also quickly lost activity, turning into ordinary dust that drifted with the wind into the air and sank into the sea.

The deck, now completely covered by mushrooms, was soon layered with a gray‑white "sand dust", swirling on the deck with the sea breeze.

In the cracks of the deck, at the entrance to the cabin, many mushrooms continued to sprout outward, trying to re‑cover the whole ship.

Rekton glanced into the cabin, then stepped forward.

Streams of hazy light, as if composed of countless illusory things, erupted from his body, like a painting of countless mottled shadows, gently covering the "Future" and clearly illuminating every mushroom rooted on the ship.

These mushrooms, big or small, dark or pure white, mottled or not, without exception all pulsed like living hearts, constantly spouting white mycelium and pale green spores, reproducing exuberantly.

Their reproduction was not singular; they split themselves and also interbred with surrounding mushrooms, sea fish, plants, brown bears, even pirates, breeding new mushroom varieties.

Some of these mushrooms secreted white milk, some oozed scarlet blood, others exuded red wine with a strong alcoholic scent, some bore pumpkins, some grew into fish shapes, and some sprouted human reproductive organs—my eyes were polluted—this thought flashed through Rekton's mind, and he raised his hand, grasped forcefully in mid‑air; the mottled shadows around suddenly flickered.

Under the mottled shadows covering the "Future", physical laws were altered to some degree, temperature rose, the air became sticky, salty and humid, becoming unsuitable for mushroom growth and breeding.

The mushrooms that were spouting spores and mycelium and interbreeding with all living things around suddenly slowed, their taut skins developing deep folds, secreting liquids of complex taste and color, gradually withering.

In the cabin's dining area not occupied by mushrooms, Xi Si Dao Er's eyes suddenly glowed with deep blue‑purple light, tracing one mysterious symbol after another.

Stars appeared one after another around, dense and dazzling.

These stars shed rays that bathed the entire dining hall in a misty starlight, isolating it from the influence of the flickering shadows.

Having finished, she turned to her second officer Xi Si Dao Er and simply ordered, "Bring Frank back."

Xi Si nodded, his body surface cloaked in a dark blackness that flowed like liquid into the floor's shadows, swimming toward the mushroom heap that had engulfed Frank.

The heap of mushrooms that had been wildly interbreeding with Frank also slowed; the shadow manipulated by Xi Si rapidly covered it, surrounding shadows writhed quickly, solidifying into an illusory yet sturdy black shackle that dragged the buried Frank out and pulled him into the starlight created by Jia De Li Ya.

Xi Si's figure emerged from the shadows; he looked down at Frank, who had transformed from a brown bear into a human body, and silently walked aside.

Frank's eyes were slightly vacant, his mouth slightly open; having previously transformed into a giant bear, his clothes were completely torn, and he lay naked on the floor, his body coated with a sticky, complex‑smelling liquid, still trembling faintly and exuding droplets of thin fluid.

On him, the once dense fur was scraped away as if by a sharp blade, revealing palm‑sized bald patches and fine bloodstains on the skin.

Jia De Li Ya glanced, confirmed Frank's condition, then averted her gaze, no longer looking at him.

Beside her, Nina scanned Frank up and down, then with a disdainful spit, turned to the mushrooms isolated by the starlight. Those mushrooms were visibly dying, gradually withering, turning yellowish, as if some presence was siphoning their life force, finally crumbling into fragments that fell to the ground.

This situation lasted less than a minute; essentially all visible mushrooms on the ship and their remnants vanished completely.

Nina looked at Jia De Li Ya in disbelief and asked, "Is that… resolved?"

"Captain, you foresaw this scene in advance and called someone to help?"

Jia De Li Ya nodded lightly, then shook her head and said, "I originally intended to have him take Frank's work away and give Frank some normal, non‑harmful research projects."

In the dining hall, a pale blue light flashed, and Rekton instantly teleported himself and Tu Ba Ge into the cabin; his gaze swept over the fallen Frank, indicating Tu Ba Ge to go treat this over‑exerted first officer.

He then turned his head toward Jia De Li Ya, gave a slight nod and said, "Long time no see, seems I arrived at just the right moment."

Jia De Li Ya looked at Rekton with puzzlement; as a "mystic scholar", she could easily see that an illusion spell cloaked Rekton's current appearance.

Rekton smiled at Jia De Li Ya and briefly explained, "I have incorporated a somewhat problematic Knowledge Emperor trait; my current state isn't great."

A temporary poor state means it will be resolved after a while, becoming a true Knowledge Emperor. Even a divine‑favored being's promotion speed at this rate is rather terrifying.

As the thought floated, she lightly nodded at Rekton, then proactively explained the situation on the "Future": "Frank told us this morning his experiment succeeded and he brought out those mushrooms of various flavors for the crew to share."

"Everything was normal at first, but after the lunch break the mushrooms suddenly went out of control, breeding madly and quickly covering the entire 'Future'."

"The agent and spell Frank prepared to suppress plant activity didn't work well on these mushrooms, failing to curb their spread in time, and it ended up like what you see now."

"Madam, although this was an accident, there must be some factor you deliberately let loose; otherwise how could a demigod not notice the problem and fail to handle these mushrooms? Besides the 'Warrior' and 'Fate' demigods lacking necessary means, you wanted to give Frank a lesson, to make him restrain himself later? The price seems a bit high." As she pondered, Tu Ba Ge had already alleviated Frank's condition and brought him over.

Sensing the gazes turning toward him, Frank scratched his head awkwardly, then tore a piece of tablecloth from the dining table and tied it around his waist.

Looking at the gaze Jia De Li Ya threw at him, Frank lowered his head helplessly and sincerely apologized, "Sorry, Captain, I messed up the ship again."

Jia De Li Ya sighed with a complex expression, her tone calm, "Your salary for the next six months will be used to compensate the damage the 'Future' caused to some crew members."

"Clean up your laboratory; later the 'Future' will dock for resupply, place them at the shore base, and from now on such dangerously risky experiments should not be conducted directly on the ship."

Hearing Jia De Li Ya's announcement, Frank relaxed, quickly nodded and said:

"Understood, Captain."

"You scared me; I just thought you were going to kick me off the ship."

He sighed, looked at the "dust" left after the mushrooms outside the dining hall collapsed, and muttered softly:

"There was never a problem before; why did this mutation occur?"

"Are you sure there was never a problem?" Jia De Li Ya looked at Frank, her tone stern as she pressed.

She had previously observed these mushrooms; their activity, evolutionary ability, and breeding speed were clearly abnormal, reminiscent of the disturbances encountered in the ruins of the sea of waste that evolved in the Divine War relics under the influence of the Mother Earth goddess's lingering aura.

This sea region also has issues, or perhaps Frank's materials were flawed, or maybe something happened nearby at that time that affected Frank's mushrooms, causing the mutation?

(End of chapter)