Chapter 1018: Mushroom Monster

Lu Mian looked at Li Li Keji and asked in a calm voice:

"What is the essence?

"What has succeeded?"

Li Li Keji, with his thick beard and wearing blue-and-white striped hospital pajamas, spread his arms and said with unusual excitement:

"The essence is that only a mother can bring about rebirth, and only rebirth can cure your vegetative friend!"

As soon as Li Li Keji finished the first half of his sentence, he saw an iron-black straight sword slashing through the air toward him.

The surface of the straight sword was burning with crimson flames, which turned into a black color that suppressed madness and violence halfway through.

After Li Li Keji answered the first half of his sentence, Lu Mian had already taken out the "Sword of Courage" from his "Traveler's Bag" without hesitation.

He slashed at Li Li Keji—whose chest was bulging with milky mushrooms and whose abdomen was wrapped in a womb of flesh-and-blood mushrooms—and converted the normal flames into "Destruction Fire."

Only this kind of flame could truly burn to death the Mushroom King Li Li Keji, who possessed both the special cognition of Mr. Fool and the "rebirth" power of the Mother, preventing him from resurrecting from the ashes!

Just as the black flames containing irritability and destruction were about to strike Li Li Keji, the hospital room itself suddenly vanished, and a wilderness covered in green weeds appeared in its place.

Li Li Keji disappeared along with it.

The "Destruction Fire" landed on the wilderness of the Other Shore World, burning a long trench.

Within the trench, nothing grew.

Immediately after, Lu Mian saw the soil in the distance loosen, and a huge mushroom covered in dark red blood vessels rose from the ground, growing toward the sky like a giant tree.

Each of its mycelia was as thick as a tree branch, white at the base and dotted with blood-colored patches. Its cap was the giant, thick-bearded head of Li Li Keji. On its "chest," a tumor bulged, overflowing with liquid that emitted the scent of milk. Its abdomen was covered by a translucent membrane, under which flesh-and-blood mushrooms intertwined, seemingly gestating a jellyfish-like small mushroom inside.

Seeing this scene, small, dense bumps appeared on Lu Mian's skin, as if he had been subjected to slight contamination.

At the same time, he felt his life force uncontrollably flowing toward that giant mushroom, and he noticed that the green weeds on the wilderness were all leaning toward Li Li Keji, their colors gradually turning yellow.

Li Li Keji, acting as the mushroom cap, said fanatically and sincerely:

"If you want rebirth, the current life is not enough.

"Give all your lives to me, will you?"

At this moment, Lu Mian's eyes were already dyed with an iron-black luster, and he found the patch of pale white representing the weakness on the giant mushroom's body.

He "teleported" directly to Li Li Keji's side and thrust the "Sword of Courage," covered in destructive black flames, toward the abdomen of the giant mushroom.

Several mycelia as thick as tree branches swung over, forming a dense web that blocked the path of the iron-black straight sword.

They were instantly ignited and turned into ashes within the rapidly spreading black flames.

The giant mushroom shook violently, causing these mycelia to break off from the main body in advance.

The mycelia fell to the ground without affecting the giant mushroom's trunk.

Lu Mian took the opportunity to slash the "Sword of Courage" downward.

Balls of burning black flames were produced, which then exploded.

Boom—!

Violent wind waves mixed with destructive black flames surged in all directions, surging toward the giant mushroom Li Li Keji had become, engulfing Lu Mian's own body as well.

Lu Mian activated the black mark on his right shoulder and "teleported" out of the explosion range in time.

The next second, he saw the giant mushroom ignited, teetering in the shockwaves.

Before Lu Mian could make a second round of attacks, the giant mushroom seemed to be shedding its clothes, stripping away all the parts ignited by the "Destruction Fire," racing to do so before they could affect the cap, the womb in the abdomen, and the "child" gestating within the womb.

In the blink of an eye, a large amount of ash drifted, and the giant mushroom exposed its deep layers—with cow-tendon-like structures, meat chunks, and dark red blood vessels twisting like earthworms—dripping with milk-scented white liquid.

These were rapidly wriggling and recovering.

Li Li Keji's head, acting as the mushroom cap, showed no hostility at all and said happily to Lu Mian:

"Look, this is the final product.

"Come join us and obtain rebirth together!"

As soon as Li Li Keji spoke, Lu Mian took out a mirror and reflected the giant mushroom that had shed its mycelia and surface layer.

Then, he covered it with his palm, which was burning with "Destruction Fire," and wiped it.

A curse of the "Witch"!

A curse completed with "Destruction Fire"!

The giant mushroom shook violently; all its flesh and all its liquid contracted inward, wrapping its body and Li Li Keji's head—which acted as the cap—into a bloody sphere.

On the surface of the sphere, more small mushrooms stubbornly grew out.

At this moment, black flames erupted from the inside out, igniting the entire bloody sphere.

Those small mushrooms fell off silently, and those layers of flesh were constantly carbonized.

The bloody meat sphere wriggled violently, and one side suddenly opened, spitting out a wet, new mushroom.

This new mushroom was nearly identical to the previous giant mushroom: Li Li Keji's head still acted as the cap, it still had mycelia as thick as tree branches hanging down, it still had bulging tumors oozing milk, and it still had a membrane covering the womb, gestating new life. The only difference was that it was smaller, as if it had shrunk by a whole size.

The new mushroom, covered in greasy, gray-black birth grime, used the power of the mother body spitting it out to jet outward, rapidly escaping the area burning with "Destruction Fire."

"Rebirth"!

"The 'Flame of Destruction' burned too intensely; this candle can only be used one more time."

There's still a way to shake off the curse? Lu Mian, whose life force was still rapidly draining, felt his spirit tighten. He continued to track the new mushroom flying in mid-air and scattering spores.

His eyes quickly took on a silver-white and black luster.

He was going to use the "Eye of Calamity" to search for the blackness in Li Li Keji's fate, to see if he could destroy "Rebirth" from that aspect and thoroughly kill the mushroom monster before him.

Just as the illusory river of mercury composed of countless complex symbols appeared in Lu Mian's eyes, he suddenly felt his body surface itching.

He instinctively lowered his head and saw that the tiny bumps on his skin had all grown larger, presenting a blooming posture, as if they were about to grow into small mushrooms.

He had suffered contamination from peeking into Li Li Keji's river of fate!

Black flames of the "Witch," quiet and evil, instantly ignited on Lu Mian's body, silently devouring the dense mushroom clusters that were about to take shape.

"An incantation capable of creating such exaggerated lightning in Mr. 'Fool's' dream?" Lu Mian thought for a moment and said, "Involving a True God, or even some Great Being? Or, is it related to Mr. 'Fool's' cognition?"

He intended to try and lure Li Li Keji to the police station, to use the official power and the power of the dream's main consciousness to clear out this mushroom monster.

The Other Shore World did not stop Lu Mian, letting him pass through.

What entered Lu Mian's vision was not the hospital room in the psychiatric ward of Dawn Hospital, but a spacious, deep, half-curtained room with tables, bookshelves, and a sofa set.

Lu Mian was standing at the entrance of this room.

Out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the door, which was half-open, with a relatively conspicuous nameplate embedded on it. The nameplate had five local characters of the dream city on its surface:

"Dean's Office"

Dean's Office? While Lu Mian's spirit tightened even further, he instinctively cast his gaze behind the desk.

There, sitting in a leather boss chair, was a figure.

That figure was wearing a white doctor's coat, with slightly sparse eyebrows, bright and smiling brown eyes, and brown long hair pinned up in a high bun. Her features were clean and alluring, and her temperament was quite elegant. She was holding a chubby-faced baby wrapped in swaddling clothes in her arms.

Lu Mian froze for a moment.

He recognized this person.

She was one of the few villagers of Tingen's Kordu Village who was still alive. She was Madam Pualis!

Pualis de Rochefort.

As thoughts raced through Lu Mian's mind, he didn't "teleport" to escape immediately, but looked at Madam Pualis, who was sitting behind the desk holding the cute baby, and laughed:

"So you are the new dean of Dawn Hospital.

"That is truly a surprise."

While saying these words, Lu Mian thought about how Roland, the mother of the Mother Earth Church, was only the vice-dean of Dawn Hospital as an angel of the "Mother" pathway, while Madam Pualis could actually serve as the dean.

What did this represent, what did it symbolize?

Was Madam Pualis more powerful, or was she an agent of the "Great Mother"?

Madam Pualis looked at Lu Mian, who was wearing a mask and sunglasses, and said with a smile:

"I was equally surprised when I found out you were here too.

"And, you have a side of Aurora on you; that's a double surprise.

"I recently learned a saying: 'Meeting an old friend in a foreign land, the night of the bridal chamber.' Our situation fits the first part.

"Why don't you take off your sunglasses and mask, let me take a good look at you, and then we can have our bridal chamber night, work hard together, and give birth to Aurora?"

Do you believers of the "Great Mother" only discuss giving birth to children when you meet? Lu Mian did not feel angry or upset by Madam Pualis's words.

Some things cannot be stopped, so one can only let oneself be calm, just like how the secret ritual brought dangerous power, leading to the mutation of the Blood Emperor's residual aura and the soldier-fication of the souls of the Kordu villagers under the seal.

Lu Mian took off his sunglasses and mask without revealing his face, revealing a bright face with a cold sneer.

If I don't reveal my face, how can I better "charm"?

And if I don't "charm" better, how can I create a better chance to escape?

Lu Mian, while guarding against the mushroom monster Li Li Keji chasing after him, cast his gaze toward the angel-like baby held in Madam Pualis's arms:

"Is she your child?"

"Yes." Madam Pualis's gaze moved across Lu Mian's face, and she nodded with a smile.

Lu Mian instantly associated this with the empty crib in the ruins of Kordu Village and asked as if casually:

"What is her name?"

Madam Pualis answered with a smile:

"Omebella."

(End of chapter)