Chapter 130: Mushrooms on the Corpse |
Bai Mu pulled back a corner of the curtain and looked at the corpse lying in the withered grass.
The body appeared intact. From a distance, Bai Mu could not determine her cause of death.
'Sure enough, she was already dead when she came over last night.'
Bai Mu recalled the woman's pale face and bloodshot eyes. She must have been killed much earlier. Her corpse had undergone some unknown mutation in an undisclosed location, causing her to stand back up and find her way to his house.
'Could it be that Doppelgangers have the ability to control corpses?'
'Or perhaps some mystical force influenced her body?'
'This Script does not feel like a simple subterranean creature invasion.'
A faint sense of unease settled in his heart. He wanted to figure out what had happened to the woman, what she had encountered to transform from a normal human being into such an anomaly.
'Hiding in this house forever is not a solution. I should go out and examine the corpse.'
This was his first time stepping outside the house since entering the Script.
The sun had just risen, so the surface temperature had not yet reached an unbearable level. If he delayed any longer, the risks of venturing outside would only increase.
Moreover, he had to leave the house sooner or later to acquire cash. Instead of passively sitting indoors feeling anxious over that corpse, it was better to take the initiative. At the very least, he could gather some information himself.
The moment he stepped outside, a wave of heat washed over him.
A scorched scent lingered in the air. The dehydrated grass felt dry and rigid beneath his boots. As he approached the woman's corpse, a nauseating stench quickly assaulted his nose.
Bai Mu crouched down to inspect the body. He found no obvious external injuries anywhere, but several red, fungus-like scars marred the left side of her face.
The corpse had already begun to rot. Beneath it, white mycelium threads sprouted from the soil, creeping and clinging to the surface of the woman's skin.
A few tiny mushrooms had bloomed within the shadow of the corpse.
[Name: Unknown Mushroom]
[Type: Plant]
[Rarity: Rare]
[Remarks: ???]
To think this was actually a Rare-grade plant. Other than this mushroom, the only Rare-grade plants Bai Mu had ever seen were Dave's Garden Plants.
Watching the mycelium crawling over the woman's skin, he suddenly thought of Cordyceps. A long time ago, he had read about Cordyceps sinensis in a miscellaneous book. Although the name contained the word 'grass' in Chinese, it was actually a type of fungus.
There were hundreds of species of Cordyceps in the world, and Cordyceps sinensis was just one of them.
The book mentioned that this fungus favored an insect known as the ghost moth. When breeding, ghost moths would lay their eggs in the soil. Right around the time the larvae hatched, the fungus would target these living eggs and invade the young hosts' bodies.
The parasitized larvae would not die immediately. Instead, they usually became highly restless. It often took two to three months before they were gradually eaten away from the inside, eventually crawling up to the surface to become mummified husks.
During those two or three months, the larvae's behavior would become starkly different from that of uninfected ones. To some extent, one could consider them controlled by the fungus.
Such examples of fungi controlling insects were not uncommon. Other varieties specifically parasitized ants. An infected ant would voluntarily leave its colony and climb to a suitable location—such as the underside of a leaf about ten inches off the ground—where it would bite onto the main vein in a death grip before dying.
This was entirely the fungus driving the ant's actions, as that precise height provided the ideal temperature and humidity it preferred.
Connecting the examples he had read about with the mushrooms on the corpse, it was easy to see the similarities between the woman's condition and those parasitized insects.
The moment this thought crossed his mind, Bai Mu immediately strapped on his gas mask.
Fungal spores could be airborne. If the woman had truly been controlled by these mushrooms, inhaling the surrounding air could lead to an infection.
'Is this mushroom the reason the people from the Emergency Center wear such suffocating hazmat suits?'
The inspectors who had shown up at his door yesterday to check the census surfaced in his mind.
Thinking about it carefully, wearing such airtight garments on such a sweltering day would be absolute torture.
If the only threats were the extreme heat and the Doppelgangers, there was no need to cover themselves so thoroughly. Even after the sun went down, before the temperature fully dropped around nine or ten o'clock, walking around in those suits for just a few minutes would instantly drench anyone in sweat.
Generally, such suits were only used by medical personnel to avoid infection during massive viral outbreaks.
'It feels like the authorities are intentionally hiding something. They probably know about the existence of these mushrooms, which is why they dress like that.'
'However, the probability of a normal person getting infected shouldn't be high. If simply breathing the air could cause someone to end up like this woman, the authorities wouldn't have kept it a secret.'
'Perhaps they're keeping it under wraps to prevent public panic.'
Bai Mu retrieved a small glass vial from his inventory. Scooping up a grayish-white mushroom along with its surrounding soil, he carefully transplanted it into the container.
He had merely made an educated guess based on what he observed. Whether his theory was the actual truth still required further verification.
This mushroom might be extremely dangerous, but it was also his key to uncovering the truth.
As the saying goes, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will never be defeated in a hundred battles. Only by understanding his foes could he increase his odds of survival.
After collecting the sample, Bai Mu thoroughly searched the corpse's pockets once more. The packs of compressed biscuits he had tossed to her last night were completely gone, and there was indeed no more cash in her clothing.
He tilted his head back, gazing toward the red-roofed house in the distance before making his way over.
He wanted to find out if the woman's children were still alive—or if she even had any to begin with.
The two houses were not far apart; it was only a two or three-minute walk.
The road was entirely deserted, deathly silent as usual. Bai Mu soon arrived in front of the building.
This house was much more spacious than his solitary cabin, grand enough to be called an estate. A small green car was parked in the yard.
Bai Mu noticed that the doors and windows were shut tight, and the lights inside were off.
On the lawn, he found footprints—the woman's footprints.
At the same time, he caught the faint sound of footsteps coming from inside. It seemed someone was standing behind the door, watching him through the peephole.
Bai Mu stepped up to the entrance and spotted a doorbell.
If the woman's children were still alive, they might know more about what had happened to her.
Consequently, Bai Mu pressed the button, and a sharp chime echoed from within.