Su Su and Dante both nodded. "We don't have a better solution right now. We can only wait until dark and see what happens."

We started taking out the dry rations from our backpacks to eat. To avoid any unnecessary trouble, we didn't start a fire. At this point, the fruit that Top had collected became very useful to us.

After eating some dried meat, fruit becomes an important source of water and carbohydrates for us.

A few hours later, darkness fell as expected.

Just as I had judged during the day, these Haru had already lit a campfire for lighting and to cook food.

High oxygen concentration also has its downsides, namely, wood fuel is consumed very quickly here. They have to send one or two Haru out to constantly search for firewood nearby.

The value of the campfires is particularly evident here, as they simply cannot spend a lot of time searching for fuel; therefore, there are only five campfires in the entire vast area.

We spent the whole afternoon exploring here and finally discovered some patterns.

We had assumed that all the Haru would gather around the fire at night, but we underestimated them this time.

They can be careless in some things, but they are absolutely dedicated here.

They divided themselves into several groups, and every ten minutes or so, Haru would come over to the fire to relieve them.

They ostensibly came to the fire to relieve each other, but in reality, Haru, who was secretly guarding the fields, took turns going to the fire to roast something to eat.

They may not mind the darkness, but they cannot ignore their hunger. During the day, they hardly have time to stop and eat properly; only at night can they settle down a bit.

I first took out a mini flashlight that I had specially made before setting off from my backpack. This thing is a palm-sized flashlight made from a piece of bamboo that is slightly longer than my middle finger.

In principle, it still uses the same principle as the previous flashlights, using Armillaria mellea as the main light source.

The only difference is that a cover has been added to the front of the flashlight to block the light from emanating, which also serves as the light source switch for the flashlight.

We sneaked here before the Haru lit the campfire. Although the risk of being discovered was higher near the fire, we could also discover more of the Haru's movements.

These Haru stationed in the fields do not stay in one place all the time. Apart from the Haru by the fire who is more stable, the other Haru in the shadows are located entirely according to their own preferences.

Sometimes there might be four or five of them huddled together chatting, and sometimes there might be only one stationed in its original position. But before long, Haru from other posts would leave their posts and come over for a stroll, and Haru from this position would sometimes go over there as well.

These seemingly irregular and chaotic rules have now become the best way to protect this place.

We had been observing from the shadows for a long time and found that sneaking around was more dangerous than coming out in the open, so we had no choice but to sneak over from a place near the fire.

Dante is now lying in ambush, his blowgun ready to meet us in the dark.

As soon as he senses something is wrong, and Haru is searching towards the fire, he will not hesitate to use his blowgun to take down these guys.

At this moment, Su Su and I were like two large earthworms, slowly inching forward on the ground. Our first task was to find out exactly what Haru was planting.

This is also one of the main reasons we came here. Besides the mysterious things that are planted, I also found the only stone house here that is built with stones and mud.

The stone house is in a very secluded location, and it is covered with vines all around it.

If you don't look closely, this house is easy to overlook; you might be deceived by its appearance and mistake it for just a protruding rock formation.

I had observed this place before. It seems that the Haru people knew that deploying too many people in this area would be too conspicuous, so there were no guards stationed here openly.

But I know this is the most heavily guarded place. Those Haru who seem to no longer care about this place, I can occasionally see their eyes glancing this way, intentionally or unintentionally.

The things inside must be very important resources, otherwise they wouldn't pay special attention to this inconspicuous stone house.

Getting to the fields was easy, because the fields here were so large that it was impossible for the Haru to manage every single place.

We successfully hid in a relatively low-lying area, where 50 centimeters of dry branches and weeds became our best cover.

We hid behind the dead branches, and Su Su had already loaded the crossbow and was ready to stand guard. I took out my mini flashlight, opened the cover, and after waving it in the air for a while, a bright blue spot of light shone out.

Fearing that the flashlight's beam would alert the patrolling Haru, I immediately stuffed the flashlight into the pile of dead branches.

At this moment, only a small amount of cool-colored light was visible, enough to barely make out my surroundings.

I started removing some of the thick layer of dead branches. As I pulled out the bottom layer of dead branches, the original land appeared before my eyes.

The soil, likely due to years of being covered with animal carcasses and withered branches and weeds, has a dark, black hue.

However, under the light, these black soil particles are clearly visible against a white, net-like structure that covers the entire black land.

These pristine white webs resemble spider silk, but are several times finer. It's as if a thick white blanket has been laid over black earth.

At this moment, Su Su, with her sharp eyes, spotted a small, grayish-white oval ball, about the size of a thumb, growing among the white mesh.

Susu tugged at my sleeve and pointed to the grayish-white thing she had found.

At this point, I can be pretty sure that these are indeed fungal hyphae, but I don't know what their relationship is with Protozoa.

In my impression, Protozoa, like mushrooms, is a fruiting body that is formed in one go, so there shouldn't be such a strong requirement for secondary planting, right?

With a sense of doubt, I still reached out my hand to the somewhat strange-looking oval-shaped grayish-white fruiting body.

Just as my hand touched the grayish-white fruiting body, my fingertips trembled involuntarily, as if I had been electrocuted, and I quickly withdrew my outstretched hand.

At this moment, my eyes were filled with fear and astonishment. I didn't know how to express my feelings, because this was beyond my normal understanding.

Seeing my expression change drastically, Su Su immediately asked in a low voice,

"What's wrong, Master?"

"There's...there's a heartbeat!"