The subtle sounds of mycelium breaking and mushrooms being crushed were infinitely amplified at this moment. Xie Xuan felt as if they had accidentally entered the devil's prison cell.

Zhou Yuanyuan: "The bookcase is the most seriously infected. Is there a hidden door behind it?"

Ling Wenqing nodded, "Very likely."

Generally speaking, the mechanism of a secret door is arranged relatively concealed, but now the entire bookcase is covered with thick mycelium, which is undoubtedly extremely difficult, and they will have even less chance of finding the mechanism.

After searching for a few minutes, they didn't find the mechanism, but the rapidly growing mycelium was almost covering the surface of their protective clothing.

Xie Xuan ripped off the mycelium that was hanging on her body like diluted blood, "How about we just blow up the bookcase?"

Generally speaking, when on a mission, we would try to avoid using hot weapons outside the area, but now time is running out and the mycelium is growing faster and faster.

Ling Wenqing hesitated for two seconds and nodded: "This is the only way. You guys go out first, I'll set off the grenade."

Xie Xuan and Zhou Yuanyuan turned around and left. After leaving the depressing and eerie study, the environment outside made them feel a little more relaxed.

Just as Ling Wenqing came out from behind them, a muffled sound was heard from the study.

Ling Wenqing stood behind the door, took a deep breath, and opened the study door.

The heat wave from inside rushed out immediately. Despite the air filter of the protective suit, Xie Xuan could still smell the strong burnt aroma of roasted mushrooms.

After waiting for a while, the three of them walked in despite the heat wave.

Although the protective suit is fireproof, its heat insulation effect is average. After just a few steps, Xie Xuan was already sweating.

Fortunately, the bookcase was successfully blown open, and in the middle of the charred bookcase, an equally dark staircase leading to the underground was revealed.

"Let's go." Ling Wenqing took the lead.

The helmet has a built-in flashlight, but when it is turned on, the white light of the flashlight shining into the stairs is like being swallowed by a monster lurking in the darkness. It is truly pitch dark.

Xie Xuan walked in the middle, and the flashlight on her helmet could only barely illuminate the vague outline of Ling Wenqing's helmet in front of her.

Because he was wearing a black protective suit, his figure almost blended into the darkness.

The surrounding temperature was dropping rapidly, and the heat wave generated by the explosion in the study had no effect on this place.

They took another step forward, and the three of them were completely engulfed by darkness.

[Current mission has been opened: D-level area, mission description: kill the parasite, contain the bacteria, mission completion reward: 40 points, unknown ability, mission failure penalty: death.]

【User: Xie Xuan

Age: 20

Health: 100/100

Spirit value: 100/100

Ability: Not activated

Abilities: Control creatures with lower intelligence than the user, and create a transparent shelter that blocks all physical attacks.

Props: Sharp dagger]

They successfully entered the field.

A familiar tingling sensation came from his temple, followed by Bai Ze's voice, "Hello everyone, I'm Bai Ze. I will be assisting Team 320 as the communicator for this mission."

The thick darkness did not last long and quickly dissipated as if it was torn apart, and a brightly lit banquet hall appeared before them.

Amidst the melodious music, pairs of men and women in evening gowns are dancing gracefully on the dance floor.

It was as if they were oblivious to the mycelium and fungi spreading on the ground, walls, and ceiling, with smiles dancing slowly on their lips.

As they danced, the sound of mushrooms being crushed could be heard one after another.

The lights in the banquet hall were surprisingly bright, and outside the dance floor there was a long dining table with many covered plates on it.

The waiter dragging a tray shuttled among the crowd attending the banquet. The smile on his lips seemed to be fixed by glue, and even his eyes were narrowed with laughter.

Everyone looked normal, with no signs of infection on their bodies.

If it weren't for the mycelium growing wildly on the ground that had already wrapped around their ankles, this place would look no different from an ordinary banquet.

Zhou Yuanyuan frowned: "What's going on?"

Generally speaking, low-level reproductive areas will not come up with so many confusing things. Their purpose is to protect the parasites until they mature and produce spores.

The domain is essentially generated by the vitality of the parasite. The more energy is spent on useless things, the fewer spores can be produced.

The field they are entering now does not conform to the basic rules of the reproductive field at all.

Ling Wenqing's heart sank. "Let's split up and search for clues first. Be careful not to alert the people here. They are most likely puppets created by the parasite."

Xie Xuan also discovered that although these people looked normal, she saw the waiter's eyes when one of the waiters passed by them.

The whites of the eyes are covered with light red mycelium, the eyeballs are blood red, and the pupils are black, just like the fungi growing outside.

Ling Wenqing: "I'll go to the left, Xie Xuan is in the middle, and Zhou Yuanyuan is on the right. No matter what we find, we'll meet here in fifteen minutes."

Xie Xuan and Zhou Yuanyuan responded in unison.

The banquet hall has only one floor. On the left is the crowded dance floor, in the middle is a long dining table, and on the right is a bar.

Xie Xuan was wearing a black protective suit that looked like a space suit, and she was walking among a group of young men and women in gorgeous clothes. However, they were walking around on their own as if they didn't see Xie Xuan.

There are more than a dozen covered plates on the long dining table. There are no seats and the food is served self-service here.

Xie Xuan had no choice but to open the lid of the dinner plate.

The silver-white metal lid opened little by little, and the contents of the plate were gradually revealed.

It's a lot of half faces.

To be more precise, it was one-third of the face, cut from under the eyes to the hairline, piled up in there haphazardly like discarded human skin masks.

But these human skin masks were still alive. The eyes exposed on them all looked at Xie Xuan the moment the lids were opened. The pairs of brown and black eyeballs rolled rapidly, and some even blinked and began to cry silently.

It was truly silent crying because they had no mouths.

Xie Xuan got goosebumps. She reached out her hand and separated the several pairs of eyes that were pressed together.

When she accidentally touched their eyeballs, they would even close their eyes immediately, with tears of rationality flowing from the corners of their eyes.

As real as if they were still growing on a living person.

After looking at a few pairs of eyes, Xie Xuan stopped scrolling. She roughly estimated that there were at least fifteen pairs of eyes in the plate, and these eyes should all belong to different people.