Chapter 27
"Well," Lu Shiyu tugged at the corner of Tang Zeyu's clothes and asked, "Will you encounter such a deformed creature again?"
Tang Zeyu thought Lu Shiyu was frightened by the strange-looking deformed creature. After hesitating for a moment, he said, "You'll probably encounter something similar in the future. But if you really can't accept it, we'll just take a detour if we do..."
"No need!" Lu Shiyu's voice suddenly rose a degree: "No need to deliberately go around! Just go normally! Don't worry about me, I'm fine!"
"Well, then..." Tang Zeyu didn't expect Lu Shiyu to react so strongly. He said, "Then we'll proceed according to the original plan. If you have any questions, remember to let me know."
After Lu Shiyu finished speaking, he realized that he was too excited just now. His cheeks flushed with embarrassment and he responded to Tang Zeyu's words randomly.
"Yeah, I see."
That night, after everyone else fell asleep, Lu Shiyu couldn't help but flip through the "Manuscript of Deformed Creatures" again. He turned to the page that recorded the deformed creature he encountered today. Lu Shiyu compared the contents described in the book with what he saw with his own eyes, and they were indeed consistent.
This subtle feeling of overlap between fantasy and reality made Lu Shiyu addicted, just like a dream come true. Lu Shiyu turned the other pages, as if he wanted to memorize all the contents of the book with his eyes, looking forward to meeting some of them in the future.
Although some of these deformed creatures are very aggressive and dangerous, it still cannot stop Lu Shiyu's curiosity and yearning for them. She is curious about their appearance and habits, and wants to know whether they survive like ordinary creatures. She wants to know their origins and development. In the end, she develops a desire to eat them and know what they taste like.
Lu Shiyu naturally knew that she was different. Everyone she knew in the base had a different attitude towards the deformed creatures. Some were afraid, some were disgusted, and some were contemptuous, but no one was like her. When Lu Shiyu realized that her thoughts were different from others, she decided to hide this strange idea and prepared to live an ordinary life in the base for the rest of her life.
So once she left the base, she was happier than if she had won the lottery jackpot. Not only did she actually see those deformed creatures, she actually made them into food and ate them.
Every night Lu Shiyu would record the deformed creatures she encountered that day and how she cooked them and ate them. If people in the base saw this diary, they would probably think she was crazy.
While Lu Shiyu was still concentrating on reading a book, a hand suddenly reached out and took the book away. Lu Shiyu looked up and saw that the person who took the book was Tang Zeyu.
"Are you still reading so late?" Tang Zeyu looked at the book he had just taken and started reading the contents written on it.
"I was so engrossed in watching that I didn't notice..." Lu Shiyu scratched her head embarrassedly. She knew that Tang Zeyu was worried that lack of sleep at night would affect the next day's progress.
"I'm going to sleep now."
Tang Zeyu closed the book, apparently not very interested in the contents, and handed the book back to Lu Shiyu. Just as Lu Shiyu was about to take it, he heard Tang Zeyu say:
"Do you like these things?"
Lu Shiyu was stunned for a second before he realized what Tang Zeyu had just asked.
"A little bit," Lu Shiyu tried his best to avoid Tang Zeyu's gaze, stuffed the book back into his bag, and said vaguely: "I have never seen these strange-looking creatures before, and I feel it is quite novel."
"There's a laboratory in the base that specializes in studying deformed creatures. I'll take you on a tour when we get back."
"Really!"
Lu Shiyu's eyes seemed to be twinkling with stars. "Can I also go and see that confidential laboratory? Is it really possible?"
"Well, as long as you sign a confidentiality agreement before entering, you can go in," Tang Zeyu said, "With my level and some connections, it won't be difficult for me to let you in to take a look."
“Ahhhhhhh,” Lu Shiyu lowered her voice as much as she could. Now she was as excited as a fan going to her idol’s offline concert. “I, I, I, I don’t know what to say!”
Seeing her so happy, Tang Zeyu couldn't help but curl up the corners of his mouth.
The next moment, Lu Shiyu suddenly hugged him.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!”
Just as Tang Zeyu was about to hug Lu Shiyu back, Lu Shiyu had already let go of his hand and crawled into the sleeping bag, and the warmth in his arms disappeared instantly.
"Good night! I must get up early tomorrow!"
After saying that, he lay down with his back to Tang Zeyu, closed his eyes and fell asleep.
Tang Zeyu held her hands in the air for a long time before letting them go. Feeling her heart beating violently, Tang Zeyu couldn't help but cover her face to hide the blush on her face.
Lu Shiyu was actually not asleep in the sleeping bag. He just closed his eyes tightly. When he thought about how he hugged her in excitement just now, his face turned red, like a cooked crab and the redness wouldn't go away.
Because he didn't know how to face Tang Zeyu, he simply closed his eyes and pretended to be asleep, using shameful escape to simply solve the problem. As a result, he really fell asleep without knowing when.
The next day, both of them tacitly picked up their luggage and continued on their way, as if they had not remembered what happened last night.
As he went deeper, Lu Shiyu could feel the increasing humidity of the surrounding environment. Moss and muddy ground were everywhere, and the saturated water vapor made his nasal cavity feel slightly cool when he breathed.
Lu Shiyu looked at the soles of his shoes. The soles were covered with mud, and his whole body was raised by several centimeters. Even if he got the mud off, it would stick again after walking a distance.
"It's so annoying, this isn't over yet."
Yan Hong randomly found a tree on the side of the road and scraped off the mud that was tightly wrapped on her shoes. She had to stop and clean them almost every time she walked a distance, but if she left it alone, it would be difficult to walk because there would be too much mud attached to the soles of her shoes.
"They threw mud at me, and I used it to make poop."
Shaoxing Yang was scraping the mud off the soles of his shoes while humming a tuneless tune.
"The humidity around here is too high," Chen Yunliang said resignedly, wiping his glasses. "It's so humid I'm almost a trendsetter."
Tang Zeyu looked up to see the position of the sun, but the leaves of the nearby trees grew more compactly and densely, and the sunlight could hardly penetrate the layers of leaves. This was also one of the reasons why the humidity was so high nearby.
"There are a lot of mushrooms growing nearby," Lu Shiyu said, patting a mushroom with a light yellow cap. "How about we eat mushrooms today?"
"Don't eat mushrooms randomly, it's easy to get food poisoning," said Tang Zeyu.
Lu Shiyu waved his hand and said confidently, "Don't worry, we will only pick the non-toxic mushrooms listed in the book. We won't pick any that are not listed in the book or that are poisonous."
As they were talking, Yu picked up the small mushroom she had photographed and said, "For example, this one, it's written in the book that it's non-toxic and edible."
Tang Zeyu thought for a moment and finally agreed to Lu Shiyu's suggestion. After all, the most common things nearby were various mushrooms, and it would be difficult to find other food.
Lu Shiyu took the lead in picking a few mushrooms of different appearances and came back to show them to everyone.
"You'll find these kinds of mushrooms later. These are all edible. It's best not to touch the others," Lu Shiyu said, pointing to the plain white mushrooms on the other side. "Like this one, it's highly poisonous. You must wash your hands if you touch it. If you accidentally put it in your mouth, you'll be poisoned."
Several people each took two mushrooms as reference and picked mushrooms of the same appearance. Shaoxing Yang chose the two most colorful ones, one orange and one black. One of them took a net bag and began to look for mushrooms everywhere.
Shaoxing Yang was secretly delighted that the mushrooms he picked were the brightest in color and the easiest to find. He could see where the mushrooms were at a glance, which was much better than the others who had to stare wide-eyed at a sea of white mushrooms. So he naturally became the first person to collect enough mushrooms.
"Oh my, picking mushrooms is so easy."
Shao Xingyang leaned against the tree trunk with a look of wanting a beating on his face. He looked at Yan Hong who was comparing two kinds of mushrooms in her hands to see which one was edible and said sarcastically: "Hey, you can't tell them apart? Do you want me to help you?"
Yan Hong snorted with a forced smile and simply threw both mushrooms in her hand to Shao Xingyang.
"Since you are so capable, then go pick this kind of mushroom."
After saying that, he took the remaining purple mushroom and went to another mushroom patch to look for the same mushroom.
"You really gave it to me." Shaoxing Yang muttered softly, looking at the mushrooms in his hand that were almost the same and fell into deep thought.
"Don't they all look the same?"
Chen Yunliang squatted beside the mushroom circle, not knowing what he was thinking. Lu Shiyu walked over and asked him what he was looking at. Chen Yunliang pushed his glasses with a mysterious look on his face and said, "Lu Shiyu, do you know why things like mushroom circles form?"
"Mushroom rings," Lu Shiyu said after trying to recall. "It seems so. It's because the mycelium of mushrooms grows radially. The mycelium grows from a point in the middle to the surrounding areas, thus forming a mushroom ring."
Chen Yunliang lowered his voice and said seriously, "Actually, there's a long-standing legend about mushroom rings."
"Legend?" Lu Shiyu's interest was piqued by the story: "What legend?"
"Mushroom circles are also called fairy rings. They are said to be the result of elves or fairies dancing. They also use these mushrooms as tables and chairs during gatherings. If someone accidentally enters the fairy ring, they will fall into the illusion cast by the elves."
"Is this true?" Lu Shiyu was skeptical. "You didn't make it up on the spot, did you?"
"Just try it and you'll know."
Chen Yunliang stood up and strode into the mushroom circle. Lu Shiyu saw that he had just finished saying that entering the fairy ring would lead to hallucinations and then turned around and walked in. It was too late to stop him.
But the result was that Chen Yunliang was standing in the mushroom circle and nothing happened. Chen Yunliang looked at Lu Shiyu with a smile.
"Huh?" Lu Shiyu was still a little confused.
"Puchi," Chen Yunliang couldn't help but burst out laughing. "Hahahahahahahaha, you don't really believe that, do you? I told you it's just a legend, how could anything possibly happen?"
Hearing Chen Yunliang's ridicule, Lu Shiyu's face turned red.
"You, you, you're kidding me!"
"Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha," Chen Yunliang laughed so hard that he almost couldn't breathe. "Sorry, I really didn't expect you to actually believe such a thing, hahahahahaha."
Lu Shiyu: “…”
The fist is so hard.
Chen Yunliang had just finished laughing and was about to walk out of the mushroom circle when Shaoxing Yang, who had heard the noise, rushed over to join in the fun.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you guys talking about? You're laughing so happily."
Shaoxing Yang walked over with a clear and innocent smile on his face, not noticing the mushroom circle on the ground at all. He stepped on the mushroom, and the crushed mushroom instantly burst out countless dust-like spores, which were inhaled into the nasal cavity of the three people around the mushroom circle.
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