Cold metal walls squeezed the narrow space, and the air was thick with the musty smell of rust and damp earth, along with a strange, refreshing scent, like the roots of trees deep in the forest after rain. This scent came from the front—a massive root that broke through the thick concrete floor of the laboratory and stood silently in the dim light. Its body was radiating a blend of emerald green and silver-white light, a soft halo that dispelled the deepest darkness of the underground space and cast flickering spots of light on the pipes covered with condensation and rust.
Xu Shuangyao leaned against the cold wall, her body trembling slightly from exhaustion and the impact of the pheromone burst. One hand pressed tightly against the still-painful tooth mark on the side of her neck, her fingertips feeling the gentle burning and pulsing beneath her skin. Her other hand unconsciously pressed against the pocket of her combat uniform. Through the rough fabric, she could clearly feel the cold sclerotium within, engraved with the mark of the Crown of Obliteration, belonging to the Commander of the Fungal Dome. It emitted a faint but persistent chill, like a miniature ice cellar against her skin.
Her gaze passed over the huge roots emitting soft light and fell on Pei Du, who was curled up in a shadow corner a few meters away.
He turned his back to her and the roots, his body slightly hunched, like a lone wolf licking its wounds. The shadow of the crown of thorns between his brows dimmed to the point of disappearing, only flickering ever so faintly when his body occasionally spasmed uncontrollably, like a candle in the wind. His shoulders were tense, every muscle straining against something with every last ounce of strength. Though the mutated, aggressive Alpha pheromone, like poisonous thorns, had faded considerably, it still lingered stubbornly in the air, trapping him like an invisible cage of thorns. Every breath was heavy with oppression, every slight tremor accompanied by the subtle sound of bones rubbing against each other.
The loss of control just now, the violent glare that nearly devoured her, the teeth marks on the side of her neck… like a cold brand, it etched itself into Xu Shuangyao's nerves. But even deeper was the frozen, despairing faces of the survivors near the depression, instantly transformed into fungus sculptures. The stigma of the false god, like a heavy yoke, fell on Pei Du and on her heart.
"He's... in pain." That ethereal, clear voice, composed as it were of the rustling of countless leaves and the gentle breeze through the forest, echoed directly from the depths of Xu Shuangyao's consciousness, carrying with it an inhumanly pure perception. It was Qingluo. The emerald green veins at the tip of the massive root pulsed slightly, a stream of light flowing, as if "watching" Pei Du. "The crown of thorns grows, but the roots sink into the rotten earth. There... seeds of darkness sprout, corroding the very roots of his memory."
"Corrupted soil... seeds of darkness..." Xu Shuangyao murmured repeatedly, her heart sinking suddenly. She remembered the distorted electronic synthesized voice of the hermit in the underground sewer laboratory, and the pain and confusion that Pei Du collapsed in when faced with the fragments of his surgical memory. That operation... the two shadows of Xu Shuangyao... are the source of all this! "It's memory! His childhood memory! It's contaminated! The operation... there's something wrong with that operation!" She raised her head suddenly, looking at the roots that were flowing with vitality, her eyes burning with an urgent light, "Qingluo! Can you... can you see it? His memory! The truth about that operation!"
"Memory..." Qingluo's voice carried a strange wave, like an ancient forest recalling its ancient growth rings. "Those are sclerotia buried deep within the soil of consciousness. Some nourish life, while others... breed toxins. Touching them is like digging up roots buried beneath thorns. It might awaken dormant darkness, or... damage the very soil that supports them." His words carried a warning, but not a rejection.
"I have to know!" Xu Shuangyao's voice was firm and unwavering, carrying an unquestionable resolve. She released her hand from the side of his neck, braced herself against the cold wall, and walked towards the huddled Pei Du. "Pei Du." Her voice was low, but remarkably clear, piercing through Pei Du's painful gasps.
Pei Du's body suddenly stiffened. He didn't look back, but the tense lines on his back revealed extreme resistance.
"Look at me." Xu Shuangyao walked in front of him, squatting, and forcing herself to look directly into his downcast face. In the shadows, his jawline was as taut as a knife, and sweat trickled down his temples, dripping onto the dusty ground. Between his eyebrows, beneath the dim shadow of the crown, his skin flushed slightly from the clash of energies.
"I know you're in pain. The crown is tearing at you, the shadows of the past are devouring you." Xu Shuangyao's voice was soft, yet it carried a penetrating force. Slowly, with a barely perceptible tremor, she raised her hand to his clenched fist. "Those people in the depression... that wasn't your fault. It was the crown's loss of control, the Fungus Dome's trap. But if you continue to be tormented by these seeds of darkness, bound by these chaotic memories, we will all die! 167 hours, Pei Du! The Fungus Master has awakened, and everything is over! We must find a way to fight it, and the truth... lies in your memories! In that surgery!"
Her fingertips lightly touched his clenched fist, the knuckles whitening. Beneath his cold skin, there was a burning trembling and suppressed rage.
Pei Du's body shook violently! As if being burned by a scalding iron! He violently shook off Xu Shuangyao's hand, his movements so rough that he almost knocked her over! He raised his head, his eyes burning with pain, anger, and a frenzy of being driven to despair!
"The truth?!" His voice was hoarse and broken, like a grinding wheel scraping against rusty iron, filled with self-mockery and icy despair. "What truth?! You strapped me to the operating table! You stuffed that damned program into my head! You're the one who made me this horrible mess!" He pointed sharply at the spot between his eyebrows, where the dim shadow of the crown flickered violently with his excitement. "Or do you mean... that mycelium-covered shadow in the corner?! That's you too?! That's part of the truth, too?!"
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