Chapter 208: Sucking Through the Bone Marrow
The entire online audience felt heartbroken when they saw the wound Xu Ying suffered from the reins.
Even though he was bruised like this, Station Master Xu remained calm. He must have been hurt a lot. He's so strong, a role model for us.
[Among the six guests, Xiao Xu, as an amateur guest, has the lowest pay. I strongly request that Xiao Xu's pay be increased!]
More and more comments were saying that Xu Ying's pay should be increased, and it was hard for Director Shao not to notice.
The Przewalski's horse rescued by Xu Ying neighed.
"Stationmaster Xu, we're just here near this patch of dry reeds. If you need any help, feel free to ask the other animals to come to us."
Xu Ying made an OK gesture: "Okay, I won't be polite!"
"If you encounter other difficulties, you can also come to the 032 aid station to find me."
Xu Ying pointed the wild horses in the direction of the rescue station.
The temperature was very hot at noon, and after saying goodbye to Xu Ying, the wild horses went to find a cool place to rest.
Under the scorching sun, the white tents of the program crew cast a rare shade on the Gobi Desert.
Five woven baskets were neatly arranged, filled with delicious Chinese mushrooms that everyone had painstakingly collected.
Xu Ying stood in front of a long table with a scale on it.
The mushroom picking session is over and it’s time to announce the results.
"During this mushroom picking session, points will be calculated based on the weight of the mushrooms you pick." She tapped the scale. "One gram is worth 0.1 points."
Jiang Mo's basket was weighed first.
The mushrooms were piled high, with moist sand at the bottom of the stems.
The scale creaked softly—"327 grams."
Jiang Mo looked calm, just nodded slightly, and looked at Xu Ying inquiringly, trying to discern the other person's mood.
Xu Ying couldn't stand Jiang Mo's awkward gaze anymore, so when he passed by him, he said in a voice that only the two of them could hear, "If you really have something to ask me, just tell me. There's no need to stare at me like that."
Jiang Mo was slightly stunned, then nodded: "Okay."
Xu Ying became even more suspicious. What on earth was this guy hiding?
Ye Jie's harvest followed closely behind.
She came skipping over with a woven basket in her arms, the mushrooms in the basket swaying gently with her steps.
"Stationmaster Xu, look! Not only did I pick some delicious Chinese mushrooms, I also picked some other mushrooms. Can I get extra points?"
Before she could finish her words, Xu Ying suddenly took a step forward and held her basket with one hand.
"Wait! Don't move."
Xu Ying's fingertips hovered above a cluster of seemingly ordinary gray-brown mushrooms, and her eyes suddenly became sharp. She put on rubber gloves and gently peeled off the surface of the mushrooms, revealing several fleshy brown-scaled ring-stem mushrooms hidden at the bottom.
The seemingly unassuming cap of this mushroom is covered in brown scales, and a suspicious mucus oozes between the gills.
"This is a brown-scaled ring mushroom. If you eat it, even if you get timely treatment, it will permanently damage your liver function."
Xu Ying picked up a flower with professional tweezers and showed the slightly green cross-section of its gills to the camera. "Its toxin can be transmitted through contact."
As he spoke, Xu Ying poured the entire basket of mushrooms into the biohazard disposal box.
He gave Ye Jie a sympathetic look and said, "Unfortunately, everything is contaminated and will be dealt with at zero points."
Ye Jie stood there in a daze, her eyes wide open, and she let out a long cry to the sky: "Ahhh, I've been betrayed by the mushroom!"
The comments are all sympathetic and funny.
[This is incredible! Ye Jie's efforts for most of the afternoon were wasted.]
[Sometimes there's no need to add icing on the cake, just do the task honestly~]
[Ye Jie really has that silly beauty vibe.]
Then it was the turn of senior veteran Yao Yingzhe. He walked over with a proud stride, carefully holding a wicker basket covered with a dark red silk scarf in his hands.
The four corners of the scarf were specially tied in knots, and swayed gently with his steps.
"Move aside, let me open your eyes!
Yao Yingzhe looked around mysteriously and lowered his voice deliberately, "This is a rare mushroom that I found after digging deep into the ground!"
This high-profile and mysterious gesture attracted the attention of the staff, and even Jiang Mo, who was drinking water, raised his head.
The photographer's camera slowly lowered its height and aimed at the mysterious basket.
Yao Yingzhe took a deep breath and suddenly opened the scarf——
With a "crash", a cloud of grayish-white dust rose into the air, choking the nearest cameraman and making him cough repeatedly.
Yao Yingzhe slapped the basket, his face full of pride: "Come on, Station Master Xu, check the goods!"
Xu Ying squinted his eyes and moved closer, gently fiddling with the irregularly shaped lumps in the basket with professional tweezers.
They have a strange grayish-white luster under natural light, and their surface is covered with honeycomb-like holes.
"Teacher Yao, what are you doing..."
Xu Ying poked the largest piece with his tweezers, making a dull "dong dong" sound.
The audience of the barrage began to become alert.
[This thing doesn't look like a mushroom. It looks a bit creepy, like dried human bones!]
[Isn't this another smart aleck? ]
This show is so exciting! They've dug up artifact fragments, filmed Przewalski's horses, and even stepped on poisonous mushrooms. Now what's this?
"You haven't seen it?"
Yao Yingzhe stroked his beard proudly. "When I was young, I came to the desert to film a movie. I heard the locals talk about this. It's the legendary Gobi white mushroom! It grows in..."
Just then, a gust of desert evening breeze blew by.
Suddenly, grayish-white debris began to fall from the surface of those "mushrooms", revealing the dark white texture inside - clearly several severely weathered animal bones, with some dry mycelium networks attached to the surface.
The scene fell silent for a moment.
"Ahem..." Yao Yingzhe's beard twitched awkwardly. He had no idea what this thing was. "The mycelium on this bone is also considered fungus! It's the same family as mushrooms!"
"This is a bone-eating fungus," Xu Ying added expressionlessly, "a fungus that feeds on animal remains.
She picked up the largest piece and showed it to the camera: "Looking at the hip joint structure, it should be the pelvic fossil of a wild donkey. It's at least a hundred years old."
"This bone-eating fungus is nicknamed 'bone borer'."
Xu Ying pulled out a portable microscope and pointed it at the bone. "Look at these honeycomb-like holes—the hyphae secrete bone-dissolving fluid, first gnawing tunnels through the minerals, then slowly sucking out the collagen inside, just like humans sucking a duck neck."
In the close-up shot, the dense network of mycelium on the bones looks very much like brains in hot pot.
[The duck neck in my hand suddenly lost its fragrance. ]
[This fungus is really psychic and knows how to eat! ]
[Webmaster Xiao Xu knows so much, he's truly an encyclopedia of the desert!]
"A wild donkey's carcass, exposed to the Gobi Desert for three years, wouldn't completely rot. But if it were targeted by bone-eating fungi—"
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