As she gazed at the ground in the distance, the limited range of her Insight revealed the faint outline of a vast, underground mycelial network, transporting energy like blood vessels.
Deterred, the group had no choice but to continue their retreat.
The patch of mushrooms ahead showed no signs of aggression.
Once they had fallen back to a safe distance, a parasitized cicada chirped quietly from the trunk of an ancient tree.
Its carapace was nearly half-molted, its insides filled with writhing, grayish-white mycelia. The eerie specks of light in its compound eyes watched the group leave before it began to emit mating calls.
Before long, another cicada flew over to mate. The male unconsciously opened its abdomen but released no hormones or fluids, only a spray of spores onto the female.
Worker ants that had climbed high up were also fixed to tree trunks by the mycelia. As soon as they sensed insects moving below, they began to release clouds of spores.
"There are so many more mushrooms now. This whole Earth Realm isn’t going to turn into a mushroom forest, is it?"
Their round trip had taken less than three hours.
Yet the forest landscape had changed drastically.
On their way in, mushrooms had only been sprouting from scattered patches of soil. But on the way back, increasingly dense clusters of them were popping up in many areas.
"That’s perfectly normal. Back home in Yunnan, tons of people go into the mountains to forage for termite mushrooms during the summer rainy season. After a good rain, they can mature overnight."
Zhang Haoyang from the polytechnic university squad added, "And that’s not even counting the soil conditions here. Nourished by the Wood Element, they’re bound to be shooting up like crazy."
Of course, this rapid growth wasn’t the result of natural Magic.
The mycelium had been lying dormant underground, gathering strength and silently building a spectacular, vast network, just waiting for a hot and humid environment to launch its final assault.
The only way to completely eradicate the mushrooms on the surface was to wait for the climate to change.
"Still, if we could identify some edible varieties, it wouldn’t be all bad," Pang Peng said optimistically.
In fact, some people were already thinking along those lines—and had taken action.
When they finally returned to the Earth Realm of the base camp, they saw people hauling trailers filled with all sorts of mushrooms of various sizes.
"Dude, you’ve got some serious nerve. Aren’t you afraid something will happen?" As a native of Yunnan, Zhang Haoyang had a natural wariness of unfamiliar mushrooms.
"With the Healing Skill, what’s there to be scared of? If something really goes wrong, it’d be a sweet release anyway," the person replied, surprisingly nonchalant.
He suddenly seemed to think of something good to share. His expression shifted, and a sly grin spread across his face. "Young man, there are certain... benefits to this that you wouldn’t understand."
Everyone quickly realized what he meant.
Back at the public campsite, a stream of giggles and delirious murmurs emanated from a half-open tent up ahead.
Inside, a man and a woman were lying on an inflatable mattress. Their eyes were unfocused, and dopey smiles hung on their lips, as if they were lost in some blissful, hallucinatory world. They were still clutching the remains of mushrooms in their hands.
They were clearly high as a kite.
"Hallucinogenic Mushrooms," Su Chen remarked.
Just yesterday morning, people had foraged in the forest for food. The easiest things to pick were the mushrooms, and they had knocked several people out. But now, it seemed someone had spread the word about the hallucinogenic properties of a certain purple mushroom, attracting a crowd to pick and eat them.
"What are you lookin’ at?"
One of the figures in the tent seemed to notice their stares and, despite their daze, was still intensely aggressive.
"Let’s go." The group had nothing to say to these people who were willingly debasing themselves.
’It all comes back to that same saying: respect each person’s fate, and let go of the urge to save them.’
It was lunchtime, and everyone was hungry. They were in no mood to get involved.
"I’m heading back to my RV."
Su Chen declined Pang Peng’s invitation to join them for the meal. He had his own business to take care of.
As he left the group, he took a large bag from Zhang Haoyang. It was stuffed with one large and two small pieces of Gray Ore Crystal. Including the two crystals already in his hiking pack, the cave expedition had been a massive success.
"Thanks." He patted the dedicated support’s shoulder and started walking toward the distant RV encampment.
"Radio if you need anything!" Pang Peng called out warmly after him.
In a short time, a semicircular defensive wall had been erected around the RV camp, enclosing about half its perimeter.
According to Yang Hongyu’s plan, he didn’t just use the Earth Wall Skill to pile up earth and logs. To ensure its strength, he had mixed in crushed stone and grass roots for added resilience, and the wall now stood two and a half meters high.
It was crude in appearance, but it served its purpose as a barrier against collisions and intrusions.
However, it seemed some people were unhappy about the new, temporary fortification.
"Look, no matter how you slice it, this isn’t your land! This is the Qingye Collection campsite! What gives you the right to build this piece of crap here?" a burly man leading the troublemakers shouted.
"Yang, you traitor! How dare you help outsiders? And you used our trailers for your own selfish project!" a staff member from the campsite’s HR department chimed in, pointing a finger right in Yang Hongyu’s face.
Just yesterday, Yang Hongyu had orchestrated the entire upgrade of the base’s outer defenses, which meant he’d dealt with a lot of people and become a familiar face.
But the ancient architecture designer, his face filled with panic, had never imagined that building the fortifications would offend so many people. A terrible thought surfaced in his mind.
"Goddammit, so it was you bastards stealing trailers yesterday!" a young man from the crowd roared.
That accusation was like throwing oil on a fire. Several people on the other side looked ready to roll up their sleeves and start a brawl.

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