She had become completely catatonic.
Brain cells are far too fragile and precious. Without treatment for five minutes, the damage is irreversible.
It might be treatable if caught quickly.
"Now, use the Purification Skill on the other one!" Su Chen said.
His calm words seemed to carry an unquestionable authority.
Ms. Lin seemed to react instinctively, raising her right hand. A ray of purifying light completely enveloped the figure of the Parasite Body, which was frozen in mid-air.
The creature was unable to move. The holy light instantly seared its skin, and the exposed mycelia rapidly carbonized and disintegrated. The Parasite Body let out an inhuman shriek. Terrifyingly, the mycelia attached to its throat forcibly pulled at the vocal cords, and between shrieks, it actually managed to squeeze out a few clear syllables.
"...I’m... sorry..."
"I... want...!"
Its voice was as raspy as sandpaper.
"What the hell!!"
At that moment, the Bright Knight was so scared he cursed out loud. "Can this fungus-infested zombie really talk and apologize? Or is that the person who was parasitized, begging for forgiveness?"
It was like a zombie was speaking.
Su Chen frowned. It was hard to say whether the parasitic fungus was mimicking human language to trick them with a plea, or if the host themself was expressing remorse.
The former would be purely disgusting. If it could reproduce the host’s residual memories, and even display a sliver of emotion, then this parasitic crisis was far more serious than they had imagined.
The holy light continued to shine. The new fruiting bodies inside it withered to ash in the intense light before they could even bloom. The core myconucleus inside the parasitized skull was trembling frantically, trying to release a batch of highly active spores from its back.
But the purifying radiance had already penetrated to the bone, uprooting even the mycelia that controlled the muscle fibers.
"What level is your Purification Skill?" Su Chen asked curiously.
"Level 4!"
Ms. Lin responded immediately.
In its current state, the Parasite Body’s torso was a pockmarked mess from top to bottom. Nearly half of its tissue and organs were missing, its flesh and blood having been completely converted into nutrients for the rapidly multiplying mycelia.
’It’s not enough...’ After using Strong Thought Penetration for a detailed scan, Su Chen still found a batch of spore sacs behind its spine. Perhaps it had entered a dormant, death-like state to hide its presence. If it sensed life approaching, it could probably find another chance to parasitize someone.
’This is tricky!’
Without a sound, a burst of blazing, dark red flame erupted from within the corpse, which floated in mid-air like a torch. In a matter of seconds, everything was incinerated, leaving only a few dying embers to fall to the ground.
’Looks like a quick cremation is the most effective way,’ Su Chen thought, but what he said was, "Once the mycelia enter the brain, the golden window for rescue is probably just five minutes. As for the infection rate of airborne spores, that requires further investigation."
"Understood!"
Ms. Lin wasn’t sure if he was talking to her, but she still responded instinctively.
"We’ll remember that."
The staffer was already in awe of the man’s powerful methods and took his every word as gospel.
As for the injured person who had been treated in time, he seemed to have recovered much of his consciousness. Fear compelled him to stay in the room no longer, and he immediately bolted for the door.
Before the group left, Ms. Lin cast another Purification Skill to disperse any spores that might be lingering in the air.
After casting spells in succession, she was breathing a little heavily. The off-white sun shirt she wore could hardly conceal the size of her chest, and a pair of cuffed sweatpants accentuated her long legs. Overall, she exuded a voluptuous and mature aura.
The Bright Knight had intended to try and curry favor, but with the mysterious and imposing young man standing nearby, he lost all motivation after a quick comparison.
"Please wait! Can you leave after I make a report?" the broadcast room staffer asked, looking at the group with an almost pleading gaze.
Seeing that Su Chen had no intention of moving, the staffer quickly activated the broadcast equipment. Ignoring the bizarre and tragic events that had just transpired, he steeled himself and began to broadcast to the outside.
His tone and wording weren’t from any official script; it was a purely emotional announcement.
"...Finally, please be wary of anyone around you who has ingested any Hallucinogenic Mushrooms. Also, please destroy any and all mushroom varieties you have collected with fire."
After setting the message to repeat three times and reporting the base’s current findings to the city district, the staffer, covered in goosebumps, finished his task and quickly retreated with the others.
On their way back.
When the group arrived back downstairs near the conference hall, they found a charred corpse lying on the ground. The fire hadn’t been intense enough, and numerous grayish-white spots were visible on the surface of the remains.
It was unmistakably one of the parasitized.
From not far away, the sounds of fighting and shouting could be heard. Who would have thought that this place, the main camp of the entire base, had already descended into chaos?

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