High School of Demon Hunting-Chapter 2335 - 556: Dangerous Mushrooms
It’s already the end of January.
At noon, Beta Town gradually became lively.
Although the Spring Festival was approaching and the school was on winter break, this did not affect the influence of merchants in Beta Town in the Wizard World. The daily flow of visitors on the streets remained steady. However, unlike the usual student-dominated clientele, this period saw more visitors primarily from various marketplaces outside the island.
Only during these days, when most students had left Buji Island and the school withdrew its Protect Legal Formation, would there be slightly more outsiders in Beta Town.
Number 97 on Beta Town Pedestrian Street was a small general store.
The shop’s name was a bit odd, called D&K—Ding Ding Finance and Pest Control Company—from the name, one could see it’s not a proper general store. It belonged to the kind that lacks a main business and seems to dabble in everything but doesn’t excel at anything.
Visitors who traveled thousands of miles and went through countless approval procedures to get to Buji Island would not focus on such a small shop.
Therefore, compared to other prosperous shops on the pedestrian street, D&K had significantly fewer customers. Even the Divination Grandma next door at number 96 had a much better business.
Perhaps the only thing that might intrigue out-of-town visitors now was the two Mouse People employed in the store.
Unique, the family of a Legendary Wizard.
In the upstairs loft of D&K.
Zheng Qing curled up on the sofa, listening to the occasional ringing of the wind chime at the door downstairs, followed by the stereotypical ’surprise’ and ’curiosity,’ blankly staring at the place where the coffee table once was—now occupied by a pitch-black coffin—this period belonged to the middle of the month, and although Dylan was not suitable for participating in hunting team actions due to various reasons, he was not forced to take leave. However, he had to take necessary rest after daily consuming the Magic Potion for Moon Watching, which was not to be neglected.
Additionally, after staying up all night under a giant moon yesterday, he needed to adjust now, no matter what.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, the other hunters of the Absolution Hunting Team also had a day of leisure.
At this moment, Xin Fat Man lay on the other sofa opposite the coffin, his long snoring carrying a lazy hypnotic taste, surprisingly not annoying; Blue Bird sat cross-legged on a cushion, embracing his longsword like a lover, quietly shrinking into the shadows of the corner of the room; Xiao Xiao, holding a biography of the famous Traveling Mage Boyd Rust from late 19th century Britain, was reading with great interest.
The sound of book pages turning could occasionally be heard in the room.
Zheng Qing found this sound more irritating than Xin Fat Man’s snoring.
"Can’t you sleep for a while too?"
Finally, unable to resist the nameless irritability in his heart, he kicked Doctor Xiao curled up on the other side of the sofa, complaining in a whisper: "You’re disturbing my eyes!"
The thick biography slightly moved down, revealing a pair of large black-framed glasses.
Xiao Xiao stared blankly at his team captain. After a long while, he put away the book and sat up slightly, which made Zheng Qing have an unpleasant feeling.
Sure enough, the doctor’s next words confirmed his predictions.
"Want to chat?" Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses.
"No chat." The Warlock responded stiffly.
He was just somewhat stifled by the conversation at Gini Cottage with Korma this morning, especially the last words spoken by the Witch before leaving, which seemed to ambiguously imply something, adding a touch of unease to his annoyance.
This pressure, he felt, was best carried alone.
"Even if you don’t say it, I can guess."
Xiao Xiao’s head slowly sank down, hiding once again behind the thick biography, but the small book couldn’t block his faint voice: "Yesterday, before you guys returned, I had a brief chat with the senior sister... At that time, she asked me, do you know what the most dangerous creature in the Silent Forest is?"
Zheng Qing’s interest piqued slightly.
"Ravens?"
He reluctantly tugged at the corner of his mouth, half-jokingly responding.
Xiao Xiao didn’t laugh but turned another page of the book, and then his voice, light and drifting, followed after the sound of the pages turning: "...not ravens. Not Black Wizards. Not Fire Dragons. Not Giants. Not Hydras. Not army ants. Not a thousand-year-old ancient locust tree, nor the Spirits dwelling within it for three hundred years... The senior sister said, the most dangerous creatures in the Silent Forest are mushrooms."
This was indeed an unexpected answer.
"Mushrooms?"
"Yes, mushrooms; a life form that can be very small or very large, very fragile or very tough. They do not rely on flame or sharp teeth to survive; they rely on compromise, coexistence, and control... They can attach to any creature, living on their body surface; or bury their spores at the deepest layer of humus during a drought; and can release hallucinogenic gases, altering a witch’s mind, enchanting them."
"Sounds not so dangerous."
"That’s because you forgot that survival requires reproduction, and reproduction requires feeding. No matter how confusing the forms mushrooms present, they will eventually corrode their hosts, then consume them, digest them... Those ravens are mushrooms on Buji Island."
"Very interesting insight." Zheng Qing muttered: "But such things happen every moment in the Silent Forest; survival of the fittest, nature selection, nothing more."
"This is the biggest problem."
Xiao Xiao’s glasses emerged once again from behind the book, sternly gazing at the young cost student: "We are wizards, not Magical Creatures in the Silent Forest, shouldn’t degrade to the point of obeying natural laws... Those mushrooms parasitize the school, hidden among students and professors, akin to a puppeteer manipulating puppets, in public gathering up cheap emotions... Gradually, from the inside out, devouring us, organ after organ, breaking down, digesting, absorbing, replacing, using their derived structures to replace the host’s original structure... They will not easily let the host die... But before the final moment arrives, everything on the host, even including their consciousness, will be replaced by mushroom hyphae. At that time, the host is even worse than a puppet... because at least the puppet still has its own body."
The snoring in the loft stopped at some unknown time.
Blue Bird sitting in the corner also moved his ear.
Zheng Qing glanced at the coffin slightly ajar, chuckled dryly: "Exaggerated, exaggerated... What’s the point of the senior sister talking to you about these? Want us to go picking mushrooms?"
"No."
Xiao Xiao put down the book, heavily sighed: "She said we still can’t differentiate which mushrooms are poisonous and which are safe, suggested we stay in school a bit longer, then consider picking mushrooms."
Truly a terrible piece of advice.
"That sounds like some sort of alternative encouragement." The captain of the Absolution Hunting Team knew very well the competitiveness of his team members, couldn’t help but mutter.
