Little Mushroom 小蘑菇-Chapter 38: "But I met You."

Lastly, he saw Lu Feng's face. He had never seen such a perturbed expression on the Colonel's face before. He wanted to say something, but no words could come out—

His vision went black, and his body was an empty hollow.

Gently, a thread of something broke inside his body.

It hurt so much.

Then the second thread broke.

He strove to understand what had happened. At last, his consciousness seemed to turn into a pinprick of light in the void, and he finally saw what was happening.

The slender and snow-white thread gradually elongated until it was almost transparent, fragile to the point of being frightening.

Snap.

With a pain like that of a needle stab, it broke.

His spore.

The hyphae from his body were connected to every single strand of the spore's hyphae, and now, these strands were snapping one after another. It wasn't that he was letting go of his own accord, it was the spore taking the initiative to leave—no, that wasn't it either.

It was the time of maturation, and the power of life was separating them.

An Zhe could stop nothing. It was difficult to say what sort of deep sentiments there were between a mushroom and its spores. Their relationship was by no means like that of human parents and children, but he still did not want the spore to leave him so soon. It was still so dangerous outside. If the spore left him, no matter what it encountered, it would meet a premature end—especially if it was Lu Feng.

But he had lost all his senses and could say nothing. He could only desperately speak to the spore in his heart.

Don't come out.

Don't come out.

It's too dangerous.

When there were only three strands of hyphae left, his fear of death reached its peak.

Don't come out—I'm begging you.

As he dripped with cold sweat, his eyes flew open.

Before his eyes was the ceiling. He slowly blinked, then gave a sudden start.

It was still there.

He could still feel the spore inside his body, the three strands of hyphae tenuously holding it. Fortunately it appeared to have settled down, seeming to have finally decided to obey his request.

Then, the doctor's voice unexpectedly came to his ear, and at first he dazedly thought he had returned to the base.

Only in the next moment did he realize that it was the sound of the communicator.

After fixing the distorted copper wires, Lu Feng contacted the base as expected. He felt a sense of loss, although it was not right.

"... I'm telling you with certainty that humankind is coming to its end." The doctor's pessimistic view came from the communicator. An Zhe moved a little and discovered that he was lying in Lu Feng's arms and that Lu Feng's coat was draped over him. Lu Feng saw that he had woken up.

He seemed to want to say something. An Zhe signaled with his eyes for Lu Feng to focus on continuing the call, then weakly rested his forehead against Lu Feng's chest.

"This isn't some predictable disaster at all. This is a mass extinction. I can tell you, it's the mass extinction of all of the living things, non-living things, and all laws of physics."

Lu Feng said, "I've seen the fusion of materials."

"It's not called fusion. Our latest definition is distortion, the distortion of the whole at the microscopic level. Did youknow? Underneath the microscope, a silicon atom changed into—changed into something we don't know. This is not genetic contamination at all, it's a change at the quantum level, something we can never observe. According to the uncertainty principle, we can't overcome it, ever. Even if technology advanced another ten thousand years, we could only accept death," the doctor said. "We... We... We currently only know that the magnetic field can protect the earth from the effects of this change. After the two bases increased the strength of the magnetic field, the distortion stopped temporarily. But you know, the situation is always worsening."

It seemed that his nervousness made him chatter away. "In the past, infection only occurred with serious injuries, but afterward, infection occurred with light injuries as well, and after that, infection occurred with mere touch, and finally, infection occurred without any contact. I thought this was the worst-case scenario, but you know what? The basic structures of the world are in chaos, and it's obvious that the process is gradually strengthening. The world is becoming more and more chaotic. Our magnetic field can stop it for now, but what about later? What about when not even the highest strength of the artificial magnetic field can ward it off? The maximum intensity of our magnetic field is level 9, and it's currently at level 7. We're almost at the end. Tomorrow, the day after tomorrow, or in half a year at the latest, our artificial magnetic poles will break because of the distortions."

"The base hopes you can come back, but in fact if you want to find a place to spend the rest of your life, I absolutely won't stop you," he said. "The end is coming."

Lu Feng said, "I understand."

"If you haven't found An Zhe, there's no need to keep looking. Spare him, spare yourself, and live well. In any case, you'll die soon," the doctor said. "Even If you bring the sample back, we can't get any research results. This isn't something science can do—although the base still wants to fight for the last glimmer of hope."

After a pause, the doctor said, "I've fallen apart, sorry. I've been infected by the pessimism of the base. Don't listen to a single one of my words. The sample must be brought back. Since the sample is inert against infection, it may also be inert against distortion. This is the last breakthrough point, the final hope. Either you die out there, or you bring it back. But according to An Zhe's actions when he suddenly disappeared, he may be a kind of xenogenic with very strange abilities and form. You must be careful."

The doctor's resigned tone and erroneous estimation of his strength made the corners of An Zhe's lips curl up, but at the same time, he understood that the base was still fixated on his spore.

"Rest well," Lu Feng said to the doctor. "I've already sent the coordinates to the United Front Center."

The communication line was cut off.

Lu Feng looked at An Zhe.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"I'm okay," An Zhe said.

Lu Feng asked, "What happened just now?"

An Zhe shook his head.

"You don't know either?"

An Zhe said in a small voice, "That's not it."

Then he said, "I can't tell you."

He suddenly found that Lu Feng's eyes were frighteningly cold.

"Mm." Lu Feng's fingers gently smoothed his hair, and his voice was flat as he said, "So you can't tell me about the sample either."

An Zhe hung his head. Regarding the spore, he had nothing to say. It was like this before, and it was like this now.

In this world, peaceful times were illusory. Like a dream coming to an end, he and Lu Feng ultimately returned to a few days ago.

Arbiter and xenogenic, pursuer and pursued. He wouldn't hand over the spore, and Lu Feng wouldn't spare him.

He was unwilling to look into Lu Feng's eyes, so he could only change the topic. "Is the base in very bad shape now?"

"Mm-hm."

"Then are you still going to go back?"

"Yes," Lu Feng said.

"But the doctor said... there's no more hope," he said in a small voice.

Then he realized the stupidity of his sentence. Even if the base was about to perish, it was impossible for Lu Feng to not go back.

After a long silence, Lu Feng said, "I am a person of the base."

An Zhe pursed his lips. Lu Feng belonged to the base, just like how he belonged to the Abyss. It was impossible for them to peacefully coexist. Lu Feng had already sent the coordinates to the United Front Center, and he refused to divulge the spore's whereabouts. He couldn't imagine what would happen to him next.

He looked at Lu Feng. In the sheets of rain outside, the light was dim. He could neither clearly see nor understand Lu Feng.

As the world's changes became more and more mad, even the doctor said the words "humankind is coming to its end." In the final moments before humankind's extinction, what was Lu Feng thinking? He did not know. He just quietly looked at Lu Feng.

"Sometimes I think that if the base is bound to perish in my lifetime," Lu Feng said, his voice very low, "everything I've done before..."

He stopped and did not finish his sentence. This fluctuation in mood was like a ripple on the water, very swiftly frozen.

"Maybe a miracle will happen." An Zhe could only softly say that sentence. It was the only thing he could think of that might comfort Lu Feng.

Lu Feng looked down at him. "Do you think there's a possibility?"

"I guess. Just like... Just like how this world is very big, but when something happened to your plane, you justhappened to fall near me," An Zhe said. "If that wasn't the case, you would have died."

Supposing Lu Feng had died, there would also not have been the current An Zhe who had once again appeared in the human city either. Everything would have been different.

But Lu Feng only looked at him. As he lay in Lu Feng's arms, he simply—simply looked down at him. In that pair of green eyes that were devoid of warmth, there was only a hint of a chill. "Do you have any idea how big the world is?"

An Zhe thought back. In his limited memories, he hadn't walked many roads nor seen many things. He was just an inert mushroom. But this world must be very big, for only then could the fall of Lu Feng's plane and subsequent landing in front of him be called a miracle.

So he slowly nodded.

He wanted Lu Feng to be a little happier, but the current

Lu Feng was so frightening. Looking at Lu Feng's expressionless profile, An Zhe could not help cowering a little.

"You don't know," Lu Feng said, his voice icy. "I couldn't possibly have landed in front of you by coincidence. As for why, it's because I had originally come to capture you."

"No." An Zhe couldn't bear his gaze. He wanted to leave, but he was held in Lu Feng's unyielding embrace. His voice went hoarse. "There were many planes that day. You all were going... going to kill the bees. It was only... only after accidentally encountering me that you wanted to capture me."

"She's already been killed," Lu Feng said calmly.

An Zhe opened his eyes wide.

He asked shakily, "... Who?"

Lu Feng said, "Her."

An Zhe only heard a single syllable. He didn't know if that was him, her, or it. When this syllable was spoken from Lu Feng's mouth, there could only be one possibility.

Madam Lu.

He personally killed Madam Lu.

An Zhe could hardly breathe. His chest heaved violently.

Lu Feng looked at him and put his fingers to the side of An Zhe's neck. Together, his index and middle fingers pressed down on An Zhe's fragile and warm carotid artery.

There wasn't the slightest hint of emotional fluctuation in his voice. "The final mission is to kill you. Did you not hear the command from the communicator?"

An Zhe did.

The pressure made his neck hurt a little, and he reachedup to move Lu Feng's hand aside, but he could not push him away. With a sour lump in his throat, he said, "But the world... the world is so big. You didn't know at all that I was there."

Lu Feng looked at An Zhe.

In his arms, An Zhe was so small. The doctor had said that he could instantly escape the base and may be an unusually powerful xenogenic, but Lu Feng knew him. As such a frail and little thing, it seemed that anyone could harm him, whether physically or mentally.

Lu Feng did not clearly hear what he was saying. He only saw that the rims of An Zhe's eyes had reddened, as though he was desperately trying to prove that it was an accident, a coincidence. He seemed to be striving to deceive himself into believing something, so as to excuse Lu Feng.

He took something out from his uniform pocket.

It was a thin glass bottle as long as a thumb and filled with light green liquid. There was a label on the middle of it, and on the label, a bar code and string of numbers had been printed.

As An Zhe looked at it, he asked, "What is this?"

Lu Feng said flatly, "Tracking agent."

An Zhe had heard that name before. He remembered that Lily had once said she'd been injected with a tracking agent. Humankind's nomenclatures were always brief and to the point. One would know this drug's usage as soon as they heard its name.

"The Lighthouse said that by irradiating the tracking solution with a special-frequency pulse, it can acquire a characteristic frequency. After being irradiated, the tracking agent is split into two parts. One part is injected into the body, and the other part is preserved. By injecting the preserved tracking agent into the analyzer, the direction of the tracking fluid with the same frequency can be indicated," Lu Feng said. "No matter how far."

An Zhe curled his fingers around the ice-cold little tube and held it in his hand.

"Did you inject me with a tracking agent?" His voice trembled slightly. "When did you do it? I... I didn't know."

As he spoke, a thought suddenly crossed his mind.

His voice lowered, and there was a sour lump in his throat that made him almost unable to speak. "Did you suspect that I was a xenogenic since long ago?"

"You were able to pass all the judgment criteria, so I didn't kill you." Lu Feng's voice grew more icy. He pried An Zhe's fingers off, took the tracking agent, and put it back into his pocket. "But I must be responsible for the safety of the base."

An Zhe stared dumbly at him, and a single tear slid from the corner of his eye. He thought Lu Feng would wipe it away, but he did not. The wet trail quietly cooled on his cheek. Just now, Lu Feng had said very little, but it was enough to show his character. He had already mercilessly killed Madam Lu, the queen bee.

He knew what kind of person the Colonel was from thevery first day. Perhaps it was the Lu Feng of these past few days, the Lu Feng who was good to him, who was the fleeting facade.

After he had resumed communication with the base, where did An Zhe get the self-confidence to believe that Lu Feng had been giving him special treatment and that he would spare him?

In that manner, Lu Feng looked at An Zhe, who was still in his arms, as his eyelashes slowly drooped. In the end, he leaned against Lu Feng's chest and closed his eyes. Thus the soft wet glimmer in the little xenogenic's eyes was covered up as well. He seemed to have become heartbroken after that honest explanation of all his actions, Lu Feng thought.

Just like all the people who died by his hand.

But An Zhe opened his eyes again, and he tilted his head back to look at Lu Feng. His voice was very small, so Lu Feng had to lean in closer before he could hear it.

"When Madam Lu became a queen bee, she had completely lost her human mind," he said. "She said to me... She didn't hate the base, she just wanted to experience new forms of life. She didn't hate you."

In the death-like silence, Lu Feng said nothing. The time passed minute by minute and second by second. When An Zhe reached up to touch Lu Feng's cheek to confirm that he was still alive, he saw the corners of Lu Feng's thin, cold lips curl up.

His voice was very soft yet certain.

"She hated me."

An Zhe looked into his eyes.

Madam Lu had said that Lu Feng would never get what he wanted, that he would die a miserable death, and that he would eventually go mad.

He asked, "Why?"

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"After I was born, her relationship with my father was discovered by the base, and she was never able to freely meet him again. I killed my father and killed many of her children. When her little daughter escaped from the Garden of Eden with her help, she ran into me. In fact, the day you and I ran into Lily, her friend who had come to assist was standing on the other side of the road."

Lu Feng seldom spoke at such length, and An Zhe had long ago gotten accustomed to hanging on his every word.

When Lu Feng finally finished speaking, he was nearly out of breath.

The silence lasted three seconds.

"The happy things in her life were very few, but I destroyed all of them," Lu Feng said. "Just like everyone else in the base, she hated me."

While looking at him, An Zhe opened his mouth.

In the end, he finally knew what he wished to say.

"I don't hate you," he said.

A long silence.

"Why?" Lu Feng's slightly raspy voice suddenly sounded in his ear.

"What... do you mean, why?" he asked.

"Why can you..."—Lu Feng looked at him—"always forgive me?"

An Zhe looked up at him, but what he saw this time was not that frosty Lu Feng.

The Colonel's voice trembled imperceptibly as he asked again, "Why?"

An Zhe wanted to say it, but he couldn't. He didn't have as high of an intellect as humans, nor did he know that many of their words. He thought for a very long time.

"I understand you," he said.

"You aren't even human." Lu Feng's fingers clamped down on his shoulder. The look in his eyes was still as cold as before, but in his voice, something seemed to fall apart, and he asked almost shakily, "What do you understand about me?"

He still wanted to ask.

But An Zhe could say nothing more. He desperately shook his head.

An Zhe could only be driven into a corner one step at a time by Lu Feng. He wanted to cry again. He did not know why this man would be so evil. Today, this man did not hesitate to cut open all of him. He himself was like a court justice who wished to acquit the criminal, but the criminal below the bench kept making declarations aggravating his own misconduct. This person insisted on being tried, insisted on being sentenced to death.

That was how much he wanted An Zhe to hate him.

An Zhe did not know why things had reached this point. Clearly, at the very beginning they had only been talking about whether the base could survive or not, about how this world was so big, and about how Lu Feng landing in front of him really was a miracle or not.

Lu Feng had said that it was not, that all of this was premeditated, inevitable.

But it wasn't, it really wasn't.

"But..." As he faced Lu Feng, he lifted his own arm, and those distinct human fingers gradually changed.

Snow-white hyphae climbed up Lu Feng's black uniform and crawled over the Arbiter's epaulets and silver tassels.

Tears kept flowing from his eyes, and he could not clearly see Lu Feng's expression. He only knew that the hand Lu Feng was holding him with was trembling, and he held him even more tightly.

He knew that Lu Feng would be able to recognize him as the mushroom that had been rolling around in the Abyss. He tearfully choked out, "But I met you..."

The world was so vast, and Lu Feng had insisted on going to the Abyss. The Abyss was so big, and he had insisted on going to those open plains to roll around.

They were originally not meant to meet.

He had never hurt any person or any creature. He only wished to quietly raise his own spore. Had he been able to do so, he thought, he might've been spared so much heartache and pain.

But why would there be a human like Lu Feng in this world?

This human held him with such great strength, it was like he wanted to kill him. With his back pressed against the bedpost, he desperately struggled. The struggle was utterly fruitless, but he was unwilling to turn into hyphae form to escape, reluctant to admit that he was outmatched.

He recklessly bit down on Lu Feng's neck with all his might.

It was only at the moment the taste of blood rushed into his mouth that An Zhe was dazed.

What am I doing? he thought.

But his chance was gone, for the brief daze was enough for Lu Feng to regain the upper hand.

His shoulder was pressed down, his back hit the bedpost, and a hand forcibly lifted his jaw.

Lu Feng forcefully kissed him.