Little Mushroom

"You can call me Polly, or Joan, whatever," said Polly Joan.His words are polite and his tone is kind, he is the best kind of elder in human civilization.

An Zhe said his name.

"You are very young, from the northern base?" Polly Jean said.

An Zhe nodded.

"How did you become what you are now?"

Polly Jean led An Zhe into the white building slowly, asking questions as he walked.

The ground was smooth, Tang Lan stepped forward and stretched out his arm to help him, but he waved his hand.

"I..." There was a fluctuation in his vision, and An Zhe slowly looked around.

Inside the white building is a wide hall, which has three floors, but these three floors are not separated by layers like ordinary buildings, but connected.Looking up from the hall, the spiral staircase spirals up layer by layer. Looking up from the hall, you can directly see the translucent dome.At this time, some creatures slowly gathered on the fences on the second and third floors, silently looking down at him from above with curious eyes.

There are about forty of those creatures in total, and most of them have human characteristics, or can be regarded as humanoids—one third of them have exactly the same appearance as humans, and one third have some other creatures on the basis of humans For example, a gentleman on the second floor, whose face is covered with gray-black fluff, and a man on the third floor whose hair is like tiny curly vines are squirming slightly.The remaining third - it looks like a monster outside or something strange, such as a pool of rotten meat hanging from the railing on the second floor.

"They won't hurt you," Polly Jean said. "If one of them loses his will and goes mad, the others will control him."

The fact is just like what he said, An Zhe looked at those deformed humans. Those eyes were not the cold eyes of beasts. He could understand the meaning in them, be curious, or look at them, without any vicious meaning.

"We are all infected, or heterogeneous, but we were lucky enough to retain part of our will, and Mr. Polly brought us together." Tang Lan patted him on the shoulder and said, "We will try our best to control ourselves not to Kill each other, fight against the monsters outside, there is no trial court here, you can rest assured."

Polly Jean coughed lightly a few times, and then he said: "The members of the institute have no hierarchy. We take care of each other, and the strong protect the weak. You are welcome to join this home."

An Zhe slowly looked back.

"Thank you." He said softly.

Tang Lan asked him how he became a different species.

After hesitating for a while, An Zhe said, "I'm going out with my friend's mercenary team..."

This is where the aliens live together, he knows.But he is still different from the people here. They are human beings infected by monsters, and he himself is a mushroom, so he has to hide his true identity.So he told An Zhe's life, came to the wild, was injured, and then——

"Before I passed out, there was a white mushroom beside me, and when I woke up, I could also turn into a mushroom." Combined with Tang Lan's story, he made up such a lie.

"Infections caused by mushrooms..." Polly Jean frowned slightly, and then said, "This is the first case I've seen. No animal will touch mushrooms on its own initiative."

An Zhe said, "I don't know either."

He really doesn't know.The mushrooms in the abyss are as dangerous as the animals in the abyss. They are either highly poisonous or filled with hallucinatory fog that can drive animals crazy. It is already a miracle that a weak and harmless mushroom like him can be born in the jungle of poisonous mushrooms. ——He even has his own independent consciousness.

Polly said: "All members of the research institute have different mutations. Although the research may not be fruitful, if you want, I still hope that you can provide more information, or let me observe your organization, I will not take would hurt the way you experiment."

An Zhe agreed, and there was nothing he could not agree to.

Polly Jean asked him some more questions. He didn't ask him further about the process of mutation, but asked him how he lived in the wild, whether he suffered hardships, whether there were any animals that were afraid, whether he had new habits after genetic modification ——He seems to be purely caring about him as an elder.But after An Zhe recognized his inhuman identity, he was still afraid of human researchers. He didn't dare to feel close to Poli, so he just answered truthfully.

He also had a preliminary understanding of the situation of the research institute. The first floor of the research institute is a laboratory and an instrument room, the second floor is inhabited by animal mutant humans, and the third floor is inhabited by plants. People have their own division of labor, and some assist Polly. Mr. recorded the experimental data, some maintained the equipment, some planted potatoes on the land behind, and some were responsible for hunting—these people were infected by those extremely ferocious monsters and were powerful, such as Tang Lan.In addition to hunting, they will put down signposts everywhere. No other creature except humans can understand the signposts. The direction marked by the signposts is the way home for the stray aliens.Placement of waypoints is not limited to the Abyss.

Tang Lan said that this place is related to the Fusion faction, but the people here are not the product of intentional fusion, but the alien species that were killed in the wild and survived to retain human consciousness, followed the signposts to the research institute—the doctor said that this is a ten thousandth One possibility.

The addition of new members is something to be celebrated, and the research institute specially prepared a welcome banquet for An Zhe—the staple food is potato bacon soup, which is made by a short male tree xenomorph.

"Do you like potatoes?" The man scooped up the soup and handed it to An Zhe. His voice was slightly hoarse, like rough bark rubbing against each other.

An Zhe reached out to hold the bowl of hot soup, he blew on it, and the warm white mist covered his face.

"I like it." He said, "Thank you."

"Then do this tomorrow." The man looked at him: "How old are you?"

An Zhe said: "19 years old."

"Then you should call me uncle. My son is about your age. He lives in the seventh district. Where do you live?"

An Zhe said, "District Six."

The man said: "I haven't seen him for five years, his name is Bai Ye, do you know him?"

An Zhe shook his head lightly.

"I hope he's doing better." Their conversation ended here.

When it was time to eat, the people of the research institute sat down in a circle, regardless of their priorities.Polly Jean sat among them, and they were all very close to him.

——They were also close to An Zhe. During a meal, at least ten people took the initiative to talk to An Zhe. Some of them were mercenaries from the outer city, and some were soldiers from the base. They were curious about the process of his mutation and asked the base. What's going on, or ask him if he has seen their old relatives or friends.An Zhe didn't tell them the fact that the outer city was abandoned, but only replied "I haven't seen it" or "I don't know it". He felt a sense of loss, and he also had no news. Such an answer seemed to be more comforting to human beings than the real answer. heart.

After a meal, Tang Lan took Ann to an empty room.

A young man with feathers brought a quilt to the room.

"It was just in the sun yesterday," he offered to help make the bed, and said, "It's cold at night, remember to close the windows."

"Thank you." An Zhe said, just like the uncle who scooped up his rice today, this young boy's kindness also made him grateful and a little at a loss.

After making the bed, the boy took out a bright red fruit from his clothes and smiled, "I'll eat it for you."

After finishing speaking, he took out another wrapped jerky: "This is for you."

An Zhe took it, and the jerky was very heavy. He didn't know how the living standard of the institute was, but in this era, so much jerky is very precious no matter where it is.

"Thank you," he said. "It's too much for me to eat."

"Eat slowly." Standing behind him, Tang Lan seemed to be smiling, and reached out to straighten his collar.

"We will give gifts to newcomers. I found this place a year ago, and everyone treats me very well." The young boy said, "It's too hard to be an alien in the wild. You have to hide from monsters and find something to eat by yourself." .Remember that I am a human being, homesick, and afraid to go back to the base. Just come to the research institute."

As he spoke, he smiled at An Zhe.

An Zhe also smiled back.

There is no wind in the room, it is very warm, and the light tubes on the ceiling are shining transparently.Holding the jerky in his hands, An Zhe thought back to the month he spent trekking in the dense forest and swamp of the abyss, and it turned out to be like a dream.

"Don't cry." The boy said, "I will have a home from now on."

His tone was so determined and warm, as if he had infinite dependence on this research.

——This is something An Zhe has never seen in the human base.

"Has it always been like this here?" he asked.

"Ah?" The boy was stunned at first, but then he reacted and said with a smile, "You will get used to it soon."

The moment his voice fell, he suddenly stopped.

——Suddenly there was a violent scream in the corridor.