In the center of Central Square, the Yijin TV Observation Tower, built of steel structure and standing 468 meters tall, was now completely entangled by mycelium vines. The steel framework was crawling with brownish-red mycelium, pulsating like blood vessels, releasing phosphorescent pulse waves every few breaths, transmitting bioelectric signals to the mycelial blanket covering the entire city. From a distance, it resembled a bizarre and giant tree from another world!
KIKI and Lu Xingchen were looking down, their faces changed dramatically.
"What... what is this?"
In the original square, over a hundred thousand tightly packed human-fungal hybrids formed a human fungal root seat. Their spines had fused with the mycelium on the ground, the mycelium on their bodies joining to form a network of roots. These countless root networks converged upwards, densely entwining the TV Observation Tower as if they were already corrupted and solidified tree roots!
"It’s like the Demon Realm," Lu Xingchen said with a heavy expression.
"This must be what Grace referred to as the Heavenly Mushroom Tower, possibly the core of the Star Abyss Fungus!"
KIKI, seeing this sight, hurriedly headed upwards. Soon, the spore fog around them began to thin somewhat. However, the higher they went, the darker their vision became, to the point where they could barely see the TV Tower.
"Why can’t we see anymore?" KIKI looked around. The faint glow from the night-light fungi had vanished. Logically, the higher they went, the more of the city’s outline they should see.
She turned around and saw that Lu Xingchen was looking up at the sky with a grim expression. KIKI quickly looked up too, and the next moment, her pupils shrank, her face changed in shock!
Hundreds of meters above them, it was not dark clouds, but a giant fungal cap obscuring the sky!
Looking up, the massive fungal cap extended with a diameter of at least over 2 kilometers. The brownish-red gills under its umbrella were like waves, with ripples constantly forming in the wind. Those gills housed billions of sporangia, spraying a rain of spores downwards in waves, emitting a bizarre buzzing sound!
An all-encompassing crown!
KIKI stared at this terrifying sight with eyes wide open and mouth agape, "What... a giant mushroom."
"It’s a man-eating mushroom, using humans as nourishing roots, just like a monstrosity!" Lu Xingchen exclaimed repeatedly in astonishment.
Looking down at the spore fog and recalling the densely packed human fungi, KIKI immediately grabbed Lu Xingchen and flew toward the direction of the Infinity, saying, "They’ve become nothing but nutrients, yet those Deep Red members still foolishly hope to parasitize on the mycelial network to enjoy immortality. What idiots!"
After they flew out of the giant fungal cap’s range, Lu Xingchen looked back, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
In another area, Ning Jing, along with Ah Bai and Luo Yang, was quickly advancing along a hidden route in an underground train.
The train hummed loudly in the tunnel, which was completely dark except for the train’s lights piercing through the blackness.
"The deeper underground, the fewer mycelial root networks there are. It seems escaping through the underground tracks is the only way!"
Ning Jing wore a serious expression. If they hadn’t obtained information about the mycelium activity cycle from Grace, using a lot of manpower for clearing obstacles and laying tracks would have been a death wish, not just triggering the devouring of the Star Abyss Fungal Network, but also making it impossible for the entire Joint Train to survive if a large number of Abnormal Bodies gathered during the Extreme Night!
"Luckily, these mycelium don’t release the Dark Mark, otherwise it would be more troublesome." Luo Yang nodded in agreement.
"You’re right. I assume these mycelium are a half-plant, half-organic form in the darkness, capable of producing substances for the Abnormal Bodies to feed on," Ning Jing said seriously. "From this perspective, it itself is a giant Lighthouse!"
Saying this, she looked back at Ah Bai, now understanding why Ah Bai claimed to feel the presence from all directions. The entire Yijin City was indeed a massive mycelial network.
At the Zero Element Center, Lin Xian was instructing Ding Junyi to check the useful information from the monitoring hub, while he controlled Grace, beginning to investigate the surroundings.
"My mechanical movement components seem to have been subjected to a restriction by external forces, indicating an unknown control-type superpower."
Grace stood still, her body shaking, balancing on tiptoe.
The light of mechanical superpower flickered slightly in Lin Xian’s eyes. He turned his head to observe the machine steward, an artwork-like creation. In 2035, the Blue Star Federation signed the "Humanoid Robot Control Directive" due to ethical and societal concerns, prohibiting all service robots from human-like designs. The directive’s issuance led to a severe drop in stocks for all humanoid robot companies, and many factories went bankrupt, with various butler and service robots being recalled.
Since then, except for the prosthetic industry, all types of robots on the market have been designed purely in industrial mechanical forms. Whether it’s various mechas or power armor, functionality is the primary design focus.
Yet the Grace before him was a complete humanoid robot, designed with the graceful posture of a ballerina. Features like the breasts, waist, and toe-pointed design from a mechanical perspective were entirely unnecessary. Therefore, this robot was purely designed for artistic considerations, disregarding the control directive.
But the issue was that this machine steward displayed formidable combat ability during its recent action, with a body material Lin Xian had never encountered called "Super Solid Carbon Condensed Alloy," which not only could form such a flexible curve but also possessed high energy absorption and rigidity. It was truly terrifying.