Players, Please Board the Train

”Should we go back again?” the female player rubbed her arms, walked to the edge of the overhanging rock, glanced down, and quickly pulled back. ”It looks very deep to me.”

”But there doesn’t seem to be any other path up here either.” Zhuo Wangsun looked around both ways.

The place they were in was actually the interior of a giant elliptical cavity. There were narrow fissure passages both ahead and behind, but they were basically blocked by mycelium. They had probed it with something earlier; it was at least several meters thick and sticky, impossible for a person to pass through.

”Am I seeing things?” Si Ming suddenly pointed to a spot above them. ”It seems like there’s a person over there waving at us.”

”There’s a figure!” the female player cupped her hands around her mouth like a megaphone and shouted, ”Who are you? Did you find a way?”

The figure didn’t respond, maintaining its original gesture, waving at them unhurriedly, then turned and disappeared behind the rock wall.

”That probably isn’t a person.” Zhuo Wangsun instinctively looked at Xu Huo. This was different from the figure they saw earlier in the foggy forest. This one was much more agile and even waved!

The distance was too great, and the light was dim, so it was normal they couldn’t see clearly. Xu Huo, however, saw it clearly. That indeed wasn’t a person, just a human-shaped model constructed from mycelium. The details weren’t realistic, but the fact it could perform actions like waving and walking was truly astonishing. For a mutation to reach this level was genuinely impressive.

”Not friendly intentions. Should we follow it?” the female player sought their opinions. Neither she nor Si Ming took Zhuo Wangsun’s words seriously.

”Four against one, we have the advantage.” Xu Huo said this and accelerated, heading back the way they came.The four of them ran all the way to where the figure had been standing. Looking around, they discovered it had appeared again, standing slightly above and to the side, waving at them in the same posture.

The four exchanged glances and gave chase once more. Then the figure appeared a third time, even higher up.

Finally, when they returned to a spot about ten meters from the ground, the figure dove headfirst into a fissure passage ahead.

Xu Huo walked over, used his sword to lift the covering, and discovered a passage over a meter high had formed inside the silken cocoon. A person could pass through by bending over. Although he couldn’t see what lay deep inside, there was airflow running through it, indicating it was likely passable.

Without waiting for the other three, he entered first.

This passageway was only about ten meters long. After passing through, another giant circular cavity appeared ahead, largely identical to the previous one. The figure that had beckoned them was still waving at them.

Zhuo Wangsun and the female player emerged one after the other. Seeing the figure, they flew into a rage. The latter said, ”What does it actually want?”

Zhuo Wangsun said, ”I think it’s deliberately leading us into a trap. Should we retreat for now?”

”Pull me up!” Si Ming, still inside the passageway, cried out in alarm. Zhuo Wangsun instinctively grabbed his outstretched hand but was almost pulled in himself. It was only because Xu Huo reached out from behind to steady him that he managed to haul Si Ming out.

The pulled-out Si Ming was covered all over with white mycelium. His back was especially coated with sticky, syrup-like strands. The passageway behind him was clearly already blocked, precisely by the mycelium on him!

Zhuo Wangsun used his knife to try and cut it, but the knife got stuck. He had no choice but to tell Si Ming to take off his protective suit. Who would have guessed the mycelium had stuck to the outside of his suit too, making it impossible to remove? Furthermore, the mycelium on his feet, when connected to the ground, seemed to trigger a growth instinct and actually began spreading across the floor!

Si Ming stood rooted to the spot, unable to move, and even more afraid to fall over. He said urgently, ”I have cleaning solution! See if it works!”

Using his hand that wasn’t covered in mycelium, he pulled out the cleaning solution. Zhuo Wangsun quickly opened it and poured it over him. The mycelium then fell off in large patches like shedding fur.

Unfortunately, one bottle wasn’t enough. The ”fur removal” only worked halfway.

Si Ming looked at the three people beside him. ”I can buy it. I have White Bills.”

The female player gave him a bottle. Zhuo Wangsun also took one out. Only then were they able to wash off all the mycelium from his body. The fallen mycelium didn’t die; instead, it started growing from the ground and, in the blink of an eye, connected with the thick mycelium wall behind them.

The group retreated. Zhuo Wangsun said with shock and suspicion, ”If we had been just a moment slower, he would have grown into it and never gotten out, right?”

Si Ming was equally shaken by the close call. Looking again at the figure still waving in the distance, he raised his gun and unleashed a burst of fire at the opposite side. They only heard the sound of bullets hitting the rock wall and dirt. Immediately after, that figure fell down. Simultaneously, the mycelium behind it surged down like a flood, swiftly covering it and dragging it inside.

By the time the four of them chased over, the figure had been completely swallowed by the mycelium.

Furious, Si Ming swung his knife, hacking wildly at the mass. Unfortunately, he only ended up losing a knife and didn’t see the real person.

His anger hadn’t subsided. The female player reached out and patted his shoulder, pointing below the overhanging rock. ”Look.”

The group looked down. Another person was standing over there, still waving at them.

The female player rubbed her face. ”Seems like it’s a bit closer this time.”

Both Si Ming and Zhuo Wangsun’s expressions turned grim.

At this moment, Xu Huo took two steps forward, drew his Long Sword, and swung it through the air. The cutting plane formed by the sword energy crossed the space and penetrated that figure’s body. The figure was instantly split in two but was immediately swallowed again by the mycelium.

”I saw it clearly this time! That’s not human at all!” the Female Player said. ”It’s hollow inside!”

”What exactly is that thing!” Zhuo Wangsun had wanted to ask for a while. ”Leading us into a trap is one thing, but it also knows how to cut off escape routes and cover its tracks. Can fungi do that?”

”Could there be someone hiding in the shadows, targeting us?” Si Ming also suggested.

”Probably not.” Xu Huo looked around in all directions. ”The mycelium is very active. If it wanted to move and swallow a few people, it wouldn’t be difficult. If another player wanted to kill us, they wouldn’t need to use such an indirect method.”

”Could it be that the fungi have gained sentience?” the female player scoffed.

”It’s imitating us.” Xu Huo’s voice grew slightly deeper. Counting the encounters with the ”figures” from before until now, it had only been twice. Yet the other party’s ability to imitate had advanced by leaps and bounds. Whether it was Zhuo Wangsun falling into the pit earlier on the ground or repeatedly luring them deeper just now, the actual purpose was to imitate and learn.

He splashed alcohol ahead on the fissure passage and set it on fire. After the passageway burned through, he walked over to look and discovered a person wrapped in the mycelium on the inner rock wall. Through the mycelium film over the head and face, the features were barely discernible.

”Si Ming!” the female player exclaimed in shock, turning to look at the Si Ming standing behind them. ”Are you real or fake!”

Si Ming was stunned. But before he could defend himself, Xu Huo over there wielded his sword and severed the head wrapped in mycelium.

The now-empty head, deprived of the support from the neck, deflated like a balloon, turning into a pile of soft matter hanging inside, before being swallowed and covered again by the contracting fungi.

Zhuo Wangsun swallowed hard. ”They’re imitating more and more like real people.”

”You think,” the female player’s imagination ran wild, ”are they deliberately luring us down here to eat us and then go out disguised as us?”

Xu Huo was left speechless.