Chapter 3: The Mycelium Cage
The moment the bus crashed through the No. 13 house number, time seemed to stretch. Ji Tian felt as if his eardrums were wrapped in some viscous liquid, and a faint "sizzling" sound came from his ear canal, as if something was slowly seeping in. He suddenly coughed, his throat itching from a fishy - sweet smell, and a faint smell of blood welled up in his nasal cavity. Squinting his eyes, he vaguely saw a pair of hands - withered, trembling, and the wrinkled fingers scratching bloody marks on the infusion tube. It was the appearance of his father on his deathbed, so thin that only skin and bones were left, but his eyes were filled with an indescribable obsession. When the wheels rolled over something soft, there was a dull "poof" sound, and the entire carriage was suddenly engulfed in a blinding green light. The boundary between reality and memory blurred at this moment.
"Wake up!" A burning pain came from the back of his neck, and Ji Tian suddenly opened his eyes. He found that he had slumped on the seat at some point. The girl in the peaked cap was pinching the acupoints on his neck with her fingernails, exerting ruthless force. He gasped for breath and looked down. The blood beads oozing from his nasal cavity were dripping onto the floor, being greedily devoured by the wriggling mycelium. The white mycelium, which was originally as thin as a hair, was now as thick as a finger, slowly crawling between the seat cracks, very much like the out - of - control mold growing in a petri dish in a biology laboratory, exuding a damp, putrid smell.
"Welcome to the Gu World," the girl took off her peaked cap, revealing a pale face. The skin on her forehead twitched slightly, and the words "Zhang Degui" under the skin wriggled like a living thing. She quickly tied up her black hair with a hairband, and a patch of dense pinholes was revealed behind her ear, as if left by something piercing repeatedly. "My name is Zhang Xiaoyue, the daughter of one of your father Ji Wenshan's partners back then." Her voice was low, tinged with a bit of fatigue, yet also firm with an air of authority.
Ji Tian opened his mouth, wanting to ask something, but the carriage suddenly shook violently, interrupting his thoughts. The double - ponytail girl by the window, who had been sitting stiffly, now had a "click" sound as a crack split open in her neck. Countless black beetles swarmed out from the wound, buzzing and gathering in the air to form a distorted human face. The face had blurred features but carried a strange sense of familiarity.紧接着, there were successive cracking sounds coming from under the mycelium carpet. The chests of more than a dozen passengers in the carriage almost burst open simultaneously. Countless gu worms, mixed with pieces of internal organs, splashed onto the car window. Scarlet and dark - brown liquids flowed down the glass, and a strong smell of blood filled the air.
"Run!" Zhang Xiaoyue grabbed Ji Tian's arm and almost used all her strength to smash through the car window. The putrid air rushed in, with a wet and cold touch. Ji Tian stumbled and landed, his legs weak, almost falling. Looking around, he found that the so - called street was not the ground at all, but a huge net woven from countless semi - transparent mycelium. When stepped on, it sank slightly, as if walking on the skin of a living thing. In the distance, the shop signs wrapped in the mycelial membrane loomed. Vaguely, words like "Li Ji Noodle Shop" and "Wang's Roast Goose" could be recognized - these were clearly the old - established stores in邪夜巷twenty years ago, but now they had been devoured by the mycelium beyond recognition.
A clear and ethereal copper - bell sound came from the distance, breaking the silence. Ji Tian looked in the direction of the sound and saw that a ancient pagoda wrapped in mycelium suddenly glowed with a faint light. The cocoons of countless gu worms on the surface of the pagoda trembled simultaneously, and the vibration rippled through the mycelium network, as if some kind of signal was being transmitted. He instinctively reached into his trouser pocket, only to find that the telescopic baton had become scalding hot. Taking it out, he saw that a pattern had emerged on the metal surface - it was the pattern on his father's relic, complex and ancient, like a fragment of some kind of spell.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
"Is this... a Gu tool?" Zhang Xiaoyue's voice was tinged with shock. Her pupils suddenly constricted. "Your father refined his life - bound Gu into a telescopic baton?" She stared at the pattern, her eyes complex, as if recalling something.
Before Ji Tian could answer, the mycelium ground under his feet suddenly bulged, as if something was about to break through. Three mycelium tentacles as thick as a bowl suddenly drilled out of the ground. The suckers at the ends split open, filled with barbs and dripping green mucus. He instinctively swung the telescopic baton, and the moment the pattern lit up, the tentacle let out a scream like a baby crying, splashing out a stinking liquid and covering him all over. The sound was sharp and piercing, drilling straight into his eardrums, making his scalp tingle.
"Run towards the ancient pagoda! These are the tentacles of the Gu mother!" Zhang Xiaoyue ran while tearing open her sleeve, revealing the spreading black marks on her forearm. The marks had climbed to her elbow, like a net expanding under the skin. "The mycelium network can sense emotional fluctuations. The more afraid you are, the more excited they get!" Her voice was a bit hurried, and fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
The two of them ran wildly in the mycelium jungle. From time to time, a "patta" sound came from under their feet, which was the sound of gu worms falling from the "trees" wrapped in the mycelial membrane and bursting on the ground. Ji Tian was out of breath, as if his lungs were filled with cold and damp air. When he passed through an area where the mycelium was thinner, he suddenly caught a glimpse of dozens of frozen corpses under the mycelial membrane - they were dressed in modern clothes with stiff expressions. The man on the outermost side, wearing a faded courier uniform, was still clutching a worn - out safety helmet in his hand, and on the name tag on his chest, the words "Wang Jianjun" could be vaguely seen. Ji Tian's heart skipped a beat. That was the deliveryman who had gone missing three months ago, and there had been a missing - person notice in the newspaper.
"Watch out!" Zhang Xiaoyue suddenly pounced on him, pressing him to the ground. A strange bird with a wingspan of three meters flew over their heads. Rotting feathers hung with mycelium, exuding a strong stench. In the bird's beak were rows of human teeth, uneven, as if yanked out from a living person's mouth. Ji Tian fell to the ground, and his palm pressed against something hard. Looking down, he saw that half of a rusty police badge was embedded in the mycelium - covered asphalt road, with dried blood on the edge.
"This was my father's back then..." Zhang Xiaoyue's voice trembled. Her fingernails dug deep into the mycelium ground, her knuckles turning white. "The police car of the special case team twenty years ago disappeared right here." A flash of pain crossed her eyes, as if stabbed by a memory.
The ancient pagoda was already close at hand, but black mucus suddenly oozed from the tower door, slowly flowing down like blood. Countless gu worms swarmed out from the crack of the door, gathering in the air to form a vague human figure, exuding a sense of oppression. Zhang Xiaoyue suddenly covered her chest and knelt down. The black marks had climbed all over her neck, wriggling under her skin like a living thing. "Quick... use your Gu tool to cut open the tower door... the sub - Gu in my body is about to wake up..." Her voice was intermittent, with moans of pain.
Ji Tian tightly gripped the scalding telescopic baton and rushed towards the tower door. Behind him came Zhang Xiaoyue's suppressed gasps, as if she was struggling with something in her body. He gritted his teeth and stabbed the telescopic baton hard into the crack of the door. The moment of contact, the pattern burst out with a blinding light, and suddenly, his father's dying whisper rang in his ears: "Tian'er... the third layer of the cabinet..." The voice was low and weak, but it exploded in his mind like a thunderclap.
