Chapter 1587 The Price of Symbiosis


    The location where they got off the bus was in a dense forest. Overly dense vegetation and fungi that could be seen everywhere occupied most of the field of view. From any angle, it was impossible to tell whether anyone had been active here, but there were traces left by some ferocious beasts.


    Looking from the ground to the sky, there are many trees with a height of more than 100 meters. In addition to the lush branches and leaves and hanging vines, there are also things like flying insect eggs floating in the air. It can be seen that they should be some kind of Fungi, but which one it is is hard to say.


    Just for a moment, when Xu Huo lowered his head again, he found that there was a layer of green stuff attached to his protective clothing. At first glance, it looked like burrs, but if you look closely, you will find that those "burrs" are alive, like It was squirming like a bug, but only one end was connected to the clothes.


    "This is a bacterial infection, don''t worry about it," Chi Xian reminded him, while fanning away the green burrs on his mask, "Just clean it after a while, otherwise it will affect your vision if it grows too much."


    The other seven people had already left first, and the woods were quiet. Xu Huo asked Chi Xian: "What do you think?"


    "My goal is to find fungi, and of course I want to go to the place where the fungi are most abundant." Chi Xian took out his tool, a transparent glass box with a jellyfish-like thing floating in it, "This is a kind of fungus-eating Biology can detect the concentration of living fungi, and I just follow it.”


    As he spoke, he pointed the glass box forward, and the floating jellyfish moved gently inside.


    "Want to go together?" He invited Xu Huo, "Anyway, I think there are probably no copies in this place. Why don''t you help me and we can share the good things we find half and half."


    Xu Huo did not refuse. As he walked in the direction of the jellyfish, he said, "What other good things can be found here? They are all fungi, and half of them are poisonous."


    “You are an amateur,” Chi Xian said. “We rarely use poisons on a daily basis, but there are people in many districts who specialize in collecting these things. The prices are not low. The more bizarre the things, the higher the value.”


    “Isn’t it said that these fungi are difficult to reproduce in other zones?” Xu Huo pushed aside the leaves in front of him.


    "Poison doesn''t necessarily have to be taken in large quantities. Some people just want poison with no solution. One pill is enough." Chi Xian wiped another handful on the mask, "Like specially evolved fungi It’s very troublesome because they can multiply in the human body and are difficult to eradicate at one time.”


    “Many famous assassinations have involved mutated bacteria.”


    “So, there is almost no solution to the highly toxic mutated bacteria.” Xu Huo continued following his words.


    "Try your luck." Chi Xian stood still for a moment, confirmed the direction and then continued: "But as long as it is not an environment like Area 013, even if someone brings the mutated bacteria outside, it will not be difficult to deal with it. It is nothing more than Just sacrifice a few people and cut off the source of infection.”


    ?Facing hundreds of thousands of species of fungi, it is impossible for anyone to create corresponding medicines based on their characteristics. The most economical way is to trap them in their original places and prevent them from spreading to other zones.


    “All things are mutually reinforcing and interfering with each other. Maybe we can find useful bacteria or other species around the highly toxic bacteria.” Xu Huo said.


    "Many people have tried this method you mentioned," Chi Xian stopped in front of a tree covered with yellow hairs, reached out and broke off a branch from the side, waved the fungi that shook out from the branch, and then A small hole was poked in the tree trunk, "Look what''s inside."


    “Another kind of fungus.” Xu Huo took a look and saw that the bark of this tree had been completely corroded, and there was a layer of blue silt under the yellow hairs.


    "The yellow one is poisonous, and the blue one is not poisonous. Logically speaking, the two can coexist. The cyanobacteria will definitely be able to restrain the yellow bacteria. However, this kind of cyanobacteria will block the airway and esophagus after growing in the human body, and they will not completely cover the yellow bacteria. If you kill the bacteria, you will die." Chi Xian looked back at him, "The prerequisite for using fungi to treat the poison is that people can withstand the bacteria, because many mutant bacteria can multiply in the human body. No amount of antidote extracted from the human body is enough.”


    “Even if a symptomatic antidote works, no one knows where the critical point is.”


    "As far as I know, there is no detoxifying bacteria in the game that can multiply in the human body without causing harm to people." "People in Area 013 may evolve the ability to live in symbiosis with fungi, but the sequelae are obvious, whether it is Neither ordinary people nor players live long."


    “How long is the lifespan of a player’s evolver? If nothing unexpected happens, he can live for more than a hundred years.”


    What Chi Xian said was consistent with the information Xu Huo consulted, but Xu Huo''s information channels were at E-level and D-level wormhole sites. He was not sure whether there were fungi like king fungi at B-level or A-level wormhole sites. If it exists, it is not expected to be made public.


    “Buying and selling fungi…the risks are not proportional to the rewards.” Xu Huo concluded.


    Chi Xian smiled and said, "I said it''s a hobby. It can''t be like a player doing nothing except upgrading. It''s good to relieve stress."


    Xu Huo also agreed.


    After walking for about three minutes, the two found a body.


    It was a man who had been dead for a little while. His body was covered with various fungi and his face could not even be seen clearly.


    Xu Huo took out a dagger and cut open the chest of the corpse. The fungi on the body surface had just penetrated the skin and had not completely penetrated into the internal organs. However, the internal organs of the corpse were themselves parasitized by fungi. After death, these fungi Also died gradually.


    After the dust-like fungi dispersed, he said, "This should be a local."


    “It didn’t last long,” Chi Xian looked around, “Do ordinary people still live in a place like this?”


    The two of them also climbed up to observe the situation. The range they could see was really not far away, but at least the area within their field of vision was the same humid rainforest. There was no place to live. It was hard to imagine that ordinary people would go in and out here with only simple protection. .


    “Speed ??up the speed.” Xu Huo stood up and said.


    The two then used props to move in the direction of the jellyfish. After half an hour''s journey, they discovered a small village built along the water in the forest.


    It would be too polite to say that the village has only six scattered wooden houses that have not been inhabited for a long time.


    Surprisingly, the seven people who left just now are also here, and they also caught a poisonous man whose body was covered with various fungi.


    The person is being held captive by props, separated by a barrier, and Scar Glasses is asking questions.


    “Where are the others? Tell me and I’ll cheer you up.”


    The poisonous man kneeling on the ground pointed to his mouth, which had completely lost his tongue, and waved his hands and shook his head to show that he could not speak.


    Scar Glasses slapped him across the barrier, "No tongue, no hands, no fingers!"