Chapter 1095: Everyone Gets a Share
Xu Huo read the lip movements and raised an eyebrow. "They're going to pick some hallucinogenic mushrooms."
"Who are they for?" Zhou Yuanzhu reacted quickly. "It's not like we're going to eat their stuff. Today, even the water for cooking was self-supplied."
"That's hard to say." Xu Huo paused, then added, "I'm very interested in fungi. I'm going to take a look."
Zhou Yuanzhu had no objections. "I'm not very mobile, so I'll head back near the meeting point and wait. Be careful."
The two parted ways. Xu Huo put away 114, looked at the hole in the ground, and simply jumped in.
The passage below wasn't as wide as the opening, but it was still large enough for two or three people to crawl through.
Entering a tunnel where turning around was difficult in either direction, in a place infested with xenomorphs, wasn't a wise move. However, since 114 had dug through the underground, he could see further distances directly from below.
After estimating the nearby situation, he crouched down and entered, using the "Near-Ground Levitation" flight ability to head for the nearest exit—114 had created more than just one tunnel underground.
His gloved hand touched the ore in the cave. He easily broke off a piece. Xu Huo looked around. In this cave, which seemed to have been abandoned by xenomorphs, all the visible ore looked like the piece in his hand—somewhat transparent, but dry, brittle, and easily broken.
Testing it with a detector, he found that the ore was radioactive.
In the game, the variety of radioactive substances far exceeded the known quantities in Zone 014. However, most of them were still harmful to the human body, even for evolvers. This underground area had such a large mineral resource, but because it was radioactive, its abandonment wasn't surprising.
Radioactive elements are used in various aspects of human society, but not every district can utilize these things. Districts with more advanced technology might have better and more numerous substitutes. Resources that are in an awkward position—costly to mine and not very efficient to use—are understandably left alone.
Clearly, this high-risk instance was an abandoned place.
Looking at the diverse array of xenomorphs here, he wondered if it was related to these radioactive ores.
Concealing his form and presence, Xu Huo followed the passage and found some scattered fungi.
Earlier, in Clown City, he had obtained a book about fungi. In his spare time, he had flipped through it. Two of the species matched the fungi in the cave; both were highly toxic. However, affected by the radioactive elements, the appearance of these fungi had changed, including some non-toxic ones.
The elements mutated by radioactive influence were no longer edible. Considering the inconvenience of preservation, he gave up on picking them.
Avoiding the xenomorphs inhabiting the cave, he found the place where Zheng Da and the other person had stopped earlier. Not far from this spot, a large area of non-toxic fungi had been harvested.
He picked up one casually to look at it. The emerald green cap looked clear and beautiful. It had also appeared on the dining table of Wajia in Xiaohe City. This should be the hallucinogenic mushroom they mentioned. During the meal at the restaurant earlier, he had clearly seen most of the players eating soup stewed with this kind of mushroom.
Radioactive, mutated, hallucinogenic mushrooms. It seemed the players of Xiaohe City had been eating this stuff for a long time. Had they already evolved a resistance?
The players of Xiaohe City didn't have a gluttonous desire. Was it because of the food in this instance, or because the water filtered once was enough to remove impurities, making it relatively safe to just eat fruits and vegetables?
Regardless of the reason, the fact that Zheng Da and Jiang Wenzhang mentioned the word "hallucinogenic" indicated their purpose in picking these mushrooms was impure.
Xu Huo casually stuffed some into a pouch, slung it over his back, and continued forward.
"Woo!" Not far away, xenomorphs were fighting, occasionally letting out threatening cries. These sounds made the nearby xenomorphs restless, responding with calls of varying pitches.
Soon, a small group of xenomorphs charged over. Xu Huo leaped into the air, dodging towards a corner.
Fortunately, some of the underground caves were quite spacious; otherwise, the passages filled with xenomorphs would have left no room to hide.
After the small group of xenomorphs had passed, he returned to the ground. But he had only taken one step before stopping and turning his head to the left.
Mutant animals weren't all large. There were also geckos, lizards, bats, and the like, which seemed to permeate every cave and passage. However, compared to the large xenomorphs, they were quieter and often didn't move for long periods. But the moment his foot touched the ground, several geckos opened their eyes.
He hadn't made a sound, only leaving a footprint on the ground.
Three geckos crawled down from the wall and quickly scurried towards his feet. Xu Huo didn't move, letting the geckos circle his feet—he had already used an agent to mask his scent.
After a while, the geckos crawled over his feet, darted quickly along the passage, and emitted a thin, high-pitched cry.
This cry summoned several xenomorphs that were wandering nearby. They rushed past Xu Huo in one breath, heading towards a fork in the path on the right ahead.
Xu Huo followed. Before he had gone far, he saw several xenomorphs surrounding Zheng Da and Jiang Wenzhang.
The two had used invisibility items and defense items, but they were also trapped inside the defense barrier, with xenomorphs clawing at it from all sides, top and bottom, preventing them from escaping for the moment.
However, the real reason they couldn't get out wasn't the xenomorphs outside, but the fact that they were jointly covering a large object with an invisibility cloak.
Xu Huo couldn't see the object, only sensing it was an oval shape about two meters long. Judging by the way the two were "hugging" it, it seemed quite heavy.
Storing such an item in the luggage compartment wouldn't be a problem, but neither of them was letting go… Xu Huo used "All Things Want to Cut Everything" to slice through their defense barrier.
Sensing the danger, Zheng Da and Jiang Wenzhang successively dealt with the xenomorphs that pounced on them. However, this caused them to lose their grip on the object. As they struggled for balance, the item wrapped in the invisibility item rolled out.
It was a large stone.
Unlike the ores he had seen before, this one was pitch black like ink, faintly glistening, and looked somewhat like a gem.
It wasn't unusual for a few decent-looking gems to appear in an ore cave occasionally. But the fact that Zheng Da and Jiang Wenzhang were locked in a stalemate over it showed it was a good find.
Xu Huo attached a balloon string to it and dragged the stone towards himself.
Zheng and Jiang had long known there was a third person here. The reason they were deadlocked was simply that they couldn't break each other's items. So when the balloon string lifted the stone, two invisible pulling forces appeared on it. However, because Xu Huo's pull was forceful, both of them were dragged forward two steps.
"Lock it Up High!" Jiang Wenzhang was the first to seal the stone within a square barrier. Xu Huo and Zheng Da, who were slightly slower, failed to break it with their first strike. In a split second, they each retreated back to a safe position.
"Who are you?" Zheng Da glared at Xu Huo and asked angrily.
(Chapter End)