Chapter 196: Stellar Pharmaceuticals Research Group
Iron Brother grabbed Wei Bin by the collar, "Why didn't you say that earlier!"
"I didn't have a chance to say it before you all got so excited." Wei Bin said innocently, "Besides, even if I told you, would you have stopped eating?"
"These can be considered emergency rations at best. If the next ten floors have no food, these mushrooms can hold us over for a while."
"But these mushrooms grew by absorbing nutrients from corpses!" Iron Brother said with disgust, "Can you even eat them?!"
Wei Bin pried his hand off, "I'm telling you now, so you can decide for yourself whether to eat them or not."
The entire floor fell silent for a few seconds, then Kang Hong threw away the mushroom and said, "I think I can just drink water."
Some people gave up the mushrooms in their hands, but others actively picked some up.
"Let's look around first." Xu Huo said to Jiang Yihua and the others.
The mushrooms, including the white threads, weren't aggressive. The freshly broken white threads were very sticky, but they would fall off on their own in about ten minutes. The fallen threads would slowly dissolve into the "nutrient jelly" and transform into nutrients for other mushrooms.
"Since these mushrooms can't kill people, then how did the ones below... come about?" Jiang Yihua thought of a possibility and couldn't help but dry heave.
"There's something down there." Da Zhi, who was squatting nearby cleaning mushrooms, suddenly turned around and shouted.
Xu Huo walked over quickly and saw him cut open the jelly to retrieve a record book.
The corpse beside the record book had already dissolved. Besides this book, there was also a pen and some fragments of white cloth floating nearby.
"Hurry up and see what's written in it." Jiang Yihua urged.
Xu Huo opened the record book. The handwriting on the first few pages was blurred, but the middle section seemed to be a research note:
"...The underground world of Clown City is forbidden territory for humans, but it's a paradise for fungi. According to statistics from researchers who have successively come here, this underground world naturally produces as many as three hundred and seventy-one types of fungi, and this is only based on the data currently available."
"However, to date, no researcher has found the fungus that created this underground world—this underground world must have been created by a fungus, because in the rock pores, nutrient transport channels more complex than a honeycomb and more varied than an ant nest have been found."
"The evolution of the natural world is astonishing."
"I speculate that this underground world was first occupied by a mutant fungus. After a long period of transformation, the environment became suitable for fungal survival, and then an incalculable number of different fungi species emerged."
"Although most are ordinary fungi, their growth cycles are longer than similar species, making them more valuable for research. Moreover, there is an extremely rare type of mycelium that can defend against sharp weapons."
"But unfortunately, our research team has entered the underground world multiple times and still hasn't been able to find the growth site of this type of fungus again."
"...Currently, humanity's exploration has only penetrated less than a kilometer into this underground world. I believe there are many more fungi like this one that can produce mycelium capable of defending against sharp weapons."
"As long as the Little Flower Red Red Research Base receives funding from Stellar Pharmaceuticals Group, we can purchase enough equipment to enter the underground world, mine new species that haven't appeared in any wormhole point, and rewrite the history of evolved plants!"
This wasn't the first time Xu Huo had seen the name Stellar Pharmaceuticals Group. As early as in Decibel Town, this company appeared frequently in Master Nisse's investigation materials. Based on Master Nisse's hostile attitude towards the company, it was likely he suspected that the company was involved in the deaths of his son and daughter-in-law.
Now, this company appeared again in the record book.
Picking up the pen beside it, he turned it and saw the character "Hao" engraved on one side.
"Could this be Professor Hao mentioned in the game introduction?" Jiang Yihua said. "Wasn't he supposed to be securing investment? How did he end up dead here?"
"Maybe it was a conflict of interest." The tall woman said. "Maybe they were fighting over business."
Xu Huo glanced at her and continued flipping through the record book. There was no more text content, but on the last page, a dried purple petal was tucked inside.
"I saw this kind of flower on the thirteenth floor." Jiang Yihua said. "It was in the glass room next to the buzzing flowers, a very small one, hidden under other flowers."
"That glass room was full of purple flowers." Xu Huo said.
"I couldn't be mistaken; they are completely different flowers." Jiang Yihua recalled. "The others had energy values of around twenty-something, but this one only had one."
Xu Huo silently put the petal away and said casually, "Maybe it wasn't cultivated well."
Jiang Yihua nodded.
"What did you find?" Gu Yu walked over at this moment and pointed behind them. "We also found some researchers whose bodies haven't completely dissolved yet. Most of the staff from the Little Flower Red Red building might be here."
"I wonder what Professor Hao actually discovered."
The greatest secret of evolution—this was too tempting for players.
The greatest secret of evolution... Xu Huo had a hunch it was related to the Perfect Evolution Potion. But given Stellar Pharmaceuticals Group's actions of silencing people, even if they had mastered the production method of the S-version potion, they probably wouldn't share it with all players in the game.
From the existence of the xenomorph release and the breeding areas, it was clear that the Dimension Rift game was intentionally creating a world divide. The inability to achieve perfect evolution and the constant reliance on potions were the players' weaknesses and also an effective means of controlling them.
He handed the record book to Gu Yu, who took it and read it together with Dai Wenqian and the others.
After a while, Xu Huo checked the time and went to the elevator to pull back the phone that had been dangling deep into the elevator shaft.
Except for one elevator that had some faint sounds, the other three were completely quiet.
Xu Huo chose the one where Iron Brother had been trapped and signaled Jiang Yihua and Da Zhi to cover him.
"I'm going up. After I enter the elevator shaft, you close the doors."
The two looked at him in surprise, but seeing that he didn't hesitate at all to pry the doors open, they had to come forward and help.
As soon as the elevator doors opened, several man-eating flowers lunged at him. Xu Huo raised his sword to cut them off, using the strings to pull them into the elevator shaft, and slashed at the man-eating flower's pitcher hanging from the roots!
The man-eating flower occupying the elevator shaft floor shook violently. The broken pitcher instantly sprayed out over a dozen man-eating flowers. In the narrow elevator shaft, they were like tethered pinballs, bouncing left and right as they rushed towards the person above!
"Hurry up and close the doors!" Da Zhi blocked one man-eating flower and shouted to Kang Hong and the others nearby.
But Kang Hong was so startled he kept backing away. It was the tall woman and Gu Yu, who was not far away, who rushed over first. While pushing the elevator doors together, she said, "What about Xu Huo?"
At that moment, Da Zhi, urged by Jiang Yihua, threw out a card. A nimble black leopard leaped out from it, carrying the two of them as they jumped into the narrow elevator doors!
This chapter has been revised; if the beginning has repeated words, please refresh. ^_^
(End of chapter)