Little Mushroom

A snow-white mycelium stretched out and lay lightly on the surface of the metal net. It then drilled through the tiny gaps in the metal grid.

——It is safe, at least here, there are no lethal weapons, just the grid barrier.

After the first mycelium passed through the three-layer mesh grille and reached the pipe, the remaining mycelium also moved forward, and they gathered together because they were too soft and flexible, showing a nearly liquid state. The snow-white tide water permeated through three layers of metal mesh and reunited behind it. A forward-extending pipe appeared in the Anzhan perception. The wall of the pipe was smooth as a whole, but some spots of rust had appeared, and the smell of rust spread like blood. Wind was blowing in from the end of the pipe.

An Zhe moved forward, his mycelium was like a tentacle against the wall of the pipe, and it flowed smoothly forward. The pipe was straight. After turning a right angle, it still went straight. He continued to move forward, and a crossroad appeared in front. A horizontal, thicker pipe was connected to the pipe where he was now.

The wind is getting bigger, and the direction of the airflow is intricate, indicating that this huge pipeline system is like a zigzag labyrinth.

An Zhe hesitated briefly in place, he stretched out a long mycelium, stayed in the pipe, and then continued to move forward-although Lu Yan thought he was not smart, An Zhe felt that he was not stupid, He decided to mark his path with this mycelium so that no matter where he went, he could return along the original path of mycelium.

After making this decision, Anzhan felt relieved. He went straight through the intersection and moved forward in the original direction. After another right-angle bend, a faint light came from the front.

Anzhe came to the source of light-another vent. The voice of a familiar newscaster was ringing. It is conceivable that he came to the vent of another person's house

"Over a month, the main city recalled a total of 12,000 foreign mercenaries and officially entered the recovery period. During the expected recovery period of ten years, the main city's scientific research force will be fully invested in the investigation of the source of infection ..."

"Well." The regular knocking sounded.

An Zhe originally entered here by mistake. He didn't peep into the privacy of other human beings and planned to leave, but the next moment, he temporarily dispelled this idea.

The door opened.

"Captain Lu." A female voice sounded, her tone very sharp.

Colonel.

This is Lu Yan's room.

An Zhe quietly came out of the vent and moved it outside to make himself hear more clearly. He was really curious about Lu Yan's life.

Then he heard the familiar cold voice: "Hello."

"Hello, Colonel, I'm a staff member on the 21st floor of Eden."

Garden of Eden.

An Zhe raised his ears-if he had something like ears now.

Lu Yan: "What is it?"

"That's it," the woman smiled. "First of all, congratulations to the colonel for returning from the outer city. Secondly, on behalf of my superior, I asked the colonel if there is currently a willingness to donate sperm to Eden."

Lu Yan's answer was very straightforward and ruthless: "No."

"That's a shame. If you have any intentions in the future, please contact us. Your gene is very good. If it can't be effectively used, it is a loss of the entire base."

"Thank you." Lu Yan's tone was not eased by her compliment. He said, "Is there anything else?"

"Mrs. Lu planted flowers," said the woman. "She asked me to drop you a bunch. The work in the main city is very busy, and the wife has asked you to take a break and take care of yourself."

After a brief silence, Lu Yan said, "Is her health OK?"

"everything is normal."

"Thank you," Lu Yan said with a lower voice, and said "hello to her on my behalf."

Their conversation ends here. After the door is closed again, there is no more movement in the room.

Weather forecast reports that windy weather continues and temperatures will drop.

The sound came to an abrupt end, presumably Lu Ying turned off the TV, then the footsteps gradually approached, Lu Ying returned to the bedroom and sat down at the desk. After a few rumblings of paper, the room fell silent, with only Lu Yan's breathing.

An Zhe wanted to stick out a few mycelia from under the bed to see what the colonel was doing, but he didn't dare. Eventually he returned slowly from the vent.

At the crossroads, he chose the direction in which the wind was blowing, dragging the slender mycelium that marked the path to continue.

The cold, blood-scented wind was blowing his mycelium, and other pipe openings were connected to the pipe wall, and each pipe opening was connected to another complicated pipe structure. At the same time, an intersection appeared in front of it-just such a short path, which can make Anzhe aware of the complexity of the entire system. He didn't have a roadmap, he only knew the approximate direction of the lighthouse, and he could imagine the difficulty of entering the lighthouse from the pipeline.

But he can always find, he is not a impatient mushroom.

After several turns, Anzhe was completely unable to distinguish the direction, and he could not realize the passage of time. He only knew that when traveling along the direction of the wind, the pipe openings would become wider and wider, and the wind would also increase. The bigger he guessed it was because he found the backbone of the ventilation system. Sometimes he was worried that his mycelium would be broken, but there was no way to strengthen it or leave another strand. Mycelium was like human blood to mushrooms. Excessive blood loss would lead to death, and he could not use it up.

Sometimes, there will be a metal net in front, or some sharp, turbines that can cut all flesh and joints. At this time, he will carefully slide along the knife edge to prevent the hyphae from being cut.

Anzhe didn't know how long he had been away, only the slight rustle of wind and mycelium flowing through the rusted pipe wall accompanied him.

In front of him is an infinitely stretched black pipe, and the back is also, this feeling made him return to the time when the spores were lost-wandering aimlessly around the abyss, maybe it can be retrieved tomorrow, or maybe never Way to find.

When the diameter of the pipe is as high as two people, Anzhe feels a fuzzy red light ahead. He went forward, carefully crossing a large turbine—and then fell out of the pipe.

He fell on the hard and rough metal floor and was illuminated by the dim light, looking at it in all directions-here is no longer the interior of the pipe, but an empty and spacious cylindrical space, as large as the hall of Eden, the wind Infused with the red light from above. Too high, Anzhe can't feel there.

So his white ball stretched on the ground, and the hypha was gathered into human body and skin, which was very cold, so the hypha spread on him, and a loose white robe was densely woven, blocking the cold outside Shen chill.

Anzhe stepped on the metal ground barefoot and looked up.

A huge turbine tilted to the top of the space, occupying his vision. Around the turbine is a dark red laser light curtain, similar to the outer city walls. Anzhe knows that this is one of human defense weapons. Once a creature wants to forcefully pass it, it will immediately trigger an alarm.

Looking through the iron teeth of the turbine, Anzhe saw the sky outside, and the aurora was still shining. This place is connected to the outside world, and he realized that this is the air inlet of the ventilation system. After the turbine starts, the outside air will be continuously drawn in and transported to the pipes in all directions.

An Zhe retracted his gaze, and looking forward, in the center of this cylindrical space, there was a rectangular metal workbench—probably the operating platform of the entire system. He went up but found that it was not the case.

On this metal table, three rectangular small boxes were welded, and the mottled writing next to the small box could be seen by the light, which seemed to be plated.

An Zhe leaned down slightly, wiped off the dust and rust, and saw the dense writing.

— Is a letter.

"To latecomers:

I am Kang Jinglan, the head of the underground ventilation system engineering construction of the North Base. The ventilation system was designed for one year and nine years for construction, with a cost of 110 million yuan per kilometer.

Opponents have suggested that the construction period be postponed because of the difficulty of base construction and the huge amount of manpower and resources consumed. However, after discussion, we believe that once the weakening of geomagnetism continues, the human economy will inevitably collapse within ten years, and within fifty years, the surviving humanity will inevitably completely lose the R & D and production capacity of heavy industry, and the focus of production materials and scientific research will be tilted to the medical field We have no time.

Fortunately, this year's underground ventilation system was successfully constructed together with the above-ground base, and fellow human beings can now live in the tight protection of the base. This is the only thing I am happy about. Under cosmic radiation, despite being tightly protected, I still suffer from a variety of cancers and immune diseases. I asked the base to bury my ashes at the core of the ventilation system, so that every generation of engineers entering the system maintenance, I would know that the base is still safe and the great species of humanity is still alive.

May you have a bright future.

Sincerely,

salute

June 2030. "

This is ashes.

Therefore, in this box, there is a human body, which is a grave, and these remaining handwritings are letters from the human being to the latecomers, perhaps called epitaphs.

An Zhe looked to the right. The right side of it was a box of almost the same shape. The bottom was welded to the table. There was also a plated letter next to it.

"To Mr. Kang Jinglan, to the latecomers:

I'm Liao Ping'an, head of underground ventilation system engineering maintenance at the North Base. The ventilation system is overhauled semi-annually and overall maintenance is performed every two years, and it is currently operating in perfect condition.

As Mr. Kang expected, the weakening of the geomagnetism did not improve, but completely disappeared in December 2030. Fortunately, soon after the success of the artificial magnetic pole project, the earth was again protected by a magnetic field, and humans no longer suffered from diseases due to radiation exposure. Unfortunately, cosmic radiation has caused infectious mutations of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, and humanity has ushered in an unprecedented catastrophe. As a catastrophe experience, I have witnessed the shrinkage of human existence, the collapse of the economic system, and the gradual loss of industrial capacity. The base invested all remaining human capacity into military production, military base construction, and base expansion, and a steady stream of guns, ammunition, nuclear weapons, aircraft, armor, and tanks were produced. I don't know what the intention of the base is, and I don't know whether this behavior has accelerated the depletion of human resources. I can only hope that the base has another far-reaching intention.

During this catastrophe, I was unfortunately infected with deadly bacteria. At the end of my life, I still felt endless panic about the future of the base, so I chose to be buried here with Mr. Kang, waiting for the next generation of engineers to report safety.

May you have a bright future. "

Sincerely,

salute

November 2052. "

Next is a third urn with an epitaph.

"To Mr. Kang Jinglan and Ms. Liao Pingan, to the latecomers:

I am Yang Yan, the head of underground ventilation system engineering maintenance at the North Base. The ventilation system is overhauled semi-annually and overall maintenance is performed every two years, and it is currently operating in perfect condition.

I must tell two seniors that in this era, the ventilation system no longer exists as one of the countless infrastructures at the base, but has played a brilliant role in the cause of human safety. In 2053, global biological mutations began. Human bases took the army as the main force and civilian mercenaries as the assisting force and plunged into the grand defense war. In the absence of resources and industrial construction capabilities, the solid military bases and powerful military weapons that the previous generation left us have played an unimaginable role, ensuring the safety of the remaining humanity. The ventilation system was transformed into one of the fortifications of the main city of the base to protect people from the invasion of insect monsters.

At present, the northern base is still safe, and the military and mercenary teams are constantly returning samples of monsters from the outside world, and recovering scientific research equipment, civilized materials and other necessary materials from human waste cities. The scientific research strength of the base is focused on the research on the principle of infection and the reproduction of human races. The former has not found a direction for the time being, while the latter has been initially conquered, a large number of new lives have come, and the population has started to rise. Although the environment is still bad, I believe everything will improve.

I died under the shelter of a base from a happy old age disease.

May you have a bright future.

Sincerely,

salute

January 2104. "

An Zhe read it carefully, and looked aside, it was empty and there was no other box. 2104 is a very distant age. Perhaps the next generation of engineers will lie here soon, with epitaphs telling recent stories, the fall of the outer city, or something else.

At this moment, a huge whimper sounded in all directions, and the mighty night breeze blew in from the air inlet, Anzh shuddered. The strong wind was like an irresistible torrent, making him barely open his eyes-he put his elbows in front of him to resist the strong wind, and bowed his head slightly.

Just then, he suddenly felt a pain.

A section of snow-white mycelium floated in the wind, and in his afterglow, the white shadow flickered, and disappeared instantly.

An Zhe turned back suddenly. The white mycelium marked by the route that he had left on purpose dragged only a short piece on the ground and trembled in the wind. It was the wind that blew his hyphae, and the part that was broken, I do n’t know where the wind was.

His pupils shrunk, looking in the direction they came, with six dark holes juxtaposed, exactly the same.

The author has something to say: the lost mushroom