When he recognized the giant spider with grass growing on its head, Otto subconsciously covered his mouth and nose, held his breath, and kicked the thing back to the bottom of the bed.
Although he has never seen this grave grass, he recognizes it. Alex told him when he gave him the extraordinary creature illustration class that the scientific name of this thing should be
Otto, the Vibur Ophiocordyceps fungus, widened his eyes in disbelief and murmured to himself in a low voice.
To parasitize an insect and help it grow a grave grass, I think the first thing everyone thinks of is a certain well-known herbal medicine, right?
Cordyceps sinensis.
The Cordyceps sinensis fungus parasitizes the larvae of bat moth insects. In winter, it controls the larvae to burrow into the shallow layers of the soil, and then slowly eats up the larvae's plump internal organs. Finally, the larvae dies with its head and tail down, turning the larvae's body into a A breeding ground full of mycelium. When the weather warms up in the summer, the empty shell filled with mycelium begins to revive and grow, and a grave grass grows out of the insect's head.
Of course, similar parasitic fungi are not limited to Cordyceps sinensis, there is also a more terrifying parasitic fungus called Ophiocordyceps hemiformis. This thing is much more powerful than the Cordyceps sinensis fungus. After its spores infect the ants, they will quickly replicate in the ants' bodies and plunder their nutrients. When the fungus reaches a certain scale, it will begin to infect and rob every inch of muscle in the ants' bodies until Take over complete control of its body.
The Ophiocordyceps Weibur fungus mentioned by Otto is a similar extraordinary fungus. Its spores will spread through the air and silently parasitize extraordinary creatures, and then absorb the host's vitality and extraordinary energy to quickly divide and replicate, and in a very short time. Over time, the host's body is enslaved while keeping its mind intact, and it grows into a heterogeneous body like a fungus plant.
Of course, readers don’t need to be surprised. After all, intelligent and civilized bacteria and viruses already exist in this world. It is acceptable to have a few more fungi, microorganisms, etc. with extraordinary powers.
only
Impossible, didn't the old guy say that? Isn't this thing extinct? Otto said to himself in disbelief.
Yes, Ophiocordyceps vibulensis is extinct.
With the passing of the Age of Gods, the undead army and the hunting group paid a huge price to defeat the mother body code-named Weibull. Later, the subordinate Weibull Ophiocordyceps fungus spread out by the mother body also died one after another. Withering, apoptosis.
Theoretically speaking, it is impossible for Ophiocordyceps weibulli to exist without the existence of a mother body.
Unless there's something weird here!
When such thoughts flashed through Otto's mind, he habitually summoned the fantasy sword, but this did not bring him much peace of mind. After all, the opponent might be fungal spores floating in the air. For psykers, this This kind of enemy has great disadvantages. Since the opponent has no mind and consciousness, the premise of tampering with reality cannot be established. Therefore, once he is parasitized, he may not even be able to save himself in such a deserted environment.
so.
He ran away.
But in his words, this is called a tactical retreat due to lack of preparation.
More than half an hour later, after overwriting reality and refreshing his physical condition, Otto ran back into the house wearing a protective suit, a gas mask, and carrying a stack of sealed bags.
This time he was well prepared and ready to explore.
Really, why did you have to wade into this muddy water? Otto's voice sounded a little loud through the thick gas mask. He held the mobile phone with the flash on in one hand and dragged the fantasy sword in the other hand, continuing what he had just given up halfway. exploration.
Because he was wearing a bloated protective suit, it became extremely difficult to move in the crowded and narrow environment of the bed. It took him a long time to pull the insect corpse out from the corner under the bed.
It was indeed a spider, but Otto squatted on the ground and studied it for a long time under the light, but he still couldn't figure out what this thing was called. He only knew that this empty shell should also be the corpse of some extraordinary creature. After all, Ophiocordyceps vibulensis Bacteria can only parasitize extraordinary creatures. This discovery made him immediately alert. The extraordinary fungus that should have disappeared with the age of the gods has reappeared. In addition, the appearance here
After finding the corpse of an unrecognizable extraordinary creature, it was almost confirmed that there was indeed some extraordinary existence entrenched here.
Otto opened a sealed bag and put the parasitized spider inside. In fact, even if he retreated with this thing at this time, there would be no problem. After all, he was originally here to investigate whether there were supernatural factors here. Now he found out When the situation is beyond his ability to solve, the old hunter will not blame him even if he escapes.
But he was unwilling to leave like this, and he was unwilling to abandon the missing people. It felt as if if he gave up and continued to pursue the case here, no one other than him would care about the whereabouts of these missing people. Got it
Could it be that these fungi are parasitic on those people?
Such an idea just flashed through Otto's mind, and was immediately rejected.
No, it's impossible. The Ophiocordyceps fungus of Weibur can only parasitize extraordinary creatures. Ordinary people without extraordinary powers should be safe. So what made them disappear en masse here?
While Otto was thinking about all aspects of the problem, he also searched the kitchen and toilet carefully, but found nothing. Instead, he found something new in another bedroom filled with beds.
There were two lifelike wooden statues and a hole hidden under the bed that was deliberately covered with wooden boards.
A statue resembles a mouse, with black hair all over its body, and three eyes with a clover-like outline on its forehead. Several tentacles extending from the bloated body look like they are about to dance at any time.
Another statue is carved with a huge spider. The multi-jointed legs unique to arthropods maintain a dancing posture, making it look like it is weaving a huge web. What is even more weird is the spider. He actually has a face that looks very similar to a human!
Both statues carry some indescribable magic power, which not only makes people fearful, but also makes people unable to look away.
Evil statue? Is this actually related to cultists? Otto saw through the true identity of this thing at a glance. He tried his best to move his eyes away and took out two sealed bags and put the two evil statues in them. After hanging them on his waist, he turned his head to study the bed. The hole at the bottom.
The hole is bottomless, and the entrance is very wide. Even Otto can easily get in even if he is wearing a bloated protective suit. However, judging from the traces left around it, the hole looks like it was dug from the inside out. Similarly, he tried to use his mobile phone to shine at the entrance of the cave, but found that the light source of the mobile phone could not illuminate the bottom at all. What was even more incredible was that there was actually a layer of earth steps made of soil in the cave.
After getting in and climbing down the steps for more than ten meters, the tunnel became wider, enough for him to stand up and move forward. And the further down you go, the more forks there are in the tunnel. In the end, Otto couldn't memorize the map with just a sense of direction. He could only leave marks step by step to ensure that he wouldn't get lost in this underground maze. environment.
They've all hid here, but they still won't let us go?
He didn't know how long he had been walking in this maze-like tunnel. A sigh echoed in the wide tunnel, and then Otto saw a huge spider, about the size of an adult, appearing at the end of the tunnel in his field of vision. .
We are already homeless. The spider with half the body of a human spoke. His old, sallow, wrinkled face showed a bit of pain, but more of it was despair and begging: Husband, throw me out. At home, my son was unwilling to take me in. I finally found a home, but was kicked out again. Now even if we hide underground, are you still unwilling to let us go?
Transparent thinking tentacles extended from Otto's body and turned into invisible and intangible spikes that pierced into her blind spots. A common understanding was easily formed, but just when he was about to turn his delusions into reality, he... Shengsheng stopped her move to overwrite reality.
Are you Otto? Looking at the half-human, half-spider monster in front of him, even though the other person has begun to change beyond recognition and his body has been twisted into the appearance of a monster, a name still flashed in his mind, Hu De'e? I'm here to save you. Why are you here? Why are you like this? Are there other missing people? They're here too
In? What happened to you?
Although Otto had never seen the Hu De'e that the curly-haired aunt mentioned, he could guess her identity from what he just said. At this moment, facing Hu De'e's monster-like appearance, I had a lot of questions in my heart but I didn't know where to start.
The one who came to rescue us? I didn't expect that we would be remembered by others. Hu De'e smiled self-deprecatingly, and then raised his head suddenly as if he had made up his mind. In this case, this kind person, can I ask you something?
Please say, as long as it is beyond my ability, even if it is beyond the scope of my ability, I will help you. Who imprisoned you? Who turned you into this? Don't be afraid, I am someone who specializes in handling extraordinary events like this. We will definitely be able to rescue you.
Thank you. Hu De'e's old, sallow face showed an unattractive smile. This was perhaps one of the few times of kindness she had felt in her life so far. Then she said something that left Otto speechless. : Please go back now, don’t mention our existence to others, never mind me, and don’t mind our affairs anymore.
Otto's expression suddenly froze, and his eyes widened, feeling as if he was hallucinating: Huh?
Don't worry about us anymore. We all became like this voluntarily. Hu De'e shook the spider's joints unconsciously. If you can't survive on the ground, you can only live underground. If you can't survive as a human being, you can only become like this. , we are a group of marginalized people that no one cares about. Even if we disappear, no one will care. As long as you don't tell us, our secret life underground will not be exposed.
So you don’t want to be a human being and don’t want to return to life on earth?
I don’t want to think about it anymore. It makes me feel more relaxed to stay underground. Although it has become like this, everyone is still together.
What about them?
They thought the same thing.
Don’t you regret it?
Won't.
okay I know
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