It's the end of January.
At noon, Beta Town gradually became lively.
Although the Spring Festival is approaching and the school is on winter vacation, this has not affected the influence of Beta Town merchants in the wizarding world at all. There is still a steady stream of customers coming and going on the streets every day, but it is different from the situation where students are mainly tourists during this period. , the guests in the town mainly come from major cities outside the island.
Only on days when most students have left Phuket Island and the school has consolidated its protective circle, there will be slightly more outsiders in Beta Town.
No. 97, Beta Town Pedestrian Street, is a small grocery store.
The name of the store is a bit strange, it's called D&K - Ding Ding Financial and Pest Control Company - you can tell from the name that this is not a serious grocery store, it is the kind that lacks a main business and seems to be able to do everything, but does everything. Not a very good store.
Guests who have traveled thousands of miles and gone through countless approval procedures to come to Phuket Island will not pay attention to this kind of small shop.
Therefore, compared to other prosperous shops on the pedestrian street, D&K has much fewer customers. Even the business of the fortune teller in No. 96 next door is much better than this shop.
Perhaps the only thing about this store that foreign customers are curious about now is the two rat men employed in the store.
A unique, legendary wizard's clan.
In the second-floor attic of D&K.
Zheng Qing curled up on the sofa, listening to the same "surprise" and "curiosity" when the wind chime at the door downstairs occasionally rang, and stared blankly at the place where the coffee table used to be - which was now occupied by a dark coffin - -This period falls in the middle of the month. Originally, Dylan was not suitable to participate in the hunting team operation. Although he was not forced to take a vacation for various reasons, he could not neglect the necessary rest after taking the moon-watching potion every day.
In addition, yesterday, he had been busy all night under the huge moon, and now he had to make adjustments no matter what.
Taking this opportunity, several other hunters of the Forgiveness Hunting Team also had a day of leisure.
At this moment, Fatty Xin was lying on another sofa opposite the coffin, his long snores carrying a slow and hypnotic sound that surprisingly didn't seem annoying; Lan Que sat on a futon, hugging his handle like a lover. The long sword quietly huddled in the shadows in the corner of the room; Xiao Xiao held up an autobiography of Boyund Rust, a famous planeswalker in the British Isles at the end of the 19th century, and read it with gusto.
From time to time, the sound of pages turning could be heard in the room.
Zheng Qing felt that this sound was more irritating than Fatty Xin's snoring.
"Can't you get some sleep too?"
Finally, he couldn't suppress the nameless anxiety in his heart, kicked Dr. Xiao Da, who was curled up on the other side of the sofa, and complained softly: "You hurt my eyes!"
The thick autobiography moved down slightly, revealing a pair of wide black-rimmed glasses.
Xiao Xiao stared at his captain expressionlessly. After a while, he put away the book in his hand and sat up a little, which gave Zheng Qing a bad feeling.
Sure enough, the doctor's next words confirmed his expectation.
"Let's talk?" Xiao Xiao adjusted his glasses.
"No chat." The wizard responded firmly.
He was just a little depressed about the conversation with Kolma in the Gini hut this morning, especially the last words the witch said before leaving, which seemed to be vague and vague, which made him feel a little more uneasy besides being bored.
You can just bear this kind of pressure by yourself.
"I can guess it even if you don't tell me."
Xiao Xiao's head slowly sank, and he hid behind the thick autobiography again, but the small book could not stop his dull voice: "Yesterday before you came back, I had a simple conversation with my senior sister. After chatting for a while...she asked me at that time, do you know what the most dangerous creature in the Silent Forest is?"
Zheng Qing became slightly interested.
"crow?"
He reluctantly twitched his lips and replied half-jokingly.
Xiao Xiao did not laugh, but turned another page of the book, clatter, his voice sounded after the page turned, so it seemed a little light: "...not a crow. Not a black wizard. Not a fire dragon. Not a giant. Not a nine-headed one. Snakes. Not army ants. Not ancient locust trees that have grown for a thousand years, nor undead spirits that have lived in the locust trees for three hundred years... My senior sister said that the most dangerous creature in the Silent Forest is the mushroom."
This is indeed an unexpected answer.
"Mugu?"
"Yes, Mugu, a kind of life that can be very small or very large, very weak or very strong. It does not rely on dragon flames or sharp teeth to survive, but relies on compromise, coexistence and control... They can attach themselves to any kind of creature and live on their body surface; they can also bury their spores at the bottom of the humus layer when the dry season comes; they can also release a breath full of psychedelic effects to change the mind of a wizard , which fascinates wizards.”
"It doesn't sound that dangerous."
"That's because you have forgotten that survival requires reproduction, and reproduction requires eating. No matter how confusing the mushrooms appear, they will eventually slowly corrode their hosts, eat them, and digest them. They...those crows are the mushrooms on Phuket Island."
"A very interesting insight." Zheng Qing muttered: "But things like this happen all the time in the Silent Forest. It's just natural selection and survival of the fittest."
"That's the biggest problem."
Xiao Xiao's glasses were exposed from behind the book again, and he looked at the young public-funded students with serious eyes: "We are wizards, not magical creatures in the silent forest. We should not degenerate to the point of applying the laws of nature... Those mushrooms are parasitic in the school. Inside, hidden among students and professors, like a puppeteer operating a puppet, restraining cheap emotions in front of the public... It begins to slowly devour us from the inside out, one organ after another, decomposing, digesting, absorbing, Replacement, using their derived tissues to replace the host's original structure... They will not let the host die easily... But before the last moment comes, the host's body from the inside out, including its consciousness, will be destroyed by the mushroom's hyphae. Replaced. At that time, the host was not even as good as a puppet... because at least the puppet's body was still its own."
The snoring in the attic stopped at some point.
The blue bird sitting in the corner also tilted his ears.
Zheng Qing glanced at the slightly opened coffin and laughed dryly: "That's an exaggeration, that's an exaggeration... Why are you talking to you about this, senior sister? Do you want us to go pick mushrooms?"
"No."
Xiao Xiao put down the book and sighed heavily: "She said that we still can't tell which mushrooms are highly poisonous and which ones are safe. She suggested that we study in school for a while before considering picking mushrooms. matter."
What a terrible statement.
"This sounds like a different kind of encouragement." The captain of the Exoneration Hunting Team was very aware of the competitiveness of his team members and couldn't help but muttered.
