As a Charming Mushroom, I Fell into the Apocalypse (MUSHROOM)
"Ahhh!" Xiao Bao cried out in alarm.
Several confused children joined in the screaming.
A chorus of children's shouts rose and fell within the small space.
Hui Gu's first sound had been from fright, but then he found it amusing and joined in the noise.
His tender voice somewhat resembled that of an adorable chick, clear and crisp.
Xiao Bao, however, calmed down. He opened his hand and stared at the tiny mushroom in his palm, his mouth agape in astonishment.
None of the children here were very old, the eldest being only twelve.
Those over fourteen years old would be captured as adults and forced to do harder and more dangerous work.
Their concept of living beings had long been completely overturned during these years in the apocalypse. They had never seen a mutant creature that appeared so harmless on the surface.
"What is this?" the little girl asked.
The oldest child leaned in to examine it and spoke hesitantly, "A mushroom?"
In his memory, this was the only thing that matched its appearance.
"No, no!" Xiao Bao shook his head. "My mom said all mushrooms nowadays are highly poisonous. Just touching one can turn a person's hand into bare bones."
He had been in contact with this little thing for so long without any harm, so it definitely couldn’t be poisonous.
Hui Gu was somewhat displeased: "Ji!"
He was a mushroom!
The one and only Mushroom King!
"Ah, he made that sound again," the little girl said with curiosity.
A group of children gathered around, temporarily setting aside their day-to-day work, rarely showing their childlike innocence.
Xiao Bao, who had been holding Hui Gu for a while, gradually had a change in his expression—from initial wariness to fondness: "I think... he's so cute, and he feels so soft and fluffy."
He had never seen anything so adorable and soft before.
This affection came from the heart, and Hui Gu was quite pleased with it, so he temporarily allowed the other curious children to come over and touch him.
Every child who touched him found it hard to suppress feelings of fondness in their hearts.
Without even using pheromones, just a touch could passively trigger Hui Gu's Enchantment.
As a result, they became even more cautious and started chattering to him.
"Where did you come from?"
"Are you a mutant creature?"
"Are you poisonous? Will you hurt us?"
"You dummy, of course not!"
"Are you a little fairy from a fairy tale!?"
Children's words carried no filter, often mixed with wild imagination. Hui Gu had no interest in these chaotic questions and pretended not to understand them, acting as if he were just an ordinary mushroom.
A little girl who had been quiet all along suddenly interjected with a suggestion: "Let's give him a name. How about calling him Xiao Hui?"
This name was quite fitting, matching his beautiful appearance.
Only then did Hui Gu reluctantly nod his head.
The children were even more enchanted, exclaiming in unison: "He nodded! He nodded!"
"So adorable!"
Hui Gu: "Squeak." Keep it low-key, keep it low-key.
He hopped onto Xiao Bao's head, clearly positioning himself as the leading mushroom of this group of younglings.
Xiao Bao, as the lucky one, flushed with excitement: "H-he must really like me, right?"
He carefully spun in place, showing off this "special honor" to everyone else.
The other children looked somewhat envious and exclaimed sincerely in unison: "Wow."
In the past, creatures attracted to him often developed ugly jealousy toward other mutant creatures while following him.
They would frequently fight without warning, with limbs flying everywhere, which greatly affected his mood. Even worse, he could get caught in the crossfire.
He was simply too small. If mutant creatures started fighting, even a piece of rubble or debris could injure him.
Yet those foolish beings often insisted on fighting over trivial matters like who could stand closest to him or who would be responsible for his dinner.
This was one of the reasons he disliked those sycophantic mutant creatures.
However, the children's behavior at this moment pleased Hui Gu immensely.
He snorted twice, signaling them not to pay too much attention to him and to get back to work.
Although the children adored Xiao Hui, they didn't dare delay their work for too long and soon picked up their tools to resume their tasks.
Xiao Bao picked up a small hammer and started pounding, exerting force as he spoke to Hui Gu: "If we can finish hammering all of this before dark, each of us will get a palm-sized flatbread as a reward. I'll share mine with you, okay?"
"I can share mine with you too!"
"And me! And me!"
Hearing this, the other children chimed in one after another, eager to join in, even though the flatbread wouldn't be enough to fill their own stomachs.
Yet it didn't diminish their desire to be good to Hui Gu.
The clattering sounds grew more and more vigorous.
Hui Gu stood among them, making the lead mushroom's sound: "Coo." Keep it up, my followers.
The children inexplicably felt a surge of power, as if their previously chafed and uncomfortable hands no longer hurt.
They rarely showed smiles during this difficult work, but now they grinned and cheered each other on with soft chuckles.
Hui Gu was having a blast playing outside, completely unaware that Gu Wang had already returned to the room.
...
In just one short hour, Gu Wang had used his extensive experience to help remove the venom gland from a B-class mutant creature.
The person assigned to this task was merely an ordinary human, who nearly burst into tears of gratitude.
After all, if he made any mistake while handling a mutant creature of this level—even just an accidental touch—his pollution level would skyrocket and he would die.
Unfortunately, as an ordinary human, he had no right to choose his assigned tasks. He never expected a high-level new human to be willing to help him with such dirty work.
What would have taken him a full day of life-threatening effort was resolved in just a few minutes.
He felt like dropping to his knees right then and there.
Gu Wang refused his repeated calls of "benefactor," only asking for some ordinary food as payment.
The man wiped the tears from the corner of his eyes and hurriedly pulled out a bag of uncooked mutant creature meat: "This is my reward for this mission. Please take it if you don't mind."
There was a lot of meat, enough to cook several meals and last for days. Aside from being unpalatable, it had no other issues.
And being hard to swallow was the least noteworthy problem in the apocalypse.
He rubbed his hands together somewhat sheepishly, as he had only given eighty percent, keeping the remaining twenty for himself—essentially getting it for free.
But he was just an ordinary human who needed to fill his stomach.
Gu Wang said nothing, took the bag of meat, and left.
He had obtained food but didn't return immediately.
Instead, he headed toward more crowded areas.
About ten minutes later, he left the area where ordinary humans gathered, this time with a smaller bag in hand.
Not much, just enough to feed one mushroom.
He quickly returned to the room carrying this bag of food.
The first glance told him something was wrong.
His originally calm expression instantly changed.
His sharp gaze swept around the room, and he used his special supernatural ability to quickly inspect the area.
Nothing.
Nowhere to be found.
Had someone come here and taken the mushroom?
The bag in his hand fell to the ground, and a can of tomatoes with a not-so-fresh expiration date slowly rolled out.
Gu Wang's eyes darkened bit by bit, a hint of violent emotion seeping from within.
He swiftly turned and strode out the door, the hem of his clothes cutting a sharp arc through the air.
The man walked without pause toward the depths of the Shelter. On the way, he encountered someone who had just traded food with him. The person tried to force an ingratiating smile, but the next moment, upon meeting his gaze, their legs went weak with fear.
After all, he had faced mutant creatures before, even high-level ones during the early days of fleeing, but never had he felt such terrifying pressure.
It was like being on the verge of death.
The person's face turned pale, and they didn't dare speak another word.
His heart was filled with utter regret for his greed—trading a bottle of tomatoes that could only last one meal for meat that could sustain him for several days. This was a new human even more formidable than Director Yu! Killing him would be no different from crushing an ant!
Terrified, his mind raced through ten thousand ways to die.
But the man merely glanced at him without a moment’s pause before hurrying away.
Gu Wang’s inner turmoil grew increasingly violent.
Not him, nor him.
One by one, he dismissed everyone who approached his room, yet the anxiety in his heart did not lessen in the slightest.
Every passerby was silently scanned by his supernatural ability.
But no one carried the mushroom’s aura.
Unnoticed, the long-dormant pollution level began to stir faintly once more, as if ready to break the chains restraining the demon at any moment.
Gu Wang finally stopped moving, slightly closing his eyes to conceal the raging emotions within.
Yet his supernatural ability, unrestrained, spread throughout the Shelter as its master desired.
Found.
The man opened his eyes, his originally pure black pupils replaced by silver, like a ghostly transformation under the moonlight, bizarre and surreal.
…
Hui Gu played for a while but soon grew bored. Seizing the moment when no one was paying attention, he immediately slipped away.
Thus began another mushroom’s adventure.
This time, the journey was even smoother. It seemed to be work hours, as all the ordinary people in the Shelter had gone to work, leaving no one idling about.
This made Hui Gu’s wandering even more leisurely, practically without any hindrance.
But at a right turn, a familiar cry of pain suddenly reached his ears.
"Stop hitting me! Stop!! Aah!"
Hui Gu froze for a moment, then immediately grew curious and went over to watch the commotion while munching on metaphorical popcorn with great interest at the corner.
The one being beaten was none other than Wang Xiaojun, who had just parted ways with them not long ago.
Fang Xiangxiang was beside him, frantic with worry, but her wrist was gripped by a C-class power-type mutant new human, and no matter how hard she struggled, she couldn’t break free to help.
All she could do was cry out tearfully, "Please stop hitting him! I’ll heal you for free!"
Wang Xiaojun’s face twisted with humiliation. "Xiangxiang, don’t agree to that! Why should we give these people…"
Before he could finish, another punch landed on his face.
A man spat contemptuously onto his face. "Pah! You’re nothing but a lowly D-class new human with a mere auxiliary water control ability. Who do you think you are, some kind of hero?"
"We want free treatment, none of your damn business! If your girlfriend wasn't C-Class, we'd have beaten you even worse!"
"The last thing we need in the apocalypse is a hero."
At those words, the others let out piercing, mocking laughter.
Whether intentional or not, they specifically aimed their punches at Wang Xiaojun's face and kicked other visible parts of his body.
In no time, Wang Xiaojun was covered in wounds, looking even more pitiful than before.
Just as Hui Gu was watching intently, he suddenly felt a chill running down his spine.
He shuddered and slowly turned his head.
He met a pair of silver-flecked black eyes, whose owner was currently staring at him with a dark expression.
Seeing him turn around, Gu Wang's lips curved upward. Though he was clearly smiling, there was no trace of amusement in his eyes. "Having fun?"
Hui Gu swallowed: Gurgle.
Uh oh.
The human was angry.
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