As a Charming Mushroom, I Fell into the Apocalypse (MUSHROOM)
Here we go again.
This hypocritical human.
Hui Gu looked at the smile plastered on Yu Zhenxin's face and couldn't help but make exaggerated faces in his mind.
Gu Wang's reaction to this person remained as indifferent as ever: "Director Yu."
Yu Zhenxin stepped forward with a smile to welcome him: "No need to be so formal. Since you've come to our Shelter, just treat me like family."
He spoke with such earnestness that the people around him all joined in with polite laughter.
Gu Wang remained aloof: "I won't be staying here long."
The atmosphere immediately turned cold and silent, as if doused with icy water.
The man paid no attention to whether others felt awkward and simply found a quieter spot to sit.
Yu Zhenxin reacted quickly, even forcing a hearty laugh: "Mr. Gu is a straightforward person."
Gu Wang didn't even bother to respond.
It wasn't that he lacked emotional intelligence—he knew perfectly well that his words would create an awkward situation, but these people simply weren't worth his social effort.
Hui Gu didn't sense anything wrong either.
In certain respects, he and Gu Wang were quite similar.
Neither of them would waste energy on things they considered meaningless.
For a moment, the most relaxed people at the entire banquet were the two guests.
Taking advantage of the table's cover, Hui Gu hopped out of the pocket and bounced onto Gu Wang's lap to sit.
The man's fingers tapped lightly twice on his thigh, signaling him to stay quiet.
Hui Gu knew exactly how to please, gently touching the man's fingertips to show he would behave obediently.
Though small in stature, he had a broad field of vision. Hidden by the table, others couldn't see him, but he could catch glimpses of what was happening on the tabletop.
To demonstrate the Shelter's capabilities to Gu Wang, Yu Zhenxin had spared no expense for this banquet.
There were at least seven or eight dishes on the table, along with two bowls of soup—one vegetable and one meat. Regardless of taste, their appearance and aroma were indistinguishable from ordinary soups before the apocalypse.
This was exceptionally rare in the post-apocalyptic world.
The staple food was still white rice.
Likely stored for some time, the aged grains weren't as bright white as fresh rice, but they exuded the distinctive fragrance of wheat, incredibly enticing.
Gu Wang's chopsticks gently moved toward one dish.
Hui Gu showed no reaction.
The man shifted to the next one, and only when he felt a light tap did he pick up meat from that plate and place it in his bowl.
Tearing off a small piece, he quickly passed it to Hui Gu under the table's cover.
Hui Gu chomped down with an "awoo," munching happily with smacking sounds.
Above them, Yu Zhenxin was lavishly praising the Shelter, completely unaware of the mushroom feasting below.
In this way, the man and the mushroom communicated silently and seamlessly until Hui Gu, with his round little belly full, had eaten his fill. Only then did Gu Wang stop feeding him and begin eating alone.
After speaking at length, Yu Zhenxin noticed Gu Wang showed no intention of engaging. Unfazed, he simply changed direction: "If you wish to leave, Mr. Gu, that's your personal choice. We would never stop you."
Something's fishy.
Hui Gu glanced over curiously but couldn't see anything past the table.
Yu Zhenxin: "I wonder when you plan to depart. Since our meeting is fate, I'd like to prepare some supplies for your journey in advance."
Gu Wang: "No need for the trouble."
Even after being rejected, Yu Zhenxin remained amiable: "I understand your caution, but I'm not helping you unconditionally. I hope that after you find Dawn Base, you can report our Shelter's situation."
The request sounded entirely reasonable.
As the largest base on the continent, Dawn Base was also the only one with surplus resources to aid shelters scattered abroad.
More fortunate shelters might even receive dispatched reinforcements from the base to evacuate people.
At the very least, the base would assign tasks for mercenaries to deliver supplies to those shelters.
From a humanitarian standpoint, aiding fellow humans to the greatest extent and sustaining the human race had always been the primary principle set by Dawn Base's chief.
This time, Gu Wang didn't refuse, though his voice was somewhat cold: "Mm."
A smile spread across Yu Zhenxin's face, as if genuinely relieved.
Unable to see the situation at the head seat, Hui Gu grew bored and let his eyes wander.
That's when he spotted something he shouldn't have.
Yellow Hair was seated to their lower left and secretly holding a pale, delicate hand under the table.
Two hands were groping and pinching each other under the table, ten fingers tangled together as if glued.
The smaller hand occasionally scratched Yellow Hair's palm.
Hui Gu widened his beady black eyes.
It was his first time seeing humans behave this way, and he found it quite fascinating.
Sneaking a glance upward, he noticed the one holding hands with Yellow Hair was another boy, who appeared barely adult with delicate features, unnatural blush on his cheeks, and reddened lips.
The boy was coquettishly placing a small fruit from his chopsticks into his mouth, but instead of chewing immediately, he held it between his lips while gazing at Yellow Hair with suggestive eyes.
Not understanding what they were doing, the curious little creature tried to move closer for a better look when Gu Wang noticed him.
The man followed his line of sight and immediately furrowed his brows before subtly shifting his position.
Hui Gu nearly tumbled off his lap. After barely regaining his footing, he found himself completely blocked from view.
Annoyed, he bounced slightly on Gu Wang's thigh.
The movement was too slight to matter, and the man pretended not to notice, ignoring him completely.
Puffing with anger, Hui Gu stuck out his little bottom and scurried back into the pocket to sulk.
Not satisfied with their flirtation at the table, both Yellow Hair and the boy who traded on his looks wanted to take things further. Seizing the moment when others weren't paying attention, they secretly slipped away.
As soon as they reached an empty corner, Yellow Hair revealed his lecherous nature as his grubby hands constantly groping up the boy's wide sleeves.
He chuckled greasily, "Sweetheart, why don't you skip returning to your own room tonight?"
His hands slid down the pale chest.
The boy maintained professional composure, showing no discomfort, and obediently rested his head on Yellow Hair's shoulder.
In his excitement, Yellow Hair moved too abruptly and tripped over something with a loud clatter.
Startled, the boy felt a chill at his feet.
Looking down, they discovered an overturned bucket someone had left there, water splashed messily across the floor.
Yellow Hair paid it no mind. "Forget it... Huh!!"
His eyes bulged abruptly.
The boy felt warm liquid splatter across his chest and face. Trembling, he looked up to see a massive bloody cavity chest right before him.
Piercing through Yellow Hair's chest was a hand coated in white powder.
Not yet completely dead, Yellow Hair spat blood with every word: "Sa...save me."
Those two words drained his last strength, his body collapsing like soft noodles.
"Ahhhh!" the boy screamed.
Only when Yellow Hair fell did the figure behind him become visible—a woman still wearing plain clothes with her hunched back unchanged, but her face bore an eerie smile: "Wipe, must wipe clean."
The next second, her pupil-less eyes turned blood red.
Her voice grew hoarse: "Can't wipe it clean, why can't it be wiped clean..."
Yellow Hair's eyes filled with agony and terror as he reached toward the boy.
The boy didn't even glance back, turning to flee covered in blood.
Yellow Hair also struggled to escape, crawling frantically on the ground, chunks of flesh and blood continuously falling from the gaping hole in his chest.
The woman slowly lowered her head: "So dirty, you're so dirty, unclean."
Muttering, her hands suddenly transformed into massive white insect limbs, like mantis forearms, raising high before swinging down toward Yellow Hair's head.
With a sickening squelch like a crushed melon, Yellow Hair completely lost all signs of life, hanging limply like trash from the woman’s mutated forelimb.
The woman’s crimson pupils reflected the ground as she repeatedly muttered her lingering obsession from life: "Must clean it up, I must clean it up."
The blood on the ground was smeared, staining a large area red.
Suddenly, as if she had caught a scent, she lowered her head and sniffed intently at Yellow Hair’s body.
A peculiar fragrance.
What was it? Such a familiar smell.
It was something the Mother Body liked, something the Mother Body wanted to obtain.
The woman straightened her upper body, her eerie pupils contracting into thin crimson slits. A guttural, rattling sound emerged from her throat.
So fragrant, so delightful.
Find him, capture him, obtain him for the Mother Body.
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