151: Bacteria that have survived for a thousand years

Thirty-four meters tall, the mecha stood there like a giant stone stele, casting a long shadow under the moonlight.

"Gulp." Xu Jingzhe swallowed, his brain short-circuiting as he asked, "It can't be alive, can it?"

Zhang Manyue's tense muscles relaxed for a split second before tightening again. She couldn't help but glance at Xu Jingzhe and said, "Have you ever seen a 'living' mecha?"

"No, no." Xu Jingzhe laughed sheepishly. Right, why was he so nervous? This mecha didn't even have a head, and its body was covered in vines and moss; who knew how many years it had been abandoned.

He was just scaring himself.

Forcing down the gloom in his heart, the two continued to venture deeper, walking around the headless mecha.

The two deliberately avoided looking at the mecha, unaware that the faint red light pulsing in the mecha's chest was gradually brightening, and the moss clinging to its body was falling off silently.

"Did you hear something?" Xu Jingzhe whispered.

"Yeah, the sound is very faint, almost imperceptible," Zhang Manyue said.

Xu Jingzhe's palms were covered in cold sweat, soaking Zhang Manyue's hand. The pressure from that headless mecha was too great, as if a Contaminant was standing behind his back, silently watching him.

If it were an ordinary person, their legs would have gone weak long ago, unable to take another step.

"Should we... look back?" he asked.

"No, let's not." Zhang Manyue was also very nervous. She gripped Xu Jingzhe's hand tightly and said, "If we don't look at it, it can't see us."

Xu Jingzhe: "..."

What a classic case of burying one's head in the sand!

"Creak!" The sound of metal grinding was exceptionally harsh.

"Did you... hear that?" Xu Jingzhe asked.

"No, I didn't." The two held hands even tighter.

"Oh, then I must be hearing things."

"Creak." "Creak."

The two had a silent understanding; energy erupted from within their bodies simultaneously.

Without looking back, they ran as fast as they could!

"Boom!" "Boom!" "Boom!"

The headless mecha chased after them. With every step it took, the ground trembled, and tree leaves fell with a rustle.

In its giant metal palm, a twenty-meter-long blade had appeared out of nowhere. The blade was blood-red, like jade, and flowed with an intoxicating luster under the moonlight.

A beam of red light shot into the sky, and the terrifying energy fluctuations instantly tore the surrounding ancient trees into flying wood chips.

The blood-colored blade slashed down, and powerful energy fluctuations raged through the forest. This place became a sea of red; the light exploded like a physical force, causing a massive blast.

Massive swathes of ancient trees collapsed, huge boulders were pulverized in an instant, and the shockwave rippled outward, destroying everything in its path.

No matter how fast Xu Jingzhe and Zhang Manyue ran, they couldn't outpace the incoming energy. Their backs felt like they had been hit by a high-speed train, and immediately, the sound of bones breaking rang out.

"Pfft!"

Xu Jingzhe spat out a mouthful of blood. The immense, incalculable impact force ripped their tightly clasped hands apart, throwing them both hundreds of meters into the air.

Instantly, Xu Jingzhe blacked out, losing consciousness.

The red light in the headless mecha's chest was very bright, pulsing silently like a scarlet eye blinking.

"Clang!" "Clang!"

The mecha lifted its legs. After being ruthlessly eroded by the years, some of its mechanical joints were no longer as agile, and every step emitted a harsh metallic grinding sound.

It swung the twenty-meter-long red blade in its hand, targeting Xu Jingzhe, who was falling through the air.

"Whoosh!"

Suddenly, it stepped onto a strange space and was already miles away. The blade slashed through empty air, leaving a gully dozens of miles long that was emitting blue smoke.

The headless mecha stood blankly on the spot, dazed for a long time, and then rushed into the depths of the mountain range like a madman, disappearing from sight.

I don't know how much time passed, but Xu Jingzhe opened his eyes, his vision blurred.

Consciousness gradually returned to his body, and heart-wrenching pain radiated from his limbs and organs, almost causing him to pass out again.

"Zhang... Zhang Manyue." Xu Jingzhe called out.

"Zhang Manyue, are you there?"

System: "Ding. She is not here."

"Is she okay?" Xu Jingzhe asked nervously.

System: "Ding. I don't know if she's okay, but you are definitely not. You have multiple fractures all over your body, and your heart, liver, spleen, and stomach all have severe tears."

"Damn it!" Xu Jingzhe cursed.

System: "Ding. However, you are fortunate in your misfortune. The mecha's strike knocked you into a 'treasure trove'."

"Treasure trove? What... what do you mean?"

System: "Ding. There are thousands of types of bacteria in this area that have survived from a millennium ago, and dozens of types have survived for tens of thousands of years. Tell me, isn't that a treasure trove?"

The sorrow on his handsome face vanished, and he grinned, only to pull at his wounds, causing another wave of excruciating pain.

Xu Jingzhe spat out a mouthful of blood mixed with golden blood and forced himself to sit up, finally taking stock of his surroundings.

This was a kingdom of mushrooms—all kinds of mushrooms, with different shapes, colors, and sizes, as if he were in a fairy tale kingdom.

System: "Ding. The palm-sized mushroom right next to you contains a type of millennial bacteria called Red Thread Bacteria."

"Don't hesitate, eat it."

"Three meters away from you, that umbrella-like mushroom with red spots contains Blue Water Tielai Bacteria."

"Eat it."

"That five-colored mushroom larger than a house..."

"Eat it."

"That one..."

"Eat it."

"Eat it."

...

In Xu Jingzhe's mind, two words echoed for a long time.

Eat it.

"Crunch, crunch."

"Crunch, crunch."

"Crunch, crunch."

It was the sound of Xu Jingzhe holding mushrooms and gnawing on them, continuous and rhythmic...

One day passed, two days passed, three days passed...

Half a month later.

System: "Ding. Eat it."

"Ugh..."

"Crunch, crunch."

"Ugh..."

"Crunch, crunch."

"Ugh..."

"Crunch, crunch."

The mushroom fairy tale kingdom from his dreams had been eaten into a mess by Xu Jingzhe, with piles here and there.

However, the effects were obvious.

Various bacteria had remodeled his body; not only were his injuries healed, but the hardness of his bones and the resilience of his skin were even better than before. The capacity of his body's cells had reached fifteen times that of an ordinary person, two times more than before. His vigorous blood energy was like an endless river, beating against the banks and making a rumbling sound.

His internal organs had undergone a baptism, exuding a crystalline luster, and every beat of his heart was powerful and vigorous, like a god beating a drum.

Moreover, his ability, Time Stop, could finally be used without relying on the energy within the Golden Contamination Core. Although it could only be used once, it was enough!

Even if using it once would drain eighty percent of the power of the cells in his body!

System: "Ding. You can leave this 'treasure trove' in five days."

"Keep it up~"

Xu Jingzhe had black lines on his forehead as he climbed up a dozens-of-meters-tall mushroom tree and started 'crunching' again.