23: Chapter 23 A Surprising Discovery: The Mushroom Man!

Su Bai stood at the edge of the scorched earth, quietly watching it all.

From three hundred and seventy-three, to zero.

From hope, to despair.

From birth, to prosperity, to decline, and finally, to death.

A full hundred years.

He had witnessed the complete life cycle of a race with his own eyes.

The Ghost Bride floated to his side at some point, quietly holding his arm without saying a word.

Sadako stood in the distance, her long hair covering her face, motionless.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman held her scissors, standing silently at the edge of the scorched earth, looking at that dead, silent land.

Yin Qi surged, slowly devouring the remains of those half-orcs.

An era had ended.

Su Bai closed his eyes and took a deep breath.

When he opened them again, there was no sadness or regret in his eyes, only a calm, analytical scrutiny.

[Time flow adjustment ended]

[Crimson-Blood Half-Orc Experiment: Failed]

[Survival Time: Approximately 45 years (average)]

[Cause of Extinction: Yin Qi erosion + Food scarcity + Mental breakdown]

[Conclusion: Physical strength ≠ Environmental adaptation]

He turned, preparing to leave.

But at that very moment, something caught the corner of his eye.

The edge of the scorched earth.

On that land that had been eroded by Yin Qi for a hundred years, there was actually a touch of green.

Su Bai's pupils contracted slightly.

He walked over quickly, squatted down, and looked closely at that touch of green.

It was a plant.

A low-growing, unremarkable, even ugly plant.

Its leaves were grayish-green, its stem was grayish-brown, and its roots were buried deep in the scorched earth.

But it was alive.

Living quite well.

Su Bai looked up, his gaze scanning the scorched earth.

He saw more.

Beside the ruins of the collapsed volcanoes, near the remains of the half-orcs' former houses, on the land nourished by corpses...

Grayish-green plants were swaying in the Yin Qi.

Some had already grown half a man tall, some had just sprouted, and some had even blossomed with tiny flowers.

The flowers were grayish-white, blending in with the Yin Qi; one wouldn't even notice them without looking closely.

But they were flowers.

They were life.

Su Bai stood up, his gaze landing on the tallest plant.

He recognized it.

These were the low-level plants that had been transplanted along with the Crimson-Blood Half-Orcs back then.

Originally weeds growing by the lava rivers of the Crimson Blood Realm, they had been inadvertently carried by the half-orcs as they stepped into the Netherworld World.

The half-orcs hadn't paid these weeds any mind.

They were busy surviving, busy breeding, busy fighting amongst themselves, and busy despairing.

But these weeds did nothing.

They simply took root.

They grew.

They reproduced.

They iterated.

Generation after generation.

Year after year.

A hundred years passed, and the half-orcs went extinct.

But they survived.

Su Bai squatted down and gently stroked a grayish-green leaf.

The leaf trembled slightly, as if responding to his touch.

He closed his eyes, his consciousness scanning the life information of this plant.

[Common Weed]

[Rank: None]

[Traits: Yin Energy Affinity (Weak), Environmental Tolerance (Extremely Strong), Reproduction Speed (Extremely Fast)]

[Description: A low-level plant from the Crimson Blood Realm. After a hundred years of natural selection, it has fully adapted to the Yin Qi environment. Reproduces via spores, with a generation cycle of about thirty days. Current coverage area: approximately three square kilometers.]

A thirty-day cycle.

Twelve generations a year.

In a hundred years, that was one thousand two hundred generations.

One thousand two hundred iterations, one thousand two hundred evolutions.

From the initial struggle to adapt, to barely surviving, to fully taking root, and finally spreading its branches and leaves.

These weeds, in one thousand two hundred generations, had accomplished what the half-orcs could never do.

Su Bai stood up, his gaze sweeping over the grayish-green scorched earth.

A bolt of insight flashed through his mind.

Whether life can establish a foothold doesn't depend on the height of its starting point.

But on the number of evolutions within a unit of time.

For half-orcs, it took over a decade to produce a single generation.

In a hundred years, they could produce seven or eight generations at most.

Seven or eight iterations were simply not enough for a race to adapt to a completely new environment.

But for the weeds, it was a thirty-day cycle.

A hundred years, one thousand two hundred generations.

One thousand two hundred iterations were enough for even the weakest life to evolve into the master of its environment.

Slow reproduction = poor adaptability = certain death.

Fast evolution = fast iteration = hope.

This was the iron law.

Su Bai stood there for a long time, unmoving.

The Ghost Bride floated over, looking at him curiously: "My Lord, what are you thinking?"

Su Bai didn't answer.

He just watched those grayish-green plants, watched them sway in the Yin Qi, watched them conquer this land in the humblest of ways.

After a long while.

The corners of his mouth curled up slightly.

"Interesting."

He turned and strode toward the world core.

Behind him, the Ghost Bride tilted her head, bewildered.

Sadako looked up, her long hair sliding down to reveal those hollow eyes. She looked at the plants, then at Su Bai's receding back, a faint ripple of emotion flashing in her eyes.

The Slit-Mouthed Woman remained silent.

But the hand holding the scissors relaxed slightly.

...

Su Bai began searching for the next world to conquer within the Creators Association once again.

[Filter: Non-Zerg/Non-Marine/Intelligent Race/Extremely Fast Reproduction/Strong Environmental Tolerance]

[Filter: Estimated Quantity 500+]

[Filter: Danger Level B or higher]

The list scrolled out.

Su Bai looked through them one by one, his gaze as sharp as a blade.

[ID: 13472 World Type: Alien Civilization Remaining Race: Crypt Dwarves Estimated Quantity: 800-1000 Reproduction Cycle: Approx. 8 years Environmental Tolerance: Medium Danger Level: B+]

No.

Reproduction is too slow.

[ID: 13508 World Type: Beast Civilization Remaining Race: Gale Fox Tribe Estimated Quantity: 600-800 Reproduction Cycle: Approx. 3 years Environmental Tolerance: Weak Danger Level: B]

No.

Environmental tolerance is too weak; entering the Netherworld would be a death sentence.

[ID: 13591 World Type: Alien Civilization Remaining Race: Rock Golems Estimated Quantity: 200-300 Reproduction Cycle: Cannot reproduce (Elemental beings) Environmental Tolerance: Extremely Strong Danger Level: A-]

No.

What's the use if they can't reproduce?

Su Bai frowned slightly and continued scrolling down.

Until.

[ID: 13647 World Type: Fungal Civilization Remaining Race: Mushroom People Estimated Quantity: 5000-8000 Reproduction Cycle: Approx. 3 months (Spore reproduction) Environmental Tolerance: Extremely Strong (Can survive in lightless, oxygen-deprived, and highly toxic environments) Danger Level: A]

Su Bai's gaze stopped.

Fungal Civilization.

Mushroom People.

He clicked on the detailed information.

[World Name: Fungal Realm (Original owner deceased)]

[World Type: Fungal Civilization]

[World Level: Tier 3 (On the brink of collapse)]

[Current Status: After the original Creator's death, Power Of Faith was cut off and energy was exhausted. The world originally had a Mushroom People population of about two million, with over a hundred underground cities built, and civilization had reached the peak of the feudal era. Due to the loss of Power Of Faith, the world's environment has deteriorated rapidly: underground water sources have dried up, fungal forests have died off in large areas, and large-scale famine and internal strife have broken out among the Mushroom People.]

[Existing Race: Mushroom People]

[Estimated Quantity: 5000-8000]

[Race Characteristics: Mushroom People are about 1.2-1.5 meters tall with slender bodies and grayish-brown skin covered in fine mycelium. Their heads are umbrella-shaped caps that change color with age: white for juveniles, gray for youths, brown for middle-aged, and black for the elderly. They possess basic intelligence and can perform short-distance telepathic communication via mycelium sensing. They are skilled in cultivating fungi, building underground cities, and refining fungal toxins.]

[Reproduction Method: Spore reproduction. Mature Mushroom People release spores every spring. Once the spores land, they can grow into juvenile Mushroom People within three months. A single Mushroom Person can release spores about 200 times in their lifetime.]

[Environmental Adaptability: Can survive in lightless, oxygen-deprived, highly toxic, and high-radiation environments. Preliminary adaptability to Yin Qi: Unknown (but fungal life generally has strong resistance to negative energy environments)]

[Current Status: Internal strife has lasted for two years, underground water sources are completely exhausted, over 90% of the fungal forests have died, and survivors are gathered in the last few underground cities, killing and devouring each other. They are at the end-stage of their civilization.]

[Danger Level: A (Large numbers, extremely hungry and crazed, and highly aggressive. However, individual combat power is weak; the threat mainly comes from numerical superiority and fungal toxins)]

[Remarks: This race possesses extreme environmental adaptability and reproductive capacity. If successfully subdued, they could become a high-quality source of low-level troops and might even develop an independent civilization cycle.]

Su Bai's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

One generation every three months.

Four generations a year.

Forty generations in ten years.

Four hundred generations in a hundred years.

Four hundred iterations were enough to evolve the weakest life into denizens of the Yin Qi World.

Moreover, they were fungi by nature and inherently possessed resistance to negative energy environments. Although Yin Qi was more eerie than ordinary negative energy, their essences were connected.

The success rate would be far higher than that of the half-orcs.

He continued reading and found the [Conquest Records] section.

[Conquest Records]

[First Attempt: Tier 3 Creator (World Level 3, unit count 2000+), invasion failed, losses exceeded 80%, repelled]

[Second Attempt: Tier 3 Creator (World Level 3, unit count 3000+), invasion failed, losses exceeded 60%, repelled]

[Third Attempt: Tier 3 Creator (World Level 3, unit count 4000+), invasion failed, losses exceeded 50%, Creator sustained minor injuries]

[Fourth Attempt: Tier 3 Creator (World Level 3, unit count 5000+), invasion failed, losses exceeded 40%, repelled]

Four invasions, four failures.

The best result was being repelled after losing over 40%.

This Fungal Realm was even tougher than the Crimson Blood Realm.

Su Bai looked at the remaining six hundred or so Power Of Faith in his hand; it was time to construct the next hero unit.

And this time, the candidate was the Ghost King from among the ten Underworld Ghost Marshals.

As for why it wasn't Black and White Impermanence or Ox-Head and Horse-Face...

That was because Su Bai had discovered that those constructions had to be created simultaneously.

They required at least a thousand Power Of Faith, whereas the Ghost King only needed five hundred Power Of Faith to be constructed.