94: What are the weaknesses of fungi?

County 0203, Outskirts.

"Captain, this dilapidated residential area is where we investigated before."

"Hey, Captain, you didn't see it for yourself back then, but the scene was truly shocking. It gave me goosebumps all over. Old Wang was the brave one; he didn't react at all when he saw those disgusting things."

Li Zheng chattered while pointing at the warplane's monitor.

"Enough, you talk too much."

Wang Mian pursed his lips, unable to bring himself to retort.

"Liang Xin, park the warplane in the same spot as last time."

Captain Feng Zhisheng patted the shoulder of the pilot, Zeng Liangxin, and the pilot named Zeng Liangxin nodded. After a series of maneuvers, he landed the warplane steadily on the ground.

"Creeeak!"

"Hiss—!"

The warplane's hatch opened. The internal and external pressures equalized, allowing the air from the isolation chamber inside the warplane to flow with the outside world, forming a thin layer of mist. The three members, including the captain, slowly drove out of the warplane in an armored vehicle.

"Although we applied for s-class combat suits from the higher-ups this time, which can withstand attacks from Lord Level monsters, you still shouldn't let your guard down, because we don't know what kind of danger we might encounter."

Feng Zhisheng said earnestly.

This time, everyone except for the pilot got off the warplane.

The pilot needed to ensure the warplane wasn't disturbed by other monsters; everyone had a clear division of labor.

Captain Feng Zhisheng looked at Wang Mian, who immediately nodded and drove the armored vehicle toward the residential area they had investigated last time.

After driving for about two kilometers, they once again arrived at the perimeter of the dilapidated residential area where Qiao Yu's fungal nest was located.

By now, the residential area had completely changed. Even before entering the main gate, everyone could see that the buildings inside had been completely contaminated by the fungal swarm.

The surface of every building was tightly wrapped in Mycelium. Large clusters of mushrooms had even grown on some of the buildings, making the entire scene in the residential area look extremely bizarre.

"Captain, these fungal swarms have spread again. When we came a while ago, only one building was contaminated. You've already seen the specific footage we filmed before."

Wang Mian said.

Feng Zhisheng nodded. Since the higher-ups weren't sure if this fungus posed a threat to humans or China, and there were many more monsters to deal with in other cities, they had no intention of dealing with such matters and only took conservative measures against the fungus in County 0203.

Now that the Foreign War God Squad had perished here, the higher-ups had to suspect the variable that was the fungus.

Therefore, the Investigation Team had two objectives for coming here.

First, to try and eliminate these fungi. Even if they couldn't be eliminated, their spread had to be contained as much as possible.

Second, to go to the location where the War God Squad last died to investigate. If anything could be found, it would provide an explanation to the American Military.

"Let's start by exterminating these fungi from the perimeter. First, we'll try using Flamethrowers."

Wang Mian nodded and pressed a button on the controller in front of him, deploying the Flamethrower equipped on the armored vehicle.

The Flamethrower from within the armored vehicle was deployed onto the roof and sprayed directly toward the residential area's gate... [Ding! Detected that the fungus within the camp is being attacked by the human camp. Do you wish to counterattack?]

Twenty kilometers away, Qiao Yu was having a blast killing monsters when he suddenly heard the prompt from the System, giving him a start.

"When did I get targeted by the humans again?"

"Could it be because of that Foreign War God Squad?"

Qiao Yu thought about it and realized it made sense. Any God of War was a rare talent for any faction. To lose four at once, including one Advanced God of War, it would be strange if they weren't nervous.

"However, the fungus has never suffered any substantial damage. Even when encountering an Advanced God of War, they were helpless once entangled by the fungus. So, where is this human attack coming from?"

Qiao Yu couldn't figure it out for a moment, so he immediately activated the shared vision near the fungal nest.

At the fungal nest's location in the outskirts, a pair of blood-red eyes grew on the surface of every building's wall.

Under the cover of the blood-red Fungal Carpet, they were quite inconspicuous. The blood-red eyes rolled around and spotted the armored vehicle spraying fire at the residential area's gate.

"Holy crap, I completely forgot about fire. System, is fire actually the weakness of the fungus?"

Qiao Yu wondered.

"If the weakness of the fungus was fire, then in the future, when he reached the Universe, wouldn't all those powerhouses with fire abilities be his natural enemies? How was he supposed to play then?"

At this thought, a sense of crisis suddenly welled up in Qiao Yu's heart.

[Report to host: until the host reaches the Planetary Level, fire will have a certain impact on the fungal swarm. Alternatively, the host can absorb magma from underground to give your own fungus fire resistance.]

[At the current rate of attack, the fungal swarm's volume will be reduced at a speed of 10 cubic meters per second.]

"The fungus can even absorb magma? I did hear in my past life that fungus apparently exists around volcanic craters. Those fungi must have some level of fire resistance."

"It seems that to give the fungi stronger defensive capabilities, I still need to improve my own strength."

"But this one Flamethrower armored vehicle can cause a reduction of 10 cubic meters per second. If there were a few more, wouldn't all the fungal swarms I've gained during this period be for nothing?"

Qiao Yu rubbed his temples with a headache, pondering a strategy.

"But if I counterattack the military, it'll definitely be a case of 'hit the small one, and the medium one comes; hit the medium one, and the old one comes.' It's better to avoid their edge for now."

Qiao Yu wasn't mortal enemies with the China military, and besides, there was no need for unnecessary slaughter.

Fortunately, the underground of the entire County 0203 was densely covered with Mycelium. Qiao Yu could temporarily hide all the fungal nests on the surface underground.

When the time came, he would have the fungi create some illusions of being scorched, which should allow him to get through this predicament for now.

Meanwhile, the three Investigation Team members in the armored vehicle had come up with a new plan after confirming that the fungus could not survive being roasted by fire.

"Captain, how long is it going to take to spray bit by bit with this Flamethrower? Why don't we use some incendiary bombs? It'll save time and effort, and we can go investigate how those foreigners died as soon as possible."

Li Zheng sat in the armored vehicle's seat, watching the slowly burning fire with boredom, and said with a yawn.

"Holy crap, Li Zheng, with your IQ, it's rare for you to come up with such an idea!"

Wang Mian looked at Li Zheng in disbelief, offering a rare word of praise.

Upon hearing Li Zheng's suggestion, Captain Feng Zhisheng also thought it was feasible and immediately nodded.

"Wang Mian, let's pull back for now. Contact Liang Xin and have him use incendiary bombs to eliminate these fungi."