60: Chapter 63 My name is Taotie! A twisted path to godhood...

Under the lush tree.

In the mottled moonlight, it seemed to be just an empty piece of flat ground.

But Chen Rao did not doubt his own senses.

Seeing that the open ground remained completely unresponsive.

He decisively struck out.

Rustle!

With a flick of his right hand, grayish-black mycelium surged.

It transformed into countless finger-thick snakes sweeping across the area, launching a violent impact resembling a swarm of mad pythons crossing the border.

Decisive!

Ruthless!

An attack without holding anything back.

This forced the hidden figure in the shadows to have nowhere left to hide.

Beside the empty-looking big tree.

Amidst the camouflage color matching the tree bark, a brown figure suddenly leaped out.

The colors twisted and shifted, gradually revealing its true appearance.

Transforming into a tower-like man.

——

It was Zhao Jinlong!

The captain of the Nine-Tailed Fox Squad!

Facing the disaster of mad pythons formed by the mycelium, Zhao Jinlong, who had been hiding using chameleon-like abilities, quickly jumped down from the tree.

Clang——

A sharp blade leaped out of its sheath.

His hands transformed into mantis-like blade legs.

Relying on exquisite skills, he attacked and shredded the mycelium.

"Chen Rao!"

"The things you have done have all been exposed under the watchful eyes of the public via Gear Live!"

"Stop making futile resistance!"

"Doing this will only aggravate the crimes you have committed!"

"Give up resistance, and The Authorities will synthesize your motives and impact to give you an appropriate disposition! You cannot escape. The Nine-Tailed Fox Squad is gathering, and I am only the vanguard. The main force is already on the way..."

Zhao Jinlong's righteous-looking voice rang out.

He wasn't lying.

Ever since Chen Rao left the bridge and actively released the mycelium, spreading it on a large scale outward.

The broadcast had already begun, with Gear standing high above in the nether, watching the changes in the situation.

This was also the reason why Zhao Jinlong tracked him down.

However, Chen Rao's response.

Was merely a faint, hoarse voice, "Chen... Rao...? No! My name is Taowu!"

"Taowu?"

"The legendary fierce beast?"

Zhao Jinlong knitted his brows.

He thought this was because Chen Rao had watched the previous Gear Live.

After gaining extraordinary power, he felt that he had shed mortality and become refined, so he imitated the rules of the association to name himself, acting pretentious.

According to intelligence.

This guy was already nearly thirty, yet his personality was still so chuunibyou?

Zhao Jinlong frowned, just about to speak, "Chen Rao..."

Before the words could even sound out.

They were interrupted by a hoarse voice.

"I said it already, my name is Taowu!"

[An adventure in the mountains, encountering Taisui, undergoing three refining and four turns, the Arcane Arts are finally accomplished]

When the Nightmare Ganoderma integrated the mycelium into his body.

Aside from... the alienation of body reorganization...

There was only this single ambiguous sentence left, pointing towards the end of alienation and also the legendary divinity.

And the existence that left this sentence called itself Taowu, and the Ganoderma was also suspected to be one of its flesh-and-blood components.

Abandoning his past, Chen Rao took this as his name. There were reasons both to bid farewell to past cowardice and to look forward to the future, hoping to become an existence like it.

Shedding mortality to become refined was the yearning carved into the bones of every lifeform.

However, truth be told.

Highly overlapped and alienated with the mycelium.

His current state—whether he was human or mycelium—was already hard to clarify.

"Chen Rao..."

"Is already dead."

A faint voice sounded.

The pervading gray shadows made Zhao Jinlong instantly feel that something was amiss.

Fearing that he would lose control and go berserk just like that.

He tried to speak and pacify him, "Calm down! Nothing is certain death! You must trust the country, trust the organization!"

"No matter what, they will give you a reasonable outcome. Justice is always here. Your situation is very special, and we will conduct a trial based on various considerations. We won't use a one-size-fits-all approach..."

"You must believe in the law, believe in justice!"

"..."

Zhao Jinlong's pacification continued.

But the gaze opposite him grew increasingly icy.

"Justice... Can delayed justice still be called justice..."

Chen Rao.

No! It was Taowu.

As his muttering rang out.

The last trace of hesitation in his icy heart also dissipated along with it.

Chen Rao was already dead.

He died in a pool of blood after stepping into empty space and falling.

His name! Is Taowu!

"What a pity..."

"You came a little late."

Taowu's faint voice rang out, and Zhao Jinlong instinctively felt that something was bad.

His pupils shrank abruptly.

Before he had time to react.

Boom!

The overwhelming gray shadows poured out.

The mycelium gathered and dispersed into form.

Transforming into a surging sky full of mad snakes, comparable to a real-life python disaster.

On the other side, Zhao Jinlong also brought out his true power under the threat of life and death.

All over his body, multiple insect organs appeared.

The burning vital blood on his body transformed into a long black-qi dragon, entangling around his torso.

The real battle.

Has begun!

——

"Holy shit, with this huge scene, if the mycelium keeps spreading, a small half of the urban area will sink, right?! And the alienated monster actually started fighting the Nine-Tailed Fox! Can he win?"

"Can he win? Of course he has to win! I fucking live right in this area! If he doesn't win, I'm done for. I don't want to be fertilizer for mushrooms! Help, big boss, you've gotta be strong!"

"I know this question! Isn't this just a Mage VS Berserker! Of course whoever seizes the initiative first wins. The Nine-Tailed Fox has already successfully charged in and is about to reach the monster's body. It is estimated that the battle will end soon."

"Reality is not a game; how could it be so simple!"

"Also, a Mage? You call a monster that's a composite of so many beasts like a snake head, eagle claws, python body, and tiger bones a Mage? This is probably a melee mage..."

"That's right, that's right. This guy looks far from simple. The effect of the alienation looks a lot like body modification."

"..."

The livestream chat was abuzz.

Various bullet comments were frantically flooding the screen above.

There were unlucky on-site freaks.

There were power-scaling faction members fiercely debating.

...

One was an alienated entity with a snake head and human body, and the other was a semi-human, semi-insect personnel of The Authorities.

Everyone's focus differed.

Yet they all unanimously looked toward this battle.

A battle between anomalies and anomalies.

Pulling at the emotions of the Netizens in the livestream room.

Of course, besides caring about the battle results.

And melon-eating onlookers urgently wanting to know who the ultimate winner was.

There were also certain ambitious people coveting extraordinary power.

With the existence of Gear Science.

The source of alienation on Taowu's body.

For the Netizens in the livestream room, it was no longer a fog, but had its veil lifted by a few fractions.

[Nightmare Ganoderma]

[Category: Anomalous Creature]

[A quasi-life aggregate capable of surviving in almost any environment. After a lifeform comes into contact with the mycelium, alienation will occur. This phenomenon is divided into █ █ stages. Once one steps onto the path of alienation, it cannot be reversed until ascending to divinity!]

[When reaching the end of ordinary alienation, one must comprehend and understand ultimate alienation to complete ultimate evolution, shed mortality to ascend to divinity, become an unknown, towering existence, and possess the power of Arcane Arts.]

[The alienation pathway carries extremely high risks.]

[...]

Fungal infection! A mortal ascending to divinity!

Being infected by mycelium allows one to step onto the path of alienation.

An extraordinary rare object! Absolutely an extraordinary rare object!

Even with its huge drawbacks, its power cannot be denied.

Because the Ganoderma's alienation direction.

Turned out to be a path pointing directly to divinity.

Compared to inner fear.

Greed can make people trample over any rules even more.