Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 866 - 104: Parasitic Experiment

This world has always been cruel.

It’s just that many people are unaware of this, and even if they are aware, they can only choose various ways to numb themselves because they are powerless to change the status quo.

For example, the current Federation Council... Although some people keep complaining that the world is just a huge makeshift stage, anyone capable of sitting in that position cannot be a fool. They are more aware than anyone else that in the not-so-distant future, human civilization will face a crisis more severe than the first war with bizarre creatures.

But their attitude now is like an ostrich burying its head in the sand, just seeking to maintain the status quo—when one falls into a state of powerlessness and despair, a lucky mind often takes the rational high ground. They might think, perhaps in the coming month, the crisis won’t arrive... or maybe in a year, or perhaps an entire term of office.

Once such a lucky mentality is gradually magnified, the brain will numb itself, and they will think the current situation will continue... the crisis may arrive, but by the time it comes, perhaps they’ll have stepped down, or maybe they will have already passed away—so what does this so-called crisis have to do with them?

Just leave it to future generations.

There’s a saying—"After me, the flood will take its course."

Pei Zongjun wanted to change the status quo, but he died.

Not only did he die, but he also dumped this huge burden entirely onto Sun Hang.

Sun Hang also wanted to be an ostrich, but if even he chose to be an ostrich, this damn world would really be doomed.

He truly disliked the world of bizarre creatures, even deeply loathed them from the bottom of his heart—whether it’s those aberrant forms that drive one mad after a few more glances, the nauseating pus and rotten flesh, or those brain-twisting bizarre logics and paradoxes... Maybe only a mentally twisted pervert would like such a world?

Sun Hang turned his gaze two kilometers away, at the giant caterpillar fungus still burrowing in the pit—surrounding it, the air was filled with numerous fine white particles. From afar, it looked like a dense fog enclosed in place by some kind of force field.

According to the observation and analysis of the main brain, these white particles are actually the spores sprayed by bizarre creatures. Once these spores come into contact with animals, they will immediately attach and quickly sprout a large number of hyphae.

Immediately afterward, these hyphae will secrete a highly corrosive enzyme that can rapidly decompose the host’s epidermal cells, helping the hyphae invade the host’s body to draw nutrients and proliferate massively.

The host’s brain and nervous system are the first to be destroyed. This fungal-type bizarre creature will create a similar "organ" to replace them and connect with the host’s body to achieve the purpose of manipulating the host’s body.

Sun Hang captured a desert rat and a scorpion from the wilderness and threw them into the spore diffusion zone. In less than two minutes, both were covered with white spores—once these spores came into contact with the host’s hardened exterior, they would dissolve and turn into a mucus-like substance adhering to the host’s surface.

It looks like a web wrapping around the host’s body.

Five minutes later, the desert rat’s fur had completely shed, revealing the skin beneath that had become ulcerated due to corrosion. During this process, the desert rat was exceptionally calm, showing neither tension nor agitation, nor did it attempt to escape—the main brain speculates that the secretions of the caterpillar fungus’s spores, besides being corrosive, probably also have a paralyzing or sedative effect.

As for the scorpion, it lay flat on the ground, immobile, letting the cotton-like mycelium completely wrap its body.

Vaguely, many fine hyphae could be seen penetrating the scorpion’s exoskeleton and invading its body.

At the twenty-second minute, the now-transformed desert rat began to show some bizarre actions; it stood up on its hind legs, stumbled forward a few steps as if drunk, and then fell to the ground, starting to burrow like that giant caterpillar fungus.

"The desert rat’s brain and nervous system have already been replaced by the fungal bizarre creature," said the Candle Dragon. "It seems like the fungus controlling the desert rat hasn’t quite figured out how to manipulate this body yet."

At the twenty-fourth minute, the seemingly dead scorpion suddenly sprang up, began crawling chaotically... and soon, it collided with the still-burrowing desert rat.

The scorpion hesitated for a moment before it thrust its tail needle into the desert rat’s body.

The attacked desert rat leaped up, snapping off the scorpion’s tail, then fiercely flung the scorpion away!

The broken scorpion tail was still lodged in the desert rat’s body, with the open end of the mycelium beginning to spread on the rat’s body, while simultaneously, many hyphae from inside the rat started to invade the retained scorpion tail.

"From the same root, why such eagerness to harm each other," Sun Hang could not help but whisper in awe at the scene.

"This is probably one of the survival strategies of the bizarre creatures," Candle Dragon mused. "Once the spores parasitize different hosts, they become independent individuals. Even though they share a common mother body, in a harsh survival environment, even brothers are competitors... it’s like raising Gu, only the strongest one has the right to survive."

After a brief adjustment, the scorpion flung aside charged at the desert rat again, its powerful pincers instantly clamping the desert rat’s hind limbs.

But by this time, the fungus inside the rat seemed to understand how to manipulate the body. It pinned the scorpion’s back with its forelimbs and bit off several of the scorpion’s limbs within a second.

Next, the desert rat used its sharp teeth to tear open the scorpion’s back shell and held this position firmly.

After magnifying the scene a hundredfold, Sun Hang saw numerous hyphae extending from the rat’s eye sockets, nasal cavity, and mouth, burrowing into the scorpion’s body, while at the same time, many hyphae from the scorpion also emerged from wounds, intertwining with those of the rat and mixing into its body.

The two animals, which were locked in fierce combat a second ago, were now completely frozen, with only the hyphae within their bodies continuously launching "attacks."

Suddenly, Sun Hang felt that this aggressive behavior might not be survival of the fittest, but rather a form of... fusion.

More and more hyphae emerged from the interiors of both creatures, eventually enveloping the bodies of the rat and the scorpion entirely, forming what looked like a mass of cotton wool.

By this time, the hyphae parasitizing the bodies of the rat and the scorpion were no longer distinguishable—the results of the memetic detection showed that after multiple alterations, their memetic frequencies had merged into a single entity.