I raise furry animals and fly them to my motherland.

Chapter 208 Absorbing Bone Marrow
Viewers across the internet felt a pang of heartache upon seeing the wound Xu Ying had sustained from the reins.

Even though he's wrapped up like that, Station Chief Xu doesn't flinch. He must get injured a lot. He's so strong, a role model for us all.

[Among the six guests, Station Master Xu, as a non-celebrity guest, probably has the lowest pay. I strongly request that Station Master Xu's pay be increased!]

More and more comments are flooding the screen, calling for a raise for Xu Ying's salary. It's hard for Director Shao to ignore it.

The Przewalski's horse that Xu Ying had rescued neighed.

[Station Chief Xu, we operate around this patch of dry reeds. If you need any help, just send the other animals to us.]
Xu Ying gave an OK sign: "Okay, I won't be polite!"

"If you encounter any other difficulties, you can also come to the 032 Rescue Station to find me."

Xu Ying pointed the wild horse herd in the direction of the rescue station.

The temperature was very hot at noon. After saying goodbye to Xu Ying, the wild horses went to find a shady place to rest.

Under the blazing sun, the program crew's white tents cast a rare patch of shade on the Gobi Desert.

Five woven baskets were neatly arranged, filled with the delicious Chinese mushrooms that everyone had worked hard to collect.

Xu Ying stood in front of a long table, on which was a scale.

The mushroom picking activity is over, and it's time to reveal the results.

"For this mushroom picking activity, points will be awarded based on the weight of the mushrooms you collect." She tapped the scale. "0.1 points per gram."

Jiang Mo's basket was the first to be weighed.

The mushrooms were piled up high, with damp sand still clinging to the base of their stems.

The scale made a soft "creak" sound—"327 grams."

Jiang Mo remained calm, merely nodding slightly, his gaze probing as he looked at Xu Ying, trying to discern her feelings.

Xu Ying couldn't stand Jiang Mo's awkward gaze any longer, so as she passed by him, she said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "If you really have something to say to me, just say it. You don't have to keep staring at me like this."

Jiang Mo was slightly taken aback, then nodded: "Okay."

Xu Ying became even more suspicious. What was this guy hiding from everyone?

Ye Jie's gains followed closely behind.

She came skipping along, carrying a woven basket, the mushrooms inside swaying gently with her steps.

"Station Chief Xu, look! I not only found the Chinese Delicious Mushroom, but also other kinds of mushrooms. Can I get extra points for that?"

Before she could finish speaking, Xu Ying suddenly darted forward and grabbed her basket with one hand.

"Wait! Don't move."

Xu Ying's fingertips hovered above a cluster of seemingly ordinary grayish-brown mushrooms. Her eyes suddenly sharpened as she put on rubber gloves and gently parted the surface of the mushrooms to reveal several fleshy brown scaly mushrooms hidden at the bottom.

This mushroom has a plain-looking cap covered with brown scales, and suspicious slime oozes from between its gills.

"This is a brownish-red ring-stalk mushroom. Even with timely rescue, eating it will permanently damage liver function."

Xu Ying used professional tweezers to pick up a mushroom and showed it to the camera its slightly greenish gills, explaining, "Its toxins can be transmitted through contact."

As he spoke, Xu Ying poured the entire basket of mushrooms into the biohazard treatment box.

He cast a sympathetic glance at Ye Jie: "Unfortunately, it's all contaminated, zero points."

Ye Jie stood there, stunned, her eyes wide open, and let out a long howl: "Ahhh, I've been betrayed by Mushroom!"

The comments section is full of people who are talking without understanding the situation, offering both sympathetic and amusing criticisms:

[That's terrible, all of Ye Jie's efforts for most of the afternoon have been wasted.] [Sometimes there's no need to embellish what's already good; just focus on doing the task properly.]

Ye Jie really does have that "clumsy beauty" vibe.

Next up was the senior veteran Yao Yingzhe, who walked over with a proud gait, carefully holding a rattan basket covered with a dark red silk scarf in both hands.

The four corners of the scarf were specially tied in knots, swaying gently with his steps.

"Make way, everyone, let me show you something!"
Yao Yingzhe looked around mysteriously, deliberately lowering his voice, "This is a rare and precious mushroom that I found by digging three feet into the ground!"

This high-profile yet mysterious demeanor drew the staff in, and even Jiang Mo, who was drinking water, looked up.

The photographer's lens slowly lowered, focusing on the mysterious basket.

Yao Yingzhe took a deep breath and suddenly ripped open the silk scarf—

With a "whoosh," a cloud of grayish-white dust rose into the air, causing the nearest cameraman to cough repeatedly.

Yao Yingzhe slapped the basket, his face full of pride: "Come on, Station Master Xu, let's inspect the goods!"

Xu Ying squinted and leaned closer, gently poking at the irregularly shaped lumps in the basket with professional tweezers.

They have an eerie grayish-white sheen under natural light, and their surfaces are covered with honeycomb-like holes.

"Teacher Yao, what's wrong...?"

Xu Ying poked the largest piece with her tweezers, producing a dull "thump-thump" sound.

The viewers in the live chat began to become alert.

This thing doesn't look like a mushroom; it looks a bit creepy, like dried human bones!

Is this another one who's overconfident and thinks they're being clever?

This show is really something else! They can unearth artifact fragments, film Przewalski's horses, and even step on poisonous mushrooms. What's this now?

"You haven't seen it?"

Yao Yingzhe stroked his beard proudly, "When I was young, I came to the desert to film a movie, and the locals told me about this. It's the legendary Gobi White Mushroom! It grows in..."

Just then, a desert evening wind blew by.

Suddenly, grayish-white fragments began to fall from the surface of those "mushrooms," revealing a stark white texture inside—clearly several severely weathered animal bones with some dried mycelial networks attached to their surface.

The scene fell silent for a moment.

"Ahem..." Yao Yingzhe's beard twitched awkwardly. He didn't know what this thing was either: "This...the mycelium on the skeleton is also a fungus, right? It's related to mushrooms!"

“These are bone-eating fungi,” Xu Ying added expressionlessly. “Fungi that feed exclusively on animal remains.”

She picked up the largest piece and showed it to the camera: "Look at this hip joint structure, it should be a fossilized pelvic bone of a wild donkey, which is at least a hundred years old."

"This bone-eating fungus is nicknamed 'bone worm'."

Xu Ying took out her portable microscope and pointed it at the bone. "Look at these honeycomb-like pores—the hyphae secrete bone-dissolving fluid, first gnaws through the minerals to create tunnels, and then slowly sucks out the collagen inside, just like how humans suck on duck necks."

Under close-up shots, the dense network of mycelium covering the bone looks just like the pig brain in a hot pot.

The duck neck in my hand suddenly doesn't taste so good anymore.

This fungus is really intelligent; it knows how to eat!

[Station Master Xu knows so much! He's practically an encyclopedia of the desert!]

"A wild donkey carcass can remain intact even after three years of exposure to the Gobi Desert, but if it gets targeted by bone-eating fungi—"