Warning! The evil god's minions are invading the eerie dungeon.

"To be precise, the white mushrooms do not contain any strange energy, while the black ones do."

Beneath the dark contact lenses, gold and red shimmered subtly. Qi Xie stroked his chin thoughtfully.

"However, the black color only possesses strange energy; it doesn't seem to have intelligence like the previous thing, and is more like a strange material?"

The reason he came to this conclusion was because after observing it with the [Spirit Sight], he even tried to command the long-tongued female ghost in the [Ghost Eye] to attack this thing.

After the long-tongued female ghost conveyed a sense of disgust to him, she did not launch an attack.

This shows that mushrooms have no soul.

"But I also think it's not simple, after all, it's written into the rules..."

Qi Xie looked around, bent down, picked up a fist-sized pebble, and threw it at the clump of mushrooms that had formed a human shape.

Snapped--!

Qi Xie smashed the spot on his face that corresponded to the cluster of mushrooms.

The stone knocked down several mushrooms, which fell to the ground.

Apart from that, there was nothing unusual.

The scene that Qi Xie had imagined—the mushrooms bursting up and reaching towards him, or the corpses underneath crawling up in protest—did not occur.

The mushrooms remained silent and motionless, while the spot where they had been hit revealed a withered human face whose original appearance was no longer recognizable.

"Nothing's happening?"

Chen Mu asked in confusion.

"Yeah, that's a bit of a surprise... When did you get there?"

Qi Xie suddenly turned his head and looked at Chen Mu, who had already hidden ten meters away.

"Hahaha..."

Chen Muqian chuckled twice and walked back, muttering to himself:

It's all because you're acting crazy!

Why would a madman choose to test the dangers written into the rules instead of avoiding them?

They're treating the rules like a task list!

Qi Xie ignored the guy and turned his gaze back to the mushroom bushes.

After a few seconds of silence, he suddenly spoke:

"Did you bring any meat?"

"what?"

Chen Mu was taken aback, then nodded and said:

"Yes... but didn't you bring any food with you?"

"I don't need it."

unnecessary?

{Silent Hunter} Lu Renjia actually has this ability? He doesn't even need to eat anymore?

As Chen Mu was pondering this, he heard Qi Xie say casually:

"Just take what others have; there's no need to waste storage space."

Beast!

Chen Mu grimaced, cursed under his breath, and summoned a phantom ghost that was 1.5 meters tall and had an enormous belly.

The ghostly figure opened its mouth wide and spat out a sealed plastic box of beef jerky.

Qi Xie took the plastic box, opened it, and took out a piece of beef jerky.

Then, quite naturally, I put it in my mouth and started eating.

Chen Mu's face twitched.

"The taste is actually pretty good..."

Qi Xie glanced at Chen Mu with some surprise, then took out a piece of beef jerky from the box and threw it at the group of mushrooms.

The beef jerky fell silently into the mushroom.

But the mushrooms remained motionless.

Qi Xie observed for a moment, then reached out his hand to Chen Mu and said:

"water."

So Chen Mu made the big-bellied ghost spit out a bottle of mineral water.

This time, Qi Xie didn't drink it. Instead, he unscrewed the cap and poured it directly onto the beef jerky.

The instant the beef jerky, water, and mushrooms come into contact.

Like piranhas that have smelled blood, the mushrooms instantly wriggled and swarmed forward, enveloping the water and jerky, while two or three new white mushrooms sprouted at the same time.

"That speed..."

Looking at the bizarre scene before him, Chen Mu immediately thought of the dried-up corpse wrapped in the mushroom.

Clearly, this mushroom reacts to water and nutrients, multiplying rapidly and 'consuming' the nutrient source.

Qi Xie frowned in thought, then looked around.

These mushrooms were not all gathered on the corpse; there were also some food items that had turned to dust around it, on which a few mushrooms also grew.

Qi Xie noticed that all the mushrooms were white.

The mushrooms on the corpse in the middle are both white and black.

Furthermore, mushrooms fed with beef jerky and water are only white.

"I think I understand..."

Qi Xie suddenly had an inspiration, and then bent down slightly and inserted one hand into the shadow.

A ripple spread across the surface of the shadow, like waves on water.

Then Qi Xie pulled out the strange head of the mimicry plant he had just harvested—a head without a skullcap.

Under Chen Mu's questioning gaze, he threw his head toward the group of mushrooms.

Splash! Splash!

The mushroom swarm quickly erupted, growing and multiplying, instantly climbing up the head and bursting it open, sprouting from the eye sockets, the vanished skull, and every crevice.

"These...they can even eat the supernatural?!"

Chen Mu's eyes widened.

Qi Xie observed silently for a while and then said:

"Not only that, they also categorized them."

"what?"

Chen Mu was stunned:

"The white mushrooms do not contain any strange energy; they seem to have only absorbed nutrients, while the strange energy has been concentrated in the black mushrooms."

Qi Xie pointed to the cluster of black and white mushrooms.

"..."

Chen Mu opened his mouth, but didn't know what to say.

After a long pause, he couldn't help but say:

"The ecology in this instance is just too... too... too bizarre!"

He pondered for a long time before finally coming up with a suitable adjective.

"The bizarre eats people, and plants eat the bizarre?"

"Hehehe..."

Qi Xie chuckled a few times. He originally wanted to point out that the other party had forgotten the small problem that "mushrooms" were not plants because they were too shocked, but then he remembered that he was playing the role of a villainous passerby in the traveler circle.

And villains rarely speak in this style.

So he didn't continue, but instead slowly said:

"How do you know whether the plant was contaminated by the anomaly first, or whether it was contaminated after preying on the anomaly? Don't you think that even if the anomaly got close to that thing, it would still be preyed upon?"

Startled by Qi Xie's remark, Chen Mu was momentarily stunned, then his eyes widened in surprise.

"this……"

He swallowed hard.

This immediately reminded him of his favorite game from his childhood, "Plants vs. Zombies".

"It's probably something created by combining someone's weird skills with something else."

Qi Xie pointed at Chen Mu:

"Have you forgotten the name of that weirdo you're controlling, who's skilled in earth and plant magic?"

"Druid of the Evil Spirits...!"

Chen Mu understood what the other person meant as soon as he finished speaking.

"right."

Qi Xie nodded:

"These bizarre abilities are truly incredibly diverse..."

"so……"

Chen Mu pursed his lips and whispered:

"Aren't we among the first travelers sent here by the system? Did some strange travelers who came before us leave behind these eerie plants?"

Who knows?

Qi Xie glanced sideways at the group of mushrooms and said casually.

He had another guess he didn't mention.

It all started with the discovery of usable stoves and gas cylinders, among other signs of habitation, in the previous "Ghost House" instance.

He wondered if there were still people alive in the strange world.

Were all those who fell into the world really not dead?

Therefore, these plants may also have been left behind by survivors of the fallen world.

Of course, these are all just speculations.

"Don't worry too much. Now that we've figured out what these things are like, we just need to be careful to avoid them in the future."

Qi Xie said in a relaxed tone.

At the same time, he naturally put the box of beef jerky, which tasted quite good, into his pocket.

Chen Mu watched this scene expressionlessly, his lips twitching a few times.

But the next second, he saw Qi Xie walk towards the clump of mushrooms again.

Chen Mu: !

What are you up to now?!

……

……