The huge mushroom fled away, seeming like a shred of shadow again. Lin Qiao realized that the mushroom was actually able to sense her. Once the distance between it and her was less than a hundred meters, the mushroom would react intensely.
Lin Qiao wasn't able to approach it for now.
In that case…
She abruptly disappeared from where she was. A few seconds later, she flashed out of her space with the snake and the dog.
"Go! There is a giant running mushroom in the front! You guys go and outflank it. Don't let it run!" Lin Qiao released the two beasts to chase the running mushroom together, her eyes glowing with interest.
"Owooo!" The zombie dog instantly darted out with excitement. It didn't understand what 'a giant running mushroom' meant, but could sense a moving energy sphere where Lin Qiao was pointing at. The smart dog quickly figured out that she was talking about that moving energy sphere.
The snake shared the same thought with Bowwow. The two beasts swiftly rushed out, stirring up two gusts of wind while chasing behind the mushroom like two bolts of lightning.
Both Bowwow and Black had upgraded to level-six, and had their body conditions improved. Currently, they were both twice as fast as before. Before long, the giant mushroom realized that it was surrounded.
Soon, Lin Qiao showed up with a smile. Behind the mushroom was the river. Bowwow was standing before it, while Black and herself each took aside.
"Why don't you keep running? Don't forget that you are a mushroom! How can you be running so fast? That's cheating!" Lin Qiao laughed to the mushroom which was standing by the riverside with its roots buried in the soil.
Clearly, it was very afraid of the water. It never dared to approach the river all the time.
"Owoo! Owo!" Bowwow excitedly wagged its furless tail and agitatedly barked at the mushroom, threatening to pounce on it. The dog fixed its glowing eyes on the mushroom while baring its teeth.
'Eh? This vibe belongs to a plant, doesn't it? How come it can run?' The dog had a question in his mind.
Black coiled its body on the other side of the mushroom, coldly looking at the big mushroom as it let out its forked tongue from time to time. The snake wasn't as excited as Bowwow, but it would occasionally flick its tail tip to show its curiosity toward the big mushroom.
The mushroom stayed by the riverside perfectly still, even though Lin Qiao was talking and the zombie dog was glaring at it fiercely. If the three didn't follow the mushroom to the river, or if it didn't look so weird, they might think that it was supposed to be there.
"Bowwow, go and give it a scratch. Let's see what'll happen," Lin Qiao said to Bowwow.
"Owo!" Bowwow immediately gave a howl and jumped on the mushroom while swinging its forepaws at the mushroom cap.
Sensing Bowwow's attack, the mushroom instantly shrank its cap even more tightly than before. Unexpectedly, it didn't try to dodge the attack.
Cling! A high-pitched sound was heard.
The strong mushroom cap actually survived Bowwow's claws.
Lin Qiao told Bowwow to give the mushroom a scratch, so the dog didn't use a great strength. Therefore, its claws failed to do the mushroom any harm.
Right at that moment, the mushroom suddenly relaxed its cap. A strong stream of energy gushed out of the mushroom cap and brought out a puff of colorful powder.
The powder spread speedily in the air. Lin Qiao didn't care about it, and neither did Bowwow. Unlike them, Black moved slightly backward, as it was having a sense of crisis. However, it was still a little late, as the snake inhaled some of that powder.
Lin Qiao started paying attention to Black's reaction. She suddenly recalled how the big rat was attracted to the mushroom. Unlike the rat, the boar wasn't attracted by the mushroom. She wondered if it was the gap between power levels or between species that caused the difference.
As she was looking at Black, the mushroom suddenly jumped up, then turned to Black and ran away again.
Black made no response to its movement, but let the mushroom run past it.
"Black!" Seeing that, Lin Qiao realized that something wasn't right. She hurriedly went up to the snake to check on it. Meanwhile, she yelled at the dog, "Bowwow, go and get it!"
"Owo?" Bowwow glanced at Black, then turned to the mushroom which had nearly disappeared. The dog hesitated briefly.
Lin Qiao glanced at the mushroom which was running further and further away, then shouted at Bowwow, "Go! Black won't die!"
The snake was just poisoned.
She quickly reached out a hand and sent Black back into her space, then turned and kept moving toward the running mushroom.
This time, the mushroom was running extra fast. It was faster than before by many times over. Lin Qiao and Bowwow actually failed to catch up with it.
They ran behind the mushroom for over ten miles, from the riverside park all the way to a hill.
'Is it really okay for a mushroom to run all over the world?' Lin Qiao said to herself.
"Owooooo!" Bowwow was too excited to think. While running, it barked loudly and caused a series of noises. The dog had completely no idea that it was supposed to keep quiet, or the mushroom might hear it and run even faster.
Clearly, the dog saw the running mushroom as an interesting toy.
Some loud noises were caused while Lin Qiao and the dog were chasing all over the hill behind the mushroom. The birds in the woods took fright and flew into the sky while some lower-leveled mutated animals darted everywhere with fear. Some higher-leveled mutated beasts only dared to stay at a distance away and watch. They had no courage to approach, but didn't leave either.
As Lin Qiao and the zombie dog were trying to catch the mushroom, the second batch of Hades Base survivors were entering Hangzhou.
Those people divided into two groups. One group had relatively more superpowered members, but their moral quality didn't improve along with their body condition. They were commoners before who hadn't accepted any military or other kinds of training at all. After attaining superpowers, they became stronger and started to think of themselves as higher than the others, treating commoners like ants.
The other group was led by a few men who used to serve in the army. They trained the commoners in the cruel way that was often used in the army. As for their training tools, those were undoubtedly the zombies that could be found everywhere during the journey.
Through the training, some commoners grew the courage to pick up weapons and kill zombies. As their reaction speed rose gradually, they survived toughly. Some of them were weeded out during the trainings. Most of them died in the injuries caused by zombies.
The people who were leading the superpowered group believed that they should give on up the commoners, so a lot of trouble and food could be saved during the journey. However, the soldiers' group disagreed in solidarity.
Those soldiers were strong, with good combat skills. Together, they made a force that was powerful enough to defend themselves against the zombies. Staying with them, the people in the superpowered group could save some efforts. Otherwise, they would have left without them long ago.