Chapter 19

During his time as a mushroom, he didn’t have much of a concept of time. The sun rising and setting were just natural changes and he didn’t know how long it had been since he lost his spore.

February 14th, according to the human season, was the time when winter hadn’t yet passed. That’s right, in his memories and dreams, there was the chilling wind on the night when he lost his spore.

There wouldn’t be a second mushroom in the world who lost a spore in the same winter. It turned out that his meeting with Lu Feng was much earlier than the encounter at the gate. The Judge, separated from him by a wall, was the one who personally took the spore from him.

He paused and turned this work manual back. On the next page on February 20th, Lu Feng returned to the base and wrote that he handed over the samples to the Lighthouse.

After pausing on this line for three seconds, An Zhe turned the log back to June 17th and returned the black ballpoint pen to the page like it had never been read.

An Zhe looked away from the manual to the wall behind the desk. A judge had the supreme power to shoot anyone in the base or order all agencies in the city to cooperate. In an emergency, they could mobilize all the soldiers of the city’s defense station, just like Lu Feng had at the supply station that day. However, despite this high position, LuFeng’s residence here was more deserted and simpler than An Zhe’s own room. Even the walls were only lightly painted, revealing the grey cement texture behind it.

On this grey wall, a little taller than a person, was a sentence written in red paint.

“Human interests takes precedence over everything else.”

An Zhe shuddered. The dungeon was too cold and he still didn’t feel easy. He shifted his gaze tot he bed, hesitated for a few seconds before lying on it.

His hand sank onto the pillow. He didn’t dare wrap himself in the quilt as usual and just placed it lightly on his body. The quilt, pillows and sheets were all base-based materials and there was no difference between the quilts of a prisoner and this one. However, An Zhe felt it was very different. He was sleeping on the Judge’s bed while a brief conversation between Lu Feng and someone else drifted from the office on the other side of the wall. It was an indescribable feeling, dangerous but safe.

Anyone in this situation would lose sleep, let alone a mushroom. However, he didn’t have insomnia for too long. As he was thinking wild thoughts, his body gradually warmed up due to the warmth of the quilt and the world in front of him gradually blurred. He fell into a dream just like this.

An Zhe was awakened and he was convinced it was only a short time after he slept. The last time he was in the wilderness, he felt his spore being dug away from him. This time, he felt a hand patting the pillow next to him.

An Zhe’s spirit awakened and he opened his eyes into cold green eyes. It was the murderer who took away his spore. Lu Feng raised the quilt and spoke very quickly. “Evacuate.”

Needless to say, the moment he woke up, An Zhe realized that the building beneath him was shaking slightly, just like the prison. Were the worms appearing below this building?

After a short period of thought, the wave-shaped alarm sounded for a long time. It was the evacuation signal.

He didn’t have much time to think and quickly got out of bed and put on his shoes. Lu Feng grabbed his shoulder with the right hand and took him outside of the room. Cold air poured in through the open door and An Zhe instinctively fought back a chill as he came from the warm quilt to this situation. Then he felt Lu Feng holding his hand pause.

A black shadow covered him and his body sank. Lu Feng had taken his coat off the hanger and threw it on him. It was too late for An Zhe to say thank you and he could only reach out to close the coat around him. Lu Feng kept moving, quickly picking up the work manual and ballpoint pen from his desk and shoving it into the pocket of An Zhe’s coat. Then he grabbed An Zhe’s wrist and walked away. Two judges were already waiting at the door. Once they saw Lu Feng, they called out, “Colonel!”

Then the two of them stared at An Zhe.

Lu Feng didn’t say anything and their group headed downstairs via the nearest emergency passage. The emergency passage was dark. The monster attack had affected the power system and only the green fluorescent indicator light appeared brightly. The stairs were narrow and steep and only two people could go side by side. It happened that the other three people were moving too fast. An Zhe was dragged by Lu Feng and stumbled several times. He realized that unless he became mycelium, not only would he be unable to keep up with the pace but he would also slow Lu Feng down.

He just wanted to say that Lu Feng didn’t need to pull him, he could walk by himself, when a force came from his shoulder. Lu Feng had grabbed his shoulder and twisted him to the side and rear. The inertia of gravity was still there and An Zhe crashed onto Lu Feng’s back, his forehead hit the badge on Lu Feng’s chest and then the epaulettes as he slid backwards. In this position, he was taller than Lu Feng and he instinctively leaned forward to hold into Lu Feng.

Then he was carried by the man in a piggyback position. Holding onto the Judge’s neck, An Zhe recalled the chaotic but seemingly logical series of actions and found it amazing.

The key was that this person effortlessly carried him, easily jumping down a few steps and steadily landing before running. He pulled open the window of the second floor and borrowed the platform outside the window of the first floor. There was only a whistling sound in An Zhe’s ears and somehow Lu Feng landed downstairs.

Lu Feng clearly didn’t have the obvious strong muscles of Vance or Howard but through the layers of clothing, An Zhe could still feel the terrible explosive power. A human body was different from soft mycelium.

After Lu Feng landed, the two other judges also fell to the ground in short intervals. An Zhe had held on tightly when Lu Feng landed and felt that this was clearly a hard human body. The gap between human and human was even greater than the gap between human and mushroom, An Zhe realized.

Then three seconds later, he realized that everyone in the atrium was looking at him. It was early in the morning and the light fog couldn’t stop other people’s eyes. Boss Shaw came out from the nearest tent. He first glanced at Lu Feng and then An Zhe before immediately beginning to blink at An Zhe.

Lu Feng put him down. An Zhe also released his grip on this person’s neck and landed.

He said, “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome.” Lu Feng replied lightly. “Go to the tent.”

The tent was just a few steps away from here. An Zhe responded with a hum and turned around, only to bump into Howard.

Lu Feng asked, “What’s going on?”

“Things have changed. The Lighthouse people arrived and turned on the radar to show that all four buildings have worms underneath them. It isn’t just one or two. They are living in groups. There is a worm nest under the city’s defense station. They are breaking through the ground to attack the people in the building.”

“A full evacuation?”

“Everyone will be evacuated and you as well.” Howard was resolute and decisive.

Lu Feng ordered, “Show me the radar imaging.”

“Don’t look, it is hopeless.”

“The dispersal device is here.”

Howard’s voice was cold and he went tit-for-tat. “We can’t protect the dispersal device. How many times do you want me to say it? After the evacuation, I will immediately contact the dispersal centre to improve the work intensity of the other nine dispersal devices.”

An Zhe looked back and saw that Lu Feng’s face was cold. His right hand was touching the gun at his waist as he repeated word for word. “Show me the radar imaging.”

“You!” Howard seemed angry but he feared the Judge’s privilege of being able to kill anytime and anywhere. He waved his hand in one direction.

A man in a simple shirt came from the other side with a black instrument in his hand. Lu Feng picked it up and glanced at the screen. An Zhe watched the temperature on this man’s face drop from zero to minus 18 degrees. His voice was so cold that it could freeze out ice.

“The target of the monsters isn’t the people in the building, it is the dispersal device.” He looked up at Howard and spoke very quickly. “The atrium has the disperser and the foundation can’t be broken due to the reinforcement. They can only come out from the four buildings.”

Howard stated, “The Lighthouse’s report doesn’t support your conclusion, Colonel Lu.”

“I spend half the year in the Abyss.” Lu Feng’s fingers pressed against the butt of his gun, his eyes narrowed slightly and the cold deterrence freezing everyone present. “Howard, I’ve seen more monsters than you have ever seen.”

Howard was silent for three seconds. Then his eyes widened like he suddenly thought of something and his expression changed immediately. “The other dispersal—”

Lu Feng ordered, “Contact the other dispersal centres immediately.”

The judge behind him took out a communication device, dialled a string of numbers and pressed the speaker key.

Beep!

There was the monotonous sound of waiting for someone to pick up.

Beep!

Beep!

In the atrium, there was silence.

After nine seconds of waiting, the communicator sent a rapid busy tone. After another three seconds, the busy tone stopped. No one had answered and the communicator had hung up.

Howard quickly took out his communicator and after dialling a few numbers, he ordered the other side, “This is Howard from the city’s defense station. Transfer me to a dispersal centre, any is fine. Do it immediately.”

“Please wait a moment,” the operator’s voice was heard.

After this, there was a long silence. Three minutes passed before the operator’s voice was heard again, his voice holding a small quiver.

“We have lost contact with the dispersal centres.”