High in the sky, Chu Xuan flew recklessly aboard his flying sword. Some birds, overly bold, attempted to prey upon him but were easily slain by his hand.
Gazing down at the desolate cities below, Chu Xuan's eyes sparked with curiosity.
"Interesting, a Mushroom City?"
His vision captured a city to the east of East Lake City, completely overrun by mushrooms. The ground, walls, corpses, and even telephone poles were festooned with various fungi—red, green, yellow, white... They were everywhere.
A gentle breeze stirred, causing the mushrooms to dance lightly, dispersing their spores which drifted toward East Lake City on the wind.
Sensing Chu Xuan, a living being, the spores seemed to veer towards him.
With a flick of his wrist, Chu Xuan launched a ball of fire. The flames erupted, instantly turning the spores to ashes.
Without touching the ground, Chu Xuan stood on his flying sword, surveying the city. Everywhere he looked, mushrooms dominated the landscape. At first glance, the scene appeared vibrantly alive. Yet, a closer sense revealed a profound silence—as if all life had been devoured.
"It seems a number of interesting beings have emerged during my seclusion," Chu Xuan mused, more intrigued than alarmed. He never considered these creatures a threat. To him, as long as one was sufficiently powerful, all beings were mere insects to be crushed at will. The only distinction lay in their utility—some were useless, while others could be of great value.
Scanning the city, Chu Xuan saw no signs of other life forms. He continued his flight towards the east. Soon, he crossed the borders of Linjiang Province, reaching the boundary of Hanhai Province.
"Hanhai Province," he noted. "There are even more Mushroom Cities here. If I recall, the dominant force in this area is Ship Gang..."
Chu Xuan looked down at the mushrooms spreading across the land like a malignant growth, deep in thought...
Hanhai Province, Yuhai City.
This city was the capital of Hanhai Province and the core territory of the Ship Gang. It should have been the safest place.
However, it was now overrun by mushrooms. Gunfire echoed through the streets and alleys as Mushrooman fell, only for more to rise in their place. Those survivors who were slightly contaminated or had inhaled mushroom spores underwent drastic transformations within an hour, and without prompt medical intervention, they too would join the ranks of the Mushroomen. These terrifying mushrooms were thus able to sweep through areas unchecked.
"Die!" bellowed the Old Captain, his muscles bulging alarmingly, his arms now thicker than his thighs.
He swung a massive, heavy ship anchor, smashing a mushroom person into a pulp. He was a powerful Level 4 Enhanced Superhuman, specialized like most in his class, with arms that could expand to four times their normal size, allowing him to swing weights far beyond normal limits.
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"Old Lu! Another wave of Mushrooman is coming, stop them!" the Old Captain roared.
However, there was no response from that direction.
With a fierce stomp, the Old Captain crushed the head of a mushroom person underfoot and moved to higher ground for a better view. To his horror, he saw that a Superhuman squad in that area had been overwhelmed. His familiar comrade, Old Lu, had mushrooms growing on his left side. Sanity and madness flickered across his face as if two people were struggling in a tug-of-war.
Barely holding onto his sanity, Old Lu drew a short knife from his belt and stabbed it into his own arm. The intense pain momentarily gave him the upper hand over the madness.
"Captain... kill me!" he pleaded. But in the next instant, he lunged ferociously at the Old Captain.
The mushroomization had enhanced his physical strength. Within three seconds, he was upon the Old Captain, his mouth filled with mushrooms opening wide to spray spores.
"Rest in peace..." Old Captain's face filled with sorrow, swung the anchor hard. With a sickening crunch, Old Lu's head was smashed into the concrete, mixing red blood and white brain matter. His body twitched momentarily before finally going still.
In the distance, intense gunfire continued. Soon, a squad fighting a retreating battle joined the Old Captain. The leader of the squad was a robust man named Feng Biao. Like the Old Captain, he had been a fisherman in the East Sea before the zombie outbreak and had fortunately awakened his talents to become a superhuman.
"How about the north area?" Old Captain inquired in a hurry
Feng Biao shook his head and spoke in a low voice, "It's fallen. Everyone else is dead except for us."
Old Captain's face turned dark.
Just a month earlier, sporadic mushrooms had begun appearing around Yuhai City, but no one was concerned. After all, the Ship Gang had previously repelled an attack by a group of Mushroomen with ease. Those Mushroomen had been fragile; a single Level 1 Superhuman could take on two or three of them, and a few survivors could kill them with bullets.
People had thought all Mushroomen were so weak, and they scoffed at the fall of the Linjiang Army, mocking their defeat by such feeble creatures. This complacency had seeped into the Ship Gang's Superhumans, loosening their vigilance.
The Old Captain had ordered daily checks of water and food supplies to ensure they weren't contaminated by mushroom spores. However, his orders hadn't been fully implemented—a failure to fully comply with such measures meant total non-compliance due to the contagious nature of the spores!
As a result, a flood-like spread of mushroomization engulfed the north, south, and west districts. Within days, these areas saw a surge of Mushrooman, killing countless ordinary people under the Ship Gang's protection, transforming them into more of their kind.
The only apparent escape for the Ship Gang seemed to be to board ships in the eastern district and flee to sea. But the Old Captain knew that this was tantamount to seeking death.
The ocean was now even more terrifying than the land. Who knew how many sea creatures had mutated in the deep ocean, their enormous bodies possessing immense strength? A mere thrash from them could likely whip up massive waves capable of capsizing ships. Taking to the boats was a desperate last resort. But it seemed now that it was the only option left.
"The Linjiang Army has already disintegrated, and Ye Nantian's whereabouts are unknown. Who else can we count on..."
For the first time, a look of confusion appeared in the Old Captain's eyes as he glanced at the few remaining men beside him.
Feng Biao, seeing the confusion in the eyes of this normally steadfast leader, sighed deeply.
The Ship Gang, the largest force in Hanhai Province—could it too disintegrate like the Linjiang Army, each man fighting for himself?
"Let's go, withdraw to the eastern district, and get on the ships," Old Captain commanded gravely. "We'll stay close to the coast and avoid the open sea."
"Yes," Feng Biao and the others nodded.
Boarding the ships was a last resort, perhaps even a case of drinking poison to quench thirst. But dying later rather than sooner still made a difference. By preserving their lives now, there might still be a chance for a resurgence in the future.