Little Mushroom

They arrived downstairs and after getting off Lu Feng's car, An Zhe told him, "Thank you."

"No need for thanks. Have you eaten?"

"I will cook myself."

"Potato soup?"

"En."

Lu Feng wondered, "Do you like it?"

An Zhe thought hard for a moment. "I like it but I also don't have the money to buy anything else."

Lu Feng nodded. "I can see it. I'll treat you to something else tonight."

An Zhe asked, "Why?"

"As thanks for bringing me a heterogeneous species."

This sounded right. Lu Feng said it was because he noticed Sinan.

This meant An Zhe was given a chance to pick and choose from the food area. Against the menu given by the base, he ended up buying tomatoes, potatoes and frozen beef. The price of beef was very expensive and there was a special sign next to it saying it would be discontinued. He hesitated to buy it but during his moment of hesitation, Lu Feng already swiped his card. The balance displayed on the credit card machine made An Zhe feel the difference between people.

There was a simple approach to the ingredients. An Zhe didn't have any instructions so he still boiled soup.

After cooking for some time, An Zhe found one thing. He stood in place as he silently watched the water in the pot slightly churn. The soup was very rich, the potatoes had completely softened and the sweet and sour tomato scent was mixed with the aroma of beef. It was a flavour different from potato soup and was very delicious. But…

Lu Feng glanced at him. "What's wrong?"

"I…" An Zhe looked up at him.

Lu Feng's green eyes stared at him. Through the white mist, he didn't seem very fierce.

"I…" An Zhe stuttered, "I seem to have done too much."

"Too much?" Lu Feng walked over and leaned down to look at the pot.

An Zhe knew it was really too much. There were more ingredients so more water was needed. When he made potato soup, in order to make the potatoes softer and the soup thicker, he liked to add a lot of water and then slowly cook down this water into a small portion of soup.

However, this soup seemed to have a different principle from potato soup. If he cooked it again, the ingredients would be scattered and then it would become a pot of mixed unknown objects. He estimated that the soup was more than enough for three people.

Lu Feng stated, "There is a lot."

An Zhe tried to think and finally came up with a solution. "I can invite Colin to come and eat."

Lu Feng looked over and stared lightly at him. From this light glance, An Zhe keenly caught a hint of Lu Feng's emotions. It seemed that cooking a lot of soup was a serious mistake.

Lu Feng ordered, "Seraing lives in 3202, send him a bowl."

After ringing the doorbell of 3202, Seraing quickly opened the door.

"Is it you?" He seemed slightly surprised.

An Zhe handed him a thermos. "I cooked some soup and will give you a bowl."

"Wow, thank you. I was about to go out for dinner."

An Zhe gave him the soup. "You're welcome."

Seraing added, "You… why did you give it to me? Maybe the colonel will like it."

An Zhe was silent for a while because he didn't know how to answer. In the end, he said, "The colonel has some as well."

"I guess so." Seraing laughed. "So the colonel told you I live here?"

An Zhe nodded. Seraing took An Zhe through the door, placed the thermos on the living room table and took out something wrapped in pink from a drawer. It looked like a human snack. He stuffed it into An Zhe's hand. "Please eat sugar."

"Thank you."

Seraing inquired, "Are you used to living in the main city yet? What floor are you on?"

"I'm in 3702."

"My god." Seraing smiled. "What a coincidence."

At this moment, a strong wind blew from outside and there was a whine from the pipe in Seraing's room. An Zhe searched for the source of the sound.

"The ventilation pipe was originally closed but it will be opened for a period of time in summer when the wind is strong to avoid the interior of the pipe from being too wet. During this time, it will make noise and sometimes it will be too noisy for people in the main city to sleep. Still, don't be afraid." Seraing spoke softly before smiling again. "The colonel probably already calmed you down."

An Zhe was confused. First, he wasn't afraid and there was no need to appease him. Second, Lu Feng didn't appear him at all.

"He didn't." An Zhe stated.

"…Maybe he forgot."

An Zhe felt that Seraing thought of Lu Feng too kindly and thought the relationship between them was too good. He returned to 3702 where he found the colonel had set up the tableware himself. Unfortunately, even if a bowl had been given away, there was still too much.

The colonel watched him with cold green eyes. "You can."

"I can't."

"You can't waste the resources of the base."

An Zhe scooped up a small piece of beef with a spoon and tried to swallow it. After eating his share, Lu Feng had forced him to face the rest of the pot. Now he had eaten half of it.

Lu Feng's tone was flat. "Continue."

An Zhe ate a piece of potato and a spoonful of soup. He didn't think it was possible. There was a limit to the amount of food eaten by humans, even if this soup was delicious. He would break.

An Zhe turned his head and looked up at Lu Feng. He saw this man looking at him, eyebrows raised slightly and a hint of quiet pleasure in his expression.

An Zhe, "……"

He should've known. Lu Feng's purpose wasn't to conserve the resources of the base at all. His happiness was based on bullying An Zhe. An Zhe raised his eyebrows and became a bit angry. This time, he was resolute. "I won't eat anymore."

"The crime of wasting food."

An Zhe retorted, "Then you did it as well."

Lu Feng folded his arms and seemed to look An Zhe up and down. "Smart."

An Zhe could hear what he meant. He vowed that the next time this person came to eat, he would cut off a piece of his own mycelium to poison Lu Feng. He didn't plan to deal with this man anymore and put down the spoon.

Lu Feng just smiled and reached out to put the rest of the soup in front of him. It seemed that the Judge was going to do it himself. After observing his performance for a while, An Zhe decided to reduce one piece to half.

After the meal, he sent Lu Feng out and the colonel had a conference call in the evening. Walking to the door, Lu Feng seemed to suddenly remember something. He took a translucent box out of his pocket and threw it at An Zhe.

"Use it if you can't sleep."

Back in his house, An Zhe opened the box and found a pair of white umbrella rubber noise-proof earbuds. He pondered it over and over again, still swaying between whether Lu Feng was a good or bad person. Finally, he defined this man as a changeable person for the time being.

The wind outside continued to increase and the sound from the hole sharpened. This was indeed at a level that would make it difficult for humans to fall asleep. However, An Zhe didn't plan to use the earplugs, at least not now.

An Zhe stood in front of his bed. He had been thinking about one thing all afternoon. If he couldn't move freely in the Lighthouse, when would he be able to find his spore?

He had thought it was an insurmountable problem but now he had a method. All the buildings in this city were connected by the ventilation ducts. He turned to look at the window of the room.

The window was small, only as big as two textbooks, and there were two metal sliding doors next to it. He went to the window and pushed the sliding door inward with a click. The door closed tightly so that no one could see the room from the outside.

The mycelium.

The mycelium spread out from An Zhe's body. His clothes slipped to the ground along with the bullet casing pendant around his neck, making a slight noise. At the same time, a mass of white mycelium emerged from the neckline, rolling to the bottom of the bed and looking quietly at the dark hole.

As a mushroom, An Zhe had a vague perception of the outside world. Vision and hearing were integrated while smell and touch couldn't be distinguished. It was no longer a picture or sound, a special touch. Human language couldn't describe such changes.

The hole was covered with three layers of thin wire mesh, enough to block all small and large insects. However, it couldn't stop a soft mushroom.

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