Chapter Fifty-Nine: The Game Went Too Far

With those words, Li Shan began to direct the expansion of the mushroom colony from the inside out.

Yellow spores drifted from beneath his cap, quickly spreading everywhere as the wind picked up. Once they landed, the spores rapidly absorbed nutrients from their surroundings and began to grow. Soon, within a hundred-meter radius centered on Li Shan himself, clusters of tiny mushrooms began to sprout sparsely here and there. The plants parasitized by his mushrooms wilted rapidly, their substance swiftly converted into nourishment for the growing fungal horde. In just a short span of time, the areas he occupied became devoid of anything but mushrooms.

Watching his hunger value slowly decrease, Li Shan frowned. After a moment’s hesitation, he recalled the main stalks from the plantless regions, thus reducing his own consumption.

As the mycelium continued to spread, Li Shan’s field of vision widened ever more. It wasn’t long before he discovered a few strangely-shaped creatures: a monkey carrying a giant pot on its head; a hedgehog with eyeballs bristling from its back; a centipede with eighteen human legs...

It was obvious these bizarre creatures were the result of player evolutions. Whether any of them were still controlled by living people, however, was another question.

With this in mind, Li Shan began to direct the mushrooms around these creatures to release clouds of yellow spores. The spores soon mingled with the air, and as these animals breathed, the spores entered their bodies.

Originally, Li Shan had intended for the spores to absorb nutrients and grow inside these animals. But reality proved otherwise: as soon as the spores entered the creatures, he lost all sense of them, as if they had been killed by the animals’ body heat and rendered inert.

Still, this was not much of a problem. Although the spores could not grow into new mushrooms, they were potent enough to rob the animals of their mobility. The spores now contained a new toxin he’d developed; even a small intake was enough to cause dizziness and respiratory failure. By the time these creatures realized something was wrong and tried to flee, they were already his for the taking.

He wrapped the unconscious animals in mycelium, secreting corrosive substances to digest their flesh. Watching this, Li Shan couldn’t help but boast to his audience in the livestream, “Brothers, was that impressive or what?”

“The difference between a pro and an ordinary player lies in understanding the game,” he said with pride. “And in this regard, even among pros, I am one of the very best!”

‘Here he goes again, the Old Demon is bragging.’

‘Treasure this version of him—every time he brags, something unfortunate is about to happen.’

‘Is this really what being a pro is? If not for a reminder from one of the veterans, he’d have been among the first batch of eliminated players by now.’

‘Shameless.’

Li Shan retorted, “Brothers, that’s not fair. Learning from experience is also a hallmark of a top player—and I excel at that. Since everyone thinks I’m just bragging, I won’t hold back anymore. I’ll casually take first place and show you what a true pro looks like.”

With that, Li Shan turned his full attention back to the game. He began to deliberately eliminate creatures displayed on his minimap. But after a while, he frowned again.

Plants were no problem—they stayed put and offered no resistance. But animals were a different story. Even though they were controlled by artificial intelligence, they still possessed a basic awareness of danger. After witnessing him hunt down several creatures, any insects or beasts that saw mushrooms appear nearby would immediately flee, never giving him a chance to strike.

“This is tricky...” Li Shan muttered, frustrated. For now, he had to set his sights back on plants, hoping to evolve some genes that could aid him in this area.

He didn’t have to wait long. When a patch of mycelium consumed a little red flower, a new evolution prompt appeared:

[Notice: You have devoured a Lure Flower]
[The main stalk can emit a scent with deadly attraction for insects]

Li Shan’s eyes lit up at the prompt and he immediately put the new ability to use. Instantly, a faintly sweet fragrance began to drift across his mushroom sea.

As promised, the effect was remarkable. Not long after the scent spread, swarms of insects emerged from unknown corners, converging toward him in droves. Li Shan was delighted—just a glance revealed at least a hundred varieties of insects. If he devoured them all, even with poor luck, he’d be able to evolve several more times.

Insect genes, unlike those of plants, were often highly aggressive. With them, he believed his ability to hunt other creatures would become truly fearsome.

‘Did Old Demon forget that wild monsters can also evolve by devouring things?’

‘Right, I almost forgot that myself.’

‘Ah... this is what they call joy turning to sorrow.’

Glancing at the new barrage of comments from his fans, Li Shan replied nonchalantly, “Let them evolve. The odds aren’t high anyway—at most, a few will mutate. Nothing I can’t handle.”

As he bantered with his livestream audience, the buzzing insect horde poured into the mushroom sea, landing on the mushroom caps and beginning to gnaw, eager to devour the alluring fungi.

Most insects, however, barely had time to bite through the protective shell on the cap before being swiftly enveloped by mycelium. Still, Li Shan, though quick, could not cover every angle against the overwhelming tide. Quite a few insects managed to break through and feast on the toxic flesh beneath.

Most died instantly, but a few survived and evolved, becoming immune to the poison. These new mutants devoured with even greater ferocity, making Li Shan wince with pain—yet there was nothing he could do. After all, one must be willing to risk something to catch a wolf.

Fortunately, though the number of his main stalks was decreasing at an alarming rate, his evolution was keeping pace.

[Notice: You have devoured a Corrosive Grub]
[The mycelium’s secreted corrosives have become stronger]

[Notice: You have devoured a Glowworm]
[Mushroom caps have evolved luminous sacs]

...

“This round’s not a loss,” Li Shan said with satisfaction as the evolution prompts kept popping up.

But his smile soon faded entirely. For within his field of vision, he saw a new insect evolve—one that bore a striking resemblance to himself.

This insect was nearly immune to his toxins. Yet that wasn’t the worst of it. Its method and speed of reproduction made Li Shan’s scalp prickle with dread.

Once they reached a certain size, their bodies split open, releasing dozens of larvae. These continued to devour mushrooms, growing rapidly, then splitting again. In just a few heartbeats, their numbers had reached into the thousands!