Little Mushroom

"You can call me Polly or Joan, whatever you want," Polly Joan said. He was polite and kind, with grey-blue eyes like a gentle ocean, the best elder in human stories.

An Zhe told them his name.

"You're young. Are you from the Northern Base?"

An Zhe nodded.

"How did you become like this?"

Polly Joan slowly took An Zhe into the white building while asking. The floor was very smooth. Apparently someone cared for it well. Tang Lan stepped forward and stretched out his arm to help Polly but Polly just waved his hand.

"I…" There was a wave in his vision as An Zhe slowly looked around.

The interior of this white building was a large hall. It had three floors in total, but the central part of these three floors wasn't separated by layers like an ordinary building. Rather, it was open. A spiral staircase spiralled upstairs and when viewed from the lobby, the translucent dome could directly be seen. At this moment, some creatures were gathered on the second and third floors, looking down at him from above with curious eyes.

There were around 40 creatures, most of which had human characteristics or could be considered one-third humanoid. One-third of them were exactly the same as humans and one-third were creatures with the biological characteristics of humans. For example, a gentleman on the second floor whose face was covered with grey-black hair. There was also a person on the third floor whose hair was like curly vines that moved slightly. The rest of the one-third were like monsters or something strange. For example, a bunch of rotten meat hanging from the railing of the second floor.

"They won't hurt you," Polly Joan told An Zhe. "If some of them lose their will and get out of control, the others will control them."

As he spoke, An Zhe could feel that the eyes of these deformed humans weren't the cold eyes of beasts and he could understand the meaning in them—curiosity or scrutiny. There was no viciousness at all.

"We are all infected, all heterogeneous species. Fortunately, we have retained part of our will and Mr Polly brought us together." Tang Lan patted his shoulder. "We will try to control ourselves and not kill others, only fighting against the monsters outside. There is no Trial Court here. You can rest assured."

Polly Joan coughed a few times before saying, "The members of the institute have no hierarchy. We take care of each other, the strong protecting the weak. You are welcome to join this home."

An Zhe slowly retracted his gaze.

"Thank you," he whispered.

Tang Lan asked him how he had become a heterogeneous. After a moment of hesitation, An Zhe replied, "I followed a friend out…"

He knew this was a place where heterogeneous species lived together but he was still different from the people here. They were monster-infected humans and he was a mushroom, so he had to conceal his true identity. This meant he told the story of An Zhe, who came to the wilderness, was injured and then—

"I became like this when you woke up." He combined it with Tang Lan's story and made up such a lie.

"Are there any places that are different from a human?"

"No."

"Then you must've got some type of complete polymorphic variation." Polly looked at him gently and asked, "Do you know what you merged with? Or can you control your transformation?"

An Zhe thought about it and shook his head.

"This isn't common," Polly mused. "How did you survive the Abyss?"

"Nothing attacked me," An Zhe answered truthfully.

Polly thought about it. Just as An Zhe thought he was going to be severely tortured, Polly Joan opened his mouth. "This can be explained."

An Zhe wondered, "How?"

"The creatures in the Abyss, as well as other powerful species, seem to have another sense. They sometimes don't judge the racial identity of other monsters using appearance. A powerful polymorphic monster can turn itself into a mouse but other monsters can still sense its huge attack power and avoid it."

Polly Joan paused before continuing, "If they really aren't interested in you then this proves you have incorporated with some powerful genes or you aren't part of their diet."

"You're special," he stated.

An Zhe whispered, "I didn't know."

He really didn't know. Mushrooms in the Abyss were just as dangerous as the animals in the Abyss. They were either highly toxic or filled with an illusory fog that could make animals go mad. It was already a miracle to produce such a small and harmless mushroom in the jungle of poisonous mushrooms. He even had his own sense of independence.

Polly told him, "All the members of the institute have different variations. If you like, I can do some research on you in a way that won't hurt you."

An Zhe agreed. He had no reason not to promise.

Then Polly Jean asked him some questions. He didn't ask any further about the mutation process. Rather, he asked An Zhe how it had been in the wild, did he suffer, was he afraid of any animals and if there were any new habits after the genetic changes. He seemed to just be an elder who purely cared for An Zhe. However, after recognizing his non-human identity, An Zhe was still afraid of human researchers. He didn't dare to be close to Polly as he answered the questions one by one.

He also had a preliminary understanding of the institute's status. The first floor of the institute was the hall, laboratory and instrument room. The second floor was inhabited by humans with animal variations and the third floor was for the plant variations. Mr Polly recorded the experimental data while some people maintained the equipment, some grew potatoes in the back land and others were responsible for hunting. Those responsible for hunting were the ones infected with extremely fierce monsters such as Tang Lan. As they hunted, they would lay down road signs everywhere. No one could understand the road signs apart from humans. The directions indicated by the road signs were for heterogeneous species returning home and weren't limited to the Abyss.

Tang Lan said this place was related to the fusion faction but the people here weren't the product of deliberate fusion. Rather, they were killed in the wild and fortunately retained some human consciousness, following the road signs to the institute. The doctor said this was a 1 in 10,000 chance.

The addition of a new member was something to be celebrated. The institute specifically prepared a welcome part for An Zhe. The main food was potato bacon soup made by a small tree heterogeneous.

"Do you like to drink potatoes?" The man scooped the soup into a bowl and handed it to An Zhe. His voice was slightly hoarse, like rough bark rubbing together.

An Zhe reached for the bowl of hot soup. He blew it and the warm white mist covered his face.

"I like it. Thank you," he said.

"Then I'll make it tomorrow." The man looked at him. "How old are you?"

"19 years old."

"Then call me Uncle. You are around the same age as my son. He lives in District 7. Where do you live?"

"District 6."

The man said, "I haven't seen him in five years. His name is Bai Ye. Do you know him?"

An Zhe shook his head gently.

"Hopefully he is well." This was the end of their conversation.

During the meal, the people of the institute sat in a circle, regardless of their position. Polly Jean sat among them and everyone was close to him.

They were equally close to An Zhe. During the meal, at least 10 people took the initiative to talk to An Zhe. Some of them were mercenaries from the outer city and some were soldiers of the base. They were curious about the process of his variation and asked what was happening at the base, or if he had seen their own relatives or friends. An Zhe didn't tell them that the outer city had been abandoned. He just said 'I haven't seen them' and 'I don't know.' He had a type of melancholy feeling but no news seemed more comforting to the human heart than the real answer.

At the end of the meal, Tang Lan took An Zhe to an empty room. A young man with feathers on his body brought a quilt to the room.

"It was just dried yesterday." He offered to help make the bed. "It is cold at night so you should remember to close the window."

"Thank you." An Zhe told him. Just like today's uncle who gave him the meal, the young boy's kindness made him grateful and a bit confused.

After making the bed, the boy pulled a red fruit from his clothes and smiled. "I'll give you something to eat."

After that, he took out a wrapped piece of dried meat. "This is given to you by everyone."

An Zhe took it. The dried meat was very heavy. He didn't know what the living standards of the institute were but in this era, dried meat was precious no matter the place.

"Thank you. It is too much for me to finish."

"Eat slowly." Tang Lan, who was standing behind him, smiled and reached out to fix his collar.

"We will give all newcomers presents. I found this place a year ago and everyone was very kind to me." The young boy said. "It is too hard to be a heterogeneous in this world, to hide from monsters and find something to eat by yourself, to remember that you are a person and that you can't go back to the base when you're homesick. Just go to the institute."

He spoke while smiling at An Zhe. An Zhe also smiled back.

There was no wind in the room. It was very warm and the lamps on the ceiling were shining brightly. An Zhe held the jerky and remembered this month of trekking through the forest and swamp of the Abyss. It was like a dream.

The boy told him, "Don't cry. There will be a home in the future."

His tone was firm and warm, as if he had unlimited dependence on this belief. This was something that An Zhe hadn't seen at the human base.

"Is this always the case here?" he asked.

"Eh?" The boy froze at first before laughing. "You will get used to it soon."

The moment he finished speaking, he suddenly stopped. There was a sharp, shrill cry from the corridor.