In the darkness, An Zhe looked at the skeleton. Fungi and vines had taken root deep in the bones.Dark green vines were wrapped around the hip and leg bones while brightly coloured little mushrooms grew in the ribs like blooming flowers. Fluorescent mushrooms were born from its hollow eyes and sparse teeth. The green glow was like quicksand, blurred in the fog of the cave.

An Zhe looked at it for a long time. Finally, he bent over and picked up a backpack made of animal skin beside the skeleton. The contents inside the backpack weren’t affected by the moisture. There were a few pieces of clothing, human food and water as well as a black chip half the size of a palm with the number ‘3261170514’ on it.

Three days ago, the skeleton was a living human being.

“3261170514.” The young man’s voice had been hoarse and intermittent, the green fluorescence of the cave shining on his face. “My ID number. This is my ID card. I can go back to the human base with it.”

An Zhe asked, “Can I help you go back?”

The human smiled, his fingers of his right hand gently drooping against the side of his body. The chip rolled from his hand, hidden in the moss. He leaned back against the mountain wall, raised his head and pressed his left hand to his chest. There was a huge wound there. Grey bone spurs pierced his back and the skin around it was festered. Some of it was grey and the flocculent flesh covered the surface of the bone spurs. The other part was dark green and moved up and down with the rhythm of his breathing.

He gasped a few times before whispering, “I can’t go back, little mushroom.”

His shirt was thoroughly stained, his skin pale, his lips dry and his body trembled irregularly.

An Zhe looked at him and didn’t know what to say. He could only mutter the name of this young human. “An Ze?”

“You have almost completely learned the human language.” The human looked down at his body.

In addition to the pus and blood, there were also white mycelium on his body. They had become part of his body. The mycelium grew in a winding manner and clung to An Ze’s torso and limbs. The purpose of the mushroom was to stop the bleeding for this dying human being. However, instinctively, the mycelium also absorbed and digested the fresh blood.

“Can you learn so much from eating my genes? The pollution index of this place is truly very high,” the human questioned.

Fragments of knowledge unfolded in An Zhe’s mind. After five seconds of conversion, he knew the pollution index meant the speed at which genes were transformed. Now genes were flowing into An Zhe through the human blood.