It was currently evening. He sat down at the entrance of the tunnel under the canopy of grey mushrooms. He took out a dark yellow map from his backpack. There were different shades of colour on the map, marking the degree of risk in different regions. An Ze had once pointed out the approximate location of the cave where they lived. This was the blackest area on the map, which meant the danger level was six stars and the pollution level was six stars. It was called the ‘Abyss’. On the map, the area where the Abyss was located was also marked with many strange symbols. An Zhe checked them one by one according to the index on the lower right corner of the map. These symbols meant there were mushrooms, man-eating vines, man-eating bushes, simply mammalian monsters, mixed-type mammalian monsters, common reptile monsters, highly poisonous reptile monsters, winged monsters, amphibious monsters, mixed polymorphic monsters and human-like monsters in the Abyss. At the same time, there were valleys, hills, mountains, ruined human cities, road sites and other topography.

Up north and down south, his eyes went all the way up. Above the brightly coloured map was a pure white area marked by a red five-pointed star. The right side of the five-pointed star had the name of this area: Northern Base.

The green light of the sky was becoming brighter while the background became darker. At midnight, An Zhe could barely recognize the stars in the sky. He knew the brightest one was called Polaris and could indicate a direction.

He pointed the upward arrow in the upper left corner of the map in the direction of Polaris. He stepped on rotten wood, leaves, mycelium and soil, walking out step by step.

The night wasn’t dark. The changing green lights that humans called the aurora illuminated everything ahead. Only mushrooms filled his vision. They were yellow, red or brown mushrooms with large caps. Small, dense mushrooms were gathered on the mountain rocks. Round bacterial packages were scattered on the ground. Once they matured, spores would be ejected like fog and rain. These spores would land and divide in the moist soil, growing into spherical sacs like their mother. There were also mushrooms without caps. There were just white or yellow hyphae grouped together or separated radially, floating in the air like seaweed.