The two of them looked up and saw a face hanging from a branch not far from them. The man's short black hair was waving wildly in the air, and he was grinning at them with a row of neat white teeth.
"Come here! Come here!"
The man must have been sitting on the tree for a long time, so they did not hear him.
When a person was hanging upside down, it was very difficult to see his face clearly. Lin Sanjiu only noticed that his face was slightly crooked when the man turned around and sat up from the branch.
He had delicate features and looked quite young. He should have had a very pleasant face, but unfortunately, his lips were misaligned. His upper lip was on the left side, and his lower lip was on the right side. It was as if the doctor had made a mistake during the stitching process, and he had stitched the two halves of his face in the wrong position.
"Are you a posthuman who just arrived?" The man was sitting on a branch that wasn't too thick. His legs were swaying, which made Lin Sanjiu wonder why he did not break them. "Not bad. You didn't fall into the mushroom's territory and get tricked."
Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia looked at each other.
Since they had to find out why posthuman could not teleport, they might as well go with the flow. Lin Sanjiu coughed and said, "Well, we did come from Mushroom's territory … What is the truth you mentioned?"
The man bent his neck and looked at the two of them suspiciously. Then, he smiled.
After thinking for a while, he laughed. His asymmetrical lips parted even further, "Hmm … I can't smell the spores on you. You are right. We welcome people who have not been brainwashed. After all, the more people we can save, the better. "
Just as Lin Sanjiu heaved a sigh of relief, she heard the man suddenly ask, "But, there is one thing that I would like to ask you two."
"What is it?"
"You saw it —"
The man raised his hand and pointed to the top of the forest. "But it still came in. It was not afraid or hesitant. Why? "
Through the dense foliage, Lin Sanjiu saw that the giant shadow of the ant queen had been cut into countless dark brown pieces, filling the gaps between the leaves. Lin Sanjiu quickly retracted her gaze and tried to come up with a reasonable excuse. "When we were at Mushroom's place, we saw ants once. So we thought — we thought we'd come over to see what's going on between the mushroom and the ant. Uh, which side is telling the truth? "
Bohemia gave her a look that said, "Is this the best you can do?"
Hearing that, the man slowly lowered his neck, his gaze still fixed on their faces. His neck didn't seem to be stitched properly either. It was slightly twisted as if the neck bone was broken, like a snake slithering down a human's shoulder.
"… It's rare to see such a curious evolver."
He narrowed his eyes and paused.
Lin Sanjiu wasn't surprised that the man could tell that they were posthumans. After all, posthumans like Bohemia had the reputation of dressing however they wanted. However, what surprised Lin Sanjiu was that she couldn't tell if the man in front of her was a posthuman or not.
The silence lasted for a few seconds. When both of their backs started to tense up, the man suddenly smiled. It was as if his upper and lower cheeks were about to fly away from each other. "But, I like your adventurous nature."
He jumped down from the branch. This height was just within the reach of an agile commoner. Lin Sanjiu took half a step back and shielded Bohemia behind her. She raised her guard and smiled at the man, "Are you also a posthuman?"
"Why does it matter?" He spread out his hands and looked rather carefree. "All of us here escaped from the mushroom society. It doesn't matter if we're evolved or not, we're all equal. The days when we were enslaved and deceived... are gone. "
"Enslaved? Deceived? "Bohemia raised her voice.
"You are a living person, but you have to run around for the mushrooms every day. Isn't that enslavement?" The man grinned. "What do you mean by finding the meaning of self-satisfaction and fulfilling life? If you look at it from another perspective, don't you think those are just illusions created by the mushrooms to make people serve them obediently?"
Bohemia, who was already inclined to convert, couldn't stand it any longer. "Ordinary people don't have spores in their brains. How can this be called an illusion created by the mushrooms? Isn't it wrong to find the meaning of life? "
"I'm talking about illusions in a broad sense. Through inducement, brainwashing, education, and operating mechanisms, the mushrooms have created the same collective consciousness in the entire society. Besides, people don't have spores in their brains now. How do you know that the first generation of citizens didn't have spores in their brains? " He clapped his hands as if he was happy to refute Bohemia. "Let me tell you something. The mushrooms have already changed the shape of their brains. Through generations of genetic screening, they managed to get so many noble, peaceful, and sexless humanoids without the use of spores."
After a short pause, he glanced at the two of them and snorted, "Life is meaningless. Just like trees, grass, loaches, or ants, we are no different from them. Those mushrooms caused me to become like this. Do you really think that they want to live in harmony with all species as they claim? "
Sensing that the man behind her had something else to say, Lin Sanjiu coughed and grabbed Bohemia's sleeve, signaling her to shut up. She continued, "So, ants …"
"If we want to get rid of the brainwashing, rebel against the mushroom society, and regain human dignity, we need allies. These ants are gentle by nature, and they like to eat mushrooms. They also have a lot of resources that we can use. They are the ideal candidates. " The man thought for a moment and waved at them. "Come, I can show you our base. If you are willing to stay with us, that would be great. We are always short of manpower."
The so-called "base" was actually located in the depths of the forest.
If the Mushroom Society looked like an unconstrained and strange human society, then this encampment didn't seem to have any humans living here. As they went deeper into the forest, Lin Sanjiu began to see some people sleeping on the trees or in the holes in the trees. Most of them were looking for a place to rest in the holes dug by the large ants. She lost count of the number of times she saw a person crawling out of a hole in a mound, followed by the trembling tentacles of a large ant.
"Those are the people who are going out to 'hunt'," the man with the crooked mouth noticed Lin Sanjiu's gaze and explained, "They will look for opportunities in the periphery of the mushroom city to see if they can kidnap some people and bring them back. As long as they bring them back, they can perform surgery on them and get rid of the brainwashing. The ants are our indispensable allies when we are hunting. They are especially sensitive to smell … "
As he spoke, he waved at the people who had just crawled out of the hole in the ground. Behind the group of people, a long, shiny brown insect leg emerged. Its black compound eyes were devoid of luster and emotion. Slowly, an ant the size of a truck was revealed.
"Be careful today," the man with the crooked mouth said to the ant tenderly, "You almost hurt your leg the last time we met."
It seemed that the ant did not understand what the man was talking about. Or perhaps, it understood, but it did not respond. It just turned its carapace-like body and followed the few people in front of it. Its tentacles, belly, and sawteeth were all clearly lit up under the sunlight.
When the group of people and the large ant walked past them, Lin Sanjiu could smell the earthy odor. Goosebumps rose all over her body.
"The truth over there is the mushroom, and the truth over here is the ant?" Bohemia couldn't help but ask sarcastically.
"Oh, no," the man did not stop walking. He continued to lead them forward. The queen ant's thick insect leg was getting closer and closer to them. Even though it was similar in color to the trees, it looked more and more different from a normal tree trunk. Its smooth, inorganic texture seemed to be peeping at them from the shadows of the forest.
"The truth here is us. We believe that the truth can only be grasped by human beings. Only we have the right to decide how our lives should be. " When the man said that, he suddenly quickened his pace. The trees in front of them thinned, revealing an open space surrounded by the forest.
"Mom," he called out to the giant ant high up in the sky. His voice was unusually gentle, "I've brought back two guests!"
While Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia were still in a daze, the giant ant above them slowly moved. As it slowly bent down and lowered its head, Lin Sanjiu and Bohemia could see that it was chewing something in its mouth. Its jagged teeth moved up and down as if it was chewing something. When its "face" completely stopped in front of them, Lin Sanjiu heard a faint swallowing sound behind her. It sounded like Bohemia was trying to swallow back the gastric juices that were surging up from her stomach.
"Mom?" Lin Sanjiu felt a chill run down her spine as the giant insect stared at her. "Why do you call it mom?"
"It's just an honorific we use," the man shrugged. "It's the only way to express our gratitude and love for it … Oh, mom, they don't have spores on them."
The giant ant slowly opened its saw-like teeth. Many pieces of something wrapped in mucus fell down and hit the ground. The smelly liquid splashed on the faces of the two people. Lin Sanjiu squinted her eyes and took a closer look. The chunks looked like mushroom residue.
"Guests?"
The giant ant actually buzzed in human language, as if countless bees were brushing past. "You're wrong. The two of them are not guests."
Time seemed to have stopped.
You've already exceeded your reading limit for today. If you want to read more, please log in.
Login
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
