All beauty in the natural world comes marked with an invisible price tag, etched in the shadows.
Just like the illusory scene unfolding before Ye Chan’s eyes—butterflies dancing amid drifting snow, so enchanting, yet so profoundly eerie.
Gu Xianwang yanked her hat down and zipped up her jacket at once, but countless spores like flakes of pink snow had already seeped onto her body through every gap.
At first, it was a faint stinging itch radiating from her unhealed wounds. The discomfort soon faded, and the white particles sank into her skin like raindrops.
Horrified, Gu Xianwang peered at the back of her hand. The small abrasions that had begun to scab over were now oozing clear tissue fluid again, as if her body had decided her skin barrier had been torn open once more.
But she couldn’t see any new wounds.
Where was the problem?
“Sister Gu, the rope!” Ye Chan shouted from a distance, hurling a coil of short rope toward her with all her might.
Gritting her teeth, Gu Xianwang dashed to the narrow gap, snatched up the rope, and warned Ye Chan, “Don’t come anywhere near!”
With that, she spun on her heel and raced back to Long Li’s side.
Long Li was holding her own against three fungus people without missing a beat, but she couldn’t quite subdue them. These humans, wrapped in mycelium, had lost all reason—like they’d blasted open their Ren and Du Meridians, their stamina and strength far surpassing their former limits.
The real trouble wasn’t the fight itself, but containment. For some reason, these fungus people were fixated on lunging at Gu Xianwang, following some inscrutable command. Long Li wrestled two while dragging a third; knock one down, and two more sprang up. Their desperate frenzy was enough to move anyone to tears.
Swarms of white moths buzzed about like headless flies. Gu Xianwang shielded her face with one hand as a rain of pattering impacts drummed against the hard shell of her jacket’s hood.
So this was what it felt like to be the flame that moths hurled themselves toward.
“Cough, cough.” Her throat felt choked with powder, like a fishbone lodged inside. Gu Xianwang blinked, shaking the white particles from her long lashes. At this point, fearing the mycelium was pointless.
She rushed up just as Sara—dragged by Long Li with one hand—thrashed to pounce at her. Sara’s eyes bulged with rage, teeth bared as if she wanted to rip her apart. Gu Xianwang shot out a long arm, hooking an elbow around Sara’s neck from the side. Her right leg swept low in a diagonal slash, slamming Sara to the ground.
Gu Xianwang planted herself on Sara’s lower back, shook out the rope, wrenched her arms back, and bound them tight.
While slicing the excess rope with her knife, Sara twisted her head to bite. Quick as a flash, Gu Xianwang smacked the back of her head. “Do you hate me that much?”
With Sara secured, Gu Xianwang leaped to her feet—only for her vision to blacken. Her strength drained in an instant, and she collapsed heavily. Luckily, Sara cushioned her fall. Gu Xianwang braced her spine and didn’t topple over. After a moment, the suffocating sensation eased.
A moment later, she doubled over, coughing harshly. Her throat burned like she’d swallowed tree bark. “Cough—cough, cough—”
She retched violently, hacking up a small clump of blood-streaked white fungus.
Staring at it, Gu Xianwang froze for a beat before realization dawned. She checked her wounds—sure enough, at the raw, flayed edges of flesh, a fine layer of mycelium like velvet fuzz had sprouted.
Now she understood how Sara and the others had turned into this.
Gu Xianwang looked up and bellowed, “Long Li, the mycelium will parasitize!”
But it was too late. Gu Xianwang watched in horror as a massive white fungus tentacle, thick as a feeler and over two meters long, emerged from the pool behind Long Li. It stabbed toward the back of her head like a scorpion’s stinger.
In the blink of an eye, the mycelium bloomed like a jellyfish, enveloping Long Li entirely and yanking her into the depths of the pool.
Water erupted in a massive splash. Before Gu Xianwang could react, the two fungus people charged again.
Her mind rang with a deafening buzz. She spat, then raked her fingers through the mycelium sprouting from her hand like pulling weeds. Blood beaded and dripped. She flipped her waist knife, its cold blade gleaming. Planting her feet, she sprang up like a carp flipping, using the knife tip for leverage as both feet slammed into the pair’s chests.
She’d put her full deadly force into that kick—enough to kill an ordinary person. The two fungus people tumbled away, curling up and slow to recover.
The violent motion tore open all her old wounds. Blood soaked the mycelium, releasing that cold, fragrant scent once more.
The swarm of white moths went berserk, as if high on stimulants, converging en masse.
Gu Xianwang stood at the pool’s edge, her view completely obscured by the white moths. “Long Li? Long Li!”
The water lay still as a mirror, without a single ripple. In the murky green depths, nothing was visible.
How long had she been down there? Gu Xianwang had lost all sense of time. No matter how she swung her waist knife, the insect horde showed no sign of retreat.
“Fire! Burn them with fire!” Ye Chan hopped anxiously off to the side, not daring to charge into the rock cave and make things worse.
Fire? Gu Xianwang hurriedly patted down her clothes and pants, yanking open the side pocket on her long trousers. Sure enough, there was a spare lighter inside.
She’d bought this lighter on a whim at the little shop by the bus station—a whole buck. It took several flicks to catch—damn cheap crap. Gu Xianwang shook it hard a few times, then struck it fiercely. The wick burst into flame. The thick swarm of white moths brushing her hands ignited instantly, and whoosh—the fire spread in a roaring sheet.
Before she could even rejoice, the orange flames flashed blue in a heartbeat, a telltale sign of skyrocketing heat. Gu Xianwang’s heart plummeted. Whatever these white moths were made of, it burned like pure alcohol packed inside them. The blaze erupted like a bomb, swallowing her whole in seconds.
Pain! She didn’t even have time to react before she turned into a living torch. The moths around her pattered down like a fiery meteor shower, the grand finale of some twisted fireworks display.
Ye Chan went rigid with shock. She stomped her foot and bolted forward, arms windmilling.
But she was too far. Before she could close the distance, the pool erupted in a massive splash. A tall, lean figure hauled a gigantic white cocoon out of the depths and flung it aside before diving like a porpoise through the firestorm. Arms outstretched, she scooped Gu Xianwang into a tight embrace and tumbled across the ground in a series of rolls.
Sand and water battered her like a spin cycle in a washing machine. Dizzy and battered, Gu Xianwang felt the searing heat finally ebb as they came to a stop. Long Li dropped to one knee and ripped off Gu Xianwang’s jacket in a flash.
The material was tough—specialized for outdoor gear. It had burned through in several large holes, but the flames hadn’t spread fast. A few hard slaps snuffed them out.
Jacketless now, Gu Xianwang sprawled on her back, heaving for breath. Strands of hair plastered to her cheeks, the ends frizzed and charred. Her face was a patchwork of soot and pale skin, a picture of utter disarray.
Long Li gazed down at her, droplets from her wet face plinking onto Gu Xianwang’s cheeks. Silence stretched between them, their eyes locking in a gaze that still burned.
“You okay?”
“You okay?”
Gu Xianwang shook her head. Long Li hauled her to her feet.
Ye Chan dodged around the three toppled fungus people and dashed up to them. “You two scared the hell out of me! You alright? Let me see—Sister Gu, any burns?”
Long Li glanced back at the white cocoon, her expression thoughtful. “This fungal cluster is intelligent.”
Gu Xianwang wiped her face. “What do you mean?”
“There’s gold sand aplenty down in that pool,” Long Li said. “And the walls bear clear traces of ore veins.”
“So… this really is a gold mine cave?” Ye Chan gaped, dumbfounded.
Long Li nodded and strode toward the white cocoon, short knife in hand. She sliced along its edge, and several desiccated corpses—twisted together—spilled out.
They wore rough homespun cloth, the garb of mountain folk.
“This…”
Long Li fixed her gaze on the fungal wall, her voice ice-cold. “That’s its core.”
Gu Xianwang couldn’t fathom how Long Li had ripped through the underwater siege with nothing but a dagger to extract the fungal cluster’s heart. If this white fungus truly possessed intelligence, its sudden halt in attacks—what was it brewing now?
Burnt-ash smoke hung thick in the air, its acrid bite overwhelming that faint, cold fragrance. Ye Chan wrinkled her nose, her eyes flicking to the walkie-talkie. “How about we—”
Bang!
The ground at her toe exploded in a bullet hole the instant she shifted her weight.
Ye Chan reeled back two steps, nearly tumbling over.
Gu Xianwang whipped around. From a fissure in the side rock wall protruded a gun barrel, soon followed by a tall man with blond hair and blue eyes clutching a homemade shotgun. The driver trailed him, Yao Cuo’s neck locked in the crook of his elbow.
“Yo, not bad, Captain Long. Your fighting spirit’s as ferocious as ever.”
His Chinese was fluent, laced with a thick southern drawl.
Yao Cuo’s eyes lit up at the sight of Gu Xianwang, his voice catching. “Xianwang—you okay?”
Blood stained his clothes, but his eyes were sharp, his vigor intact—no serious wounds. His hands were bound tight; these two must be no slouches if they’d subdued him.
“I’m fine. Stay calm.” Gu Xianwang kept her eyes locked warily on Chak, whose homemade shotgun was trained right on her.
Long Li stepped forward. “Chak. Lower the gun.”
“Of course—but hey, I’m just covering your enemies for you, right? Look here, Captain Long: while you were off gallivanting, we’ve been through hell. That cave lord’s a real nasty piece of work—even Sara took a hit. I didn’t have a choice.”
Long Li’s face remained impassive, but her voice dropped dangerously low. She turned to the driver. “Old Dog. Let him go.”
Chak let out a scoff and tilted his head up slightly. “That won’t do, Boss gave a strict order—no mishaps on this mission. The rest of us aren’t like you, Captain Long. You’re so distinguished. I’ve only been reassigned back home for a few months, and you’ve already taken my spot, casually ordering around my men. That doesn’t sit right, does it?”
Ye Chan swallowed hard, her mind racing with frantic complaints. Holy shit, holy shit, even mercenaries play office politics? What kind of drama is this? A battle for second-in-command?
Long Li ignored his remark and shot back, “Did you leave Sara here as bait?”
“How could you think that of me? Sara’s my sister, after all. It’s just that the Cave Lord was too strong. We didn’t have the ability to rescue her.”
Holy shit, birds of a feather really do flock together. There’s someone even worse than her big brother. Ye Chan rolled her eyes and said quietly, “Then how about we tie up your sister right now and trade her for Senior Brother Yao? That should work, right?”
Chak bared his white teeth in a grin. “Little sister, you still don’t quite get the situation. Don’t you know that the one right beside you is our Head?”
That was… hard to tell.
Gu Xianwang quietly surveyed the terrain. The homemade shotgun fired single-shot iron sand bullets with limited range. If they stayed far enough away, it wouldn’t be too dangerous. But they were very close to the cave mouth now, making it tough to snatch Senior Brother Yao back.
And Long Li… If she really was their leader as he claimed, she would inevitably side with them. Internal squabbles were one thing, but shared interests against outsiders were another.
The thought made it impossible for Gu Xianwang not to feel a pang of regret. After all, she and Long Li had been through life and death together by now. If it came down to blows, Gu Xianwang wasn’t sure she could go all out.
Long Li’s cool voice cut through her thoughts. “Since I’m the team leader for this operation, why aren’t you following orders?”
“Well,” Chak glanced at Old Dog and chuckled, “doesn’t your country have a saying about adapting to the situation in a crisis? Captain Long, you can’t blame me. I’m just prioritizing the mission.”
A gentle breeze wafted down from the cave ceiling. The cool forest air, laced with a faint sweet scent, swept away the drifting ash and smoke, bringing a moment of freshness to the cave.
Gu Xianwang was on high alert when suddenly her ankle tightened. Her whole body was yanked upside down, her vision spinning wildly. In the blink of an eye, she saw countless strands of mycelium snaking out from the fungal wall, slithering toward her like serpents.
“Xianwang!” Yao Cuo cried out in alarm.
Ye Chan was stunned. Gu Xianwang had been right beside her, and now she was hoisted into the air. Ye Chan jumped up desperately to grab her hand, but in an instant, Gu Xianwang was already dangling midway up. The mycelium wrapped around her like a net, encasing her completely.
“Sorry about this, Captain Long. The Cave Lord is all yours.”
“Good luck.”
She heard a mocking voice, and those two had already grabbed Senior Brother Yao and darted toward the cave mouth.
