Little Mushroom

It had been three years since the final battle.

On that day, the eastern pole and western pole sent out an absolutely stable frequency together. Since then, materials no longer polluted each other and humans found no change from distortion. Later, this frequency was called the Bell.

The Highland Research Institute, who discovered the Bell, and Mr Polly Joan would forever be remembered in human history.

The Highland Research Institute.

Green vines covered the windows and railings. The mutant vine that had been guarding the institute had died naturally a year ago. Its seeds spilled onto the soil of the institute and sprouted branches this spring. The distant mountains were covered with a layer of snow-white mist and the mist was lush green. Everything was normal, everything was calm, like a spring day in 2020.

In the corridor outside the laboratory, there was a wheelchair. Polly Joan sat in it. Wind blew from the Abyss to the top of the mountain and through his white hair. Behind him was Lu Feng.

"In 2020, I was 15 years old and studying physics at university." An old voice was heard. "Later, I often dreamt that I came back to that year. I stood on the podium, in the tutor's office and in the middle of the playground, loudly proclaiming that the geomagnetic field was going to disappear and we should prepare well in advance."

Polly paused and a helpless smile appeared on his face. "Sometimes they believed me and sometimes they didn't. However, every morning I opened my eyes and saw this terrible world."

"It is fortunate. This world is still terrible, or even worse, but at least we don't have to count down the days until extinction."

Polly Joan lowered his head and looked down at the copy of Base United Daily News in his hand. The date on the cover was April 2164.

134 years after the disaster, humanity seemed to have finally integrated into this world of mutual killing.

Many people would bring up the last battle. The Northern Base chose to rescue the Highland Research Institute. Otherwise, the Highland Research Institute wouldn't be able to persist until they managed to analyze the stable frequency. The Underground City Base chose to assist the eastern magnetic pole or the magnetic poles wouldn't collapse and there would be no frequency. Both decisions were made based on the kindness of the human heart and they won a dangerous victory.

There was only one fighter plane formation to protect the Highland Research Institute and there were only 1,000 airborne troops to rescue the Northern Base. The last struggle of humanity against extinction wasn't a magnificent war but a deep cry. Its existence, evolution and extinction might consider itself important but the world's changes proved again and again that it was weak and insignificant.

Yes, in fact, the human community had died.

After being infected by the absolutely stable frequency, they finally obtained permanent and stable immunity. Sometimes, there was even a chance that they could obtain the genes of monsters, acquiring these powerful shapes yet still being sober. This might be a triumph for the fusion faction—although it didn't use the theories and methods of the fusion faction.

After the peaceful fusion with the monster genes, the strength of humans was enhanced and they no longer relied so much on a limited number of weapons. They started to fight monsters in the monster way and attacked and defended in a simple manner. Some humans chose to leave the base, returning to the abandoned cities or forming small settlements in the wild.

In short, the city disintegrated. There were fewer than 5,000 survivors worldwide and they could no longer organize great social structures or armies. Centred on the eastern magnetic pole, the western magnetic pole and the Highland Research Institute, small settlements radiated outward in a star shape.

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Although the outside monsters who needed food still stared at them, the monsters no longer needed human genes. Of the monsters who lived to the present, most had already acquired human genes. From another angle, the frequency covering the world meant the monsters also gained stability. Still, it was an undeniable fact that humans' intellectual superiority had long ended.

The Bell rang, humans survived and the era of humanity had come to an end. They seemed to be living in this world as an ordinary species.

"Some people say this is a fall but I think it is a rise." Polly stared straight ahead and mused. "We are just going through the journey our ancestors have gone through, with new achievements and cognition."

In the open space in front of the white building, young scientists in white coats moved between instruments.

Suddenly, there was a loud noise. A young man in the middle was raising a beaker full of clear water. The situation was obvious. By sampling and reproducing the frequency of the material, they succeeded in infecting other materials with the frequency of distilled water, turning the dark turbid water in the beaker into a glass of clear, pure water.

Many things were being redefined and new theoretical systems were beginning to emerge. It was unknown if this was correct or not but they were slowly moving forward.

"I still don't know what these frequencies are, whether they represent the fundamental composition of a substance or if it is just a term referring to the nature of matter." Polly's voice was hoarse due to old age. "Acquiring the frequency of a particular substance can in turn change the real world. This is an unexpected achievement beyond expectations."

"We are still small and we've only obtained a superficial projection of the real world in a crude way, but this projection is enough for us to protect ourselves for a while."

Facing the endless wilderness, he muttered to himself. "100 years, 1,000 years from now, will we know more?"

Lu Feng pushed Polly's wheelchair to a waterfall-like green vine. Spring was when all things recovered and these vines with strange shapes had white flowers. The flowers had different shapes and shades but they also existed on one vine at the same time.

"Am I overly optimistic?" Polly smiled. "It is a puzzle if there will still be humans 100 years later."

Survival was still grim and clouds were still around. Fertility and reproduction still didn't have an effective solution. Polly Joan's hand stopped on the third page of the often flipped through Base United Daily News. This page covered two things.

The first was a report from a scientist who happened to merge with a bird and gave birth to an egg. The egg hatched in the form of a bird but the hatchling suddenly changed to human form when he was one year old. In the second report, a fertile woman from the Underground City Base claimed that when her life came to an end, she would walk into the Simpson Cage and donate her frequency for research.

"My life is coming to an end." Polly closed the daily news and stated. "Some people have finally survived. For many years, I have been asking myself if I had redeemed my sins. Still, I can't face everything I did back then. I can only wait for God to judge what is right and wrong."

Lu Feng wondered, "Did you leave the base for this?"

"Yes, I couldn't face my heart. After all, I couldn't agree with the Trial Court's conviction." He glanced at Lu Feng. "I can't compare to you."

"I haven't done anything."

Polly shook his head. The spring wind blew across the mountains and the light fragrance of the vine flowers was scattered with the wind.

"You faced everything I couldn't face in the past and you persisted for the longest time." He looked up and held Lu Feng's hand. "Human interests above all else. Thank you for keeping the base and the artificial magnetic poles to the end. This is the ultimate reason for humanity's victory."

"Thank you."

"I heard they have started to compile the chronicles of the base. 100 years from now, how will people judge the Trial Court?" Polly stared at the white sky to the east where dawn was rising, his eyes containing a type of distant peace. "Some people will criticize it and some people will praise it. The only thing I can be sure of is that everyone will remember it."

"He continued, "I'll remember you more, child."

Lu Feng's eyes rested on a snow-white petal. The sun shone on it like a translucent golden crystal.

"There is no need." His eyes were narrowed and his voice flat, as if everything Polly said had nothing to do with him.

The light also illuminated the dark silver buttons and trim on his black uniform. He stood tall and straight, his outfit neat and his facial features perfect. His eyes were different from ordinary people, the cold and light look leaving an indelible impression on passersby. The new vines twined around the corridor in the morning light and he stood in the surging spring, but he was incompatible with all of it.

In the courtyard and in the corridor, many people quietly turned their heads to glance at him. The last generation of judges, he had too many unresolved hatred and mysteries. There were various opinions in the Northern Base. Some people said that he died in an assassination and some people said that he killed himself with a bomb. Only the researchers knew that the Judge would stay here forever—but no one knew the reason.

"Look at me, child."

Lu Feng looked at him. Although the other person's grey-blue eyes were cloudy, they were still bright. They were too clear and filled with kindness, wisdom and sorrow, as if they could see through all the appearances of the world.

"Sometimes, I think that you are free and sometimes you aren't." Polly stated. "Three years have passed and everything is going well. Can you still not face the past?"

"That's not it." The answer was unexpected. Lu Feng stared directly at him, tone calm and without hesitation. "I have no sin."

"No judge would say that."

"Human interests above all else." Lu Feng leaned slightly to the side, his silhouette backlit by the endless morning light. "I have never wavered in my faith."

"Yet you live in pain."

"I have suffered for the trial." Lu Feng declared. "Now, losing him is my only pain."

"I have never seen such a gentle, calm child before." Polly closed his eyes as he remembered the past. "He came to Earth from an unknown place, as if to suffer. Yet human suffering didn't harm any of his essence. I don't have much time left. I just want to see him alive again before I go."

In the long silence, they stared at the laboratory behind them.

Across the wall, young assistants were busy recording data. They were busier than ever, as if it was a special day today. Looking through the window, a transparent square cabin that was like a crystal coffin was placed on the white ground. Inside the crystal coffin was a pale green nutrient solution. In the nutrient solution, snow-white mycelium was growing and spreading, intertwined with each other and forming a snow-white cocoon that faintly had the shape of a human body.

It grew very quickly, from a spore the size of a jujube pit to a soft mycelium polymer, like the young bird that suddenly turned into a human baby. One day, it showed a human body. On countless nights, Lu Feng leaned over and stared at the familiar outline through the filaments.

"Is this him?" he asked Polly Joan.

"He is an asexually reproduced mushroom and there is no difference between his body and the spore. I can only tell you that there is no difference in the genes and the frequency is the same. They are the same in a biological sense." Polly smiled and spoke softly, "Ancient legend has the story of a phoenix gaining new life in fire. In fact, it is true for those creatures with simple structures. Death is a new life and reproduction is the way to continue life."

"…Will he remember?"

"I don't know." Polly shook his head. "It depends on whether the soul or memory also has an established frequency. A mushroom knows from birth what type of nutrition it needs. Where does this memory come from? I tend to think that based on the unknown measure of the universe, they are the same creature. You don't have to worry about it."

Lu Feng gazed at the distant sky with always cold and calm eyes. "I hope he forgets it all."

"Why?"

"The human base and I have only caused him pain. I hope he never feels this."

Polly shook his head. "How do you know what the world is like to him?"

Lu Feng's voice dropped gently. "Thus, I will accept all results."

Polly didn't speak. In the silence, an instrument in the laboratory suddenly made a loud sound. The experimenters shouted and there was the sound of ping-pong objects falling to the ground. The voices came on and off so that the people outside knew what was going on inside.

The sun rose and the morning light shone on Polly Joan's old body. It was like he finally finished his last matter as he turned his wheelchair in a relieved manner in the direction of the laboratory, his eyes becoming more gentle.

Lu Feng didn't look back.

Polly wondered, "He has woken up. Why aren't you looking at him?"

There were some chaotic noises from the laboratory. A long time later, Lu Feng finally spoke.

"You once asked me what I thought of him." Lu Feng's voice came from a distance. "I thought about it a lot."

In the long silence, golden sunlight flowed from the eastern mountains and a red sun leapt out of the sky. He closed his eyes in the wait. The statue of the waiting man, the portrait of the pilgrim, everyone looked like him. Everyone had shown this look the night before the trial.

He stated calmly, "He is the one who judges me."

A door opened and gentle footsteps stopped not far away. On the top of the mountain, in the light and misty breeze, a clear and soft voice was heard.

"Lu Feng?"