Chapter 048: The Strange Tale of the Mysterious Mushroom

Ga Stone Mountain was precipitous, its main path winding up in treacherous curves. As the sun rose higher, the morning mists dispersed, and the blurred silhouettes of trees faded into clarity. Pine trunks, once obscured in the heavy vapor, now showed their deep green hues, though the way up remained slick with mud. There was little grass underfoot, only layers of pine needles that rustled with every step, damp enough to make each footfall uncertain.

Three people followed behind two soldiers, beginning their ascent. The special police moved with practiced agility—keen, efficient, swift. Though both wore the same uniform, their personalities could not have been more different. Li Yongqian, silent and vigilant, kept a constant watch on their surroundings, alert to every whisper of wind and movement in the brush. Meanwhile, Hou Tiecheng was lively and talkative, regaling Wu Miaoran with stories from the special operations squad, making her giggle incessantly.

The slope here was gentle and not too high; before long, the three had reached the mountainside. The paths of Ga Stone Mountain had all been trodden into the earth by countless feet. Only the main route, paved with stone steps, offered any respite, but time and weather had left most of the steps crumbled and broken.

The mountain was famed for its mushrooms, which clustered mainly on the shaded slopes. Many footpaths veered off the main trail, winding toward the shadowed side, beaten out by villagers seeking the bounty of the earth. The path they walked now was the most traveled, considered the main route by locals.

Hou Tiecheng scrambled up a steep rise with the nimbleness of a great ape and hauled the others up after him. “This is the best trail we’ve found—gentler than the rest. There’s just this one steep patch, but after that, no more loose rocks. Not far ahead, you’ll see the landslide site,” he said.

“Are there still people searching?” Duan Xiaoyu asked.

Hou Tiecheng paused before replying with a smile, “There’s probably still a search team, but they’ll be coming down soon. They’ve been looking for five days. What can be found has been found. For the rest, there’s little hope of survival. As for the one you mentioned, this Wu Big Tongue, I don’t recall seeing him among the rescued.”

Duan Xiaoyu nodded and continued searching the surroundings with a magnifying instrument. Wu Miaoran, clutching her filthy rag doll, bounded ahead and called back, “Monkey Bro, did you see or hear anything strange while you were searching the mountain?”

“Second apprentice, nothing too strange—just that our master seems to have been snatched by a monster!” Hou Tiecheng replied, pretending to be serious.

“Don’t tease—tell me something real!” Wu Miaoran pouted.

“There wasn’t much unusual, except that when we first got here, many of us heard a faint breathing sound from inside the mountain. Though soft, it felt as if it came from some enormous creature. It gave the impression that the mountain hid a great abyss, a gaping maw. Have you ever played Contra? Remember that level with the giant mouth that bursts out of the ground? That’s what came to mind when I heard it,” Hou Tiecheng recounted, voice vivid.

“Tiecheng, mind your discipline. Don’t make baseless claims,” Li Yongqian, silent until now, suddenly spoke.

“Ah, come on, Squad Leader Li, I’m not making things up. Many of us heard it. Ask Old Wolf if you don’t believe me.”

“And then? Did the sound continue?” Wu Miaoran pressed.

Hou Tiecheng shook his head, “No, it lasted maybe three to five minutes. Once our squad and the rescue team entered, it disappeared. Right before it faded, there was a minor landslide. After that, nothing.”

“Oh, I see. That’s not so interesting,” Wu Miaoran said, a bit disappointed, clutching her doll tighter.

As they walked, Li Tianque suddenly noticed a fuzzy patch beneath a pine tree ahead. He approached and scooped up a handful—fresh pine mushrooms, fragrant and tempting. “This mountain’s truly a mushroom haven,” he marveled.

“Let me see!” Wu Miaoran ran over, grabbed some mushrooms, and wondered aloud, “Can these be eaten raw?”

“Wait—” Li Tianque tried to stop her, but she was quicker. Before he could finish, she’d already popped the mushroom into her mouth. Calling her a foodie was no exaggeration.

“It’s fine—these mushrooms are safe to eat raw,” Hou Tiecheng said.

“Mmm... mmm... ugh... definitely not dangerous, but the taste is just awful,” Wu Miaoran said, smacking her lips.

To rid her mouth of the taste, she chewed a piece of bubblegum with black and yellow warning stripes on the wrapper. Li Tianque noted the unusual packaging, while Hou Tiecheng looked at Wu Miaoran with a peculiar expression.

“In the past, I loved mushrooms, especially during field missions. They were our go-to emergency rations. But after one operation, I never wanted to eat them again. Now, just seeing them makes me sick,” Hou Tiecheng said.

“Why?” Wu Miaoran asked.

“That mission was a raid on a criminal hideout—three brothers, all international fugitives from the Golden Triangle, dealing arms, committing every atrocity imaginable. They’d escaped into the deep mountains, where mushrooms were plentiful, and kidnapped a local merchant, demanding ransom and setting traps everywhere. We managed to capture them and rescue the hostage, but when we found him, he was barely recognizable.”

“What does this have to do with mushrooms?” Li Tianque asked.

“Listen. When we searched for the hostage, we couldn’t find him at first. In the rooms, we noticed the three criminals ate well—red wine, grilled steak, grilled mushrooms. Two of our guys, tempted, tasted the food. After that, they went crazy for it, praising the steak and mushrooms as the freshest they’d ever had. But deep in the mountains, fresh mushrooms are common, but fresh beef? That made us suspicious—was it really beef?”

“Wow, was it really that good? I wish I could try it,” Wu Miaoran said, swallowing as she chewed her gum.

“Good? Once you hear the rest, you won’t think so. We eventually discovered the source: during the search, a soldier slipped on a mound of mushrooms. Looking closer, he was horrified. Guess what he saw?”

“What—were the mushrooms alive?” Wu Miaoran wondered.

“No, worse. My comrade realized the mushrooms weren’t growing from the ground, but—”

Li Tianque felt a chill, but Wu Miaoran and Duan Xiaoyu showed little reaction. Wu Miaoran was still munching mushroom bits with relish.

Seeing her lack of response, Hou Tiecheng was disappointed and was about to embellish his story when Wu Miaoran suddenly pointed up the slope and whispered, “Hey... Monkey Bro, is that one of those mushroom people you were talking about?”

The original story can’t be shared here, but perhaps, someday, it will be told to you, dear readers.

(End of Chapter)