STB Chapter 145: Time Out

The ground was scalding, so much so that you can feel the heat through the mycelium.

And you can only see endless yellow sand.

There are no giant worms here competing with the mushrooms in the void world since the mushrooms didn’t hesitate to plunge into a desert to protect the “food” and precious reserve grains.

But the mushrooms still stuffed the hole in the sky, all the way to the ground.

The ability holders it brought back are like fruits in a giant “tree”, scattered and distributed while being sheltered by “leaves”. The owner and top reserve grains are naturally at the core area.

The fruits have thick and chubby mushroom caps covering them. When the sun hanged on the edge of the sand dunes, the sunset in the desert looked extraordinarily desolate and beautiful. The beauty of the sun didn’t last long and eventually disappeared as the cold of the desert night quickly hit.

In the Abandoned World, how long ago did they last saw the sunset?

The comatose ability holders gradually woke up. After they saw their situation, they panicked and broke free of the mycelium. But how could the mushrooms be willing? So it wove a sleeping bag and stuffed people inside.

With the ability holder’s limbs tied up, they can only use their ability to get out.

……how could the mycelium not eat?

Inside the desert, there’s not even the sign of mole rats, but since the reserve grains are actively feeding it, would the mushrooms be polite?

In the void world, the S-class is affected more than A-class.

When Li Fei woke up, most of the “fruits” have given up struggling, and just hanged there. He subconsciously searched for Jian Hua and found that the “bagworm” on his left-hand side is Jian Hua while the on the right, even if it’s only showing a dirt-streaked face, is Johnson.

The mushrooms have a very fair attitude toward its reserve grains. The most delicious ones are on the front while the ordinary ones are shelved.

Seeing Johnson so close, Li Fei’s face turned black.

——he’s not jealous. It’s just that Jian Hua is still unconscious, and Johnson is a potentially dangerous person.

Li Fei’s finger slightly moved and found that his abilities is almost exhausted. At that time when magma spewed out, the terrible temperature directly melted the Cannibal Squid’s body, and at the same time, the explosion happened.

His flames resisted the magma and condensed into a flame waterfall while desperately integrating the surrounding energy from nature and trying to take the magma to another place.

Crimson fire fought against blood-red liquid.

The rock walls reddened and the mycelium, which absorbed the different attribute energies, won’t be burned but will be destroyed by the colossal energy surge.

The mushrooms were peeled piece by piece as it disappeared in the sea of fire. It used to thrive and covered the stone houses and passageways, but when it became ashes, the cave began to collapse……it’s like the whole world disappeared in front of Li Fei.

Surrounded by flames, it was magnificent but terrifying, weaving a variety of distorted sights.

Except for the time of his awakening, Li Fei had never overdrawn his fire ability. There was no difference in the range coverage, and he can clearly feel the absolute power that belonged to him; however, it can’t stop the raging magma.

So powerful, and yet so weak.

In the face of nature, high-order ability holders are just moths that can struggle for a few times, before eventually running out of power. They would still fall to their deaths.

Li Fei struggled to control his ability, trying to find a way to live while the mushrooms were destroyed one after the other. Their “fields” became the last barrier before the power of the explosion blew the roof of the cave.

The wind, with the help of the explosion, pushed them out to the mushrooms outside.

In the end, Jian Hua grabbed these few seconds and let the mushrooms bring them to the hole in the sky.

Li Fei looked at Johnson with mixed feelings. This is the second time, including that time in America——if they were missing any one of the three S-class, it’s estimated that there’s no way to escape that disaster.

“Cough.” The protagonist woke up.

He looked around ignorantly and moved his two arms. The joy of surviving made him smile.

Then he looked up and saw Li Fei’s expressionless face.

Johnson: ……

As a feeling of danger climbed up his spine, Johnson shivered slightly. But he didn’t look away as he tried to keep his calm. He still remembered that disgusting and terrible enemy.

“Is Red Scorpion still alive?”

“He’s dead.” Li Fei said briefly.

Johnson’s eyes opened wide, and his smile became deeper, “Really?”

“Really.” The person who answered this time is Geng Tian. His hair was burned off, and there’s also a bruise caused by falling rocks on his forehead. His position is not far from here, and he just happened to hear their conversation.

The diligent bodyguard immediately switched with Li Fei to communicate with Johnson.

Red Scorpion fled into the spider world to escape the explosion but didn’t expect that there’d be crustal activity there, leading to the volcanic eruption. The hot spring in that rock cave surged out and greeted Red Scorpion, followed by the magma.

Red Scorpion hid in his space to withstand the attack and became isolated from the external environment, but essentially, it’s still an ability. Just like how the thriving mushrooms disappeared when it met magma, how long can Red Scorpion resist?

Ten seconds? Half a minute?

If he didn’t go in, staying out there can delay things for a while, but the mushroom has reserve grains regardless of attribute……as a result, Red Scorpion slammed into his own death.

This series of events that means he’s most likely dead let Geng Tian have mixed feelings. While sorry that he didn’t beat that guy to death, he felt that this is the power of “fate”.

Jian Hua has not yet woken up at this time. He looked out of energy and seemed to be affected by the temperature of the desert as his cheeks were flushed.

Li Fei’s mind thought of a bad guess.

“Geng Tian, how does your body feel?” Li Fei asked in a hoarse voice.

“There’s a pain in the limbs, too tired, and some dizziness.” Geng Tian instinctively answered, hesitated for two seconds then added, “I seem to have a fever.”

Every time he said something, Li Fei’s heart sank a bit.

Johnson’s cheeks are also flushed. He’s not shy, his lips are just pale, and his forehead is sweating.

“Blight.”

Hearing that word, Geng Tian’s face distorted.

The horrible sight of the black water corpses is still vivid. Being infected with a disease is not that unexpected.

“The mushrooms refused to let go of everyone which is related to Jian Hua’s subconscious. He……” Li Fei can’t speak.

Among the four people inside, only he didn’t have any symptoms.

His magic eyes saw that half of the A-class in the distance show signs of the symptoms. It’s reasonable to treat patients in isolation; however, there’re no doctors here, nor any medicine, they’re completely surrounded by sand.

The surviving A-class is not many, probably about a dozen.

Among them is Rosemary. She had a bad headache, and wanted to vomit but can’t. Her whole person is groggy, like the reaction to a major illness after vaccination as a child.

She was unable to determine where it hurt, and black spots appeared in front of her eyes as she started coughing desperately.

She hadn’t been like this for a long time. Rosemary woke up hungry, and found herself no longer hanging, but lying behind a sand dune. The temperature of the sand is not that high.

Although her body is still frail, her head is very clear.

——she dodged a bullet, and once again survived the arms of death.

Rosemary wanted to cry but had no tears.

Her movement caught the attention of others. Someone propped her up, and handed her something like a wooden cup, feeding her a couple glasses of water.

The taste of the water is strange. There was no taste and don’t have the characteristic of mineral water or distilled water, nor like spring water from nature. People didn’t usually drink this kind of water since it’s too pure and should’ve made people comfortable, but there was a slight rejection.

This rejection is because the water is created by a water system ability holder.

Rosemary gasped for air, and dry, hot air entered her lungs. She couldn’t help but cough.

Then her arm was held by a wrinkled palm, and a few fingers rested on her wrist. Rosemary was startled, and she almost tried to fling it away.

The moment she saw the person, Rosemary’s pupils contracted, and she subconsciously dodged.

The man did not chase as he nodded to another direction, “Her breathing is steady, a strong heartbeat, also no obvious murmur in the lungs. Since she’s unwilling, just forget the pulse. I’m not a traditional Chinese doctor, so I’m not very proficient at this anyway.”

“You worked hard old man.” Geng Tian looked at Rosemary.

Seeing the blonde fire ability holder, he vaguely guessed Rosemary’s identity.

As for the protagonist who is destined to marry Rosemary, he’s busy on the other side and ultimately walked around Rosemary. This pair of sisters looked alike, and since Johnson had seen Jennifer, he knew who she was the moment he saw Rosemary’s face.

There’s a bonfire behind the dunes.

There are four bagworms of mycelium in the distant sand, not like the sleeping bag they were in before since it’s not so thick that they can’t breathe.

“Those are the ones who didn’t make it through. God Bless them and let them enter Heaven.” The wood ability holder who previously fed Rosemary explained.

“Blight?” Rosemary was chilled.

“……I heard that we were tied to the edge of the world by the devouring mushrooms that are wandering outside the universe. There’s no way for those below A-class to survive. They’d be broken up by invisible forces, but once it reached our bodies, most of the virus were wiped out.”

The effect is a minor infection, similar to the most sloppy vaccine with no safety guarantee. Some people survived, while a small number died.

“How about Flame Demon?”

“Over there, with the Devourer. I heard he’s not sick. S-class fire ability is amazing.” The speaker enviously said.

Rosemary can’t come back for a while. Near the dunes is like a refugee camp.

There are no pots, only pieces of meat being roasted over the bonfire using bones.

——mole rats, not a pleasant smell.

Such a sudden peace from a battle scene made Rosemary feel uncomfortable.

She dragged her weak body and walked while being “kindly” guided by other A-class ability holders. Rosemary stared at the young protagonist, her face constantly changing.

A stickman, not to her aesthetic standard ah!

Does he no longer grow? Maybe Johnson isn’t fifteen years old yet? He’s not that tall and only reached the chest of an American high school football player. He’s also a head shorter than Rosemary.

“……”

Rosemary was struck. Her sister Jennifer, just because of this protagonist, worried that they’d be in conflict. After leaving a letter, she ran to the Middle East to become a mercenary and finally died with unclear circumstances in Turkey.

She hobbled back.

The resulting dizziness made her go in the wrong direction and tripped by the mushrooms on the ground.

Li Fei didn’t like these A-class ability holders. It’s just that the severity of infection is different for each person, so Old Cheng said that he should stay and observe. For Jian Hua’s rehabilitation, Li Fei bore with it.

After three days, most people, including Jian Hua, are beginning to heal. Jian Hua’s symptoms are mild, just a fever, not even vomiting. Those who cough and spit out blood hadn’t survived after a day.

Now someone neared this “forbidden zone” marked by mushrooms. Li Fei looked at her coldly.

Rosemary looked up, shocked to see Li Fei and Jian Hua’s posture.

——she’d seen the Devil Sound. The one on Li Fei’s arms does not look like the Great Bear, so there’s only the Devourer.

They are lying on a mushroom pile with Jian Hua tightly pressing his head to the other man’s chest, and surrounding him with his arms. This is a subconscious move to ease his mind while sleeping, so Li Fei didn’t dare disturb him, but this kind of posture is very different in the eyes of others.

Isn’t Flame Demon a subordinate of Devourer? Is it true that the boss of Black Abyss slept with the top members of the organization? He didn’t even spare S-class?