At dusk, when soldiers should have been returning to their camps, fungal hyphae suddenly began to grow from the mushroom forest, grabbing a soldier and dragging him into the forest as if to abduct him. The forest was already pitch black, and no one knew what lay in its depths.
Fortunately, Shen Feng discovered this incident quickly and immediately shot out a wind blade, severing the hyphae.
After being cut, the white hyphae lost their pulling force, and the soldier seized this rare opportunity to retreat from the forest, panting and saying, "That nearly scared me to death. It's thanks to the Wind God's help that I could return safely."
Shen Feng was indifferent to the soldier's gratitude. "It's nothing, just a small gesture. I just didn't expect these hyphae to be mobile. This gives me a bad feeling."
Shen Feng always felt as if countless vines were reaching out from the forest to grab him. This was too familiar; it reminded him of an incident in Sichuan Province, where the forest had contained treants. Now, he didn't know what was dragging him.
Just then, rustling sounds emerged from the mushroom forest. Shen Feng sensed something was wrong. Could more hyphae be appearing?
Shen Feng's guess was not wrong. At this moment, countless tentacle-like hyphae suddenly grew from the forest, attacking the army from all directions. Upon discovering this, Shen Feng quickly shouted, "Light fires, light them quickly! Shooting is ineffective; use knives to cut the hyphae."
Shen Feng had encountered such a situation before and knew that fire was the best way to deal with mutated plants. As for shooting, it had little effect on mutated plants. Although mushrooms, strictly speaking, are not plants but fungi, as they cannot photosynthesize and play the role of decomposers in the food chain.
Mushrooms do not fix solar energy but act as decomposers. Where mushrooms grow, the environment is bound to be dark and damp. In such places, mushrooms can decompose organic matter to obtain energy. Plants, on the other hand, photosynthesize. There is a clear difference between the two.
However, the fighting style of the current mushroom forest was similar to the various mutated plants Shen Feng had encountered before. If the hyphae were treated as vines, the mushroom forest would not be significantly different from a plant forest.
The soldiers, however, did not quite believe Shen Feng's command. Instead, they kept shooting. After all, Shen Feng was not their superior, and they trusted their firearms more. Bullets were fired wildly, hitting many crawling hyphae on the ground. Hyphae were inherently fragile and could not be as tough as vines. The hyphae were directly hit by bullets, but there were simply too many of them. The entire ground within the mushroom forest was covered in hyphae. It was impossible to cut them all.
As the sun set, the hyphae in the forest only increased. The soldiers, realizing that firearms were ineffective, could only draw their bayonets, attach them to their gun barrels, remove the magazines, and begin cutting the hyphae with cold weapons.
"Not enough gasoline to start fires." After checking their gasoline reserves, everyone discovered an awkward situation: the carried gasoline was insufficient for starting fires. The more than eight thousand soldiers could not possibly have enough torches. Moreover, the army had already advanced eight kilometers into the forest, and retreating now was not simple.
"Damn it, why can hyphae move now? No one ever told me about this before. Now we suddenly have to face so many hyphae, and we're completely unprepared." A soldier roared in anger. Intelligence was insufficient, and the army had already advanced deep behind enemy lines. At this moment, they had no sufficient food, and it was impossible to hold on.
Seeing everyone's reaction, Shen Feng knew that the soldiers had never experienced being surrounded. Although no one had been captured yet, their morale was already shifting.
Shen Feng then found the commander and said, "It's best to hold our ground now. Although we are in a mushroom forest and it seems fraught with danger, our ammunition is sufficient. Immediately clear the surroundings, build fortifications, and request air support for food, ammunition, and solid fuel. These supplies can be obtained from the air. As for the camp, there are still soldiers left behind. Defending in place is the most suitable course of action right now."
The commander pondered for a moment and said to Shen Feng, "Wind God, you are right. I remember there is a gravel area a few hundred meters away. There is not much soil here, so fungi cannot propagate. We can definitely hold out there. As for contacting the outside world, please, Wind God, take care of that."
Shen Feng nodded and said, "Hold on tight, I'll go out now. To ensure your safety, I will return later. These spores will not reach a sufficient concentration for a while. As long as you don't take off your protective suits, there will be no danger."
After speaking, Shen Feng immediately used "As the Wind Follows," transforming himself into a gust of wind and heading into the distance. The white hyphae could not possibly block Shen Feng's departure at this moment.
Shen Feng quickly arrived outside the mushroom forest. At this time, the workers had stopped their activities and were cooking in the camp, waiting for mealtime. The food they ate was all boiled in hot water. Now that they knew fungi could not survive in harsh environments, especially in boiling water where they would eventually become inactive and denatured, many rules had been issued in the camp: no raw food was allowed. If one ate raw food, no one could guarantee they wouldn't be parasitized by fungi.
Upon Shen Feng's appearance, he immediately found Qian Bufei and said, "It's bad, the soldiers are trapped in the forest right now. Hyphae in the mushroom forest are attacking the soldiers. I told them to defend in place, and you should quickly prepare air-dropped supplies. I need to go back later."
When Shen Feng explained the situation in the forest, Qian Bufei was greatly shocked and said, "How could this happen? I've never heard of hyphae being able to move."
It was not surprising that Qian Bufei was shocked. Even if mushrooms had feet, they could never move. As for hyphae, they were very fragile; even ants could easily eat them. Yet now, the hyphae in the forest were attacking humans. This was simply too outrageous. Qian Bufei felt his head was about to explode.
"Mr. Shen Feng, you should return to the forest first. I'm worried there might be other dangers in the forest. As for supplies, I will arrange for air drops quickly. However, it seems that if the soldiers can retreat safely, that would be the best. As for other matters, alas, we can only wait for the rainy season two months from now," Qian Bufei said helplessly.
Qian Bufei knew that eight thousand soldiers could protect themselves anywhere. However, even if the soldiers returned safely, it would not solve the current predicament. The fact that hyphae in the mushroom forest could attack meant that they could no longer casually enter the forest in the future.
Shen Feng was not very clear about what this had to do with the rainy season. He immediately asked, "Why wait for the rainy season? Will the arrival of the rainy season change the course of the battle?"
Shen Feng did not understand Qian Bufei's meaning. Shen Feng had heard about the growth of wild mushrooms in Yunnan Province. Wild mushrooms generally appeared when there was abundant rainfall. Thus, it seemed that with the arrival of the rainy season, the mushroom forest would only develop and grow stronger. Why was Qian Bufei delaying the matter?
Qian Bufei explained helplessly, "When the rainy season arrives, my abilities can be utilized. At that time, I can quickly destroy these mushrooms by using my abilities."
Shen Feng did not agree with Qian Bufei's statement at this time. Qian Bufei had previously stated that his abilities had no combat power, so Shen Feng, a sixth-tier ability user, could not deal with the mushroom forest. Qian Bufei was only a fourth-tier ability user. Could such a level truly destroy the mushroom forest?
However, at this moment, Shen Feng had no other choice. With an area of several hundred square kilometers, it was the largest organism on Earth. Even if it did not move, the existence of this mutated fungus was a huge threat.
After informing Qian Bufei of this important news, Shen Feng immediately returned to the camp in the forest. Fortunately, there was an area entirely made of stones in the forest; otherwise, setting up camp would have been impossible.
The soldiers were fighting in shifts, using bayonets to cut the hyphae of the fungi. For a time, the hyphae were unable to successfully attack everyone. After an hour of fighting, the soldiers had overcome their initial panic. When they discovered that the numerous hyphae could be cut with a simple swing of a bayonet, they knew that the subsequent battle would not be difficult, and their confidence grew.
"I was really startled just now. I didn't expect there to be so many hyphae, attacking me like monsters on TV. But now it seems they can be cut with a casual swing, posing no threat at all."
The soldiers even began to discuss, thinking that the hyphae were nothing to be afraid of. These hyphae looked intimidating but were not actually very threatening. Strong individuals, when entangled, could tear the hyphae apart with their bare hands.
However, even while witnessing everyone fighting bravely, Shen Feng still noticed something amiss. Many people's protective suits had been damaged during the fighting, with holes appearing on the soldiers' bodies. Protective suits required a sealed space to ensure their protective effect. Now that their suits were damaged, they were practically useless.
"It seems some soldiers are going to suffer," Shen Feng lamented silently.
Finally, under the brave fighting of the soldiers, the hyphae stopped their attack. However, countless hyphae continued to crawl on the ground, seemingly ready to attack at any moment. If the soldiers showed any signs of escaping, the hyphae would attack ferociously.
It was still deep into the night, and there was practically no light in the mushroom forest, so everyone dared not run around. They could only hold their ground in this rocky area, preparing to break through the next day.
In the dead of night, a helicopter arrived and began air-dropping supplies directly into the camp.
Perhaps Qian Bufei considered that it would be difficult for them to cook in the forest, so the supplies air-dropped from the helicopter were all flatbreads, still warm. They could be eaten as soon as they were received.
A soldier opened his protective suit, took a bite of the hot flatbread, and brought some food to Shen Feng. "Mr. Shen, these are hot flatbreads. Try some. They taste really good."