Doomsday Paradise

Chapter 1093 Mika's Lamp Holder

The strong and turbid stench, accompanied by puffing hot steam, sprayed on the face and neck in bursts, causing Meijia's consciousness to stir slowly in the darkness.In an extremely distant place, there seemed to be the voice of someone speaking faintly.

In a daze, she thought of a boy from the next door when she was a child.He was already seventeen or eighteen years old at that time, and he seemed to seldom go out, except for a few hours of night shift at night, and he just stayed at home painting all day.Later, Meijia went to elementary school and was overwhelmed with her new life. I don’t know when, the big brother next door has never seen her again, maybe she moved away.

...Strange, why do you suddenly think of something that happened so long ago?
Meijia was only six or seven years old at the time, but she was sensible.

People in the mushroom society do not sharpen their heads in pursuit of outstanding achievements and great status. As long as they can find something they are interested in or can realize their personal value, no matter what they do, they will be in the society. A respectable part of the population—anyway, most of the basic material needs are met by the by-products of mushrooms.They had studied Maslow's hierarchy of needs in first grade, and understood that their society had moved away from the bottom four levels of needs and into the highest level of "self-actualization needs"...ah, except maybe that one.

Her consciousness is flickering and floating, and the thoughts that pass by by chance are like fish swimming in a deep pool, and only half of the phantom can be caught.

All in all, the reason why Meijia still remembers that big brother after so many years is because his situation seems to be a little different.

His interest is undoubtedly painting.Although occasionally seeing him sketching outdoors, she found that the scenery on the canvas looked very naive, almost on the same level as her classmates... That's right, liking something doesn't necessarily mean you can do it Well done.Thankfully he doesn't need to make a living from painting, otherwise it would be really worrying.

However, every time I saw that big brother drawing a picture, his expression was always gloomy, with bulging veins on his forehead; in the eyes of the young Meijia, the way he clenched his teeth looked a little scary.

If she can see chocolate frogs every day when she grows up, Meijia thinks that she will definitely not show such an expression—ah, what a pity, the wish when she was a child will fade when she grows up, otherwise if she can enter the production of chocolate frogs Snack company, mom must be very happy too... Sigh, what should she do next...

Even in a drowsy state of consciousness, the scorching sense of anxiety was more vivid than the stale heat, which completely woke her up.

When she first opened her eyes, Meijia was very dazed, and it took her a while to slowly understand where she was.

The cave, which was supposed to be dark without light, looked as unreal as an illusion under the swaying light source behind it; the faint fishy smell of the soil also made people feel very strange.Under the body, above the head, all around, wherever the eyes can see is mud.In the environment she usually lives in, the floor is always covered with a layer of mushroom skin, which can prevent dust accumulation, is flexible, and smells very fresh—she has never been covered by soil like this before. I've never smelled it like this either...

It wasn't until this time that she belatedly realized that there was something behind her that was blowing dirty and hot snorts at her one after another.

Even if she didn't look back, she knew what was behind her.Meijia trembled uncontrollably, her stomach tightened up and down, and she knew she could vomit it out at any time.

"She's awake," a man's voice broke through her still hazy consciousness from far and near, and rang clearly, as if he wasn't talking to her. "can we start?"

No wonder I dreamed of my big brother who lived next door when I was a child——

Meijia resisted the desire to vomit, and turned her neck a little bit.Her hands were tied behind her back, and it was difficult for her to twist around.

Although almost ten years have passed, I can still vaguely recognize the young man's appearance from that face, but the forehead is a little shorter, the chin is longer, and the right eye seems to be closer to the temple than the left eye—— If the person is opened like a pocket and then sewn together, such a slight misalignment will inevitably occur.

What's his name?Mika doesn't remember it at all.

No matter how much you begged and cried to him, asking him to let you go, he would be completely unmoved, right?Because he has become a completely different creature from himself - he disappeared in obscurity back then, and it turned out that he was attacked and hijacked by that kind of thing, just like himself now.

Wait... So, the him at this moment is his future?
Thinking that her own face would be slightly distorted like this, Meijia suddenly felt a fear that could shatter human bones; from her perspective, even if she turned her head, she couldn't see the creature that sprayed hot steam on her neck. Call her confused and scared.

"It's me," she couldn't help crying, knowing that it was useless, "I'm Meijia, do you remember me? I used to live in the lion's mane mushroom area... Please, don't come after me, let me go go home!"

"Meijia?" The man who used to live next door and who was bad at drawing came up two steps and sized her up for a while.The cave is about 1.8 meters high, and he didn't have to bow his head when he walked around: "...Oh, I remembered, it was the kid who lived next door before? met you."

What met, is clearly hijacking!
Meijia was scared and angry, so she didn't dare to say this; the place where she was hit on the back of the head was still hurting.

"Are you 16 years old? You're still on your way to school," the man poked at her sore spot as soon as he opened his mouth. "Why, do you also feel excluded?"

and also?
"This kind of place where everyone looks peaceful and happy, isn't it scary when you think about it?" The man seemed interested, perhaps because he hadn't met an old acquaintance for a long time.He waved his hand at the steaming thing behind Meijia, as if signaling it to wait, and then sat down cross-legged in front of her: "I think human beings are a species full of darkness, chaos, and screaming in pain... This is the real human being. Haven't you thought about it?"

Mika noticed.He's talking about "this kind of" place...that is, they are still within the scope of the mushroom society, right?
Thinking that as long as she got out of this cave, she might be rescued, she regained her strength.

"Everyone is peaceful and happy?" She retorted: "That's because everyone has worked hard for this peace and happiness! What's wrong with being rewarded for your hard work? Like me, although I am anxious every day, I don't know What to do next, but—”

She originally wanted to say that as long as she worked hard to get through this stage, she would have a fulfilling life in the future, but the man suddenly interrupted her with excitement.

"Are you anxious? Ah, I've had similar feelings before, though not quite the same." He raised his head and smiled at the creature behind Meijia: "Hey, I think we'll catch someone else later, this one I think there’s a lot of potential for transformation.”

The creature behind him spewed out a foul smell, making Meijia's whole body tense.

"I said, you are too naive, you didn't realize that your mind has been controlled for a long time." The man waved his hand, "I have lived under the control of mushrooms for nearly 20 years, and I have more experience than you. Let me tell you, if your negative emotions continue, within a few years, the mushrooms will take action."

Mika looked at him blankly.

"In school, they just use education to control you. Out of school, if education doesn't work, they will release spores, change your mind, brainwash you, make you believe stupid things that you never believed before. "The man snorted, and a cruel smile appeared on the corner of his mouth.If you look closely, it seems that the position of his right cheek is slightly higher, probably because it was not aligned during the stitching. “For example, they can trick you into thinking you’re passionate about something and you’ve found something meaningful in your life… when in reality, just a few years ago, you weren’t interested in that thing Woolen cloth."

Meijia suddenly thought of the painting tools and paints that were continuously sent to his home.

"Could it be that..." she asked tentatively, "You didn't like drawing at all?"

"That's right, not at all." The man gritted his teeth and smiled: "I was deceived into thinking that my interest lies in painting. If I don't pick up a paintbrush for a day, I feel like there is a hole in my heart, and I am eager to do something Allow yourself to be satisfied. But after actually starting to paint, that satisfaction is fleeting... It's like eating a mouthful of fake candy with zero calories. After being fooled, it leaves a bigger and more empty space The black hole. To fill this black hole, I have to pick up the paintbrush again... It's a vicious circle. For a little artificial sweetness, I seem to be suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorder, and I can paint from morning until dark , My wrist was sore and swollen and I couldn’t lift it up, so I reluctantly went to bed with a feeling of emptiness.”

Mika shuddered.There was strong emotion in the man's tone, and she didn't think he was lying.

"I didn't know why until later," he said, his eyes glowing in the dark cave, "because my true personality, my true desires, were hidden by those mushroom spores! They tried to change me , Let me also become one of those honest people who work for them! What kind of truth is a brainwashed liar! My thoughts, only I can decide!"

Mika was silent for a while.

"What's the matter?" The man put his hand on her shoulder, and slowly stroked across her shoulder with his fingers through the fabric. "Don't you believe me?"

"No, I believe it." Meijia's back was facing that thing, and this man was in front of her, so the situation was very unfavorable.But she had to think of a way-"You have been away from us for too long...you don't know some things yet."

"what's up?"

"This used to be hidden from minors in schools because they were afraid of discriminating against some members of society. But a few years ago, the new law was passed, so every child who goes to school knows that... we all know, In addition to the foreign population, the mushrooms will also release spores to some of the natives, changing their thinking..."

She raised her head and looked at the man in front of her.The cave seemed to be newly dug, and there was still a little light leaking out of nowhere.

"Your mobilizing rhetoric, don't tell others about it in the future." She forced herself to calm down and said, "It exposed one thing."

"What?" The man straightened up abruptly.

"You think that the mushrooms want more servants to brainwash you, hide your real desire, and make you think that painting is your hobby. But when you think about it carefully, this argument is untenable. Meijia moved her hands secretly, and said, "For example, if your real desire is architectural design or computer programming, but the mushrooms just hide it and lie to you that your mission in life is to draw... so Is there any point in doing it? It’s not like turning your interest into growing mushrooms.”

In fact, mushrooms have no shortage of people willing to tend them.

I don't know if it's an illusion, but the man's face seems to be even more distorted—is it because of the anger after being exposed?
"We learned it in school." Meijia said softly, "When the mushrooms do this to the locals, there is usually only one reason. That is, your real desire is harmful to society and human beings." ...the mushrooms had to replace it with a harmless hobby."

She paused, then continued: "... I remember, Brother Xiaojian, right? I remember my mother told me that in the lion's mane mushroom area, for a while, it was often found Burnt corpses of birds and beasts. But since I went to elementary school, I have never found the corpses of small animals that were tortured to death. Brother Xiaojian, you haven’t told me yet, what is your real desire?”

　It seems that I haven't posted a thank you chapter for a long time, and I will post it the day after tomorrow! (Because there are too many things to do tomorrow) I finally like this chapter a little
　
(End of this chapter)