Wasteland Development Diary

Zhou Yi remembered clearly. Among the first batch of talents introduced by the company, Cao Dayuan was the only one who refused to come.

But for the town to keep warm through the winter, he still came to bow his head and ask for help.

Cao Dayuan had very little hair, with only some sparse long strands that he tried his best to evenly cover his scalp, striving to maintain his image. This reminded Zhou Yi of his high school physics teacher.

Zhou Yi admired this local who wanted to completely change the impoverished state of Maogu Town.

Cao Dayuan's monster-attracting mushroom was a white mushroom resembling enoki mushrooms, but shorter and thinner, with a very small and inconspicuous cap.

"People get headaches and shortness of breath from eating the monster-attracting mushroom, and in severe cases, they can be poisoned to death. Everyone avoids it as a poisonous mushroom."

He pointed to this species and said, "But the monsters outside, the Claw Boars and Spine Antlions, all love it. When they swallow this thing, they become calm and gentle, either lying down to rest or looking up at the sky or into the distance. During this time, they won't attack even if prey passes right in front of them."

"I've tested it many times, and they really like this."

Zhou Yi had the Red Falcon call Night Claw.

As the company's only Claw Boar employee, it was most suitable for testing the medicine.

Sniffing the mushroom, Night Claw's eyes immediately widened, and its breathing became heavy.

"Master, this thing is full of... some kind of indescribable attraction."

It didn't know what it was.

The taste test began.

Night Claw opened its mouth and swallowed a cluster of monster-attracting mushrooms, chewing and swallowing.

The Claw Boar employee's eyes glazed over for a moment, and then its whole body visibly relaxed. It squatted on the ground, entering a state of extreme mental relaxation. Its small eyes, which were usually somewhat fierce, became clear and gentle at this time.

After five or six minutes, Night Claw began to describe its physical sensations.

"My whole body feels very comfortable after eating it, especially relaxed and peaceful. The feeling of fatigue has also been greatly eliminated, and it makes me start thinking about what I'm doing, what my purpose in this world is..."

Is this entering sage mode after eating it?

Zhou Yi muttered to himself.

"Red Falcon, check the Recursive City database to see if you can find any information on this mushroom."

Dozens of seconds passed.

The drone replied in his mind: "According to the comparison of the plant's external characteristics, the closest match is the cave mushroom, but the cave mushroom does not have such stimulating, hallucinogenic, and sedative effects. No further information can be found."

"The Recursive City's database focuses on recording various creatures with self-awareness and intelligence. For the vast plant species in the natural world, there are only basic species illustrations."

Zhou Yi looked at Cao Dayuan again: "How many monster-attracting mushrooms do you have?"

"Besides these, I have also transplanted 24 into my cave."

"Wait a moment, I'll call someone to come and take a look with us."

About half an hour later.

Bone, wearing a red scarf, hurried over.

Now, Sun Chonglai was wearing a black leather jacket, jeans, Martin boots, a cowboy hat, and carrying a leather suitcase, looking quite Western. This was one of the outfits Zhou Yi had found for him.

However, he was limping a bit, saying that his leg bone had broken before and hadn't healed yet.

Accompanying Bone were two Black Hand Mushroom assistants.

After listening to Cao Dayuan's description, Sun Chonglai carefully observed the appearance of the monster-attracting mushroom, and then said, "There is no such type in the Mushroom Forest."

"Sun Thirteen, Sun Fourteen, you guys identify it."

The two Black Hand Mushrooms came over and pinched and pulled at the monster-attracting mushroom.

"There's some kind of substance inside."

"Special energy that can stimulate and change the state of the body, making it active and happy."

"It's a bit like the Giant Mushroom's poison."

"A very magical guy."

"Good mushroom, not bad."

"But it's already dead, hard to say."

"We have to see the live one, we can only tell from the live mushroom."

...

Then Zhou Yi had Cao Dayuan lead the way, and the group rushed to Maogu Town.

Only when he went out did he realize that it was windy and the temperature had dropped significantly.

Winter was indeed not far away.

Arriving at Maogu Town again, it was no different from before, still the cave in the mountain with branching caves, with the locals nesting in the caves one by one.

The difference was that last time the residents only glanced at him, but now many people came out of their caves. They held up the things they had collected, including black branches, strangely shaped leaves, and substances that looked like bones or stones... looking like they wanted to sell them.

But they didn't dare to speak, lowered their heads, and didn't dare to make eye contact with Zhou Yi.

Zhou Yi felt like he was there to collect protection fees.

So he said, "Everyone go back, Gong Zheng will continue to handle the transactions, go back."

The townspeople looked at each other, then put away the various things in their hands and returned to their caves one by one.

Cao Dayuan said in a low voice: "Winter is coming, everyone is very worried, they want to buy more firewood for heating, they are afraid of freezing to death while sleeping, which is the easiest time for people to die. If the fire is strong, the chances of survival are higher."

Zhou Yi nodded.

Led by Cao Dayuan, the group came to a low cave in the back, which was covered with damp soil and smelled of rotten and astringent stench.

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"This is one of the 10 caves where I grow mushrooms."

Cao Dayuan introduced: "The new batch of mycelium is in the soil and will take 4 months to cultivate, and then wait another month before the cave mushrooms will grow. But this place is special."

He climbed to the innermost part, carefully peeled away a layer of soil, and then the slender white monster-attracting mushrooms appeared.

"They are all here, the monster-attracting mushrooms are poisonous, and no one comes to take them."

The two Black Hand Mushrooms began to inspect the clusters of mushrooms on the spot.

One of them buried its head in the soil, not knowing what it was doing, while the other was inspecting the surrounding walls and stones.

Bone asked Cao Dayuan: "Are the monster-attracting mushrooms natural wild mushrooms?"

"No."

Cao Dayuan shook his head: "They grow out of the mushroom caves in Maogu Town."

"The earliest monster-attracting mushrooms appeared 6 years ago and almost poisoned people to death. They didn't exist before, and I don't know where they came from."

Bone touched his mandible with his hand.

At this time, the Black Hand Mushroom that had buried its head in the soil suddenly struggled out.

It patted its head and shook off the dirt: "Found it, this mushroom is the result of cave mushroom spores and a kind of excrement. The smell of that excrement is very strange, not human, nor sand rat... what other excrement have you used?"

Cao Dayuan frowned and rubbed the mud on his hands: "The excrement we use is all dried excrement picked up from outside, besides that... there's only Claw Boar."

"That's right! It's the smell of Claw Boar excrement, it needs this key excrement, otherwise it won't grow."

The Black Hand Mushroom gave a thumbs up.

The other Black Hand Mushroom, who was observing around, said: "The environment here is actually not suitable for its growth, it needs more light, more death light to obtain, and more fertile soil. We have to transplant them to the Mushroom Forest, and they will grow faster."

Zhou Yi gave an order, and so this batch of monster-attracting mushrooms was transferred to the Mushroom Forest.

Three days later.

Bone ran all the way to report: "Good news, Chairman! Those monster-attracting mushrooms are growing very well, but they are very tempting to the Black Hand Mushrooms, but the children are very obedient, they know that they have to plant more of them before they have a chance to eat them. So they are all working extra hard."

"Night Claw has already contacted many Claw Boars and taken the Black Hand Mushrooms to find excrement. There are many Claw Boar groups in the north, so there is no need to worry about insufficient excrement. They are hunting various animals and some low-level monsters in the northern forest."

"And the most important thing is that the effect of the monster-attracting mushroom has been determined."

The Mushroom Forest lord said: "This is a spiritual mushroom that is very attractive to flesh and blood Light-Nations, it will give flesh and blood Light-Nations a sense of satisfaction and excitement like a successful hunt, reduce their aggressive impulses, and stimulate wisdom and thinking."

"It is a powerful sedative natural medicine, and also a natural bait that can lure away various monsters! It can be of great use when hunting Light-Nations!"

Zhou Yi shook his head after listening: "The value of the monster-attracting mushroom is far greater than this."

This mushroom is a tobacco with a sage time effect.

If the monster-attracting mushroom can be planted on a large scale, it would be a proper golden road!

In addition, Bone also brought bad news.

The Mushroom Forest, Oasis Belt, and other places have begun to experience continuous snowfall.

Winter has arrived.

Winter beasts may descend at any time.