Published at 8th of October 2024 3:06 am

Chapter 1087: Mushrooms Also Have Business Acumen

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Under the blue sky heralding dawn, the slender Nightlight Mushrooms were bent by the wind, resembling fishing rods hanging from the sky. Bohemia and Dr. Hu held their breath, their unblinking eyes fixed on the scene. The Nightlight Mushroom trembled slightly for a moment and then snapped back up.

It didn’t break!

The tension in the air slowly dissipated for Bohemia and Dr. Hu.

The reason the Nightlight Mushroom didn’t break wasn’t because Lin Sanjiu’s attack lacked power—on the contrary, she had put all her strength into it, enough to crack a building. However, her action was ultimately a step behind the others.

“Let go of me,”

Lin Sanjiu floated in mid-air, upside down, motionless, resembling a fly trapped in an invisible spider web. Before long, blood seeped through the bandages on the back of her head, “I… my wound seems to have reopened—”

“Really?” Puppeteer remained seated on the puppet chair, his hands still clasped as before. Although Lin Sanjiu was suspended high above, he looked as if he hadn’t moved at all. It was unclear how he managed to neutralize most of the wind and capture her in mid-air in the blink of an eye, “Are you not lying to me?”

“It’s true, it hurts!”

“In that case, I can rest assured,” Puppeteer sighed contentedly, “You can continue to hang there.”

When he said “hang there,” neither Bohemia nor Meowie Hu dared to voice any objections. Meowie Hu, who had a bit of a face, muttered for a while before saying, “Why is she still not giving up? Could it be that she didn’t inhale all the spores?”

“Even quitting an addiction is not guaranteed to be successful, let alone quitting foolishness.”

As his gaze swept across the mid-air, Puppeteer’s face revealed clear annoyance and impatience. With the dawn breaking, his pale face, devoid of any color, appeared almost transparent against his jet-black hair. Only the corners of his eyes faintly shimmered with an ink-like shade reminiscent of the morning sky.

On the contrary, Lin Sanjiu’s complexion turned blood-red, and her mouth emitted muffled sounds of discomfort. Bohemia and Meowie Hu continued to look up at her in the air but couldn’t find the right words to persuade Puppeteer to let her down.

“It seems that many people specifically come to this world to embark on a new life,” Puppeteer murmured as if talking to himself, his voice barely audible, “They call it ‘conversion,’ right?”

Although Bohemia wanted to ask what happened after embarking on a new life and being transported, she didn’t dare to open her mouth. Puppeteer’s mood seemed off, making it difficult to tell if he was angry or simply enjoying tormenting others. The best course of action was naturally to say as little as possible.

That man cloaked in black leather seemed to have completely immersed himself in his thoughts. After bowing his head and contemplating for a while, he suddenly raised his head slightly, startling a few people, “Oh, there’s an Experience Hall.”

“Experience Hall?” Meowie Hu couldn’t help but ask.

“It might be just what you need… someone is coming out,” Puppeteer shifted his gaze, “Let them lead the way, let’s go to the Experience Hall.”

Although Bohemia and Meowie Hu were confused and had no idea what the Experience Hall was, they naturally followed when Puppeteer stood up from his ‘chair.’ It wasn’t until they had walked several dozen meters and arrived in front of a mushroom-formed building that a muffled sound accompanied Lin Sanjiu’s descent as she was heavily slammed onto the ground.

If it weren’t for piercing through this thin layer of pretense, it would be hard to imagine that these structures were made of mushrooms. These several buildings were entirely azure, slender, and straight. They had no windows or entrances, only numerous slender threads hanging down from the top. Upon closer inspection, each “thread” was about the width of a person.

The first resident leaving for work in the morning had slid down one of these white threads. When the onlookers saw a figure sliding down along the thread, they initially thought they were seeing things. However, the person descended quickly, releasing their waist buckle when they were about a meter above the ground, landing steadily with a loud thud. It was clear they were well-practiced in this process.

“Good morning!” The man greeted energetically. Although he was an ordinary person, he seemed much livelier than the beaten-up Bohemia and Lin Sanjiu, “Are you outsiders?”

One of the puppets that was previously a chair suddenly reached out and pushed Bohemia who was at the back. She stumbled a few steps forward and caught sight of Puppeteer’s face, covered in a gloomy expression. It was evident he didn’t even want to open his mouth. Bohemia stammered for a few words before finally managing to squeeze out, “Y-yes, we… we want to go to the Experience Hall.”

“Oh!” The man’s face immediately brightened with delight. He had white teeth and bright eyes, and his physique was firm and healthy. Although he was approaching middle age, he looked very pleasant, “So you want to go to the Experience Hall? Welcome, welcome! That’s great, I’m happy for you… Oh, if you don’t mind, let me show you the way?”

As soon as he finished speaking, Lin Sanjiu hobbled closer from behind. Her current appearance could only be described as miserable and suspicious, with bandages covering her head, oozing blood, and covered in mud. However, the middle-aged man’s eyes lit up, and he stepped forward, “Ah, a newcomer—no, wait, you’re not. What’s going on?”

“I… I mean,” Dr. Hu jumped onto Bohemia’s shoulder and whispered with a disgusted expression, “These spores are probably like dog urine. Even if you get rid of it, the smell lingers.”

As Puppeteer would say, Lin Sanjiu’s attempts to quit foolishness had clearly not succeeded. Now she shamefully muttered in a low voice, “I… I don’t know… I want to go back to that moment…”

“I understand.” The middle-aged man seemed to have reached some conclusion. He turned around, glanced at the group, and nodded approvingly, “No time to waste, I’ll take you there.”

Along the way, Bohemia nearly flipped through Puppeteer’s booklet in frustration but finally found an advertisement on the last few pages—it was none other than an advertisement for the Experience Hall. Meowie Hu peeked out from Bohemia’s shoulder, and they both looked at the advertisement for a while, feeling somewhat perplexed.

“Put an end to the turbulence of doomsday and regain a stable life?”

If the title wasn’t strange enough, what about this advertising slogan: “Irreparable flaws inherent in human nature prevent humans from ever achieving balance and happiness in society… The only answer lies in the consumable truth.”

At the bottom of the advertisement, there was an attention-grabbing line in bold font: “In the Experience Hall, the most radiant day of your life is waiting for you. The Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum guarantees honesty, no side effects, and no hidden conditions. You can leave as you were after the experience.”

“I say,” Meowie Hu hopped onto Bohemia’s shoulder and asked Puppeteer, “What’s the deal with this advertisement?”

“Do you even need to ask?” Puppeteer replied lazily, “The mushrooms in this world, also known as the so-called truth, are aware of the existence of the Twelve Worlds. They dispatch posthumans who have become Servants of Truth back to the Twelve Worlds to advertise in the Mokugyo Encyclopedic Forum’s booklets. The high cost of visas in this world is one of the reasons for this advertisement.”

He seemed to have props to accommodate the puppets, though there wasn’t much space. Nevertheless, it ensured that he always had enough puppets around him. At this moment, he was half-lying on a low bed, carried by two puppets on their shoulders. With each step they took, the feathers on Puppeteer’s body quivered, seemingly flaunting themselves intentionally.

“It’s excessive self-awareness. Always using such eye-catching things,” Lin Sanjiu muttered under her breath. Bohemia hoped that the next time she made such comments, she would keep her distance.

Fortunately, Puppeteer was far behind and probably didn’t hear her. Bohemia hesitated for a moment, then asked Lin Sanjiu in a low voice, “Hey, when you were in the Lobster Mushroom earlier, didn’t you take it off? Where is it now?”

As she spoke, Bohemia gestured to her own neck.

“No, he woke up later, so it was harder to take it off,” when it came to matters unrelated to the truth, Lin Sanjiu remained relatively normal, “But the drool bib got crumpled up, and he didn’t notice it when he was badly injured. Besides, he has all sorts of things on him…”

“It’s in my backpack,” Dr. Hu suddenly approached, rubbing his furry face against Bohemia’s, causing itchiness, “I took it off when I was treating his wounds. I remembered when you suddenly noticed the drool bib on his neck, your face looked like a mess.”

“I knew she couldn’t be trusted!” Bohemia’s tears were almost streaming down her face, “Doctor, your great kindness, I…”

Before she could finish expressing her gratitude, the middle-aged man in front suddenly stopped in his tracks. He turned around, smiled at the group, and pointed not far ahead, “This is the nearest Experience Hall to us. You’re lucky, and it’s quite spacious.”

If he hadn’t led them into the central area of a cluster of mushroom-like skyscrapers, they probably wouldn’t have noticed that there was a plain brick house hidden among them. It was surrounded by an open space, completely devoid of weeds, with a flat surface paved with sand and stones.

It must be said that seeing such a completely fungus-free and tranquil place was a relief.

“To make outsiders feel at ease and relaxed, our Experience Halls are all built with unhealthy and unnatural red bricks.” The middle-aged man sighed, seemingly somewhat regretful, “I just don’t understand why anyone would want to live in these cold, rigid things…”

As he spoke, he pushed open the gate for the group, “I still have work to do, and professionals will take care of you next. Don’t worry! Next, you will experience the true beauty of life. Oh, sir, aren’t you going in?”

When the two humans and the cat turned around, they saw that the puppets had stopped far behind, and Puppeteer seemed oblivious, his expression unchanged. The middle-aged man didn’t seem bothered and left with a smile. It was Bohemia whose expression turned sour.

“W-wait a minute,” she mustered up the courage to ask, “It’s fine for Lin Sanjiu to go in, but are we really going in… without any issues?”

“Just you, not us.” Dr. Hu sat on the ground, his four paws tightly pressed together, looking as if not even a crane could lift him, “I’m not going in. What do human flaws and happiness have to do with me? I’m not the target object.”

Bohemia couldn’t argue.

“This Experience Hall is probably meant for people to experience what it’s like to become Servants of Truth, right? But what if—”

“You’re afraid that they’ll take advantage of the opportunity to turn you into servants?” Puppeteer suddenly spoke, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “They understand humans very well, knowing exactly what to do to attract gullible fools. Oh, look, that gullible fool has already gone inside.”

Bohemia turned around and saw Lin Sanjiu’s figure disappear through the entrance. She immediately forgot about asking any more questions and hurriedly shouted, “What’s the rush?” before rushing in herself. The door had a sensor, and as soon as they entered, it closed slowly behind them.

Although there were no windows inside, the lighting was soft, and the air carried a faint scent of wood. This seemed to be a reception room, with two light green doors at the other end. Based on the simple signs, the real experience was supposed to begin beyond the light green doors.

“Welcome,” a gentle and pleasant female voice sounded, “Please wait, our receptionists will be with you shortly.”

“It feels like some kind of commercial service,” Lin Sanjiu suddenly complained softly, “I don’t think it’s necessary. They should focus on the spiritual experience instead. What’s with that expression on your face?”

Bohemia’s mood was now gloomy, twisted, and uncomfortable. She only had one face, not enough to express so many emotions. And now that she thought about it, she realized she could have chosen not to come in. Regret added another layer to her feelings.

“I feel burdened just thinking about experiencing this with you,” she said sullenly, “Why is your constitution so good? Your head was injured, why haven’t you passed out?”

“If I pass out, I won’t be able to experience the ultimate goodness of life.”

It wasn’t Lin Sanjiu who replied. As the light green doors slid open silently, a young man with a calm pace walked into the reception room. He smiled slightly at the two individuals, maintaining an attitude that was neither humble nor overbearing, “Welcome, I am your receptionist.”

If there was an ideal human prototype, it probably wouldn’t differ much from the appearance of this young receptionist—although he couldn’t be considered exceptionally handsome, his facial features, physique, demeanor, and overall aura were clean and comfortable, exuding a sense of perfect harmony.

“Here, you will experience the feelings of an ordinary day from the perspective of our locals,” he spoke gently, each word sincere and natural, “These feelings are voluntarily provided by our volunteers, and we randomly extract a day from their memories as the content of the Experience Hall. In other words, what you will experience next is the absolute real human perception… The experiences are categorized by profession, gender, and age. May I ask which one you would like to choose?”

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