Chapter Thirty-Three: A Startling Transformation

Almost everyone here had lost their minds. Shen Lie saw the savagery on Wang Laoben’s face and the numbness of the onlookers, and could only sigh inwardly. The apocalypse would change too many things—this place was probably just the tip of the iceberg.

Wang Laoben’s furious howl made the few men and women around shiver, especially the girl he addressed, whose trembling was like a leaf in the wind.

“Hey, little girl, what’s your name again? Oh, right, Huang Xiaoxue, isn’t it? Today, your Uncle Wang will show you what a real man is like! Hahaha...”

Wang Laoben laughed wickedly as he strode over to the girl, grabbed her by the arm, and without another word, started dragging her away. The girl was already weak, and as Wang Laoben hauled her along the ground, she pleaded desperately for mercy.

“Uncle, please, let me go! I’m begging you, Uncle, please!”

“Haha, that’s right, keep calling me Uncle, I like the sound of that!” The more pitifully the girl cried out, the more arrogant Wang Laoben became, and his followers chimed in with obscene laughter.

“Hey, Brother Shen, isn’t that Wang Qingshan over there?” Just as Shen Lie was about to intervene, Zhang Jing’s words made him pause.

“Wang Qingshan? It really is him. There’s still a score I haven’t settled with this guy—might as well take care of it today!” Following Zhang Jing’s gesture, Shen Lie saw that it was indeed Wang Qingshan. The man’s distinguishing features were so obvious now that you could spot him from a mile away.

Shen Lie quickly pulled Zhang Jing behind a mutated plant, wanting to see what had brought Wang Qingshan here.

Wang Qingshan was not alone—a girl of about a dozen years followed him. She was clearly untroubled by hardship; her body was well cared for, and her clothes were spotless.

“Who’s the girl?” Shen Lie asked instinctively.

“Wang Qingshan’s daughter, I think her name is Wang Lingling,” Zhang Jing replied without hesitation. She seemed to know the survivors of the town quite well.

Perhaps seeing Wang Qingshan arrive, Wang Laoben released his grip on the girl and immediately changed his expression, plastering on a fawning smile. “Heavenly King Wang, what brings you here today?”

Not only Wang Laoben, but the others all bowed and scraped, greeting Wang Qingshan obsequiously. Wang Qingshan didn’t even lift his head. He simply extended his withered hand and said in a tone that brooked no refusal, “Hand it over.”

Wang Laoben was momentarily stunned, not understanding. “Hand over…hand over what?”

“Heh, you’re bold enough to talk back to me now?” Wang Qingshan’s dry, rasping voice was laced with menace, making the atmosphere instantly tense.

Startled, Wang Laoben waved his hands frantically in denial, then suddenly remembered something. He looked at the plastic bag in his hand, reached in, and pulled out a phantom mushroom. “Is this what you mean, Heavenly King?”

As soon as the mushroom appeared, everyone’s eyes lit up—including Shen Lie’s. This mushroom was clearly bigger than a typical phantom mushroom, and its color was especially bright. Shen Lie also noticed its glow pulsed rapidly, and the energy emanating from it was intense, even eliciting a faint resonance with the powers within his own body.

If Shen Lie could sense this from afar, Wang Qingshan, standing nearby, would surely feel it even more strongly. His eyes flashed with greed as he reached out unceremoniously to grab it. Unexpectedly, Wang Laoben instinctively flinched and failed to hold on, causing the mushroom to tumble to the ground.

“Are you tired of living? Looks like I’ll have to show some force—no one in this town takes me seriously anymore!” Wang Qingshan, having missed the mushroom, flew into a rage. In a flash, he moved to strike Wang Laoben.

Wang Laoben seemed to hear death calling; in desperation, he screeched, “Spare me, Heavenly King! I’m Ma Tianwang’s nephew!”

As he finished, Wang Qingshan’s hand clamped around his throat. Wang Laoben was so frightened that a stream of urine trickled down his leg.

“What’s Ma Zhanlin to you?” Wang Qingshan’s face shifted uncertainly, but at last he relented.

“Heh, Ma Tianwang—he’s my uncle, my mother’s brother,” Wang Laoben stammered, eyes fixed on Wang Qingshan’s withered hand.

“Ma Zhanlin, Ma Tianwang—so impressive. Alright, I’ll let you go this time. Now get out of my sight!” At first, Wang Qingshan seemed ready to kill, but then his eyes flickered with a different thought. He flung Wang Laoben to the ground and gestured impatiently, turning to retrieve the phantom mushroom.

But at that moment, still prone on the ground, Huang Xiaoxue suddenly snatched the mushroom and, to everyone’s astonishment, stuffed it into her mouth and swallowed it whole!

“You little whore, you want to die? Spit it out, now!” Wang Qingshan was the first to react, his fury barely controlled. That mushroom was obviously extraordinary—who knew what power it might grant? At the very least, it would provide more energy than a regular mushroom. Now this filthy woman had swallowed it. Even if he forced it back out, it would be hard to stomach.

Wang Qingshan’s threats only made Huang Xiaoxue swallow faster. With barely a chew or two, it was already down. That wasn’t the most shocking thing, though—what truly stunned everyone was what happened next: after swallowing the mushroom, Huang Xiaoxue’s entire body suddenly began to swell, ballooning like an overinflated bladder!

“Another lunatic dreaming of awakening,” Zhang Jing remarked coolly beside Shen Lie, though her eyes betrayed a glimmer of hope—perhaps wishing the girl might succeed, opening a door to awakening for ordinary people like themselves.

Even if awakening meant bodily mutation, in these times, what did appearance matter? The more beautiful you were, the more trouble you attracted. Only strength could guarantee survival.

Shen Lie could understand the girl’s feelings. In such a situation, the torment of survival might be worse than death. Better to take a gamble—leave life and death to fate.

He watched with unwavering attention; it was his first time witnessing a normal person consume a phantom mushroom. He’d only heard stories before—now he could observe everything firsthand.

Under the crowd’s gaze, Huang Xiaoxue grew larger and larger, until she was a sphere more than a meter in diameter. At that point, she stopped expanding, but began to elongate, with black hair sprouting all over her body, shredding her clothes in the process. In the blink of an eye, the once slender girl was transformed into a bloated, long-haired beast.

“Did… did she actually succeed?” Though Huang Xiaoxue’s appearance was monstrous, several onlookers gasped in envy. In their minds, awakened ones always became half-human monsters, and Huang Xiaoxue’s transformation seemed to fit that mold, if a bit too extreme.

“Is this what happens to others who eat phantom mushrooms?” Shen Lie sensed something was off, though he couldn’t say what, and asked Zhang Jing beside him.

“No. I’ve seen ordinary people eat phantom mushrooms before—they usually swell until their skin bursts and they explode. I’ve never heard of anything like this. Could she really have awakened?” Zhang Jing’s tone was tinged with anxious hope.

“Ah!”

Before Shen Lie could ask further, Zhang Jing cried out in shock. Exclamations echoed from the crowd. Shen Lie quickly turned to look at Huang Xiaoxue and gasped in disbelief.

Covered in black hair, Huang Xiaoxue had risen from the ground, but not upright—rather, she stood on all fours like an animal. The hair concealed every inch of her skin, even her face, and her ears had grown long and pointed, standing tall atop her head. From her backside, a short, thick tail slowly emerged. She was the spitting image of an oversized, long-haired dog.