Chapter 395

Chapter 395: Wilderness Oasis

This is the so-called magic of the "Master." Besides enabling them to regain their sanity, performing the peculiar rituals of the Holy Fire Meow Meow Cult is something only the "Master" can accomplish.

Other extraordinary beasts have attempted to mimic this behavior, but the humans on the city walls seemed largely indifferent.

Well, not entirely indifferent; at least the soldiers on the walls found it quite entertaining.

However, since the initiating beast was not Fulan, the anticipated feeding did not occur near the extraordinary beasts.

Over time, the extraordinary beasts vehemently condemned such freeloading antics, and eventually, no members dared to overstep; this heavy burden still fell on Fulan.

Now, earlier, the advance team led by Fulan had discovered traces of a swamp just a few kilometers ahead.

Upon hearing this news, Fulan carefully recalled her conversations with Lin Qingliu, remembering that he had indeed mentioned the swamps south of Hope City.

Not long ago, a small team of superpowered individuals attempted to cross the swamp to reach farther lands, relying on a superpowered individual who could freely alter their body to succeed.

However, they did not venture deep; after visiting a settlement deep in the swamp, they returned the same way to report back to Hope City.

Thinking of this, Fulan grew more determined to explore deeper, but they, being extraordinary beasts, actually had no way to navigate through such swamp areas.

Left with no choice, Fulan had to lead her team to skirt around the swamp; even if they couldn’t enter the depths, marking out the area would still be beneficial.

However, this decision led Fulan and a group of wild extraordinary beasts into an encounter battle.

They faced a group of irrational extraordinary beasts, mostly foolish ones from the Green Cocoon; however, they seemed to be branded in some way, gathering in groups to guard the swamps, forming an oasis-like area in conjunction with the Mycelium Ecology around there.

In this situation, fleeing was certainly not Fulan’s character. Having faced the super beast tide before, she felt no tremor at the sight before her and began commanding her extraordinary beasts to attack the group.

Nevertheless, battles always come with various unexpected events. Both sides were quite wary of the swamp’s presence, but during the fierce fighting, some extraordinary beasts inevitably entered the areas of thick, sticky mud.

That substance, resembling both swamp and asphalt, was highly viscous; once touched, it was nearly impossible to extricate oneself.

If they could shed their clothing or shoes freely like humans, it would be manageable, but for this group of extraordinary beasts, once half their body got stuck, they couldn’t simply shed a layer of skin and could only suffocate in the sticky fluid.

Without time to mourn for the few subordinates lost, and upon discovering this characteristic, Fulan immediately commanded her extraordinary beasts to encircle and drive away the enemies.

The fierce battle raged throughout the night, and by the time the sun rose, the extraordinary beasts guarding the area had vanished from the swamp’s surface, with only the occasional bubbles surfacing to prove their past existence.

Victorious, Fulan felt less happiness than expected. Standing on the head of the left guardian, she gazed at the distant oasis and nearby swamp, sensing that the matter was not as simple as it appeared.

"I’ll go take a look personally; you all stay here and don’t wander around, be careful not to get killed."

Fulan instructed and then leaped down from the head of the large extraordinary beast, gradually approaching the depths of the swamp.

Seeing this, the extraordinary beasts all let out anxious roars. A few that could communicate over the internal network began frantically tagging their leader in small groups.

But Fulan remained unmoved; as she advanced, she could distinctly feel the ground below her claws becoming increasingly sticky and soft.

But this did not hinder her.

If one carefully reviewed Lin Qingliu’s ledger, they would find that before Fulan first went out hunting in the wild, there was a period of unusually high expenses.

Those information coins were all spent on collecting various materials obtainable through normal channels, which were then fed to Fulan to enrich her material library.

Facing the increasingly dangerous environment, Fulan entered a chaotic state. A few seconds later, she transformed into a smaller version of Wang Xiao’s armor, stepping out of the shadows.

Yet this alone was not enough; under Fulan’s subjective construction, the material of this armor underwent significant changes, allowing her to glide effortlessly over the swamp’s surface with its smooth, wide soles.

Even though staying in the same spot for too long would still result in being swallowed by the swamp, Fulan maintained her movement and collected sufficient samples in the process.

Applying the sticky asphalt-like substance onto a fortunate extraordinary beast, Fulan instructed it to head north to return to Hope City and present this material, while also indirectly reporting the matter to Lin Qingliu.

Once this was done, Fulan no longer looked back at the swamp that devoured beasts without spitting out bones and turned her gaze toward the oasis formed by concentrated mycelium life in the distance.

Why would mycelium have a separate base here?

Or rather, why was there no mycelium ecology like that in the forest near this swamp, but only a small oasis and a group of weak low-level extraordinary beasts?

This area was already quite far from Hope City; mycelium could easily extend its tendrils here, but it chose not to…

Having personally experienced that exploration alongside Wang Xiao, Fulan was acutely aware of the horrors of mycelium.

Those indescribable beings had even evolved to a level where they could move swiftly.

However, after a period of observation, these mycelial plants showed no significant reaction…

They felt like… like a part of the main body that had been abandoned, having grown and developed here, but not yet evolved to the same level as the will of the mycelium; among those mycelium-mimicking plants, some seemed quite ordinary and common, not of the more diverse mixture…

Fulan noted this down as well, planning to report it to Lin Qingliu after mapping the nearby area.

The injured Holy Fire Meow Meow Cult army bypassed that oasis and continued along the swamp’s edge.

At the edge of Fulan’s vision, a dilapidated structure could vaguely be seen in the direction of the swamp, barely holding on without collapsing.

Fulan had already mapped out the route for her team’s long journey.

They would first travel approximately a hundred kilometers south along the coast and swamp before beginning to draw arcs centered around Hope City, to at least grasp the terrain and geomorphology distribution in this area, facilitating their next actions.