Chapter 16
390words
Mycelium pierced his arm like IV lines, pumping golden fluid into his veins. He lay in a nest woven from fungal threads, unconscious Lila and Amy beside him. Above loomed the giant golden eye, its pupil streaming with images—abandoned cities, desperate survivors, even the tilapia flapping in the "Ark's" ruins.
"Do you see?" a voice resonated directly in his mind. "This is the hive's perspective."
Kay struggled to reach his waist; the cutting torch remained.
"Futile," the voice mocked. "My offspring already inhabit you. Your actions cannot outpace thought."
Kay stared at his arm. Golden threads spread beneath his skin, consuming his neural pathways.
"Amy was a failed vessel," the giant eye swiveled toward the girl. "She clung to her pathetic individuality. But you..." Suddenly, mycelium speared into Kay's temple!
Information flooded his consciousness: fungi arriving via meteorites, learning human technology, exploiting Buck's freezing experiments to create traps. The hive mind whispered: "Join us. Your mobile technology could help our symbiotic civilization traverse the stars..."
Kay suddenly laughed.
"What amuses you?" The giant eye contracted.
"Your stupidity." Kay slashed his knife across the filaments on his arm! Searing pain cleared his mind—the fish scale powder still glowed, slowing the golden threads' invasion compared to normal human tissue.
"You thought you were parasitizing me?" He raised his cutting torch. "I was baiting you!"
Flames erupted from the torch—not at the giant eye, but toward the ice ceiling above!
High heat melted the ice, unleashing a torrent! The fungal tree emitted an unearthly screech as water crashed down, and for the first time, the golden eye displayed fear.
"LILA!" Kay roared.
The botanist was already moving. She shoved Amy toward Kay, then lunged for the control panel and jammed in Buck's diary chip!
【...Refrigerant pipeline at the third valve of the dome...】 Buck's recorded voice shouted.
Lila wrenched the rusted valve wheel. Ultra-low temperature liquid nitrogen gushed from the broken pipe, flash-freezing the giant tree!
"NOW!" Kay slammed the USB drive into the frozen giant eye.
Deep Freeze Protocol initiated.
Absolute-zero blue light exploded outward. Everything inside the chamber instantly crystallized—even water droplets hung suspended in mid-air. Kay clutched Amy and rolled toward Lila, using the last fish scale powder to form a protective light shield.
The cryogenic shockwave hurled all three of them through the air!
