Chapter 1095: Discussing What Bohemia Doesn't Care About

Upon careful consideration, you might not find this too strange.

People live inside the mushrooms, tend to the mushroom farms, wear clothing made from mushroom materials, and walk on the ground made from mushroom caps. Even half of their diet consists of various mushrooms... The result of living together year-round is that, intentionally or not, everyone carries a large number of spores inside them.

"That old lady decided to use her life to stop us because she had placed her hope on the spores inside her body. Once we were contaminated by the spores released from her body after death, we would immediately experience that happiness similar to finding the truth and become a part of the mushroom society - or what they call themselves, the 'Servants of Truth.' Through this action, the old lady could eliminate a threat to society. People here don't hold life in high regard, and perhaps in her eyes, after living for so many years, using her life to secure the stability of society was a profitable trade."

"I won't do such a foolish thing," Bohemia said, crossing her arms. "But I don't need to do that either. I'm a posthuman; it's simple to catch a thief, right?"

Although she said that, there was a hint of hesitation in her tone. She lowered her head, and her golden-brown curly hair was disheveled, partially covering her face, making her expression hard to discern.

Lin Sanjiu glanced at her and continued, "I'm concerned that after you become a part of the mushroom society, even if you aren't forcibly transformed, these thoughts and att.i.tudes might gradually seep into your consciousness. People are much more susceptible to influence than they think."

Bohemia remained silent.

"It's like how birds and animals carry seeds far away after eating fruit... but the situation is slightly different. People should be aware that there are spores inside them, and they've long grown accustomed to it. They transport the bodies to places where mushrooms don't grow, hoping that, after a rain, new mushrooms will sprout from the corpses. Do you remember? When we were in the detention center, the weather was gloomy, and it was about to rain soon. Everyone kept telling us that it was a good day and that new housing would become available soon... It was because the timing for mushroom growth had arrived."

"Those disgusting bean sprouts also grew after that rain."

After a while, Bohemia suddenly looked up. Her face was so wrinkled that it resembled a rag, "So you mean, as long as I get wet, there's a chance mushrooms might grow out of my body at any time?"

Although she didn't want Bohemia to stay, Lin Sanjiu couldn't lie to her. If Bohemia was going to make a decision that would impact the rest of her life, she needed to hear the whole truth.

"It shouldn't happen, I think," Lin Sanjiu admitted. "From a certain perspective, these spores are like bacteria. Our skin and bodies usually carry astronomical numbers of bacteria, but as long as the immune system functions properly, humans can live without any issues, and these bacteria don't affect us. I believe the relations.h.i.+p between spores and the human body should be similar..."

After all, humans and mushrooms jointly formed an ecological cycle. If spores grew uncontrollably from living people and affected human survival to the point where they disrupted the balance, it would be detrimental to the mushrooms themselves.

The tightly wrinkled rag-like expression relaxed, and Bohemia's face returned to its smooth appearance. She waved her hand dismissively, completely unburdened. This casual att.i.tude startled Lin Sanjiu a little, "It's not a big deal. Our bodies are naturally hosting so many things. What's the difference between hosting bacteria or spores?"

If this didn't faze her, the next point might not deter Bohemia either. Lin Sanjiu sighed, "It seems like people here can't reproduce and have offspring."

"That's not true," Bohemia insisted. She had to bring up Mei Jia, who indeed had a mother. Furthermore, in this society, there were many children of various ages. If people couldn't reproduce, where did these children come from? In truth, Lin Sanjiu's conclusion was half speculative, and if she was pressed to explain 'why,' she couldn't provide any evidence. As she hesitated about how to explain this, she suddenly realized that Bohemia wasn't the one who had spoken.

Dr. Hu had just been sleeping soundly like a log moments ago, but now he suddenly sat up, his eyes alert and without any signs of drowsiness. Truly, he was a cat.

Turning around, Lin Sanjiu noticed the receptionist standing not far behind the two of them, seemingly having appeared out of nowhere. Even the posthumans hadn't heard his footsteps. He stood with his hands clasped together, with a mild and gentle expression, almost like a leaf gently blown by the wind - indeed, compared to the hot-blooded, loud-voiced humans, his temperament was closer to that of plants like bamboo or orchids. Lin Sanjiu lowered her head to look at his shoes and faintly saw a thick, white cus.h.i.+on-like material at the edges.

When she turned her head, the burning pain at the back of her head stirred, clouding her mind once again. Her current condition was truly dire, and at times, she couldn't even grasp quite obvious things. She glanced at the receptionist and asked, "How long have you been standing there?"

"I'm sorry, I entered the courtyard from the other entrance," the receptionist explained, gesturing to the side of the low building, where from Lin Sanjiu's perspective, there was only a wall. "You both seemed very engrossed in your conversation, and I couldn't help but stop to listen. I heard you say that people here can't reproduce and couldn't help speaking up. I'm truly sorry if I startled you."

"Reproduction or whatever has nothing to do with me," Bohemia interjected languidly, "I don't even know how many years I've got left in this life. Why bother thinking about things so remote? Whether or not they can reproduce doesn't concern me. Maybe she got it wrong?"

Even though she had no interest in the topic, it didn't stop her from wanting the people in the mushroom society to be as normal as possible. Lin Sanjiu turned to the receptionist, asking in a serious tone, "Is it really like that?"

Despite having almost no concrete evidence to support her guess, she didn't believe she was wrong. Perhaps now was an opportunity to see if the receptionist would lie.

The receptionist tilted his head slightly, appearing to find this question somewhat tricky. He lightly scratched his chin.

"In reality, our physiological structure is identical to yours, as we are all humans. Of course, the reanimated corpses modified by the ants, while they may look similar to us, are no longer considered human. In any case, you have reproductive functions, and so do we."

Lin Sanjiu felt he hadn't said everything.

"However, approximately five years ago," he confessed with a hint of embarra.s.sment, revealing a row of pearly white teeth that gave the impression he wasn't accustomed to sharing his private matters with strangers, "I chose to voluntarily give up my reproductive capability."