Evolution Begins with Elemental Domination

As things stood, Su Chen’s opponent wasn’t any specific person or Parasite Body, but the hive mind consciousness of the entire fungal network.

A vast, endless hive mind hidden deep beneath the forest floor, one that was constantly learning and evolving.

Considering the diversity of the fungi and the various natures of the Parasite Bodies observed so far, there might even be some internal competition at play. Some devoured the brain to turn their host into a direct puppet, while others merely hijacked the host’s hormones, indirectly controlling their life and death.

Not long after, General Manager Shao’s voice came over the campground’s broadcast system. Citing the severe disaster caused by the parasite tide, he announced a full retreat for the next day.

An official guard squad would approach the base to escort everyone through the forest, or simply over Cyan Dragon Ridge and back to the city.

As for housing, the officials would arrange it for free.

In a way, it was a hell of a joke. Houses people could never afford in the past were now free for the picking.

However, they couldn’t count on having electricity.

Additionally, there was no promise of permanent, long-term material support. Expecting that would be unrealistic—purely wishful thinking. The officials would provide a transitional three-day food ration and a bag of seeds. People were expected to use the Growth Skill Rune to secure their own food supply.

To get more food in the days to come, they would naturally need to earn it by participating in labor.

Dongfu City needed plenty of manpower, both for constructing its outer defenses and for solving its internal drainage and flooding problems.

The strong had more options. They could exchange designated herbs, rare minerals, or the Rune Essence obtained from hunting demonic beasts with the officials for food, clean water, and other supplies.

”Sounds a lot more reliable than this campground. At least there, we won’t be dealing with a total lack of supplies and such high risk.”

”True. We have to go to the Sanctuary eventually anyway, so heading back to the city was bound to happen.”

The weak and the strong both had their reasons for leaving.

All things considered, retreating to the city was indeed the optimal solution.

As for those who still chose to stay behind, there were no compulsory measures.

To each their own.

It was just that if they faced a life-threatening disaster, they couldn’t expect any rescue.

”Anyone want to buy an electric station wagon? Still has 80% charge!” someone shouted in the trading hall. Since it was impossible to take large items with them, some people were still trying to sell things off cheap for some Rune Essence.

They weren’t taking it anyway, so they might as well try their luck and see if anyone staying behind was interested.

Su Chen paid them no mind. Taking advantage of this final, swelling crowd, he did his best to trade away the twenty-odd pieces of Rune Essence he had accumulated.

A few practical, daily-life-oriented Runes were also his main targets for this round of trades.

With the broker Yuan Haotian acting as his wingman, he got lucky. He successfully made an equal trade, swapping an Acid Rain Skill Lv4 for a Water Creation Skill Lv4, just as he had hoped.

Through scattered exchanges of Rune Essence, Su Chen also synthesized a Water Element Purification Skill, which solidified at Lv3. He didn’t absorb it himself, but instead attached it to a perfect wooden stick.

After that came a slew of Rune upgrade materials.

After shuttling between the two trading halls until ten at night, he was left with only six useless Runes he hadn’t managed to trade away.

It was already late, but the number of people milling about hadn’t decreased in the slightest.

No one was sure when the Parasite Bodies’ offensive would come, and the pervasive panic made it nearly impossible to sleep. Not to mention, with this being the last night before the great retreat, many people were extremely eager to trade.

”Here’s your payment.” After leaving, Su Chen directly handed Yuan Haotian a Scorching Beam Lv2 Rune.

”Thanks, boss.”

The other man wasn’t coy about it; this was exactly what all his running around had been for. A grin split his face as he absorbed the Fire Element Rune on the spot.

When he got back to his parking spot, he learned that several people and their RVs had been kicked out of the camp. The reason was simple: it was related to the use of Hallucinogenic Mushrooms.

Elsewhere, people were standing on top of their RVs, starting to dismantle the solar panels. Clearly, a large number of vehicle owners were planning to leave. The RVs were hard to take, but they wouldn’t just leave their most valuable solar panels for someone else to benefit from, even if it meant tearing them off by force.

This task was much harder than it looked. The panels had been firmly fixed in place with sealant during installation. Besides, a solar panel alone was useless; they also had to remove the matching controller and battery from inside the vehicle.

It was tantamount to performing open-heart surgery on an RV. It was a job nearly impossible to pull off without a professional.

’Guess I can only wish them luck.’

Su Chen’s expression was calm. He felt no trace of sadness as the newly established camp gradually emptied. ’We were all just passing through, after all.’

He had Xiaoye stand guard under the tent outside the vehicle. Then, as usual, he took a shower and lay down comfortably on his large bed. To block out the noise from the camp, he even put on noise-canceling headphones.

If anything really happened, Xiaoye would wake him through their soul connection.

「A quiet night passed.」

During the night, he was briefly woken by the feedback conversion from his family’s Jade Pendant. Afterward, he had it absorb the remaining half of the mineral crystal and two Wood Element Runes.

After that, he slept until dawn.

「The next day, at 6 AM.」

Full of energy, Su Chen began his early morning warm-up. After experiencing a ’+2 Physique’ and a ’+1 Physique’, his personal Physique stat had reached 20 points.

He was now on his tenth set of dragon flag crunches. His hands braced against the floor behind him, body suspended and leaning back, legs held together and raised toward the sky. His entire core was tensed like a steel cable.

Despite the high difficulty of the core workout, he completed ten sets fluidly, without the slightest pause or a single gasp for breath.