[February 18, 2039, the first day when ZJ2578 was brought back from the surface.]

[At 10:09 a.m., the experimental team removed a 0.5 cm hyphae sample from the root and sealed it at low temperature. At 10:15 a.m., 0.13 g of spores were scraped from the cap and sent to the fungus research laboratory.]

[At 15:06 p.m., the species to which ZJ2578 belongs has not been identified, and the research team decided to temporarily conduct trial cultivation of spores based on the habits of the two mushrooms, "Chinese Delicious Mushroom" and "White Jade Mushroom."]

[At 18:06 in the evening, the first batch of about 2,000 spores entered the culture medium in batches.]

[The medium temperature is 25 degrees Celsius, the pH value is 6, and glucose is used as a nutrient for culture.]

[February 19, 2039, the day after ZJ2578 was brought back from the surface.]

[At 10:06 am, 16 hours have passed since all the spores entered the culture medium and no hyphae were produced.]

[At 18:06 in the evening, 24 hours have passed since all the spores entered the culture medium and no hyphae were produced.]

[At 0:06 a.m. the next day, 30 hours had passed since all the spores entered the culture medium for cultivation, and no hyphae were produced.]

[February 20, 2039, the third day after ZJ2578 was brought back from the surface.]

【……】

On the experimental bench where the ZJ2578 body is placed, Xu Xuelin is carefully recording the findings of the past few days.

However, a full week has passed since they tried to cultivate the spores of this unknown mushroom, but there has been no progress at all.

The spores put into the culture medium seem to be dormant, and there is no movement no matter what you do.

During this process, they even changed the temperature, humidity, pH value and light, but they could not see the production of mycelium.

And what is incredible is that these spores neither continue to divide nor undergo apoptosis.

What it was like a week ago is what it is now, just lying quietly in the culture medium without any movement.

At first, Xu Xuelin thought he had collected it wrong and mistook the secretions of the mushroom for spores. However, after microscopic examination, he found that these things did have a spore structure.

What's even worse is that there has been no progress in the research on the mushroom itself.

The species, habits, and reasons for being able to withstand high concentrations of radiation...these are still a mystery!

"ZJ2578..." He couldn't help but put his hand on the glass jar containing the unknown mushroom. Xu Xuelin sighed for the first time since he encountered it: "What kind of mushroom are you? How come you don't even have any clues?"

Can’t find it?”

From the outside, it looks like a mushroom. If you slice it under a microscope, it is still a mushroom. Even after genetic testing, it is still a mushroom, but I just don’t know what kind of mushroom it is.

After nearly twenty years of biological research, this was the first time that Xu Xuelin encountered such a difficult problem, which even made him question his own level.

"Hey..." He sighed again, put away the notebook, and left the laboratory with a look of disappointment.

Xu Xuelin would not have thought that just after he left, a tiny spore slowly floated out from under the mushroom's canopy.

Sticking to the glass where he had put his finger just now, the spore shook slightly, and then disappeared completely.

Appear again, and you're on the other side of the glass.

I traced the fingerprints on the glass and found that its body had grown a little larger, spreading out hyphae that were even thinner than vellus hairs.

There was obviously no wind, but this tiny hyphae was floating.

Float and float...Float and float...

It floated all the way to the lead door.

Just like the situation happened again, the hyphae swayed slightly again and disappeared into the door. About two or three seconds later, it appeared on the other side of the door, but it became slightly shorter.

"Is there still no progress in Professor Xu's new project?"

"It seems so. I heard that his hair has been falling out a lot lately!"

"Haha! That's too miserable. Fortunately, I'm from the herbaceous plant group next door!"

Two young men wearing lead clothes walked by, still discussing the base's recent research projects.

Facing the two tall creatures that appeared in front of her, the hyphae probed forward, swayed left and right, and seemed to be making some kind of choice.

Finally, it floated to the taller one on the right.

The weightless mycelium stuck to the lead coat like a speck of dust, then climbed up like a worm, and finally fell into the researcher's neck.

It's almost like blowing air. The moment it sticks to the skin, it increases at a speed visible to the naked eye.

Split, split, split again.

Countless microscopic movements that were imperceptible to the naked eye were going on. Finally, the unlucky guy attached to the hyphae felt the tingling sensation and reached out to touch his neck.

The tiny mycelium was pinched in someone's hand, and where it left, a small hole the size of a pinhole appeared on the originally flat skin.

Although the wound is not large, compared with the surrounding skin, this area is slightly sunken, and it seems to have been eaten away.

"Why is there a white hair?" After carefully observing the thing in his hand, the unlucky man made a confused voice.

Pulling the thing on his hand, he saw that it was stretched and curled like hair. He breathed a sigh of relief and threw it into the trash can in the corridor.

After he left, the hyphae that had been thrown into the trash bin floated up again quietly.

Like a dandelion blown by the wind, it passed through the lead door again and floated into another laboratory.

Stored here are various plants brought back from the surface.

However, compared with the comparison pictures posted on the glass jar, their appearance has undergone earth-shaking changes.

I played a few floats in front of these glass tanks, and the mycelium finally floated to a plant with "edamame" written on it.

Although it is an edamame, its pods are as big as a child's hand, and their shape is not the original half-moon shape, but a whole bunch nestled together.

Through the outer skin of the pod, the mycelium penetrates directly and lies on the huge and plump beans inside.

As the hyphae trembled regularly, the bean beneath me flattened, and its shape also changed, from the size of a hair to the thickness of a grain of rice.

When the beans beneath him were empty, the mycelium swayed again.

At this time, an amazing scene happened!

The epidermis of the hyphae is changing color at an extremely fast speed, and in the end it turns out to be the same as the edamame underneath!

The body that was originally as fluffy and soft as a sponge has also become hard, and it seems like an edamame.

It's just that it's in the shape of a long strip.

By the time the entire hyphae was dyed green, it stopped moving.

The mycelium fell into the pod.
Chapter completed!