It was not until a long time later that the woman by the wall stopped sobbing. Her eyes were red, her hair was messy, and she leaned against the wall, looking at the sky in the distance, without saying a word, like a drop of water on a leaf, which would break if touched.
Adrian An asked carefully: "Aren't you leaving?"
She shook her head and said in a hoarse voice: "What is the relationship between that dead man and you?"
It took Adrian An a long time to find the right words in his memory: "My... friend. He saved me."
"My man has also saved me." After she said this, her head drooped deeply, her shoulders and back shaking, and she occasionally made a cry-like sound or two, and never spoke again.
Adrian An held the ID card belonging to Vance tightly in his hand. He felt a dull feeling in his heart - the heart that belonged to a human being. He had never felt this way when he was a pure mushroom.
When this feeling finally dissipated a little, he finally found the strength to follow the direction of the crowd in the distance and walked out of the passage.
At the end of the city gate passage was a row of mechanical gates. Adrian An chose the one on the far left. As he walked over, a soft mechanical female voice sounded: "Please show your ID card and look at the camera."
Adrian An placed the ID card belonging to Ethan An on the white light on the platform at the right end of the gate, then looked up at the black camera in front of him.
"id3261170514, name: Ethan An. Birthplace: Outer City District 6, time away from the city: 27 days."
The camera made a slight sound and the white light turned green.
"Facial recognition passed, welcome home."
With a ding sound, the gate rose and Adrian An walked out.
The dazzling sunlight in the morning made him squint his eyes, and it took him thirty seconds to recover. When the blurry world became clear again, a huge gray city appeared before him.
Around him was a large open area, with the words "Buffer Zone" written on the ground in glaring green paint. Looking ahead, human creations rose from the ground, tall concrete buildings covered the sky, and were larger than the tallest plants Adrian An had ever seen, as if they would fall down at any time. They stood there, crowded, stacked, blocking his sight. He looked up, and the orange-red sun was half hidden behind the tallest building, and the other half was exposed, like a drop of diluted blood, which would flow down the wall in the next moment.
Adrian An turned back. The people who came out of the city gate with him were separated by the mechanical gates. After going out, they gathered together spontaneously and went in the same direction. Adrian An followed them forward. After a few hundred steps, they turned a corner. There were four words "Rail Transit" written on the sign. A train was parked on the track, and the body of the train was written with: Entrance - Area 1 - Supply Station No. 3 - Area 5 - Area 8 - City Affairs Office - Exit.
He followed the crowd onto the bus and found a corner seat in the somewhat empty carriage. In the front seat were two sturdy men, who were talking in low voices.
"Back from Basin 3? You risked your lives this time."
"Six people died."
"It's OK. Did you make your money back?"
"The military is still reviewing the matter. I don't think I'll have to risk my life in the wild again in my lifetime."
"Wow."
"We entered a school in the abandoned city No. 411. It was full of mutant plants. No one dared to enter." The man smiled and said, "We went in and pried open three hard drives in the library information room. They are priceless treasures. It depends on how valuable the contents are."
Adrian An listened quietly. He didn't quite understand what was said, but he knew that the man in front of him was very happy, so he became a little happier too.
He knew that happy people often didn't mind helping others, so he called out, "Sir."
The man didn't even turn his head and asked, "What's wrong?"
"How do I get to District 6?"
"Transfer to Train No. 2 from the supply station."
"thank you."
Five minutes later, the train started moving and a mechanical voice announced the name of the platform. Adrian An was unfamiliar with everything. After several twists and turns and asking for directions, he finally got on Train No. 2 at the supply station, then got off correctly and arrived at Area 6.
Ethan An's ID number is 3261170514. This string of numbers is not only a proof of human identity, but also represents his address, Building 117, District 6, Outer City, house number 0514.
However, not long after getting off the bus, he was trying to find someone to ask for directions when he was suddenly stopped by a young boy: "Hello, friend. Welcome off the bus. Do you mind getting to know us?"
Before Adrian An could say anything, a piece of white paper was stuffed into his hand, with a few large blood-red characters written on it: Oppose the judge □□.
He didn't understand, but didn't ask any more questions. He just said, "Excuse me, do you know how to get to Building 117?"
The boy said, "Would you mind going with us?"
"...do not mind."
"Then we are comrades." The boy raised the white paper in his hand, on which were also written a few big red words: Abolish the Inquisitor Act.
They were not the only ones holding papers. Soon, Adrian An was pulled into a group of people. There were about forty of them, all very young. Each of them was holding a similar piece of white paper, or two people were holding a long banner together. The sentences on the paper and the banner were roughly the same.
"We voluntarily cover the cost of genetic testing."
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"The Judge of Human Sinners."
"Disband the Inquisition and redress the innocence."
At the same time, the crowd was moving slowly forward, so Adrian An could only move with them.
The roads in the city were very narrow, and the sun shone on the buildings, which cast rolling shadows on the ground. Besides them, there were also many adults walking with their heads down, who occasionally looked up at this side, but quickly looked away.
Adrian An: "What are we doing?"
"We will hold a silent protest," the boy said. "We will hold a protest until the day the court is dismissed."
Adrian An: "...Oh."
After walking for about half an hour, he asked the boy next to him again: "Where is Building 117?"
"In front, almost there."
Another hour and a half later, Adrian An asked again: "Where is Building 117?"
"I'm sorry!" the boy scratched his head, "I forgot about you. We walked past you and you are behind us."
As he said that, he turned and pointed to a place: "In that direction, not far away, the building number is written on the side, you can see it."
Adrian An: "Thank you."
"You're welcome."
Adrian An handed the paper to the boy: "This is back to you."
"No thanks!" The boy stuffed the paper back into his arms and said, "Remember to come again next week! We'll meet in Building 1!"
So Adrian An could only stack the bloody "Against the Judge" and the genetic report sheet that the Judge himself had stuffed into him together, hold them in his arms, leave this group of strange young humans, and walk in the direction he was pointed.
---As he walked, he felt the surrounding environment gradually becoming familiar, and the memories that originally belonged to Ethan An were awakened in his mind. He followed his intuition and turned a few corners, and successfully arrived at the foot of the building marked "117". This is a rectangular building, 10 stories high, but very wide. He entered unit 0, climbed the deep and steep stairs to the fifth floor, entered a dim corridor, and found room 11.
There was a white seal on the door. Adrian An gently tore it open, revealing the sensing area underneath. He stuck his ID card on it, the door lock popped open, and he walked in.
This was a very small room. Even smaller than the cave he had lived in, but much more spacious and brighter than the lounge in the armored vehicle. There was a wooden desk against the wall, with a dozen old books stacked on the table, and papers and notebooks stacked on the other side. The desk was facing a single bed, with a cabinet at the head of the bed, which contained water cups, mirrors, and some sundries, and a wardrobe more than one meter tall against the foot of the bed.
The window was on the other side of the bed, the grey curtains were half open, the sunlight filtered in, shining on the quilt of the same colour, a dry fragrance that reminded him of Ethan An's scent.
He walked to the bed, reached out and took down the palm-sized mirror, and his face was reflected in the mirror.
He looked like Ethan An, with soft black hair and eyes of the same color. He was similar in many ways, but there were some details that were different. Also, he didn't have the gentle and calm look that Ethan An had.
At that time, Ethan An said to him: "I feel like I have a younger brother. Let me give you a name, Little Mushroom."
"Do you have any memorable experience, Mushroom?"
There were only two things that were profound in his limited memory. One was the lost spores, and the other happened when he was very young - probably when he was only as long as a human little finger.
During the rainy season when mushrooms were growing, he was hit by slanting raindrops on his slender stem and broke in half.
Then, like any injured creature, it tried to grow back, to live.
Later, he gradually regained some vague consciousness and he recovered.
From then on, he seemed to be different from his own kind. He could control his own mycelium, flow between the jungle and the wilderness, and sense the sounds and movements outside. He was a free mushroom.
"Poor little thing." At that time, Ethan An touched his hair and asked, "Did it hurt when it broke?"
"forgotten."
Ethan An said, then let’s call you Adrian An.
He said, okay.
Thinking of this, Adrian An smiled at the mirror.
When the person in the mirror smiled, he seemed to see Ethan An's shadow again.
"Thank you," he said to the mirror.
After putting down the mirror, Adrian An sat at the desk.
What to do next?
After thinking for a while, Adrian An stretched out his left hand and stared at his fingertips in the light.
The snow-white mycelium quietly began to spread outward from his fingertips, and then condensed into a solid. He picked up the dagger and cut off a thin piece.
Then he picked it up with his right hand, put it to his mouth, gently pushed it in, and bit it with his teeth - he decided to explore the fact that he was poisonous.
Soft, sweet and delicious - that's the first impression.
The next second, the entire world in front of his eyes shook.
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