sovbooks Chapter 87 Dark Mother Fungus? A rare find!
Chapter 87 Dark Mother Fungus? A rare find!
Chapter 87 Dark Mother Fungus? A Rare Item! (2/5)
Upon seeing the notification on the panel, Ivan's heart skipped a beat, and he sat bolt upright in fright.
"Fortunately, there's still room for improvement."
The notification almost made him jump out of his skin.
The copper epidemic was one of his most important trump cards.
This thing absolutely cannot have the slightest mistake.
Evan gazed at the telegraph pole rushing past outside the window and made up his mind.
"Looks like we'll have to get serious about this next."
His mind raced, several faces flashing through his memories before finally settling on one person.
Kerry has syphilis!
And the beautiful wife of the Carey family, whom even Uncle Parker couldn't forget.
For a moment, he actually felt a sense of anticipation.
"Let me see."
"What happens to ordinary people who ingest the B virus?"
"While we're at it, let's see if this is the real bio-matrix or just a pitiful woman with nowhere else to turn."
"Hopefully we'll encounter a ferocious bio-matrix."
"My physical condition has been on a crazy upward trajectory lately. This real octagonal warrior of mine is getting a bit hot-tempered!"
The rest of the train journey went smoothly, and the entire carriage was a million times quieter than the train ride there.
The Hearst girls mostly huddled in their private rooms, occasionally letting out gasps and laughter.
All that could be heard from the food cart was the occasional clinking sound of waiters polishing silverware.
The cornfields outside the window receded one after another, passing by the car window with distinct rhythm.
Ivan sat on a folding stool by the carriage door, looking quite relaxed.
With his elbows resting on his knees and his chin in his palms, he didn't look like a vicious security guard from a distance; he looked more like an old gatekeeper.
At 1 p.m., the train slowly pulled into Bolton South Station.
Before the hissing sound of the airlock releasing air had even faded, Evan smelled that familiar scent.
The fishy smell of the sea breeze, coal smoke, and the aroma of stewed beef wafting from the station canteen all mingled together in my nostrils.
The ruthless Old Man Yi has returned to his loyal Bolton City!
After helping Garp and his men load the last few suitcases onto the limousine waiting outside the station, Garp closed his pocket watch, put it in his pocket, and said...
"I still have a lot to do today. I'll settle your wages tomorrow when I pick up the lady."
He took half a step closer to Evan and lowered his voice.
"That's a total of four hundred and ten dollars. Ten dollars is your salary, and the remaining four hundred is a reward from the lady."
Upon hearing the number, Ivan immediately broke into a bright smile and pounded his chest.
"Brother Garp! Ivan Arkham! Faithfully awaiting the lady's orders!"
Garp burst into laughter at his earnest answer and patted him twice on his sturdy shoulder.
"Great! Very energetic!"
Watching the convoy drive out of the station square one vehicle after another, Evan stood still and took a deep breath.
But the next second—he regretted it!
The smells of sweat, musty clothes, cheap perfume, alcohol, body odor, and lead-containing exhaust fumes from cars —
The smell of vinegar from a hot dog cart selling pickled cucumbers nearby also filled my nostrils.
"yue".
""
He almost vomited.
I almost forgot, the reversal effect of the Shark Potion's side effects hasn't expired yet.
"Someone is trying to harm me!"
He pressed the back of his hand to his nose, muttered something under his breath, and then arrived at the tram stop on Guding Street.
The tram clanged and clattered as it came around the corner. Evan, along with the workers, apprentices, and housewives carrying shopping baskets, squeezed onto the tram.
Find a place to stand, Evan's lips curled into an uncontrollable smile.
He really made a killing on this trip to New Haven.
The copper plague has entered its second phase, and his enemy has been swiftly crushed into mincemeat.
The University of Michigan investigator's badge was tucked into his pocket, but most importantly, there was a thick wad of US dollars!
Two thousand four hundred and forty dollars.
This money was enough for him to completely escape poverty and never have to worry about money again.
Two thousand four hundred and forty dollars! That's an astronomical sum on Goodington Street.
He could renovate the entire apartment, inside and out, and even take over several shops, thus becoming a landlord.
Just as Evan was filled with anticipation for tomorrow, his keen senses immediately detected that something was wrong.
He then slightly turned his head and instantly locked onto the suspicious person squeezed in the crowd.
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a thin razor blade pressed against the hem of his suit jacket; it was clear that the next step was to cut open the lining of the pocket and take what was inside.
The technique was skillful, clean, and efficient.
Following the hand, Ivan instantly identified the thief.
A thin, short man wearing a worn-out gray newsboy cap with the brim pulled low so that his features were obscured, was very inconspicuous.
"Thief, robbery, kidnapping—these three are an unavoidable part of the modern mantra!"
Ivan sighed inwardly, then a smug smile crept across his lips.
"Unfortunately, I can choose not to eat beef today."
The next second, Ivan's hand was seen grabbing at it with incredible speed.
quack!
Along with the sound of bones breaking, a piercing scream rang out.
The piercing scream instantly attracted all the passengers around, who all turned to look.
Then I saw the short man in the newsboy cap turn deathly pale, and he started screaming like a pig being slaughtered.
Strangely, the surrounding passengers did not seem surprised; instead, they cautiously made way for the area.
"Let me go! I'm calling the police! I want you to pay me back!"
The thief was trembling with pain, but he was still shouting fiercely.
Ivan calmly held the other person's severed finger, a bright and sunny smile on his face.
"Friend, you're being too loud."
His voice sounded so calm and warm, as if he were greeting his neighbor.
"You damaged my ears, it's not fair you don't compensate me, is it?"
The surrounding passengers froze upon hearing this, their expressions turning quite strange.
A middle-aged worker in canvas overalls, whose cuffs were worn white, warned in a low voice.
"Child, you'd better be careful."
"He's a member of the Poison Blade Gang, and—those guys are a real pain to mess with."
As the worker spoke, he subconsciously rubbed the dark red scar on the back of his hand.
It's obvious that this guy has suffered losses before because of something similar.
"I'm riddled with infectious diseases! If you offend me, you're in for a world of hurt!"
Just as Evan turned to speak, the thief suddenly lunged forward, then bent down and opened his mouth wide, biting Evan's hand. It was clear that he was using a lot of force; the veins on his neck were bulging, and even his shoulders were trembling from the effort.
When Evan saw this, he laughed instead.
Isn't this the same trick I used to poison Priscilla's female assistant back then?
Ding Ding Ding!
The tram arrives.
Evan didn't argue with him, letting the other bite his hand and lead him off the tram like a little dog.
The passengers readily made way for each other, as if granted a pardon, and no one wanted to continue arguing about the matter.
After getting off the bus, he skillfully led the thief into a narrow, damp alley in Guding Street, where various wooden buckets filled with garbage were piled up against the walls.
The skinny little orange cat peeked out from the garbage heap. It seemed to remember that Evan had given it a bag of choking mice. It meowed and quietly squatted there watching.
The thief was still biting desperately, his incisors rubbing against Evan's skin, but he just couldn't break through.
Ivan asked with a smile.
"Are you tired?"
"How about we take a break?"
Hearing this mocking tone, coupled with the completely unchewable, leather-like texture in my mouth, I felt a pang of sadness.
After a few seconds of silence, the short man reluctantly relented, then knelt down on the ground with a thud, wailing as he spoke.
"Big brother! Spare me!"
His forehead slammed into the ground, which was covered in sewage and garbage. His already tattered newsboy cap instantly soaked up the sewage and was now completely useless. At this moment, the thief was completely devastated. This trick usually worked every time.
Thanks to his numerous ailments, he escaped from gangsters, dockworkers, and police countless times.
But this time he really messed up.
The sensation he just felt when he bit the other person's palm was so strong that if he didn't know it was a palm, he would have thought he was biting a tire.
This hand clearly carries human body heat, and you can even see the capillaries under the skin, yet the skin is ridiculously thick and ridiculously hard.
No matter how hard he tried to cut with his incisors, he couldn't bite open the wound.
In the end, his jaw muscles on both sides were so sore they were about to cramp, but it was still no use.
Ivan looked down at the face beneath the newsboy cap.
He looked to be in his early twenties, with ordinary features, and judging from his accent, he seemed to be of Apennine descent.
"The Poison Blade Gang, so it turns out it's just infectious diseases and razor blades?"
Evan flicked the drool off his hand. His tone, which was as sunny and cheerful as a sunflower, sounded strangely creepy no matter how you listened to it.
The young man hurriedly used his still-intact hand to turn the linings of both pockets inside out, shaking them until they jingled.
"Brother, I only have this one dollar and forty cents on me! I'll give it all to you! Please spare me!"
Evan took the loose change, counting the denominations in his palm as he casually asked a question.
What illnesses do you have?
The young man lowered his head and said in a muffled voice, "Leukorrhea, leprosy, blood poisoning."
He used the old street-street terminology.
The proper names are gonorrhea, leprosy, and septicemia.
After listening, Ivan raised an eyebrow and said with a smile, "You seem to know quite a lot."
He held the dollar and forty cents between his fingers and asked again.
Aren't you afraid of infecting others?
The young man, using his unbroken hand to grip the wrist of the other severed finger, spoke in a trembling voice.
"No—it's not contagious."
Ivan squinted.
That doesn't sound right.
This petty thug, afflicted with this filthy disease, practically wanted to have the words "I'm contagious" written on his forehead to scare people.
This guy actually turned around and guaranteed that it's not contagious?
He crouched down and made eye contact with the other person.
The two were only a fist's width apart, and Ivan's gaze filled the young man with a sense of oppression.
"Who gave you these diseases?"
"Why are you so sure it's not contagious?"
The young man's face turned pale instantly, making the festering red patches on his neck and the spots on his cheeks even more glaring.
"The doctor—that's what the doctor said."
Ivan became interested: "Which doctor?"
The young man stammered.
"I—I don't know my name."
Ivan squinted, not in a hurry to ask further questions.
He raised his hand, pinched a drop of blood that had seeped from the other person's severed finger with his fingertip, brought it to his nose to smell it, and then put it into his mouth without hesitation.
The moment the taste of blood spread on the tip of my tongue, a series of notifications appeared on the control panel.
Yersinia pestis was detected.
Staphylococcus aureus was detected.
[Streptococcus pyogenes was detected.]
[Neisseria gonorrhoeae detected.]
[Dark matrix fungus detected.]
"Hmm? Dark Mother Fungus?"
Ivan looked at the last line and raised an eyebrow.
Although he didn't know a lot about viruses and bacteria, he recognized them by their scientific names.
What the hell is the Dark Mother Fungus?
The next notification appeared shortly after: [Copper plague has consumed Yersinia pestis. Progress +0.002%.]
[Copper spores have engulfed Staphylococcus aureus. Progress +0.001%.]
[Copper spores have engulfed Streptococcus pyogenes. Progress +0.001%.]
[Copper plague has engulfed Neisseria gonorrhoeae. Progress +0.002%.]
The copper plague has devoured the Dark Mother Fungus. Progress +1%.
!!!
Upon seeing the last line, Ivan's eyes suddenly lit up.
"Good heavens!"
He was filled with excitement.
"What a rare find!"
Under normal circumstances, anything that can increase the progress of the copper plague to single digits in one go is definitely extraordinary.
He then easily grabbed the thief with one hand.
"Kid!"
Ivan still had that sunny smile on his face, but his tone was full of undeniable firmness.
"Tell me the doctor's name and address."
"Don't worry! I'm not a police officer or a member of the security team. I'm going to cooperate with him."
As he spoke, he took a small ten-cent coin from the dollar and forty cents he had just received and put it into the young man's pocket.
"This is your reward."
The thief's eye twitched twice as the ten-cent coin fell into his pocket.
This is my money!
You used my money to reward me!?