Duya forcefully suppressed the shock in his heart.
He cautiously observed the barely formed fungal humanoid before him, slowly backing away.
But that grotesque fungal figure showed no reaction; it seemed incomplete, still fixed to the wall and unable to move.
Unsure if it was because he had stayed too long, Duya felt the air in the basement growing more and more foul.
The beak mask seemed to have reached its limit.
So Duya began heading toward the stairs.
But as he moved forward, his calf suddenly bumped into a hard object.
Thud!
He looked down—at his feet was a moldy wooden crate, and due to his collision, it shattered into a pile of wood splinters.
Among the splinters lay a leather-bound notebook, its cover stained with dark red unknown smears.
Duya carefully opened the notebook.
Bulanni’s childish handwriting appeared before his eyes.
“May 12, Grandpa got sick, really sick. The doctor said he wouldn’t live long… I don’t believe it.”
“May 17, Mom and Dad said Grandpa died. Impossible—Grandpa is still beside me, how could he die? They must be wrong, they must be wrong. Yes, that’s it, definitely…”
“May 22, Mom and Dad buried Grandpa, but Grandpa isn’t dead! So I secretly dug him up. Now no one can hurt my grandpa.”
“May 24, Grandpa spoke! But he kept saying he was hungry. I found lots of mushrooms near the graves on the mountain. I picked them and brought them back for Grandpa to eat. If he drinks this mushroom soup, he’ll get better, right?”
“May 27, Grandpa’s appetite is getting bigger. The mushrooms on the mountain aren’t enough for him anymore… What do I do? Where can I find these mushrooms? Maybe… make some fertilizer?”
The diary ended abruptly there.
The last few pages had been roughly torn out, leaving only a few ink scratches like claw marks.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Mom and Dad.”
“I shouldn’t have picked mushrooms, I shouldn’t have picked mushrooms…”
The temperature in the basement suddenly dropped.
Duya noticed a fierce killing intent rushing straight at him.
He instinctively rolled to the side.
In his original position, several sharp vines pierced through the floor.
The air in the basement grew even more turbid.
He felt the beak mask had completely lost its effect.
No matter where the enemy was, staying here any longer was definitely not a good idea.
The only thing he could do now was:
Run!
“Big brother… where are you going?”
“Big brother, Bulanni is so lonely… Bulanni doesn’t want to be alone here…”
“Grandpa is dead, and I killed Mom and Dad. Can big brother stay with me?”
Listening to the voice echoing through the basement, Duya felt his temples throbbing.
He immediately looked up, the light bulb in his hand illuminating the presence on the ceiling.
A twisted gray-white figure slowly descended.
Duya stared closely.
It was Bulanni!
But now her skull had split open, countless fungal threads and mushrooms protruding from her brain.
Her originally simple yet pretty floral dress was covered in sticky mycelial mats, and large woody mushrooms spread like fish scales over her skin.
At the same time, numerous vein-like things connected from various walls to her back, making her look like a bizarre puppet suspended in midair.
“Big brother… I’m so lonely… stay…”
Her voice sounded like a chorus of multiple people—men and women, old and young.
“Let us become family…”
Duya certainly wasn’t going to stay.
He now understood what had happened in this house.
Whether Bulanni meant to or not, there was no doubt—she was the true culprit!
“Just stay,” countless spiky vines stabbed down like a rainstorm.
“Soon you’ll be as happy as we are.”
Duya rolled violently to dodge the vine attack.
The spikes deeply pierced the ground where he had stood, and the wooden floor was instantly covered in white mold.
The spikes clearly carried spores or something similar.
Even a scratch could mean death.
“Why dodge?”
Bulanni’s voice suddenly sounded right next to him.
Duya turned to see her head separating from the fungal network, floating like a ball beside his shoulder.
Her eyeballs, bloodshot with only whites, stared silently at him.
“Just become family, become part of this place… and you won’t feel pain anymore.”
Duya swung his hammer, smashing it hard at the head.
The fungal threads began spreading upward the moment they made contact.
But he wasn’t an easy target.
Seeing that the hammer hadn’t hit squarely, he yanked it back before the threads could fully entangle it.
At the same time, he performed a backward roll to reach the stairs.
Looking at the monster made of immense fungal veins, combined with the increasingly dense spore mist in the air, Duya knew defeating it was nearly impossible.
So he immediately started running up the stairs.
“Don’t go… don’t go…”
Duya took the stairs two or three steps at a time.
The rotten wooden steps creaked unsteadily, as if they might break at any moment.
Behind him came the sticky, slimy sounds of fungal threads writhing.
The entire staircase was rapidly being engulfed by gray-white mycelial mats at a visible rate.
“Big brother… don’t leave Bulanni…”
The eerie child’s voice formed a strange echo in the narrow basement.
Duya glanced back and saw countless fungal tendrils wriggling behind him.
The foremost threads had already taken the shape of Bulanni’s hands, feet, eyes, mouth—all kinds of organs—chasing him less than half a meter away.
Even for an experienced investigator like Duya, this sight made him gasp.
He didn’t dare to slack off and ran for his life.
The basement door was right in front of him.
Just as he was about to burst through, a pale hand suddenly grabbed his wrist.
Bubble Shadow’s provocative voice came from behind.
“The prestigious S-class investigator Duya, being chased around by this thing?”
Hearing that voice, Duya’s heart leaped.
He instinctively wanted to turn around, but then Fuyeli’s warning echoed in his mind.
‘…Some monsters will disguise themselves as the person you want to see most.’
Don’t look back!
Duya pulled out his hammer and smashed it hard against the hand gripping him.
Amid a piercing scream, he crashed through the basement door and slammed it shut, locking it firmly behind him.
The door panel shook violently.
It was a long time before it finally fell still.