I made myself the protagonist

Obviously the woman in front of me is also a player, but her experience is more unfortunate than the two people who were sucked dry.

While conscious, he became the nourishment of the trees. In the darkness, he could clearly feel his body being eaten away and digested bit by bit...

Just imagining it made Ling Yun's stomach feel sour, almost making him nauseous.

If anyone knew that they were going to encounter such misfortune, they would definitely choose to commit suicide in advance, but she could do nothing now.

After recovering from the shock, everyone hurriedly cut open the tree along the gap.

As if she sensed the movement outside, the woman struggled with her throat moving. Although they couldn't hear clearly what she was saying, it was clear to everyone that she was asking for help and asking everyone to help end her life.

Ling Yun silently picked up the dagger at his feet and walked quickly to the tree hole. They couldn't save this woman now, and the only thing they could do was to help her out immediately.

The blade was aimed at the opponent's heart. Ling Yun wanted to end the woman's life without delay and free her. But the moment the blade pierced the opponent's body, the woman's painful moan was like a heavy hammer, crushing his self-confidence.

will.

After all, the person in front of him is not an enemy he wants to kill, but an innocent victim he has never met.

Seemingly sensing Ling Yun's hesitation, Ren Yao stretched out a hand from behind and held the dagger. Ren Yao grabbed Ling Yun's hand, exerted force, and stabbed the dagger into the woman's heart.

Tang Yao lowered her head and refused to look, and the expressions of the others were not much better either.

Black blood continued to slide down the blade like oil. The middle-aged woman's body convulsed for a few seconds, and she gradually lost her voice in the screams.

"I'll do it from now on. You're not good at this kind of thing, so don't do bad things out of kindness."

Ren Yao took out the dagger, held the blade between his elbows, wiped the blood on it, and handed it back to Shen Tinglan.

Although he said it in an understatement, Ling Yun also knew that he was comforting himself, telling him that he was not killing someone, but doing a good deed.

"Okay, the child has grown up."

Although there was a brief discomfort in his heart, Ling Yun quickly returned to normal. He touched Ren Yao's head happily, but found that without realizing it, the other person had grown almost as tall as himself.

The young man's facial contours are firm and angular, his pupils are dark and bright, the corners of his eyes are thin and long, and his eyes are cold and lively. When paired together, there is something indescribably special about him.

Compared to the first time they met a year ago, the young boy's handsome facial features have now fully grown, the childishness has faded away, and there is maturity between his brows.

"I'm not a child anymore." Ren Yao looked away awkwardly and stretched out his hand to straighten the hair that was messed up by Ling Yun just now.

"Look, the chest of the corpse..." On the other side, Xiaolong made a new discovery.

Shortly after the woman died, the purple-red flowers that originally bloomed in her body were withering at a speed visible to the naked eye. After the flowers withered, the red spores also turned into pus, emitting a disgusting smell.

Shen Tinglan signaled everyone to retreat first. They waited until the plants and spores were completely dead. Then Zhao Sicheng and others, wearing gas masks, stepped forward to cut down the trees. It took more than an hour to move the female body out.

Everyone discovered that the strange tentacles stuck in the mouth of the female corpse were actually the roots of the human-faced tree. Seeing this scene, everyone suddenly realized in horror that the tree had also been infected by poisonous mushrooms and mutated.

When a branch is damaged, a large amount of black blood will ooze from the fracture. But even so, the Human Face Tree has not launched an attack.

Three corpses that were freed from the entanglement of trees were placed in the center of the ground. Under the gaze of everyone, the corpses turned into light blue particles, floating into the air like dots of fireflies, and then gradually dissipated.

Combined with the phenomenon that monsters in the forest are particularly active at night, Su Li speculated that the principle of tree mutation is somewhat similar to that of cordyceps.

After being parasitized by the red poisonous mushroom, its originally hard roots under the soil began to resemble arthropod insects. At night, it can move freely in the forest and catch prey; during the day, it will quietly cultivate in the form of a plant.

Last night, these three people became prey in a trap.

The mutated tree roots draw the flesh and blood from the other two players, pour these "nutrients" into the prey's body through transportation, and use the prey's flesh as a vessel to cultivate the spores.

When the tree dies and decays, mature spores will grow out of the rotten tree holes.

And this is the true face of the culprit that causes the forest to mutate: the red poisonous mushroom.

After learning the truth, everyone's expressions were extremely ugly. They never expected that poisonous mushrooms could grow and reproduce in such a horrific and disgusting way.

"No wonder this tree looks so disgusting. Fortunately, not all trees are infected, otherwise such a large forest would be very painful."

Looking at the corpse in the tree, Zhao Sicheng felt his stomach churn, and his stomach that was growling just now was no longer hungry.

"Let's go. It's getting dark quickly now, and we haven't eaten since yesterday. We need to find shelter quickly and get some food." Shen Tinglan carried her bag and looked at the time: it's noon now.

At twelve o'clock, they must set off quickly.

In the next four hours, everyone speeded up and walked through the forest.

Along the way, they avoided poisonous mushrooms along the way and did not encounter many attacks.

On the way to the village, the keen Wei Chongming smelled the smell of blood in the nearby air. The smell came from the nearby hidden bushes. He and Ling Yun went over to check and found a bloody boot inside; and soon

, Lin Qing also found a backpack containing supplies behind a tree.

The nearby soil was covered with dense palm prints, and there were scratches from fingernails all around, like signs of someone struggling violently.

Ling Yun followed the trace for another dozen meters and soon saw a large amount of sticky blood on an overturned blade of grass.

The bloodstains had long since solidified and turned black, and many flies were circling around the grass. Apart from a few pieces of clothing, some shredded meat could be vaguely seen on the ground. The previous handprints had also turned into drag marks, extending deep into the forest.

In addition to the traces of the victim, there were also many animal footprints of different shades left on the ground. Su Li judged that the person who attacked this person should be some kind of mutated carnivorous canine.

"Looking at the amount of blood, the person must be in danger." Hubert said: "The person was probably killed in the morning. It seems that the new team has entered the village."

A gust of wind blew by, and the leaves rustled, making the surrounding atmosphere even quieter. Snowflakes suddenly fell in the sky, and the sudden drop in temperature seemed to urge everyone to speed up the process.

"It's getting dark, so it's not advisable to stay here for a long time." Considering that some people were attacked by unknown beasts in this area, Shen Tinglan urged everyone.

"Brother Shen, does your back still hurt?" Ling Yun was a little worried about Shen Tinglan's injury.

"It's okay, Hubert's technique was very good and the wound didn't crack at all." Shen Tinglan smiled easily.

Su Li took out a bottle of water from his bag and handed it to Shen Tinglan, asking in a low voice how he was doing. Shen Tinglan gently held Su Li's hand and said that there was nothing wrong with him.

At this moment, everyone was in an extremely embarrassed state. After a day of fighting and a long journey of more than 20 kilometers, everyone was exhausted and hungry. The forest was full of poisonous mushrooms and mutated animals and plants, and they could only rely on water to maintain their physiological functions.

From entering the mission until now, everyone has only slept for two or three hours, and has not eaten anything for a whole day.

It was very cold in the forest, but Shen Tinglan's hands were very warm, and he was even sweating. His body temperature was abnormally high, and the fever had not subsided. He should have rested after suffering such a serious injury, but he delayed He walked all the way with his sick body.

Su Li looked at the other party's pale face and sweaty forehead, and knew very well that a temporary stay would not alleviate Shen Tinglan's pain.

So she became cruel and said to everyone: "Let's continue on our way."

After walking forward for another three or four kilometers, the sky gradually darkened, and everyone had to use flashlights to continue moving forward. As they walked, Ling Yun found that the field of vision in front of him gradually broadened, and there was an isolated corner of a small farmhouse, and there was a small farmhouse in the distance. There are several single-family wooden houses.

"Finally we're here!" Zhao Si rubbed his cold red nose and breathed out a cloud of mist.

The snow was getting heavier and heavier at the moment, the ground and leaves were covered with white, and a dark wind howled in the mountains and forests, making everyone shiver.

They thought this was just an abandoned village, but they never thought that every wooden house had lights on, and if there were really people living there, there would be at least five or six families.

And at the door of the farmhouse, which was glowing with orange fire, a rickety black figure appeared.