The news that a cure for the zombie mushroom had finally been discovered quickly spread from Tang Chen to the Alliance. In an unprecedented move, the human government swiftly established deep cooperation with the Third Eye and immediately began setting up the necessary factories, facilities, and infrastructure for gene therapy production. At the same time, certain strategic shifts began to take place.
The first and foremost change was the approach to dealing with the Huigui Sect.
In the previous timeline, zombie mushroom infections had internally compromised many small settlements before the beast tide even began. This was largely due to the covert activities of the Huigui Sect.
In particular, at remote bases where the central Alliance’s control was weak, these outposts—situated at the very edge of human civilization and constantly facing threats from the wilderness—were under immense pressure. The more dire the situation became, the more likely the leadership of these bases was to lean toward the Huigui Sect.
Take Base 075, for example. Even though the Alliance government had already issued an official ban on the Huigui Sect, traces of their activities could still be found there.
Because of a zombie mushroom outbreak in recent years, many residents had lost family members who had turned into infected and were subsequently driven into the wild. Now that the infected had regained their consciousness, many believed the Huigui Sect’s teachings to be true and actively participated in their activities, demanding that the base open its gates and accept the rehabilitated infected.
“My fellow humans, think of our family and friends who have been cast out into the wilderness. They did nothing wrong—simply because they were undergoing evolution, outside mercenaries slaughtered them like livestock! They are just like us; they are human! Today, the ones they kill might regain their consciousness tomorrow! What if that person was your brother, your friend, your loved one?”
“To strip away their human rights just because of an infection—this is unjust! They are not ‘infected’; they are simply one step ahead of us in evolution!”
At a plaza inside the base, a Huigui Sect preacher, adorned with the sect’s emblem, passionately delivered a speech. Below the stage, some had already been swayed into becoming believers, while others were simply curious onlookers.
“The infected have clearly regained their human consciousness, yet our government still refuses to recognize them as people! Instead, they trample on their lives and send them to the laboratories for inhumane experiments!”
As the preacher spoke, a woman in the crowd cooperated by letting out a wail. “M-My mother… she was diagnosed with the infection and was immediately taken away. I haven’t heard from her since!”
“My friend too! Oh god, I can’t even imagine what they must be going through! They still remembered me! They could still speak to me! It was just evolution, yet their lives were completely disregarded!”
Among the crowd, some were hired plants stirring up emotion, while others had genuinely been deceived or believed that pressuring the government would force them to release their loved ones.
The preacher nodded in satisfaction before raising his voice once more. “The catastrophe is upon us! Only by embracing sacred evolution and merging with the mushroom can we survive! The infected are not sinners—they are the evolved!”
“Yes! That’s right! They are the evolved!”
Excellent. Perfect.
As the preacher looked at the increasingly riled-up crowd, a pleased smile appeared on his face.
Lately, the base leadership, who had previously remained ambiguous toward them, had suddenly turned hostile, banning all their activities. The preacher wasn’t sure what had happened, so he decided to stir up public sentiment to test the leadership’s attitude.
Seeing that he still had the people’s support, he felt reassured.
The next step would be to turn public anger against the base government…
Just then, a middle-aged woman suddenly charged through the crowd, grabbing a young woman by the arm. “Xiao Li! What are you doing here? Why are you attending this ridiculous gathering?”
“M-Mom?” The young woman’s tear-streaked face froze the moment she saw the middle-aged woman. “Didn’t you… weren’t you diagnosed with the zombie mushroom and taken away by the base? How…?”
It was common knowledge in this world that zombie mushroom infections were irreversible. Even those who didn’t believe in the Huigui Sect found it difficult to perceive their infected loved ones as actual zombies. Instead, they gradually accepted the sect’s claim that infection was merely evolution.
Since the infected could regain their consciousness, why not just let them evolve and reunite with their families?
Many people thought this way.
“I was taken away, yes, but I was taken for treatment! The base has developed a cure, and now I’m back!”
Only then did the young woman recall recent rumors—claims that the zombie mushroom had been completely cured and that infected individuals could fully recover.
At first, hardly anyone believed it. After all, there had been similar rumors in the past, but none had come true. Many so-called ‘cures’ were just covers for experimenting on the infected.
But now, seeing her mother standing before her, alive and well…
Not only her mother but also many other previously infected individuals, taken away by the base, were returning and reuniting with their families. The scene quickly turned into a tearful reunion. The surrounding bystanders were left stunned by this unexpected turn of events, while a few sharp-eyed individuals immediately grasped the implications.
If the zombie mushroom had been conquered, that meant…
All infected individuals could now be cured.
The crowd’s eyes immediately turned toward the Huigui Sect. After all, the sect’s core doctrine was that evolution was irreversible. If the zombie mushroom could truly be cured, then their so-called ‘sacred evolution’ was nothing more than a lie.
The Huigui Sect’s preachers hadn’t expected this development. Realizing that things had taken a dire turn, they tried to blend into the crowd and escape. But before they could move, uniformed patrol officers suddenly appeared in front of them.
“Sorry, but proselytizing in public spaces is a violation. You’ll need to come with us.”
Various locations were experiencing similar scenes. The Huigui Sect was undergoing the most severe crackdown in its history. The government recognized the need to eliminate the influence of this treacherous cult before the impending catastrophe.
One by one, those who had been captured in past purges—who should have become infected—were now returning to their families. Some were sons, some were sisters, some were parents.
The Alliance government launched a real-time broadcast campaign, authorizing television stations to air live footage of the gene therapy treatments. The entire process was captured: infected individuals gradually recovered, their consciousness returning. Some of the cured were even interviewed.
Reporter: “What did it feel like when you were infected?”
Patient: “Painful, extremely painful. We are actually conscious and can see what’s happening outside,” the now-recovered patient said, their face contorted in deep anguish. “But we can’t control our bodies. We can only watch helplessly as we attack our closest family and friends. And then, our consciousness suddenly becomes blurry—like we’re both awake and not awake. Yes, it’s just like being brainwashed.”
Reporter: “I see. So, do you also believe that being infected by the zombie mushroom is a form of evolution? Are you willing to coexist peacefully with the mushroom?”
The patient clutched their head. “Of course not! It's too painful. It's like being a puppet, completely out of control. Have you all watched nature documentaries? Have you seen mantises parasitized by nematodes? When that happens, we are no different from them.”
With more and more patients speaking out, the doctrine of the Huigui Sect—that infection equals evolution—crumbled on its own. Those who had been forced into the sect also abandoned their beliefs once their loved ones were cured.
As the treatment plan spread across various bases, a name began to take root in everyone's minds.
The one who completed the zombie mushroom gene therapy—Dr. Tang Xiao.
“Tang Xiao…” Some players still lingering in the Alliance muttered the name, a strange feeling flashing through their hearts. Was he the one who changed the predetermined storyline?
With that thought, a player with the ID Haiyue decisively logged out, returning to reality.
As she opened her eyes, the surrounding machines immediately detected her exit from the game and issued an alert. Soon, a uniformed staff member entered the room. “You're awake. What happened? You were supposed to be on duty until midnight. Is there important intel?”
“That's right. The game has changed again—and this time, it's a major change.”
Hearing this, the uniformed person's expression turned serious. Two other staff members approached Haiyue with laptops in hand, ready to document her latest in-game experience.
Currently, only a few players remained in the game—aside from those who had formed deep connections with that world and couldn't leave, the rest were official personnel.
Haiyue herself was part of a special department. The authorities had noticed something unusual early on—whenever Haiyue entered the game, she would experience memory loss for certain periods. When they compared timestamps from within the game, they arrived at a shocking conclusion:
Someone had rewound time within the game world, and no one in that world had noticed.
All players would lose their memories of the rewound period, but this did not affect reality. In other words, the time they spent in the game was real and accounted for, but sometimes, they had no recollection of their actions during certain in-game periods.
However, there was a way to uncover this anomaly—by recording the date, time, and all in-game activities daily, then comparing them to detect how much time had been rewound.
Previously, the time reversals had been irregular and, for a while, almost nonexistent. But ever since the world's main storyline was triggered, the phenomenon had resumed—and at an alarming frequency.
Through this, the special department had finally caught a faint trace of the mysterious superpower behind it.
Yes, they believed this was the ability of a time-related superpower—one unprecedentedly powerful, possibly even an ‘outlier-tier’ time manipulator.
As Haiyue described her experience, the staff beside her diligently took notes.
S-Level Time Manipulator
Name:???
Gender:???
Camp: Suspected to be on humanity’s side
“So, this time, thanks to the reversal, humanity managed to develop a treatment for the zombie mushroom in advance? That's big news,” one of the record keepers murmured.
The triggering of the main storyline had been a serious blow to the real-world special department as well. Due to various concerns, they were equally worried about humanity's survival in that world.
The two worlds were slowly merging. Cross-region anomalies had already begun appearing, and infections had even surfaced in their own world. Fortunately, the authorities had prepared in advance, preventing the zombie mushroom from leaking out.
But if the other world fell, then inevitably, their own world would face a catastrophe of unimaginable proportions.
Two years ago, the special department had been deeply concerned, believing that humanity in the other world was on the brink of destruction. But then, time had suddenly been rewound to six months prior.
In other words, that mysterious superpower had bought two additional years for humanity in that world. The impact was clear—the development of a cure for the zombie mushroom.
“Do you think Dr. Tang Xiao might be the time manipulator?” one of the staff asked.
“How would I know? The Third Eye is too hard to infiltrate—we don’t have any agents inside,” Haiyue replied helplessly.
The barrier keeping outsiders from entering was simple yet impenetrable.
It was academic credentials and research capabilities.
In that world, humanity had dwindled to just one hundred million. Education had become a privilege, not a right, and postgraduate degrees were exceedingly rare. Researchers were considered invaluable assets, and possessing such credentials was the only ticket into the Third Eye.
Unfortunately, among the chosen players, almost none could pass the selection. Even those who held advanced degrees in reality often found themselves reduced to beggars in that world.
Still, while players had no direct access, the Alliance did—and the players had contacts within the Alliance. Through these connections, they had managed to gather considerable intel.
So far, they knew that a powerful superpower had repeatedly rewound time at the brink of human extinction. While humans did not retain memories of these reversals, the King of Mushroom might. This theory was based on the observation that the mushroom faction had launched different invasion strategies after each reversal.
As for the superpower’s identity, it remained an enigma. The only known facts were that they were on humanity’s side and possibly near the Third Eye.
“Should we share the information about the time reversals with the Alliance?” Haiyue asked softly. “They have agents on the inside—maybe they can use this to uncover the superpower’s identity.”
“We'll discuss it in a meeting. Regardless, the breakthrough against the zombie mushroom is a good thing.” The zombie mushroom, which, if unleashed, could trigger an apocalyptic crisis had troubled even the special department in the real world.
“Keep monitoring that world. The disaster isn’t over yet,” the staff member concluded.
Haiyue was taken aback. “It’s not over?”
“No, Spring hasn’t even arrived yet.” The staff said, “The beast tide hasn’t begun. As long as the King of Mushroom remains, this is far from over.”
For this mysterious Dr. Tang Xiao, the special department naturally created a dedicated file. Since it was unclear whether he was the superpower himself or if a superpower had provided him with the research data to publish, his importance level was also classified as S-Level.
[Anthony’s Favorability+5]
[Eric’s Favorability+20]
[Louis’s Favorability+10]
[Yi Qiuping’s Favorability+20]
The overwhelming amount of favorability notifications had not stopped since Third Eye synchronized the research results with the Alliance.
Tang Xiao watched as his available favorability points skyrocketed, breaking past the 100,000 mark and continuing to surge without showing any signs of stopping.
Ah, this...
Tang Xiao had previously speculated that if someone managed to resolve this disaster, even with favorability points from strangers being halved, it would still amount to an astronomical number. But now that it was actually happening, he was still taken aback.
And some weren’t increasing by the stingy +12 like before; instead, they were going up by ten points, even dozens at a time. This meant that many people were genuinely grateful to Tang Xiao from the bottom of their hearts, which was why his favorability had increased so much.
They had never even met him—most had never seen him before—but just based on his name alone, they regarded him as a benefactor, a great man.
Tang Xiao took a deep breath, feeling a slight sting in his eyes. But this time, there was no bitterness in his heart—only relief.
Thankfully, he had persisted.
Then, another thought crossed his mind—he had somehow turned a favorability system into a scientist simulator.
Hmm… does this mean he’s become a heartthrob? Judging by his favorability points, he had basically ‘conquered’ hundreds, maybe even thousands of people.
Thinking this, he couldn’t help but smile.
“Tang, what are you thinking about? You look so happy.”
In the laboratory, Xiao Bai noticed Tang Xiao’s relaxed expression and teased him.
Now that Tang Xiao’s research team had completed their project ahead of schedule, the atmosphere had become significantly more relaxed. Most of the team members chatted and laughed while conducting experiments, a stark contrast to their previously tense and numb state. Neither Xiao Bai nor Tang Xiao had any intention of stopping them.
They had indeed been under immense pressure before—now, they deserved a break.
Even Xiao Bai had started joking around lately.
“It’s nothing,” Tang Xiao replied. “I was just thinking about how many people our research has saved. It makes me really happy.”
“That’s definitely something to be happy about,” Xiao Bai agreed. “Thanks to your work, many people no longer have to join the Huigui Sect just to survive. This is an incredibly effective morale boost. Luckily, we managed to finish before the spring beast tide arrives—otherwise, things would have become much more difficult.”
In countless time reversals, the arrival of the spring beast tide always signaled the rampant spread of the Huigui Sect. It meant that many bases would be overrun by the beast tide or that people within the cities, unable to bear the psychological pressure, would voluntarily become infected.
A thought struck Tang Xiao, and he glanced at the main storyline.
The two-month countdown had changed. The time had been updated.
But the quest still wasn’t marked as complete.
Feeling a bit sheepish, Tang Xiao scratched his nose. “Don’t praise me too much… By the way, how did Leon react to my last proposal? Did the academic committee approve it?”
Now that their research had yielded results, the project team was naturally about to disband. So Tang Xiao had proposed resuming the resource allocation for Project 428, arguing that further study of its mushroom control properties might help find a way to counteract the beast tide.
His reasoning was solid: by continuously injecting 428 with a large amount of mutant beast genes, they could delay his body’s deterioration. There were still two months left—maybe, just maybe, he could find another solution.
At the mention of this, Xiao Bai’s smile stiffened. Seeing Tang Xiao’s expectant gaze, he shook his head. “Sorry, it didn’t pass.”
“Why?” Tang Xiao had thought his proposal was quite reasonable.
“Resource shortage.”
“That doesn’t make sense. Didn’t our project just conclude?”
“Yes, but the extra funding has been allocated to constructing more hospitals and facilities capable of supporting gene therapy,” Xiao Bai explained helplessly. “This is new technology, and the costs can’t be reduced much. We have to act quickly—to cure as many infected people as possible before the beast tide arrives. And there are other war preparations—too many areas require funding.”
“In fact, aside from the weapons project and Feng Shuyun’s vaccine project, almost all research projects have been put on hold—including 428’s.”
“What about freezing 428 to extend his lifespan?” Tang Xiao tried to argue.
Xiao Bai still shook his head. “Actually, another research team has taken an interest in 428. They’re developing ways to deploy him as a battlefield weapon—to make the most of his remaining value.”
Tang Xiao’s expression gradually froze. Xiao Bai knew how fixated Tang Xiao was on 428 and couldn’t help but try to console him. “I understand that 428 fascinates you, but under these circumstances, we don’t have the luxury of choice. If you still want to study the King of Mushroom’s spores, you can apply for a new project after the war.”
He assumed that Tang Xiao’s attachment to 428 stemmed from the unique properties of its King of Mushroom’s spores.
Tang Xiao lowered his head, seemingly conceding.
Xiao Bai didn’t have the heart to see him like this, so he patted Tang Xiao’s shoulder and tried to cheer him up.
“Although the Alliance’s Nobel Prize is on hold for now, I’m sure that once the war is over, you’ll definitely win it. Honestly, if they don’t give you the award, there’s no point in having a Nobel Prize at all.”
“There’s a small celebration at Third Eye tonight, held just for you. Everyone will be there—so cheer up, alright?”
Tang Xiao lifted his head and forced a smile, but it looked terrible. Even someone as socially inept as Xiao Bai could see the faint traces of reluctance and sorrow in his eyes.
But why? They were just a researcher and an experimental subject.
Would a researcher really grieve over the life and death of a single test subject?
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