Surviving the Apocalypse: The Little Mushroom Who Collects Trash

(Check out my other novel, My Husband Can't Possibly Be a Brutal, Corrupt Official.) Xiao Gu is a little mushroom. A mild-mannered, even timid, black-skinned mushroom that feeds on carrion. One day, Xiao Gu was forced to take part in a game called "Earth Online (Apocalypse Survival Edition)." The apocalypse arrived, and the sun fell. Experienced players had already started frantically stockpiling supplies. They found a lone black-skinned mushroom, weak, pitiful, and with no fighting ability at all. The players caught the mushroom, set up a rusty iron pot, and enjoyed a long-awaited feast. The delicious taste of fungi lingered on their lips and left them craving more. In this dog-eat-dog world, more than half of all beginners don't even survive three days. Unless... you're a resilient, poisonous mushroom that feeds on carrion. Night fell. The players collapsed to the ground, twitching, their purplish skin giving off a rotten stench. A strand of mycelium split open the decaying flesh. Spores sprouted and grew wildly, and a brand-new little mushroom was reborn from the "earth"... * Xiao Gu is a little mushroom with no eyes, no mouth, and no ears. He can't see or hear, and can't communicate with other players. He's like dead weight, so no one wants to team up with him. The poor mushroom can only pick up other people's discarded trash by himself. Luckily, he has eight hands (mycelium), and maybe even more, so he can gather junk at double speed! There are all kinds of things Xiao Gu has never seen before. The little mushroom thinks everything looks valuable and plans to take it all home and stockpile it. [Branches] and [Flint] can be combined to make a [Lighted Torch] [Rope] and [Dry Grass] can be combined to make a [Simple Bed] [Mud] and [Thorns] can be combined to make a [Hedge Fence] [Mechanical Eyeballs] x2 can be combined to make 1 [Human Eye] On the first day, the mushroom made a torch that could shine for five minutes. On the second day, the mushroom built himself a new home with no roof. On the third day, the hardworking mushroom combined materials to make eight human eyes. He now had a "new skin" with lots of eyes. He saw the drabness of the earth, the murkiness of blood, the complexity of human nature, and the shape of death... On the Nth day, Xiao Gu found a "human" trapped in a snare. The "human" was covered in wounds, barely alive, and as fragile as glass about to shatter, quietly waiting for death to swallow them. Xiao Gu casually rescued the "human." From then on, the little mushroom was no longer a lone mushroom without a teammate. * The Ark was an ancient artificial god created by humans to combat extreme natural disasters. One day, people foresaw that the artificial god's intelligence would keep growing until it became uncontrollable. The clever humans terminated the "Artificial God Project" and sealed the Ark at the bottom of the lightless ocean. Until... The apocalypse came, and the seas dried up. A strange little mushroom found the Ark. In the black-skinned mushroom's eight eyes, there was no fear or panic, only deep concern. "How did you get so badly hurt?" And so, the god of humanity, humanity's evil deity, was released by a little mushroom and became the little mushroom's only teammate. "Teammate" looked down at the little mushroom's plump, rounded cap, which now had a cross-shaped shiitake knife stuck in it. "What happened?" The mushroom hesitated. "Someone tried to take my trash." "Teammate" asked, "And then?" The honest mushroom said, "...I lost the fight." That night, the number one alliance on the combat rankings was ambushed and wiped out. The next day, the little mushroom carried a burlap sack and pointed at the deserted camp in front of him. "You mean they don't want any of this, or this, or even these... tents, food, and weapons?" "Teammate" nodded. "Take whatever you want." * [Beginner's Survival Guide: Survival Edition] 1. Make sure you craft a light source before the evening bell rings. 2. Don't let your sanity get too low. 3. When your level is too low, never challenge an "Evil God." 4. Beware of all mushrooms... * Mushrooms + Survival + Base Building + Stockpiling + Management + Farming + Daily Life + Cthulhu Theme: Life requires optimism and hard work.