I Start with a Mysterious Island

Chapter 376: Chapter 282: Sigh, Can’t Mess With This Cunning Woman. Gotta Go.

"You..." Seeing Su Yue’s bold implication, Lin Li’s mind went blank and his heart began to race. He then said sternly,

"How could you? What kind of person do you take me for? Am I the type to take advantage of someone?"

"Hee hee hee..." Seeing Lin Li’s serious expression, Su Yue let out a pleasant, bell-like laugh before speaking.

"I meant you could ask me to sing for you. The kind that goes all night without stopping... What were *you* thinking?

Oh, I see... You got the wrong idea. I never knew you were that kind of person!"

"You..."

Lin Li stared at Su Yue, who couldn’t stop laughing. After hearing her explanation, he instantly realized he’d been tricked by her yet again.

This made him a little angry—mostly at himself. ’How do I never learn my lesson?’ A few words, a couple of simple gestures, and I fall right into her trap again.

’Sigh, this cunning woman is too much to handle. I’m out of here...’

"I’m tired. I’m heading back."

Seeing a dejected Lin Li turn and head for the changing rooms, Su Yue quickly ran after him.

"Hey, what’s wrong? Are you mad? It was just a joke, don’t take it to heart!"

Lin Li, fuming at himself, grumbled internally, ’No... I’m not mad at you... I’m mad at myself for never learning my lesson, for being so easily tricked by you again...’

"Come on, don’t be upset! After dinner, come to my room later. I’ll give you a shoulder massage." Su Yue chattered away beside him, trying to lift his spirits.

"No, thanks. I’m not in the mood today."

"Not in the mood, huh? Fine. Then after we get back to Rongcheng, I’ll give you that massage..."

"Can you please be quiet for a minute? Your constant chattering is giving me a headache."

"Nope..."

And just like that, although Lin Li won the swimming competition, his joy was short-lived. In contrast, Su Yue, who had lost, remained cheerful for a long time.

...

「Rongcheng Spiritual Energy Research Institute.」

After several days of research, scientists at the Spiritual Energy Research Institute extracted a special, unknown substance from the red mushrooms taken from the Mutant Beast’s corpse.

This unknown substance could stimulate plants, accelerating their growth—a simply unprecedented discovery.

Afterward, Zhao Tianfu, the one who had acquired the corpse, discovered through his own research that the giant owl’s body also contained a significant amount of the same special substance extracted from the red mushrooms.

Combining these two findings, they concluded that the red mushrooms contained the special substance because they had absorbed it from the giant owl Mutant Beast’s corpse.

So, what caused this special, unknown substance to appear inside this particular Mutant Beast, which was clearly different from an ordinary owl-type?

The scientists at the Spiritual Energy Research Institute held several meetings on the matter. In these meetings, they all voiced their own opinions, proposing various hypotheses and engaging in fierce debate.

Some theorized that the giant owl Mutant Beast must have accidentally consumed some kind of Spirit Fruit, causing the substance to appear in its body.

Others suggested it was a unique variant, born with this special substance.

Still others claimed the substance was a side effect produced by the use of its awakened Superpower.

Everyone clung to their own theory, and no one could convince anyone else. However, most agreed on one thing: the substance in this giant owl Mutant Beast was likely an anomaly, not a widespread phenomenon.

Unfortunately, this consensus was quickly overturned when the Superpower Administration Bureau delivered several more Mutant Beast corpses, all containing the same unknown substance.

"What’s going on? Why are so many Mutant Beasts appearing with this unknown substance inside them...?!"

A crowd of scientists gathered in the corpse storage area, staring in astonishment at the five Mutant Beast corpses laid out on the platform, each one covered in red mushrooms.

The red mushrooms were all too familiar.

The dean of the Spiritual Energy Research Institute pulled his gaze away from the corpses and turned to the Investigator who had delivered them.

"Liu, where did you get these Mutant Beast corpses?"

Liu Jialin, the one responsible for transporting the corpses, took a slip of paper from her pocket and handed it to the dean of the Spiritual Energy Research Institute as she spoke.

"Dean Wang, these are all Mutant Beasts that crossed the border and caused trouble in the safe zones around noon today. They’re from the South and East Districts. Most of them were from the South District—four in total. They were killed on the spot by our colleagues on patrol after breaking into the safe zone..."

The dean of the Spiritual Energy Research Institute read the note, which recorded the approximate locations where the five Mutant Beasts had been killed. He frowned in thought for a moment before speaking.

"They were all killed while crossing the border... It seems this matter isn’t so simple. It’s much more serious than we imagined."

Liu Jialin nodded in agreement, though she couldn’t have articulated exactly why.

Right now, the Superpower Administration Bureau was also completely stumped.

This was a matter for the professionals.

Their only hope was that the scientists at the Spiritual Energy Research Institute could find a breakthrough by dissecting and studying these problematic corpses.