Chapter 160: Caterpillar Fungus Disease
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Fungi that could parasitize other lifeforms were not very rare in nature.
As long as the environment was suitable, every civilization would basically be able to find something similar on their mother planet without having to fly.
Most of them were parasitic toward insects. These fungi adapted to the environment by controlling the insect’s body to achieve their growth and reproduction needs.
It was not that there were no fungi that could parasitize higher-level animals, but most of them existed as diseases. Usually, they would not cause the death of the host, nor would they control the host’s brain.
The typical case was athlete’s foot, which was common among large primates.
However, if the range was expanded to interstellar space, it was very normal for a fungus to exist that could parasitize and control most lifeforms, right?
The scientists of the Pyro Alliance had gathered together to study the news about the caterpillar fungus disease that had come from the Servant Paradise. They would discuss it from time to time.
With a serious attitude, they tried to find signs that the news was fake, but the xenophobic mechanical servants used impeccable evidence to make them realize that these corpse civilizations were indeed parasitic fungi.
“That being said, why didn’t they go to the Galaxy Community? Weren’t they already reserved as members of the council?”
Someone raised such a question, but someone quickly answered,
“Didn’t you hear the last part? This is a reward! The reward that we’ve been working so hard for!”
“With the contribution brought by this heavyweight piece of news, as long as we can survive this crisis, our diplomatic power will be unprecedentedly increased! At that time, the last seat on the council might be ours!”
At the very least, the question of why the Servant Paradise would give them this information had been answered. However, a new question appeared:
“However, I have something to say. How did these mechanical servants manage to get their hands on the corpses and retrieve them from those rabid soldiers of the dead? Did they defeat an undead army?”
Some of them found it hard to understand where this mysterious sentient mechanical servant civilization had the power to deal with the undead army.
Even the Benevolent Host was on the defensive, building space fortresses within their borders instead of taking the initiative to fight the invasion.
It was not that no civilization wanted to collect the data themselves and verify the authenticity of the Benevolent Host, but the result was that the space undead caused them a great defeat.
Unlike the madness and disorder on the surface, the space undead seemed to be able to quickly understand the enemy’s plans and configuration. The so-called traps and tricks were almost ineffective on them.
Until now, no civilization had dared to gather all their fleets together and attempt a life-and-death battle with an undead army just to verify the authenticity of a lost empire with a good reputation.
Or rather, they did not want them to do this. If other civilizations were to do it, they would definitely agree with it and create an epic to commend these civilizations that had made outstanding contributions to the galactic crisis.
At such a time, perhaps the best solution was for the Galaxy Community, which would gather all the civilizations to form a Galactic Coalition Army and collect intelligence with the dare-to-die team.
However, the sudden addition of the Benevolent Host disrupted everything.
Under normal circumstances, it was perfectly normal to obey the arrangements of the Galaxy Community, but they had to obey the orders from the lost empire too. After all, the lost empire was too powerful for the young civilizations.
It was just like how the Administrator had directly put the establishment of a Milky Way trade market on the agenda during the first Milky Way Conference and received a unanimous vote.
If the lost empire was really involved, the authority of the Galaxy Community would undoubtedly suffer a tremendous blow.
If it wasn’t for the fact that the Benevolent Host requested for the transfer of civilization positions was too important and had to be handled with caution, the civilizations of the Milky Way would have followed the orders of the Benevolent Host long ago.
There was nothing they could do about this situation, but there was nothing they could do. In interstellar space, the fleet was the most important standard of strength. If they couldn’t win, they couldn’t win.
The scene returned to the scientists of the Pyro Alliance. Some of them were wondering where the mechanical servants had gotten the strength to defeat the undead army.
However, this doubt was quickly overshadowed by the more important situation. At least the information given by the mechanical servants was true. They were able to obtain it because they had the means.
“Just as the mechanical servants said, this is a terrifyingly contagious fungus that can infect the entire planet in less than half a month.”
“And this fungus is not gentle. They will kill the host and transform the host’s corpse into an environment suitable for them to live in.”
“The corpses of all organic lifeforms seem to be within their parasitic range. From the giant space lifeforms like space whales to the smallest insects, they all have corresponding parasitic conditions.”
“At present, we don’t know the habits of these fungi. They seem to only have biological instincts, but they can always have some unexplainable intelligent phenomena from time to time… It is as if someone was controlling them from behind.”
The scientist’s words caused the entire laboratory to fall silent for a moment.
The people who had suspected the Observer for a long time all thought of the lost empire that was very active in the Galaxy Community. Now, they should call them the Benevolent Host.
“To be honest, did the Benevolent Host really not know the nature of these undead lifeforms? They have been fighting against it for so long. Could it be that they had never obtained any decent results?”
“There are many doubts, but it’s better not to speculate. At present, we only know the true form of these undead lifeforms. As for their origin, we still have no idea.”
The leader of the Pyro Alliance also joined in the debate in the research lab. He was also a knowledgeable scientist, so it was not strange for him to appear at such an occasion.
“The most important thing now is to tell the Milky Way about the nature of these undead lifeforms.”
“Be it the civilizations that wish to accept the protection of the Benevolent Host or those that are fighting alone, this is extremely useful information.”
Therefore, not long after, when the Galaxy Community was still in a terrible state because of the corpse invasion, the information shared by the Pyro Alliance eased the heavy atmosphere.
“So it’s a caterpillar fungus disease? The relevant samples have also been submitted, and the evidence is conclusive. It can be confirmed that the essence of this corpse invasion is an indiscriminate attack by a group of parasitic fungi. Perhaps we can use this to formulate a targeted battle plan.”
A civilization representative made such a suggestion. The civilization behind him was still wavering on whether to accept asylum, but he himself was a firm supporter of the war.
“If it’s a fungus, I remember. Underground Forest Kingdom? Didn’t you evolve from fungi? Quickly use your invincible disinfectant to think of a way?”
The hyphae of the Underground Forest Kingdom who was called spread out his tentacles and replied with his mechanical voice, “Fungi and the constitution of fungi can’t be treated in the same way. We once lost more than half of our compatriots in extreme anger because of the leakage of disinfectant, but this doesn’t mean that it can work on the caterpillar fungus disease.”
“This is something that even the lost empire needs to be cautious about. Do you think it will be defeated so easily?”
The debate about how to deal with the corpse invasion continued, but after learning the nature of the undead, they had a glimmer of hope.
At the very least, before the deadline given by the Benevolent Host, they still had to fight independently for a while.
Then, the first proposal related to this crisis was passed.
In the star map, the red color block representing the Milky Way threat was still expanding, but there was no name.
The Galaxy Community had been hesitating whether to name the crisis as the corpse invasion as the Benevolent Host had said.
However, with more conclusive information from the Pyro Alliance, they decided to name the disaster the caterpillar fungus disease and confirmed the focus of the galaxy:
“Galaxy Focus: Fungus Control. Eliminate the caterpillar fungus disease..”