The beneficial jin fungi — Nan Guohua's new designation was fog fungi.

Fog fungi could be absorbed and assimilated by tissue undergoing flesh-gold transformation. That was the direct mechanism behind Shen Cong's sense that the fog accelerated his flesh-gold progression.

The side effect was the integration with blood cells. Blood cells comprised three components — red cells, white cells, and platelets — and it was difficult to determine which the fog fungi were bonding with. The most likely candidate was the red cells, which carried ferrous iron — the compound responsible for blood's characteristic color in humans and most mammals. If the fog fungi could change blood color, the most probable mechanism was some modification of that ferrous iron.

Confirmation would require more systematic study.

If fog fungi genuinely accelerate blood-gold transition ahead of schedule — that's an evolutionary shortcut. The implication held Shen Cong's attention.

He had already collected fog fungi samples and sealed them in a glass bottle. The fog that entered the bottle quickly settled against the glass, forming a thin layer of white material.

At minimum, in the flesh-gold stage, fog fungi provide a meaningful acceleration effect.

The fact that jin beasts live freely in this fog supports the conclusion that it poses no harm to living organisms. The wound decomposition we saw on the bodies wasn't the fog fungi destroying tissue — it was the fungi integrating with blood cells, but in dead humans who can no longer produce blood, that integration has nothing to regulate it. Decomposition is the result.

My own body spent yesterday adapting to the fog with no adverse response. On the contrary, my skeletal muscle's metallic invasion rate increased. That's exactly what I need.

Evolution.

He looked ahead at the thinning fog near the boundary, and beyond it at the churning white mass of the deeper zone. His mind settled into a decision.

He'd been careful about evolution for a long time — cautious, stepping forward slowly, once even worried he was suffering from radiation sickness. The desire to absorb Activity had always competed with anxiety about what absorbing it…