Little Mushroom 小蘑菇
Little Mushroom
小蘑菇
Author: 一十四洲 yī shí sì zhōu Fourteen Continents
89 Chapters
Ratings: 5/5
Earlier I was reading “Copper Coins” for the first 30+ chapters, then I thought the dynamics and romance between the ML and the MC was was too slow burn for me. Then I started reading “Antelope and the Night Wolf” for the first few chapters and it looked like a romance too fluffy for me. So I switched to “Global University Entrance Examinations” but after translating 50 chapters of “The Haunted” which burnt many days and night, this novel was probably going to challenge my intellect for some time. Still, I really want to read this novel someday.
Finally, I settled on “Little Mushroom”, a short novel with an apocalypse setting which suited my mood best!
“Little Mushroom” is not any cute fluffy romance. On the contrary, the setting is an apocalyptic futuristic world where the earth was a living hell for humans as mutant plants, insects and beasts roamed the world. This novel is about how a little mushroom (a simple organism, eukaryote) absorbed the genes of a dying human and became human after that. But he had a problem – his spore, his most important thing in the world was taken away by someone and had been brought back to the human base for scientific research. So he started his perilous journey to find his spore. And through this journey, he experienced the weaknesses, strengths, good and bad of humanity, and most importantly, trust and love.
This novel is definitely a masterpiece that you must read !!!! Despite an apocalyptic and gloomy doomsday setting, all the characters had their own shortcomings and strengths. There were some funny moments and in fact, there wasn’t any dull moments. There are some sad moments but not those angsty type. Confirmed, this has a happy ending!!!! If you are looking for a danmei / BL novel that is worth your time, do give this novel a try and you won’t be disappointed.
There are no zombies in this novel. Other novels with an apocalypse setting that I will recommend are “Number One Zombie Wife” and “Thrive In Catastrophe”. I gave these 2 novels 5/5 star ratings. You can check www.theredoaktree.com/chinesebl for their reviews and spoilers.
“The base has been safe for too long. I always forget that safety is temporary and danger is eternal. Living is not what we deserve. To live is a gift.”
~ Poet
~SPOILERS~
In this futuristic apocalyptic world where mutant giant meat-eating plants, insects and beasts roamed the earth, the weak human species fought hard for survival in this living hell.
An Zhe began life as a little mushroom. He tried to save an injured human, An Ze, but failed. In the end, he fed on An Ze’s body and absorbed his genes in the Abyss where it was his home and became a human that looked exactly like An Ze. He also inherited his memories, his ID card and his belongings. Due to his special property of being an inert mushroom, the other living mutant beings were not interested in him unless they fed on mushrooms. Although An Zhe looked 100% human, he was still a mushroom which possessed mycelium and could change form from human to white mycelium (soft white thread-like roots of a fungi). To humans, he was a heterogenous species.
An Zhe could have continued to stay in the Abyss, but unfortunately, his spore was taken away by someone. He didn’t know who but his only clue was a bullet casing. For a mushroom like him, he had only one purpose and mission in his life – that is to look after his spore until maturity and then plant his spore for the continuity of his kind. Now with his spore being taken away by a human, he was determined to go to the human base to get his spore back.
It was a perilous journey. He met three humans – Vance, Anthony and Horsen. But unfortunately, Anthony was infected through a wound and mutated into a monster and killed Horsen. Vance managed to rescue An Zhe and escaped to the outer base, but before they could enter the city, they had to be checked for possible infection. As long as those entering the outer base were infected or were heterogeneous species, they would be killed on the spot by the Judge.
The Judge had the highest authority to decide who should be killed and who should live. He could kill anyone in this human civilisation and not be convicted of murder. Thus everyone hated him. He was the cold and merciless Colonel Lu Feng and his diagnosis of infected humans and heterogenous species was always 100% accurate.
When he saw Vance, he killed him on the spot since he was infected but when he saw An Zhe, he had doubts. This was his one and only time that he was unsure. So he brought An Zhe for genetic testing at Dr Ji but the result showed that An Zhe was a normal human, so he let An Zhe go.
An Zhe lived in An Ze’s apartment and found a job at Boss Shaw’s studio to make real life dolls. This was one of the funniest part of the novel. Truly unforgettable! He even made a life sized doll of Lu Feng which saved him during an assassination attempt.
Subsequently, An Zhe and Lu Feng met again due to some special circumstances and so, understanding and friendship between the two developed and they even shared a bed.
Due to the invasions of the arthropods, the outer base was blown up and some humans were transferred to the main base. An Zhe was transferred to the main base and worked as a teacher in a nursery to look after young human children, the future of humankind. But he never stopped looking for the whereabouts of his spore. At night, he would turn himself into mycelium and traverse through pipes and vents of the buildings to look for his spore, and he finally saw it on TV as a research project by Dr Ji.
After he got his spore back, he was discovered by Dr Ji and another young judge, Seraing as a heterogenous species and escaped the main base. Lu Feng tracked him down in a dessert but his plane crashed. Luckily, he didn’t die and An Zhe saved him.
My favourite chapter was Chapter 56 when An Zhe broke down in front of Lu Feng.
He fell on Lu Feng, forehead against this person’s shoulder. It was hard to describe his mood at this moment but he felt like his heart was being held tightly by one hand. Intense pain drowned him and warm liquid poured out of his eyes. He knew that he was crying, knew that it was tears—something that only humans could possess. However, he felt it for the first time—the feeling that his heart was being torn into pieces.
He had already fallen in love with him and similarly, Lu Feng also loved him, but he was afraid that Lu Feng would kill him since he was not human. Imagine a Judge and a heterogenous species. But the couple had a happy and peaceful period living out there in the wild with Xi Bei and his Grandpa. Eventually, after An Zhe confessed to Lu Feng what he was, Lu Feng kissed him instead. An Zhe was shocked by Lu Feng’s passionate kiss but later, he fed him his mycelium which knocked out Lu Feng. He left Lu Feng his spore and quietly went to the Abyss after seeing Lu Feng and Xi Bei got rescued by the main base.
When he reached the Abyss, unexpectedly, he found other heterogenous human 
species from a research institute led by Dr Polly Joan who lived over a century. Other humans who had mutated into heterogenous species sought shelter with Dr Polly. An Zhe started working in the research institute with Dr Polly.
Finally during doomsday when beasts attacked humans and defences in the main city crumbled and the crisis spread throughout human civilisation including Dr Polly’s research institute, An Zhe decided to sacrifice himself using the Simpson’s cage since he was the inert sample that could save humankind. As the research institute had communications with Dr Ji’s laboratory in the past, Lu Feng decided to be selfish for once and acted based on his intuition to save the research institute. He flew his fighter plane towards the research institute in the Abyss and met An Zhe just as he sacrificed himself. An Zhe died.
An Zhe’s mycelium scattered all over the world and stopped the attacks.
Three years later Dr Polly managed to cultivate An Zhe’s mycelium using his spore and the couple reunited !!!! ❤️❤️❤️
“Really?” Lu Feng wondered, “Then why did it see you in the Lighthouse but actively drifted to only me?”
This old thing was mentioned again. An Zhe was still worried about Lu Feng raising the spore to death and then he suddenly remembered the appearance of the spore. Neither was a good thing. He didn’t know and could only say, “I gave birth to it.”
Lu Feng smiled again.
The sky spun.
An Zhe was pressed under the body of this man. Lu Feng’s fingers lightly slid across his belly. In the weakest and softest place, the slightly cool fingertips caused a shudder.
An Zhe gasped softly.
Lu Feng lowered his head and whispered in An Zhe’s ear. “Let’s see if you can give birth to another one.”
You’ve got to read it! Kudos to the translator, Rainbow Turtle who translated this awesome novel!!!
Read it here:
Disclaimer: I do not own these pictures. Credits to the artists.
Photo Gallery of Little Mushroom
Thanks for the recommendation! I am at Chapter 12 and this novel looks good and promising!!!!