"Now?"
His worst suspicion had been confirmed, and Rob couldn't help but grow even more worried.
But Professor Fu's next request left him somewhat baffled.
It was somewhat related, sure, but considering their conversation on the way here, it couldn't help making Rob feel like Professor Fu had come to inspect his work.
"Now."
Fu Qian nodded and glanced through the surrounding manuscripts as he spoke.
Unfortunately, the Institute of Curses' peculiar habit of keeping things secret seemed to remain in full force.
Aside from finding a drawing of the four things over there, he found no further related information—not even a project name.
"It's here, but it's completely back to normal now."
Though puzzled, Professor Rob was highly cooperative and quickly led Fu Qian to his laboratory.
As for the familiar-looking apparatus he pointed to, he said there was no longer any sign of the earlier disturbance.
"So it really is floating."
Without questioning him, Fu Qian leaned in for a closer look and confirmed that he could see the strange phenomenon Rob had mentioned.
Just as Professor Rob had said, the mushrooms were reproducing much more vigorously. At a glance, there were already almost a dozen.
The swarm of insects still traced out mysterious curves, but it was easy to see what they were converging on. One or two mushrooms stood there without any support, as if they had grown out of thin air.
Aside from that, there were no obvious differences in color or shape.
"Could you pick one for me?"
Before Rob could say anything, Fu Qian gestured toward them and quickly made another request.
As the project lead, Rob's assessment was surely sound. There really was nothing unusual inside, but that wasn't why Fu Qian had come.
"...Of course."
The situation felt increasingly bizarre,