Apocalyptic Hoarding Diary

Chapter 451 The Toxic Mushroom Scandal

Within an hour, at least five or six suspected cases of mushroom poisoning were reported:

Some people experienced hallucinations, seeing insects crawling all over the ground; others vomited violently, throwing up whatever they ate.

Some people were writhing on the ground in excruciating abdominal pain, clutching their stomachs; others were shivering despite being covered with two sleeping bags.

The poisoned people were scattered throughout the camp and had not come into contact with each other. The only thing they had in common was that they had all eaten wild mushrooms that they had picked from the mountain that day.

Panic spread, and those who hadn't yet eaten the mushrooms quickly threw away their bags as if they contained poison rather than food.

Those who had already taken the medication but had not yet developed symptoms were extremely anxious, some even desperately drinking water to induce vomiting.

Some people rummaged through their backpacks and took the few remaining pills, while others simply ran to the trading point to ask if there was any way to cure the poison.

The staff at the trading point were surrounded by a huge crowd, and the square-faced man on duty was driven crazy by the noise.

They repeated over and over, "We are not a hospital, we don't have an antidote. If you are poisoned, drink plenty of water to induce vomiting. If it gets serious, find a sergeant to send you to a rear medical point."

That night, no one around the trading point No. 23 slept well.

Xu Xiaoyan was also alarmed. She put on her coat and ran out to take a look. When she came back, she looked very unwell and sat on her sleeping bag for a long time without saying a word.

"You saw it?" Lan Yue leaned against the wall, still holding a bowl of unfinished mushroom soup.

Xu Xiaoyan nodded, her voice a little tense. "A young man ate poisonous mushrooms and started hallucinating, saying he saw tiny people dancing all over the tent."

There was another woman who vomited so much she couldn't even stand up. Her husband carried her to the trading point, and she vomited several times along the way, and what came out was all black.

She paused, glanced at the bowl of mushroom soup that Lan Yue hadn't finished, hesitated for a moment, and then asked in a low voice:

"Blue Moon, what we ate today... is it okay?"

Lan Yue picked up the bowl, drank the half-bowl of soup in one gulp, then put the bowl on the ground and wiped her mouth with the back of her hand.

"Don't worry, if there were a problem with our mushrooms, we wouldn't be sitting here talking right now."

The atmosphere at the campsite had completely changed by the next morning; no one went up the mountain to pick mushrooms anymore.

Yesterday the mountains were teeming with people, but today only a handful are still heading up the mountain.

All the mushroom stalls that were piled up and sold at the entrance of the trading point yesterday have been taken away.

Occasionally, someone passing by the trading point would see someone displaying mushrooms and would detour as if avoiding a plague, muttering something under their breath:

"You still dare to sell it? So many people got food poisoning yesterday."

Several people who had been poisoned by the mushrooms were taken to a medical station in the rear by the sergeants, and it was said that they would need several days to recover.

One of the young men who had hallucinated returned as a completely different person. He never mentioned mushrooms again, and his face would turn pale and his hands would start to tremble whenever someone mentioned the word "mushroom."

The official response was also swift.

On the same day, the trading point posted a new notice, written in large, crooked characters on a cardboard and placed in the most conspicuous position at the entrance.

Xu Xiaoyan saw it when she passed by in the morning. It read, "Starting today, the government is buying edible fresh mushrooms. Ten catties of fresh mushrooms can be exchanged for one compressed biscuit."

Mushrooms must be identified and confirmed by staff to be non-toxic before they can be purchased.

Poisonous mushrooms will not be purchased or returned. Please do not pick and eat any unknown mushrooms to avoid poisoning.

Below is a line of smaller print, which is probably a supplementary explanation: "This acquisition service is valid indefinitely, and the price will be dynamically adjusted according to market supply."

Xu Xiaoyan stood there and read the notice twice from beginning to end.

Ten pounds of fresh mushrooms in exchange for a single compressed biscuit—the price was much lower than she had expected.

But she quickly realized that mushrooms were just food, and extremely risky food at that. It was already good enough that the authorities were willing to buy them, so there was no room for bargaining.

More importantly, the notice's statement that "the mushrooms can only be purchased after being identified and confirmed by staff to be non-toxic" effectively shifts all the risks and costs of mushroom identification onto the authorities.

People who pick mushrooms don't need to know which ones are edible and which ones are poisonous; they just pick them as soon as they see them and then deliver them to the trading point.

The staff will help you sort through them; the poisonous ones will be thrown away, and the non-poisonous ones will be purchased at one yuan per ten kilograms.

What does this mean? It means that everyone can go up the mountain and collect whatever they want.

No knowledge, no experience, and no need for the kind of germ-identifying eye that Blue Moon develops over a decade of hard work and experience in the mountains.

As long as you have hands and feet, just pick the mushrooms that grow on the ground, and then take them to the trading point.

Leave the rest to the staff; you bear no risk and do not need to pay any learning costs.

Xu Xiaoyan anticipated the consequences of this policy almost instantly upon seeing the notice.

Sure enough, the atmosphere at the camp took a dramatic turn in less than half a day after the notice was posted.

People who were saying "I'll never touch mushrooms again" in the morning started quietly heading up the mountain in the afternoon.

They no longer picked and chose the mushrooms they recognized like they had done the previous two days. Instead, they picked whatever they saw, stuffing all the mushrooms into their bags.

It doesn't matter if you pick the wrong ones; the staff at the trading point will help you pick them out. They'll just throw away the poisonous ones. If a few edible ones are mixed in, you'll make a profit.

Lan Yue squatted at the door of the wooden house, watching the few people carrying large bags on their backs hurrying towards the trading point on the mountain road, and couldn't help but shake her head.

Xu Xiaoyan was squatting in front of the waterproof cloth, cleaning the mushrooms she had just picked that day.

Before the official announcement was released, the two had already gone up the mountain and spent six or seven hours picking pine needles in the pine forest they had already scouted out.

By the time people started appearing on the mountain path, the two had already returned to the cabin carrying seven or eight sacks full of mushrooms.

The pine forest they went to was a spot they had scouted out the night before. It was in a remote location, with difficult paths and dense bushes, and most people wouldn't go there.

By the time those people realize what's happening today, that forest will probably be lost.

"If we want to pick more tomorrow, we'll probably have to get up at two o'clock," Xu Xiaoyan said, shaking the dirt off the last mushroom and placing it in a corner of the waterproof cloth.

"Two o'clock?" Lan Yue frowned slightly, but this time she didn't complain. She just nodded. "Okay, set the alarm. I'll get up as soon as I hear it."

Once the official acquisition policy is announced, everyone will become a mushroom harvesting machine.

Who wouldn't do something with zero risk and potential rewards?

For those like Lan Yue who truly understand fungi, their advantage was wiped out almost overnight.

She doesn't need official help to identify resources, but she needs to compete with those who "plunder and steal" for resources on the same mountain.

Those people might make two or even three trips a day, sweeping up all the mushrooms they can see, leaving not a single one. If they don't get up early, they won't even be able to pick up the scraps.