Little Mushroom

In 2020, Earth's magnetic poles vanished, leading to a near-extinction event for humanity due to cosmic radiation. Over the next century, mutated creatures emerged, consuming each other, while the few thousand surviving humans endured within their fortified bases. Within the Abyss, a sentient mushroom, nurtured by the remains of the deceased human An Ze, developed a human-like form and the name An Zhe. Driven by the need to retrieve his harvested spore, An Zhe ventures to a human base. There, he must conceal his true nature from the Judges, tasked with identifying and eliminating xenogenics, to avoid immediate death. Colonel Lu Feng, a particularly astute and ruthless Judge, is known for his swift executions of any discovered xenogenics. Yet, Lu Feng fails to detect An Zhe's mutation, setting the stage for a story exploring the complex relationship between humans and xenogenics. This novel won a Silver Award at the 12th Chinese Nebula Awards for Chinese Science Fiction.