Chapter 73: Sister, is the potion beginning to lose its stability?

Listening to the torrential rain outside, Lu Xuechuan woke up.

He turned his head; not far away, Xiong Hui was sleeping soundly, showing no sign of waking. Lu Xuechuan looked around and saw a clean set of camouflage clothes placed nearby—likely prepared for him, since there was also a set by Xiong Hui’s side.

The mud on his body had already been cleaned away.

He dressed, stepped outside the tent, and stood in a daze as he watched the downpour.

“Awake?”

A young soldier glanced at him and handed over an energy bar and a bottle of water. “Eat something first. The political instructor will see you in a bit.”

“Thank you.” Lu Xuechuan instinctively took the energy bar and water. He drank more than half the bottle in one go, then tore open the energy bar and devoured it ravenously.

After eating, he felt much better. He was about to check on Xiong Hui when, unexpectedly, Xiong Hui woke as well.

“Mmm, Zhao Xue, I understand,” Xiong Hui murmured to the side.

He got up quickly and dressed, looking perfectly normal.

Lu Xuechuan watched his companion, who had survived so much at his side, feeling a surge of complex, bittersweet emotion.

The soldier outside noticed Xiong Hui was awake and handed him another energy bar and bottle of water.

A few minutes later, Lu Xuechuan and Xiong Hui met with the unit’s political instructor, who looked quite young—barely thirty.

“Hello, I’m Colonel Qin Longzhang. Did you both come from the tourist area?” Colonel Qin introduced himself, looking at the two.

Lu Xuechuan replied, “My name is Lu Xuechuan, this is Xiong Hui. We both came from the tourist area.”

Xiong Hui added, “And this is Zhao Xue.”

Qin Longzhang glanced at Xiong Hui’s side, as if looking at someone, and nodded. “What’s the situation inside the tourist area?”

Thinking of what had happened there, Lu Xuechuan shuddered, unable to find words.

Xiong Hui spoke up, “The situation in the tourist area is terrible. We came with our teacher. Before we arrived, there had been landslides and mudflows—many people died. With food running out, some turned to looting and murder, and more people died.”

“When we got there, several violent clashes broke out, with heavy casualties, until someone discovered mutated giant rats—each weighing over a hundred pounds—which barely solved the food crisis.”

“But then an organization called ‘the Company’ came. They were heavily armed and seized the disaster survivors’ food by force, killing and even eating people.”

“Fortunately, Su Miao stood up for us. She killed many of the Company’s members and helped us escape, giving the survivors a glimmer of hope.”

“As far as we know, fighting is still ongoing in the tourist area. That’s everything we know before we escaped.”

Lu Xuechuan looked at Xiong Hui.

What he said wasn’t exactly wrong, but hadn’t he left out quite a lot?

Qin Longzhang nodded. “Do you know where the Company is holed up in the tourist area?”

He had planned to ask whether they knew Su Miao, but unexpectedly had gotten her information so easily.

To pick up Su Miao, he had led a sixty-man team from the barracks. After more than a month of earthquakes, mudslides, floods, and gunfights with local criminal gangs, only thirty-five had made it here.

Their efforts had not been in vain.

But from what intelligence they had, the situation inside the tourist area was extremely dire.

Xiong Hui said, “They’re all at the parking lot.”

Qin Longzhang asked, “How did you get out?”

Xiong Hui replied, “Zhao Xue led us out. There were many mutated animals on the way—very dangerous. By the way, Zhao Xue also said there’s a patch of man-eating plants not far from here. We should avoid it.”

Qin Longzhang nodded. “Then, could you ask Zhao Xue if she can guide us into the tourist area?”

Xiong Hui glanced at the air beside him and said, “Yes. Zhao Xue says, can you help drive off those bad people and save our teachers and classmates?”

Qin Longzhang answered, “We will eliminate those Company criminals and help establish temporary order in the tourist area. But we have other duties and can’t stay long.”

“I’ll give you a letter of recommendation for the nearby shelter. Once the rain stops, you can choose to go there or not.”

Xiong Hui said, “Alright! Zhao Xue says we’re ready to go whenever.”

Lu Xuechuan stood aside, not knowing what to say.

He couldn’t understand how this conversation was happening.

Because he hadn’t seen Zhao Xue at all.

Zhao Xue had died long ago.

Could Xiong Hui be hallucinating?

Qin Longzhang said, “Go back to your tent and rest for a while. We’ll set out in an hour.”

...

Villa Number 36.

Xia Xiao’an was helping wash the beautiful mushrooms, while Su Miao was preparing to brew a new batch of ‘Deadly Hallucinogenic Potion.’

In addition, the father-and-son herbalists had delivered medicinal herbs that needed to be sorted and classified.

The ‘Herbology’ book recorded very few herbs. Mostly, it taught students how to identify plants and use their properties to brew potions.

So, Su Miao needed to first confirm each herb’s name and properties before she could begin crafting specific magical brews.

This was a long process.

Ideally, it required a stable environment.

But dangers in the tourist area came from both mutated animals and humans.

Fortunately, the herbs had already been cleaned and processed, saving a lot of trouble.

“It’s best to make more poison,” Su Miao thought, taking out her fully-charged phone.

She had a plant-identification app; by scanning each herb, it could immediately display its name and toxicity.

Her task was to pick out the poisonous herbs.

When brewing the ‘Deadly Hallucinogenic Potion,’ she would throw all the toxic plants in.

“Sis, should we make some potions to repel mosquitoes?” Xia Xiao’an brought over the washed, beautiful mushrooms.

Su Miao considered. “No need. As long as the potions are toxic enough, they’ll work just as well to keep bugs away.”

As before, Su Miao checked the generator’s power, put on her gas mask, and began brewing.

Xia Xiao’an obediently donned her own mask and sat by to assist.

The initial stages went smoothly.

Two hours later, Su Miao began adding the poisonous herbs.

As more and more toxic plants went in, the potion in the pan started bubbling, showing signs of an impending explosion.

“Sis, is the potion getting unstable?” Xia Xiao’an looked at the pan with concern.

Though the pan looked shallow, there were actually more than ten kilograms of potion inside. Only Su Miao’s magical control kept it from overflowing. If it exploded, it would be dangerous.

Su Miao frowned. “There shouldn't be any problem... Xiao’an, go into the room behind me. If anything happens, we’ll hide there and lock the door.”

Xia Xiao’an nodded and retreated into the room.

She could see clearly that Su Miao was fully prepared to run if things went wrong.

As they focused intently on the brewing, neither noticed the wounded big cat that had silently crept up to the second floor, stealthily making its way toward the hall.