Cornflower Witch

Chapter 408 The Poison of the Hyacinth
After chatting with Walnut all night, Siltia returned to her lodgings by carriage; it was already quite late.

She opened the door and put down the gift box in her hand, which was a gift from Mrs. Mared before she left. It contained the Fox family's new pastries.

A glass candle lamp was lit in the living room, left especially for her; Lowell and Aurora were already asleep.

After changing out of her dress, Hilti went to the bathroom to take a shower, soaked in hot water for a while, and then put on her pajamas before going to the bedroom.

Lowell lay on her side in her small bed, hugging a pillow. Aurora also had a rag doll next to her. Hilti looked at her own bed, where a small, exquisite doll sat motionless against the headboard.

With a thought, a wisp of thread flew from the girl's fingertip and connected to the sleeping doll. The doll then floated up and helped Sylvia spread out the quilt, and then placed the glass candle lamp from the living room on her bedside.

After completing these tasks, the black kite doll returned to the bedside and remained motionless.

Released the silk thread she used for command, Hilti nodded in satisfaction, then pulled back the covers and went to sleep.

"Goodnight~" she whispered to the doll, then closed her eyes.

She was tired today too.

—Late at night, Songzi Street—

A few lonely lights shone on the quiet street. This was the construction material supply center of the Asra district. Many shops selling timber, stone, furniture, and decorative products were located here, and a large number of construction workers also gathered here.

Unlike the scallion street controlled by the 'fire pigs', this place is not lively at night. A large number of construction workers will sleep in shacks at night, and all you can hear is the buzzing of mosquitoes and the uneven snoring.

Deep within this neighborhood lies a spacious open space piled high with various stone slabs and timber. People patrolling the area at night occasionally stroll by. Opening the cover in one corner of the open space reveals a long tunnel leading underground.

This is the stronghold of the chieftain 'Four Fingers,' who controls many of the building renovation projects in the Asura District. In Pine Street, he is the underground king who commands absolute authority.

However, this king of Songzi Street did not have a peaceful night.

"You mean, I'm poisoned?" Sizhi woke up groggily, clutching his still painful forehead, and asked the gang doctor beside him.

"That's right, you've been poisoned." The other person nodded with a serious expression.

"If I hadn't used that rare purification potion just now, you would probably be ascending to heaven by now." Ascending to heaven is a nice way of saying it; in reality, it means you're dead.

"Damn it, who poisoned me?" Four Fingers ran his remaining four fingers through his hair, rubbing them anxiously to calm himself down and quickly recall and analyze who was most likely to poison him.

"I suspect it might be that woman you've recently taken a liking to," the doctor beside him told him directly.

“During the hour you were unconscious, I questioned everyone around you in detail. She was the one with the best chance and the most confidence to poison you.”

"How is that possible?" Four Fingers initially didn't believe it, but quickly shook his head.

“I saved her from the ‘Spider Woman’. If it weren’t for me, she would have been killed long ago. Besides, the Spider Woman has fallen now, and she can only rely on me. If something happens to me, what good will it do her?”

"How could you think that way, sir? When did you come to believe that you wouldn't do anything without a benefit? That's completely unfounded."

"Some people just like to act crazy and stupid, what can you do?" The doctor said he had seen too many similar things.

"Okay, even if it's her, can I recover now?" 'Four Fingers' felt that his body was a bit awkward and inflexible.

"It's hard to say." The doctor shook his head. "The poison you've been given is very special. It's likely that the poisoner knew you would seek medical treatment afterward, so ordinary toxins wouldn't work. The person who administered the poison wasn't very bold and didn't dare use any fast-acting medication, so they used a toxin that doesn't work quickly. Its name is 'Green Sprout Poison'."

"This toxin comes from common plants. For example, some plant seeds produce similar toxins when they sprout. The toxin that poisoned you comes from the rhizome of the 'sedum' plant. You can get it by cutting off the green shoots when it sprouts, grinding and squeezing them."

"Enough, this isn't the place for you to have a lesson. Your teaching license has already been revoked. Get to the point: how to detoxify?"

"I need a potion that I can make, but it's quite complicated to make. It needs to be of 'rare' quality to be effective. If it's not, it won't detoxify and will even have adverse effects."

"I understand the theory, but unfortunately I'm not good at the details of alchemy and medicine making. My hands always shake. You'll have to find a skilled alchemist or a professional medicine maker."

"If I dared to touch those pharmacists that the government treasures so much, I'm afraid you wouldn't even need to come and detoxify me; I'd be killed by law enforcement the very next day." Four Fingers felt he no longer had the strength to argue with this doctor.

"Then I'll have to give it a try. The best I've ever managed to produce before was of exceptional quality," the doctor sighed.

"I will write down the materials you need later, but I want to tell you in advance that these are all very expensive. With your wealth, you probably can only afford to collect ten sets of materials. If it doesn't work after ten tries, and you can't recover, you'll be disabled for the rest of your life."

"Forget about that. If I become disabled, those Fire Pigs won't let me live to old age. They'll be happy to send me off early." Four-Finger waved his hand.

"Hurry up and get ready."

"Okay." The doctor wrote down the list, had Four Fingers sign it, and then took the list out to find someone.

After the doctor left, Four Fingers leaned against the headboard and groaned in pain for a while before calling his trusted bodyguard.

"Tell 'Chili Face,' 'Blue Toad,' and 'Yellow-Eyed Meerkat' to find some tough guys who won't get involved with us, and have them cause trouble for the Fire Pig. Ideally, make it feel nauseous, have a headache, and be unable to sleep, and have its minions in chaos. That way, we can get through the dangerous period. Understand?"

"understood."

"Okay, go ahead." After saying that, he covered his head with four fingers and lay back down.

In the days that followed, several strange incidents occurred on Scallion Street. First, a spice warehouse burned down, turning a large amount of precious spices into an enticing aroma at night. Then, a distinguished guest who came to the Asura District for a taste found white maggots in his plate, flew into a rage and berated the restaurant, causing it to close on the spot, and the owner behind it was also detained.

Soon after, another school revealed that the food ingredients it had been providing were problematic, and some students had suffered food poisoning incidents.

In response to these problems, the officials managing the Asura district put immense pressure on "Fire Pig," because this underground "chieftain" had previously been responsible for handling the wholesale import of food and the stability of many restaurant kitchen workers. Now that so many things had happened, if "Fire Pig" couldn't resolve them properly, his time as chieftain would be over.

Faced with constant questioning and reprimands from the authorities, 'Fire Pig' had no choice but to temporarily abandon his plan to eliminate 'Four Fingers' and instead focus his energy on dealing with these sudden incidents, big and small. Only in this way could he, the leader of the underworld, have any reason to exist.

At this point, 'Fire Pig' realized that 'Four Fingers' was definitely behind this, but he had no choice but to comply and could not disregard the official opinion. However, he was not the kind of person who would swallow a false accusation.

In trying to quell the situation, he repeatedly brought in officials he had worked with and was familiar with, making them realize that these events were not caused by him, "Fire Pig," but by someone else stirring up trouble behind the scenes. In the end, all the blame was directed at "Four Fingers," who had recently disappeared.

After understanding the general situation, the authorities summoned both parties again, forcing them to reconcile and prevent further conflict and incidents in the Asura region.

Both sides outwardly agreed and shook hands with smiles, but in private, they both began to formulate more detailed and secretive plans, because from the day 'Four Fingers' fell into a coma due to poisoning, the two sides had already lost the possibility of compromise and reconciliation.

He's about to kill you, how can you forgive him? Do you have to die yourself?

Clearly, both sides wanted to live while the other died, and this feud became an intractable problem, gradually brewing in the shadows of the Asura district.

(End of this chapter)