Ch. 262: Lungclear Herb Acquired!

Mo Fei gripped the frame of the skylight, held his breath, and slowly set one foot down on the planks of the trellis.

The boards didn't creak. He was about to shift his weight onto the other foot when the nearest round head swelled with a pulse.

Pff!

It felt like someone had hurled a stone straight into his shoulder. The pff-pff sounds ran together into a barrage, and his arm, his back, and his calf each took several hits in a row.

"Ow ow ow! I didn't even make a sound and you're still shooting?! But it's only pain, I can take it!"

In the middle of the ring of shooter plants lay a planting bed, herbs growing in clump after clump. He raised an arm to shield his head and hunched over, charging toward it.

A seed grazed his elbow and hit the clump ahead. A dark green leaf snapped clean off and drifted down.

He took another step, and several seeds flew past him, battering the whole clump until it flopped over in every direction.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait! The closer I get, the more they shoot into the plants. At this rate they'll all be wrecked before I pick a single one!"

Covering his head, he backed all the way to the skylight and ducked down through it.

He caught his breath on the wooden ladder, then looked down, and the breath caught again. A gray-violet stem had crawled to the foot of the ladder, its scale-flared funnel mouth tilting upward.

Mo Fei froze on the ladder, not daring to move even his toes.

The funnel mouth below swayed left and right, waited a while without sensing any movement, and slowly drooped back down. The vines went back to circling the floor with a rustle.

How does Lily get in every day? With her body, she can't possibly toss coins and jump and run like me. Which means these things don't attack her at all. Why not?

He remembered Lily tugging his sleeve back then, coughing, forcing out between breaths: "Needs... fragrance..."

Fragrance... scent! These things go by smell! The one who needs fragrance isn't the herb, it's me! She blends perfumes all the time, so one of that shelf of bottles has to be a scent these things recognize!

When the rustling faded a little, he lowered his foot one rung.

The ladder creaked, and the gray-violet stem lifted. He held his breath, waited for it to droop, and only then dared to move down another rung.

Hurry, hurry... no, if I hurry they'll lunge.

Once off the ladder, he followed the narrow path, testing each plank before putting his weight on it. Vines slid past his feet. The stretch he'd covered in a few strides earlier had him drenched in sweat this time.

Reaching the living area, he was about to reach for the shelf when he spotted a small bottle of essential oil beside the stack of books.

He pulled down his mask and popped out the stopper. A warm scent drifted into his nose, with lavender and rosemary in it.

This is the same smell Momo gives off. Let's try it.

He poured a full palmful and smeared it all over his neck, arms, and collar, then tied the mask back on and tried slipping back behind the vine curtain.

Creak.

The old boards underfoot groaned, and he went stiff.

The stem by the foot of the bed lifted, its funnel mouth tilting toward him, then slowly drooped back to the floor and crawled off to the side.

Mo Fei stared at it for a long moment, then raised his foot and stepped down again.

Creak.

It didn't even twitch.

...It works!

He strode through the forest and climbed the ladder.

When he pushed open the skylight, the ring of round mouths still faced inward.

He stepped onto the trellis. No reaction this time.

A few more steps forward, and nothing shot at him.

He let out a breath, walked over to the clump that had been battered crooked, and crouched to examine it.

【Lungclear Herb】
【Status: Active Phase (Stable)】
【Composition: Moisture 62%, Cellulose 18%, Nature-attribute Ether (5–10%), Holy-attribute Ether (5–10%)...】
【Note: Purifies toxic gas, and clears the lungs, too.】

He picked them one by one. By the fifth plant, he noticed only one or two were left beneath the leaves.

No, I need to leave some for her. Victor said three at minimum, so five should be enough.

He drew back his hand and tucked the herbs carefully into his coat.

Five plants... wait, the system quest wants ten. That's still five short.

He looked at the patch beside it, growing even more rampantly than weeds. Catnip, the kind Jimmy had picked out of the herb bundle last time.

There's so much of this. If I take some, she probably won't notice.

...

【Ding— Congratulations, Host, on completing General Quest: Herb Gatherer】
【Quest reward obtained: 5 EP.】

"Heck yeah, 5 EP in the bag! What's next?"

【General Quest: Honest Child】
【Objective: Confess one bad thing you have done to someone.】
【Reward: 1 EP.】

"Seriously, System, you did that on purpose!"

---

He was only halfway down the basement stairs when he heard the coughing.

On the operating table, Lily still had her eyes closed, but her chest kept heaving with one cough after another.

"Victor!"

Mo Fei pulled the five plants from his coat and held them out. Victor turned them over to check the undersides of the leaves, then set them down on the lab bench.

"Come here. Grind the medicine."

For the next while, Mo Fei did whatever Victor called out.

Before long the first batch of medicine was ready, but Victor sniffed it and dumped it out. They switched to a different blend, and he shook his head again.

Mo Fei listened to the coughing behind him and didn't dare stop grinding.

By the third plant, Victor finally stopped shaking his head. He drew the medicine into a syringe and injected her.

After a while, the coughs came farther and farther apart, the rasping in her throat faded, and the rise and fall of her chest slowly settled. Victor pressed two fingers to the side of her neck, then bent down to listen again.

"She's stabilized."

Lily lay with her eyes closed, looking just like she was asleep.

Mo Fei let out a long breath, and only then did his shoulders and arms start to hurt.

Remembering the two still waiting upstairs, he climbed the stairs. Toby was still standing guard by the entrance, and Mira stood at the far end of the workbench. Both turned at once.

"The medicine worked. She's fine now."

Toby's hand, clenched around the hem of his robe, loosened.

Mira let out a breath too, then remembered something, grabbed a sheet of paper, and held it high.

"M-Mr. Mo Fei! The data conversion is done! I hooked up the machine you left and tried it, and one scan prints it right out!"

A single neat line was printed on the paper.

"Nice work! I'll take it from here. Go rest for a bit."

He smiled and slid a hand into his pocket, brushing against the key.

She probably can't go home like this... Right, I should notify her grandfather first. I just touched a patient, and the old man was sick not long ago. Better not go into his shop.

"Toby, you know The Golden Rule bakery, right? The owner is Lily's grandfather. Go tell him she's at the workshop, the medicine worked, and she's stable now."

"Y-yes!"

Toby bolted out the door.

Mo Fei sat down at the other end of the workbench and felt a lumpy bulge in his pocket. He pulled it out. It was the bundle of catnip.

Almost forgot about this.

The kitten poked its head out from under the window. Mo Fei crouched down, tore the catnip apart, rubbed it between his fingers, and scattered it toward the kitten.

The kitten crept over, one step and a pause at a time, buried its face in the shreds, and rubbed against them without stopping.

Next he opened the Spirit Phial to let TampTamp keep it company.

TampTamp came out, shook out its fur, and hopped to the floor, ready to start stomping, but its nose twitched twice and it plunged headfirst into the shreds and started rolling.

...Does it work on a tiger-type Phial Spirit, too?

Watching the orange ball roll back and forth, he pinched off another piece of catnip and dangled it in front of the two of them.

The places where the seeds had hit still throbbed, but he laughed out loud anyway.

Bang!

The door was shoved wide open.

Mo Fei looked up, still holding the piece of catnip.

"Where's Lily?"

Old John stood in the doorway.