After chatting with Hutao all night, Sylutia returned to her lodgings by carriage; it was already quite late.
She opened the door and put down the gift box she was carrying. It was a gift from Mrs. Marid before she left, containing the Fox family's new pastries.
A glass candle lamp was lit in the living room, left especially for her; Lovier and Aurora were already asleep.
After changing out of her dress, Sylutia 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.
Lovier lay on her side in her small bed, hugging her pillow. Aurora also had Doll rag doll beside her. Sylutia 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 Levitation up, helped Sylutia spread out the blankets, and then placed the glass candle lamp from the living room on her bedside table.
After completing these tasks, the Black Kite Doll returned to the bedside and remained motionless.
Loosening her grip on the silken thread she used for command, Sylutia in satisfaction, then pulled back the covers to go to sleep.
"Goodnight~" she whispered to the Doll, then closed her eyes.
She was tired today too.
--Late at night, Pine Nut Street-
A few lonely lights shone on the quiet street. This was the construction material supply center of the Asura District, where many shops selling timber, stone, furniture, and decorative products were located. It was also a gathering place for a large number of construction workers.
Unlike the Scallion Street controlled by the " Fire Pig," this place is not lively at night. A large number of construction workers sleep in shacks at night, and all you can hear are the buzzing of mosquitoes and the uneven snoring.
Deep within this neighborhood lies a wide open space, piled high with various stone slabs and timber. People patrolling the area at night occasionally pass by. Opening the cover in one corner of the open space reveals a long tunnel leading underground.
This is the headquarters of " Four Fingers," who controls many of the building renovation projects in the Asura District. In Pine Nut Street, he is the underground king who commands absolute authority.
However, this king of Pine Nut Street didn't have a peaceful night.
"You mean, I've been poisoned?" Four Fingers woke up, 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 euphemism; 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, and she was the only one with the best chance and the most certainty of poisoning you."
"How is that possible?" Four Fingers initially didn't believe it, but quickly shook his head.
"I saved her from Spider Woman. If it weren't for me, she would have been killed long ago. Besides, Spider Woman has fallen now, and she can only rely on me. What good would it do her if something happened to me?"
"How could you think that way, sir? When did you come to believe that you won't do anything without a benefit? That's completely unfounded."
"Some people just like to act crazy and stupid, what can you do about it?" The doctor said he had seen too many similar things.
"Okay, even if it's her, can I still recover now?" Four Fingers felt 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 they knew you would seek medical treatment, so ordinary toxins wouldn't work. And the person who poisoned you wasn't very bold; they didn't dare use an acute-acting drug, so they used a slow-acting toxin. 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 Mandrake *. You can obtain it by cutting off the green shoots when it sprouts, grinding and pressing them."
"Enough! This isn't the place for you to have a lesson, and your teaching license has already been revoked. Get to the point: how to cure the poison?"
"I need a potion that I can concoct, but it's quite complicated to make. It needs to be of rare quality to be effective; otherwise, it won't detoxify and may even have adverse effects."
"I understand the theory, but unfortunately I'm not good at the details of Alchemy and Pharmacy. My hands always shake. You'll have to find a skilled Alchemy 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. My best result before was only producing products 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 quite 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 Pig won't let me live to old age. They'll be happy to send me off early." Four Fingers waved.
"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 for his trusted bodyguard.
"Tell Chili Face, Blue Toad, Yellow-eyed Mongoose, and the others to find some capable 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 disarray. 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 of the food 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.
Shortly after, another school reported that the food ingredients it had been providing were problematic, and some students had experienced food poisoning incidents.
In response to these problems, the officials managing the Asura District put immense pressure on Fire Pig, because this underground leader 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 leader would be over.
Faced with constant questioning and reprimands from the authorities, Fire Pig "had to temporarily abandon his plan to go all out to kill 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 a reason to exist.
At this point, Fire Pig realized that Four Fingers was definitely behind it all, but he had no choice but to comply and couldn't ignore the official opinion. However, he wasn't the kind of person who would swallow a false accusation.
In trying to quell the situation, he repeatedly summoned 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. Ultimately, all the blame pointed to " 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 District.
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 was poisoned and fell into a coma, the two sides had lost the possibility of compromise and reconciliation.
He's about to kill you, how can you forgive him? Do you really 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.