Stinky Flower

When Green woke up, he felt refreshed, his body and energy restored to their peak. Sunlight streamed through the gap in the curtains and spilled across the floor, showing that it was still daytime. He rose and pushed open the window, and fresh air mingled with the fragrance of flowers as it rushed toward him. Outside, the sun hung high overhead, while the people in the estate remained busy, tidying every corner.

"Chip, how long did I sleep?" Green asked silently.

[Total sleep duration: 5 hours. Deep sleep was maintained throughout.]

"Deep sleep? No wonder it didn't take very long." Green nodded slightly, lost in thought. Deep sleep could rapidly restore a person's energy and promote cell regeneration, offering tremendous benefits for the body's recovery. Naturally, it could effectively shorten the time needed for sleep.

Green continued surveying the estate, then walked over to the desk and sat down.

"The White House Academy's enrollment period is around January every year. It's only July now, so I have another six months. I have to arrange my plans for the time ahead properly." Green mulled it over. He couldn't simply leave and be done with it. He had to settle Old Green's affairs and make sure he could enjoy a peaceful old age.

"First is the source of income. The entire estate is currently operating in a state of spending without earning. I have to find a stable source of income—at the very least, one that can form a positive cycle." This problem did not trouble Green. He had already thought of a solution while he was still in the carriage.

Once he had decided to do something, Green picked up a pen and quickly wrote down a series of plans on paper. After finishing, he rose, opened the door, crossed the corridor, and descended the redwood staircase to the sixth floor. At the end of the stairs, two armored guards were standing watch. Green had specifically arranged these guards to prevent anyone from trespassing.

"Lord Green, good day." Hearing movement behind them, the two guards immediately turned around to look. When they saw Green, they promptly dropped to one knee and saluted him. Their metal armor clashed with a heavy, solemn sound, displaying their loyalty and sense of duty.

"All right, get up. There's no need to be so tense. Go call Ashlyn over. I need to speak with her." Green waved his hand, signaling for them to rise. He then issued the order to the guards before walking over to the sofa on the sixth floor, sitting down, and closing his eyes to rest.

"Yes, my lord." The two guards answered respectfully. After standing up, they exchanged a glance and nodded at each other. The guard on the left then hurried downstairs.

Green sat on the sofa with his eyes closed, quietly waiting. Before long, a burst of noisy footsteps came from the staircase. Ashlyn had not even reached the sixth floor, yet Green had already heard her voice.

"Big Brother Green, is there something you need? Why did you have the soldiers notify me?" Ashlyn's voice held a hint of playfulness and vitality.

Green opened his eyes, and Ashlyn's vibrant figure appeared before him.

On her first day at the estate, Ashlyn had already begun dressing up carefully. She no longer wrapped herself up tightly as she had before, instead putting on a dress. She deliberately accentuated her ample breasts and pert bottom, while her fair skin glimmered faintly beneath the sunlight, as if doing its utmost to display her charm.

As Ashlyn chatted with Green, she sat beside him without the slightest hesitation, displaying an extremely intimate relationship.

[Dopamine abnormality detected...]

Before the Chip could finish its report, Green interrupted it mentally.

[No need to report this.]

Green took the paper he had written from inside his clothes. It was covered with a list of materials.

"Ashlyn, collect everything listed on this paper for me. Also, go to the City District and rent or buy a shop. Decide according to the price; the location doesn't need to be too particular." As he spoke, Green handed the paper to Ashlyn.

"Yes, Big Brother Green. I'll go right away." Ashlyn obediently accepted the paper Green held out, looking like a lovestruck little bird. When she left Green, she deliberately rubbed her body against him before running away with a coy expression.

[Androgen secretion...]

The Chip's report was interrupted again.

Ashlyn took Green's orders very seriously and immediately reassigned some personnel to purchase the things Green needed throughout Ellendal Harbor.

Green also went outside the estate and directed the people there to move the items from his experimental carriage into the villa one by one. The guards handled all the transport of Green's experimental supplies. When the maids saw the organisms in the experimental carriage, nearly all of them were so frightened that their legs went weak and they could barely walk. Even among the guards, several had trembling legs as they carried the box containing the giant centipede.

The guards declared that being sent to the battlefield to kill enemies would be far easier than transporting this thing. The battlefield involved bloody slaughter and carried great risks, while this was simply physiologically revolting. Just getting a little closer made them feel as though they were about to have a nightmare.

Fortunately, the guards had high tolerance limits, and they ultimately completed the transport. The items were light, but by the time the guards finished moving them, every one of them was drenched in sweat.

After everything had been moved into the basement, Green deliberately took out a flower.

The flower had been carefully preserved in a glass box. Its blossom resembled a trumpet, but was a sickly crimson, like flowing blood. A single glance was enough to make people uncomfortable. The plant's stem was pale, threaded with patterns resembling blood. When light shone upon it, those red veins seemed to have blood flowing through them, creating a terrifying and bizarre sight.

When the thing was brought out and placed in the center of the villa, the guards and maids all thought it was an incarnation of the Devil. It looked so strange that no plant like it could possibly exist. Even Old Green watched Green with a worried expression, afraid that Green had been possessed by something eerie.

Seeing the strange looks on everyone's faces, Green smiled helplessly. He had no intention of explaining, however. Facts were more convincing.

He slowly opened a corner of the glass box, and an intense fragrance erupted from within. A peculiar freshness spread like a surging tide. The scent in the air was neither too strong nor too faint, but just right, as though it had formed naturally.

The moment the people in the villa smelled the fragrance, their faces became entranced and intoxicated, as if they were experiencing the most wonderful thing in the world. Some even began waving their arms and dancing, completely forgetting their surroundings.

"The scent is still too strong. It looks like I'll need to dilute it when making perfume." Green watched the situation in the villa and stroked his chin as he analyzed it. This was a special plant he had cultivated through his experiments. It had originally been called Stinky Flower, and its smell had been unbearably foul, like rotting garbage.

As a scientist in his previous life, Green naturally knew that "stink" was the transformation that occurred when "fragrance" reached its extreme. During cultivation, Green controlled where the Life Force entered and altered its natural growth pattern, preventing "fragrance" from turning into "stink" because of excessive concentration. After three generations of cultivation, the "stink" had finally been suppressed into "fragrance."

Green soon discovered, however, that perhaps because various predatory plants existed in the experimental environment, Stinky Flower had imitated them while evolving. The fragrance it secreted possessed a certain degree of hallucinogenicity. Moreover, because the flower's scent spread so intensely, without suppression its range could even reach ten li in every direction.

Green had only opened the box briefly, yet it had already had an enormous effect on everyone in the villa. Fortunately, there was no further source of fragrance, and the scent soon dispersed into the air.

This was Green's method of getting rich. Perfume made from Stinky Flower would absolutely sell like hotcakes. Ellendal Harbor itself was a developed region, so naturally, even more women would be willing to pay a steep price for perfume.

As the scent faded, everyone at the scene returned to their senses. The people who had been dancing were now completely flushed, wishing they could find a crack in the ground to crawl into.

It was simply too embarrassing to have done something like that in front of Lord Green.

Green did not mind. He had also fallen victim the first time he smelled the flower's fragrance. If not for the Chip's warning and his powerful constitution, Green estimated that he, too, would have danced his way off the carriage.

Seeing that everyone had returned to normal, Green gestured for them to continue tidying the estate. Then he turned his gaze toward Stinky Flower. Now he had to consider whether to launch large-scale sales or use hunger marketing.