Chapter 684
Chapter 684
Chapter 684 Over Twenty Years
“That's right. PQM can be used for skin regeneration, but only in small surface areas. It can't be used for large surface areas.” As Cassidy spoke, she put on her lab coat and gloves before entering the room at the side.
Rayna stared at Cassidy's blurry figure for a while before turning to Curtis. “Did you see the herbs in the front yard just now?”
Herbs?
Curtis lifted his brows as the image of the “herbs” wriggling on the ground resurfaced in his head. “I didn't look at them for long.”
“Take a look at them again later.” Rayna contemplated it for a while on the couch before continuing, “Maybe I'll be able to get some good herbs from Cassidy for a new skincare product.
Curtis found sense in Rayna's words, but he was not going to let Rayna worry about Glory for now.
Thus, he rejected her by saying, “We'll talk about this again when you get better.”
“But we're here right now. I don't know when we'll come here again.” Rayna did not want to miss the opportunity. “I want to deal with this at the same time.”
“Ask her about it yourself when she comes out later. I don't know what herbs she's drying out in the
front yard anyway,” Curtis said as he drank from a cup on the coffee table. He noticed that the water seemed sweet.
When Rayna noticed Curtis' stunned expression, she lifted her cup and chuckled. “Didn't you realize that the flowers here bloom better than the ones we usually see?”
At that, Curtis turned to look at the backyard. Even though he could see that the plants were growing brilliantly, he could not tell the difference between them.
Upon hearing nothing from him, Rayna sighed, figuring that he must not know anything about botany.
“If only Jessie and the others were here,” she wistfully commented. Jessica was well-versed in plants, after all.
Indeed, Curtis knew little about the plants—he did not quite comprehend how plants could be used in skincare products.
“We'll do such things when your eyes recover.” After Curtis finished his water, he put the cup back on the coffee table. Then, when he turned back to face Rayna, he froze.
Having not realized anything amiss at all, Rayna pouted. “But I'm worried that we won't be able to do that by then. What do we do then? Let's do this now, okay?”
Frankly, she had the right to make the decision for Glory to come up with a new product. Moreover,
working with Cassidy would not be a problem for her if that was what she wanted. However, she did not want Curtis to worry about her, and that was why she was trying to persuade him about the idea.
It was more of a statement than a question to get his opinion.
Nevertheless, when Rayna heard nothing but silence from Curtis, she narrowed her eyes in an attempt to see what expression the man had. “What's wrong? Did something happen?”
As she spoke, she lifted her hand to touch her face, but she felt nothing strange about it.
Curtis promptly grabbed her wandering hand and called out for Cassidy. “Cassidy! Cassidy!”
Having heard Curtis' anxious voice, Cassidy immediately came out of the room. When she saw the nervous look on the man's face, her heart leaped to her throat. “What's wrong?”
“Come and take a look at her,” Curtis cried out as he held onto Rayna's hand tightly. “Quickly!”
Cassidy strode over and looked in the direction Curtis was looking at. In the next second, Cassidy widened her eyes. She took off her glove and touched Rayna's neck as she asked, “Isabelle, does it hurt?”
Affected by the two other people's anxiety, Rayna tensed up as well. “It doesn't. What are you seeing?”
Cassidy frowned and turned to Curtis. “Come with me.”
Then, she said to Rayna, “Don't touch anything.”
Hearing that, Rayna lowered her hands and rested them on her kneecaps.
“Look at this first.” Cassidy passed a report to Curtis and pointed at some sections.
In a lower voice, she said, “Is there a relationship between Belle's bracelet and this unusual data?”
Cassidy still did not know about the parasite in Rayna's body.
“I was researching in the room earlier, and my research tells me that the bracelet is an item used to suppress the effects of artificially-bred parasites,” Cassidy said before handing Curtis a piece of paper. “This is what I just printed out.”
Curtis took it, and when he saw the word “parasite” on it, his eyes widened.
“What does this mean?” he asked, pointing at the contents of the paper.
“Exactly what you see,” Cassidy calmly answered. She then glimpsed at the oblivious Rayna and went on, “I'm guessing that the person who planted this parasite in Belle knew that she took this in the past.”
As she spoke, she flipped the pages of the third document she gave to Curtis. “Whoever that is, they're using Rayna's body as an incubator.”
The moment Curtis saw what was on the paper, he turned colorless. “Is there a way to get that thing out of her? Or is there a way we can kill it?”
Cassidy shook her head. “As far as I know, there's no way to do either of that. The only thing we can do is to keep that thing suppressed by making sure it stays asleep and never grows.”
“I never thought that the liquid from that grass would still be in her even after so many years,” Cassidy continued grimly. “Outsiders know that there are many types of priceless herbs growing on Shvomhid Mountain, but they have no idea there are plenty of things up here that are life-threatening. I really had no idea that the sap from Arachrede could stay inside a human's body for such a long time.”
Arachrede was a type of grass that was highly toxic. Those with unblemished skin would have no issue coming into contact with the grass, but those who were injured would certainly get poisoned with its sap, especially those with cuts.
Cassidy cocked her head to the side and mulled about the time frame. It had been around twenty years since then, and she was surprised that the poison from the Arachrede could stay in Rayna's body for such a long time.
There were only two endings for those who were poisoned by Arachrede. They would either die in less than a year, or their metabolism would get rid of the poison.
Nonetheless, the former was more common.
“Then, is Rayna in a good situation or a bad one now?” Curtis slowly tightened his grip on the papers.
“It's hard to come to a conclusion to that.” Cassidy pursed her lips and glanced at Curtis. “I'm the only one in my family who still researches rare species of herbs. My peers have mostly pursued different careers. If my grandpa were still around, perhaps he would have been able to handle Belle's case.”