Dear Sweetheart

Chapter 682

Chapter 682 Someone Was Researching Serekos Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Cassidy whipped out a stethoscope and listened to Rayna's heart and lungs. After giving her a brief examination, she asked, “Right, back to the question at hand. Isabelle, do you really not remember me anymore?"

Rayna glanced in Curtis' direction before awkwardly shaking her head.

Cassidy complained, "Have you no heart? Don't you remember Shvomhid Mountain? Oh, wait... It's Loytas Mountain now, isn't it? Back then, you went up the mountain looking for herbs to treat your mother. Well? Does that ring a bell by any chance?"

She then looked at Rayna expectantly, hoping the latter could remember something.

"I do remember Loytas Mountain, but I don't remember you..." Rayna racked her brain to try and recall who Cassidy was, but to no avail.

"So, you really don't remember me..." Cassidy let out a helpless sigh as she continued, "I will need to draw a bit of your blood for a blood test."

Rayna nodded in acknowledgment and gave her permission to draw her blood.

As she couldn't stand watching the needle pierce her skin, Curtis pressed her face against his chest. He then watched as Cassidy extracted a small amount of Rayna's blood bit by bit.

"All right, it's done. Please continue to apply pressure here to help stop the bleeding," Cassidy instructed while pressing a cotton ball on Rayna's arm. Curtis took over for her and helped maintain a gentle pressure on the cotton ball.

"The blood test report will be ready in about thirty minutes from now. You two can go wait in the living room," Cassidy said as she took her latex gloves off.

Rayna and Curtis were on their way out of the house when Yasmin came running over frantically.

"Come to the courtyard, Ms. Cassidy! I found something in the herbs! It's inside the bag of Seregal!" she exclaimed with tears in her eyes.

Rayna turned toward Curtis when she heard the name of the plant. "Seregal? Doesn't that sound kind of similar?"

Curtis nodded. "Yeah, it does." Upon recalling how the serendipity grass had caused the blood parasites in Rayna to get active, he immediately stopped in his tracks.

Rayna shot him a puzzled look and asked, "What's wrong? Why are you stopping all of a sudden?"

Curtis gave her a gentle pat on the head as he glanced at Cassidy, who was still inside the house. "We'll let them head over first."

Seregal sounded quite similar to serendipity grass, so Curtis was worried that it would awaken the blood parasite inside Rayna.

"What is it? What did you see?" Cassidy still had her white coat on when Yasmin dragged her out of the house.

"You'll find out when you see it for yourself!" Yasmin replied and continued dragging her toward the warehouse.

Cassidy felt goosebumps all over when she reached the courtyard and saw the creatures wiggling on the ground.

"How did this happen?" Although Cassidy was disgusted by the sight of the creatures wriggling on the ground before her, she had no choice but to gather the herbs. After all, she had gone through a lot of trouble collecting them from steep cliffs.

She was about to step forward when Yasmin grabbed her arm and exclaimed, “Have you lost your mind? Those things are alive! How are you going to catch them with your bare hands? Don't you know what will happen to your skin?"

Curtis frowned slightly when he made his way over to the courtyard and saw the creatures that came wriggling out of the sack.

"What is it?" Rayna asked as she followed behind him. She was about to stick her head out to have a look when Curtis covered her eyes with his hands. "Don't look," he said.

The creatures were shaped like leeches, but they were much smaller in size.

That was when Curtis recalled how the blood parasites, that were still inside Rayna's body, looked just like those creatures when they wiggled about.

"What are those?" Curtis asked with a solemn look on his face.

Yasmin was so spooked when she met the man's icy-cold gaze that she hid behind Cassidy and replied in a trembling voice, “I-It's Seregal, a type of flower."

Curtis glanced at the wiggling creatures on the ground and asked coldly, "Flower? Are you sure these are flowers? They don't look anything like flowers to me."

"Oh, trust me, they are flowers. Don't worry, Yasmin. Everything is going to be all right,” Cassidy said, patting Yasmin's shoulder to comfort her.

She then shifted her gaze toward Curtis, who was glaring coldly at her, and asked, "Are you familiar with caterpillar fungus?"

Curtis' hand, which was covering Rayna's eyes, loosened slightly when he heard that, but he still kept her face buried in his chest because he didn't want her to see how disgusting the creatures looked.

Curtis narrowed his eyes as he said, "Are you saying that this is the same as caterpillar fungus, Ms. Cassidy? From what I know, caterpillar fungus is a type of fungus that grows on insects. It parasitizes and germinates the living larva of moths before killing and mummifying it. After that, a dark brown stalk- like fruiting body, which is a few centimeters long, emerges from the corpse. Caterpillar fungus does not come back to life afterward, though. These things wiggling about on the ground, however, look very much alive to me."

Cassidy nodded. "Yes, you are precisely right. Seregal is essentially a worm that goes into hibernation during autumn. While in hibernation, a yellow flower, which we call 'Seregal,' will grow around the worm. The worm, known as 'Serekos,' will form a cocoon at the root of the flower. Of course, the cocoon is useless, so we usually remove it and retrieve the Serekos inside."

"You only retrieve the worm? What about the flower, then?" Curtis asked, capturing the main point of her words.

"The flower isn't actually a part of the worm's body. It's just a plant that grows in the areas around the caves where the worms are found. Serekos secrete a huge amount of sticky fluid that turns the nearby flowers yellow," Cassidy explained.

"If that's the case, how do you tell Seregal apart from other flowers?" Curtis pressed on.

"It's something that comes with experience, I suppose," Cassidy replied with a shrug. She then pried Yasmin off her and said, "Go fetch me the medicinal solution from upstairs. It's in a glass bottle."

"Okay!" Yasmin nodded and ran up the stairs.

"Have these things awakened from hibernation?" Curtis asked as he stared at the Serekos in disgust.

"You could say that, but..." Cassidy bent over and took a closer look at the Serekos as she continued, "These Serekos don't look like they've been hibernating at all."

"How can you tell?" Curtis asked.

"The color looks different. Serekos that have been hibernating will appear brown in color. On top of that, I've soaked them in a medicinal solution and left them out to dry under the hot sun, so it shouldn't be possible for them to awaken at all." Cassidy walked down the steps, grabbed a pair of metal forceps, and picked up one of the Serekos as she continued, "Also, do you see the size of these Serekos? They are about two times bigger than ordinary ones. These do not look like Serekos that we typically find in nature."

Curtis tightened his grip on Rayna as he felt a sudden sense of worry and fear. "Are you saying that someone is researching these things?"

"Oh, it's very common for people to research them. Serekos are highly valuable for their medicinal properties. The fluid they secrete makes a great skin-care product if you can detoxify it. These Serekos look like they were born quite recently. I just don't understand how the first one got into my bag of herbs. They chewed up all of my herbs, so I can't sell them anymore!" Cassidy replied with a helpless sigh as she placed the Serekos into a sack one by one and stared at the damaged herbs scattered on the ground.

She was about to stomp on one of the Serekos in frustration when something shiny inside the sack caught her eye.

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