Chapter 210 - Flammable

"Do you think that scientist had some help from outside? I mean, how could he think of going inside this door of all the doors in the castle?" Petunia suddenly said after the unbearable silence between her and Lei while making their way down the painfully long staircase to the basement.

"I'm sure he got some help, but the question is, how? How do they keep penetrating our security just like that?"

"Maybe the palace's security is really outdated… I mean, ever since Queen Frida died, it's like the spirit of invention disappeared with them, although no offense to the new generations, I still think they should stop relying on outdated inventions that our great leaders did and start making innovations on their own, especially in this competitive age of apocalypse when the other countries are thriving to be the best to survive the threats from both inside and outside of their countries."

"You're right. Maybe it's because of our old leaders being too ahead of their time that we just forgot how being competitive feels like. I mean, Clandamascarene has been number one for years, the biggest and greatest country to survive the apocalypse, but lately, it's like we've been falling behind."

"Maybe that's why Halma was so alarmed when we lost the Dekadalaw tournament last decade."

"Precisely," Lei said to what Petunia was saying, wondering deep down how he and Petunia could come up with something and agree with each other without having different views.

"And not to mention the commotion that my city did that surely damaged the country as a whole, I wonder why Halma didn't get angry at me for that," Petunia said while watching Lei sneak down the floor of the basement while she was just laying down on her Gummy cloud comfortably.

"For one, you were just a kid when that happened, and second, we should focus on what we're doing here first," Lei said while glancing at Petunia who just rolled her eyes at Lei's attempt on getting her back on track with him to capture that guy.

"Fine," Petunia said and then paused when she noticed Lei staring at her as if there was another answer that he was expecting.

"What?" she asked, a little bit nervous about the way Lei's face was literally so close to her and was only being lit up by the faint purple glow of her Gummy cloud.

"Where is he? Aren't you supposed to be sensing him now?" Lei said, which put Petunia back in her proper place.

"O-Of course I'm doing that! Just give me a minute!" she said and then turned around to hide her flustered face.

"How can I focus on finding that guy with my senses now when my heart beat's literally louder than this deafening silence!?" Petunia complained in her mind before taking a deep breath and finally having the courage to face Lei again.

"S-Since he's a scientist, wouldn't it only be natural for him to go and visit the storages first? Maybe he needed some ingredients from the royal stash that's why he went here or even just anything that he needs for research," Petunia suggested while keeping a straight face and trying hard to pretend like she's okay when her stomach was already having a butterfly party just by being alone with Lei in the basement.

"You're right, I think he also went there first. God, that melting machine, where did he get that?" Lei said after seeing one of the doorknobs in the storage room melted like a burnt-out candle.

"I don't think it's a melting machine. Look, the main stuff that was missing here is mostly Foerus."

"The element of fire," Lei said after recognizing the stuff that Petunia said.

"Based on the glowing trails of this bag of Foerus, I think he also took the powder of lily which was a very controversial topic back in the days for its intoxicating side effects as a medicine."

"You mean the black powder of lily?" Lei said, recalling the name from one of her lessons as a kid in the Shinobi house where the elders would use the same black powder of lily on a daily basis to get immune from the intoxicating substance that it has, which was said to be stronger than any venom or alcohol that they have tasted over the generations.

"This isn't good, the black powder of lily is highly flammable and could be easily spread across the palace without anyone noticing, we need to inform the rest about it now!" Lei quickly typed in the message to his Stut-hut, while Petunia on the other hand was focusing more on figuring out what other ingredients the outsider took from the royal stash that could be used as a weapon against them.

"The trail ends here, and I can't feel him anymore- gah!" Petunia suddenly jerked back and held her nose, catching Lei's attention who had just sent a message to the rest of Leviathan.

"What's wrong?" he asked and immediately moved to catch Petunia who just suddenly lost her control over the Gummy cloud.

"Are you okay?! Petunia! What's wrong?!" Lei said but Petunia refused to respond.

She was even covering her mouth and nose which made Lei frustrated, but it was not until Petunia's breathing became rigged that Lei noticed Petunia was not covering her mouth but rather her nose as if something was caught on it and she could not breathe because of it.

"What happened?!" Lei demanded and tried to remove Petunia's paws from her nose, and that was when he noticed the lump of blood that Petunia was trying so hard to stop from bleeding out.

"Let it go!" Lei said but was met with resistance as Petunia tried to speak.

"I- can't b-breathe," she said faintly, almost as if she had lost her voice.

"That's why I'm telling you to let go of it!" Lei said and accidentally pulled the cold potion from her neck when he tried to pull her paws away from her nose.

"N-No," Petunia whispered before passing out. 

"No what? Hey, Petunia! Stay with me! Hey!?" Lei pleaded but there was no response from her anymore.

"Nooo!!"