Book 5: Chapter 6: The plant

Book 5: Chapter 6: The plant

Vines.

The wriggling vines crawled over like snakes, wrapping around Xiao Xias body. The leaves on the vines were covered in eyes.

Another dream, wake up!

Xiao Xia realized this in her sleep. Like Wan Li said, her mind was too susceptible to being influenced.

However, this time her mind listened to her and the nightmare was ended successfully. She raised her head and looked at the window half-covered by curtains. The sky outside told her it was the middle of the night.

She recalled the matter of her case again. She wasnt a workaholic obsessed with her job. Things were just too weird.

The police had come to the same conclusion for Zhang Mous death: drug overdose. The mess around his corpse was completely caused by himself while under the influence. The dug out eyeball was the same.

However, they didnt mention that plant!

It was impossible to have overlooked it. The appearance of a strange plant indoors should have attracted attention. The investigators would definitely not have ignored it. Why was it not mentioned in the report?

Unlessit had crawled off by itself!

This thought gave Xiao Xia goosebumps. This was scarier than the nightmare. No, more like disgusting. Who would have thought a plant could wriggle like a snake? She had seen it herself, though she had doubted her eyes. However, she couldnt help but recall that scene!

The two cases she was responsible for had both ended suddenly due to the death of the accused. Although the police report said it was just a coincidence, she had experienced too many supernatural things to accept this explanation.

This couldnt have something to do with her, right? She had been responsible for other cases in addition to these two. There had been a total of four, around one a week on average. This was what made it hard for her to bear. She hadnt known that there were so many relatives who ended up falling out with each other!

Of the other two cases, one agreed to mediate and the relationship between the two generations seemed to be thawing. This made Xiao Xia feel the law and herself had been successful. The lawsuit had started for the other case, and was awaiting the courts decision.nove(l)bi(n.)com

If all her cases would turn out weird, why were those two cases fine? Maybe it only happened to cases where there was no mediation? But the accused of the case that was brought to court had the vilest conduct. Yet he was still completely fine as of now. How could that be explained?!

Ghosts afraid of truly evil people?! No, it definitely wasnt that!

The only explanation was that Guan Zheng had come along with her on the two cases where something happened!

Lawsuits were really just a struggle for benefits. Cases involving disputes over money were even more obvious. The accused in such cases mostly felt they could ignore the law, and there was a higher possibility of a fight breaking out. Therefore, Guan Zheng didnt want to let Xiao Xia work by herself. However, since he was rather busy, the male intern had helped her with two of her other cases.

Could the cases with weird conclusions be due to Guan Zhengs involvement?

Whats wrong? Wan Li asked in concern.

Xiao Xia shook her head. She did her best to suppress the inexplicable unease she felt. However, it still welled up in waves. It still remained in her mind even a week later.

Had it been the same plant? If it was, how could it have survived being burned and then covered in cement? Was it a demonic object? Was there a secret behind this?

With the strong doubts in her mind, she finally made a trip to Zhang Mous grave a week later. Once no one was around, she secretly dug around the sides of the tombstone. Short pine trees were planted on either side and they had been watered in the morning, the smell of mud mixing with the smell of the aroma of the tree. Xiao Xia practically buried her head into the thicket. What she saw made her heart trembled.

A strange weed was growing from the gaps next to the gravestone. It was still a sprout, but it had already grown its oval leaves.

Xiao Xias heart beat violently, as though she were getting close to some secret. There was some excitement mixed within her unease. She put on the gloves she had prepared in advance, stretched out her hand and suddenly pulled the weed out!

She moment she touched it, she felt that strange plant move. It seemed to bite her hand, making her relax her grip in shock and throw it to the floor. She watched as it wilted at an abnormal rate!

She crouched, before finally picking up its remains after bracing herself. This time it didnt move, silently allowing her to put it into a clean paper bag.

After getting home, she started looking into various articles and pictures on the internet. One article attracted her attentionthe poppy, originating from Asia Minor, India and Iran. It was cultivated in small quantities within China as a medical plant. The poppy was a biennial herbaceous plant within its family. Its stem was light green and its leaves were oval, growing along the stem. It bloomed in the summer, with one flower per branch. The flowers were large and vivid, blooming upwards in red, purple and white colors. The flowers wilted early, forming into buds containing many tiny seeds. Chinese medicine used these pods, known as poppy pods or imperial rice pods. These were harvested in the summer, and removed from the stem and deseeded. After drying, it can be cooked in vinegar or honey-roasted and eaten. The seeds contained fifty percent oil, which could be extracted.

Poppy pods taste bitter and were poisonous. It contained morphine, cocaine, nicotine. Poppies contain over thirty types of alkaloids and can be used as pain relief, cough suppressant and antidiarrheal. It can be used for treating emissions caused by weak kidneys. The fruit of the poppy contains nectar which becomes opium after drying. It contains 10% morphine and alkaloid, allowing it to suppress muscle spasms, especially that of the heart. It can be used for angina and clogged arteries, but prolonged use may easily result in addiction and toxic buildup, seriously damaging the body. Those suffering from this are often called opium ghouls. Serious cases may result in death due to asphyxiation.

Therefore, China has strict controls on the growth of poppies. It is prohibited outside of medical studies. Planting seeds or saplings for personal use is illegal and will be prosecuted.

After turning off the computer, Xiao Xias mind didnt clear up. Instead, it grew even more chaotic. If the strange plant was indeed a poppy, assuming she wasnt mistaken, it would explain why the two people without any history of taking drugs would die from drug overdose.

What made her more confused was how it managed to accomplish this. Drugs are produced through processing and purification. Eating the plant by itself wouldnt be deadly. Furthermore, how did the poppy get there? Why did it move like a living thing? What secrets were involved here?

Thinking of this, Xiao Xia hurried over to the law firm.

Only around 10% of the offices building had been sold. There were tenants on the first seven floors, but the floors above those were empty. There wasnt a single person, making it seem even more eerie after sunset. Xiao Xia pressed the button for the fifteenth floor, standing a little uneasily in the elevator.

She had encountered ghosts in elevators before. Therefore, she always got creeped out when she was in an elevator by herself for an extended period of time. Wan Li called it claustrophobia. She didnt understand these psychology terms. She just wanted to get to the top floor quickly, deeply afraid of seeing something in the reflective surfaces of the elevator walls.

With a ding, the elevator arrived. She hurriedly stepped out with her head lowered. The doors slowly closed behind her.

She habitually took a left turn but felt a dark shadow streaking by in front of her, startling her. She raised her head and was shocked to find this wasnt the fifteenth floor. It was the thirteenth!

It was the dark, empty thirteenth floor!