Dear sweetheart novel (Rayna and Julian)
Chapter 682

Chapter 682

Chapter 682 Someone Was Researching Serekos

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

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'sLoytas Mountain now, isn't it? Back then, you went up the mountain looking for herbs to treat yourmother. 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 recallwho 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 todraw 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," Cassidyinstructed while pressing a cotton ball on Rayna's arm. Curtis took over for her and helped maintain agentle 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 livingroom," 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 kindof similar?"

Curtis nodded. "Yeah, it does." Upon recalling how the serendipity grass had caused the bloodparasites 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 theblood parasite inside Rayna.

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

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

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

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

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

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

"What is it?" Rayna asked as she followed behind him. She was about to stick her head out to have alook 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 justlike 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 repliedin 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 theseare 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 familiarwith caterpillar fungus?"

Curtis' hand, which was covering Rayna's eyes, loosened slightly when he heard that, but he still kepther 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 parasitizesand 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 doesnot come back to life afterward, though. These things wiggling about on the ground, however, look verymuch alive to me."

Cassidy nodded. "Yes, you are precisely right. Seregal is essentially a worm that goes into hibernationduring autumn. While in hibernation, a yellow flower, which we call 'Seregal,' will grow around theworm. The worm, known as 'Serekos,' will form a cocoon at the root of the flower. Of course, thecocoon 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 ofher words.

"The flower isn't actually a part of the worm's body. It's just a plant that grows in the areas around thecaves where the worms are found. Serekos secrete a huge amount of sticky fluid that turns the nearbyflowers 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 priedYasmin 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 ofthat, I've soaked them in a medicinal solution and left them out to dry under the hot sun, so it shouldn'tbe possible for them to awaken at all." Cassidy walked down the steps, grabbed a pair of metalforceps, and picked up one of the Serekos as she continued, "Also, do you see the size of theseSerekos? They are about two times bigger than ordinary ones. These do not look like Serekos that wetypically replace in nature."

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

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

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

Next Chapter