Chapter 256
Chapter 256: Hallucinations Like Mushroom Poisoning
Jiang Tea Tea’s heart jumped.
What—what was happening?
Had she revealed her true form?
She looked down in a panic.
Hands. Legs. Human body.
All human.
Then why were they calling her a tree demon? And why were they yelling about being hungry—what, did they want to eat her?
“Leaves. They’re really leaves!”
Sui Xuan Chu staggered up to her, reached out, and yanked her hair.
A strand came loose.
He held it up, staring in astonishment. “Yo. My roommate really is a tree. I pulled off a leaf from her head—look, it’s so green!”
Huang Da Zhuang grabbed her arm too. “Leaves? Nonsense. That’s clearly a branch and leaves. Thick, too!”
Cheng Lin Yue sat right down on the ground, hugged Jiang Tea Tea’s leg, and rubbed her cheek against it happily.
“Yes! Yes! Such a thick tree trunk. Hugging it feels so good!”
Ju Que, Yan Yu, Cheng Xiao Ting, Zhang Ting Zhou—four more crowded in, eyes unfocused, bodies swaying, grinning like idiots.
“Sister Tea is so powerful. So thick. So many branches. Leaves so green.”
“Hehehe… should we trim her branches? Thin out the leaves? Make her grow thicker, taller, bigger?”
“Hahaha! My classmate is a tree! I’m going to stand at the top of the M31 Star System and announce to every citizen: my classmate is insanely cool! They’ll die of jealousy!”
“Yeah! Who’s as badass as our comrade? A tree! Where do you find a tree that turns into a person in the M31 Star System? She’s so cool. I love her!”
“I love her too. I’m going to tie a swing to her branch. I’m going to swing under her tree and make those grandsons jealous!”
They clung to Jiang Tea Tea—arms, legs, hands in her hair, hands on her wrists—giggling, harmless, stupidly happy.
Jiang Tea Tea blinked at them, then turned her gaze toward the pot still steaming with that fragrant poison.
Understanding dawned.
They weren’t seeing her true form.
They were poisoned.
The fumes had made them hallucinate. By coincidence—and poison—they were seeing what she truly was without her actually transforming.
She hadn’t expected it.
She’d worked herself half to death to create a toxin-against-toxin antidote, and it turned out the fumes could knock people flat like this.
No wonder the fallen immortal in the demon realm never had living creatures on his mountain, except himself and the demons who came begging for medicine.
Jiang Tea Tea wriggled free of their arms and legs, trying to think of a way to restore them, when her lightbrain rang.
She glanced at the caller.
Chong Ming.
She answered. Before she could speak, Chong Ming’s low voice came through.
“Jiang Tea Tea. How are things on your side?”
“A small accident.”
Chong Ming’s voice tightened. “What kind of accident?”
Jiang Tea Tea switched to video.
“You tell me.”
Chong Ming watched seven people writhing on the ground, making chewing noises like insects.
Then he rotated his own camera.
Jiang Tea Tea’s jaw nearly dropped.
Chong Ming wasn’t in his office.
He was outside it, on the office floor.
His staff—normally disciplined, rigid, professional—were in absolute chaos.
Some were stripping and dancing. Some were screaming about giant grasshoppers and chasing them with whatever objects they could grab. Some were croaking like frogs. Some were rolling around in beast form. Some were wriggling on the ground like worms. Some were sobbing like the sky had fallen.
Chong Ming turned the camera back to his own face. “This happened within ten minutes.”
“Not just this floor. The entire military department. Everyone except a few 5S-rank ability users got hit.”
“Fortunately, Cai Xi Chao and Cheng Yuan are still clear-headed. The military department’s automated deployment systems have temporarily taken over.” He paused, golden eyes sharp. “Tell me. Who is the culprit that knocked out my entire military department?”
Who else?
He was asking like he didn’t already know.
Jiang Tea Tea gave an awkward, honest laugh. “Uh… sorry. It’s me. I didn’t know my brew could knock out that many people. I thought I only hit Sui Xuan Chu and the others.”
“Truly, I’m sorry. It’s my first time brewing this. No experience.”
“What did Cheng Yuan say? He checked your people, right?”
Chong Ming’s eyes narrowed briefly, then eased. “He checked. Mild poisoning. It won’t affect abilities or long-term health.”
“It’s like being drunk—stumbling, hallucinating.”
“He’s preparing an antidote now. Once it’s ready, pour it down their throats and they’ll recover. It’s not serious.”
Jiang Tea Tea patted her chest in relief. “Thank Beast God. I thought they were poisoned too deeply.”
It reminded her of something in the demon realm—a nine-tailed cat demon from Yun Dian who loved foraging mushrooms after rain. Poisonous or not, it ate them all.
It would get mushroom poisoning constantly. Sometimes it cultivated like mad. Sometimes it fought like mad. Sometimes it hallucinated and thought it was still a kitten—clawing at great demons’ clothes looking for milk.
Chong Ming’s voice softened. “Don’t worry too much.”
Jiang Tea Tea lifted her pot and stored it cleanly without spilling a drop. “Want me to go find Cheng Yuan and help feed the antidote?”
Chong Ming paused. “…Fine. Go.”
“Yes, sir.” Jiang Tea Tea grinned. “Mission accepted. Hanging up!”
She ended the call and glanced back at Sui Xuan Chu and the others.
They’d apparently evolved.
They were now flapping their arms like butterflies—except they couldn’t fly.
Jiang Tea Tea sprinted toward Cheng Yuan’s pharmacy.
Along the way, she passed guards polishing guns for no reason, disassembling weapons, polishing walls, rolling around on the ground, quacking like ducks, and pretending to be trees.
By the time she reached Cheng Yuan, he had already prepared barrels of antidote—thick, pitch-black liquid.
Each barrel weighed over a hundred pounds. They used tubes to suck up a mouthful and squirt it into anyone showing symptoms.
Those injected would stare blankly for a second, then their faces would twist like a nightmare of flavors had punched them in the skull. They’d snap sober and immediately gag.
Outside Chong Ming’s open office door, retching echoed nonstop.
Zhong Li He stood there listening, looking like he might vomit too. He glanced at Chong Ming, both disgusted and impressed.
“Chong Ming. You really trust Jiang Tea Tea that much?”
Chong Ming’s eyes slid toward him. “She’s the mother of my cubs. My future mate. My future Commander-in-Chief. Of course I trust her.”
Zhong Li He leaned closer. “You really plan to train her to replace you? She meets all your expectations?”
Chong Ming lifted his chin, pride obvious. “Not meets. Exceeds.”
Zhong Li He’s eyes gleamed mischievously. “She got pregnant with your cubs after one night. That means you two are extremely compatible. Have you ever thought—”
Chong Ming cut him off coldly. “I already accepted a future without cubs. The cubs came, and I’m very happy.”
“I’ve never thought of locking her in the imperial palace to give birth. She has many abilities. She should stand high and shine.”
He paused, then added with shameless satisfaction, “Ideally, within ten years she’ll take my position. The Crown Prince will inherit. I’ll retire and let the two of them support me.”
Zhong Li He’s face froze in horror.
He truly hadn’t needed to ask.
That was like ripping open a bag of dog food and shoveling it into his own mouth.
Chong Ming looked at Zhong Li He’s regret and delivered the final blow.
“I can’t explain this to a male like you—with no mate and no cubs.”
Zhong Li He choked. “And what if I don’t have a mate and cubs? Is it because I can’t find one? No. It’s because single life is freedom.”
Within an hour, every poisoned person had been dosed and recovered.
Then the real question returned.
Jiang Tea Tea pulled out her brewed medicine.
She didn’t know if drinking it would cure, kill, half-kill, or do something nobody could predict.
Cheng Yuan had run tests. The results were strange: it looked viciously toxic, yet every property blended into a careful balance.
From what he’d studied in dark medical art, techniques like acupuncture and toxin-against-toxin were bold but legitimate methods.
But this pot?
Even Cheng Yuan couldn’t say whether it could be used, how to use it, or what it would do.
Jiang Tea Tea watched him hesitate and offered calmly, “How about I drink a bowl first? If I’m fine, we let others take it.”
Cheng Yuan snapped his head up and rejected her instantly. “No. Absolutely not.”
She had five cubs. If anything went wrong, it would be one corpse and six deaths. No one would dare.
Cheng Lin Yue timidly raised a hand. “Then… I’ll drink it?”
Huang Da Zhuang raised his hand too. “Me too—”
Cheng Xiao Ting didn’t hesitate. “Me!”
Ju Que and the others joined in. “Us!”
Sui Xuan Chu stepped forward as well. “Me.”
Jiang Tea Tea looked at the seven of them—fortune shared, hardship shared. They knew it was poison and still didn’t hesitate.
Cheng Yuan shut it down. “No.”
“You’re too young. I’m finding lab rats first—”
“I can.” Huang Da Zhuang cut in. “I really can.”
He pulled up a message on his lightbrain. “My parents sent this. They said our ancestors, back when tech and medicine weren’t this advanced and human forms weren’t stable… if they were injured or poisoned, they would awaken an ability to identify medicinal herbs.”
“If I drink this and get poisoned, maybe I’ll awaken that ability. I’ll find herbs to save myself. I won’t die. Please believe me.”
Jiang Tea Tea hesitated.
Huang Da Zhuang pushed harder, eyes shining. “Sister Tea. Let me do it.”
“I went from a useless male with no abilities to who I am now because of you. Meeting you was my luck.”
“I believe I’ll stay lucky. Give me this chance. Worst case, I become useless again. I’m used to that.”
“And it’s for the infected. For everyone.”
“If something happens to me, my idol—your idol—won’t treat my parents badly. I’ll get a hero title. Either way, I profit.”
Jiang Tea Tea stared at him for a long moment, then made her decision.
“Fine. We’ll go to a mountain with broad coverage of medicinal herbs. If something goes wrong, it’ll be easier to find what you need.”
No one objected.
They searched Capital Planet for a mountain with the widest variety of plants, then moved out as a group.
When they arrived, they loaded Huang Da Zhuang up with monitors, trackers, cameras—half the equipment they brought ended up on him.
Huang Da Zhuang transformed into his beast form and lay down, mouth open.
The medicine was poured straight in.
Jiang Tea Tea formed a magic power seal on his body and watched closely, feeling for changes.
Cheng Yuan’s team—healers, researchers, guards, Sui Xuan Chu’s group—stared without blinking.
The effect hit fast.
One second Huang Da Zhuang was fine.
The next, he rolled as if dying—foam at the mouth, heart racing, blood surging unnaturally.
The instruments screamed—sharp, terrifying alarms.
Some healers and researchers shouted in panic and accusation.
“He’s poisoned. He’s dying!”
“I said toxin-against-toxin dark medical art isn’t suitable for the interstellar era, not for beastfolk with abilities!”
“Jiang Tea Tea. Cheng Yuan. You’re reckless—using a rare dual-ability beastfolk as an experiment. This isn’t about finding an antidote. You’re trying to kill him!”