Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 101 The Ghost in the Forest

"Its daybreak?"

Milo was a little confused.

The light on the horizon doesn't lie, but he felt like he'd only been gone a short while...

This situation is very similar to when I got lost yesterday afternoon. Time seemed to fly by, and Milo was completely unaware of it.

Milo noticed some splashed water in front of the hotel downstairs, but Grandma Freya's door remained tightly closed.

He went up to the second floor and saw a plate in front of his room with a piece of coarse whole wheat bread and a bowl of oatmeal porridge on it.

Milo noticed that the door to the next room was open. He picked up his plate and went over, where he saw Rebecca sitting on the windowsill, one leg bent and resting on the windowsill frame, eating her breakfast.

It seems she slept well last night.

Rebecca spotted Milo standing in the doorway, glanced at his disheveled and distraught appearance, and asked while biting into her bread:

"Didn't you sleep well?"

Milo walked into the room and put his face close to the glass of the dressing table to examine it carefully.

Yes, he still has that same excessive indulgence look.

It's not that I didn't sleep well, it's that I didn't sleep at all.

Milo touched his under-eye bags in front of the mirror.

Hmm, the blood vessels in my eyes are even more prominent today than yesterday.

If this continues, I'll die suddenly sooner or later.

Milo looked at the food on his plate but felt no appetite whatsoever. Nevertheless, he forced himself to grab a piece of bread and take a few bites.

Seeing that Milo didn't react, Rebecca continued:

“I’ve met Freya. She is indeed a… somewhat irritable old lady. She said you disturbed her rest last night.”

Milo lifted his heavy eyelids and looked towards Rebecca at the windowsill:

"Don't you know who started the argument?"

Although he did climb out the window last night, Milo was certain that the tiny bit of noise he made was negligible compared to Rebecca's sleep talking.

Rebecca picked up the bread crumbs from her plate and put them in her mouth.

"So angry?"

“No…” Milo stretched, making a series of cracking sounds as his joints creaked. Just as he was about to say something, he suddenly noticed a fly buzzing towards his face again.

"roll."

He fanned the flies away with perfect accuracy.

The powerful wrist snapped the fly into a split-up, its scales scattering in different directions.

Seeing Milo's actions, Rebecca became even more certain of her suspicions:
"You have a bad temper when you wake up."

"Your reasoning ability stops there." Milo rolled his eyes.

Rebecca scoffed at his sarcasm, ignoring it.

It's easy to see that some people's temper improves after they've eaten and slept well.

...

Milo only managed a few bites of bread before he couldn't eat anymore.

"Freya went out again? I saw the door downstairs was closed."

“Mmm.” Rebecca nodded. “She left after bringing up breakfast, saying she was going to find a place to sunbathe.”

"Didn't you ask her about the children? Or anything else about the town of Ickham?" Milo asked.

"How do you think I discovered her bad temper?" Rebecca shrugged.

"That might be because you're not being polite."

Milo left a comment, then turned and sauntered off downstairs.

"Where are you going?" Rebecca put on her trench coat and followed her out.

……

On the first floor, Milo pressed his face against the glass window of Freya's room, covering the surrounding glass with his hands, trying to find something of value in the dimly lit room.

This action reminded him of last night, or rather, of his experience just now in the mining company building.

Are you sure this gesture is polite?

Rebecca stood behind Milo with her arms crossed.

But Milo ignored her. He kept adjusting his angle, and only after confirming that he had discovered something did he turn around and say to Rebecca:
"The next action will be even more impolite."

After saying that, he kicked open Grandma Freya's door.

Bang!
"You've got a kicking addiction, haven't you?"

Rebecca was furious when she saw Milo acting on his own again.

Milo went straight into the room and walked to a huge desk.

Everything in Freya's room was normal, except for the musty smell that was present in all the rooms in the town of Icam. The only things that were noteworthy were the large pile of books on the desk and some neatly stacked notes.

This is indeed what the room of a knowledgeable old scholar should look like.

Rebecca tilted her head and glanced at the titles on the side of the book covers. It was easy to tell from the unfamiliarity in her eyes that these books were not within her reading scope.

Freya's book catalog is very diverse, containing all kinds of books, from biology classics to ghost stories, you name it.

Milo even saw the famous book "Tales of the Strange", the novel that records the strange legends of the town of Ikham.

……

“You’ll have to fix two doors today.” Rebecca didn’t know why Milo had broken in like this. But Milo picked up an open notebook from the desk and began to read it carefully.

He watched it very intently, one could even say he was completely absorbed.

This was the first time this morning that Milo's dilated pupils had focused.

The notebook contains excerpts from classical texts, with the source noted at the end of each sentence.

The content is about the study of some native flowers and plants, including some records of the copper grass flower, which is the most famous flower in Galid.

She recorded the survival habits of the copper grass flower in her messy handwriting, and then extended her discussion to other special plants that are resistant to metal elements. She cited a lot of professional terms and data, which made it impossible for Milo, a layman, to read smoothly.

"She is truly a learned and talented old lady."

Milo muttered something to himself.

Among the many labels tucked in the middle of the notebook, he saw a very strange name:

The Ghost of the Forest—the Crystal Orchid.

This is the only plant name among many labels that has an adjective prefix before its scientific name.

Milo flipped directly to the page about the Crystal Orchid.

When he saw the lifelike sketch amidst the messy handwriting, Milo felt his heavy mind suddenly clear up.

The crystal orchid, sketched with a pencil, has long, slender branches like a swan's neck, with a trumpet-shaped flower surrounded by several slender leaves at the top.

Most importantly, it is pure white.

……

This is the kind of flower that Milo saw from Karl's undead perspective.

This is what Carl can't forget.

From the moment he entered Galid City, Milo had been searching for the pure white flower, but no matter where he went, he could only see copper grass flowers.

Looking at the professional description of the crystal orchid in his notebook, Milo felt that the scattered clues in his mind were slowly beginning to connect with each other.

—"The entire plant lacks chlorophyll, has white, fleshy, scale-like leaves, a single, terminal flower with 5-6 petals and 10-12 stamens, and the plant turns blackish-brown when dried..."

"...Monotropa can form a symbiotic relationship with fungi."

The preceding overview is not important; the most important thing is this last sentence, which resolved the long-standing question in Milo's mind.

It has a mutualistic symbiotic relationship with fungi.

Yes, it is pure white. If it doesn't have chlorophyll for photosynthesis, then it must rely on other methods to absorb and decompose nutrients.

Milo suddenly realized.

How could I have forgotten the concept of mutual benefit and symbiosis?

The hyphae of the fungus are responsible for absorbing water, inorganic salts, and sugars to supply the Monotropa uniflora, while the Monotropa uniflora can in turn provide the fungus with nutrients such as organic acids.

This is all middle school level knowledge...

……

Fungi.

Fungi.

Their gazes focused on the word "notebook".

Karl's bizarre death, the kind that made Mylorie, Becca, and Nero lose their appetite for mushrooms, finally led to a connection in Icom.

Regardless of what kind of fungus grows from his flesh and blood, it belongs to the category of fungi.

So, barring any unforeseen circumstances, the crystal orchid and that underground cave are definitely connected in some way.

"If I can find this flower, maybe I can find that place..."

Milo muttered to himself, clutching the heavy notebook.

This explains why Carl remembered the eerie white flower until his death; he must have discovered something about it during his undercover work.

If his memories from the last period of his life hadn't become distorted, Milo's vision would be much clearer now, and he wouldn't have needed to find this clue in Freya's research notes.

"Explain?" Rebecca had clearly gleaned some information from Milo's changing expression, but she still didn't understand what the flower on the notebook Milo was holding meant.

"It's the same principle as copper grass flowers only growing in copper mine soil," Milo said, holding the notebook up in front of Rebecca and pointing to the sketch of the crystal orchid.

"This thing only grows in places where there are fungi; the two are in a mutually beneficial symbiotic relationship."

"Fungi?" Rebecca blinked.

"Mushroom sauce," Milo simply used a more common and easy-to-understand term.

Rebecca immediately realized what was happening.

She first frowned, then her expression slowly turned into incredulous surprise:
"How do you even know this? Where did you learn it?"

“My sister taught me,” Milo casually lied. “She’s a top student at Nanwei Academy.”

Of course, Milo omitted the second half of the sentence—she could also make her own liquid bombs.

"Oh~~"

Rebecca suddenly realized:
"Is that the girl who licked your fingers?"

"Huh?" Milo didn't immediately understand what Rebecca was saying.

"Anyway, this is a major discovery."

As he spoke, he thuggishly tore out the pages of records belonging to Crystal Orchid from his notebook, folded them, and stuffed them into the inside pocket of his trench coat.

"Let's slip away before they come back."

(End of this chapter)