Chapter 134: Outrageous Filial Piety: Harris, the Human Test Subject

The Damien residence, bedroom.

After conducting a series of tests on Alice, the alchemist Yud finally confirmed that the silver-haired girl before him had successfully overcome her twilight tea addiction.

"Had you taken any medicine or food before? Or encountered anything unusual?" Yud pressed urgently.

But to this girl just recovering from serious illness, his slightly grotesque monkey face was too frightening, leaving her frozen in place, bewildered.

"Cough, cough—Alice, this is Alchemist Yud, the one who cured you," Damien cleared his throat and quickly intervened.

Xia Xia Mingyu also stepped forward to the girl and repeated his earlier question.

"I've only taken sage," Alice answered honestly, adding a apologetic smile toward Yud.

"Strange—these herbs shouldn't help at all with breaking twilight tea addiction!"

After hearing her reply, Yud fell into deep thought, frowning as he repeatedly dismissed one hypothesis after another in his mind.

"You think… could it be because of the fever?"

Xia Xia Mingyu mused.

On Blue Star, he'd once seen news reports of people who, after recovering from high fever, found certain illnesses gone.

"There's indeed a possibility," Yud said, eyes lighting up.

"But to confirm this theory, we need at least one human experiment—we must find someone suffering from both high fever and twilight tea addiction."

A hint of helplessness crossed Yud's face; he doubted such a candidate would be easy to find.

"Don't worry—Mistsong City is huge; we'll find someone. It'll just take a bit more time," Xia Xia Mingyu rose to leave.

Under the pressure of at least one-fifth of the city's citizens' lives, every moment was precious—he had to return to Red Fox Castle immediately to mobilize manpower and find a suitable subject.

"Alchemist Yud, can you brew a potion to induce fever?"

Seeing Xia Xia Mingyu's anxious expression and movements, Damien suddenly asked Yud.

"Easily," Yud answered without hesitation.

For an alchemist, curing a patient is hard—but making a healthy person sick? That's simple!

"Alchemist Yud, Sage, my father is also a twilight tea addict. Why not use him as the test subject? Just make him run a fever first, then cure him." Damien spoke calmly.

He owed so much to Starfire Lord—he might as well start repaying it with his drunkard father.

Xia Xia Mingyu and Yud: "???"

A son volunteering his father as a human test subject… this is too filial!

"That's not right—"

Clap! Clap! Clap!

"Yes! Yes! Father will finally contribute to the Southern Region!"

Before Xia Xia Mingyu could finish refusing, he saw the silver-haired girl, still recovering from her illness, clapping happily on her bed—her joyful expression showed no trace of her former weakness.

This scene of outrageous filial piety left Xia Xia Mingyu speechless.

"Has your father done anything particularly unworthy?" he asked after a long silence, puzzled.

"Well, nothing too bad—just that when we were children, Father would beat me and my brother after getting drunk, and later he tried to sell me to an old man famous for lechery, and my brother to several noblewomen for amusement."

Alice counted off each of her father's crimes on her fingers, and Xia Xia Mingyu's expression gradually darkened.

"Hahaha, sounds like a perfect human test subject," Xia Xia Mingyu's face broke into a bright smile; he reached out gently, wanting to stroke the girl's head.

Seeing Xia Xia Mingyu—so handsome like her brother, and rumored to be the Southern Region's Sage—Alice warmly seized his outstretched hand and placed it atop her head, letting him freely caress her silver hair.

Meanwhile, beside them, Yud had already quietly pulled out tools and herbs to brew the fever-inducing potion the moment Alice began counting.

Living room.

Harris slumped into the sofa like a sack of bones, staring at the half-full cup in his hand, and disdainfully tossed it onto the table.

"After drinking twilight tea, these drinks taste like plain water—my skin itches and burns, and if I don't drink tea again, I'll die of discomfort."

Harris scratched his back, fuming.

"That idiot Damien spent all the money on tea and lost it—now I'm suffering. I need cash to buy tea."

Harris seriously considered ways to earn money quickly.

"Isn't Sir Marlin that old lecher who's always wanted to buy Alice? She's nearly dead anyway—selling her to him before she dies is just putting waste to good use."

A sudden idea struck him, and he grew increasingly convinced of its merit.

Get rid of a burden, make a fortune to buy tea—though I'll have to consider how much hatred Damien will harbor toward me afterward.

Maybe hire someone to kidnap Alice secretly—I won't show my face.

"Freeze, wind, water, impact."

As Harris was deeply contemplating his plan's feasibility, a sudden chill surged toward him.

Shush-shush-shush.

The eerie sound of ice spreading.

In an instant, before Harris could react, his hands and feet were frozen to the floor and sofa, immobilized.

"Y-you… what are you doing!"

He stared in terror as Damien approached with a strangely colored potion, flanked by a man and a monkey.

"Father, twilight tea is poisonous. You have a serious illness—we're going to cure you," Damien said calmly.

"I'm not sick!"

"No, you are."

Ignoring his struggles, Damien expressionlessly poured the potion down Harris's throat.

Glug-glug-glug.

Yud wanted to warn Damien that only half a bottle was needed—but before he could speak, the bottle was already empty.

Yud fell silent.

Though unmarried and without any romantic interest, this alchemist had silently vowed that if he ever had a child, he would treat him kindly.

"Aaah! So hot! I'm burning alive!"

Soon after drinking the fever potion, Harris's entire body turned red and scorching—he howled like a shrimp about to be roasted.

The three in the living room, fully aware of his past misdeeds, ignored him entirely, even chatting casually.

Watching his own son poison him, Harris's heart felt like it was being stabbed—he never imagined Damien could be this filial.

He'd only deserted his post and lost the castle, beaten his wife and children, and tried to sell them… oh, right—maybe he deserves my hatred.

As fever blurred his consciousness, a flicker of guilt surfaced in Harris's heart.

"It's time to administer the cooling potion."

After some time, Yud checked Harris's condition and, confirming he'd reached his physiological limit, spoke.

Glug-glug-glug.

After another bottle was fed, Harris's body temperature plummeted like a rollercoaster.

"Father, do you still want to drink twilight tea?"

Damien shook the nearly unconscious man hard, pressing.

"N-not anymore…" Harris mumbled.

Strange—after enduring this fiery-cold ordeal, his itching and pain vanished completely, and his desperate craving for twilight tea, once strong enough to sell his daughter, had largely faded.

Could twilight tea really be poisonous? Was Damien being so brutal just to cure me?

Thinking this, Harris felt a surge of gratitude—and then collapsed unconscious onto the sofa.

"Sage, your theory was correct! A single fever followed by cooling successfully breaks twilight tea addiction!" Yud exclaimed excitedly.

"Excellent!" The long-standing problem was finally solved; Xia Xia Mingyu exhaled deeply.

But now he had another concern—how should he destroy the tea leaves tomorrow at the Fox Gate incineration?

(End of Chapter)