The Strongest Backing - Chapter 2

Chapter 2

The Director stared at the plants on his desk.

He had just finished a call with a renowned botanist he knew personally.

At first, the man on the other end had been jovial, thinking the Director was playing another joke on him.

That was until the photos were sent over.

The other side went silent for a full second.

Then, his voice suddenly spiked in volume:

“Don’t move it!! Don’t touch it at all!!”

“I’m coming over right now!!”

The call was abruptly disconnected.

The Director’s brow twitched.

Why so much tension? Could it be a poisonous weed?

Thinking this, he reached out and rapped the young officer on the head.

“I told you to stop staying up late reading novels. You’re starting to have hallucinations.”

The young officer pursed his lips and remained silent.

The expert arrived in a flurry, looking travel-worn. The moment the door was pushed open, his gaze locked onto the plants on the desk.

Then, eyes gleaming, he lunged toward one of the stalks.

When he saw that one of the plants had been snapped off at the root, his expression changed instantly. He beat his chest in genuine anguish.

“What a waste of God’s gifts!! Who broke this?!”

The Director and the young officer exchanged a look, their expressions turning solemn simultaneously.

“What exactly is this?”

The expert took a deep breath, his voice trembling. “These are medicinal herbs recorded in ancient texts for treating diseases. They’ve been extinct for seven hundred years. No one has ever seen a physical specimen in reality.”

He pointed at the fine veins on the leaves, speaking at a rapid-fire pace. “Look here. The patterns, the edges, the way the branches split-it’s exactly as the literature describes. If this specimen were alive and had its roots intact…”

He stopped abruptly, his voice nearly choking up. “It could save countless lives.”

The Director’s expression shifted completely.

“Can you take responsibility for what you’re saying?”

The expert looked up, his eyes bloodshot. “I certainly can. I’ll stake my entire professional career on it.”

The air seemed to solidify.

The Director slowly exhaled. “Forensics Department.”

With that single command, the entire floor sprang into action.

The plants were sent for chemical analysis. The surveillance footage of the scene was pulled and scrutinized frame by frame.

In the end, there was only one conclusion-the three plants had appeared out of thin air.

There was no trajectory of them being carried in. No one had entered or exited. There were no signs of the footage being edited.

The young officer’s palms were drenched in sweat.

And the results of the lab report were even more absurd than the surveillance footage. These plants did not belong to any known species system on Earth.

The Director remained silent for a long time. Finally, he looked up and said only one thing: “Contact her again.”

Then, he stood up. He picked up the red dedicated line phone on the desk.

In his decades of service, he had never personally dialed that number. It belonged to a level of authority far beyond his own.

As his finger descended, it actually trembled slightly.

“Chief… I have an unconventional event to report.”

***

I think I’m about to reach my limit.

Waves of dizziness brought on by hunger surged over me, making it difficult even to keep my eyes open.

The three items I had traded for half a month ago were finished three days ago. To make matters worse, my old ailment had flared up again.

A fever.

My vision was blurred, and spots danced before my eyes. I forced my hand up to soak a fur handkerchief in cold water and haphazardly pressed it against my forehead.

This handkerchief was given to me yesterday by a woman from a Beastman Tribe while I was gathering fruit.

She had been full of wariness toward me at first. But when she saw my cracked lips, the way I could barely stand, and eventually saw me collapse right in front of her, she helped me to the shade and set down some fruit.

She had even pressed this handkerchief into my hand and looked after me for half a day.

Later, the sound of a horn echoed from the distance. Her expression changed, and she fled almost as if she were escaping.

I suppose I’ll never have the chance to repay her.