Chapter 190

Chapter 190

The surrounding environment remained exactly as it had been, without the slightest change.

Jian Fan gave a bitter smile.

In the end, he had still held on to a sliver of hope. Unfortunately, Lady Luck had not favored him.

Jian Fan returned to the greenhouse and shook his head at everyone.

The result left them all deeply disappointed.

Jian Fan looked at Qin Nan and asked, “Can you think of any other methods?”

At that, Qin Nan immediately began to think. When it came to logical reasoning and the like, he was not as good as Jian Fan, but for all these messy, bizarre, and strange things, he could search for an answer through his vast store of knowledge.

He lifted his head and swept his gaze around the greenhouse.

Aside from the flowers, all that remained were the potted green plants on the shelves. Were they supposed to have Jian Fan eat every single one of those too?

No way.

Even if they weren’t poisonous, with the way Jian Fan was eating things, Qin Nan was afraid he would end up making himself sick. But apart from carrying the things that had originally existed in the greenhouse on them, or eating those things, were there any other possibilities?

Was the method wrong, or were the items wrong?

If this sea of flowers existed to produce a hallucinogenic fragrance, then the green plants nearby really might be the antidote. But… when Qin Nan thought of Jian Fan’s method, he did not dare say it out loud.

He did not need to.

The moment his gaze swept toward the shelves, Jian Fan understood.

Without waiting for Qin Nan to speak, he walked straight toward the green plants.

Seeing that Jian Fan was about to touch the plants, Qin Nan hurriedly called out, “What are you doing? You’re still going to eat them?”

Jian Fan did not answer.

He first chose the method of wearing them, plucking a little from the various leaves and petals. Then, with a handful of them cupped in his palms, he headed outside.

Qin Nan watched, so anxious he could hardly stand it. He could only hope it would work this time. Otherwise, Jian Fan might really eat every last thing he had picked.

Holding that pile of things in his hands, Jian Fan once again walked out of the greenhouse.

The surroundings were still exactly the same, without the slightest change.

Jian Fan was not surprised. He did not even go back inside. Instead, he picked up a leaf and examined it in his hand. Seeing nothing strange about it, he was about to bring it closer and sniff it to see whether it had any smell. But just then, Qin Nan suddenly strode forward, grabbed Jian Fan by the wrist, and stopped him.

Caught off guard, Jian Fan had his hand seized by Qin Nan, and the petals and leaves he had been holding fluttered down from his palm in a scattered shower.

“Stop eating things.” Qin Nan’s expression darkened slightly. “Maybe I guessed wrong. You’re such a smart person, so why are you doing something this stupid?”

Jian Fan was somewhat helpless, but he did not explain. He only said, “The answer must be in the greenhouse.”

Naturally, he would not take a few words from Qin Nan as absolute truth and then recklessly throw himself into experiments. He knew his previous behavior had been a little foolish, but they had found no clues in the greenhouse at all. Choosing some methods that were different from the usual was also a move born of helplessness.

The way to break the illusion had to be in the greenhouse. As for an antidote being near the poison, that was something Jian Fan could also understand. Eating a bit of flowers and grass might taste bad, but in small amounts, it would not harm the body.

After all, when natural disasters had struck in the past, plenty of ordinary people had eaten Guanyin clay and gnawed on tree bark.

Jian Fan would not risk his own life.

But after trying several times without any result, he was not going to stubbornly keep going down this path.

Unfortunately, Qin Nan did not think that way.

“What if you eat all of these and there still isn’t any reaction? Are you going to eat dirt next?” Qin Nan asked. Then he launched into a long speech of his own. “Even with flowers, the effects of the petals, leaves, and roots are completely different. Even if you’re sure the petals don’t do anything, what if the antidote is in the roots? Are you going to eat those too?”
Jian Fan looked calmly at Qin Nan and said, “If you’d told me sooner.”

“If I’d told you sooner, you wouldn’t have eaten it?” Qin Nan asked in return.

Jian Fan gave a faint, “Mm.”

This time, it was Qin Nan’s turn to freeze.

Based on what he knew of Jian Fan, how could he possibly reject every possibility outright just because there were several different ones? That wasn’t how Jian Fan did things.

“You really wouldn’t eat it?” Qin Nan asked, still unable to believe it.

Jian Fan ignored him. Instead, he pulled his hand free from Qin Nan’s grasp, brought it under his nose, and gave it a light sniff. Then he began to survey their surroundings.

After the petals had proven useless, Jian Fan felt certain there had to be some clue they had overlooked.

And that clue…

Jian Fan rubbed his fingers together lightly.

Perhaps he had already found it.

He stood at the entrance of the flower room, looking out at the garden scenery before him.

Seeing Jian Fan like this, Qin Nan realized he truly did not seem to have any intention of eating more. Feeling a little awkward, he raised a hand and rubbed his head in a transparent attempt to cover it up, putting on an air of nonchalance.

He would never admit that he had been too nervous and caused a misunderstanding.

After all, who told Jian Fan to eat the petal first?

Qin Weiyi and the others had watched the show for quite a while. Only now did Qin Weiyi step forward, pick up the leaf Jian Fan had dropped on the ground earlier, and hold it under his nose for a light sniff.

“No scent,” Qin Weiyi said.

Yellow Hair was a little confused. “Of course leaves don’t smell fragrant.”

“They don’t smell like plants either,” Qin Weiyi replied.

Qin Nan looked at Jian Fan and asked, “You were trying to smell it just now?”

Jian Fan glanced at him but said nothing, which could be considered saving him some face.

Qin Nan: “…”

I overthought it.

“The problem isn’t just the fragrance of the flowers. It’s the smell of all the plants as well,” Jian Fan reminded them. This was something he had only just discovered.

Originally, he had thought the floral scent was what caused the hallucinations, which was why he had wanted to try eating a petal. When that produced no result, he had tested carrying those green plants on him as well. But asking him to keep eating them… Jian Fan didn’t think he could do that.

Some flower petals were edible to begin with, so Jian Fan could still manage that much. But eating grass…

Forget it. Without conclusive proof, he chose to refuse.

But then he had thought of smell.

That was why he had picked up the leaf. He had not expected it to cause Qin Nan’s misunderstanding.

Since this scent was produced by the mixture of floral fragrance and the smell of plants, then the antidote could not possibly be a single petal. So what could encompass both the petals and all these green plants?

Jian Fan’s gaze stretched far into the distance.

The garden here was uniquely designed. Aside from being a stunningly beautiful scene, there did not seem to be anything particularly outstanding about it.

There were flowers planted in the courtyard as well. Because they were some distance away, they could not smell much floral fragrance for the moment, but if one sniffed carefully, a faint trace could still be discerned. And also…

Jian Fan walked to the side, crouched down, and brought his nose close to the grass nearby.

It had the same plant smell.

The scent from the flower room had been projected into this outside world. These smells made the entire illusion even more realistic. In that case…

Jian Fan’s gaze suddenly fell beneath the grass and plants.