Chapter 324: Excretion

Chapter 324: Chapter 324: Excretion

Taking this outside would be no different from a death sentence.

"Is there anywhere else for us to go?" Lyra Lowell braced himself against the edge of the table, his voice faint. "The outside is swarming with those monsters. If we go out, we’ll be infected by the Embers. If we can’t find any lamp oil, we’re going to be trapped here until we die!"

"Then that means the lamp oil must be here."

Seraphina Sinclair’s voice was placid, but it cut cleanly through the desperate atmosphere Lyra Lowell was creating.

Her gaze swept around the room before landing back on the few stones.

"That’s right," Fayestar agreed, nodding as she moved closer to Seraphina Sinclair. "This is an instance. There can’t be a path that’s an absolute dead end. The way forward has to be in this room; we just haven’t found it yet."

"But... what’s the clue?" Alaric Hawthorn scanned the surroundings. Other than some worn-out tools, a few discarded stones, and that solitary lamp, the room seemed to hold nothing else.

Seraphina Sinclair’s gaze fell once more upon the dull-looking stones.

Her intuition told her that these seemingly useless stones might be the key.

Lost in thought, she reached out and picked one up.

The stone felt cold and rough, no different from any ordinary rock.

But the instant her fingertips brushed the stone’s surface...

SIZZLE...

An incredibly faint sound, like a tiny burst of electricity, emanated from within the stone!

Immediately following this, a circle of pale gold light patterns suddenly flared to life on the surface of the once-dull, gray-blue stone!

The glowing pattern, like a living thing, rapidly traced a circle around the point of contact before fading away, as if it had never been there.

At the same time, Seraphina Sinclair heard the Sunflower’s thought: ’So fragrant...’

’Fragrant?’

’Is it talking about this stone?’

The sudden flash of light had also caught the attention of the others.

Lyra Lowell rubbed his eyes. "I didn’t see that wrong, did I?"

As if to test it, he also picked up a stone. The golden light flashed once more, and at the same time, the Sunflower cradled in his arms rustled its leaves involuntarily.

Seraphina Sinclair: "..."

’She knew how to get past this stage.’

’But if she couldn’t hear the Sunflower’s thoughts, she dreaded to think how long they would have been stuck here.’

"It glowed," Fayestar said, picking one up as well. She waited for the light to fade, set the stone down, and then picked it up again.

Seraphina Sinclair noticed that as Fayestar fiddled with the stone, the leaves on Mimi, the sunflower in her arms, were flapping so hard they threatened to whip up a storm.

Alaric Hawthorn watched them, a look of exasperation on his face. "Is there any point to this?"

’The classic clash between realism and romanticism.’

’Seraphina Sinclair truly hadn’t expected to witness such a scene inside an instance.’

She said nothing, but tentatively placed the ordinary-looking stone from her hand into the Sunflower’s pot.

The instant the stone touched the earth in the Sunflower’s pot, the solid rock seemed to meet a powerful acid. Its surface rapidly softened, then melted away bit by bit, like a block of snow in the sun.

At the same time, a liquid began to seep from the Sunflower’s leaves. Quick as a flash, Seraphina Sinclair set the Sunflower on the table, grabbed the empty bottle that was sitting there, and collected every drop. ℯ

The entire process was incredibly fast. The Sunflower’s thoughts kept repeating words like ’Yummy!’ and ’Delicious!’, seemingly unaffected by the process.

When it was over, the Sunflower’s leaves had even turned a shade greener.

The room fell silent.

Everyone stared, dumbfounded, at the glass bottle in Seraphina Sinclair’s hand.

It was about a fifth full with a viscous liquid that emitted a soft, milky-white luminescence.

The light was pure and warm, and just looking at it brought a sense of peace.

"This... is the Extraction Liquid?" Alaric Hawthorn’s voice was dry, laced with disbelief.

"I believe so," Seraphina Sinclair said with a nod. Her gaze shifted from the remaining stones on the table to her own, clearly invigorated Sunflower. "These stones must be some kind of supplement for the Sunflowers. In the process of absorbing and converting them, they secrete this... liquid byproduct. This is most likely the Purified Fluorite Extraction Liquid."

’The logic suddenly clicked into place.’

’The Sunflower absorbs the beneficial components from the stones to strengthen itself, while simultaneously expelling the residue it cannot absorb or that remains after conversion.’

’And this residue is the very lamp oil that can combat the pollution of the Embers!’

"So... we need to feed these stones to our Sunflowers and then collect their... uh, sweat? Or waste products?" Fayestar’s expression was strange. She glanced down at Mimi in her arms; its leaves were quivering, seemingly desperate for a taste.

"That’s one way to put it." Seraphina Sinclair picked up a nearby tool, inserted it into the back of the mining lamp, and began pouring in the lamp oil.

The liquid from one stone was just enough to fill the mining lamp.

And on the table, only three stones remained.

One for each of them, just enough to go around.

With Seraphina Sinclair leading the way, the other three immediately sprang into action.

After lighting the mining lamp, Seraphina Sinclair used her Insight ability on it.

[Lit Purifying Mining Lamp (D-level)]

[Description: A special mining lamp lit with Purified Fluorite Extraction Liquid. When lit, its milky-white light has a weak purifying and exorcising effect. It can effectively resist and disperse the environmental and Spiritual Pollution caused by the Embers, and has a significant deterrent and debilitating effect on monsters derived from the Embers (such as the Ember’s Victim, Ember Spreaders, etc.). The area of effect is limited. Burn time is dependent on remaining fuel.]

’A significant deterrent and debilitating effect?’

Seraphina Sinclair raised the mining lamp and gently pushed the door open.

Outside, through the crack in the door, the Ember Spreaders that had been frantically clawing at the wood and letting out low snarls now recoiled as if they had met a predator. They stiffly backed away, creating distance.

They kept their heads bowed. On their waxy, melted faces, two orifices oozing with slime desperately avoided the milky-white light cast by the mining lamp. Their bodies trembled slightly, as though the lamp’s glow were a red-hot branding iron.

Wherever the light reached, even the thick, acrid stench in the air seemed partially purified, growing much fainter.

While it wasn’t completely dispelled, it was no longer suffocating or dizzying.

’It works! And it’s incredibly effective!’

Her resolve solidified, Seraphina Sinclair pushed the door wide open and stepped out, mining lamp in hand.

Alaric Hawthorn and the other two followed close behind, the mining lamps in their hands glowing with the same light.

The light from the four lamps overlapped, creating a larger, more stable zone of brightness that enveloped nearly half the corridor.

The Spreaders retreated even farther, huddling in the shadows at the end of the corridor. Their blurry silhouettes writhed, but they no longer dared to approach.

"Fantastic!" Alaric Hawthorn’s spirits lifted as he tightened his grip on his lantern. "Now we can go open that door over there!"

"That’s right!" Lyra Lowell’s spirits had also recovered. A faint smile touched his lips as he followed closely behind the group.