Ch 172: Like an outsider.

After speed-reading with the aid of magic, Ha Li Bobo held Maria with one hand and took the pen and paper that Rui Bu Si handed him with the other.

“Hey ya hey ya, little emotions appear appear appear~”

With the sudden high-pitched voice, Rui Bu Si almost dropped half an apple.

She suddenly felt a sense of relief—her earlier decision to shake her head frantically and say she wouldn’t use this magic was indeed correct.

The feather quill wrote by itself, leaving the three words “trust,” “concern,” and “worry.”

Huh?

With the hints, it seemed even more confusing.

“Rui Bu Si, this magic doesn’t seem to be working.”

It’s categorized under childcare magic, after all. Adults’ emotions are far more complex than children’s.

It’s even harder to guess specific thoughts based on emotions.

“Let me see.” She took the paper. “Hmm…”

“‘Trust,’ us?”

Maria nodded.

“‘Worry,’ Jian Ni?”

Maria nodded again.

“‘Concern’ is what?”

Maria pointed at Ha Li Bobo.

“Me?” Ha Li Bobo felt confused. “I feel fine right now.”

“‘Concern’ if Bobo is hungry now?” To be precise, Maria had just pointed at Ha Li Bobo’s stomach.

Maria nodded a third time.

“Wow,” Ha Li Bobo was very surprised. “This magic is still very practical! I’m going to keep this book!”

He happily ate the pastries openly, feeling that the unhappiness he’d been suppressing in the Infirmary for a long time had instantly disappeared: “Xiao Fu Die’s pastries are so delicious. I’m so happy~~”

They were pastries he usually couldn’t afford. When he first saw them, he started to crave them uncontrollably, and unexpectedly, he actually got to eat them!

He didn’t forget to take out a few more to give to Maria, but Maria waved them off.

“Oh, right, Head Nurse Da Tiantian said that the first thing patients want when they wake up is water; pastries are too dry,” He ate another one, “Do you want some water?”

Maria nodded, and he immediately went to figure out how to make hot water in the Infirmary.

Rui Bu Si briefly explained Jian Ni’s whereabouts: “Jian Ni is having a meeting with the Meng… uh, a group of people.”

Of course, that was this morning; she had no idea what Jian Ni was doing now.

She, Maria, felt a little curious.

Being able to quickly, accurately, and decisively throw a 《Bible》 at an enemy didn’t seem to match what Jian Ni said about the most gentle thing in the world. Maria hadn’t woken up yet, but she flipped through it—a hardcover edition, over two thousand pages; it was heavier than a brick in her hand.

“But he’s been gone for a long time, he should be back soon.”

When Jian Ni left, he only said it was a Meng Knight Meeting. Maria wasn’t comfortable leaving her with others—ah, she didn’t know how he managed to put her mind at ease.

But soon, Old Soldiers suddenly appeared on campus, not only strictly enforcing a curfew but also prohibiting students from acting alone. She and Ha Li Bobo had been guarding here for half a day.

She couldn’t leave Maria alone in the Infirmary; and she couldn’t go out alone.

When Jian Ni asked her, she initially refused.

But Jian Ni offered too much.

Hey, speaking of which, there weren’t any Old Soldiers in Meng Academy when they arrived, nor this ridiculous ban. Maybe the reward could be upped a bit.

As for Ha Li Bobo, she met him on the way. He seemed perfect for taking care of patients. Oh, yes, there’s also Ha Li Bobo, double the reward…making her consider the feasibility of selling Mulan Huahua for some profit.

Suddenly feeling a chill down his spine, Ha Li Bobo quickly turned his head, but didn’t see anyone behind him.

Could it be… could it be… could it be that the campus rumors Lei Gu Chun talked about were true, and that there really are ~ghosts~ in the Meng Academy Infirmary?

His hands trembled as he held the things. He remembered that there was also a Nun in the Infirmary. Hey? Can nuns exorcise ghosts?

They probably can, he comforted himself. With this assumption, he no longer felt that there might be someone nonexistent standing behind him.

The warm water was ready quickly.

Although there were only three people here, and one of them couldn’t speak, Ha Li Bobo felt that time flew by after Maria woke up.

He couldn’t remember everything he said, but he had said quite a lot. Maria kept giving him food, and after finally waiting for Jian Ni to come, he suddenly felt a sense of loss, like leaving his mother.

Maria really felt like his mother!

He suddenly missed home so much. He had never been so far away from home since he was a child.

He’ll write a letter to his parents and mom when he gets back to the dormitory!

Finally back at the Infirmary, the first thing Jian Ni saw were his two friends sprawled across the hospital bed, taking up a large space. One was fast asleep, Maria gently and slowly patting her back, while the other was rubbing his stomach, looking like he had eaten a lot.

He suddenly felt like an outsider disrupting someone else’s warm moment.

What kind of irrelevant outsider?!

Just as he was about to wake Rui Bu Si up, Maria made a silencing gesture, and he felt a little wronged.

Ha Li Bobo stopped rubbing his stomach the moment he saw him, too nervous to make eye contact, silently shifting closer to Maria.

Jian Ni：……

That’s his Mother Maria! What’s going on between these two?!

In a few seconds, perhaps Jian Ni’s gaze was too resentful, Rui Bu Si woke up.

She yawned, sat up from Maria’s arms, rubbed her eyes and greeted Jian Ni: “Hi, friend, good afternoon.”

Jian Ni reluctantly said: “Good afternoon.”

For Mother Maria’s sake, the afternoon was barely good.

“Didn’t you say the meeting would only take a while? Why did it take so long?” It seemed like she had also promised Ya Ya that they would go to the Magic Commercial Street together to check out the new duck snacks.

Oh, right, she promised to do that! But why didn’t Ya Ya come to the Infirmary to find her?

“Because a lot of things happened today.” Ou Pa explained, the other Meng Knights followed closely behind Jian Ni, the Infirmary was full of people.

For the Meng Knights, many things had indeed happened today.

Time went back to this morning. After the Meng Knight Meeting, in the Arts and Sciences Classroom, Ou Pa had a general understanding of the direction of the antidote research.

“I have books on Potionology from the Dark Clan at home, and I still have a general impression of this part. Excluding the most complex ones, there are only about a dozen that match Mother Maria’s symptoms.” Having heard Jian Ni call her that so many times, he also habitually called her Mother Maria.

He roughly listed these dozen or so on his notebook, circling those with the same antidote.

Unlike the shape-shifting magical potion that Lan Bao drank, Maria’s situation wasn’t complex. He roughly calculated that there were only twenty antidotes.

“In other words, the biggest problem now is the uncertainty of the potion’s effect on humans.” Mi Ya Xing glanced at the circles and lines on the notebook.

“That’s right, the biggest problem now is that we don’t know how much the symptoms of humans after drinking the potion differ from the Quark Clan.” If the difference was too great, the potion Maria drank might not be within his assumed range.

“Related to humans…” Mi Ya Xing thought of someone, “Teacher Victoria! She knows human witchcraft and is also skilled in potions.”