The Conundrum at Cadmus Lake
Matthew thoughtfully looked at Crystal for a moment before he corrected as he slowly shook his head,
“No, the problem traces back to Cadmus Lake!”
As she was taken aback by this revelation, she asked, “Why?”
He did not elaborate any further. The case in hand had something to do with the voodoo clan in Orleans.
In truth, he would rather Crystal stay out of the matter entirely because the situation was somewhat
similar to the one that happened to Leanna’s best friend.
The centipedes that plagued Leanna’s best friend for years had turned her into a live bait for other
insects to nest within her body and Matthew’s current patient happened to share the same affliction.
These centipedes were free-range, and unless one intentionally consumed them, they would not attack
without any instructions from the one who raised them.
That being said, such a presumption wouldn’t necessarily apply to patients whose bodies had naturally
lured these centipedes.
In particular, this patient had gone fishing with a few of his friends, but he was the only one being
poisoned, which showed that he was essentially a worm bait.
Matthew presently glanced at the time and saw that it was premature for him to visit Cadmus Lake.
Therefore, he proceeded to check on two other patients—one of whom had centipedes attacking his
system and the other a strange ailment.
After having diagnosed them, Matthew quickly worked to attend to the patient with the strange ailment
and cure him, but he paid extra attention to the other one suffering with the centipedes.
It was after Matthew had run a thorough check on that patient that he discovered yet another distinct
source for these centipedes—Pinehills, which was nestled within the South Suburb, and on the map, the
locality of which happened to be in close distance to Cadmus Lake.
Upon realizing this, he abandoned his plans to head over to Cadmus Lake tonight. Given how close the
region was to Pinehills, it could only mean that the centipedes raised here were the work of two persons
who definitely knew each other.
If Matthew were to visit Cadmus Lake as planned, he would have to concurrently confront those two
persons. More to the point, the information he currently had now was from the diagnoses, so there was
no telling whether there were other Orleanians involved.
With that in mind, he decided that he would curate an elixir for his own protection before confronting
these centipede-raising folks.
When he got off work that night, he immediately returned to Lakeside Garden to start on the elixir.
Meanwhile, Crystal had been hoping that Matthew would buy her dinner, but she did not insist when she
saw that he had something important lined up.
Since she was left without any evening plans, she returned home dejectedly and had only just arrived
when her best friend texted her, ‘Up for clubbing tonight, Crystal? There’ll be a couple of hot guys joining
us!’
In the past, Crystal would have immediately agreed to it, but ever since she met Matthew, she had lost
interest in parties and raves. Her response now was brief and straightforward as she texted back, ‘No,
thanks!’
Then, she put her phone down and sat on the couch with her arms wrapped around her legs in boredom.
Just as she spaced out, Joseph came in and chuckled at her state. “What’s on your mind, Crystal? You
look like you’re in a trance!”
Crystal had been daydreaming about Matthew until she heard her grandfather’s question and blushed
furiously. “Grandpa, I was waiting to have dinner with you! I would have starved to death if you hadn’t
arrived home!”
She reached out and pulled at Joseph’s arm childishly as she said this, which made the old man chortle
in delight. “Very well, then. I’ll bring you to any restaurant you like for dinner.”
Half an hour later, Crystal linked arms with Joseph as they arrived at an upscale Italian restaurant in
town.
Joseph grew reluctant at the sight of the building as he protested, “My goodness, Crystal, why can’t we
have something a little easier on my palate instead of all this over-the-top gourmet food?”
She whined coquettishly, “I really want to have dinner here, Grandpa, though!”
Exasperation seized him when he heard this; he had never been able to say no to his granddaughter.
They then entered the restaurant and staked out a table by the windows.
At that moment, someone had accidentally caught a glimpse of Crystal from a distance away, which
caused his expression to stiffen. The person was none other than Tate, who was currently seated at one
of the tables with a girl outside the restaurant.
Sitting across him was Minerva and a foreigner who sported a head of golden hair and piercing blue
eyes. With a tall build and dashing good looks, the girl next to Tate couldn’t help but sneak glances at the
man.
However, if Matthew and Sasha were both here, they would have instantly recognized the foreigner as
Peter, whom they had met before.
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