C6– Day 6

After twelve spatial leaps, the dean stepped out of the hovercar, his face pale, his arms and legs trembled slightly, and he couldn’t quite stand.
He put his hand on his assistant and said weakly, “Quick, help me see the catnip.”

Without even slowing down, he went straight to lab B502.

In the lab, the people had cleared out, and the dean was staring at a plant on the table without looking away.

It was a young seedling that grew inside the glass cover. The golden sunlight penetrated the glass wall and scattered everywhere, making it look more and more lush and green, tender and cute.

The dean couldn’t help but lower her voice and murmured, “Is this catnip?”

But in the next second, he noticed something was wrong.

The tips of the young seedlings’ leaves were pointing downwards, drooping slightly, as if they were wilting and listless.

The dean immediately stared at him and shouted in shock, “What happened to the catnip? Are you sick? Hurry! Hurry up and get someone to take a look!”

Catnip was sick, and that’s a big deal!

The assistant mentioned it a little, and the researchers whose research field was in this direction immediately put down their work at hand and rushed over in a hurry, and they gathered around a pot of catnip and examined it repeatedly, as nervous as if they were treating some precious and fragile item.

After all, it was catnip!

There was only one strain of it in the entire interstellar, and for them, they couldn’t be more nervous.

Through the glass cover, the researchers observed the catnip from head to toe several times, never finding anything out of the ordinary, so they had no choice but to go up and touch it.

Here, in unison, they raised their heads and gazed at each other, expressing their wishes.

–I can!
–So can I!
–No, you can’t, only I can!

There were no felines who could turn down catnip, and there were no felines who didn’t want to get close to catnip, so everyone refused to budge, and their gazes at each other couldn’t help but crackle with sparks.
　

“In that case, let’s go by strength.” As the stalemate continued, a female researcher suggested, “Prove yourself with academic results.”
“No problem.”

“Yes.”

A researcher was the first to speak, “I published five papers at PLU this year, received three patents, was invited to be a committee member of the Interstellar Plant Protection Union, a visiting professor at the Star Military University, and held the position of Vice President of the Titanic Botanical Society.”

“I’ve only had 2 papers published on my PLU paper, but have 10 patents, invited to join the Interstellar Plant Conservation Society, the Ancient Earth Phytoplankton Research Consortium.”

“Oh, and my book, History of Interstellar Plants, has become a general textbook for the botany department.”

Seeing these two honestly reporting their academic achievements of the past year, the female researcher smiled profoundly and reached into the glass cover without hesitation.

Special times called for special tactics!

She cautiously stroked the young shoots of catnip that hadn’t yet stretched out and couldn’t help but sigh emotionally, “So soft.”

The two researchers were stunned.

Quickly, they realized they had been played, and a thousand words, summed up in regret, immense regret, and a freaking greeting-.
“F*ck you, you’re a dog, aren’t you!?”

The dean didn’t care about the battles of this group of researchers, he only repeatedly urged, “Dai Xi, be gentle!”

The young shoots shook, and the dean’s heart trembled, afraid that if she wasn’t careful, the catnip would be snapped.

No need for the dean to say that the female researcher’s actions were also very careful, but the young plant in her hands was just too fragile, even Dai Xi herself was afraid of not being able to control her strength and hurting it, so she still repeatedly relaxed her grip.

This time, after thoroughly examining the catnip, Dai Xi said with unparalleled certainty, “Dean, there is no problem.”

The Dean was also confused, “What’s with the wilting like that?”

Dai Xi speculated, “Catnip is an ancient Earth plant, and it is possible that it is not adapted to the atmosphere of the stars today.”

Dean followed up with, “What about it?”

Daisy looked to the remaining two researchers, and the three of them made eye contact and said in unison, “Make an incubator that simulates the environment of ancient Earth!”

The matter of catnip, the dean did not even ask about the cost, a mouthful of promise, Dai Xi, and several people also became extremely busy.

And at the moment, Shen Tong, in a dream, no, maybe not a dream, but in the spirit world after reading the last word.

He had some guesses about his current situation, but he wasn’t quite sure yet.

In the meantime, Shen Tong didn’t look any further, he looked at the Snow Lion, “You…”

The Snow Lion languidly propped up its head and flicked its tail, looking like it was listening.

But Shen Tong couldn’t say any more, he disappeared into thin air.

“……..”

Caesar narrowed his eyes and stood up unhappily, the air pressure around him was low due to his subtle displeasure.

The Snow Lion glanced at the piano, he remembered a small melody played by the youth and took his human form. The cold and tyrannical monarch lowered his head, his cold white complexion, and platinum blonde hair made him look cold, he recalled the youth’s posture, his bony fingers gently pressing down to play a small piano tune carelessly.
When he lifted his eyes again, Caesar’s gaze was directed at the garden beyond the floor-to-ceiling windows.

A deserted one.
No.

There was a lily there.
Crumpled, only watered and dripping with moisture, it had regained some life for no apparent reason.

Caesar looked at it for a long time.
His mood actually improved.　　
　　*
　　
　　Shen Tong had left Caesar’s spirit world, which meant that he had woken up.
Only, the current situation was really confusing to him.

The lab was still the same lab he was familiar with, but Shen Tong didn’t know anyone in the lab.

What was even stranger was that there was a person standing beside him with a serious face holding up an umbrella.
Shen Tong: “?”

It actually started with the wilting of catnip.

The dean took the words about it not adapting to the interstellar environment to heart, and the researchers were busy rushing the incubator, so the dean stared at the catnip, and then suddenly noticed the sunlight falling on the catnip seedlings, and was shocked.

The sunlight of Ancient Earth might not be quite the same as the sunlight of the stars either.

The more Dean thought about it, the more it made sense, but plants needed sunlight to grow again, otherwise, they couldn’t photosynthesize, so he thought about it and asked for a sunshade, and held it still for the catnip.

Until Shen Tong woke up.

Dean: “!!!”

The first thing he noticed was that the catnip had straightened back up, a small, brittle white young stem standing up in the soil, and the curled up leaves had lifted a little higher, no longer drooping willy-nilly.

“The catnip isn’t wilting,” Dean said happily, “It’s really because it’s not used to the environment and has to bask like this.”

Shen Tong was even more confused.

　　And when the dean said that, Dai Xi and the others even put down the matter at hand and leaned over to observe, the seedling inside the glass enclosure actually returned to its original state on its own, its color lush and vibrant.

So lovely that one wanted to kiss it!
Dai Xi added secretly in her mind.

She didn’t see the two researchers’ eyes glowing too.
–so cute, I want to touch it.

“What a soft little guy.” The assistant said,  “Are your hands sore, Dean? Do you want me to hold the umbrella for you for a while?”

The Dean wasn’t happy to give the job to someone else, after all, he could watch the catnip from start to finish and do something for it, so he simply refused, “Not sour.”

And then mercilessly chucked out the assistant who was standing here.

But Shen Tong knew it was a lie.

　He saw this man called Dean rub his arm several times.

　　Probably in the same way that cats wanted to scratch open a ball of string when they saw it, or burrow into a cardboard box when they saw it, they couldn’t help but wag their tails and lean in close when they ran into catnip, simply unable to contain their delight.

A feline’s fondness for catnip should be written in their genes, right?

Thinking about it this way, the dean’s act of giving him an umbrella indoors, Shen Tong felt that it was most likely out of good intentions as well.
It was for him.
　　
　　Shen Tong gently waved a few times.

–He unintentionally discovered that although he had become a plant, he was not a “vegetable”, although his range of movement was limited, he could still shake around a little.

That day, in order to make the incubator, the end of work was postponed until ten o’clock at night.

Dai Xi and the others said good night to each other and turned off the lights in the lab.

The good routine that Shen Tong had developed over this period of time made him a little sleepy as well.

But ten minutes later, the door of the lab was suddenly opened.
Shen Tong: “?”

The person who came was Dai Xi.

She had been stealing glances at the catnip as soon as she could today, and thought the young plant was cute when it moved, cute when it swayed left and right, cute no matter what, and the more she looked at it, the more she liked it, and simply wanted to sneak a kiss too much.

　So Dai Xi circled back.

She looked around vigilantly to make sure no one was there before creeping towards Shen Tong, Dai Xi’s hand just touched the glass cover and before she could lift it, someone else pushed open the door again.

The Dean stood in the doorway stunned, obviously not expecting anyone to return to the lab, “What are you also doing back here?”

Seemingly realizing the “also” wasn’t quite right, he coughed a few times, “I saw the light was on, I thought I forgot to turn it off and came back to check it out.”

Not mentioning that he actually coveted the catnip scent and thought about it all day, so he decided to come and sneak a sniff in the evening when no one was around.

Dai Xi was silent for a few seconds and quickly gave herself an excuse, “I forgot my bag.”

They both looked at each other for a moment with awkward but polite smiles on their faces, and both saw two words in each other’s eyes-

Bullsh*t.

This wasn’t over.

After another five minutes, two other researchers’ voices rang out in the hallway, “What are you doing back here?”

“Why are you back too?”

　　”I… I forgot to get my stuff!”

　　”What a coincidence, me too.”

Shen Tong: “……..”
Dai Xi: “…and…”
Dean: “…and…”

A couple of scheming people met up, realizing they weren’t the only ones trying to sneak back in and do something to Catnip, and retrieved what they claimed to have left in the lab but wasn’t there.

The Dean got in his personal flying machine, Dai Xi and the two researchers got in the hover taxi, and the four of them opened their personal terminals in unison.

Plan A failed?

　　That was okay, there was still Plan B.

They’d already turned on the camera viewing!
　　
So the four people found one thing at the same time-

At 22:56 interstellar time, the catnip in the laboratory drooped and curled up again, and it withered!