18 Floors Above the Apocalypse

Chapter 324

The air was heavy with smog as the officers cautiously approached the mysterious black bag. Upon opening it, they found it to be full of herbs. Baffled glances were exchanged - what could this possibly mean? Nobody took the situation lightly; for all they knew, the herbs could be a smokescreen for something more sinister, like a bomb. Calling in an off-duty colleague, they meticulously checked each package. The incident was so bizarre it quickly caught the attention of Detective Evan, who was awakened in the dead of night to find the precinct's yard overflowing with the mysterious herbal haul, leaving him utterly flabbergasted. With a moment's thought, Evan instructed, "Get an expert from the Institute of Herbal Medicine over here, pronto."

The officers wasted no time and drove through the night to fetch the expert.

Back in his office, Evan inquired, "Did anyone get a good look at the people who dropped off the herbs?"

"No luck," admitted an officer on duty. "The visibility was poor, and the smog didn't help. They stayed in their vehicle and were pretty much unrecognizable."

The officer paused, then added, "They were wearing gas masks though, looked almost like skulls at first glance. Gave me quite a scare, I thought we were under some sort of biochemical attack."

Evan shot him a look. "You've been watching too many movies, haven't you?"

"Evan, I'm dead serious. People are on edge; lashing out at society is becoming all too common. If this smog virus turns into an epidemic, who knows how many might become carriers. We need to be ready." Evan's gaze was sharp. "Mask up."

The officer clutched his mask tighter, "Evan, should we track down those trucks?"

Evan pondered over the two letters that had almost worn thin in his hands over the years. What use was there in tracking down trucks, only to lock them up?

a long pause, he decided, "No, let's wait for the expert's verdict on these

this new, more ominous version. Stella, unsurprisingly, had another nightmare, this time envisioning Jasper coughing up his lungs into a basin until it overflowed. Not just him, but Cooper was also

a start, only to be met by Jasper turning on the bedside lamp, asking, "What's

dream," Stella patted her chest, reassuring

crackled urgently through the intercom. "Stella, Dylan's got a fever with a cough, his breathing is rapid and he's all hot and cold, is it an infection?"

"Almost 40."

he take the pills to lower his

fever-reducing pills, but they'd expired a couple years ago and he was afraid to give them to his son

through the static. "Use mugwort for his foot bath, and make sure he drinks

sick too. It seemed to be no

from the backyard with a grim look. "The poultry seem affected. Some

maybe just physical discomfort, but the risk was too high. After much deliberation,

in sealed containers in the Arcadia, sanitized and packed away in case of future necessity. The

Garcia at the Institute as soon as the everlasting night was over. Once the smog rolled in, she thought, she could covertly drop off the medicine at the police station's doorstep. Then, she could provide subtle hints about the medicine's use as part of her job

she was not sufficiently clued in on their processes and was wary about the medicine being misappropriated. Secondly, she was worried that if a large amount of unidentified herbs suddenly appeared, they might alarm the Swan Hill Police Station. If an investigation

to Evan. Evan, she believed, undeniably understood the purpose of the herbs and would also potentially assist in maintaining the deception. Given his acuity, she had a hunch he had inferred her intent but chosen to remain silent. Certainly, he was a

herbs to the research institute, Stella could not be at ease.

As she stepped out, she decided to drop off a large batch of herbs at Austin's villa. She instructed the father-son duo to try