"Ugh…I just remembered a scene from a web novel. You guys should read it too, it's available on the Web Stories platform." Not knowing what to do next, Alexander tried to bullshit his way out of the mess, embarrassedly and along the way out, he even promoted his website too.
A true businessman, never leaves a way to promote his business.
Others who were standing ahead of him glared at him with a non chant expression for a while and then turned their heads and moved forward in the path, obviously not believing his bullshit. If they were to really believe in something like, wouldn't that mean they were as crazy as Alexander.
Looking at disgusted glares targeted at him, Alexander didn't feel good and he was confused too.
Normally, when he interacts with the system, he doesn't speak out loud even when he's all alone in the room, but he didn't know what happened today? Subconsciously, he spoke out twice. Was this really a coincidence?
'Did I take the wrong medicine? Or did I eat shit in breakfast?' Shaking his head, Alexander was about to continue on his way to catch-up with his team, but at that time, through the corner of his eyes he caught something.
A flower, a bright red flower with five long petals and anthers accumulated in the centre, that looked just like a Chinese Rose or Hibiscus.
"Huh? That's... " Alexander frowned and started thinking about something. Even though the flower was looking normal and all good just like a normal flower, he still felt something off.
'Dammit! That's the real culprit!' Carefully observing the flower from a distance, Alexander realised something and immediately cussed inwardly with a great effort to prevent himself from shouting out again.
"That's… Crypti-Rose" His eyes lit up and he muttered before slowly moving towards the flower, covering his nose and mouth.
What he remembered just now was the name of the flower. It's known as the Crypti-Rose, although it looks just like some general hibiscus, it lacks any female reproductive parts in it. But, what's special about it isn't the absence of the reproductive part but its ability to make people speak out their thoughts.
The crimson and innocent looking flower releases small pollen grains all over the place where it grows and those small devils when inhaled, can chemically induce people with relatively small weaker bodies to speak out their thoughts, subconsciously. Thus, it was a highly used drug by the military while inquiring from weaker soldiers or staff.
After Alexander reached the bright crimson flower, he maintained his covered nose and mouth using one hand while he squatted down and dug out the whole plant, out of ground, using the other hand.
It was a treasure for him! It was really great that he was able to find something like this here.
Carefully wrapping the roots around with some soul and using some paper to cover the small shrub completely, he carefully packed it up in his sack.
Only when everything was done, he got up and moved away from the infected place with the pollens, after he successfully moved away, only then did he uncover his mouth and nose.
Huff…
He took in a few deep puffs of fresh air and then lifted his face to look towards the direction his teammates went. But to his surprise, the way ahead was just filled with trees and shrubs.
"F**k! Did I lose my way?"
He cussed. There was no man made path ahead of him nor were there any tracks left on the ground. Obviously no one went ahead of him. He came towards this direction, thinking that this was the direction where everyone went. But, supposedly he was wrong and he took a wrong path while he ran towards after picking up the plant of 'Crypti-Rose'.
He turned back towards the direction he came from and pondered for a while, 'Should I return back again?'
Considering his current strength, if he is captured by anyone else, he'll be beaten up badly, so it was best for him to return and reunite with his team. But, given his current image in everyone's eyes, he also considered not going back.
He was in a situation where one has two paths to choose between, the first path leads to hell while the other path still leads to hell!
Not knowing what to do he stood still and thought for a great while.
'Ok, I'll just stay low and will move on my own.' Weighing all pros and cons of both the options in his hands, he decided to not go back and just stay alone.
If he joins them again, he won't be able to search freely and he can't bear to see the disgust in their eyes again.
And after making up his mind, he didn't wait for too long and fluently used Devil's Walk and decisively disappeared into the woods ahead, in the search of some new ingredients. The target he came here for.