Chapter 128: Eat 555 Pills and It’s All Over
The turtle teacher in class returned to normal and started lecturing seriously again.
With her photographic memory, Ning Xiyue could remember every single detail the teacher mentioned and every important point in the preparation process, perfectly recording them in her mind. It was as if there was a movie projector in her head — she could replay any scene she wanted, frame by frame, in crystal-clear detail.
It was even more powerful than a recorded video.
And this greatly improved Ning Xiyue’s success rate.
Before gaining this ability, the things she made in class usually fell just a little short of the passing line on the first try. But now, with photographic memory, her pass rate skyrocketed.
What she produced on her first attempt already looked quite decent. If she were to score the medicinal food and pills she made this time to treat uterine cold, she’d definitely give herself over 70 points.
Ning Xiyue looked at the bowl of fragrant medicinal food before her, swallowed her saliva, quietly switched consciousness into her body, picked up the bowl, ate a few spoonfuls, then switched back out.
This medicinal dish treated uterine cold if you had it; if not, it nourished the body, improved complexion, and replenished qi and blood — a great health tonic all around.
After drinking it, Ning Xiyue felt warmth spread through her body. “It’s actually pretty tasty. I’ve got to make a bowl for Mom when I get home.”
After class, Ning Xiyue entered the practice simulation room to work on exercises: she boiled another bowl of medicinal food, shaped a medicinal pill, and placed it on the grading platform to hand in.
The result of her first attempt was just as she expected.
[Ding! After inspection, your score is 80 points. Grade: Good.]
[Ding! First submission in the Health category scored ‘Good,’ achieving a qualitative leap. Reward: One pack each of motherwort and cinnamon seeds, plus 50 yuan cash.]
Hearing this, Ning Xiyue beamed. Another 50 yuan earned — plus she now had seeds for motherwort and cinnamon. No need to wait.
She put away the money, grabbed the seeds, and ran off to her spatial test field.
She harvested the mature sanqi (notoginseng) in the medicinal herb section and planted the new motherwort and cinnamon seeds.
Squatting by the soil, Ning Xiyue stared at the freshly planted area, wishing the motherwort and cinnamon would just sprout and mature right now.
Seeing his host watching the soil so intently, the system reminded her kindly, [Host, you can use system points to buy growth fertilizer from my recycling station to accelerate their growth.]
At that, Ning Xiyue looked up with interest. “Oh? I can do that? How many points does it cost?”
Now the system was excited, eyes sparkling, flailing its tiny limbs as it launched into an enthusiastic sales pitch:
“Come, come, come! Step right up, don’t miss this deal — we’ve got three types of fertilizer!”
“Fifty percent growth boost for just 99 points, eighty percent for only 199, and the crowd-favorite one-hundred percent for 299 points! For 299, you can’t go wrong, you won’t be cheated — experience lightning-speed herb growth and instant planting magic!”
At that moment, the system sounded exactly like a multi-level marketing salesman.
Ning Xiyue couldn’t help laughing and crying. “Be honest — were you a pyramid scheme leader in your past life?”
The system blinked innocently and refused to admit it. “Oh no, not at all. I’m just here to make your life easier. So, which one will you choose, Host?”
Ning Xiyue waved her hand grandly. “Your host has points to spare — give me the most expensive one, the 100% boost fertilizer.”
The system quickly deducted the points and delivered the product. Delaying even a second would be disrespectful to the points — and to its sugar daddy of a host. “Done! The fertilizer’s been placed in your backpack. Please use it promptly. Come again soon!”
Ning Xiyue enjoyed a bit of modern-style service — lightning-fast delivery.
Opening her backpack, she immediately spotted the simple package labeled only with two big characters: “Fertilizer.”
A few words came to mind: “Simplicity is often the mark of quality. Return to basics. Less is more.”
She clicked “Use.” The system’s advertising hadn’t been a lie — the moment she pressed the button, the herbs in the soil shot up, maturing in the blink of an eye.
Clusters of motherwort swayed gently in the soil, their small purplish-red flowers blooming.
Three cinnamon trees stood tall and straight, releasing a faint, sweet aroma.
The scent of cinnamon immediately reminded Ning Xiyue of braised meat.
With a single cinnamon tree, she now had both medicinal and culinary cinnamon — it would be a crime not to make a pot of braised meat someday.
But not now — she had serious business to do.
Without wasting a second, she grabbed the two freshly harvested herbs and lit up the motherwort and cinnamon totems.
Once the two totems lit up, new formulas appeared — both for dysmenorrhea-relief pills.
She tapped in and learned them, bringing the total formulas in her hand to three.
The medicinal food and “black pills” in her health manual focused on long-term effects, working slowly and only treating uterine cold — useless for congenital dysmenorrhea.
The motherwort-based dysmenorrhea pills promoted blood circulation and resolved blood stasis, effective for all types of dysmenorrhea, but only those caused by stagnation.
The cinnamon-based dysmenorrhea pills warmed, dispersed cold, and relieved pain, but only worked for cold-induced dysmenorrhea.
Each of the three pills had its strengths and weaknesses — but combined, they would form the perfect pill.
Ning Xiyue stared at the pills before her, thinking hard about how to fuse the three together. Only by merging them into one could she create the pill she truly wanted.
She entered the simulation room, piled all the herbs for the three pills together, removed any duplicates, and kept only the unique ingredients.
This time, she had to figure it out on her own.
How? By experimenting over and over. Time in the simulation room was plentiful, and since she was there in consciousness, she wasn’t afraid of wasting time — only of wasting time for nothing.
Ning Xiyue didn’t know how long she stayed in there, but when she finally stopped, 666 pills with different ingredient ratios were lined up before her.
All with unknown properties.
The pills were ready — but faced with the pile of pitch-black pills, she was stumped. Rubbing her chin, she stared at them in distress.
“What now? How am I supposed to test their effects? I can’t possibly pull a ‘Shennong tasting a hundred herbs’ here.”
Even though she had made them herself, they looked terrifying — and she didn’t dare try any. What if one of them was poisonous?
Suddenly, a lightbulb went off in her head. When in doubt, ask Turtle Teacher Mi Yang.
With a mischievous smile, Ning Xiyue turned to the little turtle dozing on the platform. “Teacher Mi Yang, could you help me test a pill?”
The system turtle’s sleepy eyes snapped open as it flew backward in alarm. “Why are you looking at me? Go find Mi Yang the turtle — I’m System Turtle 3333!”
No way was it touching those pills. If the grading platform itself couldn’t detect their properties, it might crash if it ate one.
Eat 555 of those pills and it’s game over.
Ning Xiyue was undeterred, advancing with a handful of pills. “Hehehe, here you go, Dalang, time for your medicine.”
[No, no, no! I’m not Dalang — I’m your little cutie!] The system panicked, flying up to the highest point. [Dearest host, little cutie suggests you do a sign-in! You still have three random sign-ins left. Your lucky koi fortune will increase — you’re bound to get what you want!]
Getting the answer she wanted, Ning Xiyue’s expression instantly shifted. She set the pills down and cheerfully shouted, “Alright then — sign in!”
