NOVEL NEXT Chapter 53: Is He Cooking?
This round of the competition, involving the formulation of prescriptions, only provided the major categories of medicinal herbs without their specific names, increasing the difficulty of the task.
If one did not have an absolute understanding of the materials, it was impossible to succeed.
Even the shop assistants at the herb store might only be able to formulate one prescription within ten minutes.
On stage, the two competitors employed different strategies while formulating the prescriptions.
Mr. Lu was holding a prescription and would only start on the next one after completing the current one.
Meanwhile, Wang Ye reviewed all five prescriptions first before he began to formulate any.
As Wang Ye started formulating, Mr. Lu had already completed two prescriptions.
However, Wang Ye caught up from behind and completed three prescriptions in just two minutes.
Three minutes later, Wang Ye was the first to finish formulating all five prescriptions.
Mr. Lu followed closely behind, finishing less than five seconds later.
However, this segment was originally a timed one, so as long as both completed within the allotted time, there was no time advantage.
With the formulation of the prescriptions complete, it was now time for the judges to evaluate the results.
Five prescriptions, hundreds of medicinal herbs. The evaluation also took a considerable amount of time.
Twenty professionals, under the supervision of the referee, took fifteen minutes to finalize the results.
The host received the results and immediately announced them.
"I declare, in the prescription formulation event, the final victor is contestant Wang Ye. Contestant Wang Ye's formulation of all five prescriptions was completely accurate."
"Mr. Lu made a minor error in this round of the competition; among over three hundred medicinal herbs, he chose one incorrectly, which led to his defeat."
"However, Mr. Lu should not be discouraged, nor should Wang Ye be proud. The third event is about to begin."
After the announcement by the host, the onsite staff quickly cleared the stage, and then the third event officially began.
The third event involved simulating the treatment of a severe illness. After ten minutes of competition, the results were in; Mr. Lu narrowly won.
Thus, after three events, both competitors were tied in points. The final suspense was left to the fourth event.
"The two contestants advancing to the final round are indeed exceptional. These three rounds of competition have showcased your superb medical skills and your strong ability to identify medicinal herbs. Now, the final test has arrived. Time to test your strongest capabilities with your own bodies. Let's see what you've got!"
On stage, the host was extremely excited.
The audience was also tense at this moment. Even though they were not competitors, such a competition was still nerve-wracking to watch.
"This is going to be good, these two are absolute masters. I wonder what kind of poison they will formulate."
"Yeah, this round of competition will certainly be spectacular."
"No, I think it's going to be extremely thrilling!"
In the midst of the crowd's discussion, Fang Feifei was also intently watching the stage,
with her hands interlaced tightly in front of her chest, seemingly praying for Wang Ye.
Chen Li was also very nervous. She believed in Wang Ye's capabilities, but she still couldn't calm down.
Tan Long was staring at the big screen, not blinking at all.
On the other side, He Lei and his group were also becoming nervous. But what they were considering was not the competition, but the outcome—the result of Wang Ye possibly dying suddenly.
Mr. Lu's use of poison was something He Lei was very familiar with.
Soon, Wang Ye wouldn't even get the chance to formulate an antidote.
Mr. Lu's poison, upon ingestion, would cause immediate death.
On stage, Mr. Lu and Wang Ye were already separately formulating their poisons.
This time, the herbs Mr. Lu chose were not just a couple of medicinal plants but included many other herbs, part of which were highly toxic.
Because he was well aware that with Wang Ye's capabilities, ordinary poisons couldn't challenge him. Moreover, he was formulating a poison that, upon drinking, would instantly kill.
Wang Ye's choice of herbs, however, was somewhat peculiar.
"What in the world is Wang Ye doing? Why is he only choosing tonic herbs like snow lotus, ginseng, Polygonum multiflorum? Those herbs aren't toxic, are they?"
"What do you know, as the saying goes, 'all drugs have their poison,' those he chose also have toxic properties."
"Please, you're the one who's clueless! Those herbs do have some toxicity, but how potent can that little bit be?"
"Exactly, discussing toxicity without considering dosage is absurd. Even if you took a truckload of the herbs Wang Ye chose and tried to extract poison from them, you'd hardly get any."
Despite the crowd's skepticism, it had no impact on Wang Ye. He continued at his own pace, picking the herbs he wanted.
Then, he moved to the area for processing the herbs. He steamed the herbs with steam, then mixed them all together and mashed them into a paste.
Eventually, he took out the mixture and scalded it with boiling water, obtaining a half basin full of white paste-like substance.
While everyone was confused about what Wang Ye was doing, he scooped out the substance with a spoon and wrapped it in a piece of cloth.
Finally, he filtered out the excess parts and obtained a small pellet the size of a lollipop.
"Is Wang Ye really making poison? It looks more like he's practicing ritual magic."
"Right? And those little pellets, I don't know if he added sugar. If he did, they might taste as good as candied haws."
"You really want to die, huh? If you eat one of those pellets, I bet that'll be the end of you."
Amid the joking, Mr. Lu also finished making his poison.
What he made was still a bowl of soup. However, this time the soup was blood-red, not disgusting but somewhat terrifying.
Moreover, there were some eerie things inside the soup.
"Alright, both contestants have prepared their poisons. Now, please welcome the referee to validate the antidotes."
After the host announced this, the referees went backstage to inspect the antidotes.
However, they had already been instructed by He Lei, so this verification was merely a formality.
Soon, several referees returned to the stage.
"The antidotes have been verified and are all fine," the referee announced.
"Very well, then Mr. Wang Ye, Mr. Lu, in this final round, which of you would like to go first?"
The original rule was that the person leading in the first three events could decide the order for the fourth event.
But now, the two were tied.
"Mr. Wang Ye, are you scared? If you're scared, then I'll go first." Mr. Lu spoke a few more words than usual.
He was deliberately trying to provoke Wang Ye.
But unexpectedly, Wang Ye immediately agreed, "Alright, then you go first!"
Mr. Lu was immediately taken aback. He intended to trick Wang Ye, but instead, he fell into his own trap.
Now, he was somewhat in a dilemma.