Victor munched on popcorn, excitedly swinging his legs. He really wanted to join this high-stakes, deadly academic debate.
For instance, he could share his personal experience of once accidentally (yeah, right) tasting a certain tropical fungus and, together with Venom, watching twelve hours of hallucinatory colorful snail crawling.
So, when Ms. Thornhill picked up a small shrub with eerily metallic-blue leaves and berries as bright as blood, Victor immediately raised his hand, answering before being called on:
"I know! It's 'Blue Blood Noblewoman'! Its sap tastes like a mix of rusted nails and raspberries, with an aftertaste of..."
Before he could finish, he habitually plucked one of those blood-red, tempting berries, tossed it into his mouth, chewed a couple of times, and even offered one to Enid beside him: "Hey, Enid, want to try it? The texture is quite intriguing!"
"Pfft—" Bianca in the front row nearly failed to maintain her haughty expression.
Wednesday's lips twitched almost imperceptibly, as if witnessing something incredibly stupid yet entirely predictable.
"Victor Black!" Ms. Thornhill's voice instantly sharpened, carrying unprecedented alarm.
She practically teleported to the back row, slapping the potentially disastrous berry out of Victor's hand, her voice trembling:
"Spit it out! Now! Immediately! It can cause full-body muscle tetanic spasms until your spine snaps!"
Startled by the shout, Victor obediently spat out the berry residue, smacking his lips in evaluation: "No wonder my neck felt a bit stiff..."
Venom writhed irritably inside him:
"Blech! Disgusting! Tastes like chewing a scrapped bicycle! You idiot, Victor! Can you ask me before tasting stuff next time!"
Ms. Thornhill's face paled. She held her forehead, looking like she desperately needed oxygen.
Pointing a trembling finger at Victor, she declared: "You! From now on! No answering any questions! No touching any teaching aids! No tasting anything—including your own fingers!"
She took a deep breath, her gaze shifting to the equally stunned Enid beside him, her tone grave as if entrusting a great responsibility:
"Miss Sinclair! Watch him! If he tries to eat anything that isn't normal food again, I authorize you... to use any necessary means to stop him! Including, but not limited to, knocking him out!"
Enid snapped back to reality, immediately straightening her posture as if receiving a military order: "Yes! Ms. Thornhill!"
She instinctively reached out, tightly grabbing Victor's wrist, as if guarding a large, dangerous child who might charge off to gnaw on a cactus at any moment.
Victor blinked innocently.
He looked at his captured wrist, then at the still-shaken teacher on the podium and the mixture of disdain and a hint of schadenfreude from the front rows, and finally down at the box of chocolate popcorn.
He shrugged, grabbed a handful of popcorn, and stuffed it into his mouth.
Alright then. Can't join the debate, can't taste new plants. But at least he could still watch the show while snacking.
This botany class was still quite interesting. Especially when watching the almost electrically charged glare between Wednesday and Bianca—that was far more entertaining than those inedible berries.
In the dormitory at night.
The gloomy atmosphere of the evening formed a stark contrast to the bright sunshine of the morning.
Enid Sinclair, who had been like a plump, vibrant golden sunflower in the morning, now resembled a little blade of grass ravaged by a storm, completely wilted.
She paced back and forth in the center of the dorm, nearly in tears.
"Oh God, oh God," she repeated incoherently, her voice choked with sobs.
"Why did this have to happen? Can anyone explain? They just went to get pizza! How did they end up in the infirmary from eating massive amounts of ice cream?!"
Her two key teammates were currently lying in the infirmary on IV drips due to acute gastroenteritis and sugar overload. Forget rowing; they could barely stand up straight.
The Poe Cup was the day after tomorrow, and her "black cat" had instantly lost its entire crew.
Tears finally couldn't be held back, rolling down her cheeks in large drops.
"Oh, Enid, calm down."
Victor stepped forward, his voice uncharacteristically gentle, trying to soothe.
He reached out, his fingertips lightly brushing her cheek, wiping away her tears.
"I would be more than willing to board your Noah's Ark," he promised, his tone serious.
"B-but we're still short two!" Enid sobbed, gesturing desperately. "The race requires at least four per team! Now it's just me!"
"I think Venom would be very willing to help," Victor immediately added.
As if to prove it, a mass of black, viscous substance rapidly and almost completely separated from his body, coalescing into Venom's muscular form. It twisted its neck, emitting a low grumble:
"Though I'd rather be a spectator and have all the losing teams for dessert... but fine, for Little Wolf Girl."
A thin, constantly wriggling black thread still connected it to Victor, signifying their inseparable bond.
"Th-then we're still short one!" Enid counted on her fingers. Her tears had temporarily stopped, but her anxiety hadn't lessened at all.
This time, Victor was also stumped. He scratched his head, a look of genuine distress on his face: "Uh... this..."
It seemed he really had only been orbiting around Wednesday and Enid these past few days, with no time to expand his social circle. He couldn't even find a last-minute recruit.
Just then, the dorm door opened.
Wednesday walked in. She had just finished her evening solo investigation, carrying the chilly scent of the library's old book section and the night breeze.
She immediately sensed the unusual atmosphere in the dorm, especially when three pairs of eyes—
Enid's tear-filled blue eyes, Victor's sparkling eyes full of "help," and Venom's huge, white eyes brimming with a certain eerie anticipation—all instantly focused on her like spotlights.
"What do you want?" She raised an eyebrow, her voice full of wariness and ominous foreboding.
This kind of collective gaze usually meant trouble, and trouble aimed specifically at her.
Victor immediately put on his brightest, most innocent smile and stepped forward: "Hey! Wednesday! We're having a little human resources crisis..."
Enid, as if grabbing a lifeline, rushed over and explained incoherently:
"My teammates! Hospitalized from eating ice cream! The Poe Cup! We're short one person! Please, Wednesday! Just this once! You don't have to do anything! Just sit in the boat to make up the numbers! Really!"
Venom nodded in agreement beside them, its huge mouth splitting open to reveal sharp white teeth:
"We could decorate the boat like a moving coffin! So fitting!"
Wednesday's gaze shifted from Victor's ingratiating smile, to Enid's pleading, tearful eyes, and then to Venom's ill-intentioned suggestion.
She remained silent for a few seconds, no emotion discernible in her dark pupils.
Then, she spoke extremely slowly and clearly:
"Give me one reason not to nail all three of you, along with that ridiculous canoe, to the pillar of shame."