At five in the afternoon, the scorching sun over Yuanxing City finally lost some of its bite, but the asphalt on the ground still shimmered with heat. Luo Yang stepped into the main hall of the Punisher Association, a branch of the Yuanxing City Punisher Coordination and Management Bureau, right on time.
This time, the front desk staff skipped the questioning process entirely. A man wearing a supervisor’s badge personally escorted him to the VIP reception room on the top floor.
The air conditioning blasted him as he entered. The large reception room was empty except for a pot-bellied middle-aged man with thinning hair pacing back and forth in front of a leather sofa, rubbing his hands together.
When he saw Luo Yang enter, the man’s eyes lit up, and he immediately hurried over.
“Hello, Expert Luo.” The man smiled like a Maitreya Buddha, the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes crinkling together.
Luo Yang raised an eyebrow. At the Ability Bureau, he was merely an external expert and didn't even have an official position. Usually, he only dealt with low-level clerks at the association.
However, he had seen the man in front of him in Yuanxing City’s internal publications.
He was the chairman of the Yuanxing City Punisher Association, Zhao Dehai.
“To have Chairman Zhao receive me personally is quite an honor,” Luo Yang said politely, though his gaze landed on the shimmering silver briefcase on the coffee table.
Zhao Dehai followed his gaze and quickly turned to pick up the briefcase, entering a long and complex series of commands right in front of Luo Yang.
With a soft click, a mist of white vapor rose along with the cold air.
As the mist dissipated, Luo Yang saw a transparent quartz vial lying quietly in the center of special shock-absorbing foam.
The liquid inside was a deep purple. Just looking at it, one could feel a gentle yet incredibly vast surge of blood energy slowly circulating within.
“Expert Luo, this is the gene potion you requested.” Zhao Dehai rubbed his hands, his tone carrying a hint of irrepressible wonder.
“To be honest, this isn't something a branch like ours in Yuanxing City would have in stock. This was released directly from the warehouse in Qiongzhou City, the capital of Jiangnan Province, under an emergency special approval order. It was escorted by a private plane and only finished its purification process an hour ago.”
Emergency allocation from Qiongzhou City, the provincial capital?
Luo Yang was stunned. What he had originally ordered from the association was merely a standard high-grade rank-breaking potion available on the market. While expensive, it was nowhere near the level of requiring a special transfer.
Judging by the energy purity of this deep purple potion alone, it was certain that this was no ordinary commodity. This was, at the very least, strategic-grade material.
“Chairman Zhao, are you sure there hasn't been a mistake?” Luo Yang adjusted his plain-glass spectacles, his tone calm. “With my meager balance, I can’t afford a treasure of this level.”
“No mistake, absolutely no mistake!” Zhao Dehai waved his hands hurriedly, his smile becoming even more respectful. “The bill for this potion has already been paid in full by someone else. You only need to sign for it and take it with you.”
Someone had already paid for him?
Luo Yang narrowed his eyes slightly as several possibilities flashed through his mind.
Cao Tianlin? No, although the deputy commander was generous and had given him fourth-tier mass-produced weapons, the military preferred doing things officially and wouldn't use a roundabout channel like the association. Zhang Xian? Even less likely; that old geezer was stingy to a fault.
Could it be a connection left behind by his grandfather, Luo Xingbang?
Or perhaps... the Luo family?
Luo Yang stared at the deep purple potion for a full ten seconds.
Only a fool turns down a freebie, Luo Yang thought to himself.
Breaking through to the Clear Heart rank was the most important thing for him right now. Since someone was willing to be the big spender, he was determined to swallow this sugar-coated shell regardless of which faction was pulling the strings behind the scenes. Even if there was a live shell inside, he would just have to find a way to fire it back later.
“In that case, please thank that kind soul for me.” Luo Yang calmly signed his name on the confirmation form, snapped the briefcase shut with a click, and picked it up.
“Take care, and I wish you a successful breakthrough, Expert Luo!” Zhao Dehai escorted Luo Yang all the way to the elevator. Only after the doors closed did he wipe the sweat from his forehead with a sigh of relief.
Luo Yang carried the briefcase all the way back to his villa on the Third Ring Road of Yuanxing City.
Opening the front door, he found the television in the living room playing a hot-blooded anime from several years ago. A few empty cola cans and a tablet were scattered on the coffee table.
Yan Zhi was sitting cross-legged on the large sofa, holding a cup of bubbling cola. She was staring at the screen, seemingly very interested in this modern form of entertainment.
This girl had actually learned how to turn on the TV herself.
Luo Yang didn't disturb her and headed straight for the basement.
This area had originally been a storage room, but he had later converted it into a secret chamber specifically for maintaining equipment and cultivation.
The lighting in the basement was somewhat dim. Luo Yang placed the briefcase on the workbench, took a deep breath, and began to adjust his state.
He opened the case and took out the deep purple gene potion.
As he unscrewed the specialized stopper, a thick, sweet, and bloody scent that was almost tangible instantly filled the basement. It wasn't unpleasant, but it carried an extremely primitive sense of energy pressure.
Luo Yang found a glass and carefully poured the potion into it. The deep purple liquid flowed slowly, like a pool of liquefied starlight.
Just as he was about to brace himself and begin the absorption, the basement door opened silently.
Yan Zhi drifted in like a ghost. She leaned over the workbench, propping her small head in her hands, and stared at the potion for a moment with her pitch-black eyes.
“This thing...” Yan Zhi poked the glass containing the potion. “It’s barely passable. But it could be better.”
Luo Yang’s hand, holding the vessel, froze in mid-air. He was surprised.
“Better? This is already a top-tier gene potion. How could it be made any better?”
Yan Zhi didn't answer directly. Instead, she reached out a fair, slender hand toward Luo Yang.
“That bead. Give it to me.”
“Bead?” Luo Yang was stunned for a second before he realized what she meant.
She was talking about the golden core left behind after the Level 4 man-faced lion died in the Rift’s core area. Before leaving, Cao Tianlin had returned it to him.
A faint light flickered on the surface of his space ring, and the core—radiating a soft golden light as if a star were sealed inside—appeared in his palm.
Yan Zhi took the fist-sized golden sphere from him. Her movements were light, as if she were performing some ancient ritual.
Then, before Luo Yang’s shocked eyes, she actually pinched the core of the Level 4 mutant beast, flicked her wrist, and dropped it into the glass filled with the deep purple potion with a plop.
“Holy crap! What are you doing?!”
Luo Yang was startled. This was a high-level energy body with properties that weren't yet fully understood. If it caused a rejection reaction and exploded, forget this basement—the entire villa would be blown to the sky!
He lost his composure for a rare moment. If it really exploded, he didn't have the money to fix the house!
However, the moment the golden core touched the liquid, the entire glass seemed to turn into a miniature reactor.
The potion underwent a sudden mutation. Without making a sound, two completely different and massive energies began to merge in an inconceivable way.
The liquid in the glass seemed to come alive, frantically absorbing the ancient power contained within the core.
The originally calm, deep purple liquid began to boil violently. Countless fine threads branched out from the liquid, wrapping around the golden core.
The golden light inside the core also began to seep outward, merging into the potion bit by bit, seemingly achieving a perfect fusion with the core's power.
The temperature in the basement rose sharply, and a strange scent filled the air—the smell of high-level energy colliding.
After a few minutes, the boiling in the vessel gradually subsided.
Yan Zhi reached out her slender, pale fingers and dipped them into the high-energy liquid without hesitation. She pinched the golden core with two fingers and pulled it out of the potion.
The core was now somewhat dimmed, and the flowing golden light on its surface had all retracted into its center.
Yan Zhi casually placed it on the workbench and then put her index finger, which was stained with the potion, into her mouth, lightly licking the liquid off her fingertip.
As her pink tongue licked her finger, Yan Zhi smacked her lips. A hint of satisfaction flashed in her pure black eyes.
She handed the completely transformed potion to Luo Yang, her tone filled with pride.
“There, you can drink it now.”
Luo Yang looked at the vessel in front of him, his Adam's apple bobbing with difficulty.
The originally deep purple potion had been completely overhauled. What flowed in the glass now was a liquid that was golden to the extreme.
It looked incredibly viscous. Its texture wasn't like water at all, but rather like liquid metal that had been melted at high temperatures.
Tiny energy patterns even surfaced on the golden liquid from time to time, flickering in and out of existence.
“Are you sure... this stuff is drinkable?” Luo Yang felt his scalp go numb.
“It is.” Yan Zhi tilted her head, looking at Luo Yang’s expression as if he were facing a formidable enemy. Her tone was matter-of-fact.
“Don't worry, it won't kill you. I already tasted it for you.”
The corners of Luo Yang’s mouth twitched.
Feeling the urge to break through becoming increasingly uncontrollable within his body, he gritted his teeth.
Though this girl was strange, she truly had no reason to harm him. Moreover, this was a super potion infused with the essence of a Level 4 mutant beast’s core. If he missed this opportunity, there might not be another one like it.
“To hell with it, here goes nothing!”
Luo Yang took a deep breath and no longer hesitated. He picked up the heavy glass of strange potion, tilted his head back, and downed it in one gulp.
Rate on N.U.
