Apocalypse Forecast

Although the future seemed bright, Huai Shi at least had the foresight to ask after the initial excitement, "So when will I be able to manually concoct the Silver Blood Potion?"

"Under normal circumstances, an apprentice would need three years to get started, then help their teacher handle the leftover materials for another two years. If they perform well, they might be given the opportunity to work independently. In just over a year from that point, they might be able to start concocting the Silver Blood Potion. However, if we skip all the unrelated subjects and cut out a lot of time-wasting material, you'd probably need about two years. But with the help of Alchemy Fire, it might only take a bit over a year."

"That's too slow."

Huai Shi instantly lost all hope of getting rich overnight.

"Why don't you just go kill two alchemists who specialize in metallography?" Raven glared at this disappointing fellow. "There are plenty of bounties for such people in the Astronomical Society's offerings! Pick an easy target, slit their throat, and go through their records—that's much quicker!"

"Forget it."

What's this about advancing through killing? If it was the likes of Red Gloves or He Luo passing on and making use of their remains, Huai Shi would have been perfectly happy, but asking him to kill for this power was no different from those psychopaths who murder for pleasure, wasn't it?

"But come to think of it, it feels like Red Gloves was quite cheap, only around ten million."

Huai Shi looked at his account, already more than half depleted, and sighed, "An international criminal can only fetch around forty-some red potions?"

"The price for a dead one is indeed ten million; that's roughly the consolation money issued by the Astronomical Society. After all, the main issuer of the bounty is the Russian Federation's Double-Headed Eagle folks."

Speaking of which, Raven's gaze turned peculiar. "Generally, a mid-level executive of Green Day like Red Gloves would have a bounty of about eighty million Dongxia Coins. Taking into account his origins from Rome and his knowledge of many secrets, another thirty million was added, for a total of around one hundred and ten million Dongxia Coins."

Huai Shi was dumbfounded.

According to the current market price, a bottle of soda costs one coin, a bowl of beef noodles four coins, a book seven coins, and drawing a gacha in a mobile game costs one hundred sixty-two coins. One hundred ten million would be enough for Huai Shi to open a soda factory, sell who knows how many bowls of noodles, and establish ten chain bookstores. If he used it all for gacha, he'd have enough to become a minor shareholder in a game he'd enjoy...

"Why did I get so little!" Huai Shi angrily leaped up. "Is the Astronomical Society skimming off my money?"

"On the contrary, the Astronomical Society gave you a consolation prize out of their own pocket," Raven whistled. "They wanted him alive, you get it? A living Red Gloves! Only with a living Red Gloves could they get Taxim's sublimation route. Only a living Red Gloves would reveal intelligence and information. Only a living Red Gloves would be useful to the Russian Federation, useful for prisoner exchanges. So you see, you're definitely the best bargainer in Xinhai—your fire burned away a hundred million, leaving only a corpse behind... What use could the Russian Federation possibly have for a dead body? To flog it?"

Huai Shi stared at her blankly, his entire being turning ash grey after a long while.

What did it feel like to miss out on a hundred million? Such, such agony...

He held The Sorrow of Index in his hands, which had somehow become tangled around the beam of the room, feeling utterly despondent and on the verge of tears.

What's so good about being alive? Might as well just escape to a two-dimensional world.

"Also, have you misunderstood something about the Silver Blood Potion?" Raven continued to crush his spirit. "You don't think it's something that money can easily buy, do you?"

"Huh?" Huai Shi was stunned. "It's so expensive, and I still can't buy the potion?"

"The expensive part was never about the potion itself, young man."

Raven shook her head with a sigh. "As far as I know, just recently in Current Circumstances, a pharmaceutical company from the American Freedom Alliance raised the price of their specialty drug by fifty-five times... What makes you think the world of Sublimators has affordable goods?"

"Every dose of Silver Blood Potion is like a surgical operation that could start at any moment, a chance to save a life; how could it possibly be cheap?"

"But... isn't it just five or six years to get to the point where one can make this stuff?"

"That's right, five or six years. For someone talented, maybe three years would suffice. But would you take medicine that has no credentials, dubious origins, and no endorsements by anyone?"

Raven explained, "Every Silver Blood Potion on the market needs to be certified by the Stone Pot Society. Otherwise, they're considered products without documentation and are not allowed to be sold. If found trading privately, it would attract the pursuit of the Astronomical Society and a bounty from the Stone Pot Society—an exorbitant bounty at that! To get certified, one must pass the Stone Pot Society's examination, get a grade one registered alchemist certificate, and register an Alchemy Workshop with the Society before they are qualified to sell Silver Blood Potion."

"Do you think that's the end of it?"

She continued, "Apart from the most common pure silver and tin, the mining rights for all materials required by the potion's formula in places like the Border and Hell have already been monopolized at great cost by various capital controlled by the Stone Pot Society. These are available only to their own registered members. Besides, apart from the large organizations that have lots of quotas, there's a yearly limit to how much each person can purchase. If you want more, you can only find someone with remaining quotas for private transfers, which would be even more expensive. But no matter how expensive it is or how high the production is, it's always in short supply; no one would refuse to store more of something that could save their life at any moment."

Huai Shi fell into a daze.

For the first time in his life, he grasped the power of monopoly, as well as the terrifying force of trusts, syndicates, and Carters.

"But, but... doesn't the Astronomical Society care?"

"Who do you think is the second-largest shareholder of the Stone Pot Society?"

Raven laughed strangely. "Now you see the benefits of the Astronomical Society's façade, right? Once you become a registered official member, you can buy anything from the internal website at cost! Plus, you can even pay with currency from Current Circumstances and won't need to use Source Crystals! Hurry up and hold tight to Miss Ai Qing's Gold Thigh. Once you're officially registered in Jinling, our funds will finally have a proper use."

Huai Shi became instantly alert.

—Someone wants to spend my money!

"Don't be so on guard, little bro."

Raven's tone softened. "You should look on the bright side; at least this time the money being spent is from your account, and you know exactly where it's going, right?"

Huai Shi actually felt there was some logic to her words but then immediately realized, "But it's still my money you're spending!"

"Hey, what's mine is yours and what's yours is mine, why make distinctions? It's alienating!" Raven lifted her wing to wrap it around his head. "My money is your money, and your money is my money, isn't it?"

"You would actually need to have money for that to work!"

…

Anyway, when Raven twisted things like that, it never sounded like anything good. But Huai Shi kept his wits about him and didn't get distracted, sticking to the original topic:

"Didn't you say there were two purposes? What's the other one?"

"We'll talk about that after you've finished this one."

Raven rolled her eyes at him, pointing her beak to the documents on the table. "Time to brew the potion, big guy."

"The cops just left not long ago. Why are you so eager to risk breaking the law?"

"Don't worry, I already have a solution to your problem."

Raven rubbed her chin with her wing as if in deep thought and analyzed, "The reason you exploded is that there was a mistake in the metal configuration, and this mistake stemmed from the unstable and inconsistent supply of Source Substance. A big reason for these mistakes was your lack of focused attention; to put it simply, you were distracted."

Isn't that obvious?

The construction of those special metals was one more complex than the next. Even though Huai Shi didn't have to start stacking from the molecular level, transforming Source Substance into those with identical properties was also exhausting. It was like completing a dozen steps of alloy smelting in one go, and he couldn't just focus on the details but had to consider the whole picture. A single wrong proportion could ruin everything.

A minor error would result in scrap, and at worst, an explosion.

Who could endure that!

"So, I have a method—if we set aside the demands of instant use and slow down the rhythm to let you familiarize yourself with the process, then there's a way to ensure that your thoughts are sufficiently focused and your Source Substance supply is balanced."

After hyping up the suspense, Raven somehow managed to snap her wings. "How about trying meditation?"

"Whether it's a single sheep or two, you're herding them anyway. You've already started playing the cello, so a little more effort won't hurt, right?"

"What you're saying... seems to make some sense."

Huai Shi stroked his chin, thinking for a long time. Feeling like there weren't any mistakes, he picked up the cello and lowered his eyes.

The sound of the cello began to rise.

At the Special Affairs Department, in the silent interrogation room, Ai Qing tapped on the table with an expressionless face, her demeanor calm.

"What else?" she asked.

"What else?"

The manager from Wanli Group still refused to talk. "We were just deceived into acquiring a batch of undeclared goods. We've paid the fine. Why do we deserve this treatment?"

"Your fine was paid to the Special Affairs Department. What does it have to do with the Astronomical Society?"

Ai Qing glanced dispassionately at him, her pen tapping intermittently on the record before her, and said, "The current investigation is into Wanli Group's illegal sale of smuggled goods..."

At this moment, the legal advisor from the headquarters beside the manager suddenly spoke up to correct, "Inspector Ai, this was the unilateral decision of the local partner. It has nothing to do with Wanli Group. The headquarters had no knowledge of this."

"Then that makes it even more necessary to investigate thoroughly, doesn't it?"

Ai Qing was well aware of these guys' tricks. Far from being moved, she even felt like sneering. "So, exactly who went through what kind of incomplete declaration procedure, who assisted from the side, and who deceived you? Also, who was involved in it, and where did that large batch of goods with incomplete declarations eventually go? Which store was responsible for the sale? And who was the buyer? You must know this, right?"

"We've said all this before. Due to the local branch's mismanagement of personnel, we've submitted all the documents. Moreover, we are victims too!"

The legal advisor glared at Ai Qing, angrily questioning, "Is the Astronomical Society only going to hold onto us and let the attacker get away with it? If that's the case, we will report your Jinling Branch and demand..."

"You don't have to worry about that."

Ai Qing cut him off. "I've already dispatched the most capable officer from the Xinhai Branch, Huai Shi, to conduct the investigation. Please wait patiently—"

She paused for a moment, flashed a sincere smile, and said, "Believe me, there will be news soon."