Potions

“So, the higher-ups are still debating,” Lan Yun said with a shrug.

This time, everyone understood why the leadership was locked in such a heated discussion at a critical moment like this.

The decision was incredibly difficult.

If they left it alone, the entire city would inevitably be dragged into the abyss.

However, if they borrowed the power of an Inscrutable Class relic, one wrong move could result in everyone being smashed to pieces.

Su Mian guessed that the senior officials of the Administration would eventually choose the latter.

After all, the latter was like walking a tightrope—at least there was a chance of success.

The former was simply giving up and waiting for the end.

The result was exactly as guessed, and the order arrived even faster than expected.

Less than thirty seconds after the discussion in the conference room ceased, Su Mian, who had been processing information, suddenly widened her eyes and sat up straight.

Her movement immediately caught the attention of the others.

“What happened?”

Captain Lan spoke first. She was well aware of Su Mian’s sensory capabilities, so she immediately realized that Su Mian had detected something wrong.

There was no need for the girl to explain. In the next second, everyone in the room saw a faint blood mist drifting through the air.

Indeed, the blood mist that was supposed to be restricted to the outside had somehow appeared within this enclosed underground space.

Although it looked thin and was far from the density of the outside world, the fact that it had appeared in a sealed area meant the ritual was strengthening.

It also meant the city had moved another step closer to the abyss.

Half a minute later, someone rushed over to find Lan Yun.

After receiving the notification, she immediately went to another room. When she returned shortly after, she brought the Administration’s order.

“The higher-ups have decided to use that Inscrutable Class relic.”

“Then, Captain, what is our mission?”

“If everything goes smoothly, the power of that Inscrutable Class relic will drag Yujing into the Shadow Realm first and cause massive damage to the Truth Society’s ritual. But those lunatics won’t just stand by and watch their ritual be destroyed. They will definitely take action. Our mission is to stop and eliminate them when the time comes!”

Captain Lan paused briefly before continuing: “Additionally, the Administration wants us to be prepared. According to expert predictions, the simultaneous action of two different powers will likely cause the impact this time to be different from before.”

“What do you mean?”

Zhi Yuan blinked, clearly not understanding.

Lan Yun glanced at her. “It basically means the two worlds will be more chaotic and easily blurred. To put it simply… existences from both the real world and the ‘other side’ will more easily appear within this special Shadow Realm.”

– Captain, why don’t you just say we’ll probably run into demons?

The girl with the hair bun rolled her eyes. She only received a blank stare from her captain before she seemed to react, glancing cautiously at the demon standing nearby.

Because this lady looked basically no different from a human, had a pitiful and easy-to-bully appearance, and had seemed to have a good temper throughout the journey, she had almost forgotten that she was a genuine demon.

Su Mian didn’t care about that. Her eyes lit up when she heard that many demons might accidentally enter the Shadow Realm.

Before anyone else could speak, she immediately raised her hand and said excitedly: “Leave the demons to me!”

Her voice was so excited, as if demons were some kind of grand feast, that the others didn’t know how to respond for a moment.

Finally, Lan Yun spoke again to regain everyone’s attention.

“The trouble this time is unprecedented. Although the Administration has a plan, there are still too many uncontrollable factors. I don’t know what will happen inside the Shadow Realm, nor do I know what kind of enemies we will have to face, but I suspect it won’t be easy.”

The woman no longer hesitated and waved for everyone to follow her.

“Come with me. I have prepared some gifts for everyone. I hope these things can be of help to you later.”

The others exchanged glances, and Su Mian followed with great curiosity.

After leaving the conference room, Lan Yun turned toward another elevator. It only had a down button and required multiple verifications to start, showing that the place it led to was not ordinary.

Indeed, after the elevator descended to an unknown depth and opened, a narrow corridor appeared before them.

They passed through several more doors requiring various identity verifications. Captain Lan took the opportunity to explain: “This is the branch’s storage area, specifically used to store potions, relics, and some special items. Because of the traitor, many things here were moved, but some remained because they were inconvenient to move or for other reasons.”

As she spoke, she finally opened the last door.

What appeared before them was a massive space no smaller than the one above, but it was divided by various glass or metal partitions, forming small rooms that made the area feel somewhat crowded.

Lan Yun led them into one of the rooms along the walkway. Inside the silver-white room were rows of metal cabinets. When opened, they were filled with small glass bottles the thickness of a thumb.

“These are the potions currently remaining here. The specific effects and taboos are stated on the labels.”

The woman’s gaze fell on the medicine bottles through her sunglasses, her voice flat.

“In addition to the potions, there are several relics sealed in other rooms that aren’t too dangerous. You can take them as you see fit.”

– This isn’t exactly according to regulations, is it?

Old He hummed about it being against the rules, but at the same time, he had already picked up a special storage bag and was stuffing several potions into it, his smile almost reaching his ears.

An Ye, standing nearby, looked at him with a speechless expression, but his own hands were not idle either.

Although having more potions wasn’t always better—since drinking too many would harm the body—no one said they had to use them all at once. Keeping a few for later use was perfectly fine.

The main point was that this was a rare opportunity!

Although the combat personnel of the Administration had very good benefits, those guys at the top were undeniably stingy regarding potions and relics.

Using a relic required various applications, follow-up reports, and even physical examinations afterward. Even potions were often in short supply.

Now that there was finally a chance to take them freely, they naturally couldn’t let it pass.

The members of the Administration immediately became excited.

While they were scavenging everywhere, Su Mian also picked up a bottle of potion in the corner with great curiosity.

[Charm]: Ingestion. After consumption, greatly increases personal charm for 24 hours, creating a massive attraction to both the opposite and same s*x, even distorting their sexual preferences. Cost: Frequent consumption will cause the user to become hopelessly obsessed with their own charm and lose all interest in others. Therefore, no more than three bottles should be consumed, with an interval of at least one week.

“Charm? The name is quite fitting.”

Swirling the pink liquid inside the small bottle and seeing what looked like starlight flashing within, Su Mian muttered to herself. Seeing that the others weren’t paying attention, she crushed the bottle opening and poured it all into her mouth.

She wanted to see what effect these potions would have on her.

After the potion went down… naturally, there was no feeling at all.

Did her charm increase? Su Mian looked at her body with some doubt, but she couldn’t find any difference from before. Did the potion have no effect on her? Or was it just that this bottle of [Charm] was too weak for her?

Thinking about it, Su Mian secretly took a bottle of [Satiety] while the others weren’t looking. The effect of this potion was to prevent hunger for a long time and significantly reduce the impact of cold on the body. The cost was that drinking too much would cause severe anorexia and a loss of appetite for food.

The girl happened to be very hungry right now, so she was looking forward to this thing having some effect.

However…

Grumble!

Looking at her suddenly noisy stomach, two blushes appeared on Su Mian’s face. She only felt relieved after checking that no one was paying attention.

“What kind of junk is this? The more I drink, the hungrier I get!”

The girl vaguely realized that these things weren’t ineffective for her, but rather the purity was far too low. Perhaps directly eating the raw materials used to make these potions would work better for her.

Su Mian quickly lost interest in the potions and left the room to wander elsewhere on her own.

The space here was large, and the interiors of the various metal rooms were basically all different. This was mainly because the storage and sealing methods for various relics were different, requiring specific handling and arrangements.

After wandering around for a few laps, she saw Officer Jiang standing in a daze inside a room. Upon entering, she saw that he was observing a blade placed inside the room.

The blade was kept in a cylindrical glass vessel, immersed in an unknown translucent liquid. It was about a meter long, and the blade edge was very thin—so thin it was as translucent as the liquid. If one didn’t look closely, it almost looked like there was only a hilt.

[Water Blade]. This blade can change shape like water but maintains the sharpness of a knife. It can even be poured into an enemy’s body like liquid and then explode from within.

Lan Yun happened to pass by and saw the man and the demon both observing the water blade in the room. She spoke to explain it, then looked at Jiang Xun and shook her head slightly. “This blade doesn’t suit you.”

“I know.”

Jiang Xun didn’t argue. After all, his ability involved flames and high temperatures, which truly didn’t match this water blade.

He took a look and then left the area.

After a walk around, he was still empty-handed.

It wasn’t that he didn’t want to take a few relics, but relics were like potions—suitability was more important than quantity.

There were seven or eight relics stored here, but most were essentially useless. The only one with a good effect and an acceptable cost, the [Protection Topaz], was taken by Old He.

The others had no complaints about this. Harvesting a pile of potions was already enough.

Su Mian was somewhat reluctant to leave. Her professional habit made her want to take all these relics back for slow study, but she eventually held back and left the place with the others.