"Gene serum?" Li Shutong asked curiously. "For the person inside?"
"Yes." Qing Chen nodded.
"Why?" Lin Xiaoxiao asked curiously. "Gene serum isn't easy to come by. Wouldn't that be giving it to him for nothing?"
"I need to use him to prove to the people in the Outer World that I really can give them what they want. Besides, he should have some ability to protect himself. Otherwise, if he gets caught, it'll be too easy to torture him for information," Qing Chen replied.
Liu Dezhu had no backbone at all. Once Lin Xiaoxiao interrogated him, he confessed everything.
Qing Chen still felt somewhat uneasy about using someone like that as his firewall against the people of the Outer World.
So he approached it from another angle: since Liu Dezhu would confess if he was caught, then he simply had to make sure no one could catch him!
Lin Xiaoxiao thought for a moment, then sighed. "That actually sounds pretty reasonable..."
Qing Chen looked at Li Shutong. "I need to build layer after layer of fortresses around myself. Only then can I ensure my disguise and safety. Liu Dezhu may not be a sturdy firewall, but right now, he's the only one I can use."
Qing Chen did have Jiang Xue, Li Tongyun, and Nan Gengchen around him, but they were all his friends. Using them as firewalls and fortresses would get them killed.
Therefore, Liu Dezhu was the best choice for now—and a choice Liu Dezhu had made himself.
He looked at Li Shutong. "Teacher, you still owe me one exchange. I'd like to trade it for a gene serum."
Li Shutong asked with interest, "You're already my student. You don't need to trade conditions for it."
"I can't spend my whole life being helped along by others," Qing