Escape If You Want

The reagent tasted bitter and moldy upon entry, then quickly turned into a surge of heat.

It felt like strong liquor, yet was vastly different, because the heat struck not only his body, but his mind as well.

The reagent produced Eerie Whispers that flooded into his mind.

These whispers formed by the reagent held no real meaning, like clamor and noise.

Yet that noise formed a peculiar melody, one that carried a dizzying effect.

Apparently, it was this sensation of dizziness that calmed those lunatics down.

"The whispers are too chaotic. It may be because too many corpses were mixed together. I wonder whether whispers produced using only a single corpse would become more regular."

Feng Buzhi commented, then quickly picked up the second reagent and took a sip.

Compared to the first reagent, this one was less bitter, but its scorching impact was far fiercer.

As for the noise formed by its whispers, it was not fundamentally different from the first reagent. It held no actual meaning either, only a stronger sense of dizziness.

Feng Buzhi soon drank a sip each from the third, fourth, and fifth reagents.

The effects of the reagents were more or less similar. The fourth tasted the best, while the fifth carried some toxicity.

After drinking the fifth reagent, a sharp stabbing pain erupted in his stomach and began spreading throughout his entire body.

According to Dr. Norton's research, after rotten flesh and blood was separated in a centrifuge, the clear portion was non-toxic and acted as a sedative, while the cloudy portion contained potent toxins that could kill.

Clearly, a small amount of toxin had been mixed into the fifth reagent, though it was not particularly potent.

After tasting every reagent once, Feng Buzhi picked up the fourth one again and took two consecutive gulps.

The fourth reagent truly tasted rather good.

Its bitterness was just right, without any moldy flavor, and it even possessed a mellow fragrance.

If Feng Buzhi had to describe it, it tasted somewhat like coffee. With sugar and milk added, it might become a very fine coffee-flavored drink.

Its sole flaw was that these reagents actually had no healing effect.

Not only did they lack any healing effect, they might even conceal serious dangers.

After taking these reagents, the patients appeared to have improved significantly on the surface, but in reality, they had merely been influenced by the strange melody within the reagents and temporarily entered a dazed state.

Once the reagent's effects wore off, the stimulation of its whispers would make the patients even more frenzied.

Yes, as they continued taking this medicine, the patients' symptoms would not ease at all. Instead, they would only grow worse and worse.

Still, while these reagents were useless for treatment, they could be used for training.

The whispers produced after drinking the reagents were relatively mild. They could be used to train one's resistance to Eerie Whispers.

Unfortunately, ordinary whispers could no longer affect him much.

It was not that the reagents were completely ineffective on him. Drinking several kilograms in succession would still have some effect, but there was no longer any point in doing so.

The fifth reagent suited him quite well, however. He could use it alongside [Basic Cultivation Assistance] to train his body's resistance to Weird Poison.

Without further analysis or tasting, Feng Buzhi stored the fourth and fifth reagents in Dr. Norton's two canteens.

He would drink from the canteen containing the fifth reagent himself. As for the fourth, he planned to save it for the bearded pirate Pei Chao, helping Pei Chao train his resistance to Eerie Whispers.

After putting away the two canteens, Feng Buzhi stepped forward, swiftly climbed the wall of the ruined church, and slipped out through a gap above.

He had finished investigating the asylum established by the Mutual Aid Society. Next, he needed to gather as many Abyss Points as possible and use [Basic Cultivation Assistance] and [Extravagant Meal] to push his body to its limits.

Each use of [Basic Cultivation Assistance] cost 25 Abyss Points, while the two accompanying [Extravagant Meal] uses cost 50 Abyss Points.

He still needed at least twenty more sessions to train his body to its limits. If he counted his untrained right arm, he might need several more.

Besides that, he needed to save some Abyss Points for emergencies.

In other words, he needed to gather 2,000 Abyss Points. To be safe, it would be best to collect more than 3,000.

Inside a house on the eastern side of town, the bearded pirate Pei Chao lay with his eyes open. He still had not fallen asleep.

Too much had happened today.

From being bound by a giant spider at dawn and trapped in a desperate situation, to being saved by Feng Buzhi and recognizing him as his boss, then somehow joining the Mutual Aid Society and becoming Wang Chen's subordinate.

"Come to think of it, why did Boss Feng agree to Wang Chen's treatment?"

"Could it be that Boss Feng himself thinks there is something wrong with his mind, so he wants treatment?"

Pei Chao muttered to himself.

He recalled Feng Buzhi grinding his fingers into blades in the cave, as well as Feng Buzhi vomiting blood while eating an extravagant meal in the center of the square that night.

Thinking it over carefully, Boss Feng really did seem somewhat abnormal.

Yet for some reason, Pei Chao simply felt that Feng Buzhi would not agree to treatment. There had to be something else going on.

Pei Chao was still lost in wild thoughts when he suddenly heard a faint sound.

Turning his head, he saw Feng Buzhi standing by the window.

Pei Chao asked in surprise, "Boss Feng? Why are you here? Did you hear what I was just saying?"

Feng Buzhi said, "I heard a couple of lines. I happened to hear you talking to yourself and wondering why I accepted treatment. I was curious about those patients affected by the Weird and wanted to investigate them, so I accepted Wang Chen's proposal."

Pei Chao sat up, deep in thought. "So that's how it is. Boss, you agreed to Wang Chen's treatment in order to investigate those lunatics affected by the Mist. Wait, if you wanted to investigate them, couldn't you have just asked Wang Chen directly?"

Feng Buzhi shook his head. "If I made the request directly, Wang Chen would not agree so easily."

Pei Chao suddenly understood, recalling the unscrupulous merchants he had encountered in the Caribbean Sea in his previous life.

Pei Chao said, "True. If we directly asked to see those lunatics, Wang Chen would definitely come up with all sorts of excuses. So, Boss, did you discover anything?"

Feng Buzhi tossed the canteen containing Reagent No. 4 to Pei Chao. "I found a way to train against the Mist's whispers. I was also planning to study the blood of those seven patients, but I did not get the chance. Still, none of that is urgent."

"Study those lunatics' blood?"

Pei Chao fiddled with the canteen Feng Buzhi had handed him, his face full of confusion.

Feng Buzhi explained, "If my guess is correct, some of the eerie whispers within the Mist have already merged into those patients' blood. By listening to the meaning of the whispers in their blood, I may be able to infer how they will change in the future."

Pei Chao blinked, completely bewildered.

Feng Buzhi did not mind and swiftly continued, "This world is no longer a world where the Dharma has run dry, so strength is the foundation upon which we stand. To lay a solid foundation, I plan to spend the next four or five days hunting 1,000 Goblins, or 100 spider monsters. We begin now."

"1,000 Green-skinned Dwarves!?"

Pei Chao's face filled with shock. Even if all three exploration teams in town were combined, they had killed only a little over three hundred Green-skinned Dwarves over the past seven days...