A Serious Student, Only Taking Nine Potions a Day

The pale blue eyes behind the lenses studied Evan without betraying a thing, as if reading an experimental report.

"Have you experienced any unusual urges or other side effects?"

Evan stroked his chin and put on a thoughtful expression.

Before a supernatural Sanguine, he did not dare lie too blatantly.

The highest form of lying was not fabrication, but selectively telling the truth.

"Heat. A strong urge to exercise. Low blood sugar. Getting hungry very quickly."

He paused.

"That's all."

The corner of Pulis's mouth lifted slightly, the curve so faint it was nearly imperceptible.

"Very good. Keep taking them."

He set down his fork and wiped the corner of his mouth with a napkin, sounding as though he had merely remembered something.

"Oh, right. You haven't taken any other medicine these past few days, have you?"

Evan scratched his head, looking a little embarrassed.

"I took some Mercury Pills and Aspirin. When I took those two medicines you gave me together yesterday, my body hurt badly."

Pulis's gaze lingered on his face for a second.

"When taking the medicine I gave you, stop taking that stuff first."

Evan nodded respectfully. "Understood."

Then Pulis rose and left.

His lavish twenty-cent lunch had only been touched a few times. More than half the fried fish and vegetables remained untouched on the plate.

He had finished the milk, though.

Evan watched Pulis's back disappear through the cafeteria entrance, then quietly pulled Pulis's plate in front of himself.

The fried fish was still warm, and the butter on the vegetables had not yet solidified.

He mixed the remaining food together and packed it away in the tin biscuit bucket he normally used to collect meals.

A twenty-cent lunch was free food if he did not eat it.

After returning to the laboratory, Pulis closed the door and chuckled softly beneath the dim lights.

The laugh was light and brief, but it contained something complicated.

There was excitement, greed, and the certainty of a Hunter who had finally confirmed the value of his prey.

The plain-looking female assistant in a white coat stood beside the storage cabinet with a record book in hand. Hearing the laughter, she raised her head.

"As expected." Pulis removed his glasses and wiped the lenses with his shirt sleeve, his movements slow and pleased.

"He did not mutate. Instead, he absorbed the supernatural traits within the potions."

For the first time, shock appeared on the assistant's previously expressionless face.

"Absorbed them?"

Pulis nodded and put his glasses back on. The pale blue eyes behind the lenses burned with a cold yet fiery light.

"I sensed it. There are supernatural traits belonging to a Sanguine within his body. They are faint, but they definitely exist."

He walked to the lab bench and took out a wooden tray from a drawer.

Several glass slides were neatly arranged on the tray. Each was coated with a thin layer of dark red sample: blood drawn from Evan's arm last night, separated and processed.

"No mutation, no craving for blood, and no fear of sunlight."

"His fighting spirit is unwavering, and his physical vitality has increased dramatically."

He picked up a slide and examined it against the desk lamp. The curve of his mouth widened further.

"The side effect of anemia has barely taken effect. The quality of his blood has risen instead of fallen."

He returned the slide to the tray, turned around, and braced both hands against the edge of the lab bench. His voice suppressed an excitement that nearly trembled.

"He is immune to the side effects."

"Blood Father above, I have finally encountered such a rare constitution."

The assistant's lips trembled slightly, and she lowered her voice.

"Master, then... should we capture him?"

Pulis fell silent.

Within seconds, his excitement was completely reined in, as though someone had tightened a valve.

His pale blue eyes returned to their usual indifference and caution.

"No."

He walked to the window and felt the heat of the sunlight outside through the heavy curtains. His voice calmed.

"First, we will investigate in secret what kind of special constitution he possesses, and whether there is anything strange behind him."

He paused, his tone becoming meaningful.

"Do not forget what happened in Innsmouth."

The assistant's body stiffened slightly, and she said nothing more.

That had not merely been a failed experiment.

It had been more of a nightmare...

Sudden Misfortune

Over the next three days, Evan's life became like a Robot set on tracks, every gear meshing and turning with precision.

He did not disobey Pulis's orders. He stopped taking Mercury Pills, Aspirin, and Phenobarbital, taking only two potions each day.

He attended classes during the day and carried sacks at the docks at night.

With his mental attributes fully restored, even without Phenobarbital's fourfold boost to concentration, Evan could finish his daily homework during the fragmented time between classes and over lunch.

His mind was clear again, and his memory had returned. He had finally regained the learning efficiency a normal person ought to possess.

Those middle-class students did not trouble him again.

Whenever Lebon spotted him from afar in the corridor, he would lower his head. His eyes were filled with resentment, and a strange smile lingered at his lips.

Yet he did not dare speak. He only quickened his pace and took a detour.

Thompson was even unwilling to remain on the same floor. Whenever Evan appeared in his field of vision, the football rookie would immediately turn toward the nearest exit and vanish.

But they changed their strategy.

They stopped using violence and instead completely isolated him.

Throughout the entire school, apart from the teachers standing at the podiums, not a single student spoke to Evan.

They did not interact with him, make eye contact with him, or sit at the same table as him.

Even when approaching him in the corridor, they would turn aside half a step early to avoid him, as though evading an invisible obstacle.

Evan did not care in the slightest.

He enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Without social distractions or insincere pleasantries, every minute could be put to good use.

Starting from the second day, Professor Pulis no longer came to draw blood from him in secret.

Openly, he had Evan come to the laboratory at exactly four-thirty every other afternoon to draw a small vial of blood for experimental analysis.

The procedure was very proper. There was a record sheet, a signature field, and he had even prepared a clean cotton ball and a strip of adhesive tape for Evan.

For the sake of his future potion supply, Evan had no reason to refuse.

Engineering studies were as demanding as a mountain that could never be moved.

On ordinary days, Evan barely had any time that belonged to himself.

Classes, homework, carrying sacks.

Classes, homework, carrying sacks.

His days seemed copied and pasted, each one a replica of the last.

The only thing that comforted him was that his body was growing stronger at an unbelievable rate.

Stronger in ways visible to the naked eye.

On the fourth day after he began continuously taking the two potions, Evan's constitution had reached 1.903.

Nearly twice the baseline value of a normal person.

His arms, once so thin that the outlines of his bones could be seen, were now covered in firm, well-proportioned muscle. The veins in his forearms stood out clearly whenever he exerted strength.

He could easily lift a hundred-pound weight and carry a fifty-pound sack of tobacco leaves one-handed for thirty meters without changing expression.

When he ran along the open streets of the dock district after nightfall, he needed only a little over ten seconds to cover a hundred meters, and he would be only slightly out of breath afterward.

With such a body, he could carry three sacks at once and walk as swiftly as the wind, easily completing a normal day's work.

To digest the Blood Potion, he would even take the initiative to work an extra hour.

That allowed him to earn forty cents a day, barely enough to cover his steadily increasing food expenses.

On Friday afternoon, after finishing the first batch of potions, Evan came to Pulis's laboratory as usual.

He had expected to ask for more, but Pulis had already prepared them.

This time, they were no longer pills.

Two thumb-sized glass bottles sat on the lab bench. Their bodies were slender, and their mouths were sealed with black wax.

They contained a dark red liquid, thick as melted wax. When gently shaken, the liquid could be seen slowly and stickily sliding along the glass walls.

Pulis pushed the two small bottles toward Evan, his expression more solemn than usual.

"The medicine is photosensitive. Take it once a day after sunset. Come see me Monday afternoon."

Evan respectfully tucked the bottles into the inner pocket of his jacket, then could not help asking, "Professor, what does this medicine do?"

Pulis's answer was as concise as before.

"It will still make you healthier."

Evan gave a quiet acknowledgment. After hesitating for a moment, he spoke again.

"Professor, can I take other medicine?"

He rubbed his hands together, wearing a perfectly appropriate look of embarrassment.

"I paid Lebon two dollars in medical expenses before, and now I am nearly out of money for food. I want to find some trial-drug work over the weekend."

As he said this, he was actually waiting for a different answer.

He had expected Pulis to refuse, then directly arrange a respectable, better-paying job for him.

And perhaps say in an unquestionable tone, "A valuable test subject like you belongs only to me."

That way, he could naturally bind himself more deeply to this connection and obtain more resources.

But Pulis merely nodded calmly.

"You can. This medicine does not conflict with others."

Evan froze for a moment, then hid his disappointment and said with a smile, "All right. Thank you for your guidance."

He turned and left the laboratory.

After the oak door closed, the female assistant emerged from behind the storage cabinet.

"That kid is rather greedy." Her voice was low and flat, devoid of emotion, as though she were stating an experimental observation.

"I can sense that he hoped you would give him a respectable job."

She paused.