"Improvise."
Old Hope put the magnifying glass back in his pocket and gave what was hardly an evaluation.
He pulled a crumpled note from the pocket of his filthy, unrecognizable leather apron; it had been torn from a cigarette pack.
He grabbed a marker from the table and scribbled a string of words on it in a flamboyant style.
"Go to town and find the chemical reagent shop called ' The Alchemist.' You can't buy these things in ordinary shops."
Old Hope crumpled the note into a ball and threw it at Su Wei.
Su Wei reached out and caught it.
Let's take a look.
The label lists several chemicals: polyethylene glycol 400, premium softening oil, and a special fatliquoring agent called Tanner No. 1.
"What's this?"
Su Wei asked.
"For making fake fat softening agents on that bear pelt."
Old Hope turned around, picked up the net again, and walked towards the steaming vat.
"That bear is too old; its hide is as stiff as a bulletproof vest. If we don't want it to look like a zombie when we make it, we'll have to re-inject oils into its hide fibers."
He paused, then added a sentence with his back to Su Wei.
"These items are expensive. They'll cost five hundred US dollars in total; consider it your tuition."
"Also, come back immediately after you buy it. I need to see it before 2 PM."
Su Wei looked at the note in his hand, a slight smile playing on his lips.
This old man, though sharp-tongued and demanding, genuinely teaches real skills.
The proportions and usage of these reagents are probably the real trade secrets in this industry.
Just from learning from him these past few days, my skills and experience have increased so much.
Only the Basic Taxidermy hasn't been upgraded yet; the other two skills have both been upgraded by one level.
"Knew."
Su Wei stuffed the note into his pocket, took off his apron, and hung it up.
He turned and pushed open the heavy iron door.
Outside the door, a few snowflakes began to fall from the gloomy sky.
Su Wei activated the Raptor, its wheels kicking up mud as it sped towards the town.
Chapter 152 Four in the Morning, Black's Trial
The Ford Raptor's tires rolled over the potholed, uneven roads of the industrial area, splashing mud everywhere.
The buildings on both sides became increasingly sparse, until only a few warehouses with mottled exterior walls remained.
The navigation cursor stopped in front of a gray house with the Alchemist's sign.
It's less like a shop and more like an abandoned air-raid shelter.
The windows were reinforced with steel bars as thick as fingers, and the glass was covered in dust, obscuring the view inside.
Su Wei turned off the engine, opened the door, and got out of the car.
A cold wind immediately rushed in through the collar.
He zipped up his down jacket and strode towards the rusty security door.
The moment I pushed open the door, a pungent chemical smell hit me.
It wasn't the stench of Old Hope's corpse, but a sour smell.
The owner behind the counter was a bald, middle-aged man who was engrossed in fiddling with a glass condenser tube.
Hearing the door open, he merely raised his eyelids but didn't say anything.
Su Wei walked to the counter, took out the crumpled cigarette pack paper that Old Hope had written from his pocket, and slapped it on the glass counter.
"Polyethylene glycol 400, premium softening oil, and a can of Tanner No. 1 fatliquoring agent."
The bald man stopped what he was doing, glanced at the note, and then looked Su Wei up and down.
"Sent by the old madman?"
The man snorted and turned to walk towards the rows of towering shelves behind him.
"No one but him would buy this decades-old formula."
The crisp sound of bottles and cans clattering came from deep within the shelf.
Su Wei leaned against the counter and waited.
Although the place is remote, the owner is very efficient.
In less than three minutes, three dark glass bottles with yellow warning labels were placed on the counter.
"Five hundred and twenty US dollars. Same as always, cash only, no card."
Without saying a word, Su Wei counted out a few Franklin from his wallet and placed them under the glass bottle.
Lifting the heavy plastic bag, Su Wei pushed open the door and went out.
The snow outside is falling even harder.
Dense snowflakes lashed at my face from all sides.
Su Wei opened the car door and carefully secured the bag containing the chemical reagents to the floor of the passenger side to prevent it from breaking during sudden braking.
After doing all this, he sat back in the driver's seat, took out his phone, and prepared to check the time.
The screen lights up.
Su Wei's hand, which was fastening the seatbelt, froze in mid-air.
On the notification bar, five bright red missed calls are neatly arranged.
The nickname is only three words: Black.
Su Wei stared at the screen, her brow twitching slightly.
As a hunter on Kodiak Island, Black was not one to chat idly on the phone.
Normally, the old-fashioned man is more used to texting.
Five phone calls in a row.
What other reason could there be besides the hunting dog getting into trouble or an emergency?
But he quickly ruled out the possibility that something had happened to Black himself, otherwise the call wouldn't have been made at all.
Su Wei put the SIM card back in the holder, hovered his fingertip over the redial button for a second, and then pressed it.
"Dudu"
It only made one sound.
The call was answered instantly.
There was no roar as expected, nor any anxious questioning.
There was only a moment of silence, with the sound of whistling wind in the background, as if the other person was standing outdoors.
"Teacher."
Su Wei broke the silence, his hands instinctively tightening their grip on the leather cover of the steering wheel.
"Where are you?"
Black's voice was deep and hoarse.
"Just finished buying things for Old Hope in the North Industrial Park."
Su Wei glanced at the gloomy sky outside the window.
"Get ready to go back."
"Parking."
Su Wei stepped on the brakes, and the pickup truck stalled again before it could even move.
" Aruk told me that you accepted Laurent's bounty."
Su Wei understood.
Aruk, that big mouth, can't keep anything secret in the guild.
Especially since it involves a figure like $100,000, I bet half the hunters in town know about it now.
"Yes."
Su Wei neither denied it nor made any excuses to explain that it was for the construction funds of the manor.
The sound of a lighter being struck came from the other end of the phone, followed by a deep gasp.
"Do you think that by killing a 600-kilogram brown bear, you've become the king of Kodiak?"