Chapter 825: Cannot Be Trusted

Accompanying the Duchess was a short, bearded man. The moment the Black Epaulets spotted him, their expressions shifted. Ran Ying strode out to greet him, "Executive Director."

The short man gave a slight nod, then said with a hint of reproach in his stern tone, "How did you handle this? Do you have authorization?"

"Yes." Ran Ying truthfully relayed the contents of the authorization.

The Executive Director's expression relaxed somewhat, and he asked, "Since you've already communicated with Mr. Xu, take your team and head back."

"Executive Director..." Ran Ying hesitated.

The Executive Director's expression turned icy cold. "Go back!"

Ran Ying's brows sank heavily, her face darkening with displeasure. But she quickly masked it, gesturing to the people behind her before leading the way out of the castle.

Though the Black Epaulets were unwilling, they couldn't defy orders from above. As they left, their resentful glares seemed to blame the collusion between money and power.

The Executive Director cast a glance at Xu Huo before taking his leave of the Duchess, departing together with Ran Ying and the others.

The Duchess strolled into the castle and sat down on her own before asking, "You've only been here a few days. How did you manage to offend the Black Epaulets?"

"It's not that I offended the Black Epaulets, but that I have a grudge with Ran Ying." Xu Huo briefly recounted what had happened since he arrived in District 011.

The Duchess said with a somewhat disdainful expression, "That woman pulls plenty of sneaky tricks behind the scenes. Now that she's got her sights set on you, she definitely won't let go so easily."

Xu Huo smiled nonchalantly. "As long as the Black Epaulets don't openly attack the castle, it's fine."

Ran Ying was someone of note. The fact that she was looking for Dr. Deng was probably because of the Perfect Potion. The question was whether she had any connection to Dr. Deng.

Earlier, Dr. Deng coming to find him had a bit of a fishing-for-information feel to it.

"You just came back from Zone 009. How did it go?" The Duchess looked him over. "I heard you brought a woman back with you."

"A good friend." Xu Huo said. "We ran into each other in a dungeon. Just playing the host."

"Handle your own affairs however you see fit." The Duchess continued, "I'm hosting a banquet at my estate in a couple of days. Once you've dealt with the Black Epaulets matter, bring your friend along for some fun."

Xu Huo agreed. "Thank you for helping me out of a tight spot today."

The Duchess smiled charmingly. "Just remember that, then."

She covered her lips with her fan, and with her other hand touched her hair. "I rushed out today without much time to get properly dressed. I'll head back now."

Xu Huo rose to see her off. When they reached the door, the Duchess added, "If you run into any troublesome matters, you can come to me to discuss them. At least I'm easier to talk to than those Black Epaulets."

"You're in District 011. Building good relations with the nobility won't do you any harm."

He escorted her out of the castle and watched until she boarded her flight device before returning.

Bai Kou stood by the balcony upstairs, chin propped on one hand, wearing a knowing half-smile. "You sure you don't want to reconsider? This one's even better than the last."

Their eyes met, and Xu Huo could naturally see the teasing in her gaze. He smiled and said, "Your skirt is flying up."

Bai Kou turned her head away and went back into her room.

With the Ran Ying incident, Xu Huo didn't return to the study. Instead, he went to the spider hall in the back.

Dr. Deng had been confined by Mr. Dong in a special space. Only when delivering meals did Mr. Dong enter. After more than ten days shut in the small dark room, Dr. Deng looked somewhat haggard. But his eyes lit up when he saw Xu Huo, and he hurried over. "Did you get the potion?"

Xu Huo took out the doll he had found. "I arrived a step too late. By the time I found it, there was only an empty doll. The syringe inside had already been taken. I didn't see the actual thing, so I can't be sure whether it was the Perfect Potion."

Dr. Deng examined the doll over and over, then looked at Xu Huo with suspicion, his demeanor wavering.

"Items like this that hide potions aren't uncommon in dungeons." Xu Huo said. "Your information wasn't accurate."

"Impossible!" Dr. Deng said firmly. "The information was definitely correct. It's just that it was too late. Some player might have taken the potion before you."

He said with a look of regret, "What a shame. If someone who doesn't know its value took it, they might have just used it as a cheap potion."

Setting aside whether his regret was genuine or an act, Xu Huo said, "I went on a wasted trip, and on top of that, I've been targeted by the Black Epaulets because of you."

Dr. Deng visibly grew nervous. "The Black Epaulets must know about this by now. They definitely won't let it go!"

"I suspect it's also because of the potion." Xu Huo studied him. "Our previous agreement was that I'd send you to another district after returning from Zone 009. But this trip I got nothing and ended up with a troublesome problem that's hard to resolve. I've taken a big loss."

Seeing the killing intent beneath Xu Huo's impatience, Dr. Deng quickly said, "Don't rush to conclusions! I'm very useful to you. Even though I can't create the Perfect Potion, I can improve ordinary potions and make up for their flaws."

"Advanced versions of potions already exist." Xu Huo said. "If you have money, you can buy them."

"Mine are better!" Dr. Deng said without hesitation. "You'll understand once you've tried one. Give me a few potions and buy me some ingredients, and I'll definitely be able to make them."

"The better the improved potion, the smaller the side effects in the later stages. You don't want to end up in a wheelchair like Laurence Li, do you? And even ending up in a wheelchair would be a relatively good outcome."

"You're a pharmacology expert. How do I know you haven't tampered with the potions?" Xu Huo said. "From what I know, some top experts can alter the properties of potions, even precisely controlling the subtle changes they make to the human body."

But Dr. Deng shook his head. "That kind of potion needs to be matched one-on-one. Improving human genes isn't as targeted as killing a virus. Even with one-on-one production, there are many uncertainties. Besides, with potions like that, one or two doses would barely have any effect. And if changing the human body were that simple, the Game Government would have developed a Perfect Potion by now."

From his words, Xu Huo gathered two pieces of information. First, a small dose of such a potion, even if it could alter the human body, would have only a negligible effect - there would be ample opportunity to stop before going too far. Second, such potions were extremely difficult to make. Without being matched to the user, they might not work at all, or might even backfire.

Looking at it that way, the likelihood of that green syringe being problematic was very small, because there was no reason to waste a Perfect Potion for such a purpose.

"You don't need to worry about me tampering with the potions. To reach a level where a player wouldn't notice, that would already make you a top-tier pharmacology expert." Dr. Deng said. "Anyone who could achieve that level would be focusing on cracking the Perfect Potion instead."

Xu Huo didn't rush to respond. He crossed his arms and said, "You're hard to trust."

"Use an item!" Dr. Deng said urgently. "Use an item and you'll know whether I'm telling the truth or not. I've done plenty of things for the sake of the Perfect Potion, but since I came to District 011, I haven't screwed you over!"