Chapter 12 Asking for Help

Suren had always been careful about his whereabouts. Even Kai didn't know the location of the basement he rented.

Moreover, now that he had acquired the skill [Malicious Perception], the possibility of him being followed was almost zero. Unless someone possessed special means to evade his perception, a high-level professional, he shouldn't be found at his residence.

He hadn't expected someone to come knocking.

He looked at the cloaked figure pacing near the basement, occasionally peering down the street, and knew that this guy was probably here to find him.

.......

Suren looked around, didn't notice anyone paying attention to him, and walked over, asking in a low voice, "Are you waiting for me?"

This furtive fellow was none other than the mysterious apothecary.

Hearing Suren's icy tone, the cloaked figure repeatedly apologized, "I'm sorry, sir. I do indeed have a very important matter to trouble you with, so I took the liberty of coming to your door."

His tone was full of sincerity and trepidation, as if he had really encountered an emergency.

Anyone would be displeased to have someone unexpectedly find their doorstep.

But what Suren was more curious about was how this guy knew his address.

He didn't ask what Danny had come for, but instead asked, "How did you know I lived here?"

In order to quickly clear up certain misunderstandings, Danny said in rapid succession, "My profession is [Medicinal Discernment Master]. My awakened talent is [D-031-Enhanced Olfaction]. Although I don't have much combat power, it makes me very sensitive to the scent of potions..."

Taking a breath, he hurriedly explained, "I'm sorry, sir, I didn't mean to follow you! But because you took those potions I gave you, the scent on you is very special to me. Because it wasn't too far away, I followed the scent here... I knocked on the door earlier, but you weren't there, so I took the liberty of waiting here for you... I'm really sorry, sir."

Perhaps because of guilt, his words were somewhat incoherent.

But Suren understood. This guy had found him by smelling the scent of the potions on him?

Could ordinary [Enhanced Olfaction] be that powerful?

The apothecary's residence was two or three kilometers away from Green Street. If he could really smell that far, this talent would be a top-tier tracking ability, and wouldn't be a D-grade talent.

Suren felt that he was lying, or concealing something, and coldly questioned, "Enhanced olfaction allowed you to smell the potion on me?"

When Danny saw Suren's displeased expression, he also knew that he had caused a misunderstanding, and hurriedly explained, "No, others can't smell this scent! It's because... it's because..."

He said to this point, seemingly unable to utter some unspeakable words.

After hesitating for a moment, he seemed to have made a decision, and then said, "Because my body has undergone some mutations, my olfactory talent has awakened a second time, so it's more special."

"..."

Talent awakened a second time?

Suren frowned upon hearing this.

He instantly thought of the words "semi-mutated human" from the appraisal. This guy didn't seem to be lying.

But at the same time, he breathed a sigh of relief.

It would be truly terrifying if anyone could have such a strong tracking ability.

At this moment, Danny, seemingly afraid that Suren still didn't believe him, gritted his teeth and for the first time removed the cloak that covered his entire face, revealing a mutated face full of pustules, like toad skin.

"I'm sorry, sir, I frightened you. I just wanted to prove that everything I said is the truth."

Removing his cloak, Danny's gaze flickered, as if he could already anticipate the expression of the gentleman opposite him being startled by his monstrous appearance.

However, to his surprise, Suren's expression was calm throughout the entire process, without any hint of surprise.

"Come with me. This is not the place to talk."

Seeing this, Suren said calmly and walked toward the alley behind the basement.

Danny's appearance didn't surprise him, it matched the condition of "semi-mutation."

........

Suren walked to the depths of the alley, looked at Danny in front of him, and then got to the point, asking, "Speak, what do you want from me?"

Danny said anxiously, "My friends were just captured, Beta, Brown, and Nancy, so I want to commission you to help me rescue them."

After a pause, he seemed to feel that he hadn't specified clearly, and added, "They're the people who accompanied me in the transaction with you before, they're all good people. Half an hour ago, a few people got out of a black truck from another district and captured them. I heard it was done by that group of people who have been hunting homeless people and orphans in Green Street recently..."

"..."

Suren listened without interrupting.

His first reaction was that the people from the inner city who were looking for trouble with this Danny had caught up.

After all, someone who could produce so many advanced potions must have a complicated background.

Danny obviously realized this as well, and said directly, "Sir, I can guarantee that Beta and the others being captured has nothing to do with my identity! After all, in the eyes of those people, I already died in that laboratory accident... No one will come looking for me again. I'm sorry, sir, you're the only one I can think of right now. Please, you must help me..."

Suren listened and roughly understood the situation.

After thinking for a moment, he then asked, "I think you can first tell me about your origins, and then I'll consider whether I will agree to help you with this favor."

If it involved Danny's mysterious background, and the people who took action might be from the inner city, then he would definitely not choose to get involved in this trouble.

But if it was just some human traffickers, Suren thought the matter was very simple.

After all, this wasn't anything rare in the gang, and it wouldn't take much effort to resolve.

Listening to what Danny said, he thought that Green Street had recently become a neutral zone, and without the constraints of the Cross Society, the guys from other districts doing illegal human trafficking had crossed the border to capture people.

Danny knew that to gain someone's trust, he had to explain some things, so he didn't hide it, saying, "My name is 'Danny Banks', and I'm a researcher at the 'Seventh Research Institute' in the inner city. It's a secret research institute directly under the Black Tower. I don't think you've heard of it."

Suren listened without expressing anything. He had already deduced this information, it was irrelevant.

The key information was that this Danny hadn't revealed anything.

He asked directly, "I think if you really want someone to help you, it's best to be more candid. For example, tell me about the laboratory leak you mentioned before; also, the situation with your own body, and why you came to the outer city..."

"This..."

Danny was obviously hesitant.

He knew that once his identity was exposed, it would definitely cause big trouble, but now he had no choice.

In the end, he still chose to trust this person who had traded potions with him twice.

He said, "Sir, you probably guessed it, the place where that 'leak accident' happened was actually the 'Seventh Research Institute' where I worked. The mutated monsters in the sewers were also due to a special potion we were researching that exploded and leaked three years ago, which led to the mutation..."

"As for myself... because the project was managed by my parents, they died in the accident. And I was unfortunately infected, and then used a half-finished mutation inhibitor, so I became like this."

This Danny looked like a bookworm, without much social experience, and wasn't very good at creating stories that avoided the important and emphasized the trivial.

He didn't lie, he just concealed some key things.

Suren was losing patience listening, "If that's all you're saying, I'm sorry, I can't help you."

Saying that, he turned to leave.

This story didn't seem that simple. How could a laboratory accident that caused so many monsters to mutate in the sewers be described so lightly?

He had no interest in helping a person who wasn't candid.

.......

"Sir, wait!"

Seeing Suren about to leave, Danny also panicked.

He also guessed that his concealment wouldn't work, and quickly said, "I... I still have something to say."

Suren glanced at him.

Danny knew that he wasn't good at lying, and in desperation, he simply told the whole story.

He said, "That experimental project is called the 'X Serum Project'. It is a top-level medical research project deciphered from ancient documents found in a certain ruin by the Black Tower executives, with the aim of studying the ultimate secrets of life..."

"X Serum has very strong activity. It can prolong people's lives and make their bodies get a very exaggerated improvement, but at the same time, the serum also has very strong side effects, which is that it will 100% cause the organism to mutate. The 'Seventh Research Institute' where I was located was responsible for developing a medicine to inhibit mutation..."

"This secret project has been carried out for many years, and some research results had already been achieved. But later, my parents discovered that the Black Tower executives were secretly conducting a large number of live experiments for some ulterior secrets. At least tens of thousands of people died because of this project, and continuing research would cause more innocent people to die... My parents felt that this violated the original intention of medical research, so they chose to explode the laboratory and destroy all research results..."

"And I was infected in the laboratory at the time, so I injected that half-finished mutation inhibitor. Although I survived, I became like this."

Danny finished the story in one breath, and sighed a long sigh, as if relieved of a heavy burden.

Suren frowned slightly throughout the process, and his heart became more and more strange.

He had guessed that this Danny was born into a medical family.

But from the beginning, he felt that this plot was inexplicably familiar. When he heard that "X Serum" hadn't even changed its name, he immediately realized that this was the research recorded in the "Living Corpse Research Diary"!

Thinking about it, the "development" of the entire Old Lingdun city was actually archeology, so it wasn't surprising.

Now listening to Danny's explanation, to confirm the conjecture in his heart, he asked again, "Where did that 'X Serum' come from?"

Danny: "I don't know either. This is a very huge project, and the level of confidentiality is very high. Our research institute is only responsible for one part of it, which is to study the mutation-inhibiting medicine..."

Hearing this, Suren asked again, "Then how did you escape?"

Danny said, "The laboratory explosion blew open the exclusive water pipeline that handled experimental waste water, connecting it to the city's sewer network. And I was affected by the explosion and fell into the water pipeline. That's how I survived by chance, and then escaped to the outer city along the pipeline. Aunt Susan and my friends took me in, and that's how I didn't starve to death..."

Saying that, he glanced at Suren, "Sir, I didn't deliberately hide it before, I just didn't want to cause you any trouble. I won't live long now. If you think sending me to the inner city can get you a reward, I won't resist either. I beg you to help rescue my friends."

Not to mention that this guy didn't have a bounty, even if he did, Suren didn't intend to do so, but was surprised, "You're going to die?"

Danny nodded, "Although I successfully survived that accident, that half-finished 'mutation inhibitor' also has great side effects, which is that it will greatly shorten my lifespan. I estimate that I can only live for two more years at most..."

"..."

Suren listened, so his super olfactory sense was an improvement gained by squeezing his life?

But he remembered that the mutation solution in the "Living Corpse Research Log" didn't have any side effects.

.......

After listening to the story, Suren's psychological concerns were basically eliminated.

He thought for a while, and then asked, "Besides you, does anyone else know my address?"

Danny: "Don't worry, don't worry, no one knows your address except me. I've never sold potions before, so no one will notice that I'm still alive. As a reward, you can take me to exchange for a bounty, and I can also help you refine potions for free. I am a 'Potion Expert'..."

Saying that, he added a little embarrassedly, "But... I don't have any money, you need to provide the materials."

"We'll talk about this later."

Suren responded lightly.

He had long been very interested in that "X Serum Project". It could greatly increase a person's physical fitness and create "living corpses"... The effect of this serum was extraordinary.

But because he had no clue, he didn't take it to heart for the time being.

He didn't expect that someone in the real Old Lingdun would actually restart this research. This meant that the conditions for restoring the research already existed in reality!

Although Danny said that the Black Tower's laboratory had failed...

But that "Living Corpse Research Diary" recorded all the research processes of that crazy alchemist who studied living corpses back then!

Although the part involving technology hasn't been decrypted yet, the notes are in his hands, and they can be deciphered sooner or later.

Suren's own medical knowledge is still far from the point of "doing research", but this Danny can do it. In the future, this guy might be able to help him a lot with deciphering the diary.

If he could really create "X Serum"...

Suren felt that this might bring him huge benefits!

.......

But now is not the time to think about this. Suren asked, "I can try to help you rescue your friends, but I don't guarantee it will work. Can you use your sense of smell to determine their location?"

He planned to try it. If it wasn't too troublesome, it wouldn't be a big problem to help out.

Hearing this, Danny was overjoyed, "I can! At least within an hour, I can smell the scent on Nancy and the others. I can clearly distinguish that the car carrying them went to West City..."