I Became the Alchemy Master by Picking Up Trash-Chapter 174 - 172: Farewell to Yang Zhou

Just as Li Xing started to worry, wondering if she had failed to control the power of the explosive talisman and had actually eliminated both the waiter and the thing inside him, her Divine Sense suddenly detected something the size of a walnut, a transparent object, zooming out from the wound of his severed arm.

Li Xing was overjoyed; she had been waiting for this chance!

She immediately exerted force with her arm, launching the Heavenly Wolf Saber with such speed that it created a sonic boom, cleaving the transparent object into two in mid-air.

"Thunk——"

The transparent object fell to the ground, revealing its true form, which turned out to be a strange insect resembling a cicada with three eyes on its head.

Li Xing walked over, gently nudging the insect’s two halves together with the tip of her saber, growing more puzzled the more she looked.

Li Xing had never seen such an insect before; could it be a new species?

This insect had an excellent ability to become invisible, quiet and swift in flight. If it hadn’t been for the epiphany in the Artifact Refining Room heightening her Divine Sense by a huge margin, she might not have been able to capture the trace of the three-eyed bug today. Qianyuan’s spiritual power was inferior to her Divine Sense, making it even harder to detect.

If the trait of the three-eyed bug was to parasitize the human body and turn people into irrational berserk beasts, it would be extremely terrifying.

Insect-type Star Beasts always reproduced quickly. If this insect spread, it would surely become a catastrophe threatening the entire world.

Li Xing took out a box to put the three-eyed bug inside for further research when a shout suddenly came from behind: "Don’t touch——!"

Li Xing quickly turned around, and when she clearly saw who spoke, her eyes almost popped out:

"Principal Yang——?!"

Yang Zhou, dressed in black tight clothes, had camouflage paint on his face, but it did not affect his handsome appearance at all. Only his hair was a bit messy, as if he had just finished a fight.

"Why are you here?"

Since the Element Testing Instrument incident, Li Xing had been unable to contact Yang Zhou. She didn’t expect to meet him under such circumstances today, which filled her with both surprise and joy.

Yang Zhou strode over to Li Xing, raising his hand to give her a flick on the head. Although Li Xing had reached Small Body Refining, she still winced in pain.

"Hiss——! Why did you do that?"

Yang Zhou snorted and reprimanded: "Do you dare to touch everything with your bare hands? Are you courting death?"

Li Xing was surprised: "Does Principal know about this thing?"

Yang Zhou arrogantly lifted his chin: "I don’t."

Li Xing: ...

Why pretend then?

"Precisely because I don’t know, it must be handled with caution; what if it’s highly poisonous!"

Li Xing lowered her head, pretending to be a quail: "Ah, right, right."

When Yang Zhou arrived, he saw the waiter already in a pretended death, just as Li Xing cleaved a bug out of him with her saber.

Yang Zhou squatted down to inspect the waiter thoroughly.

Li Xing was alarmed, having been focused on studying the insect; she forgot to give him the antidote. Could he really be dead! She hurriedly took out the antidote for the Turtle Breath Pill and a premium Heavenly Essence Pill from her space, stuffing them into the waiter’s mouth. Li Xing’s Elixir melted into medicinal liquid upon entry, flowing into the man’s abdomen.

The waiter, who had already developed corpse spots and was no different from a dead person, showed a rapid disappearance of the spots as the Elixir took effect, his breathing and heartbeat restored, and his wounds healed, although the severed arm could not grow back.

Seeing the waiter turn for the better, Li Xing silently let out a breath of relief.

If the waiter parasitized by the three-eyed bug was an inflated, thin-skinned, shiny balloon, he was now a shriveled balloon skin after deflation.

The entire person was shriveled and stooped, like an old man. It was hard to believe that just a few hours ago, he was a young man in his twenties.

Yang Zhou: "Did he become like this after taking a certain pill?"

"Yes, how did you know, Principal?"

Yang Zhou appeared solemn: "That pill is a Holy Pill of the Exterminate Cult, which only the most loyal and fanatical followers are eligible to take. After taking it, they can rapidly enter a berserk state, enhancing their combat power two to three times. However, this state doesn’t last long; the berserker will exhaust and die, with the corpse becoming withered and stooped, or severely, turning directly into bones."

"So, this person is a follower of the Exterminate Cult."

Yang Zhou neither confirmed nor denied.

Li Xing closely examined the waiter, feeling puzzled. This person had ravines of wrinkles everywhere but his face, which still appeared youthful.

Yang Zhou felt along his jawline and slowly peeled off a mask.

Under the mask was a face twisted and aged, with white brows painfully furrowed even in unconsciousness.

The more Li Xing looked, the more familiar she felt, and suddenly she exclaimed: "Ah! So it’s him!"

A person’s facial features can change, but the bone structure is harder to alter. Li Xing recognized this person from the bones’ outlines.

Isn’t he the blond guy who, during the Harssas preliminary, teamed up with his sister to ambush her?

Yang Zhou, in contrast to Li Xing, was much calmer: "This person is a branch direct descendant of the Jiang Family, named Jiang Junnan."

"A Jiang Family member? Why would a noble descendant become a die-hard fan of the Exterminate Cult?" Growing tired of the good life?

Compared to Jiang Junnan, Yang Zhou seemed more interested in the mask he wore, examining it again and again in his hand.

"He isn’t. I suspect he was used as a pawn, a fool." Yang Zhou had seen Jiang Junnan several times at banquets and knew that although he was impulsive and easily influenced, he absolutely wouldn’t have the guts to join a cult.

Looking at Jiang Junnan’s miserable state, even Li Xing, with her heart as hard as iron, couldn’t help but feel a trace of sympathy.

This person was originally not bad-looking, especially his bright golden long hair, very eye-catching. Unfortunately, now he was so ugly his mom wouldn’t recognize him, and his hair was all gone. Alas, what’s it all for!

With furrowed brows, Li Xing said to Yang Zhou: "Principal, I don’t know why, but I always feel that when this person is in rage mode, he looks very much like the Wolf-headed Bat that attacked us back then."

The two had too many similarities, both having blood-red eyes and losing sanity due to rage. After rage mode ended, the quality of the Wolf-headed Bat’s Crystal Stone dropped, while Jiang Junnan aged rapidly.

Yang Zhou was startled, wondering if the frequent beast tides over the past century might also be connected to the three-eyed bug if Li Xing’s intuition was correct.

Li Xing: "The mask he’s wearing isn’t a commercially available model."

Jiang Junnan’s mask not only altered his appearance but also blocked Divine Sense probing. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have realized only now that the waiter was an old classmate from Harssas Academy.

Yang Zhou nodded: "This is an important clue; whoever gave him the mask must have ties with the mastermind."

Yang Zhou pointed at the three-eyed bug and asked:

"Did this thing crawl out of Jiang Junnan’s body? How did you discover it?"

Li Xing reacted quickly, her thoughts whirling to construct a credible explanation.

"I heard the sound of wings flapping and randomly slashed toward the sound, not expecting to actually hit it."

Yang Zhou didn’t doubt Li Xing’s account; after all, someone who could hear the cries of the Wolf-headed Bat could presumably also easily catch the sound made by insect beasts flapping their wings.

Yang Zhou put on gloves and carefully placed the three-eyed bug into a rune-inscribed glass bottle, then lifted it toward Li Xing.

"I’m taking this with me."

Having dealt with berserkers frequently in recent years, it was the first time Yang Zhou discovered something inside a berserker’s body. This discovery was significant in helping trace the event to its source.

One must admit that Li Xing, this little one, had such great fortune, capable of finding a way out at every turn.

Li Xing strongly suspected that the reason Yang Zhou interrupted her was to rob the insect from her, much to her displeasure! But she didn’t dare voice her thoughts, only managing a long-faced sigh.

Yang Zhou, knowing Li Xing well, packed up the glass bottle and patiently explained to her.

"Don’t be disobedient; even though you killed the insect, without the skill, taking it would be pointless. I will send it to the most advanced biological lab in the Federation, where it stands a better chance of being identified. I promise, whatever we find, you’ll be the first to know."

Li Xing was delighted; this was more like it.

At this time, someone spoke into Yang Zhou’s headset, urging him to retreat quickly; Li Xing overheard, frowning slightly.