Chapter 308: The Assistant

　　The five former drug men rushed over frantically to see Lu Mingshu drenched in blood, gripping her sword tightly.

　　Beside her laid numerous corpses, some intact while some body parts were all over the place.

　　The uncle gulped and stared at Lu Mingshu in fear. “Miss… Lu…” He was tongue-tied.

　　Lu Mingshu wiped away the blood on her face and looked at them calmly. “All done here. Now, I’m going to take the Drug Lord down. Who is still able to fight?”

　　The five of them exchanged glances. “I’ll go with you.” Number Two stepped forward.

　　The rest were either too old or too seriously damaged by the Drug Lord’s experiments. Even if the spell was now broken, they still weren’t able to exert much of their ability. Number Two was still relatively new here, so his body was in the best condition among the five.

　　“Okay, let’s get going.”

　　Lu Mingshu hurried to the cave with the others following behind her.

　　When they reached the cave, two guards came in front of them and blocked their way. “Halt!”

　　Without demur, Lu Mingshu grabbed her sword and cut their heads off. The guards dropped to the ground, adding on to the number of corpses.

　　Fresh blood spurted everywhere, landing on them. The uncle shuddered as a drop of blood landed on him. “You sure are quick.”

　　“You mean that I’m cold-blooded?” Lu Mingshu slowly wiped the blood off her sword.

　　“Of course not,” the uncle immediately clarified. “These guards are all accomplices too. I can’t wait for them to go to hell!”

　　“Indeed!” The grandma looked at the corpses with hatred. “If the experiment result isn’t what the Drug Lord wants, the punishment they have for us is very harsh.”

　　“They seem weird though,” Lu Mingshu said. “These guards act like they’ve been brainwashed by the Drug Lord. They don’t seem to have any emotions. Or maybe, they aren’t even human.”

　　Hearing this, a chill ran down the grandma’s spine. She recalled her experiences and realized that that seemed to be the case. Humans all have emotions and desires, but no matter how they tried to bribe them or rope them in, they always seemed to be unfazed. If not for the fact that they were capable of speech, one would think that they were puppets.

　　Could they still be considered human beings if they did not have emotions?

　　“Whatever, I’ll go and open the door first.”

　　…

　　The violent attack sent Xie Lianzhen flying into the wall. Xie Lianzhen saw stars, and a tinge of pain was felt from his chest.

　　But the Drug Lord no longer cared for him. He rushed in front of his cauldron and wailed. “Bastard! I’ve treated you so nicely, yet you spoiled my treasure!”

　　“Pui!” Xie Lianzhen spit out a mouthful of blood and stumbled. “Treated me nicely?” He laughed. “Did you think I was actually grateful to you?”

　　His disdainful tone made the Drug Lord fume in anger. How well have I treated him? He only needed to go through one round of experiments before I let him stay out here instead of the cell, and I even guided him! After he was kicked out, the Drug Lord never let his guard down, but he trusted Xie Lianzhen and was now being backstabbed!

　　Biting the hand that feeds!

　　“Then tell me how I wasn’t good to you! You didn’t need to go through the experiments, and I even taught you my secret methods! What are you still unhappy about?!”

　　“Secret methods?” Xie Lianzhen guffawed. “More like idiot methods! Do you really think that you’re so good? The best pharmacologist?” Even though he was mainly just trying to stall for time, Xie Lianzhen was genuinely curious. “Has no one ever told you that you are obviously not cut out to be a pharmacologist?”

　　The Drug Lord’s face immediately darkened.

　　“You have absolutely no talent in this area.”

　　“You can’t be a pharmacologist.”

　　“You aren’t cut out for this.”

　　The voices rang through his head. These were from his memories, the nightmare he never wanted to bring up ever again. The shame he hoped to forget!

　　“Lighting up a fire is the only talent you have.”

　　“You can’t even complete such a simple task, yet you want to be a pharmacologist?”

　　“Do you think you can compete with me? Of course you can – in your dreams!”

　　“Go back. The school can no longer have you.”

　　…

　　He looked up, eyes red and swollen.

　　Xie Lianzhen felt his heart at his throat. He’s that agitated, that fast?

　　Luckily, the Drug Lord was still concerned with his breakthrough, so he didn’t go completely crazy yet.

　　“I’m not cut out for it? Are you sure!?” he screamed at Xie Lianzhen. “How can you say that I’m not cut out to be a pharmacologist if I can remember the formulas better than anyone else!?”

　　Xie Lianzhen winced and thought of a reply quickly; “If you’re only good at remembering formulas, then you should be a pharmacologist’s assistant!”

　　Assistant? Assistant!?

　　The Drug Lord shot up, eyes widening all of a sudden like he had been stabbed, and stared at Xie Lianzhen creepily.

　　Seeing his reaction, Xie Lianzhen immediately understood. “Oh, so you’re the assistant, huh? No wonder you know all the methods by heart and do all the chores yourself, but you have no idea how to conduct a proper experiment, constantly making idiotic mistakes and looking lost. How stupid of me for believing that you have inherited some extremely rare skills. You’re nothing but an assistant!”

　　“Ahhh!” The Drug Lord screeched and pounced at Xie Lianzhen. “So what?! So what if I’m really the assistant!? Who said that assistants can’t be pharmacologists?! Who gave you all the right to define me as not cut out for it when I’m so hardworking!? Go to hell!”

　　No matter how bad one was, a Spirit Realm who had gone crazy was not something a Harmonization Realm could take down easily.

　　Xie Lianzhen reached out to control his wheelchair, but he realized that he was no longer in it. For the past several years of his life, he had always depended on his wheelchair. Other than dodging by pure instinct, he knew nothing about fighting with working legs.

　　Ding! Lu Mingshu appeared in front of him and blocked the attack.

　　Boom~~~~! The Drug Lord’s attack caused the whole cave to shake vigorously.

　　“Mingshu!” Xie Lianzhen rushed over.

　　Before he arrived, Lu Mingshu had already landed safely. She rolled her eyes at Xie Lianzhen and cut him off. “Get lost!”

　　“Oh…” Xie Lianzhen rubbed his nose. I just want to be her knight in shining armor for once….

　　“Ah!” The Drug Lord was twisting around like a snake in pain because of the medication that was exploding in him right now. Furthermore, what Xie Lianzhen said had touched his sore spot. The Drug Lord hugged his head and screeched.

　　“What’s going on?” The five former drug men dashed into the cave, mouths wide open.

　　Xie Lianzhen pointed at the Drug Lord, who was currently twisting around like a mad dog on the floor. “He’s not some famous or powerful pharmacologist, but an assistant. The methods and the treasure are most probably stolen from somewhere. That’s why he has very weak basics and only knows some formulas.”

　　“What the heck, an assistant?”

　　“No wonder.” Lu Mingshu looked at the Drug Lord coldly. “He can’t be a disciple of some powerful pharmacologist when he’s so weak in basics, but if he’s an assistant…”

　　Xie Lianzhen shot her a look to stop her from continuing. He knew what she wanted to say: even if the Drug Lord was just an assistant, the methods were still real, so his background was still a mystery. But it wasn’t the time to talk about that with the others present.

　　“Assistant… so what if I am?” The Drug Lord looked up at the ceiling and started screaming. He then turned to them with wide eyes, like he was about to kill. “You’re laughing! You’re laughing at me! How dare you!? How dare you!? I’m going to send you to hell! To hell!”

　　His mystic force caused the whole cave to start shaking.