She left without dropping a single coin.
Chen Ye watched her departure, wishing he could take back the potion he had just given.
"I really should have drawn some of her blood to see if I could concoct a stingy potion."
Sighing, Chen Ye felt like he had been busy for nothing.
...
As night fell.
The man slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes, "Weird... how did I suddenly fall asleep?"
"Where's Shen Jie?"
"She left." Chen Ye lit a cigarette as he spoke.
"Also, she didn't pay for her coffee. You'll have to settle that."
"Oh..." The man nodded blankly, "How much?"
"Five hundred thousand."
"What?!"
"Did she chew through all your coffee beans, or did she demolish your shop?" The man looked puzzled.
Chen Ye exhaled a cloud of smoke, "She betrayed my sincerity."
The man: "…"
"Actually, boss, the reason I brought her to you is because my body can't take it anymore..."
"That day I..."
"I don't want to hear your story." Chen Ye handed him a bill.
The man didn't look at the bill, "I... I actually meant to say, I've earned this money bit by bit with my body."
"I eat oysters and soft-shelled turtles every day, drink concoctions of Cistanche and Cordyceps, consume horny goat weed, centipede powder, and even my snacks are goji berries and shilajit!"
"Brother Chen, to be honest, the first person I thought of when I realized my body was failing was you!"
"I intended to introduce Shen Jie to you; I didn't expect things to turn out like this. There's a specific debtor for a specific debt. Considering my good intentions, could you... just let this debt slide?"
Hmm?
Chen Ye raised an eyebrow; he had been speaking off the cuff.
But given his reaction...
He actually has five hundred thousand!
Well, he can't be allowed to leave then.
"Separate issues should be treated separately. If you can't pay, you can stay and work off the debt. You can leave when you've paid off what you owe."
The man paused, "Hey, hey, hey, don't go too far!"
"The police station is right across from your shop. You're extorting money in broad daylight; be careful, I might report you!"
Chen Ye smirked upon hearing this.
Then, he took out a bottle of murky potion that looked like liquid metal from his pocket.
"Just kidding, don't take it seriously. Here, have a drink to calm your nerves."
"That's more like it." The man took the potion and gulped it down.
But the next second, his body suddenly stiffened, his body became as heavy as if it was filled with lead, and his skin turned silver!
"Ah!"
"I..."
The man's eyes widened as he collapsed to the ground, motionless!
Chen Ye extinguished his cigarette, "So, will you pay or not?"
"I'll pay..."
"How about staying to work off the debt?"
"Okay..."
"Good, very obedient."
...
A few days later.
Chen Ye created two new files.
ID 004 — The Queen Bee.
Appearance changes... Body becomes fuller and younger, hands wither to bone, and stingers like that of a bee can grow from the fingertips, capable of secreting bodily fluids.
The Queen Bee's bodily fluid contains a neurotoxin that can paralyze people, control the paralyzed person's body, and convert male life forms into female life forms.
Other details to be filled in.
ID 005 — The Wall Gazer.
By touching metal or stone, the skin, muscles, and bones can become highly metallic or stone-like.
Furthermore, the physical body can merge into stone and concrete, achieving a wall-phasing effect.
The side effect is that the entire body becomes highly stiff after metalization, making movement impossible. However, with soft metal materials, slow movement can be achieved.
But the prerequisite for metalization is constant contact with a specific stone or metal.
Initial experiment location: coffee shop.
The subject was wearing a silver ring, leading to full-body silverization.
Potion series: Stainless Steel, Marble, Concrete scraped from the toilet.
...
She left without leaving a single coin behind.
Chen Ye watched her leave, wishing he could take back the potion he had just given.
"I should have drawn her blood to see if I could concoct some stingy potion."
Thinking this, Chen Ye sighed, feeling like he had been busy for nothing.
...
As night fell, it was still raining.
A young man was panting heavily on the street, standing out as he was drenched in the rain amidst the bustling crowd, his nerves on edge.
"It... it shouldn't come after me..."
"With so many people here, I'm safe, right, I'm safe. That monster wouldn't dare show itself in front of so many people!"
The young man comforted himself until the pedestrian light turned green.
Just as he was about to cross the street, he stopped abruptly.
Because across the road stood a mysterious person in a raincoat and sunglasses.
Seeing this, the young man's pupils shrank to pinpoints!
"It's here... It's come for me!"
"No, no..."
In desperation, the young man grabbed a middle-aged man's clothes, "Help me, please save me!"
The middle-aged man frowned, "Crazy, get off."
He pushed the young man away and walked off on his own.
At that moment, the young man fell into complete despair.
"No... please, no..."
Suddenly, a strong hand patted his shoulder.
"What's wrong?"
The young man turned around to see a casually dressed man standing behind him.
Seeing him was like grasping at the last straw; the young man clung to the man's clothes desperately.
"Save me, someone's trying to kill me!"
The man frowned, "Calm down, who's trying to kill you?"
The young man pointed across the street, but there was no one there.
"It... it's gone?"
"It's gone!"
"Kid, calm down, tell me slowly," the man said patiently.
The young man held his head, "It's... a merman. I saw his face, he had scales, he wants to kill me to silence me!"
"A merman?"
"Yes... a merman, you have to believe me, you must!"
The young man stared desperately at the man, only for the man's mouth to suddenly split into a grin, "The merman you're talking about, does it look like this?"
Then, the man's face transformed into a fish head with sharp teeth!
Seeing this, the young man blacked out.
The man's fish face reverted back to human, and he transformed into a crow.
"Humans are so fragile."
"002, I've cleaned up your mess, remember to buy me tea later."
...
At the North Ridge City Police Department.
A group of police officers were working tirelessly for days on end.
"Yang Yan, any findings?"
Yang Yan was deeply concerned, "A crying merman, an invisible murderer..."
"The cases are becoming more bizarre. Is this really... within the realm of human involvement?"
A bearded police officer approached, "No choice, our chief is a staunch materialist."
"Unless he sees it with his own eyes, he won't believe in any so-called demons or ghosts."
Yang Yan clenched his teeth, "What happened to the proposal I submitted for the investigation of supernatural entities?"
"What else? It was rejected." The bearded officer patted his shoulder, "Cheer up, no use looking so gloomy."
"We don't know how long this overtime will last. How about a coffee break across the street? I've been to that coffee shop once, and I highly recommend it."
...