The rain had ceased outside. The ground was covered with muddy rainwater, forming small puddles. Abby carefully stepped on the water on the road, step by step slowly through the narrow and deep alley.
At this moment the air was filled with the peculiar pungent and disagreeable odour of acid rain, which, like some chemical agent, came out and went straight into Abby's nose. Abby could not help frowning. A look of disgust came into her face. She gave her nose a vigorous blow, but found that it seemed to catch something like a fishy smell of rust, and that the fishy smell, if not there, was vaguely wafted through the acid rain.
Ever since she had become an Awakened, her senses had become unusually sharp, especially her sense of smell, which was much keener than before, and enabled her to catch the subtle odors of the air.
When Abby finally stepped out of the alley, she was slightly startled by the sight before her. It was only to see a great crowd gathered at the cross-roads, and the men
It seemed to be crowding around something that was extremely attractive.
With a hint of curiosity, Abby moved slowly toward the crowd. As she passed through the crowd, she inadvertently looked down and noticed the bodies of two men lying face-down on the ground.
Abby's gaze swept slowly over the face of one of the men, and with one glance she knew the man instantly. True, he was the same man who had appeared in the alley the night before. The man's face was of a grotesque greenish-black color, lifeless, as if it were shrouded in a pall of gloom. Right in the middle of his breast was a stupefying sign of having been burned by fire, and the skin around it was so scorched that it took on a charred black color, as if it had been licked by the fires of hell. The blood that had flowed from his chest had long since congealed into dark red clots, which dried on his clothes and looked particularly threatening.
People were talking around him, and they were all speculating as to the cause of the two men's deaths. Some thought that the two dead men were supposed to have fought each other and been killed, while others thought that they had been robbed and silenced.
They should have been killed by the Awakened, Abby thought to herself.
Shortly afterwards, two officers arrived at the scene. They immediately set up a cordon around the two bodies. At that moment, a silver-gray car drove up to the crowd and onlookers immediately formed a path.
The car door slowly opened and a man in a black suit stepped out. His expression was grim, and the silver wolf-head badge he wore on his breast glowed brightly in the sunlight. The man walked directly toward one of the officers and then whispered something to the officer. They seemed to know each other.
It was the badge of the White Wolf Hunters' Union. Abby remembered that her brother had a badge like that.
Why is the League of White Wolf Hunters here? Could the dead man be connected to the White Wolf Hunters Union?
Abby could not think much, she had to hurry and buy the ingredients for the trauma medicine. So she quickly left the scene.
Abby went to the drug store, where she handed the pharmacist a piece of paper with all the items she needed.
"These are the things you need." The pharmacist wearing glasses said handing Abby the raw materials for the medicine in a paper bag, "I'm sorry we don't have alfalfa."
"Do you know a pharmacy that sells alfalfa? " Abby asked.
"Alfalfa is currently out of stock on the market." The pharmacist lowered his voice, "You can look at the black market, maybe they have it there."
Abby had heard of the black market, but she had never been there. "Do you know where the black market is?" She asked.
"Take this card, it has the address of the black market on it." The pharmacist said, taking a card out of his pocket and handing it to Abby, "Go see an old man named John and tell him you're a friend of Jeff's and he'll help you."
"Thanks." Abby said, taking the card.
Abby examined the address on the card, and the location of that black market was near the suburbs. It takes about 20 minutes to get there if you take the free shuttle.
Abby opened the system panel and checked the time. Two and a half hours remained before the end of the mission. She thought that was enough time and decided to take the free bus to the black market.
Twenty minutes later, Abby arrived in the suburbs. Presently Abby found the address on the card, which was a bar called the Blue Butterfly.
The door to the bar was closed, so Abby knocked. A few minutes later, an elderly white-bearded man in an old T-shirt opened the door. " What do you want?" The old man's voice was raspy and cold as he stared at Abby with those gray eyes.
"I'm looking for John." Abby added, "I'm a friend of Jeff's."
"I'm John." The older man said, "Come on in."
Abby walked into the bar, which was dimly lit and filled with the unpleasant smell of vomit mixed with alcohol. The old man's back was against the bar, and he lighted a cigarette.
"What do you want?" He asked.
"I want alfalfa." Abby was standing in front of the bar, deliberately keeping her distance from the older man, who was called John.
John held the cigarette in his mouth, then turned and walked into the bar, opening the refrigerator and pulling a packet out of it." You're in luck. This is alfalfa that someone brought back from the wilderness area three days ago and it's still fresh."
"How much is it?" Abby asked.
John slowly exhaled a smoke ring, "500 Union coins."
(Post-apocalyptic currency collectively known as Union coins)
"What?" Abby was surprised, "That price is five times higher than the drugstore."
John sneered, "The price will be higher tomorrow. If you don't buy it, leave."
"Fine, I'll pay." Abby gritted her teeth as she took the five hundred Union coins from her purse and handed them to John.
"It's yours." John handed Abby the bag of alfalfa.
"There will be a bazaar here every Saturday at 4pm. The bazaar will have many things that you cannot get at the market. Some of the healers also bring medicines they have made to sell at the fair. "John said, "If you're interested, you can come by then, the entrance fee is only 50 Union coins."
"Thanks, I'll consider your offer." Abby said as she grabbed her grab bag of alfalfa and left the bar.
"I can't believe Healer would take drugs and sell them on the black market. " Abby muttered as she walked, "Maybe I can bring the medicines I make to sell here later."
.....
When Abby returns home, a line of text appears on the system panel: 1 hour and 40 minutes until the end of the quest.
"I have to hurry." Abby said, and went to the kitchen. She took out the ingredients of several medicines and mixed them together.
"And I need a Medicinal synthetic." Abby's heart ached at the thought of having to spend a hundred points on a Medicinal synthetic. But she had to do it.
Abby opens the system's item bar and then uses 100 points to redeem a 50-milliliter Medicinal synthetic. After successfully redeeming it, Abby pours the Medicinal synthetic into the raw drug material according to the ratio.
Abby watched as the drugs in the glass bowl slowly fused. After a few minutes, a faint white smoke slowly rose from the medicine jar, indicating that the trauma medicine was almost finished.
There remained but one final step, and that was to infuse the medicine with the energies of the healers, and thus to enhance its effects.
So Abby condenses her thoughts, and a pale green glow of energy slowly flows out of Abby's palm and then coalesces into trauma medicine. The creation of trauma medicine was complete until the ointment, which had been dark gray, turned dark green.
[Congratulations on completing the quest, rewarded with 100 points.]
"Great." Abby said happily, "This is the first time I've ever crafted a medicine, and I didn't expect it to go so well."
Abby has only used five milliliters of the drug synthesizer so far, and the rest can be saved for another time. In addition, Abby had packed several small pill-boxes of home-made trauma ointment, which she planned to take with her when she went to the wilderness, just in case.
Abby looked up and saw that Jimmy had come home. He puts down his book bag then comes into the kitchen.
Jimmy came over to the dining room table. He picked up a box of ointment on the table with curiosity in his eyes. "What's this? " Jimmy asked.
Abby was a little hesitant, " It's..." Jimmy looked at Abby quietly as he waited for her answer. And Abby lapsed into silence.
The atmosphere in the room became a little subtle.