Chapter 4

After thinking for a moment, Song Shuhang pressed the ← key to delete the message he had typed in the chat box.

He understood that with the personalities of the group members, even if he tried to persuade them, few would listen. Moreover, since someone had already taken the medicine and was still lively, it probably wouldn't be lethal in the short term, right?

Even so, Song Shuhang felt he couldn't just leave them be. All medicines have some toxicity, and who knows if this body-strengthening liquid might be a slow-acting poison that wouldn't kill in the short term but could be fatal over time?

Therefore, he had to confirm the formula!

He was still worried about the group's xianxia otaku.

Overall, Song Shuhang was the type of person who would be a good candidate for a 'Good Person Card.'

He took out the notebook beside him and copied down the names of the thirty common herbs that could be found online from the 'body-strengthening liquid' formula.

Song Shuhang had a cousin named Zhao Yaya who studied medicine.

Her university had a traditional Chinese medicine department, so Song Shuhang wanted to ask her to find out if boiling all thirty of these qi-supplementing and blood-nourishing herbs together would be lethal.

Theoretically, these blood-supplementing, qi-supplementing, and deficiency-supplementing herbs shouldn't be lethal. But who knows what kind of strange concoction would result from boiling so many different things together?

As for the names like 'Fresh Tyrant Branch' and 'Nine Yang Red Bamboo Slices' that clearly had otaku characteristics, Song Shuhang naturally chose to ignore them. Who knows what these things are? He wasn't an otaku, after all.

If he asked his cousin about these things, she would definitely think he had lost his mind. Then his mother would surely fly to Jiangnan City the next day to take him to see a neurologist and a psychiatrist.

"I'll ask my cousin quietly when I go home in two weeks," Song Shuhang thought, hoping that the xianxia enthusiasts in the group wouldn't die in the meantime.

While Song Shuhang was copying the formula, the Nine Provinces Number One Group temporarily fell silent. It seemed that even otaku had their normal lives, as there were usually not many members online.

That made sense; people had to eat, work, and raise children. Perhaps there were students like him in the group as well.

After copying the thirty herbs from the formula, Song Shuhang stretched lazily. He first checked the weather forecast on the bottom right corner of his computer.

June 1st: Sunny.

June 2nd: Sunny.

"The weather is nice, I'll go out for some exercise later," Shuhang thought, feeling that his physical condition had deteriorated, so he decided to exercise more.

However, as he thought this, his fingers involuntarily opened the game icon on his computer—just two rounds first!

...

Although he said just two rounds, once the game started, he couldn't stop playing one round after another!

Before he knew it, it was already noon.

"The weekend always passes so quickly," Song Shuhang chuckled dryly, closed the game, and habitually opened the Nine Provinces Number One Group.

Checking the group when turning on and off the computer made his day feel wonderful!

When he opened the group window, he found that Beihexian Sanren was already online, as usual.

There were many chat records.

Beihexian Sanren: "Pharmacist, your alchemy skills are truly remarkable. I tried refining the modified body-strengthening liquid ten times, and eight of them were successful. The effects are even better than expected. Unfortunately, this body-strengthening liquid is only effective for beginners. It's not very useful for me, a wandering cultivator, but it would be very beneficial for seniors like True Monarch Yuyue of the Daluo Sect and others with many disciples. Once they receive this formula, they will owe you a great favor."

The Wandering Monk Tongxuan also chimed in with a thumbs-up.

Beihexian Sanren immediately laughed: "I almost forgot, Master Tongxuan, you also have a group of little monks under you. It looks like you owe Pharmacist another favor."

The Wandering Monk Tongxuan sent another smiley face and then went back to lurking.

Beihexian Sanren replied with a smiley face. He felt that practicing 'Silent Zen' was a pain in the ass. If it weren't for the chat group where Master Tongxuan could send punctuation and emoticons, he wouldn't be able to communicate with anyone. The Buddhist community was so troublesome—so it was a good thing he didn't get swayed by that big monk to become a novice monk back then!

About ten minutes later, Kuangdao Sanlang came online: "Fairy Yurouzi~ Fairy Yurouzi, if you're online, please respond to this seat!"

He also spammed a row of crying and kneeling emoticons.

"Hey, Sanlang hasn't been online for a few days. Where did you go to seclude yourself?" Beihexian Sanren chuckled, knowing full well but asking anyway.

"Seclude myself my ass!" Sanlang sent a voice message, his voice choked with sobs: "Three days ago, the 'great senior' Venerable Lingdie visited this seat and stayed for three days. Then, you know what happened..."

"Ha ha." Beihexian Sanren indicated that he wouldn't sympathize with Sanlang at all; it was his own fault!

"Lingdie Island Yurouzi, the beautiful Fairy Yurouzi, please come out and see this seat! I have an important request!" Sanlang wailed. 'Lang' was his surname, and his secular name was Lang San.

"??" Yurouzi from Lingdie Island came online and sent a question mark.

"Fairy, you finally came out. This seat has an uninvited request—please take your father, who has a severe daughter-complex, back home, I'm on my knees!" Sanlang sent an otz kneeling emoticon.

"Ha ha." Yurouzi from Lingdie Island sent a smiley face and then slowly replied: "Severe daughter-complex?"

Wait, something seems off...

Old man? Oh no, is it Venerable Lingdie using his daughter's account again?

Snap, something broke. It was Sanlang's fragile heart.

This old man really has a severe daughter-complex, often using his daughter's account. Is there no decency left in this world!

"..." Beihexian Sanren felt his lips twitching uncontrollably. Finally, he kindly reminded: "By the way, Brother Sanlang. Yurouzi is probably refining the new version of the body-strengthening liquid right now."

So Yurouzi wouldn't be online for a while.

And that was it.

Kuangdao Sanlang went offline... he dropped the connection, not logged out.

"Ha!" Song Shuhang laughed happily.

He felt very cheerful.

However, after reading the chat records for over ten days, he felt that the people in the group didn't seem like ordinary otaku. The content of their conversations was too real, almost as if it wasn't just a delusion.

This thought flashed through Shuhang's mind.

"Could it be that I've been reading their chat records too much and have been influenced by them?" Shuhang thought, breaking out in a cold sweat.

He was already past the otaku phase, but who didn't have a 'back in the day'?

The experiences of his past dreams of being a great hero, a martial artist, or a superhero were a black history he never wanted to face. Just thinking about them made him feel ashamed, wanting to die, and wanting to forget, to forget!

So he absolutely couldn't be influenced by the people in the group.

"Let's go eat." He reached out to close the Nine Provinces Number One Group.

Just as he was about to close the group, Beihexian Sanren said: "Aqi, has one of your juniors finished transcending the tribulation? Why hasn't there been any news?"

Su Clan's Aqi replied: "They're about to transcend. It will start in a few hours."

Beihexian Sanren asked: "Where are they transcending? Do you need any help?"

"Transcending in a suburban area of H City. Don't worry, my Sixteen has extraordinary talent. A mere Third Stage tribulation is nothing, just a sprinkle of rain. You just wait for my Sixteen to advance to the Fourth Stage and then find an opportunity to challenge you, hahaha." Su Clan's Aqi laughed, sounding very relaxed.

"Your words put me at ease. Sixteen is indeed talented. The Third Stage tribulation shouldn't be a problem for him." Beihexian Sanren responded.

After that, the group fell silent again.

...

...

Song Shuhang scratched his chin, H City?

Isn't that right next to the Jiangnan area? Speaking of which, the university town where he was located was right next to H City and J City in Jiangnan City.

H City was a small city in China, but despite its size, it had a highly developed economy. It was known as a shopping paradise, where you could buy anything, except for illegal items.

If the tribulation was happening in H City, wouldn't it be visible in the Jiangnan area?

"I'm an idiot." Song Shuhang laughed. Did he actually believe what the people in the group were saying?

Transcending a tribulation? The sky was clear and sunny. There couldn't possibly be a thunderstorm, right?

Besides, it wasn't like a few years ago. The weather forecast was quite accurate now, and for at least the next three days, it would be sunny without any thunderstorms.

"Since the weather is nice, I'll go to the bookstore after eating!" Song Shuhang muttered.

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