goodnovel Chapter 301: Bet
Chapter 301: Bet
====== MISSION ======
Objective: Win Bai Tianhe’s Favour
Reward: 3x Cultivation Speed for two years.
Penalty: No more buff rewards
====================
’This...’ Yi Chen was taken by surprise when he saw the sudden appearance of the Mission Panel.
However, what surprised him even more was the stated reward.
’3x speed...’
The longer he stared at the reward section, the more the desire in his heart to fulfil this mission became.
Without this speed buff, his chances of entering the Thousand Stars List were very dismal. It was because of this reason he had been continuously wishing for such a reward to happen.
Little did he know that when such a mission occurred, it would make him do something as dangerous as this.
Yi Chen tightly clenched his eyes while looking towards Bai Tianhe’s back.
He knew that one wrong move would get him killed, but glancing at the penalty was enough to keep him on track, as the next moment he called out to him.
"Wait, Senior!" Yi Chen’s voice resonated in the air the next moment, causing Bai Tianhe to come to a stop.
Turning around, he looked towards Yi Chen with a subtle frown on his face. It was evident on his face that he wasn’t expecting to be called upon.
"What is it?" Bai Tianhe asked.
"T-The yellow tablet that you just showed... I think I noticed something peculiar about it and wanted to confirm it myself. Could you pass it to me for a moment?"
Hearing Yi Chen’s words, the frown on Bai Tianhe’s face only intensified, but still a little curious, he threw a yellow tablet towards him the next moment with a flick of his finger.
Snap!
Yi Chen immediately caught the incoming pill before finally glancing towards it. The first thing he did was naturally to open its status panel.
’Please give me something useful...’ he thought with a worried heart as the panel appeared right before his eyes the next moment.
====== STATUS ======
Name: Yellow Tablet
Remark: Burns Vitality to fight the Brown Flu virus [Regenerate: 10,000 EXP]
===================
’Didn’t Old Ding say that the cause of their ageing was the disease? So, it was instead not the disease but the effects of the tablets on them,’ Yi Chen thought in realisation.
He guessed this was a point many people were unaware of, but still it wasn’t something that could prove useful to him.
When taken into account from the long-term perspective, then naturally even though the pill burned through one’s vitality, without its help people wouldn’t even be able to survive that long.
Therefore, he immediately generated the next remark as a sense of anxiety began rising in his heart.
[Remark (2/3): Was created much before the virus (Regenerate: 25,000 EXP)]
When Yi Chen’s eyes read through the remark, a frown naturally formed on his face. The reason being the fact that it didn’t make sense at all.
’How could the medicine be created before the virus? Did the system bug out?’ Yi Chen thought in confusion, ’Or...’
He was immediately reminded of the huge research costs Bai Tianhe had mentioned that had made the development of the yellow tablets successful.
’So, if it was already created, doesn’t that mean that tablets shouldn’t have been as costly as they are right now?’ Yi Chen’s eyes narrowed, and he immediately generated the next remark so as to confirm his suspicion.
[Remark: (3/3): Was used to derive the virus strain]
"!!!"
Yi Chen’s eyes widened instantly the moment he read those lines.
’This...doesn’t that mean?’ Yi Chen thought with an expression of disbelief evident in his eyes as he went through that remark once again.
’If the virus was derived from the medicine...and the medicine was created much before...’ Yi Chen thought as his breathing increased heavily.
From what he heard from Old Ding...it was only after the disease had spread and had claimed thousands, if not millions, of lives that the Violet Medicine Hall came up with the medicine.
’These bastards...they deliberately created the vir-’
"I-It’s just as I anticipated." Yi Chen muttered while staring intently at the yellow tablet in his hand as he slowly raised his eyes to meet Bai Tianhe’s.
"And just what did a Ninth Meridian Refinement Stage brat have anticipated?" Bai Tianhe snorted while rolling his eyes, though a subtle curiosity was apparent in his eyes.
"The Violet Heaven House...they had been fooling the entire Black Rock Kingdom for generations with these tablets. All these tablets have an overinflated price tag...if it was just this, then it was still okay...
However...these bastards...they fell even lower. The Brown Flu Virus wasn’t caused by the air released by the volcanic eruptions. It was a disease that was created by the Violet Heaven Pavilion itself to suck this kingdom dry!"
As Yi Chen said those words, he couldn’t help but feel a subtle trace of anger rising within himself.
The piles of sickly-looking bodies gathered at one place, the child that was exhausting himself daily to ensure his mother survives...the gratefulness that Old Ding’s eyes carried towards the Violet Medicine Pavilion...
Everything flashed in his mind for a moment as he subconsciously clenched his fists.
"...Do you even know what the consequences of saying such things are?" Bai Tianhe’s eyes narrowed the very next moment as the air around him turned dense, making Yi Chen feel a sense of suffocation.
Knowing clearly that if he delayed, then he might end up dead before he could give out an explanation, Yi Chen immediately answered.
"Yes, I do." Yi Chen firmly nodded his head and continued, "Therefore, I would like to place a bet with you, Senior."
"A bet? Are you crazy?" The anger rising in Bai Tianhe’s eyes immediately turned to confusion the next second.
Under normal circumstances, shouldn’t a normal person try to give their set of explanations while trembling in fear? At least that’s what Bai Tianhe had anticipated.
However, seeing Yi Chen completely skip that part and instead suggest a bet with him had taken him by surprise and had successfully increased his curiosity.
"I apologise if my words sounded rude earlier, but that really wasn’t my intention." Yi Chen started with a short apology and continued, "The reason I’m requesting a bet is because right now, I don’t have any proof to validate my words from earlier.
Therefore, in this bet, I propose that if within the next four weeks, I’m able to prove the validity of my earlier words, then Senior would owe me a favour, and if not, then I’ll do as Senior says."
Not to mention how absurd the bet was, but just the fact that Yi Chen was willing to place it ended up raising several questions in Bai Tianhe’s mind.
’This brat...are things really as he says?’ A possibility arose in his mind, causing an intense frown to appear on his forehead. However, the possibility that all this was just bull crap Yi Chen had pulled out of his ass was also present in his mind.
Snorting loudly, he exclaimed the next moment, "Fine! If you indeed manage to convince me, I’ll owe you a favour as proposed. However..."
Bai Tianhe’s words sharpened as he continued, "...if you fail to do so, then in return I’ll be claiming your head. Tell me, do you agree?"
Hearing those words, Yi Chen’s breath momentarily intensified. However, as his gaze turned towards the mission panel, conviction returned to his eyes, and he nodded while looking into Bai Tianhe’s eyes.
"Yes, Senior. I agree with the condition." Yi Chen nodded firmly at those words.
To this, Bai Tianhe just stared into his eyes for a couple of seconds before finally saying, "Meet me at this place in four weeks."
With those words, he turned around and started walking out of the park as the following words echoed in Yi Chen’s mind, "And don’t try to run away; it will only make your death more painful."
A shiver ran down Yi Chen’s spine as he heard those words, but he clenched his jaw to stabilise his bearing.
He had stated the four-week timeline as a safety net so that if he failed to gather enough evidence, then he could have escaped using the transportation array, which would have been repaired by then.
However, from the looks of it...that wasn’t an option anymore.
As if to confirm it, the mission panel once again flashed in front of his eyes.
====== MISSION =====
Objective: Win Bai Tianhe’s Favour
Reward:3x Cultivation Speed for two years.
Penalty: Certain death
====================
"...thank you for stating the obvious," Yi Chen rolled his eyes as he let out a deep breath and soon started walking back towards his Inn.
Along the way, as the sky began to darken, he noticed a thick layer of fog forming in the sky above, which seemed to have enveloped the entire city.
"So that’s what Lady Du was talking about..." Yi Chen muttered in realisation as he finally reached the Inn. A few minutes later, he made his way inside his room.