Chapter 1743: Cousin

The light in Brand's eyes grew brighter and brighter.

"Although we know how to refine the Philosopher's Stone and how to use it to house a soul, if the body housing the Philosopher's Stone is still just flesh and blood, it still cannot achieve immortality..."

"This vessel not only needs to be as exquisitely precise as a human body and not be corrupted by time, but it would be best if it could be easily disassembled or replaced. Most importantly, it needs to be able to withstand the massive energy brought by the Philosopher's Stone."

"We have been searching for a vessel capable of housing the Philosopher's Stone for three hundred years..."

"I never expected to encounter a [Stitcher], something only seen once in a millennium!"

Brand's tone became increasingly excited. "If there is a [Stitcher], we could even mass-produce artificial humans. As long as the number of Philosopher's Stones keeps up, every member of the Alchemy Association could achieve immortality!"

Compared to the young Brand, Lord Chong's demeanor was much calmer. He said unhurriedly:

"You are thinking too simply. To create an artificial human capable of withstanding the Philosopher's Stone, the [Stitcher]'s rank must be high. With his current strength, it's definitely not enough..."

"However..."

"This Li Shangfeng must become one of us."

"Understood," Brand nodded. "Leave this matter to me; I will handle it well."

……

Li Shangfeng, with a thick stack of banknotes in his pocket, hummed a little tune as he pushed open the workshop door.

Although that part for the Taishi Bureau was a bit tricky, the pay was quite substantial. Such a large sum of money was enough for his sister and him to live on for several months, and the shop could keep running for a while longer...

Of course, he was now a man with three gold bars in his pocket; his confidence was different from before. Previously, he would save every penny, stretching one into two, but now, he could calmly use this money to improve their lives.

Thinking of this, Li Shangfeng's mood became even better. Even the rusty door he usually couldn't stand now had an elegant atmosphere of modern art.

When Li Shangfeng pushed open the workshop door, he froze in place.

"...What's going on?"

The originally dirty and messy workshop was now completely brand new. Nothing on the shelves had been moved, but the floor, the walls, and even the operating levers of the machine tools looked like they had been sanded and polished, so new it was unbelievable.

The sunlight from outside spilled onto the spotless floor of the workshop. It was as if this place had transformed from a cluttered auto repair shop into an exquisite and elegant mechanical museum...

Li Shangfeng rubbed his eyes again to confirm he wasn't dreaming, then let out a shocked "Holy crap."

Between the shelves,

A youth wearing an elegant vest looked up, glanced at the fussing Li Shangfeng at the door, and rolled his eyes silently...

Then he lowered his head and continued to scrub the mold spots on the shelf carefully with a towel.

Li Shangfeng: ???

"Who is this..." Li Shangfeng was baffled.

"My distant cousin," Chen Ling's voice sounded calmly from the side. "He happened to come looking for me. I saw he was too idle, so I found him something to do."

"This... how could I be so rude!" Li Shangfeng was anxious. "Boss Chen, we've already taken your money, that's embarrassing enough... how can we trouble you and your cousin with such chores!"

"It's fine, my cousin just likes cleaning."

“……”

Veins bulged on Li Laide's neck.

Just as Li Shangfeng was about to say something, the noble youth stood up silently from the ground, grabbed a twisted and deformed towel, and walked to Chen Ling expressionlessly:

"...Finished cleaning."

"Not bad."

Chen Ling nodded and turned to look at Li Shangfeng. "You go ahead and get busy, don't worry about us."

"Uh... uh, alright! If you need anything, just call me, Boss!" Li Shangfeng turned and left tactfully.

Once Li Shangfeng was far away, Li Laide glared at Chen Ling with eyes suppressing anger and defiance, gritting his teeth:

"So... is there anything else that needs doing?"

"You did well," Chen Ling said slowly. "I don't intend to toy with you. Although I'm not a good person, I don't have such twisted hobbies... You've completed two things for me. Next, you can choose what reward you want."

"Information, gold bars, or..."

"Freedom!" Li Laide said without hesitation.

"No."

"Why?!"

"These two things aren't enough to trade for your freedom."

Li Laide's expression was incredibly ugly. He instinctively wanted to call him a scoundrel, but thinking of Chen Ling's methods, he silently swallowed the words back... Rather than being forced to swallow his words, it was more dignified to just not say them at all.

"Then... I want information."

"Oh? What information?"

Li Laide looked into Chen Ling's eyes and asked in a deep voice, "Who... exactly are you?"

Before Chen Ling could speak, Li Laide added, "If you're going to lie to me about this too, then everything is meaningless... You might as well just kill me; there's no need to insult me."

"Rest assured, the information I give you is absolutely true," Chen Ling said unhurriedly.

"My name is Chen Ling, the Sixth Red King of the Twilight Society."

"Twilight Society... what kind of thing is that?"

"That's the second question. Do you want to use your second chance to trade for it?"

"..." Li Laide felt like he had been tricked again. After all that work, he only knew a name and a title he didn't recognize.

"No, I want to trade for a gold bar," he immediately changed his strategy, intending to get something substantial.

Chen Ling didn't say a word, simply shoving a heavy gold bar into Li Laide's hand.

Feeling the solid weight and Chen Ling's casual expression, as if he were throwing away trash, Li Laide's mouth twitched slightly. He couldn't help but ask: "Is the Twilight Society... such a wealthy organization?"

"If that counts as a question, then pretend I didn't ask," he added.

"No, I'll give you this question for free," a brilliant smile appeared on Chen Ling's face.

"That's right... we are quite wealthy."

When saying the last four words, Chen Ling deliberately raised his tone, his slightly narrowed red eyes appearing like a soul-capturing demon.

Li Laide froze in place.

Knock knock—

Just then, a cautious knock on the door sounded from the side.

Li Shangfeng, bringing Li Wanhua who was still in her school uniform, was peeking in sneakily. After hesitating for a long time, Li Shangfeng asked proactively:

"Uh... Boss."

"Wanhua and I are planning to go out for a good meal together. Would you and your cousin like to join us?"

Before he could finish, Li Shangfeng patted his chest. "Don't worry, this meal is on me!"

Chen Ling raised an eyebrow and was about to reply when a slight rumbling sound came from the side... He turned to look and saw Li Laide with a cold face, seriously looking down at the non-existent ants on the ground...

Chen Ling smiled slightly:

"Sure."