Ch. 200 - Young Man, You Just Walked Into a Nuke Barrel
It's Perfectly Normal for my Slime to beat up a Dragon, Right?This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
This chapter is broken. Please report this on discord.
The three men standing in front of the shop all turned to look at him, their faces twisted with anger.
Wang Tianbao sidled close and whispered, "Young Master Chen, all ten bottles today were bought by those three."
Chen Shu's expression stayed perfectly composed. He raised an eyebrow. "So you three are working together?"
"The fuck are you saying?! You think we're teaming up to frame you? We don't even know each other! If we've got anything in common, it's that we're all victims!"
"Hold on -- you're sure you don't know each other?"
Chen Shu's mouth twitched. All three men looked to be around thirty, and setting aside the vague resemblance in their faces, there was one standout feature they all shared.
They were all bald.
Every. Single. One.
So they really were treating him like an idiot?
The crowd turned to look and immediately noticed something was off. These three looked like they'd been assembled from the same family reunion photo.
The Bald Trio crossed their arms. "Hmph! Regardless, you sold us fake medicine!"
"Oh? And what exactly do you want out of this?"
Chen Shu folded his arms across his chest, watching the three of them perform with a look of perfect calm.
Right on cue, a young man stepped out from the crowd.
"If I may say a fair word--"
"Got it. You're with them."
Chen Shu cut him off mid-sentence and blew his cover on the spot.
"What gives you the right to accuse me?!"
Li Wenxu's mouth twitched. He hadn't expected to get exposed that fast.
"Dali -- show everyone what it looks like when someone's been bribed to play peacemaker!"
Chen Shu turned to Zhang Dali beside him.
Zhang Dali stepped forward without missing a beat. "If I may say a fair word--"
"..."
Li Wenxu's eyes went wide. Wait -- so just because of that one sentence, you've already convicted me as an accomplice?
"Fine then, I won't say a fair word."
"See? Still claiming you're not with them? You won't even say a fair word anymore!"
"Motherfuck--"
Li Wenxu had no comeback. The worst part was that Chen Shu was right.
He really was with them. To be precise, he was the mastermind.
Li Wenxu was a graduate of Nancang Pharmacy University, but instead of finding a proper pharmacist job, he'd decided to start his own business.
Between his formulation skills and the startup capital from his family, opening a potion shop wasn't a problem.
Marketing, though -- that was the real headache.
He'd set his sights on Chen Shu's Dali Potion Shop immediately.
Thanks to two months of charitable potion-crafting last year, the Dali Potion Shop had already become Nanjiang City's hottest trending store. Ten bottles of High-Grade Strength Potion sold out the second they hit the shelf every single day.
Li Wenxu was a university graduate. His insight was a cut above the average person's.
The shop sold each bottle of High-Grade Strength Potion for only twenty-five thousand yuan -- a full five thousand below market price.
He was almost certain the owner was selling at a loss for exposure.
If you could actually turn a profit, why limit supply to ten bottles a day?
The whole point had to be generating buzz. In this day and age, buzz was money.
Li Wenxu didn't have marketing experience, and he didn't have the cash for advertising. But the Dali Potion Shop had name recognition.
All he had to do was tear it down. Ride the backlash, promote his own shop, and boom -- instant fame.
Credit where it was due: Li Wenxu had a bit of cunning in him.
Too bad he'd walked straight into a gun barrel.
...No, wait. A cannon barrel.
...Actually, no. A nuke barrel.
"Cut the crap," Chen Shu said impatiently. "You've got your hired actors, you've got your 'fair word' man -- what do you actually want? Spit it out. We're all busy here!"
He hadn't expected to run into this kind of suicidal idiot with the New Year right around the corner.
"How about the owner brews a batch of Strength Potion right here on the spot and has someone in the crowd feed it to their contract spirit? That would prove the potions are real, wouldn't it?"
A smile crept onto Li Wenxu's face. "As it happens, I'm a graduate of Nancang Pharmacy University. I can brew one too. Why don't we make it a competition?"
"Oh?"
Chen Shu raised an eyebrow. "So that's what you've been angling for this whole time."
A provocative gleam flashed through Li Wenxu's eyes. "What do you say? Got the guts to go up against me?"
His real game was finally on the table.
Chen Shu pulled out his phone and dialed a number. "Hello, Spirit Suppression Bureau?"
"..."
Li Wenxu's eyes nearly popped out of his skull. You motherfucker -- that's not how you're supposed to play this!
"Come on, there's no need to bring the Spirit Suppression Bureau into this, right?"
A hint of panic crept into his face. He was a fresh college grad, after all -- his nerves weren't exactly ironclad.
And the fact remained that he had slandered Chen Shu. If they actually launched a full investigation, his whole scheme would unravel.
Chen Shu was about to speak when the options materialized before his eyes.
Ding!
[Option 1: Let him slander you -- take no action.] --> Small Beast-Taming Power
[Option 2: Call the authorities -- full investigation!] --> Level 2 Gigantification Fruit
[Option 3: Accept the challenge, destroy his confidence -- showcase the Toilet Alchemist's glory!] --> Unlock two Potion Formula Codexes: Flame Potion, Ice Potion
[Option 4: Tonight, ambush him in the dark!] --> Slime Speed +5%
Chen Shu raised an eyebrow slightly, then hung up the phone.
"Fine. Let's compete."
Chen Shu broke into a grin. He didn't particularly want to bother with this clown.
But the System's rewards were simply too generous to pass up. Two whole codexes, just like that.
The moment those words left his mouth, every bystander in the crowd whipped out their phone, ready to record.
Chen Shu's title of "Public Toilet Potion Master" was famous across Nanjiang City, but nobody had ever actually seen him brew.
"Excellent!"
A smile spread across Li Wenxu's face -- the smug grin of a scheme coming together.
He clapped his hands, and his people immediately hauled in a specialized potion workstation. Precision instruments for separating and processing ingredients lined its surface.
Chen Shu, on the other hand, kept things simple. He pulled out a plain wooden table with equipment so basic it bordered on sad.
If he could brew in a toilet, a table was more than enough.
Before long, Li Wenxu produced two sets of ingredients and handed one to Chen Shu.
Both would be crafting High-Grade Strength Potions.
"You really did come prepared!"
Chen Shu hadn't expected the guy to have the ingredients ready and waiting.
"Shall we begin?"
Li Wenxu asked. At this point, he'd dropped all pretense.
"Wait!"
Chen Shu rubbed his chin. "Have you ever seen blindfolded brewing?"
"Wh... what?"
Li Wenxu's brain short-circuited. He had no idea what the hell this guy was talking about.
"Dali, grab something from my bag. Cover my eyes!"
Chen Shu said it with a natural, easy smile.
His brewing was fully managed by the System anyway -- eyes open or closed made zero difference.
Since the goal was to destroy this guy's confidence, he might as well make him question his entire existence.
"You got it!"
Zhang Dali's face lit up with manic excitement. He reached into Chen Shu's bag and pulled out -- a urea bag.
All these years, he'd never once managed to bag Chen Shu. He hadn't dreamed his lifelong wish would come true this fast!
Chen Shu had his back turned to Zhang Dali, but every instinct in his body screamed danger. His body moved before his mind caught up -- a dodge on pure reflex.
"What the fuck?! Have you lost your mind?!"
Chen Shu spun around and immediately spotted the urea bag clutched in Zhang Dali's hands.
"There's an eye mask in my bag!"
"Oh, ohh~~"
Zhang Dali nodded, unable to hide the devastation.
Chen Shu let out a breath of relief. He'd always been the one slapping urea seals on other people.
The Nanjiang Bandit shall NEVER capsize!