Detective Agency of the Bizarre
Chapter 709 - 709 228

709: 228.

Jamie’s Story 709: 228.

Jamie’s Story The merchant’s silhouette vanished into the sparse woods.

Withdrawing her gaze, Anna suggested to Lu Li, “You should ask about the Homogeneous Item merchandise.”

“Merchants only sell basic equipment.”

Lu Li had asked before.

Unfortunately, the merchant was not Mibao Pavilion; they only sold the most basic Homogeneous Items such as Spirit-Calling Guns or impractical short swords.

Although they indeed recycled other Homogeneous Items.

Now, they had more pressing matters to attend to.

There were less than three days before The Time of Silence would envelop the Ailen Peninsula, and they needed to complete the expansion of the cave shelter before the third catastrophe arrived.

Compared to space, safety was more important for the refuge point.

Therefore, this time, the thickness of the Deep Sea Stone wall would be increased from 10 centimeters to 1 meter.

It was foreseeable that after this extension, the refuge point, or rather the safe house, would withstand most strange assaults.

At least as a spirit of resentment, Anna could barely penetrate a one-meter-thick Deep Sea Stone.

This safe house, worth 100 billion contribution points, seemed to be worth the money.

Afterward, for the entire morning, the top of the cliff was dominated by the persistent clanging of excavation.

The furniture from the refuge point and the items from the cellar were temporarily moved out of the cave, making room for Jimmy to work.

The hard rock wall was much like condensed sandstone against the claws of Jimmy’s monstrous body; each swipe produced three deep gouges.

However, the pace of digging had slowed somewhat from the start.

Because initially, Amber had also been helping.

All it did was curl up and begin to roll, and beneath its hard shell, the rock wall would be sliced through as if it were butter.

But Amber caused too much commotion, even making the sand on the cliff tremble as it rolled.

Raimy had to stop Amber’s rampage and sent it to play in the Elm Forest—having it help any longer might collapse the cave before the renovation was complete.

Even with only Jimmy working, by close to evening, the excavation of the cave was nearly half done.

If there were no surprises, they could lay the Deep Sea Stone and move into the safe house by tomorrow noon.

Working overnight would be even quicker, unfortunately, the nights blanketed by the Mist of Strangeness were not safe.

The sky grew dark, and something seemed to surface in the depths of the sea, spreading the Mist of Strangeness toward the land as it churned.

Tonight, Lu Li would stay temporarily in the Jimmy Siblings’ cabin; Raimy stayed behind to protect Lu Li with Anna, and Jimmy was sent over to Amber and the children’s side.

The two cabins were only a few meters apart, so they could quickly come to each other’s aid if anything happened.

Lu Li didn’t go to sleep; instead, he sat in front of the fire, taking out the book “Voice of Tragedy” that he had only read a few pages of.

The author Flo Mitchell was hardly known.

At least many of the books brought from Aileen’s library had written accounts of their authors, but this book had a blank title page, with nothing but the author’s name.

The protagonist had the most common name on the Main Affinity Continent, Jamie.

But he himself was anything but ordinary; in the fictional world created by Flo Mitchell, he was the youngest and most popular Alchemist, without equal.

While most Alchemists hid in dark basements concocting Alchemical Products, Jamie was already making a fortune with alchemy.

He had created many popular alchemical products.

There was the Hair Growth Elixir that could grow lush hair instantly even on someone glowing under the sun.

There was a potion that allowed one to drink as much beer as desired without getting drunk, but it only worked with wheat beer.

There was a captivating potion that, once poured on one’s body, would exude fragrance continuously for several weeks.

And the most sought-after Elixir of Happiness that could dispel any negative emotions and make people happy.

These Alchemical Medicines were even praised endlessly by the King.

In his twenties, Jamie, who had already gained wealth and honor, suddenly became lost and felt like he no longer had a goal to strive for.

A few words later, the timeline jumped thirty years, and Jamie was almost fifty years old.

Even though he was still popular as a Knight and Grand Alchemist, he still hadn’t found a goal to pursue.

It wasn’t until Jamie bumped his shin on the leg of his desk and the doctor told him his bone was broken that Jamie realized he had been lost for thirty years; he had grown old.

Jamie didn’t want to lose everything he had now, so he picked up his goal once again, only this time it wasn’t to become a Grand Alchemist, but rather…

to achieve immortality.

The legend of the Elixir of Immortality had always circulated among alchemists.

The young Jamie had once sneered at it, but the current Jamie sneered at his younger self and began searching.

He found nothing.

Jamie decided to create the Elixir of Immortality himself, after all, in most people’s eyes, he was the smartest alchemist.

And indeed, it was so.

The first batch of Elixir of Immortality was quickly completed, and here the author Flo Mitchell made some minor errors.

Flo Mitchell was obviously not a noble, nor had he experienced enough to encounter middle-aged individuals from the upper echelons.

Because in the book, Jamie, laden with honors and wealth and having a title, actually used himself for the experiment after making the elixir instead of using death-row prisoners or slaves.

However, it could have been a plot hole introduced to allow the story to proceed smoothly.

The story continues.

After drinking the elixir, Jamie’s body rejuvenated by several years, but he paid a price for it—he lost…

his sense of pain.

Jamie was not satisfied.

Not because he couldn’t feel the burn when he ate something too hot or didn’t realize he was bitten by a non-poisonous snake until days later, but because, after growing a few years younger, he was still a middle-aged man in his forties who took a long time to urinate.

The Elixir of Immortality could still be improved, there was no reason to give up just yet.

Losing the sense of pain sounded good, but many minor daily inconveniences became troublesome, like not realizing he stepped on a nail until he found his slipper full of bloodstains.

Jamie had to hire a personal servant to take care of his daily needs.

As for a wife?

Alchemists don’t need wives, or rather, alchemical knowledge is their wife.

Soon, an improved version of the Elixir of Immortality was successfully developed, and once again, he used himself for the experiment.

Jamie felt his physical condition revert to that of his 30s, well…

39 years old.

However, there were still side effects, Jamie lost his sense of smell.

This was somewhat bad for Jamie.

He was a person very particular about his food, but now, without the sense of smell, he had no concept of “fragrant” or “foul”.

This greatly affected his sense of taste; he could only discern the basic flavors of sour, sweet, bitter, and salty.

In other words, Jamie couldn’t tell which was tastier, a medium-rare steak or a medium-rare pork chop; they both just tasted salty to him.

So, Jamie improved the elixir again, hoping he could eliminate the previous two negative effects.

This time, he lost his sense of taste.

Jamie had to stop, because he had reverted to a vigorous man in his thirties, and there wasn’t much left for him to lose…

Vision, hearing, touch.

He couldn’t afford to lose any of them.

At most two more failures and he would never have a chance to start over again.

More than a decade passed, and during this time Jamie continued to refine the elixir, drinking the Elixir of Immortality on his fiftieth birthday.

[Jamie drank it down just as he had been drinking coffee for the past dozen years, without hesitation and without spilling a drop.

Alchemists dislike liquids getting everywhere—]

Thump thump—

The dull sounds broke the silence.

Lu Li flipped the page and looked up, Raimy paused her sewing, and Anna emitted an aura to protect Lu Li.

From outside the mist-enshrouded cottage, there came a knock at the door.