Chapter 150: Abrubt Visit

Remedy crossed her arms.

“The name of the drug is Reliance.”

Adam looked at her strangely.

“That’s a dumb name.”

Remedy blinked once.

“It’s not like I’m the one who came up with it.”

“That doesn’t change the fact that it doesn’t make sense.”

She opened her mouth to retort…

But Felecia stepped between them with a flat.expression.

“You two can continue this in the bedroom. Right now, we need to focus on the drug.”

That brought back silence, as Scott coughed lightly, Ivy stared at the ceiling and Remedy looked at Adam one last time, while he leaned against the wall as if completely uninvolved.

Her left eye twitched slightly.

Petty.

She turned back to the group, her tone a shade cooler than before.

“Reliance is being prepared for market release under the pretense of enhancing essence absorption.”

She paced once.

“It’s meant to be advertised as a breakthrough supplement. Something that increases efficiency and reduces stagnation and revolutionizes cultivation speed.”

Felecia scoffed.

“From the Family? That’s a load of bull.”

“Yes,” Remedy agreed. “Which is why the public narrative doesn’t matter.”

Her gaze hardened.

“What Reliance actually does… is awaken a second affinity within a martial artist.”

The room fell silent.

Adam, however, wasn’t shocked.

He had already seen it.

When he used Analyze on William, there had been a strange affinity, although It had appeared as a question mark.

“Does the affinity have a name?” Adam asked calmly.

Remedy nodded once.

“The Family refers to it as Vanta.”

Ivy frowned.

“Never heard of it.”

Scott and Felecia shook their heads slightly.

The name meant nothing to them.

But Adam reacted differently.

His expression didn’t change…

Yet something shifted behind his eyes.

Vanta…

Why does that sound familiar?

Vanta.

The name lingered.

And then…

Adam remembered a memory from his past.

He was eight and he had just returned from school, backpack half-dragging on the floor behind him.

The house had been quiet and his mother had been collapsed on the couch, she was exhausted and she had one arm covering her eyes.

Adam had panicked at first.

But the panic eased when she smiled at him.

That day, he’d been assigned a school project to write an essay about colors.

He remembered standing beside the couch.

“Mom, what’s your favorite color?”

Aurora smiled faintly as she ruffled his hair despite her exhaustion.

“Vanta,” she said softly. “It was your father’s favorite.”

Adam blinked, as the memory dissolved.

He shook his head slightly.

I’m overthinking things.

Just a coincidence.

It had to be.

Remedy noticed the subtle shift in his expression, but said nothing.

Ivy leaned forward.

“So it’s this Vanta affinity that reanimates corpses, reduces the star power of others, and increases the star power of the bearer?”

Remedy nodded once.

“Yes. It’s the affinity itself that’s responsible.”

Her tone lowered slightly.

“How the Family managed to obtain it or embed it into a drug, is beyond me.”

Silence settled over the room again.

Before Adam broke it.

“But how do they plan to release it publicly?” he asked. “There’s no way the Alliance would ignore a strange drug entering the market.”

Remedy nodded.

“The Alliance won’t ignore it.”

She clasped her hands behind her back.

“But the effects of Reliance are slow.”

Her gaze hardened.

“By the time the Alliance recognizes the true effect… it will already be too late.”

The room felt heavier.

“The best we can do for them,” she continued, “is leave an anonymous tip and prepare them. So when things fall apart, they aren’t blindsided.”

Adam nodded slowly.

His thoughts drifted back to William and the fact he had been affected before the official release.

He must have been a test subject.

Adam couldn’t help but wonder how many others were like that?

How many martial artists chasing breakthroughs should fall to such a foul scheme.

All this chaos.

All this destruction.

Just so some people hiding behind the scenes can break through.

Adam couldn’t reconcile it.

Power at that cost.

Was it even power?

Remedy’s voice cut through his thoughts.

“Ivy. Find any upcoming events involving Hyper and Herbal X.”

Ivy reopened her laptop instantly.

“And when you do,” Remedy added, “send me the details.”

Ivy nodded, fingers already moving.

“That will be all.”

****

Adam was back in his room.

He sat on the edge of the bed, his posture was relaxed, but his senses weren’t.

Connect was active and the manor unfolded in his perception.

Four distinct soul flames moved through the building.

Felecia’s was dense and blazing, like compressed embers refusing to die.

Scott’s burned steady and sharp.

Ivy’s flickered rapidly, restless and bright.

Then…

The last one.

Remedy.

Her soul flame was controlled, smooth and deep.

And currently…

It was right outside his door.

Adam’s eyes shifted toward it.

He had intended to meet her privately, since he needed to confirm if the corpse was stable enough to experiment on.

She hadn’t objected when he kept it so he had assumed that was her way of approving.

If that’s the case… why is she here?

Three soft taps soon came, as Adam stood and opened the door, and Remedy walked in without hesitation, closed the door behind her and locked it.

Adam’s gaze sharpened slightly.

Her hair was damp and she had loose strands clung faintly to her neck.

She wore a white robe.

And Adam was fairly certain there was nothing underneath it.

He looked at her strangely.

“What did you come here for?”

Remedy didn’t meet his eyes at first.

She stared at the floor.

Then…

“I want to apologize.”

Adam blinked once.

“Apologize for what?”

“For not being of help in the rift.”

“…”

Adam activated Connect.

Her soul flame didn’t waver and there was no deception or manipulation.

She was serious.

His thoughts slowed.

Where was all this emotion earlier?

When they discussed Reliance.

She had been calm.

Although he hadn’t used Connect on her then.

But even so.

This shift felt bizarrely abrupt.

****

A/N: Thank you for reading.

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