Unable to repay my student loans, I had no choice but to work part-time as a demon hunter.

Chapter 104 The Summer Festival

Mouse Bar built a small castle made of furniture and was having a great time in it.

"This is the living room you built with the things you stole." Gordon looked around.

"You think you can beat me, you human thing?!"

It peeked out from under the coffee table, eager to try, and poised to punch.

"Look, that's it, big and smelly." Charlotte rubbed her forehead. "It's so infuriating!"

Vera disappeared from the spot.

The next instant, she had grabbed the rat by the tail and was hanging in the air, struggling desperately.

"Help! Let go of the great Rat King!" it cried.

"Kill it." Vera prepared to throw it against the wall.

"I surrender!" Rat was trembling with fear.

"It can now pick locks, steal things, and even take bread from the kitchen. It has tried to escape several times, but we've caught it because it's grown too big to burrow through tunnels anymore," Charlotte said, bending down to list the rat's misdeeds.

"Hmm—" Eve put on black gloves and observed the rat's eyes, tongue, and tremor glands. "—The spirituality within it has been deeply entrenched; it seems to have a considerable capacity to withstand spiritual and transcendental corruption."

"We can try the method I came up with." Gordon walked around a few times with his hands behind his back. "Let's see if that can make this guy behave."

After a while, the rat was put into a large glass display case containing jugs of clear water, a large amount of feed coated with sediment, and a drain valve at the bottom.

[The cabinet. Soon it will be a sauna for rodents.]

The overhead lights came on, and Eve got ready under Gordon's instructions.

"Give it food with high water content, make it go to the toilet more often to speed up the excretion of negative energy, and also raise the room temperature to increase metabolism —" Gordon pondered.

"I can." Eve stretched out her fingers and released her source power. Where Gordon couldn't see, the air was suddenly heated, and Ratstick immediately started dancing on the spot.

ignite.

"It's so hot! It's so hot!" The rat swayed back and forth in the sweltering air.

"Okay." Gordon began his research. "Let's mess with it for a while. If it plays dead, just leave it alone for now. It especially loves to play dead."

"No, not this time! Dangerous. Terrifying!" Rat Stick said with a tragic expression. "Rat Stick is going to be steamed alive."

Gordon watched for a while. The rat was eating and drinking a lot because of its unease. An unusual spirituality was circulating in its body. Some of it was excreted due to the precipitation of salts and was eventually excreted in urine.

"How long will this take?" Charlotte observed.

"About an hour or two."

"Then, come with me." Charlotte arranged to meet Gordon alone. Gordon nodded to Vera and gave Eve an encouraging gesture.

Eve continued grilling the rat sticks.

"—Miss Vera Cartrett?"

"Hmm." Vera glanced at her.

"Tell me about Gordon Vick," Eve said softly. The two of them began to talk. Meanwhile, the rat was slowly turning into a live rat in the glass case.

Meanwhile, Gordon and Charlotte arrived in the garden.

It was very quiet here, and Charlotte strolled around with her hands behind her back.

"How so?" she muttered, "When was the last time we did this?"

"It's not far, is it?"

"I've been researching Blackwater Syndrome these past few days. When you're not around, I always feel like I have to do something."

"Any progress?"

"Since you released the relevant information that day, the police station and hospitals have forwarded many cases to us, all of which are blackwater syndrome. I am still revising the testing standards to see if we can draw the boundaries between stages one to four more clearly."

Gordon was impressed with Charlotte.

"You've already tried so hard."

"What?" Charlotte glanced at Gordon. "I'm a very smart and excellent person."

Gordon's mind drifted to the spider in her notebook, to the article "Drinking Blackwater River Will Cause Rainbow-like Diarrhea," and to the image of her sleeping in class.

Then he didn't say anything.

"Very good, very good." Gordon walked forward. "I also have an idea that can help advance my thesis. It's a treatment method."

"A treatment?" Charlotte was deeply impressed. "—That's incredible. I only learned these past few days that at least sixty or seventy thousand people in the city have been infected to varying degrees. If you have a way to treat them, you'll be—truly a blessing to humanity. What kind of method is it?"

"It's the method that looks like torturing rats. Theoretically, with the inducing effect of precipitated salts, the human body may actively metabolize the pollutants. But at the same time, it needs to be combined with drugs that protect liver and kidney function—the specific formula needs to be compiled and tested," Gao Deng said.

"This requires observational controls, clinical trials, funding, facilities, and some brave volunteers," Charlotte thought of several concepts.

"Of course. What about Montfort Spiritual Industries? Our employees seem to have frequent contact with the Blackwater River, so there needs to be some kind of therapy to ensure their health."

"Work has already started; the first batch of equipment is being set up. You should go see it for yourself in a few days; it's amazing." Charlotte said, then nodded. "Wow, you've really turned mud into an asset."

"We finally have an industry—"

"us?"

"We. Of course."

"Oh." Charlotte blinked. "—Oh, there's one last thing."

"What?"

The summer celebrations will include a ceremony at the Source Exchange in May Square to receive Source Essence. My father has been negotiating. Because the value of three medium-sized Source Essences is so great, he wants more people to participate. The Cavendish Dukes and the Ravenhurst family, the financial backers of Midas Industries, will both send young girls to receive Source Essence. Including me, the three girls will embark on their respective journeys that night.

Three medium-sized source materials, three families sharing the risks, any attack could anger multiple forces—Gorden nodded as he thought of this.

"The more people get involved, the more people will worry about and take precautions against it."

"Yes, that's why we haven't seen him lately. If it were just about the Monford family, there would definitely be attackers coming to loot—but it would be better to involve the other two families as well. I'll choose first, so you have to help me pick a good one."

"It's so complicated, it must be a very large-scale event."

"Countless nobles and upper-class individuals will come to witness the ceremony!" Charlotte thought dreamily. "The exchange will prepare a Summer Crown," to be awarded to the finest Source Essence creation. It will be incredibly beautiful, a truly memorable piece, and given to a lady who possesses luck, courage, and wealth. The lucky one will have the opportunity to master Source Essence, the courage to embark on the path of the extraordinary, and the wealth to hire a professional alchemist—"

"Based on the quality of the Source Essence Potion?"

"right."

"Call more people over, I'm going to win that crown for you."

"My father has already hired a professional alchemist for me."

"Tell him to step back a little; I have absolute confidence in him." Gordon nodded and sat down on a chair in the garden gazebo. "You can just sit and watch."

"So confident?" Charlotte walked up to Gordon.

She leaned down, one hand on the chair, the other cupping Gordon's face. She smelled of hazelnut perfume. Charlotte then pressed her forehead against Gordon's, her little head gently and warmly touching his.

"What is this?" Gordon closed his eyes.

"Quiet," Charlotte said, pressing close to him. "I want to see if you were just talking nonsense or if you meant it."

"Really, I can win. If you completely trust me to refine it, I will definitely be able to create the best product."

"————Okay." Charlotte nodded gently.

"Listen to me, I will win that crown back and put it on your head, Charlotte," Gordon promised.

"Then you can't lose."

"I know."

Charlotte stepped back, regaining her composure.

"Cancel all other dangerous activities before July 13th. You must appear before me properly on that day, without any other plans."

"Yes, ma'am."

They returned to the site of Rat's ordeal, drank countless amounts of water, ate countless amounts of feed containing sediment, went to the toilet countless times, and were tortured by Eve with heat. Rat looked extremely weak.

Its size visibly shrank, returning to the state of a chubby white rat, rather than the frightening white rat monster it looked like.

"Body temperature returned to normal, and spiritual activity decreased," Eve concluded. "And some abnormal crystals were indeed found in the excrement."

"

"No, no. Humans are wicked." Rat lay sprawled out in the box.

"This guy's the bad one," Charlotte said. "Once he's had his fill, he'll turn into a bad rat again."

"It's alright." Eve took a black metal ring out of her sleeve.

[Suppressor. It seems she has many more.]

"This is one of the Wild Hunt's creations, used for taming animals." She opened the box and tried to put the metal ring around Ratbar's neck.

"Rat will never be a slave!" Rat protested.

"You want to wear it, don't you?" Eve asked gently.

"————" Mouse was a little confused.

"Don't worry, you can still live the life you want, be ambitious and fierce—you can also roam freely and enjoy freedom."

Claws, ambition, and glory remain yours. Simply set aside your resistance and accept this gift—

"Okay." Rat quickly stretched out its paw, grabbed the black collar, and put it around its neck.

"The only price is that you have to come back whenever I call you from now on." Eve stood up kindly.

"?" Mouse tugged at the collar around its neck, "Chirp chirp."

Mouse used to think Gordon was the worst human being, but after seeing more of him, he realized that Gordon was actually too kind-hearted, even quite conscientious.

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