The male supporting character was actually myself.

Jiang Chen leisurely flipped through the various video materials it had recorded, and replied casually, "The archbishop is praising me? Then I'll go along with it and praise him back. It's just mutual flattery, anyway, everyone's trying to create a persona, the winner is who crashes first."

The fluffy dumpling listened, stunned. "Host, don't forget, in the script, the humans in this mission world are the type who eat the food and then curse the cook. In the original outline, the protagonist sacrificed so much and they were still not satisfied. If the old guy is going to use the 'praise-to-kill' tactic on you, he must have thought of a way out, just in case..."

"As if we have no way out?" Jiang Chen tapped the segment on the screen about the archbishop's transaction and asked with a slight smile, "What do you think the archbishop would think if we released this video?"

Of course, he will definitely deny it outright and pursue charges against me for spreading rumors, creating fake videos, and so on.

However, I won't give him a chance to speak. We still have the roster of the five major bandit groups. If we throw out a series of bombs, it will definitely make that old guy's head buzz.

Do you think those who swore allegiance to the church to protect the country would turn against him in anger?

As for dealing with ordinary people who complain after eating, that's even simpler. Make them unable to put down their bowls in the first place, then who would dare to complain?

Little white cat: (⊙o⊙)…

What does it mean to be unable to put down the bowl?

It seems like the host is about to do something really important...

"Oh, by the way, I saw that priest." It paused for a moment and then continued its report: "The oldest of the four leaders, with a long, shiny white beard and eyebrows. Especially his bushy beard, which was braided with silver thread and looked like a fluffy fox tail."

He wears small, round, gold-rimmed glasses and spends all his time holed up in the machine room.

From what I can see, the things he's tinkering with are probably attempts to combine magic with ordinary things, perhaps also to bridge the gap between superhumans and ordinary people; or maybe it's for the greater benefit of humanity. Anyway, he's always busy and a bit mystical, but he seems like a very kind and approachable old man.

I searched through the Pope's room; it was so simple it was almost shabby.

That's really...

Even mice that go in for a stroll come out crying!

The enormous room contained only a huge wooden bed, a small wardrobe with five or six identical gold uniforms hanging inside, and a very large and beautiful gold crown. That was all; it was empty and cold, without even a mirror.

“Interesting…” Jiang Chen opened the video he had casually taken and quickly finished watching it. “When I asked Mi Wu, he was vague about the responsibilities the Pope bore and did not explain them in detail. He probably did not want to reveal the other party’s secrets.”

Keep an eye on things, and let me know as soon as the Pope returns.

Judging from the archbishop's words, he was rather afraid of the pope. I wanted to see what was so special about him.

The fluffy little dumpling stuffed the last dried fish into its mouth and mumbled, "Mmm, I'm done. Host, if there aren't any other bosses around, I'll be heading back to keep watch! Call me if you need anything, love you, muah~"

After seeing the little white cat off, Jiang Chen strolled over and found Gerson, who was diligently looking for a suitable place to open a school.

"You've come at the right time. Quickly help me check how this recruitment advertisement is written." Sensing the child's presence, he waved his hand without even looking up and said, "I think it needs to be made more enticing. We mainly need to describe the prospects after graduation so that people can see the hope of making a lot of money, right?"

Otherwise, even if schooling were free and room and board were provided, not many people would be willing to send their children to study here. After all, there's little hope for the future, and if they don't go to school, they can still do odd jobs to supplement their family income.

He walked over with his hands behind his back and saw a bright red recruitment brochure on the computer screen.

The list above outlines the most important courses currently offered, along with enrollment numbers and requirements, but most sections are still empty, clearly indicating that Gerson intends to primarily promote career prospects after graduation.

"Isn't that simple? Just write that there's a guaranteed job placement after graduation, and that as long as you get a qualified graduation certificate, you'll be guaranteed a monthly salary of no less than ten gold coins. Also, write that those who hold graduation certificates will be given priority for management positions. If that's not enough, you can add something like jointly building a brand new industrial park. Just get people to cooperate first and then worry about the future."

If we can't interfere with the world's laws and mechanisms, then according to Miwu, this world will be completely destroyed soon. Why should we care about anything else?

Students won't graduate for at least four or five years, and who knows what will happen then.

Gerson turned to look at him, his face darkening. "You mean... you'll just make empty promises to lure students in?"

"How can you call it a lie? It's a white lie! Wouldn't it be even better if reviving primitive technology corrected the workings of the entire world? I'll definitely find a way to arrange things for the first batch of students before they graduate in four or five years."

"Well, alright then, I'll write it down as you suggested, at least to get the school up and running."

Jiang Chen watched as his large, thick hands skillfully manipulated the mouse on the computer, creating graphics with practiced ease. She felt a sense of absurdity, forcibly suppressing her thoughts and sitting down next to Gerson to ask in a low voice, "Are you very knowledgeable about potions?"

Chapter Twenty-Nine: The Life-Extending Elixir

“Absolutely!” Gerson turned to look at him, his face full of confident smugness, and his tone became arrogant. “Potion making is my innate skill!”

Little friend, do you understand the difference between a potion master with innate skills and an ordinary potion master?

Before Jiang Chen could speak, he answered his own question: "The difference is that potion masters need to start by learning how to identify magical plants, and it may take decades to master the methods of making a few potions."

As for me, my innate skills are like having a cheat code. I can understand them at a glance and master them as soon as I start. Moreover, the potions I make have unique enhancement effects and are absolutely top-notch!

What? You want to study potions? I can teach you.

If it weren't for my renowned potion-making skills back then, the demon lord Slor wouldn't have gone to such lengths to hunt me down. He had such a grand plan: to recruit me into his service to brew potions for him. After his attempt to win me over failed, he feared I would defect to another lord and was willing to do anything to kill me.

"Hmph! When I get the chance in the future, I'll definitely kill them all!"

"If you can't have it, destroy it; you absolutely can't let anyone else have it. That style of doing things is quite in line with your status and temperament." Jiang Chen seized the opportunity to ask, "Then do you know of a kind of magic potion? It looks like a very ordinary little black pill. After taking it, you will become young again, and even rotting corpses can be restored to normal skin..."

Before he could finish speaking, Gerson's expression hardened and his voice turned sharp, "Where did you see it? That's a scourge that's forbidden even to be created in the deepest depths of the abyss! You've never been to the abyss... which means you saw it in the human world, right?"

Are there any risks associated with this medicine?

“Harm?!” Gerson’s voice rose several decibels as he grabbed Jiang Chen’s collar and sniffed him closely. After confirming that there was no suspicious smell on the other person, he scolded him with a dark face: “Those are pills made by absorbing a lot of strange life force. Once you take them, you will become addicted and eventually become a controlled puppet that can only kill.”

The word "harm" is too simplistic; once this kind of magical potion appears, it will inevitably bring bloodshed and chaos!

Jiang Chen, tell me where you got such detailed information about the medicinal effects?

"Calm down, Mr. Gerson. I assure you everything is under control. Could you please tell me the specifics of this potion? Some things are very complex, and I need to be absolutely certain before I can tell you everything."

Gerson stared into his eyes for a few seconds until his innate skill reminded the child that what he said was true and very reliable. Only then did he let go of him, sit back down at the table, and sigh deeply.

The potion the archbishop acquired was actually called the Life-Extending Elixir, a potion that had been banned by several great lords many years ago.

To create this magical black pill, you first need to construct a magic circle using the blood of at least one mid-level eerie lord, and then build a blood pool above the magic circle using magic, filled with fresh blood imbued with magic.

Then, plant specially blessed black lotus seeds in the blood pool, find thirteen people with various strange attributes, soak them in the blood pool, and let the black lotus take root in their corpses. It takes a complex magical process to make the bloody black lotus bloom.

Lotus stamens are used to make black pills; taking one can bring back life to someone who is barely clinging to life.

Legend has it that the Life-Extending Elixir was developed a thousand years ago by a talented potion master to prolong the life of his beloved. Because each step in the potion's creation requires the lives of numerous powerful and mysterious beings to maintain its potent effects, it's estimated that at least thirty such beings are needed to successfully create one Life-Extending Elixir.

Once you start taking the Life-Extending Magic Pill, you can never get rid of it and can only use it to prolong your life. Moreover, the more addicted you are, the worse your physical condition becomes and the shorter the time you need to take the Magic Pill.

During the process of taking the medicine, due to the absorption of a large amount of magic power, the person taking the medicine will have the illusion that their own abilities are constantly increasing. In addition, each magic pill accumulates a large amount of strange resentment from those who have been tortured to death. The longer the person takes the medicine, the less rational they become, and in the end they will only become the puppet of the person who supplies the medicine.

"Although the Abyss is filthy and the law of the jungle often leads to conflict, there are generally some rules that all the lords must obey. At the time, I was just an ordinary lord and could not feel the deeper impact, but there was a saying in the deepest part of the Abyss—in the darkest fog where even the strange cannot survive, the Lord of the Abyss sleeps."

When he awakens, the entire abyss will come to life!

I don't know if there is a Lord of the Abyss, nor do I know if it will come back to life, but the stories passed down by word of mouth should have some truth to them. The alchemist who invented the life-extending elixir was initially very popular, but in his single-minded pursuit of refining the elixir to prolong his lover's life, he committed far too many bizarre killings!

Those who took the pills had consumed hundreds or even thousands of demonic pills, transforming into monsters that even the most bizarre creatures feared. They wreaked havoc in the abyss, disrupting even their dormant periods. Then one day, the abyss, churning with black mist, completely swallowed up all the monsters involved, leaving vast swathes of the abyss's deepest depths empty.

Legend has it that a thunderous voice emanated from the dark lands, decreeing that the Life-Extending Magic Pill be a forbidden potion, and that no more strange or unusual substances should be researched or refined.

Gerson realized at this point that the child probably didn't know much about the Abyss, so he continued to explain: "The Abyss world where I grew up has a dormant period and a predatory period."

You can think of the abyss as a small world that wanders around. When it finds a suitable other world to absorb energy, it will descend, open up, and then plunder on a large scale. This process is called the plundering period.

During the period of plunder, the various lords can fight and devour each other to develop their power.

Once the chosen prey world has been completely devoured and has no energy left, the abyss will close up, becoming a closed little world, and continue to wander in search of the next target.

This period is called the dormancy period. During this time, all the strange creatures must abide by the laws of the abyss, refrain from war, turmoil, and disturbances, and strive to improve themselves or remain dormant, waiting for the right opportunity to break out and plunder more energy.

The duration of the predation period and the dormancy period are not fixed.

If the 'prey' has abundant energy and the strange creatures devour enough of it, they will usually enter a quiet slumber during their dormant period, waiting for the next period of plunder to arrive; if the 'prey' has scarce energy or the dormant period is too long, internal strife will break out in the abyss.

To survive, one must devour other strange creatures; even the lord cannot escape this.

However, to avoid angering the beings shrouded in darkness, even during periods of dormancy, wars were fought quietly, and no major disturbances were dared to occur. The appearance of the Life-Extending Demon Pill, however, had once caused a bloodbath, leading all the lords who had experienced it to avoid discussing it further; clearly, any public outcry would have severe consequences!

If a life-extending elixir were to reappear and fall into the human world, I'm afraid…

Jiang Chen raised an eyebrow, deeply curious. "In that case, if we could report this to the Dark Mist, wouldn't the guy secretly refining the demon pill be completely finished?"

Chapter Thirty: Come on, let's flatter each other!

"Tell...tell a tale?" Gerson was a little confused by his focus. "Tell a tale about what?"

Jiang Chen said confidently, "Isn't making the Life-Extending Demon Pill a violation of the Abyss's rules? As long as we expose this, we can naturally solve that guy's problem at its root. It's even simpler in the human world; just kill the person who took the pill when they reveal their true form."

The other person rolled their eyes and looked annoyed. "Kid, you're oversimplifying things."

First of all, even if you knew who was making the life-extending elixir in the abyss, it wouldn't be easy to obtain evidence. Anyone daring to commit such a crime against the odds is certainly not an ordinary, mysterious lord, and would naturally be very well hidden.

Secondly, who should we complain to?

The being in the Dark Mist is just a legend. I have heard of many devout worshippers who have entered the Dark Mist to pay homage to the Lord of the Abyss, but without exception, not a single one of these strange beings has ever come out. No matter how strong they are, once they enter, they vanish without a trace.

So even if you could sink unscathed into the abyss and reach the dark mist, you would receive no response whatsoever.

As for the other great lords?

It's currently the Abyss's plundering season, and everyone is racking their brains to expand their power. The various lords are all wary of each other, and even if they know that one of them is making forbidden drugs, they won't launch a large-scale attack; some might even secretly befriend them.

Even if internal strife arises, it will only happen when the world's energy is completely depleted and the abyss is about to close and enter a dormant period. Jiang Chen, regardless of who is taking the life-extending demonic pill, you must keep a close eye on them and, if necessary, eliminate them completely!

At this point, Gerson belatedly realized, "Only a high lord who experienced that event could possibly know the formula for the Demon Core and create it; and you haven't been to the Abyss..."

Therefore, the person taking the drug must be human!

It seems he must have established a secret deal with some powerful lord, and someone who can offer conditions that would tempt even a powerful lord must be in a high position! Could it be… the Pope?!

Jiang Chen: ...

It was slightly off, but the guess was pretty close.

"Actually, it was the archbishop. He advocated for the trial of Li Moran and issued an arrest warrant for me, ordering my execution. Since we had already formed a grudge, I naturally had to be wary of him, so I discovered it when I was using some surveillance methods."

Having said that, Jiang Chen directly revealed the answer and asked, "I also heard the Archbishop call out 'Slor' when he was contacting the other party. Don't get excited, Gerson. I want to know, if the Archbishop were to trade with Slor, what would he have to give up in exchange for the Life-Extending Magic Pill in his possession?"

Upon hearing Slor's name, Gerson's scarred face twitched slightly as he said resentfully, "This is definitely a conspiracy! Slor wants to use the Life-Extending Magic Pill to cultivate the bishop into his puppet!"

The invasion of this world encountered Li Moran, and the strange creatures in the abyss were clearly terrified of him. As a result, the invasion, which should have been completed quickly, has been dragged on and remains deadlocked. The various lords are all using their unique abilities to try and gain as much energy as possible.

Slor's idea was brilliant. By turning the bishop into his puppet through a deal, he could monopolize the most difficult fortress to attack in the human world. He really had a brilliant plan!

However, this conspiracy could not possibly go unnoticed by the archbishop.

I think Slor will likely demand a large number of magical plants, not only to enhance the strength of his subordinates but also to gain the Archbishop's trust. After all, while some magical plants do grow in the Abyss, just like the difference between seawater and mountains, magical plants that grow in the human world don't exist in the Abyss.

"I see!" Jiang Chen nodded to show he understood. "The bishop needs a large number of magical plants to exchange for the Life-Extending Magic Pill."

However, Xuan Kingdom, with its relatively large population, was less affected, resulting in a limited cultivation of magical plants. To obtain sufficient quantities through trade channels from other countries that primarily cultivate magical plants, it is necessary to purchase them.

The various rules and regulations within the church restricted his ability to amass wealth, forcing him to secretly cultivate a gang to do his dirty work.