CHAPTER 424: CHAPTER 262: FORMULATION OF YANG-STRENGTHENING POTION_2

In solitary confinement, Dean gave a knowing smile.

Barton’s reaction is exactly as I guessed. The guy is also betting that I haven’t lied to him. That’s very good. The more he invests, the more Barton will feel bound by sunk costs to help me conscientiously.

Dean meaningfully accepted the food bag that was handed in. At the same time, he managed to stuff the written note into Barton’s palm.

Barton looked down and saw the densely packed text on the note. While he sighed with relief, he also couldn’t help feeling a headache coming on.

Not to mention all the names of things I don’t understand, whether I can get ahold of them, and how to logically deliver them to Dean’s solitary cell without raising my colleagues’ suspicions. Just during the time of gathering the supplies, keeping this Dean fellow around is going to cost me a pretty penny.

If I find out you’re screwing with me in the end, I’ll make sure to send you to the doghouse and earn back some!

With these vicious thoughts, Barton went over to the Keeper in charge of solitary. He muttered a few words, suggesting that he planned to "press" Dean hard in a couple of days and that they would swap shifts then.

After the hint of a split in the proceeds, his colleague readily agreed. He added that he’d keep an eye on Dean to avoid losing the man before the money was in hand.

With his colleague dealt with, Barton clocked out in a rush. He made the excuse of a family emergency, flashed his prison pass, and scurried off to find someone to procure the items listed on the note.

...

「Two days later.」

Just as Dean was worrying about the time limit on his task, Barton finally returned.

"How did you manage to bring all this stuff in above board?"

Dean stared as Barton opened the door of the solitary cell and wheeled in a cartload of items. Dean was somewhat surprised, even suspecting he might have underestimated Barton.

Seeing the astonishment on Dean’s face, Barton grinned proudly. "Tonight, I’m the only guard here. Normally, the patrol team won’t bother with a place like solitary, so you’ve got all night to make that thing you talked about!"

"Right in the guardroom?"

"Right in the guardroom!"

Barton’s smile vanished, replaced by a fierce look. "Do you have any idea how much this damn stuff cost me in US dollars? Those bastards only took US dollars! If I hadn’t had my son steal a batch of chemical tools from his school, I would have gone bankrupt!"

"But these things aren’t actually worth much!"

Dean was speechless. The most expensive materials were actually a few components he had added for making explosives.

"But that doesn’t change the fact that I’m actually broke!" Barton snapped, twisting his neck. "Get on with it! I want to personally watch you use everything I own, which I used to buy this stuff, to create the potion that will change our fates!"

Although this didn’t align with his expectations, Dean had no choice but to first focus on keeping Barton calm.

Once the stuff is made, then I can call the shots! At least, that will be the case until the formula is out of my control.

...

The aphrodisiac formula Little Mike had inadvertently concocted didn’t have a name.

After acquiring it, Dean had taught himself chemistry and had already tried his hand at mixing it, so this time, the process was familiar territory.

Donning a gas mask, Dean began to mix the ingredients with practiced ease.

Although Barton didn’t understand what was going on, seeing Dean’s composed demeanor and fluid operations gradually settled his originally nervous heart.

「Time passed.」

As some chemical products reacted, the drafty guardroom filled with a pungent, nauseating odor.

Barton had only prepared one gas mask. Cursing, he left the guardroom to smoke outside, simultaneously preventing any colleagues from getting close and exposing everything.

Dean took this opportunity to pick up the pace. He mixed pre-purified materials in test tubes, eventually producing about 100ml of an orange-yellow liquid.

This substance was actually a combustible chemical liquid. When smashed, allowing the separated layers within to make contact, it would cause an explosion and ignite. However, it was highly unstable before treatment and inconvenient to carry.

But this was no obstacle for Dean.

He promptly added some gelling agents and other materials to the test tubes and set them aside.

By the time Dean had successfully extracted the aphrodisiac, the chemical bomb in the test tube had become a rubbery, gel-like substance—commonly known as plastic explosive.

This explosive wasn’t too powerful, but it was convenient to carry, concealable, and suitable for self-defense and targeted demolition.

Dean carefully stowed away the item. He glanced outside to see Barton squatting on the ground, covering his nose and dejectedly smoking. Dean then simply continued to work on an odor-neutralizing spray.

The odor-neutralizing spray didn’t remove body odor but rather interfered with the scent one’s body emitted, preventing animals like police dogs from tracking him.

This was also a fallback plan Dean had prepared for himself.

If the situation changes, for the mission’s sake, I’ll have no choice but to escape from prison.

...

「Time passed.」

Unbeknownst to Barton, a pile of cigarette butts had accumulated at his feet.

He took out his cell phone and checked the time.

It was now past three in the morning, and five o’clock was shift change.

He needed to dispose of those things in the guardroom before then.

So, Barton couldn’t contain himself any longer. He got up to ask Dean about his progress, but as he turned his head, he saw Dean emerging from the guardroom, holding two small test tubes.

"Is it ready?"

"Very smoothly. This is the goldmine I was talking about!" Dean placed a test tube filled with a brownish liquid in front of Barton. "I call it Burning Blood. Any mammal that drinks it will experience vasodilation and unleash its pile-driving instinct!"

Looking at the nondescript substance before him, Barton subconsciously held his breath and carefully took the test tube.

Seeing the confidence on Dean’s face, he knew, in that instant, that he had bet correctly!

But just to be safe, I need to test this stuff out first!

"I’ll take it for a test run. Until then, buddy, you need to stay in solitary!"

"Alright. I hope when I see you again, Barton, you’ll be here to take me away from this stinking prison!"

...

After returning Dean to his cell, Barton hurriedly cleaned up the scene. Then, after his shift change, he went to where the patrol team kept the police dogs.

"Barton, what are you doing here?"

The guard, who was about to feed the dogs, looked at Barton curiously.

Barton yawned. "Gro, my son’s birthday is coming up. I was wondering if you have any female dogs about to give birth. I want to give a puppy to my son."

The guard named Gro rolled his eyes. "It’s not their mating season yet. You could check out a pet store; they use drugs to induce heat in pets, regardless of the season."

"Oh... but those places aren’t cheap..."

"True, but I heard you’ve set your sights on a ’fat sheep’ recently. You shouldn’t be short of a bit of cash..."

During the conversation, while Gro wasn’t looking, Barton poured the contents of a test tube—the brown liquid, Dean’s concoction called Burning Blood—into Gro’s nearby feeding pail. He then pretended to walk away, disappointed.

After leaving the kennels, Barton went out to smoke, leaning against the outer wall and anxiously awaiting the reaction from inside.

He hadn’t lied to Dean.

Although he had skimmed some extra money in prison, Barton had used most of it as kickbacks to his superiors and to maintain relationships with colleagues, with the rest going to support his family.

Unfortunately, his wife was addicted to painkillers.

So he was indeed living quite hand-to-mouth.

This was also why, even though it seemed unreliable, Barton—once he became somewhat certain that Dean wasn’t conning him—still decided to gamble with his limited savings.

As Barton waited, his heart pounding with anxiety, in the kennels, some of the police dogs that had eaten the food first began to react.

They started barking loudly. Their eyes became bloodshot, they whimpered all over, and drool dripped from their mouths. Unafraid of pain, they crashed against their iron cages. The unneutered dogs also began to uncontrollably expose a small, pink, swollen part.

Outside, upon hearing Gro’s cry of shock from within, Barton broke into a satisfied smile.

I bet correctly!