Chapter 162 Seizing the Serum

“Has it turned white? Oh, it’s probably because the weather is so hot and stifling...” Amy kept talking without pause, but her hands did not stop for even an instant. After using up the dozen or so drops of whitening potion, she immediately seized the little bottle again and poured a generous amount into her palms. Rubbing her hands together, she quickly spread it over the parts of her cheeks, both sides of her face, and neck that she had missed before. Now that she had been discovered, she had to work faster.

“Because the weather is too hot and stifling? Amy, it’s the middle of winter already. You—”

She had barely finished speaking when she suddenly noticed that the skin on Amy’s face, where the potion had already been applied, had become even fairer. The roughness it had possessed before had also softened considerably.

“Er... Is that so? The middle of winter? How strange that I don’t feel cold at all. In fact, I feel terribly hot. Hehe...” Amy continued rubbing the potion on with both hands as fast as she could, still making excuses in the hope of buying enough time to use a little more of the whitening potion.

Only then did the people standing around her realize that Amy had been stringing them along all this time—and that she was using the very “whitening potion” they had just dismissed as rubbish.

Judging from the half of Amy’s face where she had applied the potion, the difference was simply... astounding. Her face, which had originally been dark and extremely coarse, was not yet as pale and delicate as snow, but it was several times better than before. How could this be some useless potion? It was clearly an astonishingly miraculous one!

“Amy, you...” One of the female judges was about to say something more when she saw Amy pick up the little bottle again and pour it vigorously into her palm. Quick as a flash, she reached out and snatched away the bottle, which still held less than half its contents.

“Why did you take my things?” Amy panicked and was just about to lunge for it when she remembered the three bottles still sitting on the table. She reached out to grab them, but when she lowered her head and looked toward the long table, she was stunned to discover that all three bottles of whitening potion had vanished.

When she looked up again, she saw that two of the bottles were in the hands of two female judges, while the third had ended up with a male judge whose face was covered in deep, uneven pits.

“Hey, you’re a man! What do you want with whitening potion? Give it back!” Amy grew anxious. If a woman had snatched it away, she could have accepted that, but she had never expected a man to take one. There were still so many places she had not covered. Wasn’t he just making trouble?

Unexpectedly, the man let out an extremely coquettish snort. Raising his little finger daintily, he said in a soft voice, “Hmph! Who says only women need to whiten their skin? Men need to take care of their looks too—especially men like me who make a living off their faces...”

The line was devastatingly powerful. Not only did Amy shudder, but the other judges and the surrounding members of the Alchemist Guild also trembled from head to toe. They cursed inwardly: Who on earth had chosen this fellow as a judge? Once they found out, they absolutely would not let him off!

“Don’t use it all by yourself! Let me try it too!”

“Hmph! Weren’t you unwilling to try it just now? You said this potion was useless. What are you doing here now?”

“You sounded even more certain than I did just now. Hey, why are you still using it? Stop! Give it to me!”

“Half the bottle is gone. It’s my turn now, isn’t it?”

“Wait a moment. There are still plenty of places I haven’t applied it to...”

“No! If we wait any longer, there won’t be any left. If you don’t give it to me, I’m taking it!”

“You disgusting pervert! How much have you used already? Let your buddy have some!”

“Get lost! Who’s your buddy? I’m not giving you any. Hmph!”

The pockmarked male judge coquettishly shoved aside the people rushing forward to snatch the potion. With his other hand, he tilted the little bottle and poured it directly onto his own face.

...

Seeing the judges descend into madness, the surrounding Alchemist Guild staff hurried forward and forcibly separated them. One of the staff members was the examiner who had wanted to register Luo Lin after his first successful refinement. He had heard Luo Lin say that the potion would probably not be enough for the judges and had therefore refined another batch. At the time, he had been deeply disdainful, believing Luo Lin was merely seeking fame. It was clearly only a five-star potion, yet he had claimed that the supply would be insufficient.

But now, witnessing the judges fighting over it, he was so astonished that he nearly bit off his own tongue.

“Looks like that fellow wasn’t exaggerating in the slightest. At this rate, forget four bottles—even eight or ten might not be enough to go around!”

The staff members had also witnessed the effects of the whitening potion from the sidelines. Every one of them felt the urge to come forward and try it themselves. However, the Alchemist Guild’s discipline was strict, and anyone who actually did so would certainly receive severe punishment. Thus, they could only suppress their impulses and step forward to restrain the others.

“Everyone, don’t forget that you’re judging these potions in front of tens of thousands of people! What kind of conduct is this?” one of the Guild’s junior officials said.

Hearing this, the judges finally came to their senses. They suddenly realized that the nearly thirty thousand spectators in the stands were all staring at them with wide eyes. Being watched by so many people made the judges feel deeply uncomfortable.

Once everyone had quieted down, the junior official seized the opportunity to say, “They’re only a few alchemical potions. Come now, divide them evenly and let each person try a little. Is there any need to fight over them like this?”

“Er, sir, what alchemical potions are you talking about? I only have an empty bottle here...” One of the female judges timidly turned an utterly empty crystal bottle upside down for everyone to see.

“Sir, mine is empty too.”

“Mine is empty as well.”

“Ah, mine is empty too, sir. Would you like to give me another bottle?”

Looking at the empty little bottles in their hands, the junior official felt a wave of dizziness wash over him. After taking a deep breath, he said, “All of Potion Number Thirty-Six has now been used up. Let’s hurry on to the next potion, or the tens of thousands of spectators here—and the esteemed members of the Alchemist Guild—will not be pleased!”

Only after he invoked the spectators and the Guild did the judges continue evaluating the potions that followed. Though they appeared calm on the surface, every one of them was thinking the same thing: once the judging was over, they had to establish a good relationship with the alchemist who had refined the whitening potion and try to buy as much of this miraculous product from him as possible.

Not far away, Luo Lin watched the scene and thought to himself, “I told you this whitening potion would never be enough. If I hadn’t refined an extra batch, things would probably have been even worse!”