Li Andy followed his memory, passed through a group of heavily made-up older sisters waving at him, shook off a few tailing rats, and arrived at a secluded spot in the deep alley, pushing open the small door of a grocery store.
At first glance, it seemed no different from other grocery stores.
But upon closer inspection, one could see many strange insect specimens sporadically placed on the shelves.
The shop owner was a handsome uncle in his forties or fifties.
However, this handsome uncle was less than a meter tall; he was a dwarf. He sat on a mechanical chair, his large feet dangling, unable to reach the ground.
"Oh? A new face, what do you need?"
The shop owner raised an eyebrow, scrutinizing Li Andy, who was also scrutinizing him.
This handsome dwarf, known as "Old Du Lin," was the Black Alley's potion master and a middleman for various mysterious shady dealings.
It was said that he used to be very tall, but due to taking the wrong magic potion, his body atrophied, leading to his current appearance.
"A Slumbering Spirit Potion, and some bullets," Li Andy said.
"An insider?" Old Du Lin straightened up slightly. "Do you have an introducer?"
Li Andy countered:
"Isn't Black Alley known for selling anything and everything, no matter how risky?"
Old Du Lin scoffed, leaning back, seemingly not intending to do business with him.
Li Andy nodded slightly and recited a magic potion formula: "50 grams of Stronglife Grass, 30 milliliters of Climbing Vine Sap, 40 grams of Limestone Powder, 22 grams of Scaly Zinc Stone..."
As the various drug names entered his ears, Old Du Lin's brows gradually furrowed.
"Scaly Zinc Stone... what comes after that?"
Old Du Lin stood up, propping himself on the table, and stared into Li Andy's eyes,
"What kind of magic potion is this?!"
"It's the High-Energy Growth Potion you've been searching for," Li Andy replied.
Old Du Lin was silent for a few seconds, then asked:
"What do you want?"
Li Andy snapped his fingers:
"A trade, and introduce some jobs to me."
"You don't have an introducer," Old Du Lin frowned.
"Can't you be my introducer?" Li Andy replied.
"..." Old Du Lin fell silent.
In the mystical circles of Black Alley, introducers bear a certain responsibility, so insiders usually do not easily introduce people of unknown origin. Moreover, with Queen Victoria's announcement of the upcoming overseas inspection, the situation has been unstable recently.
Seeing his hesitation, Li Andy explained:
"I don't have any special purpose; I'm just here to make a living. I plan to set up an agency, take on commissions that ordinary people wouldn't dare touch, and find someone to help promote it."
"Promotion isn't just about talk," Old Du Lin's tone clearly softened.
Li Andy spread his hands:
"Then you can introduce a few jobs for me to do. For the first two commissions, you can take a 50% cut as an introduction fee. As for the magic potion formula, besides me, you'd be hard-pressed to find such a complete one elsewhere, so consider it an entry fee."
Old Du Lin pondered for a few seconds, then said:
"Alright, but you'll have to give me the formula first. I need to verify the potion's effectiveness. In the meantime, I can offer you something of equal value as collateral."
"Deal."
Li Andy nodded; he wasn't worried that Old Du Lin would run off.
As a middleman in the mysterious circle, one wouldn't last long without some credibility.
Then, he told Old Du Lin the remaining ingredients.
The latter's eyes grew brighter and brighter as he listened.
"So that's how it is... so that's how it is!"
With his many years of potion-making experience, he could roughly predict the formula's effect; it should be effective.
He had been short for so many years, and he finally saw hope of returning to his youthful height!
"Next week! If the magic potion is fine, you come to me next week! I'll save some good jobs for you, and I'll charge the introduction fee at the normal rate, I won't ask for more from you!"
Having said that, he quickly turned the joystick on his chair, making the seat rise continuously.
After reaching a height where he could touch the ceiling, he moved aside a ceiling panel, took out a medicine box from inside, and then turned the joystick again to lower the seat.
He seemed eager to complete the transaction and return to making potions.
"This is the Slumbering Spirit Potion. Don't take too much at once! This stuff can be intoxicating, but it's much more expensive than Fireweed. This time, I won't charge you."
"Don't worry, I'm a professional."
Li Andy opened the box; inside were ten transparent tubes containing a pale green liquid, arranged in a row.
He opened one of the bottles and sniffed it; it had a strong, unpleasant bitter smell.
But the feedback from his soul was sweet.
"What kind of gun do you want?" Old Du Lin asked.
Li Andy carefully put away the magic potion:
"Something easy to carry."
Old Du Lin nodded, jumped off his chair, pried open a floorboard, and while rummaging, said:
"In New Continent, you can't be without this thing, whether it's for dealing with people or some ghostly stuff. If you ask me, the Empire's damn gun control order is completely unsuitable for this land!"
Li Andy nodded in agreement.
His current location, known as Ninth District, was the ninth colony occupied by the Luo'ou Empire in the New Continent, and one of the few major industrial zones.
It was separated from his hometown by an ocean.
Old Du Lin, holding two unloaded revolvers, jumped back onto his chair and pushed them in front of Andy:
"I only have these old ones here. If you want new ones, I can introduce you to another place."
Li Andy picked up one to examine it; the dark gun barrel appeared ancient and understated. Adding some holy water and salt to the bullets, he wondered if it could achieve physical exorcism.
"These two will do for now," Li Andy also asked for a box of bullets.
Before he left, Old Du Lin suddenly called out to him and tossed him a pink potion.
"What is this?" Li Andy asked.
"My latest work, I call it... Invigoration Potion!"
Old Du Lin raised an eyebrow, giving him a knowing look,
"This is how I conquered the landlady of this building; I no longer need to pay rent! If you find it effective, help me promote it. When it sells well in the future, I can give you a small discount."
After saying that, the old dwarf even proudly puffed out his chest.
Combined with his mature face, it looked particularly incongruous.
Li Andy's mouth twitched.
That landlady's taste was truly unique...
I remember in the game, this old dwarf didn't seem that lewd, did he?
Was it because the player controlled a female character?
Li Andy shrugged, placed the potion in the medicine box, and left the grocery store.
After taking care of these matters, his mood instantly lightened considerably.
In the original game's plot, Youxi only partnered with Sophia to establish the Anomalous Affairs Agency after two and a half years of training at the monastery.
Then they would take on various commissions and travel to different parts of the world to investigate various mysterious incidents.
Now, Li Andy was directly developing ahead of schedule!
He had three objectives in doing so:
Firstly, to train and strengthen himself through commissions, while collecting some folk relics, and at the same time, clarify his own abilities.
Secondly, to develop connections and establish himself in the mystical community.
Thirdly, to prepare for the subsequent collection of the remaining six special relics.
In the field of mysticism, one needed influence and background.
If one wanted to go to certain places, without the right connections, they wouldn't even find a crack in the door.
For example, forbidden areas, deep mountain forests, or underwater ruins.
Moreover, he remembered that in the game, Youxi, due to her identity and various other reasons, kept going in circles and hitting dead ends everywhere.
After barely surviving and completing difficult commissions, she would still have most of her commission fees eaten up by various unscrupulous middlemen.
As the player, Li Andy felt his blood pressure surge every time.
He wished the game would turn into GTA so he could kill those NPCs.
Now that he was personally playing the character, how could he tolerate this?