Amelia had indeed taken a brief nap right at her desk-no more than a quarter of an hour-yet she awoke feeling entirely refreshed, as though the fatigue of a long, exhausting day had been magically washed away. The lab results her friend provided were packed with dense technical jargon that she couldn't fully parse, but her own physical experience was undeniable. It was just as her friend had marveled: the effects were almost impossibly good.
Given her profession, Amelia was no stranger to high society. She had experienced firsthand the lavish wellness treatments enjoyed by wealthy socialites. On surface appearance, the tranquil ambiance and refined service of those high-end spas were certainly far more impressive, but in terms of actual results, they belonged to completely different worlds. The tonic Li Yunlong had given her was a miracle. If-no, not «if»! Both the lab analysis and her own body confirmed the miraculous efficacy of this Yin-Nourishing Decoction. This was a revolutionary product capable of reshaping the entire cosmetics and wellness industry. If she held tightly to this lead, the Pulitzer Prize was practically in her pocket!
At the thought, blood surged through her veins, a ringing sense of purpose echoing in her ears. She sped off in her car straight to Li Yunlongs house. Li Yunlong welcomed her warmly. «Come in, please! Have a seat. I just finished making dinner-why don't you join me and taste my cooking?»
Amelia was in no mood for dinner. «Lee, do you have any idea what kind of elixir you handed me yesterday?»
«The Yin-Nourishing Decoction,» Li Yunlong replied. «Don't worry, I'm quite confident in my brewing methods. Just take it as scheduled. If it doesn't work, I'll refund your money.»
«How often does it need to be taken?» Amelia asked.
«While drinking it every day wouldn't hurt, the human body can only absorb so much at a time,» Li Yunlong explained. «To make full and effective use of its potency, I personally suggest taking it once every three days.»
«Are there any other precautions I should know about?»
«You're an ordinary person, so you don't need to be overly strict. Choose a quiet, comfortable environment when taking it, keep your mind as tranquil as possible, and perhaps take a short nap afterward. There aren't many restrictions.»
Amelia paused. «Lee, you just said 'ordinary person.' Is there a special distinction to that?»
«No offense intended, Amelia, but you're not a practitioner of the occult, so you don't need to worry about taboos,» Li Yunlong said. «If you were an occult researcher like me, or engaged in other mystical professions, there would be strict rules in your daily life-much like religious observances for believers. For instance, Muslims refraining from pork, or Jews practicing circumcision. It has little to do with ordinary people.»
«I trust you, Lee,» Amelia said. «But do you truly not understand what your medicine represents?»
Li Yunlong observed her closely for a moment. «You took the Yin-Nourishing Decoction about half an hour ago, didn't you? I don't see anything amiss.» He reached out and checked her pulse. «Everything is fine. There's no need for alarm.»
Amelia pulled her hand back, looking at him with a strange expression. «You really don't get it, do you, Lee? The Yin-Nourishing Decoction you gave me is a miracle drug. It's like an atomic bomb that will blow the entire beauty and wellness industry sky-high! If you sell this formula to a pharmaceutical giant, you'll become a billionaire overnight! Your name will echo across the globe! You'll go down in history!»
Li Yunlong's expression remained calm, entirely uninfected by her fervent enthusiasm. After thinking it over carefully for a moment, he spoke. «Thank you, Amelia. Perhaps due to our different ways of thinking, I hadn't considered that perspective. But having just reflected on it, I believe you might be overly optimistic about this.»
Amelia's eyes widened. «Lee! You don't grasp what this extraordinary drug can actually do! It rejuvenates the body-it's a modern Fountain of Youth! Its magic could captivate the entire world!»
Li Yunlong offered a mild, serene smile. «Amelia, how could I not know the effects of a potion I brewed myself? The core purpose of the Yin-Nourishing Decoction is to nourish the yin and replenish the vital essence. Any feeling of 'rejuvenation' is merely a subjective illusion. Calling it a modern Fountain of Youth is pure hyperbole. Do you remember what I told you about its nature? The human body has an absolute limit on how much it can absorb. Claiming it bestows eternal youth is physically impossible.»
Amelia stared at him again-earlier in excitement, but now in sheer disbelief. Crossing her arms, she spent a long moment in deep thought. Gradually, her composure returned, her professional rationality regaining the upper hand over her passion. «Lee, even if the effect is only what you describe, the Yin-Nourishing Decoction is still more than enough to revolutionize the beauty industry. As a friend, I hope you'll grant me an exclusive interview to document the birth of a new billionaire!»
Only now did Amelia truly reveal her caliber as a veteran journalist. A woman could be more than just a pretty face; wrapped in her professional armor, she radiated an undeniable, sharp brilliance.
Her drive to strive and forge ahead was truly a fine sight to behold. Li Yunlong smiled genuinely. «I have a better proposal, Amelia. How about becoming my business partner? I can offer you thirty percent of the profits.»
Amelia was nearly driven wild by this sudden mountain of gold dropped into her lap. Her breathing turned heavy, her facial expression rapidly shifting-from wild delight to contorted disbelief, even showing the faint bulge of veins at her temples. Her hands gripped the arms of her chair so tightly that it creaked under her weight, making Li Yunlong worry for a moment that she might lose her balance and fall to the floor. After a long while, Amelia finally regained control of herself. She let out a long, slow breath, slumping lazily back into her chair.
As a seasoned American journalist-and an elite in her field-Amelia understood precisely how much wealth Li Yunlong's offer represented, and even more so how drastically it would alter her life and destiny. That was precisely why she had almost lost her composure. Carefully measuring her tone and weighing every word, she said, «Lee, I'm honored that you'd invite me to be your partner. But I still have to ask… why?» Her mind was racing at lightspeed, ideas floating through her head in rapid succession-she even found herself briefly imagining marrying Li Yunlong and building a life together.
Li Yunlong shrugged. «Because I need help, of course. To sell something like this, I'll need patents. Getting a drug approved is no simple task-the process is complex and takes forever, easily half a year to a year, or even two to three years. I'm just an occult researcher; handling that kind of corporate bureaucracy is beyond me. I need a professional.»
Amelia smiled, a touch of triumph in her eyes. «Lee, leave all of that to me. You can rest easy. I have plenty of connections who can resolve those issues in record time. Plus, I have ties to an executive at Rips Bio-Pharmaceuticals. I can ask her to drop a few hints in her circles, which should easily attract some powerful, deep-pocketed buyers for our Yin-Nourishing Decoction.»
Her shift in stance was remarkably swift, but having secured a partner without spending a single penny, Li Yunlong certainly wasn't going to rain on her parade. He nodded. «I trust your abilities, Amelia. But that isn't the main problem. The real issue is that our Yin-Nourishing Decoction probably won't command the sky-high price you're imagining.»
Amelia was baffled. «Why on earth not?»
Li Yunlong remained as composed as ever. «Because I can't sell them the manufacturing process.»
Amelia breathed a sigh of relief. «Don't worry about that, Lee. I have friends in laboratories and know a couple of chemistry professors at the university. We can pay them to help us map out and formalize the chemical production process.»
Li Yunlong gave a helpless smile. «You misunderstand me, Amelia. That's not what I mean. The core issue isn't the chemical synthesis of the medicine-it's the occult factors that give the potion its miraculous effects.» Seeing her bewildered look, he elaborated, «The main hurdle lies in the success rate. If we're talking about small-scale lab batches, everything is fine. But if we try to scale it up for mass production while maintaining these results, I estimate the cost would be astronomically high-far beyond what anyone could accept.»
Amelia suddenly felt out of her depth. «Lee, isn't the Yin-Nourishing Decoction just a medicine? How did it get wrapped up in occultism?»
«The Decoction itself isn't a new creation,» Li Yunlong explained. «It's an ancient formula. But why does the batch I gave you yield such miraculous results? The secret isn't the recipe-it's that an occult ritual was performed during the brewing process.»
Amelia rubbed her temples forcefully. «Then can't we just sell the ritual to the pharmaceutical companies alongside the formula?»
Li Yunlong smiled wryly. Amelia was an ordinary person who didn't grasp the underlying laws of the occult. To an outsider, a ritual was merely a set of external actions, but producing the desired effect was far more complex than simply going through the motions. «It's not that I don't want to sell the ritual to them, Amelia. The reality is that even if they replicated the occult ritual to the letter, their success rate would likely be atrociously low.»
Amelia couldn't comprehend it at all. «How is that possible? If the ritual is performed identically, why would the success rate be so low?»
It was a fundamental difference in how they viewed the world. The occult possessed its own complete theoretical system. If one couldn't span multiple disciplines, absorbing and synthesizing the knowledge, but instead tried to forcefully dissect occult phenomena using conventional science, the result would be a mess of logical contradictions that solved nothing in the end.