I'm a proper student; I only take nine kinds of potions every day.

Forty dollars.

He gritted his teeth and scraped together the tuition for the first semester.

And so, Evan finally stepped into the gates of the university he had always dreamed of, becoming a freshman in the Chemistry Department.

His plan was clear: study chemistry as an undergraduate to build a solid foundation, and then apply to medical school.

On the day he graduates, he will put on a clean white coat and open a clinic in a respectable neighborhood.

A bronze plaque hangs at the entrance, engraved with "Dr. Evan L. Arkham".

"And what's the price?" Evan gave a bitter laugh, his lips cracked and his smile aching from the corners of his mouth.

Frequent blood selling left his body as weak as a repeatedly used filter paper.

The unclean needles in that filthy clinic caused him to contract syphilis.

Various experimental drugs of dubious origin turned his organs into a complete mess.

I feel dizzy and lightheaded every day, have no appetite, and my limbs are so weak that I need to pant for a long time just to unscrew a bottle cap.

Three days ago in PE class, Evan fell while running, and the cuff of his shirt was torn open.

The shocking red marks on his forearm were now visible to everyone.

The stadium was silent for about two seconds.

Then came whispers, then undisguised snickers, and then someone shouted something that triggered a burst of laughter.

Ivan didn't hear the exact words, but he saw the expressions on every face.

He recognized that expression; it was the kind of look people make when they see rats in the sewers.

He returned to his apartment, sat in this chair, and grew angrier and angrier, until a string that had been stretched for too long snapped.

That's how the previous tenant explained it.

"What a disastrous start."

Ivan leaned back in his chair, the old, loose wood groaning under his weight.

He moved his fingers; each joint felt like a rusty hinge—stiff, sluggish, and slightly aching.

"Luckily, I have a cheat code."

A translucent panel appeared in his field of vision, like fluorescent writing branded onto the inner side of his retina:

[Kowloon Panel loading complete]

Occupation: None

Position: None

【Characteristics: None】

[Body Condition: 0.5] (The normal adult baseline value is 1. It affects physical fitness, strength, speed, immunity, and resistance to impact.)

[Mental Strength: 0.6] (The normal adult baseline value is 1. It affects willpower, memory, thinking and calculation ability, reaction speed, and resistance to pollution.)

[Spiritual Vision: 0] (The baseline value for a normal adult is 0. It affects the ability to perceive and control the extraordinary and mysterious.)

[Talent: Power of Nine Dragons]

[Power of Nine Dragons: You can reverse the negative effects of up to 9 drugs simultaneously.]

"These attributes are truly appalling." Ivan sighed, his breath carrying a metallic taste.

"But this power of nine dragons is quite interesting, hehe."

As the panel finished loading, he noticed a status bar appearing in the lower right corner of his field of vision.

It's like a prescription list posted behind the counter in a pharmacy, except this list is full of bad news:

Syphilis: 46%

[Pneumonia: 12%]

Anemia: 65%

Liver damage: 41%

[Peptic ulcers: 12%]

[Brain nerve damage: 17%]

"How the hell have you managed to survive until today?"

Ivan stared at the string of numbers and couldn't help but curse out loud.

This body was like a dilapidated building on the verge of collapse, with every supporting pillar cracked, only held up by the youthful strength of an eighteen-year-old.

"No, I absolutely can't die like this right after I transmigrated here."

"I must survive, hehe..."

His gaze fell on the table.

On the brown wooden table, covered with knife marks and burn marks, a pile of medicine bottles lay haphazardly.

Most of the bottles didn't even have labels. Some contained blue-gray mud balls, while others were open tin cans filled with a dark paste that emitted a pungent metallic smell.

There was also a small bottle of milky white liquid, sealed with wax, with a blurry mark pressed onto the wax surface.

Some of these were medicines for treating syphilis that he secretly bought from a pharmacy in Chengnan after school yesterday.

Some were free gifts given to us during previous drug trials, which were said to be "for conditioning the body".

Chapter 2: The potion is still the most potent!

Looking at the panel, Ivan's tone was filled with regret.

"The power of nine dragons... It seems the panel's effects don't take into account the medicine I took before, which is a bit of a shame."

"In that case, let's test the waters with two mercury pills first."

Thinking of this, his gaze fell on the two things he used most often in front of him.

Mercury ointment and mercury pills.

The former is applied externally, while the latter is taken internally.

This is the cheapest, most widely used, and also the most toxic drug for treating syphilis among the lower classes in this era.

none of them.

Mercury ointment costs seven cents a jar, and mercury pills cost three cents each.

It's as cheap as peanuts from a street vendor's cart.

Ordinary low-income patients can usually rely on this to get through a few months, and those who are lucky can even get through a few years.

Of course, in the end, your teeth will fall out one by one, your gums will turn black, and your mouth will always be filled with a sweet, rotten smell.

But given Evan's current financial situation, this is the only option.

He picked up two small, grayish-white pills.

The meatballs are slightly larger than peas, with a rough surface, and they crumble slightly when crushed by fingertips.

He popped them into his mouth.

The pill struggled down my swollen throat, scraping against the inflamed mucous membrane as it slid into my stomach, leaving a burning sting.

Evan frowned and swallowed twice before suppressing the urge to gag.

Then, a notification popped up in his field of vision.

You have taken a mercury pill. Effect lasts: 6 hours.

[Effect: Syphilis rash slightly subsided.]

Does this reverse the side effects?

When Evan saw this line, his heart was filled with anticipation: "A plot twist!"

You reversed the side effects of the mercury pills.

Your digestive ulcers have been relieved! 12% → 11%

Your brain nerve damage has been alleviated! 17% → 16%

Your oral cavity has been strengthened, and your physical constitution has been permanently increased by 0.001.

After reading the hint, Ivan's lips curled into a grin.

In this moldy, dilapidated apartment plastered with old newspapers, a sickly nineteen-year-old revealed his first genuine smile since transmigrating.

"0.001? Okay, even a mosquito's leg is meat."

Thinking of this, he picked up the jar of mercury ointment, unscrewed the metal cap, scooped out a dollop of dark gray ointment with his index finger, and was about to apply it to the red spots on his arm.

[Warning: Only one type of drug can be effective at a time.]

Ivan's hand froze in mid-air. He pursed his lips, scraped the ointment back into the jar, and casually rubbed his fingers on his trouser leg.

"Alright, let's look at other medications then."

He picked up a small glass bottle.

The bottle was barely thicker than his thumb, and it had no label on it, only a symbol he didn't recognize engraved on the bottom.

After the cork was pulled out, four black mud pellets rolled out, each emitting a strange odor.

It doesn't smell like medicine; it smells more like the humus in a forest after the rain, mixed with some indescribable spiciness.

He had just received this from Professor Priss, who taught him biology, today.

When the pale professor handed him the small bottle, he didn't even blink behind his glasses.

He only said one sentence: "Take it on time, record the reaction, and it can improve your physical fitness."

After all, as the signatory of the poverty subsidy agreement, it was his obligation to cooperate with the school's laboratory experiments.

It's written in black and white on the contract.

He was initially somewhat apprehensive about the black pills of unknown origin.