The Origin of the "Physical Enhancement Potion"

Using Wei Sijian's access card, Shen Qian easily unlocked the door to the "Potion Storage Room" and stepped inside.

What greeted him was a low-temperature storage facility. Even with his enhanced physique, he couldn't help but shiver from the sudden wave of cold air.

The storage room wasn't large, barely twenty square meters. On both sides, refrigerated cabinets were neatly stocked with various potions and pills. What caught Shen Qian's eye was that these potions finally had labels—at least now he wouldn't be fumbling in the dark.

"Body Refining Mixture?"

One particular cabinet was entirely dedicated to different variations of the Body Refining Mixture, including those suitable for mid-level and high-level martial artists.

Shen Qian took a deep breath. A single bottle of the mid-level variant was worth at least several hundred thousand...

His hand, driven by greed, reached out—

Only to retract two seconds later.

...There was a fingerprint lock.

Come on, guys. This was an internal lab of the Martial Arts Bureau—was such high security really necessary?

Feeling utterly speechless, Shen Qian tried scanning a few more bottles.

No luck. Every cabinet had a fingerprint lock.

Suppressing his sinful desires, Shen Qian reconsidered his options. Getting Wei Sijian to open the cabinets for him was unlikely—just because the guy was absentminded didn't mean he was an idiot.

Just as Shen Qian shook his head, ready to leave, his peripheral vision caught something—a small porcelain bottle tucked away in a forgotten corner. The lighting made it nearly invisible from most angles; only from where he stood was it clearly visible.

Squatting down, he picked up the tiny bottle.

"Rongyuan Pill."

A small label was affixed to the bottle, but it provided no additional information.

He gave it a light shake. A crisp sound came from within, indicating that the pills were still intact.

This was the first time Shen Qian had seen a pill referred to as a "dan" rather than just a potion or mixture. Even by instinct, he could tell this wasn't some cheap item.

His wristband scanner returned no useful results, so Shen Qian decided not to waste time thinking about it. Holding onto the small bottle, he left the storage room and returned to Wei Sijian's side.

"Old Wei, what does Rongyuan Pill do?" he asked without hesitation.

Annoyed at yet another interruption, Wei Sijian, who was flipping through his notebook, frowned but still replied, "It's used for advancing to a martial artist—helps with fusing energy."

Advancing to a martial artist?

Shen Qian was stunned. The textbooks never mentioned needing pills to reach the first stage of martial arts!

I'll ask Liu Simin later. She was already at the fifth level of the first stage—she should know the details.

"How much does this sell for?" Shen Qian asked next.

"No idea. But low-grade pills like this shouldn't be worth much," Wei Sijian replied casually.

Hearing that it wasn't valuable, Shen Qian felt no guilt in keeping it. At least he didn't walk away empty-handed.

"Then I'm taking this Rongyuan Pill?" Shen Qian confirmed.

"Mm." Wei Sijian didn't even look up.

Scanning the lab one last time and confirming there was nothing else to grab, Shen Qian placed the access card back on the table, ready to leave.

Just before stepping out, his eyes swept over the experiment materials on Wei Sijian's workbench. He hesitated but ultimately said nothing and headed for the door.

Wei Sijian remained unresponsive.

Pressing the door release button, the automatic doors slid open. Humming a tune, Shen Qian was about to walk out—when his voice suddenly faltered, and his body froze.

Outside, four young people in white lab coats—three men and one woman—were staring at him in confusion.

For a few moments, they just stared at each other. Then one of the men finally asked, "Who are you? Why are you here?"

...Damn.

These four looked sharp—clearly not the bookworm type like Wei Sijian.

I can't fight them—this is the Martial Arts Bureau, and I'm not even sure I'd win...

Thinking quickly, Shen Qian made his decision. With a smile, he said, "Hello, I'm a friend of Wei Sijian."

"Senior Wei's friend?"

The four exchanged glances, whispering among themselves.

Wei Sijian has friends?

Wait... Wei Sijian has friends?!

Seeing they still weren't stepping aside, Shen Qian sighed internally.

Alright, you forced my hand...

It's time to put on a real show!

Turning around, he re-entered the lab and walked straight up to Wei Sijian, who was still absorbed in his research.

Without hesitation, he snatched Wei Sijian's notebook, flipped through a few pages, and sneered, "What a mess. Full of mistakes."

"What did you say?" Wei Sijian snapped his head up, frowning.

The four newcomers followed Shen Qian into the lab, exchanging puzzled looks.

"I said you're wrong. Completely wrong from the very start," Shen Qian said with undisguised disdain, tossing the notebook onto the table. "If you keep researching like this, even in ten years, you won't get any results."

Wei Sijian's face turned red with anger. "Then tell me, where did I go wrong?"

"If I'm not mistaken, you're trying to improve the formula for the 'Body Refining Mixture,' right?" Shen Qian asked coolly.

This was exactly why he dared to step back in and act like an expert.

When flipping through Wei Sijian's notebook earlier, he had sensed something familiar. After thinking carefully, he realized that—aside from the complex formulas—the listed ingredients practically matched the "Physical Enhancement Potion" from his system!

It wasn't exactly the same, but close enough to be indistinguishable.

The key difference was that Wei Sijian's version was still in a rough draft state. Unlike the system's perfected recipe, he was still tweaking the proportions of secondary ingredients.

More importantly, he hadn't figured out the main ingredient yet.

Right now, Wei Sijian was experimenting with an unknown spirit herb as the primary ingredient.

When Shen Qian first saw the notebook, he was shocked. A bold but logical guess formed in his mind—

The system's "Physical Enhancement Potion" formula was very likely stolen from Wei Sijian's research. The system had merely perfected it.

He had two reasons to believe this.

First, the system had just flexed its "free knowledge expansion" feature right before his eyes.

Second, the very first page of Wei Sijian's notebook had a handwritten title for the formula—

"Physical Enhancement Potion."

What are the odds of that happening by coincidence?

"So what if I am?" Wei Sijian glared at him, waiting for his answer.

"The Jingcheng Pharmaceutical Association promised to donate a huge sum to the research institute," the short-haired girl explained. "But they requested improvements to the Body Refining Mixture's formula. Our professor accepted, and Senior Wei was assigned to lead the research."

So that's what happened...

Shen Qian finally pieced the puzzle together.

"Hurry up! Where's the mistake?" Wei Sijian urged impatiently.

The other young researchers also stared at Shen Qian with curiosity.

They knew their senior's personality, but they were also well aware of his genius in pharmaceuticals.

This was a guy who regularly drove professors mad with frustration, yet they couldn't bear to give up on him.

And now some random person was claiming his carefully researched formula was completely wrong?

Shen Qian also realized that Wei Sijian was no ordinary researcher. At such a young age, being entrusted with improving a best-selling potion's formula was something even seasoned experts struggled to achieve.

"Say something already!" Wei Sijian was on the verge of losing his mind.