Chapter 44: Mastery of Pharmacology Doesn’t Mean It’s Gunpowder!

Lu Xingzhou took the paper cylinder thrown by the drug dealer boss, feeling a mix of laughter and tears. Was this the price of bragging?
No one had told him that joining a drug-trafficking syndicate required an onboarding assessment!
Would they like to arrange a three-month training period next and help pay for social insurance and housing provident funds too?
However, as a former social butterfly, Lu Xingzhou prepared to demonstrate his exquisite eloquence.
Just as Lu Xingzhou was about to open the paper cylinder, he was stopped by the drug dealer boss.
"Wait a minute, little brother. You should know that what we do is highly confidential. Hand your cell phone over to me first."
Lu Xingzhou patted his pocket. He had actually planned to secretly call his older sister to report them to the police later, but he hadn't expected the drug dealer boss to be quite so cautious.
With a quick turn of his mind, Lu Xingzhou did not hand over his phone easily; instead, his gaze swept over the other drug dealers.
"You're afraid I'll betray you, but I'm also afraid one of you might betray me! If the cops show up here in a moment and round us all up, I'll be taking the rap right along with you!"
The drug dealer boss softened his tone and reassured him, "Little brother, don't worry. This operation is strictly confidential. Before the few of us came here, we left all our electronic devices back at our base."
Lu Xingzhou's eyes lit up, his tone carrying a hint of doubt and questioning.
"Meaning none of you... brought a cell phone?"
The blue motorcycle rider responsible for picking up Lu Xingzhou stepped forward to vouch for it.
"Little brother, of course! Just think about it—if we had phones, why would I need to go pick you up? A simple phone call and sharing our location would have sufficed. We need to ensure that we cannot contact the outside world, and the outside world cannot contact us."
Lu Xingzhou the corner of his mouth curved upward. You can't contact the outside world, and the outside world can't contact you? Well then—don't blame me for live-streaming everything.
Lu Xingzhou had authorized the official organizers of this off-road motorcycle endurance race to broadcast his ride.
Therefore, Lu Xingzhou was not running his own live-streaming channel; everyone else was watching the off-road motorcycle endurance race and listening to the race commentary on the organizer's official broadcast channel.
However, that did not mean Lu Xingzhou hadn't brought live-streaming equipment with him!
Especially his smart glasses.
These had always been Lu Xingzhou's most covert live-streaming device.
Holding the paper cylinder in one hand, Lu Xingzhou took off his helmet, but he did not remove his face mask.
He wasn't sure if the drug dealer boss recognized his face.
Lu Xingzhou had originally started live-streaming to make money and become famous; he never imagined he would stumble into so many extraordinary situations.
Consequently, finding photos of Lu Xingzhou on the internet was not difficult.
Now that his phone had been confiscated, Lu Xingzhou was forced to resort to the most dangerous way of calling the police—turning on his live stream.
Faking the motion of taking off his helmet, he knocked his smart glasses slightly askew, then reached up to gently adjust the frame—the live stream was activated.
——————
The live-streaming channel of the motorcycle race organizers.
Because Lu Xingzhou had surged far ahead of the entire pack like a lone stallion, he had exceeded the maximum range of the drone's camera frame.
As the official race commentator, he could not fixate solely on Lu Xingzhou and ignore the other professional motorcycle riders.
Therefore, after the race commentator provided some commentary on the professional riders' progress and directed the drone to fly ahead to search for Lu Xingzhou, he discovered that Lu Xingzhou had vanished from the track...
"Director, director! Where's the feed? Where is Lu Xingzhou? Are you blind to how filthily the viewers in the chat are cursing us out right now?"
Sweating profusely, the director commanded the cameraman to operate the drone.
"We're looking! We're looking! This doesn't make sense. Even if he rode like the wind, he couldn't possibly outpace the professional riders by ten minutes! Could he have taken the wrong route?!"
"Camera crew five, did you see a rider in a delivery uniform pass by?"
"Yes!"
"Camera crew six, did you see a rider in a delivery uniform pass by?!"
"No!"
A chill ran through the director's heart: Oh no! Lu Xingzhou really must have taken the wrong route.
Meanwhile, in the official commentary live stream, not only were Lu Xingzhou's fans fiercely berating the director because they wanted to see Lu Xingzhou, but even the racing enthusiasts wanted to see him.
After all, Lu Xingzhou's previous corner accelerations, lean-angle drifts, and flying leaps across ravines had been far too thrilling. Watching the other riders' race now felt utterly dull and insipid.
You shouldn't showcase a rider who is too astonishing at the very beginning; otherwise, the moment the camera angle shifts, you'll find the skill level of the other racers abyssal and agonizing to watch, triggering the illusion that 'I could do that too!'
<Where is the streamer? We want to see the streamer!>
<Riding this slowly, do they even know they're in an off-road race? I've never seen them obey traffic rules this strictly out on the regular streets.>
<My grandmother riding an electric tricycle could run faster than them!>
<The streamer has started a live stream over on his end! I'm not chatting with you guys anymore, I'm going over there to watch!>
<For real?! The streamer is broadcasting, but it looks like he's not in the race! He's chatting with someone.>
<Haha! I bet one 'Super Rocket' that the streamer has run into some kind of trouble again. Just by looking at the other guy's face, I can tell he's no good!>
<I'll match a 'Super Rocket'! They just snapped the streamer's phone in half! But why is there only one camera angle? I want to see the streamer's expression right now.>
<You think our streamer has a script like other people? Our streamer is all about authenticity. Judging from this camera angle, it has to be a hidden camera.>
After turning on his live stream, Lu Xingzhou pulled his phone out of his pocket and handed it to the drug dealer boss.
The drug dealer boss snapped Lu Xingzhou's phone in half with a crisp "crack," then heavily tossed it onto the ground.
Lu Xingzhou's eyes widened: "You..."
A smile lingered on the drug dealer boss's face: "Little brother, don't worry. Aren't I doing this for the sake of confidentiality? Once this job is done, I'll buy you two brand-new smartphones."
Lu Xingzhou curled his lips in disdain: "You'd better just cash it out for me instead. Those phones get scorching hot in the summer, crash in the winter, and when you charge them up in the northeast, the battery drops faster than it fills."
The drug dealer boss didn't mind Lu Xingzhou's banter: "If you want cash, cash it is..."
At this point, the drug dealer boss changed the subject and looked down at the paper cylinder in Lu Xingzhou's hand.
"The other matters are settled. Little brother, now you need to complete the test I gave you and tell me what is inside this paper cylinder."
Lu Xingzhou raised an eyebrow slightly, thinking: 'Since the other party is a drug dealer, and the person they invited is a drug-manufacturing expert, the contents of this paper cylinder must be some kind of narcotic.'
Lu Xingzhou desperately racked his brain to recall all the knowledge his older sister had taught him.
However, without a chromatograph-mass spectrometer, relying solely on the naked eye carried a huge margin of error.
Yet, driven into a corner as he was, he had no choice but to give it a try.
However, when Lu Xingzhou opened the paper cylinder, the powder inside left him utterly startled.
This color!
This texture!
It was far too easy to recognize!
Among the rewards for escaping the second-tier drug manufacturing facility was a mastery of pharmacology...
However, no one had told him that the pharmacology he mastered was for gunpowder!