Ke-style law enforcement officers

Chapter 261 Guidance
"As far as I know, this substance is extremely unstable, right? In fact, I was mentally prepared. Before meeting you, I even imagined that you might lose an arm or a leg, but now it seems that your attitude towards the research and development experiment is commendable. At least you didn't hurt yourself."

Nephren sat down on the inside of the desk, in Milos's seat.

He placed his hands, fingers interlaced, on his knees, and looked calmly at the young girl in front of him.

“I know you must be very surprised, because you have not made all your research public before, and you only use this thing in necessary extreme circumstances. There may only be a very few people in the world that you can trust who know about the existence of this substance.”

"However, my advice is that you don't need to feel nervous or flustered. I have no other purpose in coming here. As your advisor said, this is a purely academic discussion."

A smile, which he thought was very friendly, appeared on Neffren's sculpted, angular face.

But his smile looked so out of place to Emma.

It was as if Nephren making that expression was something he was extremely bad at; it was awkward and distorted.

……

Emma stood there without leaving, but she couldn't calm down and sit down.

She stared at the unfamiliar man before her for a long time before finally asking, "You've come for Edward Sherman?"

Nephren's brown eyes darted from side to side, and he shook his head with a hint of disdain.
“I don’t know any Sherman, but if his death was a necessary factor in the creation of this substance, I think I would be grateful to him.”

“He was the first person I killed,” Emma replied, enunciating each word clearly.

She did not flinch from Nephren's gaze, even though it was so sharp that it caused her a strange sting.

“Then I would say that he died more meaningfully than the vast majority of people.” Nephren’s unsettling smile reappeared on his face.

"What exactly do you want?" Emma tried her best to calm herself down, staring calmly at Nephren. "Everything I've done has nothing to do with anyone else. If you want to arrest..."

"No no no."

Nephren raised his hand and rubbed his temples, calmly explaining:

"Son, no one is trying to arrest you, and I will not allow anyone to harm you or your family. As I said, this is an academic discussion. We only need to talk about your recent research, nothing more. As far as I know, this viscous liquid substance has extremely poor stability, right? It even has a certain degree of acute toxicity and mutagenicity. To use more sophisticated terms, it is also carcinogenic. It must have taken you a lot of effort to preserve it properly, right?"

Nephren explained his understanding of nitroglycerin to Emma with utmost seriousness, seemingly trying his best to dispel Emma's wariness of him:
"Have you ever considered that your specific illness might be caused by it? Or have you always known about it?"

……

“This has nothing to do with you,” Emma replied calmly.

“You’re right.” Nephren nodded, somewhat helplessly, and said, “So how can I convince you that I’m here to help you? Hmm… how about this, I don’t know if you’ve ever tried putting it in a low-temperature state, that is, freezing it into a solid state, to adjust its unstable properties…”

“This substance has a higher mechanical sensitivity in its frozen state than in its liquid state, and the sensitivity is highest in its semi-frozen state, requiring only slight friction.” Emma clenched her fist and then spread her fingers, making an explosion gesture, before continuing, “The method you described is completely unworkable.”

A relieved smile finally appeared on Neffren's face. Because at this moment, he could see the shadow of that proud, solitary soul conducting chemical experiments alone in the attic in Emma's eyes.

"So, the adsorption carrier is the right approach, am I right?" Nephren snapped his fingers, then tapped the table twice. "Are you going to stand here and discuss this with me forever?"

"It's not necessary."

This time, Emma didn't hesitate and simply sat back down in the chair outside her desk.

……

“Very good, then I can finally provide you with what I consider to be an excellent adsorption material.”

Neffren placed a glass bottle containing a grayish-white powder on the desk and slowly pushed it toward Emma:

"What you need is this: an amorphous soil formed from the remains of a single-celled algae called diatoms after they die. It's porous, has an extremely high specific surface area, is lightweight, and has strong permeability, meeting all the conditions for being an adsorbent. You might find it hard to find this kind of substance in Nanwei City, but once you leave the city, you'll easily find it everywhere in the basins and plateaus of the northwest. So sometimes a wider field of vision can save you a lot of research time, especially when you have limited time left."

Emma picked up the glass bottle and stared blankly at the powder inside.

"Why are you telling me this?"

She was a little puzzled.

A man of unknown origin not only discovered all her secret research, but also easily solved the problem that had been troubling her for a long time, as if he had done his homework beforehand.

The man before me seemed to know everything.

However, Nephren shook his head:
"No, you shouldn't be asking that question now. What you should be asking is, once the glycerol is stored in the absorbent material, how do you detonate it? You need another stable material as the detonator, right?"

"You don't happen to have that material on you too, do you?" Emma tilted her head slightly, staring at Nephren.

“Of course not.” Nephren chuckled and tapped his temples a few times with his fingers. “This is your research. The problems that are nearing completion should naturally be solved by yourself. Just use your brain. Of course, if you are willing to sell all your research to me, I will offer a price that will absolutely satisfy you.”

“Who would be foolish enough to put a price tag on their own life?” Emma flatly rejected Nephren’s offer.

“That’s not entirely true.” Nephren didn’t seem surprised by Emma’s refusal.

……

As he was saying goodbye, he gave Emma something: a strange, octagonal crystal that shone with an odd light.

"This is a gift, unrelated to your research, but rather a token of your good wishes. Your health is deteriorating, but I'm sure you won't stop your research. I hope the gods will grant you more time until you finish your work, Emma Valrocan."

……

(End of this chapter)