"Five-limb paralysis?" Fu Xuan asked in confusion. "Aren't humans supposed to have only four limbs? Where's the fifth coming from?"
Herta also turned to look at Sylvester, waiting for his answer. Was this not meant for human consumption?
Sylvester spoke unhurriedly. "The fifth limb is the neck and head. Aside from the hands and feet, the brain doesn't lose consciousness, but the eyes, nose, mouth, and ears all lose function—and you can't move your neck either."
"Uh… this."
After hearing that, Fu Xuan no longer wanted to question the term 'five limbs'.
Her earlier excitement over the tripled strength was instantly extinguished by this negative side effect.
First the four limbs are paralyzed, and then—aside from touch—all five senses are gone.
Why even let the torso retain sensation at that point? Might as well just turn the person into a vegetative state. Oh no, not just a vegetable—a three-times-stronger vegetable! That's even more thrilling!
If she could only lie on a bed, unable to see, eat, hear, or smell—reduced to feeling the world only through her chest and back for centuries until she succumbed to Mara and was taken in by the Ten-Lords Commission...
Then she'd rather just be killed on the spot.
To live like that would be worse than death itself!
"This pill is less useful than a single poison capsule."
Herta said blankly, not even pretending to care about saving face.
As expected of something born of Nihility—better not to take it at all.
And yet, she still found herself incredulous that those so-called Doctors of Chaos could make something like this.
"Who said that?" Sylvester retorted calmly. "If we're talking examples, doesn't the Imbibitor Lunae still have a tail? That could still be used for battle."
"Mm…"
Fu Xuan's vision darkened.
She imagined Bailu lying limply on the ground, relying solely on her tail to squirm forward, dragging her little face across every bit of floor she passed.
Wasn't that basically turning herself into a living mop after taking the pill?
At best, her tail would pull her whole body forward like some inverted flying snake.
And in combat—her body unconscious, yet her tail channeling triple the power, firing off one top-tier technique after another from its tip—zap zap zap—battling across the field.
The scene was simply…
As the Xianzhou proverb goes: "Swing naked on the war drum, and you'll lose face beyond the horizon."
Fu Xuan gritted her teeth. Not to mention the Imbibitor Lunae—even the most desperate Borisin seeking strength wouldn't tolerate such humiliation.
She certainly couldn't.
Unless… the one taking it was a snake.
A being of that shape might accept losing four senses in exchange for tripled strength.
Other than that, dying outright would honestly be preferable.
"What about the next pill's effect?"
Herta had completely lost interest in the so-called [Super Strength Pill].
This kind of thing had zero research value.
Fu Xuan abandoned the red capsule and picked up a blue one. "What about this one?"
"[Wisdom Capsule]."
Sylvester tapped his temple. "Blue is the color of intellect. Taking it doubles your IQ."
Fu Xuan nodded. "Sounds decent."
If she took that, her intellect could leave Jing Yuan eating her dust across eight whole streets.
But with her recent experience, she didn't dare let her guard down.
She asked, "And the side effect?"
Sylvester said coolly, "Your emotional intelligence becomes negative. If your EQ was originally high, then after reversal, you'll be quarrelsome, refuse to let things go, delight in being snarky, find extreme pleasure in verbal jabs, full of cunning and venomous wit—basically destroy your entire social circle."
"So, the closer someone's EQ is to zero, the greater their net gain?" Herta summarized, pinching her chin thoughtfully.
"Correct."
Sylvester's affirmation reached her ears, and she turned to see both Fu Xuan and Sylvester looking at her—with a peculiar sort of… approval?
But she understood—they weren't praising her deduction. That conclusion was obvious.
Then what did they mean? Did she have something on her face?
She checked her reflection in the window—no, nothing amiss. Her clothes were perfectly fine too.
Their gazes still didn't move away. Normally, she was used to seeing recognition—she saw it countless times during press conferences or award ceremonies when others gazed at her with admiration or jealousy. She was long numb to it.
But this look from the two of them was… unnervingly unpleasant.
Seeing that Herta didn't react, Sylvester simply withdrew his gaze.
He sighed inwardly. Every genius was, to some degree, arrogant—always believing their own way was right.
Still, that was normal. Without such confidence and stubbornness, few could ever achieve brilliance.
Fu Xuan placed the blue capsule back into the box.
At least this [Wisdom Capsule] wasn't outright deadly like the red one—it could actually work.
But it clearly wasn't meant for her. As a leader, if she started lashing out at subordinates daily and offending everyone equally, within days she'd have an entire department working against her. Authority alone couldn't compel loyalty.
At that point, forget being an Emanator—she wouldn't even qualify as a general.
Of course, if she did become an Aeon, she wouldn't need to worry about being a general anymore.
Fu Xuan then picked up a dark crimson capsule. "And this one?"
The previous blue pill had given her a shred of hope—the side effects were becoming more tolerable.
Maybe this one would finally hit her blind spot.
But Sylvester's reply immediately shattered that illusion.
"This pill," he said lightly, "is called the [Sooner-or-Later Capsule]."
"Sooner… or later, doomed."
Fu Xuan half-bit her words as she repeated the name.
Just hearing it already sounded ominous, didn't it?
The first two at least sounded somewhat positive, but this one? It practically screamed 'You're done for.'
Not even pretending anymore, huh?
This one wouldn't just kill you instantly, would it?
She glared at Sylvester furiously. Sure, Curios were random, but these effects were downright insulting! How could she possibly stay calm?
After a moment, Fu Xuan exhaled like she was surrendering to fate. "Alright, fine. What's the effect?"
"It allows a dying person to instantly recover to perfect condition—and then gain regenerative abilities far surpassing even the Denizens of Abundance."