[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"origin-becoming-a-god-through-horror":3,"chapter-becoming-a-god-through-horror-becoming-a-god-through-horror-chapter-48":6},{"origin":4,"title":5},"chinese","Becoming a God Through Horror",{"chapter":7,"nextChapterSlug":19,"prevChapterSlug":20,"totalChapters":21,"novelImage":22},{"id":8,"novel_id":9,"title":10,"slug":11,"index":12,"content":13,"wordcount":14,"created_at":15,"updated_at":15,"volume":16,"translator":17,"content_hash":18},2273591,4441,"Chapter 48: Teaching the True Genius","becoming-a-god-through-horror-chapter-48",48,"\u003Cp>Soon, Mary’s family found a house with a yard near Louis’s home, and Frank, once a well-known university teaching assistant, secured a teaching position at the school, finally settling down.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Mary did not attend the same school as Louis; to her, that would be a complete waste of time, so she skipped grades directly into a superior private high school and planned to audit classes at MIT in a few years.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fortunately, they were neighbors; though they didn’t study together, they still had time to spend with each other.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>However, Louis soon taught Mary a special “game.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>At the back hill of Louis’s house, Mary stared curiously at the steaming crucible and the strange materials beside it—herbs, dried lizards, leaves, and more.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mary, do you remember Emilia?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Fear flashed in Mary’s eyes; her body trembled slightly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>How could she forget? That old witch Emilia had been their lifelong shadow.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Blood, severed limbs, slaps, and that greedy gaze…\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Don’t be afraid. She’s dead.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Louis patted her shoulder; as the one who had punished Emilia, he successfully calmed her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Mary, have you heard of alchemy? Look at these.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Louis pointed again at the materials scattered around.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“These are used to brew witch potions.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Witch… potions?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Yes. Witch potions are herbal concoctions developed by witches, derived from alchemy, with countless mysterious effects.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mary immediately understood: Louis had likely obtained something from Emilia and wanted to brew these potions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But why involve her?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Me? Train?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Seeing Mary’s puzzled gaze, Louis chose to be honest with her—he wanted her to learn how to brew potions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>For this future right-hand man, Louis had no intention of hiding anything; after all, secrecy would do more harm than good, and he was confident.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Wow, this is fascinating.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mary’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the formula Louis pulled out, ran a quick calculation, then turned to him eagerly.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Can I try it now?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Of course.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Since returning to the family, his grandfather’s support had clearly increased—otherwise, Louis could never have casually spent over half a million dollars.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>So he’d easily prepared dozens of batches of these materials, with no fear of waste.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mary immediately began her operation, while Louis stood silently beside her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He needed to see just how gifted she was in this area; mathematics was indeed a tool for analyzing all things and a major pillar of alchemy, but practical skill ultimately mattered most.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As expected.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mary’s first attempt failed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But Louis’s eyes filled with surprise—she’d failed only because, at the final step, she’d hesitated to cut her own finger out of fear of blood.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Every step before that had been flawless, without a single error!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I’m sorry, Louis, I messed up,” Mary said, head bowed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“No, you did great. Excellent.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Louis gave her a thumbs-up, praising her.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This time, use my blood.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Soon.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mary began again. This time, her actions remained precise—timing, quantities, all perfectly controlled—and she succeeded on the first try.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching the liquid rapidly turn a pale red, Louis smiled.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>But then Mary rubbed her chin, as if thinking—or performing mental calculations.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One minute later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>She picked up the materials again and asked Louis for a small digital scale.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Ten minutes later.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Another potion was produced—but this batch required nearly one-fifth less material!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Louis stood speechless, staring at Mary with a complex expression. “Why?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Mary grinned proudly. “Heh, I thought something was off the first time I made it—some parts were exact, but others had vague quantities.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“So I calculated the rate at which they dissolved at that moment…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“I just don’t know much chemistry yet—if I did, I might optimize the effects. Of course, that’d require experiments to figure out which ingredients are essential and which can be cut…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“…”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Then Mary rattled off several equations Louis didn’t understand, followed by talk of variable control, calculations, and more—her endless stream of explanations only deepened Louis’s silence.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Is this what a true genius looks like?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Compared to Mary, this genuine scientific prodigy, he, a man with an adult soul, was nothing special—just lucky enough to have accumulated a few extra years of mediocre knowledge. (In truth, Louis himself had strong innate talent in this area; he’d simply lacked a benchmark and been blinded by his own limited perspective.)\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Maybe he could only show off in the realm of mysticism?\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He took a deep breath and suppressed that flicker of imbalance.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It’s fine—the more talented Mary is, the better. That just proves I helped her correctly. She’s my future potion master, alchemy grandmaster, logistics chief!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Alright, Mary. Let’s study these together, slowly. How’s that?”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“Really, Louis?” Mary looked at him, surprised and delighted.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>“This is way more interesting than school.”\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Watching Mary, thrilled as if this were a fun game, Louis turned and dialed a phone call.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>It was to his grandfather.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He told his grandfather to collect the blood of loyal family members who could keep strict secrecy, and to find a batch of puppies.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>The purpose, of course, was to strengthen the family’s power—he knew well of the family’s current troubles; the new law was the U.S. government cracking down on organized crime.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>One key tactic of organized crime was bribing and threatening officials to form alliances—but this new law had shattered that method.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>As the strongest gang under the big syndicate, the Cano family was especially visible and under heavy pressure. Before leaving the family, he’d heard his grandfather say he was already arranging asset laundering.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>He also cursed a few times at the IRS bastards.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Damn it, even the IRS pops up out of nowhere to interfere with gang money laundering! Unbelievable!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Also, recently, Mexican and Latin American factions have been pushing drugs into Florida to expand their influence, making the region unstable. As the local power, the Cano family was on the front lines of conflict—Louis’s own kidnapping was proof.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>That’s why Louis had taken these actions.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>On the other end of the line, his grandfather didn’t ask what Louis intended to do—he simply agreed.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>After hanging up, Louis’s eyes turned cold.\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>Wait. When I grow up, I’ll go to your headquarters in Mexico myself and drown you all in blood—to repay the debt of my kidnapping!\u003C\u002Fp>\n\u003Cp>(End of chapter)\u003C\u002Fp>",1032,"2026-06-19T23:34:28.869Z",1,"Qwen3-Next 80B","0dc6ea020fb3c96e5f8f63c66b0f589acacb5d12c7dde2472e6b4ca34ea31104","becoming-a-god-through-horror-chapter-49","becoming-a-god-through-horror-chapter-47",253,"https:\u002F\u002Fnovelzhen.com\u002Fimages\u002Fcovers\u002Fbecoming-a-god-through-horror-cover.jpg"]