Chapter 478: Dr. Alfred

While speaking, Xia De looked up at the maid's face again.

Although the black-haired young lady didn't know the specific condition of Xia De's eyes at this moment, she still covered her cheeks quickly:

"Mr. Hamilton, then let me try it too. I have never heard of a magic potion with such an effect."

Xia De thought for a moment and nodded:

"You can, but the lasting effect of the medicine isn't long; I have already felt the effect fading."

He looked at Miss Servit's nose again:

"Is the skin of all Witches this good? Every Witch I have seen seems to have very good skin. Look, your pores are very even, the black... on your nose..."

Seeing her suddenly sharp gaze, Xia De consciously didn't continue.

Thus, the black-haired young lady also dripped a drop of magic potion for herself. Although she didn't have any miracles related to eyes, she could experience the enhancement effect on vision.

The feelings obtained by different Ring Mages were basically the same, so in this way, it could be roughly inferred that the ophthalmologist Mr. Alfred absolutely couldn't be a Ring Ringed Ringed Shushi.

A rare magic potion with such an effect wouldn't be wasted on an ordinary person even if it were to be tested, and that doctor didn't even conduct recovery afterward. Although Xia De couldn't directly appraise the magic potion, the half bottle of medicine he was holding in his hand now, even if it only had the effects explored so far, would probably be bought by someone on the black market even for 1000 pounds.

The musician who was born blind being healed should also have utilized this kind of medicine. But Xia De guessed that the amount of medicine used during the doctor's treatment was larger, so after recovering his vision, he would see the truth of the world more "clearly," thereby walking toward death in frenzy.

Knowing more isn't necessarily a good thing. In this world, actually knowing and seeing less isn't a bad thing.

After Miss Servit's right eye's magic potion effect also faded, the two immediately set off to visit Dr. Alfred.

The ophthalmologist's clinic was on a street on the northern edge of Tobesk. Walking two blocks north from here, one would officially leave the city and enter the village area in the north.

This could be considered one of the most remote locations in Tobesk. It was normal that the client Mr. Mandis couldn't find it. Only, this area wasn't a slum. Although it was located in the northernmost part of Tobesk, due to its unique location and large-scale flow of people, this area was the center of bulk cargo trade in the north of Tobesk.

Timber, food, fresh fruits, vegetables, and flowers were usually transported into the city from the northern plains of Tobesk, and after trade settlement nearby, they were distributed to every corner of the city.

Therefore, even on a Wednesday afternoon, the area around Dr. Alfred's ophthalmology clinic was exceptionally lively.

Only his clinic wasn't grand at all. On the left was the office building of the Sikh Granary, and a quarter of the people on this street came here to handle business; on the right was a small private bank opened by a Carsenrik person, mainly engaged in loans and currency exchange, so the facade was exceptionally grand.

And the ophthalmology clinic sandwiched in between was a narrow and dilapidated three-story yellow building with peeling wall skin. Plus the steam pipes and gas pipes on both sides that had to pass through the walls of the clinic, this caused the small building of the ophthalmology clinic to look like a small child shrinking between two giants, and also like a garbage station between two grand buildings.

Except for the people living nearby, probably few outsiders dared to treat their eyes in such a place.

The door of the clinic was closed. After getting off the carriage, Xia De knocked on the door a few times, and seeing no one respond, he pushed the door open directly:

"Do people now not like to close their doors? It was the same when I went to the musician's apartment yesterday. When did the atmosphere in Tobesk become so good?"

He joked to Miss Servit, while the maid thought that the reason why the door wasn't closed here was because this was an ophthalmology clinic that was currently operating.

After the detective and the assistant young lady walked in, the tall and thin middle-aged man wearing an apron who seemed to be cooking pushed open the door on the other side of the front hall and looked at the guests who entered in surprise:

"Hello, are you here to have your eyes checked? I am Dr. Jacob Alfred, may I ask which one is the patient?"

While speaking, he took off his apron and threw it aside, carefully observing the two people who entered.

Xia De noticed that Dr. Alfred wore a very beautiful gemstone ring on his hand. This was probably a counterfeit; this doctor didn't look like such a wealthy person.

"Do you know the blind musician Mr. Frank Bondi of the Noshan Opera Troupe?"

Xia De asked standing at the doorway. The tall and thin ophthalmologist was somewhat surprised by the name he mentioned, but still nodded:

"Yes, did he commission you to come and get the medicine? I remember those medicines were supposed to be used up by the end of this month. Did I calculate wrong? Oh, I haven't seen him for more than half a month either. How are Bondi's eyes? Does he need to increase the dosage..."

"He died."

Xia De interrupted his words.

"Died?"

Among all the people who heard the news of Mr. Bondi's death, Dr. Alfred was the most surprised one:

"What? Then my experiment... Apologies, may I ask when this happened?"

"In the middle of last month, about 25 days from today."

Xia De said, then tentatively asked:

"Don't you know about this? Or, didn't you see that his mental state was problematic?"

"No, every time he came, I just recorded his medication frequency and the recovery state of his eyes, and Bondi didn't say he had mental problems."

Xia De could understand this. That blind musician was worried that the doctor would stop supplying medicine because of his mental state. From the suicide note left by the musician, he was similarly afraid of recovering to his original state.

"Since that's the case... I am Detective Xia De Hamilton, investigating the cause of Mr. Bondi's death. This lady is my assistant. May I ask if you have a place suitable for conversation here."

Saying this, he extended his hand to the doctor, who hurriedly wiped his hands on his clothes and then shook it.

【Ordinary person.】

"Oh, yes, Detective, please follow me. However, I swear, I absolutely have nothing to do with Bondi's death!"

He led the way, taking the two to a narrow study on the second floor. Dr. Alfred really didn't seem to know; he gave the medicine, only thinking he had found a special medicine to treat eye diseases, so he kept lamenting Mr. Bondi's death while going upstairs.

Arriving at the study, Xia De sat on the sofa and told Dr. Alfred the information he had collected from the landlord, the Noshan Opera Troupe, the Three Cats Inn, and Miss Mary. Today, Miss Servit followed Xia De, mainly responsible for recording work, so every time Xia De mentioned something, she would display the corresponding record.

Of course, the record omitted the bridge of playing Rod Cards.

The doctor lowered his head to check those records. This tall, thin middle-aged man wearing a plaid shirt had more and more sweat on his face. After Xia De finished speaking his information, he immediately said loudly:

"No, I can guarantee that my medicine is absolutely fine!"

"What is your relationship with the musician Mr. Bondi?"

"I'm testing medicine on him! I came up with a potion formula myself! If I succeed, I will change the history of ophthalmology!"

"This is a sample I obtained from that Miss Mary."

Xia De took out the flat bottle from his pocket:

"There is still half the liquid inside, I think it's enough for the Ridgewich Field to conduct an analysis."

He observed the other party's expression, then lowered his voice, as if the two were doing some private transaction, which made Dr. Alfred even more nervous.

"Doctor, the evidence I currently hold is very unfavorable to you. Although I am not a policeman, I can also imagine how they would handle this case for convenience."

Xia De had actually never dealt with the police of this era, but the sweat on Dr. Alfred's face was even more. He widened his eyes, emphasizing again:

"There is absolutely no hallucinogenic component in here! Detective, my medicine won't cause frenzy! I believe in my medicine."

"If you can convince me, so that I can have enough information to report to the client, I will believe you, and I won't go to the police. But the first step, I want to know..."

Xia De placed the bottle on the coffee table in front of him:

"What are the components of this medicine?"

Miss Servit looked at Xia De. She thought Xia De would tell the truth and persuade the other party to tell the information, but she didn't expect him to use a half-true, half-false threat instead.

Following Xia De all the way today, she had already seen Xia De use different methods for different people to obtain information, which gave the maid a more sufficient understanding of Xia De.

This kind of person didn't look like a fool two months ago at all.

"Components, yes, the components are absolutely fine."

Saying this, the doctor wanted to stand up to get his notebook. But Xia De let him sit down, and then let Miss Servit replace the doctor to get those documents.

The documents were all in the study, which not only contained the formula of the medicine, but also the medical records of the blind musician and the rehabilitation records for three months. Those documents piled up and written with dense letters could fully explain the long-term effect of the medicine and prove its medicinal effect.

Letting his "assistant" check the rehabilitation records, Xia De looked at the formula of the medicine under the somewhat nervous gaze of the doctor.

This formula was invented by Dr. Alfred himself, and the treatment conducted on the blind musician Bondi also belonged to experimental treatment.

This kind of unregistered drug experiment was of course illegal, and because the specific efficacy and side effects were unknown, even though Dr. Alfred miraculously succeeded in making the blind man recover his sight, he didn't publicize his medicine, but thought about confirming there were no side effects after half a year, and then winning honor for himself.

This was the real client of Detective Hamilton, the blind Mr. Mandis, who couldn't find out the doctor's information from his friend Mr. Bondi. When Mr. Bondi participated in the experiment, he promised to keep it secret.

The ingredients of the formula were very complex, and the material list alone filled a whole page of the notebook. But Xia De checked carefully, and most of them were cheap herbs, not containing chemical synthetics that had already appeared in the steam era, which made this formula look more like a wrong formula written by a clumsy witch doctor.

And, among those herbs, only two were common magic potion materials for Ring Mages. Even Xia De, a sophomore with shallow knowledge, knew that these two materials couldn't play a role in this kind of medicine.

"Then what is the active ingredient? It can't be that the combination reaction of inactive ingredients produced active ingredients, right?"

Xia De held a skeptical attitude, and checked the specific synthesis process behind it again, then his eyebrows frowned slightly, and he looked up at the nervous doctor:

"Apologies, may I ask what this 'Red Potion' is?" ===== CHAPTER 479 =====