The Alchemists

In order not to attract too many people, the east wing of the hospital was finally sterilized from visitors and other patients. Only certain people on duty could roam there.

Nevertheless, the presence of a group of beautiful people had already become the talk of the hospital among those who had seen them. Rumors that they were members of the Schneider family soon spread among the present visitors and hospital staff. They wondered who was sick for the whole mysterious family to come to visit.

Terry, who was busy searching for news about himself on the internet for the most popular executive nomination in 2050, suddenly chuckled. He repeatedly tapped his tablet and examined various photos in the website column that contained news about him.

"My photo's already uploaded to the gossip website. How are they so fast?" He grumbled. He showed Jan, who was sitting beside him, nodding from his sleepiness. "Looks like this was taken from the lobby earlier. Call the director of the hospital's HRD so they take care of their security."

Jan tilted his head to look at what Terry was referring to and immediately understood. Terry's real resentment wasn't on the photo itself, but rather the angle of taking, which was not right and didn't display Terry's good looks as he wanted.

Jan remembered that Terry had been photographed by the paparazzi a number of times when he was stirred up on a date with some models, but Terry didn't nag because his appearance in various photographs taken in disguise looked dashing and charismatic.

"This doesn't seem to have been taken by a professional photographer or paparazzi," Jan said, squinting and examining the photos. "The quality is bad and the angle is not good. Surely they are only taken by hospital visitors who happened to recognize you, Sir."

"That's right," Terry said. He agreed with the part that the picture quality was poor and the angle was not good. Huh... his face in the photos looked swollen and his eyes were closed. Untalented people shouldn't touch a camera, he thought in irritation.

"We can't do anything if the pictures are taken by visitors. This hospital only prohibits the presence of photographers and journalists. Patient visitors have the right to bring a phone and take photos as they please." Jan explained patiently. "We can only jam the internet signals so visitors can't post anything to the media."

"That's better," Terry agreed.

"That, or you can visit the hospital formally after taking shower and changing clothes, so the visitors and staff can meet you in person and take better quality pictures together," Jan added.

Terry looked stunned for a moment and looked at him with a bright face. "Hmmm... you're right, too. It would be better if I appear officially, so as to allay suspicions and gossip about why the Schneider family suddenly came here."

He wanted to ask the location of the nearest VVIP room so he could take a shower and change clothes when the hospital director came walking towards him from the lobby.

"Good morning, Sir," William Gerber greeted Terry with respect. Among these new arrivals, he immediately recognized Jan Van Der Ven and Terrence Chan. After greeting Terry, he nodded at Jan. "Can I help you, Sir?"

"We want to have an official visit later this afternoon. Can you please make the appropriate preparations?" Terry promptly requested.

"Of course," William smiled kindly. "Do you need anything else? Have you all had breakfast?"

Jan nodded. "Earlier, the hospital staff prepared everything. We'll eat after taking shower and changing."

In the large lounge where they were resting, there were now many comfortable large sofas, a luxurious dining table, and several rooms for resting and bathrooms. Even so, nobody was thinking of taking a shower and changing clothes or having breakfast because they hadn't gotten the latest news about L's condition.

"I rushed here as soon as I heard about the Schneider family. Well then, I will come back before lunchtime so we can arrange an official visit."

He then excused himself. Terry decided to take Jan's advice, cleaning up to look fresh and changing into formal clothes. Since his presence was already known, he felt better if he also used this opportunity to appear in the media for support of the most popular executive in 2050 nomination he was aiming for.

"Please also take a shower and change clothes..." he grumbled to London, who was sitting in a corner of the room while sipping his coffee slowly. Terry frowned at London's crumpled appearance. "You're still wearing the same clothes as the one you wore at Aleksis's party in Singapore, don't you realize?"

London looked at his own body and realized that his brother was right. Ugh... He was embarrassed remembering how he had hugged L all night with clothes that he had worn for two days.

When he turned to Jan wanting to ask something, Jan had handed him a small suitcase.

"There are clothes and other necessities in this suitcase. I stopped by the penthouse this morning," Jan said.

"Hm... thank you."

London then followed Terry into one of the available rooms and cleaned himself up. When he came out with a neat appearance, his eyes immediately caught the sight of Aldebar, who had followed Caspar and Lauriel into the observation room.

"Uncle...!" He hurriedly approached Aldebar. "I have something to talk about..."

Aldebar raised an eyebrow. "What's wrong?"

"Uncle... I beg of you, can you give me the immortality potion for L? I don't know how to make her condition better and Lily safe."

His voice was filled with panic and worry. Aldebar deeply gazed at his nephew.

"I heard she doesn't want to marry you... You're aware that according to the Alchemist rules, you can only ask for immortality potion once, right?" He deliberately said his sentence slowly as if to emphasize his intention so London would rethink his request. "The next time you meet an ordinary person you wish to marry... you won't receive another potion."

London shook his head firmly. "I won't ask for another potion. I'll look for an alchemist wife."

"You should think about it carefully..." Aldebar crossed his arms to his c.h.e.s.t.

It was easy for him to make the immortality potion, and he had the right to choose certain people to become immortals. Until now, he had given the immortality potion to fifteen formidable knights he met to be his bodyguards, and together with him, they maintain the safety of the potion and its formula.

But specifically for couples who come from ordinary humans, rules are rules. A clan member can only receive the potion of immortality once for their partners. This rule was made so the Alchemists act more wisely and thoroughly think about who they want to spend their entire lives with. Exceptions are only given to children born outside the clan.

"Uncle... didn't Father receive the potion twice? At that time, Father gave one potion to his ex-fiancée before he met Mother." Out of nowhere, Rune came over and joined the conversation. "After they got married, Mother also got a potion from Uncle Aldebar, right? What exceptions did Father receive at that time?"

Aldebar turned and smiled. "Oh... your mother drank the potion that was supposed to be my quota. You know that I don't intend to get married. So when your father came to Germany and said that he finally fell in love and couldn't live without your mother... of course I had to help him."

"Oh..." London and Rune looked at each other in surprise. They had never heard of this story before.

London still didn't waver. He had absolutely no objection to giving his quota of the immortality potion to L. Without this potion, L wouldn't be able to give birth to their child, and if that happened, he would have no more reason to live. Why would he need to live forever if he had to bury his child before she could even be born?

"I'll look for an Alchemist wife or Ill never marry," he replied stubbornly.

Aldebar finally nodded. "Alright then."