Chapter 183：I'm looking for Arbin

Chapter 183:I'm looking for Arbin

Calva City West, Block Six, Poplar Lane No. 9 is a wooden house with a courtyard.

A low wooden fence surrounds it, and in the middle of the courtyard stands an old poplar tree.Updated from novelbIn.(c)om

The courtyard is relatively clean, with a dozen flower pots stacked in the corner, although the flowers inside have long dried up and died.

The old wooden house has two floors, and the doors and windows are tightly closed, indicating that no one seems to be home.

Charlotte took out a piece of paper and compared it with the house number, confirming that she hadn't mistaken the place. She looked around and then approached the wooden house, knocking on its door.

There was no response from inside for a long time, and just as Charlotte thought that there might be no one at home or that the residents might have moved away, and was preparing to ask a neighbor, the door opened.

A tall and stout young man in his mid-twenties stood at the door. His skin was a sickly pale color, and his prominent dark circles indicated a lack of sleep.

He stared at Charlotte with vacant and unfocused eyes, wearing a loose, slightly worn-out cotton coat. His golden hair grew haphazardly like weeds, and he had stubble under his chin.

At first glance, he looked like a recluse who had lived alone for many years.

"Who... who are you looking for?" the man asked Charlotte, his voice not very loud.

"I'm looking for Arbin," Charlotte smiled.

Sure enough, only a recluse could portray the essence of such a picture book.

After all, when it comes to wishful thinking, who can surpass the imagination of a recluse?

A trace of panic appeared on the man's face, and he nervously said, "I don't know anyone named Arbin. You must have the wrong place."

As he spoke, he attempted to close the door.

Charlotte reached out and grabbed the door, preventing it from closing.

"What... what are you doing?! If you don't let go, I'll scream!" The man looked at Charlotte in alarm, and his chubby face even trembled.

The way this square-faced man spoke made Charlotte somewhat uncomfortable, but from his reaction, she was already sure that he was the manga artist she was looking for.

However, the man's living conditions didn't seem as exciting and romantic as depicted in the picture book about Arbin and the mermaid maid. It seemed that his life was in a mess.

"Don't be nervous, I'm not a bad person, and I don't intend to harm you," Charlotte lowered her voice a bit and looked at him.

"I came here to talk to you about the mermaid maid."

The man's expression suddenly became even more frightened.

While he tried to close the door with force, he shook his head and said, "I don't know what you're talking about, and I don't know any mermaid maid!"

"Sir, you don't want others to find out about your drawing of adult comics, do you?" Charlotte looked at him, her voice cold.

The man's movement instantly froze, his mouth opened and closed, but he dared not shout. He looked like a chicken with its neck being held tightly, his face turning red with excitement.

Seeing the man no longer struggling, Charlotte took a step forward and said in a low voice, "Don't worry, I'm not a weird fan, and I won't harm you.

I came to find you because I also encountered a mermaid who couldn't return to the sea.

"Why?" Charlotte looked puzzled.

"Being a doctor is a good profession, and it should be more lucrative than being an artist, right?"

Leo's gaze darkened, and he spoke in a low voice, "I had some conflicts with my family, as you might know. To save her, I had to use unconventional methods that couldn't be widely recognized, especially not by the Medical Association."

"Did you perform surgery on her?" Charlotte asked.

He noticed that the timeline was three years, indicating that Leo's rescued mermaid had been staying on land for three years, possibly even living in this small cabin.

Leo suddenly looked up, a hint of panic flickering in his eyes, and his voice became somewhat hesitant, "I... I didn't."

"Don't worry, I'm not from the Medical Association, and I won't hunt you down as a heretic or something," Charlotte reassured with a smile.

"I came here today to seek your advice on how to help her continue living on land.

If I'm not mistaken, during her first year on land, she couldn't survive on land anymore and couldn't return to the sea, right?

The mermaid I'm currently helping is in her first year on the land and can feel that her life is down to three months."

After staring at Charlotte for a moment and confirming that he wasn't a law enforcement officer, Leo nodded.

"You're right. In the later stages of her first year, she gradually experienced difficulty breathing, and as time went on, the symptoms became more severe, almost suffocating her."

"So, what did you do to help her maintain her life?" Charlotte asked with curiosity.

"During that half month, I tried over a hundred different potions on her. Eventually, I found that two of them had some effect.

Then, with a lot of connections and money, I managed to obtain the formulas for those two potions and adapted the ingredients to create a potion that could greatly alleviate her pain."

Leo recalled the agony she endured during that period and the pressure he bore, causing his eyes to unconsciously turn red.

Charlotte's eyes lit up. At least Leo was a doctor who was willing to try different potions to prolong her life when healing arts didn't work.

If this potion could extend the lifespan of the mermaid, it should work for Kasha too. It was good news.

"So, in these three years, have you found a way to let her return to the sea?" Charlotte asked again.

Leo shook his head, feeling somewhat dejected.

"There's no way. No matter how many potions I tried, I couldn't eliminate the corrosion caused by seawater.

Instead of relieving her pain, all I did was bring her more suffering by trying different potions and making her wounds worse when she went back into the water."

He looked down, appearing like a middle-aged man who had suffered from the torments of life.

"You said you didn't perform surgery on her. How did you deal with the corroded wounds on her body?" Charlotte inquired.

Leo's lips trembled, and his eyes welled up with tears.

He grabbed his hair with his hand and trembled as he spoke, "I had no way. I had no way. I tried every method I could think of, but the potions I could prepare only slightly alleviated her pain.

They couldn't completely heal the festering wounds. I could only watch them worsen bit by bit and see her suffer."