The Ancestral Legacy Begins in the Wild West

Chapter 171 Underground Laboratory

Zhang Chang'an walked to the second furnace, opened the door, and a burnt smell wafted out. Inside was a clump of blackened medicine dregs stuck to the bottom of the crucible, impossible to scrape off with a shovel.

The third one was better; it produced a semi-solid paste, grayish in color, and did not form a pill.

He opened the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth machines one by one, picked out the finished products, and left the waste inside for others to clean up.

After reviewing everything, he found that the success rate was indeed low. It was considered good if three or four out of ten batches produced successful pills, and the quality was consistently poor, with either surface cracks or irregular shapes.

But his technique was indeed improving. In the first few batches, he would lose everything, but later he could at least guarantee that each batch would produce a few pills.

In addition, the resources are really plentiful. Although the yield rate is very low, there are enough furnaces, so the final pills can still fill an entire ceramic plate.

After finishing tidying up, Zhang Chang'an turned around, sat on a chair for a while, waited for the surrounding air to come out, and quietly rested in place.

This laboratory has no windows. Because this is not the previous one, but a completely enclosed underground laboratory.

It is only because of the ventilation system with alchemy technology that there is no underground moisture, and the temperature and humidity are controlled within a suitable range.

The walls were made of huge stone bricks with a smooth surface, but the mortar between the bricks was a very dark color, almost black, as if something had seeped into it. And it looked very old.

There were no shelves along the walls, but there were long, recessed niches, deep and wide, just big enough for a person to sit sideways. There were two or three levels, filling the entire space.

These niches served as storage compartments, filled with sealed ceramic jars and metal boxes.

Of course, compared to these things, what he couldn't ignore most in this laboratory were the long tables at the other end of the space.

The items on the table were covered with several long pieces of burlap. Underneath them were human-shaped outlines.

Some lay on their backs with limbs outstretched, while others were curled up on their sides in contorted positions. Dark stains had seeped into the burlap in many places; some were already dry, blackened and hardened, while others were still damp, reflecting a dark red light under the lamp.

This is the result of the discussion that took place in the first half of the night.

To verify his claim, the warden took several death row inmates out of the prison, along with some unidentified experimental subjects who were already imprisoned underground, and used them as experimental materials.

Perhaps because he considered them all to be prisoners, or perhaps because he was already used to it, the warden did not hesitate to take action against them.

The experiments did not entirely involve the transmutation of Philosopher's Stone crystals like those of the Iron Mask; much of it involved ordinary human transmutation.

Even so, without detailed experimental design and the input of a large amount of complex raw materials, these experiments can still be very harmful.

But that's exactly what the warden wants to test. He specifically selected some dangerous experiments with immature technology, and Zhang Chang'an provided corresponding treatment methods or auxiliary pills to improve their tolerance to the experiments.

The final result was, of course, a success; however, due to the inherent flaws in the experiment itself, these people could not possibly have survived.

So while Zhang Chang'an was refining pills in this laboratory, he could clearly hear the sounds of people dying one after another on the experimental table in the next laboratory. Some died in just a few minutes, while others took half the night.

Even so, the results still show that alchemy is indeed effective.

Many of the people here have no spiritual cultivation whatsoever, and some are even criminals who committed crimes like smoking and drinking before coming in, resulting in extremely poor physical condition.

However, with the help of alchemy, their rejection reaction to foreign substances was significantly reduced, and the duration of their vital signs was almost twice as long as the values ​​recorded in the various experimental records at the time.

Only then did Zhang Chang'an gain his current privileges, allowing him to stay in this place alone, conduct experiments independently, and obtain various resource allocations.

Of course, there's no need to worry about his death sentence anymore.

"Clang!" Zhang Chang'an put the iron hook and other tools back into a niche, picked up the ceramic plate containing the pills, and walked out of the laboratory.

Outside the door was a corridor. The corridor was wide with a high vaulted ceiling, and the walls on both sides were made of large blocks of limestone. Like the ones in the laboratory, it had many recessed niches, long, wide and densely packed.

Some niches were empty, their depths indistinct, while others held kerosene lamps, illuminating the surrounding environment.

The stone slabs on the floor of this underground space were fairly flat, without any moss growing on them, and there was no musty smell in the air.

The structure is interconnected, with some paths branching off into dead ends. And, perhaps because of its age, the overall structure is very irregular, like a huge underground maze.

Fortunately, having been blocked at the door by Jack the Ripper and having seen mutated cultists, he had extremely high tolerance. Even though this place was gloomy and eerie, he wouldn't be too affected, nor would he get lost.

This is mainly because the space seems to be enclosed. Although there are still many side passages and corridors, no matter which way you go, it's still the same size area.

Moreover, his target was very clear: a huge laboratory next to the starting point of the underground space.

The heavy iron gate is reminiscent of the gates of futuristic nuclear-resistant underground air-raid shelters. The door frame is inlaid with three concentric transmutation patterns, and the gaps in the door are sealed with lead strips. Only in the very center is there a palm-sized observation window fitted with glass that is thicker than its length and width.

At the entrance stood two guards who looked as if they had run off a movie set, clad in full-body gold armor. Their heavy armor made their limbs appear thicker than an average person's head, and many parts of their bodies were covered with intricate inscriptions.

Several rows of bottles and metal tubes hung from his waist, and a large phlogiston gun and corresponding fuel backpack were carried on his back. At his waist was also an extremely wide alchemical broadsword.

They stood ramrod straight, silent, their gazes fixed straight ahead, showing no reaction to Zhang Chang'an's arrival. But the oppressive aura emanating from them was undeniable.

Zhang Chang'an could guess without even fighting them that, based on their equipment, these two alone were no less powerful than him.

After all, what's locked inside is the most important experimental gold-making product in all of France.

After Zhang Chang'an arrived, the two guards did not hesitate for long before stepping aside.

One of them reached out and pressed the transmutation array by the door. A dull sound of gears meshing came from inside the iron door, the lead seal loosened, and a crack slowly opened.

As a very special experimental assistant, Zhang Chang'an possessed astonishing personal privileges; otherwise, he could go to most places and freely contact any experimental subject.

This is because his main role is to harmonize and stabilize experiments. Many of the experimental samples underground are actually in an unstable state, which requires his personal contact and follow-up to help them maintain stability even outside of experimental periods.

For example—the Man in the Iron Mask, who is tightly confined in the very center of this laboratory.

The laboratory in front of me was practically a replica of the traitor on the ground, complete with workbenches, blackboards, shelves, and instruments, even in almost the same locations.

It's just that the structure is larger, and there are more and denser things and equipment.

A long table stretched from the entrance to the far end of the room, piled high with parchment and open books. Shelves against the wall were filled with specimen jars, and a ring of phlogiston lamps hung overhead, illuminating the entire room without a single shadow.

This also includes the experimental apparatus in the center of the room, which is exactly the same as the one above, and the man in the iron mask in the center of the apparatus.

1