The most shameless alchemist in history

"What's wrong with my brain? I remember everything else perfectly, but I just can't recall this. It's really strange," Du Lei said with a self-deprecating laugh. He was puzzled and looked back into the distance. Kotetsu was searching around.

"Forget it, let's leave this matter at that for now. Maybe I'll suddenly understand someday? Even if I never understand, it's not a big deal. The most important thing now is to get out of Nightmare Mountain and find the Ghostly Shadow. Where is she...?"

Du Lei shook his head, dismissing those pointless thoughts from his mind. The underground palace was vast, with hundreds of rooms; hiding someone here would be incredibly easy. After the green jewel shattered, the power suppressing Hu Che and the others began to dissipate rapidly.

This confirmed their previous suspicions: the barrier suppressing them was indeed emitted by the green orb. Now that the green orb was completely shattered and no longer functioning, the ghostly spirit, having lost its support, must be hiding in some corner of the underground palace. Now was the perfect opportunity to seize her.

Just as Kotetsu and Du Lei split up to search for the ghostly figures, someone was quickly packing things up in a room in the underground palace.

"Damn it! Damn it! Damn it! Those wicked bastards actually shattered Lady Baozhu! Waaah! That was my hope for obtaining a physical body! Now that Lady Baozhu is gone, how am I supposed to recreate a body for myself? I don't want this to happen..."

It was none other than the ghostly figure that Dure and his group had encountered earlier, whimpering and sobbing. She still maintained the appearance of a girl, but no longer had Winry's face. Instead, she was a little girl with white hair and dressed in white.

"No, those bad guys are looking for me everywhere. I can't fall into their hands. I have to escape from here and find another place. I can't stay here anymore, but I'm sure I can find another good place. That's it! Why don't we go there!" The little girl seemed to have thought of something.

"If it's there, let alone shaping a body, even seeking more things... it's not impossible, hehehehe, that's decided then, let's take these things with us, this place is finished, we need this, we need that..." The little girl packed her things.

She had been flustered and confused about the future, but after thinking about that place, her steps became lighter.

She was happily packing her things and naturally didn't notice someone approaching from behind.

"Although interrupting someone is very impolite, I think it's necessary to say this: this is the end, you can't escape now." Someone blocked the little girl's way, which startled her as she was happily packing her things. She turned around sharply to look at the person behind her.

"You are... that kid who shot me before! You actually dared to chase me here, I still have a score to settle with you!" The little girl clutched her abdomen. The arrow had seriously injured her, and she had no recollection of Hu Che and the others.

Even with Leopard Tail, her impression of him was limited to the label "unworthy of sympathy." But Du Lei was the only one she harbored deep hatred for, his image etched into her mind. Now that Du Lei had suddenly appeared behind her, it was a case of enemies meeting and their eyes turning red with hatred.

"Is that so? Then I'll settle this score with you properly." Du Lei took a step forward, blocking his way out. If it were before, he would have been somewhat apprehensive about facing the ghostly figure alone, but the situation was different now. The little girl was injured and couldn't exert her full strength.

The only green gem she could rely on had been completely shattered, and now she was nothing more than a fish to be slaughtered.

"You bastard, just die right now!" the little girl gritted her teeth and charged at Dure, manipulating black smoke to attack him.

“I couldn’t deal with you in front of so many people just now. But if I used something like black smoke… I might not be weaker than you.” Du Lei was quite certain that there was no one behind him. Hu Che and the others were searching elsewhere and couldn’t find this place for the time being.

Just as the black smoke controlled by the little girl flew towards him, a shadow suddenly appeared beneath Du Lei's feet.

Everyone has a shadow, which is perfectly normal. However, the shadow under Dure's feet was a little abnormal because its outline was completely disproportionate to Dure's, and their physical features were completely different. It was as if a huge creature was appearing under Dure's feet.

The enormous black shadow, accompanied by a strange "heh heh" laugh, instantly sent dozens of black shadows spreading out from its massive outline, engulfing and swallowing all the black smoke controlled by the little girl, leaving the dumbfounded little girl slumped on the ground!

"What is this thing? It's so scary...so scary...don't come any closer, please don't come any closer..." The little girl saw the huge black shadow surrounding her, and for the first time she felt what fear was. She trembled under the shadow's control.

"Now you know fear? It's too late. I'm grateful for your help before, so this time, I can only express my regret." Dure looked at the little girl with pity. If she were still in Winry's form or Black Smoke's form, she wouldn't deserve any pity.

But now she's just a little girl, which inexplicably reminded Du Lei of his younger self, making him somewhat mentally uneasy.

But sympathy is just an emotion, not enough to affect his judgment. The huge black shadow was about to devour the little girl!

"Huh? Wait, what's going on, Xiaobai... You slept for so long, how come you suddenly woke up?" Just at the critical moment, Du Lei suddenly stopped the shadowy figure from taking any further action. He frowned, his face full of confusion.

The little girl, who thought she was going to die, waited for a long time but did not see the end of her life. She lowered her arm that was covering her eyes and looked at Dure, only to find him talking to himself. She couldn't tell what he was saying. What a strange person.

"What are you trying to do? Are you trying to interfere with me getting rid of her? Do you know what happened while you were sleeping? I almost died. If I had died, you would have suffered too. So you don't need to be lenient with her..."

Du Lei ignored the little girl's gaze, which puzzled her, but he understood perfectly. Just as he was about to devour the little girl, Little White, the unhatched egg, suddenly released a scalding heat, stopping Du Lei.

After spending a long time with the egg, Durley also mastered a way to communicate with it. So, although there was no direct verbal communication, Durley was still able to roughly figure out its intentions and thoughts, which led to this scene.

“This won’t do. Even if I let her go, Hu Che and the others won’t. She did something like that… What? You want to do this? How can this be? And Xiao Hei, you too…” Du Lei was struggling with his words.

"Hey kid, what are you doing pretending like that? If you're going to kill me, just kill me. Stop being so hypocritical, okay?" The little girl thought she was doomed, but she was still able to breathe. Seeing Du Lei's strange behavior, she was constantly on edge.

She knew very well that she had no chance of resisting this guy, especially with that huge black shadow watching her like a predator. All she could do was wait for her fate to be decided. What she was doing and saying now was just to bolster her courage.

"Does it have to be this way? Okay, I understand." After muttering to himself for a while, Du Lei seemed to have reached a tacit understanding with someone, indicating a compromise.

"What do you mean, 'understand'? What are you talking about?" The little girl emboldened herself and scolded Du Lei again.

"Do you want to die, or do you want to live... No, you're already dead, so this question is meaningless. Let's rephrase it: Do you want to fulfill your long-cherished wish, or disappear from this world forever?" Dure realized his question was inappropriate as soon as he asked it.

He changed his question again, though his tone still carried an element of inquiry.

But both he and the little girl knew very well that Dure was not asking for her opinion, because she had no other choice.

.

412 Next Town

Kotetsu and the others searched the underground palace for over an hour, turning it upside down, but they still couldn't find the Ghostly Ghost who had impersonated Winry. This forced Kotetsu to abandon his search for the Ghostly Ghost and leave the cave with Winry.

It wasn't that Kotetsu wanted to give up here, but the situation had changed. Before this, the reason they were relentlessly pursuing Ghostly Shadow was because they were afraid that she would use the power of the orb to cause trouble again and threaten Winry's safety. But now the green orb had been completely shattered.

They were initially worried about not being able to find Wenli, but she had already met up with them under the escort of Bailing, unharmed. This meant that Hu Che and the others no longer needed to linger here. They had already wasted enough time in Nightmare Mountain and had to leave this dangerous place immediately.

After leaving the pain behind, the thick black fog that had surrounded Nightmare Mountain disappeared, and the moon broke through the clouds in the sky, its bright light shining down and illuminating the road ahead. With the help of the moonlight and without the interference of the thick fog, Kotetsu quickly found the right path.

They continued down the mountain path for more than two hours until dawn broke. Finally, they saw a wide road ahead, indicating that they had left the Nightmare Mountain area. Kotetsu found a map to compare with and confirm their location.

“If I’m not mistaken, we’re currently at the foot of Nightmare Mountain. This main road leads to… Spring Breeze Town.” Kotetsu found the markers for Nightmare Mountain and Spring Breeze Town on the map. Even for someone as experienced as him, this was a difficult journey.

"Is it almost dawn? I remember it was also early morning when we entered Nightmare Mountain, and it took us a whole day and night to get out. I'm so tired, I really want to find a place to get a good night's sleep." Bee Sting yawned, looking somewhat haggard.

After all, so much had happened in that short day, especially the influence of the green orb on the altar. Everything she experienced was not only a test of her physical strength but also a great test of her spirit. If it weren't for Bailing and Wenli appearing in time to wake her up...

Bee Sting still doesn't know if she'll ever wake up from that terrible nightmare.

"Don't be careless. Although we've escaped Nightmare Mountain, we're now on the main road, which makes us even more conspicuous. Don't forget what happened in Maple City. We absolutely cannot let a similar incident happen again, understand?" Hu Che reminded everyone.

“Understood. We will be careful and make sure to protect Miss Wenli’s safety. Leopard Tail, are you alright?” Bee Sting nodded heavily and looked at Leopard Tail beside her with concern. Since leaving Nightmare Mountain, Leopard Tail had become much more taciturn.

"I'm fine. I caused trouble for everyone when we were in Nightmare Mountain..." After regaining consciousness, Leopard Tail initially couldn't remember what had happened. But now that he was out of Nightmare Mountain, his thoughts began to clear, and he recalled what he had done.

"Leopard Tail, you don't need to blame yourself. You completely lost your mind at the time. You were worried about Miss Winry, which is why you got infected. Besides, I think it wasn't just you at that time. All of us could have gotten infected. You just happened to be the unlucky one. Don't overthink it."

Bee Sting comforted Leopard Tail gently, even though she had almost had her neck torn apart by Leopard Tail's claws in the underground palace.

"It's all that wretched ghost's fault. Where did she go? I've been looking for her for so long and haven't found her. If I ever find her..." Leopard Tail recalled his actions and felt ashamed. He could only shift all the blame onto the ghost.

"The ghostly figure was never a living person. Perhaps she turned into a wisp of black smoke and lurked underground. I think the reason Nightmare Mountain is called Nightmare Mountain is probably because of the existence of that green orb. The light it emits can cause hallucinations and trap people in nightmares."

Hu Che recalled his experience last night. He had always thought of himself as a person with a strong inner self and no flaws, but that nightmare almost caused him to completely sink into despair. It took him a long time to calm his heavy heart.

"So that's how it is. No wonder I had that kind of hallucination. So that was a nightmare? It's a pity the green orb is broken, otherwise..." Bee Sting felt a little regretful and guilty, because the green orb had shattered in her hands.

“You don’t need to blame yourself. It’s actually a good thing that it’s broken. We’ve resolved the Nightmare Mountain incident. In the future, when people pass through Nightmare Mountain, they won’t be troubled by nightmares anymore. As for that ghostly figure… kid, what do you think?” Kotetsu paused and looked at Durei.

"Huh? Asking me? Well... in my opinion, that ghostly spirit is already seriously injured, and without the power of the green orb to rely on, she can't cause any trouble with her limited abilities, so we don't need to worry about her." Du Lei put on a smiling face and said vaguely.

"Alright, yesterday's events are all in the past. Thanks to everyone, we're all safe and sound. So, what kind of town is this Spring Breeze Town that we're going to next?" Wen Li waved her hand, as Hu Che and the others were saying a lot of things she couldn't understand.

Even though she couldn't understand, she could see the heavy expressions on Kotetsu's and the others' faces, so she immediately changed the subject.

“Spring Breeze Town? Judging from the name, it should be a very beautiful town, right?” Du Lei thought about it carefully. He looked at the map and saw that Spring Breeze Town was located at the foot of Nightmare Mountain, on the edge of Maple City, and was a border town.

“No, that’s not how it is,” Leopard Tail suddenly said, shaking his head.

“I’m telling you, Leopard Tail, now is not the time to argue. I know you’re very dissatisfied with Du Lei, but Du Lei has helped us a lot before…” Bee Sting thought that Leopard Tail was going to use his spirit of negating Du Lei again, and that he would deny everything Du Lei said.

Before they entered Nightmare Mountain, Leopard Tail had taken this spirit to the extreme, and now Bee Sting felt that Leopard Tail was showing similar tendencies again.

“I’m not arguing for the sake of arguing, I’ve been to Spring Breeze Town,” Leopard Tail said calmly.

"Huh? Mr. Leopard Tail, have you been there? What kind of town is it?" Wen Li asked curiously.

“That’s the devil’s lair, it’s hell!” Leopard Tail said solemnly in a deep voice.

.

413 Demon's Lair

Leopard Tail's words startled Winry and her group. Dure looked at him suspiciously, wondering if he had been attacked in the cave in Nightmare Mountain and hadn't recovered yet, so he was deliberately making alarmist remarks. Kotetsu originally wanted to say something and find out the whole story.

But then Leopard Tail fell silent, no longer speaking. This made the previously lively atmosphere somewhat stiff and strange. Bee Sting tried several times to say something to break the tension and comfort Leopard Tail, but the latter remained silent. The group continued to move forward slowly.

“Spring Breeze Town, Spring Breeze Town… It sounds a bit like a gentle spring breeze, but Mr. Leopard Tail just said that Spring Breeze Town is the lair of demons or something… The difference between the two is really huge. What exactly is in that place?” Wen Li was quite curious about this.

"We'll find out what Spring Breeze Town has to offer once we get there. According to the map, we're very close; we should be there in about two hours." Bai Ling glanced at the map. Among the guards, she was the one who was closest to Wen Li.

“That makes sense. Instead of letting our imaginations run wild, we should wait until we find out the truth.” Wenli nodded and stopped thinking about it.

Just then, someone passed by on the road not far ahead. He was carrying a hunting bow and looked like a hunter from the nearby mountains.

"Hey, guests over there, where are you headed?" The hunter frowned as he saw Wenli and her group walking to the right at the fork in the road and called out to them from a distance. Dure and the others stopped when they heard the call and looked at the hunter with confusion.

“We…we’re going to Ironwall Fortress, old man, is there a problem?” Dure, the youngest of the group, took the initiative to step forward and speak with the hunter.

"To Ironwall Fortress? If you're going to Ironwall Fortress, you should go this way. Why did you take the right-hand road?" The hunter frowned even more.

"Huh? Go left? The map does show two routes to Ironwall Fortress, one to the left and one to the right, but isn't the right one closer? Why go through all that trouble to go left?" Bee Sting, who had just gotten the map from Lark, was a little confused.

She pointed to the map, which clearly showed that there were two routes from Nightmare Mountain to Ironwall Fortress. The right route was a straight one and would take about four or five days to reach, while the left route involved a long detour and would probably take at least half a month to get there.

“You’re all from out of town, aren’t you? It’s true that going to Ironwall Fortress is closer on the right, but this way you have to go through Spring Breeze Town.” As a local, the hunter knew the nearby roads like the back of his hand and knew exactly where going on the right would lead.

"Spring Breeze Town? What's wrong with passing through Spring Breeze Town? Is there a problem?" Du Lei frowned. He sensed something unusual in the hunter's words, and coupled with Leopard Tail's alarmist remarks earlier, he had to reconsider whether there was anything wrong with Spring Breeze Town.

"You don't know this yet, do you? Spring Breeze Town is a dead town, a place cursed by demons. You absolutely must not go there. Anyone who goes to Spring Breeze Town will be devoured by demons and never come back!" The hunter warned solemnly, his expression serious, not at all like he was joking.

"Cursed by a demon? No way, it's such a nice-sounding town, how could it be..." Wen Li had originally held some expectations for Spring Breeze Town, but now, after hearing what the old hunter said, she became somewhat uneasy.

"In short, if you want to get to Ironwall Fortress, take the left road. Absolutely do not take the right road. You'd better watch yourselves," the old hunter reminded him again. He shook his head, sighed, and turned to leave.

"We understand, thank you for reminding us." Du Lei saw the old hunter off, and soon the latter disappeared from sight.

“Even the locals say so, it seems that there is indeed something wrong with Spring Breeze Town. Leopard Tail, what exactly happened in Spring Breeze Town? What happened there? Can’t you tell us what you know?” Bee Sting pressed again, hoping to get some clues from Leopard Tail.

“That hunter was right, Spring Breeze Town is a cursed place. Let’s not go that way, let’s take the left road instead.” After a long silence, Leopard Tail finally uttered these words in a hoarse voice. The experience in Nightmare Mountain had greatly affected him.

Now that they are approaching Spring Breeze Town, he seems to be a completely different person from the one who is always at odds with Du Lei.

“Captain Kotetsu, what do you think of this…” Bee Sting was also in a dilemma, and she sought Kotetsu’s advice.

“No, taking the left route will take at least another week. So much has already happened on the road. If we delay any longer, who knows what dangers we might encounter? Besides, we must reach Rock Castle as soon as possible and not take a detour.” Kotetsu decisively rejected this idea.

“Uncle Hu Che is right. We’ve even made it through Nightmare Mountain, so what’s so scary about Spring Breeze Town? Before we climbed Nightmare Mountain, didn’t the locals say it was a mountain of death?” Du Lei reached a consensus with Hu Che this time and agreed with Hu Che’s opinion.

“Miss Winnie, what do you think…” Bee Sting knew he couldn’t persuade Kotetsu, so he could only turn to Winnie. Winnie was the core of this escort mission, and she had a lot of say. If she said to go to the left, Kotetsu would have no choice but to obey.

"Since Mr. Kotetsu and Mr. Dure have both said so, let's go to the right. Although Nightmare Mountain was very dangerous before, didn't we solve the problem? And after the problem was solved, those who come later will no longer be affected by the danger, which is a good thing."

Although Wenli lacked combat abilities, she was a very opinionated person and offered her own perspective: "If Spring Breeze Town is really that terrible, then something must have happened. If we can eliminate the danger in Spring Breeze Town, then those who come after us won't have to go through the same trouble again, right?"

Wenli blinked and continued speaking. She was a thoughtful person, and she considered others even more than herself.