The most shameless alchemist in history

“Yes, even the old lady, who was directly involved, is here. So stop talking nonsense.” Bee Sting immediately nodded in agreement.

"I don't know exactly what was being hauled out of the mountain by train, load after load, but I can say for sure that it was definitely not coal," Du Lei said with certainty and conviction.

"So you're really stubborn. The person involved has already said it's coal, but you're still arguing about it." Bee Sting began to doubt Du Lei's judgment. So this kid is nothing special after all. Did he just rely on luck to guess so many things correctly before?

"Oh, right, old woman, I just remembered something." Just then, the old woman suddenly stopped.

"What?" Kotetsu and the others all looked at her.

“Chunfeng Town is closely linked to coal. Everyone has said so for decades, and even the miners have said so, but…” The old woman trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"But what?" Bee Sting and the others immediately pressed.

"I have never seen coal with my own eyes," the old woman said after thinking for a moment.

"What? This is a coal mining area. Coal should be piled up like mountains. How come I've never seen any?" Even Bee Sting was surprised by this answer.

"Because the coal mined here is loaded onto trucks and transported away directly in the mine shafts after it is dug out. People are not allowed to take the coal out. Oh, right, I remember my husband, who used to be a mine manager, complained that the coal they mined was very strange and could not be burned at all."

The old woman thought carefully. She was too old and spent her days with memories. Among countless scenes in her memory, she recalled what her husband had said to her. It was just an ordinary conversation, nothing special, and she only remembered it by chance.

"Coal that can't burn? But coal is meant to be burned, so how can it not burn? Could there be some mistake?" Bee Sting looked on with suspicion; this was just too outrageous.

.

430 Mine Rail

Dure's discovery was initially met with skepticism from Bee Sting, since everyone knew that Spring Breeze Town produced coal, especially with the old woman's testimony. So, questioning whether coal was actually produced there seemed quite unreasonable.

But as the old woman reminisced, it seemed that Dure's guess was gradually gaining traction, which was really puzzling. If Spring Breeze Town didn't produce coal, then what exactly were those things they dug out of the ground, truckload after truckload?

"No matter what exactly was dug out from under Chunfeng Town back then, that's all history now and has little to do with us. What we need to do now is not to do archaeology, nor to dwell on whether what came out underground was coal or something else, but to figure out how to leave."

Kotetsu broke the silence, ending Durei's doubts in the most direct way. He was right; even if what was dug up underground was something else, it had nothing to do with them now. Durei was just worrying unnecessarily.

“But…” Du Lei still had some doubts. He felt that there was something discordant that he had not yet found.

"There are no 'buts' anymore, Durei. Don't forget your mission: to deliver Miss Winry to Rock Castle, nothing else." Kotetsu emphasized, enough had already happened, and he didn't want any more complications.

“I understand. Let’s continue. The railway is heading this way. Since the mountain path is blocked, we can bypass it using the underground railway. Look at the map, it’s this location. After we get around it, we can return to the surface from here.”

Du Lei nodded. He knew that it was unnecessary to care about what was dug up from the ground in Spring Breeze Town. He took out a map and pointed out their next route of action on it, which was agreed upon by Hu Che and the others.

“Young men, let me remind you again, the road ahead is very dangerous. This place has been abandoned for many years and has long been a lair for monsters. Moreover, these monsters all emerge from underground. The deeper you go, the more monsters you will encounter,” the old woman warned again.

"Madam, I understand your good intentions, but we don't have much time left. Even if we know there is danger ahead, we can only grit our teeth and move forward. There is no way back." Hu Che looked at the old woman gratefully. He knew how dangerous the road ahead was.

But if the journey is smooth and there is no danger, then what is the point of having this group of guards?

"Alright, since you insist on leaving, be careful. Here's a bottle of holy water for you; it might come in handy." Seeing that she couldn't persuade the group, the old woman sighed softly, took a small bottle from her bosom, and handed it to Wenli, who was closest to her.

“This is…” Wenli was a little puzzled by this, and she gently shook the bottle.

"Young lady, keep it. It will protect you in a critical moment." The old woman did not explain in detail.

"Thank you so much, Granny Ghost, but why don't you leave with us? You're all alone here, and besides..." Wenli wanted to say that she was already quite old, and if anything happened to her, no one would know if she collapsed in Spring Breeze Town.

She simply didn't want the issue of age to hurt the old woman's feelings.

“No need. This town has been abandoned by the people. I think it won’t be long before they forget that this place ever existed. But those who died here need someone to guard their graves and keep them from being disturbed by those monsters, right?” The old woman gently shook her head.

"Grandma Ghost, we have a mission we must complete, so we need to leave. Please take good care of yourself. I hope we can meet again in the future." Although Wenli wanted to do something for the old woman in front of her, she felt so powerless for the first time.

"Will we meet again? Maybe. You should go now." The old woman waved her hand, then turned and slowly left, her arms wrapped around herself.

"Ghost Granny..." Wenli watched her figure disappear completely, feeling a terrible unease in her heart.

“She’s already gone far, Miss Winry. Let’s keep going. As long as we follow the railway tracks, we’ll definitely be able to get out of Spring Breeze Town.” Bee Sting stepped forward and gently patted Winry’s shoulder to comfort her. She was just as grateful to the old woman.

"Okay, let's continue then. I'll leave the rest to everyone!" Wenli took a deep breath and nodded heavily. They continued on their way, and just as their figures gradually disappeared into the distance, countless pairs of eyes suddenly opened in the darkness, staring at their backs...

Meanwhile, outside Maple City, at the Silver Moon Legion's encampment, General Serena, the legion's commander, had just seized a secret letter. This letter had been found earlier by her subordinates while they were patrolling the area, on a suspicious-looking spy.

"No way... The contents of this letter... If this is true, this is really bad!" As an army commander, Serena is naturally a very calm person. In fact, not only in the camp, but even on the battlefield, she can maneuver with ease and remain calm.

But now, as she held up a letter, which felt as heavy as a feather, her hands trembled.

"General Serena, what's going on? What's wrong with you? What's the contents of the letter?" As Serena's secretary, he was a young man who had only followed her for a little over a year. But in that time, he had never seen Serena behave like this before. It was really strange!

“No, this absolutely cannot be allowed to happen, Duff, I have to go to the capital…” Serena burned the letter on a candle; it was obvious that its contents were something that could not be made public.

“Go to the capital? But the border is unstable right now, and it is precisely the time when we need you to stay and oversee things. If you leave…” The secretary named Duff hesitated. He knew very well that the border was still relatively stable, entirely due to Serena’s personal prestige.

Once Serena leaves, the army of the Mountain Kingdom, which is stirring up trouble on the other side of the border, will not be so well-behaved!

“I don’t want to leave now either, but the situation is urgent. I’m going north secretly and coming back as soon as possible. Don’t spread the news of my departure. Everything will remain the same, understand?” Serena solemnly reminded her secretary.

"Understood, I swear to complete the task you have assigned me!" The secretary saluted respectfully. He knew that once this female general made a decision, it was irreversible, and all he could do was clean up the mess for her.

.

431 Exit Location

After parting ways with the old woman, Wenli and her group continued along the underground tunnel, which was originally built to mine coal beneath Spring Breeze Town. Of course, Dure raised objections to what was hidden beneath Spring Breeze Town, believing it couldn't be coal, but something else entirely.

But what lies beneath Spring Breeze Town is outside the scope of their mission to escort Wenli to Rock City. Du Lei realized this as well. He knew that there was no time to investigate the underground of Spring Breeze Town, and even if they found out, there was nothing they could do but give up.

They walked along the dark tunnel for nearly three hours. It was very damp all around, and water droplets could be seen dripping down the walls from time to time, making a "drip, drip" sound. Cold winds blew in from time to time, making it very cold.

“We’ve been walking for so long, and we still haven’t come out of the tunnel? How can this tunnel be so long? This is inside the Lieyang Mountains. Who on earth carved out such a huge project here? How did they manage to do it?” Bee Sting asked a series of questions.

“According to the map, this distance should normally take us at least five hours to get out. Don’t worry, we’ve only covered less than half the distance. As I just said, this is just a branch of the Lieyang Mountains, not the main ridge. As for who carved it out, I don’t know. I only read in books that the first railways were built in the Far East,” Du Lei answered one by one.

"Does it really take this long to get here? Does the map show where we're headed?" Bee Sting continued to ask.

“There’s no map showing the railway layout, so we can only estimate our location based on our position and the direction we’re heading. I think we should come out from this spot, as we’ve already bypassed the congested mountain roads,” Du Lei said, pointing to a location on the map.

“This place is Harrenhal,” Hu Che frowned when he saw the name of the place. He was very familiar with this place.

"What's wrong with Helenburg?" Bee Sting noticed a flicker of fear in Kotetsu's eyes. In her memory, Kotetsu wouldn't even flinch when a knife was held to his throat. She found it hard to imagine what place could make Kotetsu show fear.

"It's Harrenhal? The famous Harrenhal Incident happened here." Although Wendy had never been to Harrenhal, she had received an elite education and was very knowledgeable about major historical events.

"What exactly happened at the Harrenburg Incident?" Bee Sting was even more confused, after all, her lack of knowledge was a major weakness.

“Hrenburg is a complicated place. As we all know, the Mountain Kingdom is a mountainous country. The vast mountain range divides the Mountain Kingdom into several parts, like this.” Dure gestured with his hands to explain the situation to Bee Sting more vividly.

"And then what?" Bee Sting didn't know what the connection was between the Herenberg incident and the mountainous country.

"Ha, that's not a question of what can happen. The reason I say this is to tell you that it is precisely because of the division of the terrain that the Mountain Country is divided into several regions, each independent of the others. They have different customs, different scripts, and even different languages."

Du Lei realized that after talking for so long, Bee Sting hadn't found the key point, which left him rather speechless.

"Sigh, is it really this complicated? They even speak different languages. Why would they form a country if they have no cohesion at all?" Bee Sting finally understood the complexity of the Mountain Kingdom, something she had never known before.

"There is still some cohesion, because the entire Mountain Kingdom is sandwiched between the massive Blazing Sun Mountain Range and the Black Iron Mountain Range. In other words, they are surrounded by large mountain ranges while being isolated by a small range of mountains," Du Lei continued to explain the situation.

"What small mountain range and big mountain range? I don't understand what you're talking about at all. Just tell me what exactly happened at Harrenburg." After listening to Dure's explanation, Bee Sting still hadn't grasped the key points. She gradually lost patience and urged Dure to give her the essential answer.

"It is precisely because of the complexity of the mountain kingdom's territory that they need a buffer zone to exchange resources. A closed environment will inevitably lead to an uneven distribution of resources. This mountain produces iron, that mountain produces sheep, so they need to exchange them. I'm just giving an example."

Winry, standing next to him, answered the question for Dure. She was indeed completely ignorant about magic, but she was very knowledgeable about local customs and traditions.

“Miss Winry, you mean Harrenhal is such a place, right?” Bee Sting seemed to understand, but was starting to grasp the gist of it.

"That's right. Harrenhal is a place where different tribes in the Mountain Kingdom exchange daily necessities. For a long time, the various tribes lived in peace in Harrenhal. However, more than 30 years ago, a vicious conflict and bloodshed suddenly broke out in Harrenhal, shocking the continent."

Winry spoke seriously, an expression rarely seen on Bee Sting's face, which spoke volumes about the severity of the conflict.

"Why did the conflict break out?" Bee Sting continued to ask.

"There are various theories about the cause of that bloody conflict. Some say that the tribes were dissatisfied with the long-term oppressive policies of the ruling mountain tribes, which led to violent actions. Others say that the mountain tribes wanted to find a reason to suppress the power of the various tribes. To this day, no one can say for sure."

Winry shook her head. She was a very meticulous person, so she wouldn't draw conclusions about the cause of the conflict before she had concrete evidence.

"They started fighting without even knowing the reason?" Bee Sting found it somewhat unbelievable.

“It’s not that we don’t know the reason, but that later generations don’t know the reason. As the people involved, we certainly know the reasons.” Du Lei shook his head and added this point.

"But if we just ask the people involved, we'll know why they fought," Bee Sting thought. He figured solving this problem would be easy; all it would take was a little thought.

“If only it were that simple. The reason the Harrenhal incident shocked the entire continent is because everyone died in that bloody conflict; not a single person was left alive,” Dure said softly, trying to keep his tone as calm as possible.

Because when he read this history, even through the title page of the book, he could smell the strong stench of blood.

"What? Not a single survivor was left? How many people were in Harrenhal at the time?" Bee Sting was startled and immediately pressed for an answer.

“According to the available information, Harrenhal’s population at that time should have been 160,000,” Winry continued.

"What? Sixteen thousand people? Does that mean sixteen thousand people died completely, without a single survivor?" Bee Sting was utterly horrified.

432 Is he possessed?

The events that occurred in Harrenhal more than thirty years ago were enough to make Bee Sting's heart pound. Even though she was not a party to the incident and had no connection to it, according to Dure and Winry's accounts, it was enough to stir up a great deal of turmoil in her heart.

"It was because of that heinous incident more than 30 years ago that Harrenhal, which was once prosperous, has now become a completely dead city. I never thought that this would be our next stop." Dure had never been to Harrenhal, but the records in the book were bloody and cruel enough.

"Herrenburg"—as Winry and Durley discussed the Herenburg incident, Leopard Tail repeated the name of the place next to them.

"Leopard Tail, what's wrong? Are you alright?" Bee Sting immediately went up to ask about Leopard Tail's condition when he saw him speak. Ever since the terrifying night at Nightmare Mountain, Leopard Tail had become increasingly taciturn and withdrawn, no longer speaking to them.

"Herenburg Springbreeze Town, you demons, demons!" The previously quiet Leopard Tail suddenly shouted, and he ran wildly forward out of control. His reaction startled Winry and the others, who were walking in the deep, dark underground.

Suddenly, someone started running wildly as if possessed, which inevitably instilled fear in people. Even Bee Sting was stunned for a long time and couldn't react.

"Leopard Tail, what's wrong? What's wrong? Calm down, wait, wait!" Bee Sting was worried and followed Leopard Tail. In the underground tunnel, the light was limited, and soon she and Leopard Tail disappeared into the darkness, leaving only the sound of their footsteps fading into the distance.

"Miss Bee Sting..." Du Lei was unsure of what to do when he saw this scene. He didn't know whether he should chase after her.

"Ape Arm, you follow them first. Let's go take a look. Leopard Tail, ever since he left Nightmare Mountain, has become strange and erratic. He doesn't act like a member of the guard team at all. And what about before in Spring Breeze Town?" Tiger Che gestured for Ape Arm to follow Bee Sting and the other two.

He had a lot of complaints about Leopard Tail, and it wasn't just him; the whole team felt the same way because Leopard Tail's behavior was just too strange.

"In Spring Breeze Town, that kid named Siegel lured us up the mountain, almost causing our entire group to be wiped out. The reason we believed him was because of Leopard Tail. He said he knew Leopard Tail, but Granny Ghost said that Siegel and the others died five years ago, and..."

Bai Ling kept her suspicions to herself, but now that she had the chance, she could finally speak her mind.

"And what?" Kotetsu gestured for Bailing to continue.

"Moreover, Granny Ghost said that she has lived in the town for decades and has never seen Leopard Tail." Bailing continued what she hadn't finished saying.

"It's really interesting that someone who has never appeared in Spring Breeze Town says the town is a den of demons and is getting along so well with a child who has been dead for five years." Du Lei could be said to be the person who is most incompatible with Leopard Tail. Leopard Tail had ridiculed and mocked him a lot on the way.