The most shameless alchemist in history

Of course, some people managed to snatch balloons and were waiting to sell them. A large number of contestants gathered around to bid, creating a lively atmosphere. Leopard Tail didn't want to join the bidding frenzy. He tried several times, but each time he failed and could only watch helplessly as others happily carried their balloons.

"There's no way around it. Even if we had anticipated this kind of situation, we simply couldn't compete with so many people. So, are we destined to stop at the third round?" Kotetsu was well aware of the current situation. It wasn't that he hadn't considered trying to snatch it from others, but there were quite a few experts here as well.

Secondly, there were too many people. No matter how strong one person was, even if he could fight ten or a hundred, he was still no match for a huge crowd. Each person could drown him with their spittle. It wasn't a life-or-death feud, so Kotetsu was at a loss and could only watch helplessly.

"Wait a minute, since you guessed there would be a balloon part, why didn't you get a few balloons first?" Leopard Tail suddenly thought of this and began to question Du Lei. If Du Lei had found the balloons and hidden them first, wouldn't he have easily passed the test?

"If only it were that easy. Didn't you notice? There were staff members watching nearby the whole time. If we got the balloons in advance, what would that be? Would it be considered leaking the questions in advance? What's the difference between that and cheating? People aren't stupid, they'll definitely be on guard against us."

Dure considered things much more thoroughly than Leopard Tail, and abandoned the idea much earlier.

"Damn it, this won't work, that won't work, are we just going to stand here and watch? You guys are really patient." Leopard Tail didn't want to stop here. He was very unwilling, but he really couldn't find a way to resolve the current situation.

"What's wrong? Weren't you quite reluctant when we first asked you to participate in this matchmaking event? Why are you so enthusiastic now?" Du Lei teased Leopard Tail, seeing his resentful expression.

"Well... am I proactive? No, I don't think so. It's just that you have to be focused when you do things. Once you've chosen to do something, you have to do it well, otherwise you'll seem inferior to others, right?" Leopard Tail immediately made excuses for himself. He spoke very convincingly and logically.

"Du Lei, come up with a solution! Look at them, quite a few people have already gotten their hands on the balloons. As these numbers continue, there will be fewer and fewer balloons hidden in Lan City. Are we really going to be just spectators?" Kotetsu was getting impatient and asked Du Lei for a solution.

“No need to rush. Lan City is so big. If we just search like headless flies, how long will it take? Besides, if we keep searching like this, we'll inevitably run into people with the same goal, and conflicts will be inevitable. Look over there.” Du Lei pointed to the building on the right.

On the fourth floor of the building, someone found the balloon and exclaimed in surprise. However, the commotion quickly attracted the attention of other people around who were also looking for balloons. This immediately drew more than a dozen people over, and the group started fighting over the balloon, beating the person who found it black and blue.

"What, are you saying we're afraid of them?" Leopard Tail sneered, not taking those ordinary street thugs seriously at all.

"It's not a matter of being afraid or not, it's just that it's too troublesome," Du Lei said helplessly, explaining the problem to Leopard Tail was really difficult.

"Troublesome, troublesome. You always say you find it troublesome. If you're so afraid of trouble, why even participate in this matchmaking event? You might as well go back to sleep." Leopard Tail replied to Du Lei irritably.

"How interesting. It's like I came here of my own accord. Didn't you guys drag me here? Since you have such a big problem with me, I'll just go back to sleep." Du Lei was happy to be a hands-off manager and immediately turned to leave.

"Hey, don't go, don't go, Du Lei, Leopard Tail didn't mean that, it's just... well, he was just anxious, don't take it to heart. Just tell us what we should do now, we'll listen to you, okay?" Kotetsu immediately grabbed Du Lei and acted as a peacemaker.

He didn't want Du Lei to really leave like this.

"Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh." The ape-armed man next to him also tried to persuade Du Lei. Although he couldn't speak, his actions and postures clearly showed that he wanted to calm Du Lei down.

"Alright, what do we do? There's only one word: wait." Du Lei glanced at the clock tower on the right. There was a large clock on the tower, and the second hand was ticking away. Large cities like Lan City usually have a clock tower.

Because clocks are a relatively recent invention, and pocket watches were not yet common and were only for the nobility, clock towers were built to help people develop a correct concept of time.

"Wait? Wait again? How long are we supposed to wait?" Leopard Tail was getting impatient.

“Wait until… takeoff.” Dure wasn’t angry; he couldn’t be bothered to argue with Leopard Tail.

"Take off?" Leopard Tail didn't understand what Du Lei meant and was a little confused for a moment.

511 is almost over.

When Leopard Tail first heard Du Lei's words, "waiting for takeoff," he thought someone was about to go to heaven and felt confused. But after Kotetsu gave him some pointers, Leopard Tail finally understood what Du Lei meant by "takeoff." It turned out that it wasn't a person taking off, but a balloon taking off.

According to the rules set by the organizers, contestants had to find no more than one hundred balloons with heart-shaped patterns among hundreds of thousands of balloons in the venue. In terms of proportion, it was almost one in a thousand balloons to find the correct one, making the competition extremely fierce.

One thing to note is that the contestants only have half an hour. If they haven't found all the balloons after half an hour, the balloons will fly away on their own and into the sky, which means the end of the round. Those who haven't found any balloons will have to give up on the fourth round.

"Du Lei, are you kidding me? There are only a few minutes left. If we don't find it by then, we'll all be disqualified and won't be able to enter the fourth round. It's urgent, and you still want to wait? Are you determined to lose your qualification and not continue?"

Leopard Tail had initially held a tiny bit of hope for Du Lei, thinking that Du Lei's calm demeanor meant he must have something up his sleeve and definitely knew how to find the balloon. However, all that came out of Du Lei's mouth was the word "wait," which Leopard Tail found unacceptable.

"Don't worry, I'm not mistaken. You'll know when the time comes. There are... three minutes left, right? We should move to another spot." Du Lei glanced at the clock on the clock tower. There were only three minutes left until the agreed time of half an hour. After waiting for twenty-seven minutes, he finally got to work.

"Let's change locations... to where the balloons are hidden? What? So you knew where the balloons were from the beginning? If you knew, you should have said so earlier. Why did you make us worry? Come on, I'll go get the balloons right now." Hearing Du Lei say this, Leopard Tail finally showed his delight.

He immediately followed Du Lei, with Hu Che and Yuan Bi following behind. They were now racing against time.

However, two minutes later, Leopard Tail gradually realized that something was a little off, because Dure wasn't looking for balloons at all, but was climbing up to the roof of a nearby tall building. The view from that spot was nice, but as for balloons... he couldn't see a single one.

"Du Lei, what exactly are you doing? There's only one minute left, and you brought us here... Where are the balloons? I didn't see anything. You have to have a limit to your jokes, okay? Are you kidding us?" Leopard Tail's hopes vanished in an instant.

This made him very angry, and he roared at Dure, clearly feeling that he had been deceived.

"What's the rush? Who said there's only one minute left?" Du Lei didn't turn around; he closed his eyes, and it was unclear what he was doing.

"I know it's very pleasant to feel the breeze here, and the view is quite nice, but now is not the time to enjoy the scenery. Didn't that uncle just say that all the balloons will fly away in half an hour? If the balloons all fly away, where will we find them? Have you forgotten?"

Leopard Tail reminded Du Lei again, but he just thought that this kid had forgotten even the most basic rules. This was too unreliable.

“You know he only said ‘go to heaven,’ but he didn’t say that the time would end after going to heaven,” Du Lei said without turning his head.

"You...you're clearly just making excuses, I'm telling you..." Leopard Tail was very angry and wanted to say a few more words to Du Lei.

"Shh." Du Lei suddenly made a shushing gesture, signaling Leopard Tail to stop talking, which startled the latter.

"What?" Leopard Tail looked at him in confusion, wondering what he was up to and whether he was going to put on an act again.

"The wind... is it a southeast wind?" Du Lei listened to the wind; he could always detect subtle changes in the environment.

"What does this have to do with southeast or northwest winds? Look over there, oh no, all the balloons have taken off! We haven't found a heart-shaped balloon yet, so we're going to lose our chance to enter the fourth round. Waaah, are we going to fall here?" Leopard Tail wanted to say something more.

But then the last minute passed, and he clearly saw a large number of balloons rising from all corners of Maple City. The densely packed balloons slowly floated into the air, adding a beautiful touch to the sky. Many children went out into the streets to watch this wonderful scene.

"I'm telling you, Leopard Tail, it's not a big deal if you don't make it to the fourth round. Don't forget that if it weren't for Dure, you wouldn't even have made it to the third round. So let's stop here. It's fine as it is now. It's been a long time since I've had such a calm breeze today."

Kotetsu, on the other hand, took it all in stride. The spot that Du Lei had chosen was not only high up but also had a wide view. Sitting on the roof, he really felt quite relaxed. For Kotetsu and the others, who were always on edge and very busy, it was a good way to unwind.

"The end? What's over?" Du Lei finally opened his eyes at this moment, turned around and asked the three of them with a smile.

"What do you mean by 'over'? Of course, it means the matchmaking event is over, so it's officially over. Look, the balloons have all flown away." Leopard Tail knew that scolding Du Lei wouldn't solve anything at this point, so he hung his head dejectedly.

“You think this is the end? I think this is just the beginning.” Dure smiled faintly, his words brimming with unparalleled confidence.

"What start? What are you talking about?" Leopard Tail was baffled and assumed that Du Lei was talking nonsense.

"Haven't you noticed yet?" Du Lei retorted with a question to Leopard Tail.

"Found out what? Found out you're an idiot?" Leopard Tail replied irritably.

“After half an hour of searching, most of the balloons with heart-shaped symbols have indeed been found. To search for them one by one in every corner of the city, and to compete with others, is extremely difficult. But what if we change our approach?” Du Lei said softly.

"A different approach? What do you mean?" Leopard Tail noticed that Du Lei was once again full of confidence. He didn't like seeing Du Lei like this, because it usually meant that this guy had found a solution to the problem, and it always worked.

Although this also means the problem will be solved, he still felt uncomfortable seeing Dure in the limelight.

“Since it’s so hard to find these hidden balloons, how about we let them come out on their own?” Dure said confidently.

512 Who is Redu?

Leopard Tail carefully pondered Dure's words. At first glance, they seemed a bit incomprehensible, since balloons don't have their own subjective consciousness, so how could they come out on their own? But after thinking about it for a while, when he saw the large clock on the clock tower, he seemed to understand a little better.

Although the balloons didn't grow legs and run out on their own, the rules stipulated that all the balloons must be released after half an hour. Just as Leopard Tail was still pondering the connection between releasing the balloons and what Du Lei was going to do, Du Lei had already taken action.

He didn't know when he had already grabbed the large crossbow he usually carried on his back. He raised the crossbow and aimed it at the densely packed balloons rising in the sky. Leopard Tail hadn't figured out what Dure was planning to do when a thought arose in his mind to stop Dure, and the crossbow bolt had already been fired.

"By the way, all the balloons have flown out, including those with heart shapes. This avoids the hassle of searching for them everywhere. Once we get them, we'll be past the third round, right? Hey, Dure, what are you doing? Stop it right now!"

A sudden realization dawned on Leopard Tail, and he understood the meaning behind Du Lei's words. This was a mental leap for him, but his thinking was far slower than the speed of Du Lei's hands. The crossbow bolt had already pierced through the layers of balloons and shot out, accompanied by a series of "bang bang bang" sounds.

Because the fragile balloons were no match for the sharp crossbow bolts, more than a dozen balloons were pierced almost instantly. Leopard Tail was shocked to see this. He originally thought he had figured out Dure's intention, and it was indeed logical and very scientific.

But what Dure is doing now is completely opposite to what he imagined. He's not looking for balloons at all; he's destroying them!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!" Du Lei completely ignored Leopard Tail's reprimand. In a very short time, he fired several crossbow bolts in succession, each bolt piercing several balloons. Of course, among the balloons in the sky, his crossbow bolts were insignificant.

On the street, children were still immersed in the joyful sea of ​​balloons, with countless balloons slowly rising into the sky.

"Do you know what you're doing? We're doomed, all the balloons have flown away, we're completely finished now." Leopard Tail's mood today was like jumping off a cliff, climbing back up, and jumping off again, experiencing several ups and downs.

Just when he thought things were turning around, Dure would cleanly and decisively kick him down. He was practically a living devil! If Dure could eventually resolve the matter, that would be fine, and he wouldn't bother with the trivial details.

But now the balloons have flown dozens of meters into the sky, getting further and further away from them. It's believed that they will disappear from their sight completely before long, including those balloons with heart-shaped patterns.

"You said it's over? Then I can suggest you take a closer look." Seeing Leopard Tail's dejected look, Du Lei just smiled slightly. After his reminder, Leopard Tail, Tiger Che, and Ape Arm all gathered around, looking at his hand gestures with confusion.

"This is... a thread? What is it connected to... Oh my god, it's a balloon!" Kotetsu's observation skills were excellent, but he couldn't understand Durei's actions just now. It wasn't until Durei reminded him that he noticed that there was a rope pulling the mechanism under the crossbow in Durei's hand.

He looked along the traction rope and saw that Dure was pulling something back. Four balloons that had already flown away were flying towards them. This scene seemed a bit unbelievable at first glance, because balloons should rise higher and higher with the help of airflow.

But upon closer inspection, you'll notice that a thin string is wrapped around the bottom of each balloon, and the string is pulling the balloon back!

"What exactly is going on? Let me think... Right, you tied these thin ropes to the ends of the crossbow bolts. When the bolt hits the target, the ropes trigger a mechanism to wrap around and bind the target, then pull it back... But aren't balloons easy to shoot through?"

Leopard Tail stared in disbelief, speechless for a moment. He carefully recalled Durei's actions and his previous remarks, finally connecting the crossbow bolts with the balloons and figuring out Durei's entire operating procedure. However, he still had some questions.

“The balloon is indeed fragile and easy to pierce, but if you control the force and are accurate enough to hit the knot of the rope that ties the balloon, wrap it around the knot, and not destroy the balloon, then you can bring it back.” Dure slowly retrieved the crossbow bolt.

He quickly pulled back the crossbow bolt, along with four balloons. He moved very carefully, and the balloons got closer and closer to them.

“But the balloons are constantly moving, and there are so many of them. To hit only a limited number of them is really…” Even though Leopard Tail understood Durei’s plan, he still thought it was only theoretically possible and very difficult to achieve.

At least if he were asked to do it, he would have absolutely no way to do it, but at this moment, Dure had already pulled all four balloons back into his hands.

"So at this time, you need to control the force and wind direction. These crossbow bolts are specially made; you can call them mechanical bolts. They're not for killing people. Anyway, anything is a matter of practice makes perfect, and it's not some extraordinary skill. So... this is yours, yours, yours, and this is mine." After Du Lei retrieved all four balloons, he handed them to Hu Che, Yuan Bi, and Bao Wei one by one, keeping the last one for himself.

"Let me see... there really is a heart shape on the balloon, that's great, this means we've passed the third round." Kotetsu carefully examined it. Although he was amazed by Durei's technique, it had to be the kind of balloon they wanted.

Just now, Du Lei shot four arrows from among tens of thousands of balloons. It would be very difficult to find the ones with heart-shaped patterns in a sea of ​​balloons. It would require very precise eyesight, let alone bringing back these four balloons. Kotetsu was skeptical.

But when he held the balloon in his hand, he recognized the heart-shaped pattern on it. In other words, Dure had turned something that only existed in theory into reality. How could Kotetsu not be shocked and excited by such a surprising scene?

"Looks like our luck isn't too bad today." Du Lei didn't boast much, just smiled lightly.

"You seem to have some skills, kid. You didn't come here to enjoy the breeze for nothing." Although Leopard Tail didn't particularly like Du Lei, he couldn't help but admire Du Lei's performance, and he was well aware of that.

"Hey, you guys, who's Redu?" Just then, someone appeared on the other side of the roof. The voice was cold and carried a strong sense of hostility, which made Kotetsu and the others freeze and turn around to look.

There should only be four of them here. He didn't remember there being a fifth person. But when they looked over, they did find a fifth person. He was a tall and slender young man, 1.8 meters tall, who was very well-proportioned and not fat at all, and had blond hair.

“Redu? What’s that?” Leopard Tail pondered the name “Redu” for a moment. It sounded familiar, but he couldn’t remember knowing anyone like that.

“It’s me.” Dure walked over. Although it was his first time meeting the blond man in front of him, he knew exactly what the man was up to, because the name “Dure” was enough to explain everything.

513 Visiting to cause trouble

Dure doesn't use the name Redu very often; he's only used it twice so far. The first time was when he was in Harrenhal, when Connie asked him about it. He didn't use his real name at that time because he didn't want to cause any trouble.

The second time was yesterday afternoon when he encountered a runaway boy. The boy introduced himself as Ellie, and he once again used the name Redu. He was quite certain that no one else would call him Redu except for these two times.

After arriving in Storm City, only Ellie knew his name was Redu. However, Redu was certain that Ellie wouldn't come looking for him for no reason. He thought back carefully and realized that Ellie wasn't the only one who knew his name was Redu, because there were several bodyguards present with Ellie at the time.

It wouldn't be surprising if his bodyguard leaked the name "Redu".

"Redu, is that you?" The blond man's gaze was originally fixed on Leopard Tail, after all, among this group, Leopard Tail was the only one his age, and Leopard Tail had carefully dressed in a formal suit, looking quite presentable. But he didn't expect that the person who responded to him was a teenager.