The most shameless alchemist in history

Kotetsu and Hyobi had no idea what Du Lei had done the night before, but when they saw Du Lei the next day, it was obvious that he was listless and had dark circles under his eyes, clearly indicating that he had not slept well. The rain was still falling softly, and many people were holding umbrellas.

There were many small puddles on the ground. Walking through them would splash water droplets and wet your trouser legs. If you looked closely, you could see the reflections of faces in the puddles. Compared to the high spirits of the previous two days, people now had more of a spectator's expression on their faces.

"Du Lei, what happened to you last night? You look so listless." Leopard Tail couldn't help but ask when he saw Du Lei's appearance. At the same time, he was also puzzled because it was common for them to not get a good night's sleep for two or three days on their way to Lan City.

Although Du Lei didn't get a good night's sleep back then, he was still full of energy, a stark contrast to his current appearance.

"Last night? Nothing happened." Du Lei waved his hand, choosing to skip the topic. It was a little past seven in the morning, and they were heading to the venue. The matchmaking event had entered its fifth round, and today was the final stage.

"Look at you, still saying nothing's wrong? You haven't been hiding something from us, have you?" Leopard Tail directly exposed Du Lei. It was a rare opportunity for him to find fault with Du Lei, and if he gave up this chance so easily, who knew when he would get another chance?

“If Du Lei has something to say, he’ll tell us. If he hasn’t, he must have his reasons. Why are you asking him questions? Don’t cause trouble.” Hu Che glared at Bao Wei. He stepped in to help Du Lei out of the predicament. Bao Wei dared not disobey him, or he would definitely get a beating.

“Hey, Boss Kotetsu, I’m not causing trouble at all. I’m just concerned about our companions. You know, this concerns Miss Winry’s safety. Didn’t that kid say himself that we were being watched? We were only saved by Leon. If we hadn’t helped Leon, we wouldn’t have been able to leave safely.” Leopard Tail defended himself, trying to prove that he wasn’t entirely prejudiced against Dure.

"You've already done a huge favor by simply keeping your mouth shut, so just relax." Kotetsu wasn't buying it.

“Actually, Leopard Tail is right. If we fail to help Leon this time and successfully snipe his brother Kim, then he will no longer protect us. It’s not impossible that he will choose to stand against us and sell us out.” Du Lei said softly.

"That's right, Boss Hu Che, see? I wasn't wrong. So now we're shouldering a very important mission." Leopard Tail spoke with a strong voice. Du Lei rarely agreed with what he said, which made him feel great. This kid does have some insight.

"In short, we'll give it our all today. Once we get things done, the train will be running again soon, and we'll be able to safely escort Miss Winry to Rock Castle." Kotetsu nodded, relenting and no longer refuting Hyo-o's argument.

"Now that today's business is settled... can we... can I really leave here?" Dure suddenly asked.

"What did you say?" Du Lei spoke too softly just now, and Kotetsu didn't hear him clearly.

"It's nothing, let's go first." Du Lei shook his head, not repeating what he had just said, because he knew that even if he repeated it, it would be meaningless. Neither the Tiger's Tess, the Leopard's Tail, nor the Ape's Arm could help him.

He had been thinking about this problem all night, but even now, he still hadn't come up with a solution.

"Understood, let's get going and go!" Leopard Tail was full of energy, and even the rain couldn't dampen his enthusiasm. He walked at the front with great momentum, while the rain continued to fall without any sign of stopping.

Meanwhile, on the top floor of the Qinglan Building, two people were looking down at the city from their elevated position. One looked to be in his early twenties and was a quiet young man, while the other was much shorter, less than 1.4 meters tall.

But he weighed at least 200 pounds. His eyes were almost squeezed together on his chubby face. Even though he looked to be in his forties or fifties, he still had a憨态可掬 (endearing and simple) smile. He wore a round hat and was very easy to get along with.

"Father, what is your intention in doing this? Are you disregarding Ellie's happiness?" The young man was extremely unwilling to talk to the man in front of him. Even though they were father and son, he had left that home many years ago, even at the cost of giving up the family business and severing ties with his father.

If he hadn't heard about this absurd thing, he wouldn't have come back to see that face he never wanted to see again.

"Hehehe, tell me, how did I disregard Ellie's happiness?" The short, stout middle-aged man stroked his beard with a smile. His beard was sparse but well-groomed.

"Is it fair to her to choose a husband for her by holding a public matchmaking event? Have you considered her feelings? Is this the life she wants?" The young man questioned his father's decision, finding it absurd.

"The life she wants... what kind of life do you think Ellie wants?" The man, Ababa, put away his smile and asked the young man in front of him. There was only one person who could speak to him in such a tone, and that was his son, Harry.

“The life Ellie wants is, of course, free and unrestrained, and at least it has to be her own choice, right?” Harry responded righteously.

542 Your daughter

This wasn't the first time Harry had spoken to his father; in fact, he had spoken to him yesterday. Even though he had been away from home for many years, he rushed back after hearing about the matchmaking event. Their first conversation after so many years was relatively gentle.

They talked more about the choice Harry made many years ago. Harry didn't know if his choice was right or wrong, because the man whose name was almost erased from history had forcefully pushed the tide of history forward.

The world has evolved to the point where humans, who have wandered in darkness for thousands of years, have suddenly been able to fly and travel underground in just a few decades. New things appear almost every day, and they have made an indispensable contribution to this. However, they are also the ones who have single-handedly created the current situation.

After decades of hard work, when he looked back on the path he had traveled, looking at his old friends and the so-called glory he had built, Harry felt mostly silent and numb. But when he confronted his father, the blood in his veins seemed to boil again.

"Just like you back then, you stubbornly left to follow that man and change the world. And the world has indeed changed as I've seen it. When I left that lonely castle and returned to this world, I found that the world had changed far too fast."

Ababa gazed into the distance, his eyes deep, provided one didn't look at his chubby face. He reminisced about his youth, those were incredibly distant years. The average person's lifespan is only a few decades, but how long was his?

“I have to admit that you have done something great, something so great that even I dare not imagine it. But are you sure that what you have done is what the world needs, and what the world itself has chosen?” Ababa returned Harry’s question verbatim.

“I’m not talking about the times or the world right now, but about your daughter.” Harry turned his head away. He didn’t want to talk about the issue that Ababa had just raised, an issue he had thought about countless times over the years, especially after that man left.

He once harbored dreams and passion; he was once so full of enthusiasm and unwavering in his convictions. But once the heat of his passion cooled, he realized that his beliefs were not as firm as he had imagined.

“If Ellie were just an ordinary child, as her parents, I would definitely want her to be happy and safe, and to live a good life, just like how I didn’t care about her no matter what she did back then.” Ababa said softly, perhaps at this moment he didn’t look so comical.

He was just an ordinary father who worked hard for his children.

"Then why did you..." Harry was even more puzzled, and he wanted to get to the bottom of it to find out Ababa's reasons for doing so.

“Our people are about to be wiped out, completely disappearing from this world,” Ababa suddenly said.

“What did you say? How is that possible? We have been passed down for countless years, how could we disappear from the world?” Harry was stunned, thinking that Ababa was joking. Others only knew that Ababa was just a rich man who loved to travel, but he knew what kind of existence Ababa was.

“Surprised? When you were so eager to change the world, you opened Pandora’s box, and our people will be the first victims to be swallowed up by it.” Ababa spoke calmly as raindrops drifted in through the window and a cold wind howled in.

“Sacrifices? You mean… these are all the evil consequences of change?” If it were thirty years ago, when Harry was still full of vigor, he would have jumped up to refute his father’s argument. But now, thirty years later, he did not.

Because he had reflected on it countless times, wondering if he was right. Over the years, he had conducted continuous investigations and discovered many dangerous signs. He was unsure if these were the consequences they had caused, but it always made him uneasy.

“Trees will wither, people will die, and even we will fade away in the long river of time. The world is the same. Even if you hadn’t done these things, it would have come to an end one day. All you did was push that day forward.” Ababa shook his head.

“I don’t understand, what does this have to do with Ellie?” Harry’s face was a little pale. He continued to ask. The reason he came back was not just because of his sister. He had discovered some clues before and needed some answers before he came back to see his father.

“There will be someone in this world,” Ababa said softly.

"Who is it?" Harry immediately asked.

“Someone who will correct the mistakes you have made,” Ababa continued.

"So what?" Harry still didn't understand the connection.

"I am not that great, my son. I am old now. I can no longer change or save this world. I only want to save my people." Ababa sighed softly, and perhaps only at this moment could one sense a hint of weariness in him.

"Has that person... appeared?" Harry wasn't stupid; he knew that Ababa's sudden mention of these things must have a hidden meaning.

"Maybe it has appeared? Maybe it hasn't, who knows?" Ababa shook his head.

“But here you are!” Harry knew his father hadn’t left the castle for many years, and his sudden appearance in Storm City was definitely not for sightseeing.

"Yes, I am here. I followed that light to appear here, but is it a light or a shadow?" Ababa looked into the distance, even he couldn't come to a conclusion.

"Is there anything I can do for Ellie... for our race?" Harry suddenly felt guilty for not going back to see his people all these years, for leaving so impulsively back then. He wanted to do something to make up for it.

"The only thing you can do is do nothing, just like me, and observe from the sidelines. The world may become more prosperous, or it may flourish, or it may be destroyed and turned into ruins. I only hope that my people can survive this disaster and that our lineage will not be broken."

Ababa shook his head; he felt tired, more tired than ever before.

“Inheritance?” Harry repeated the word, something he had never cared about before.

The rain continued to drizzle. It might stop soon, or it might continue for a long time. But after the rain stopped, would it really be sunny? Harry shook his head. Perhaps an even more violent storm was on its way?

543 Wait patiently

Du Lei and his group quickly arrived at the main venue for the fifth round of the matchmaking event, which was the square in the center of Lan City. This was his third day here, so he was quite familiar with the place. However, as the drizzling rain began to fall, his hair was soaked.

The number of people who made it to the fifth round has dwindled from thousands at the beginning to just a mere ten now. Even though a large crowd has gathered near the square, their purpose is no longer to participate in the matchmaking event, but rather to watch the spectacle.

On the way, Leopard Tail kept speculating about what the fifth round would be about. He considered several possibilities and asked Du Lei for his opinion, but Du Lei rejected them all. When Leopard Tail finally asked Du Lei what the fifth round was about, he was certain that Du Lei didn't know the content.

"The content of the fifth round? Since it's the final round, it will definitely test whether someone is sincere," Du Lei replied to Leopard Tail while waiting.

"What sincerity? Then tell me what method you would use to test sincerity. You said all the methods I mentioned were wrong. Tell me one that is correct!" Leopard Tail was very unconvinced. He had thought about it for most of the night before coming up with a solution, and he had actually rejected it.

“This can’t be the main venue for the fifth round of the matchmaking event.” After observing for a while, Du Lei found that there were no special decorations around the square, just like yesterday. He concluded that this could not be the main venue for the fifth round of the matchmaking event.

"Where else could it be but here? Was it that unknown city from yesterday?" Leopard Tail didn't refute this much, because even he could see that the entire venue was unremarkable, which was completely out of place with the wedding that was about to begin.

Even in the second round, the entire city was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations, but for the crucial fifth round, no decorations were made at all. This seems illogical. The only explanation is that the actual venue was elsewhere.

"You could say that, or you could say that it isn't," Du Lei gave an ambiguous answer.

"What do you mean by 'it can be said that, and it can also be said that it can't'? Are you beating around the bush?" Leopard Tail didn't accept his answer and glared at him.

"You're asking Du Lei a question, can't you ask him properly?" Hu Che patted Bao Wei's shoulder, and the latter cried out in pain. It was clear that Hu Che had used hidden force in this slap. Only Hu Che could hold Bao Wei so firmly, otherwise the latter would have been sent flying into the sky.

"Ouch, Boss Kotetsu, you're wronging me again. How could I not ask properly? Could you please let go of my hand? It hurts a lot." Leopard Tail had no temper when it came to Kotetsu; he could only swallow his anger.

“We will indeed go to that city yesterday, but are you sure what we saw yesterday was the whole picture of that city?” Du Lei didn’t mind Leopard Tail’s aggressive attitude; in fact, he was already used to it.

"What do you mean? Not the whole picture?" Leopard Tail was stunned. He didn't expect Du Lei to suddenly point this out.

"Durey, are you saying that the city we saw wasn't the original one?" Kotetsu immediately understood.

"Have you heard the legend of the Golden Castle?" Dure asked the two, or rather the three, because Ape Arm was also standing beside him, looking at him with a surprised expression. However, Ape Arm couldn't speak, so he was mostly ignored by them.

"The Golden Castle? You mean Ababa's Golden Castle? I heard that story a long time ago. When I was a child, I heard that there was a castle made of gold in the world, and Ababa was the owner of the Golden Castle." Kotetsu nodded.

"Hey, Tiger Chetsu, you've seen a lot in your life. Do you really believe that things like the Golden Castle exist?" Leopard Tail scoffed at the idea. He didn't believe in the Golden Castle and just treated it as a story, not taking it seriously.

"Well..." Kotetsu frowned, not answering for a moment, unsure whether it existed or not.

“The Golden Castle is real,” Dure suddenly spoke up, answering the question for Kotetsu.

"Hey, Dure, what are you talking about? The Golden Castle really exists? Are you out of your mind? Let's not even talk about how gold isn't a material for building castles. Do you know how much stone it takes to build a castle? Look at the walls over there..." Leopard Tail pointed to the distance.

Although it's still raining and the sky is filled with dark clouds, you can still see clearly through the heavy rain. The ancient city walls of Lanzhi City are faintly visible in the misty rain. With the advent of the steam age, more and more new things are emerging one after another.

Gunpowder was one of them. Under the influence of gunpowder, the city walls used to defend against cavalry charges in the old era gradually lost their function. Even as they began to decay and fall into disrepair over the years, no one repaired them. However, one could still see how glorious the city walls were in the past.

“It would take at least a decade to build a castle, and the amount of stone required would be astronomical. You’re saying a castle would be made of gold? How long would that take, and how much gold would it take? Which country could be that rich?” Leopard Tail gave his reasoning, which made a lot of sense.

“Before yesterday, I didn’t believe that a golden castle existed in this world, but after yesterday, I do believe it.” Du Lei did not openly refute Leopard Tail’s words, but instead explained his own reasons.

"Yesterday? Yesterday we just went to that unknown city, nothing special. How could you believe there's a golden castle?" Leopard Tail thought about yesterday's experience, but still couldn't figure out the reason.

“That ancient city doesn’t seem particularly special, but there’s one thing.” Du Lei possessed something that Kotetsu and the others didn’t know.

"Which point?" Kotetsu asked curiously, waiting for his answer.

"The gold content in the air there is exceptionally high, to an outrageous degree," Dure said seriously.

"Gold element? What... what does this mean?" Leopard Tail wasn't quite sure what this meant.

“This means that there is either a huge gold mine or… a castle made of gold near the city,” Dure explained slowly.

"The Golden Castle? Does such a place really exist in this world?" Leopard Tail stammered.

“I think we’ll know the answer soon,” Dure said, neither confirming nor denying.

He knew the only thing he could do was wait patiently.

544 Final Stage

Du Lei's patient wait soon came to a result. They didn't have to wait long in the square. Soon, the staff they had met two days ago appeared. Under the staff's guidance, the ten people who had successfully entered the fifth round were once again sent away by the teleportation barrier.

They had already experienced something like this yesterday, so they were quite familiar with it. Just as Du Lei had told Hu Che and Bao Wei, they were quickly teleported to the city they had visited yesterday. Bao Wei was both confused and puzzled by the arrival at this place.