The most shameless alchemist in history

"Alright, alright, almost there, don't worry, we're almost there... Hey? Did you hear anything?" The boy named Du Lei's ears twitched slightly. He clearly heard a "click" sound, paused for a moment, and subconsciously asked his two companions.

"A sound? What sound? Don't try to stall me with those useless excuses, I won't fall for it!"

The tall, thin man with well-defined facial features and a handsome appearance knew Du Lei's personality all too well. They had grown up together. Don't let Du Lei's young age and harmless appearance fool you; he was notoriously cunning in the village.

"Durey, did you hear my stomach growling? The roasted sweet potatoes smell so good..." The fat guy on the bottom floor had no interest in peeping; for him, the greatest happiness was eating. However, he couldn't resist the invitation from his two companions, so he came along.

"It wasn't a gurgling sound, but... the sound of something breaking. I have a bad feeling about this, oh no!"

Du Lei thought carefully. As the youngest and most skilled hunter in the village, his senses were extraordinary. He immediately realized something was wrong and decided to retreat.

"Huh? Who... is that?" Just as the three sneaky people were pressing down on the wooden fence that had collapsed and exclaimed in surprise, the girl who was about to get out of the hot spring noticed something was wrong. She raised an eyebrow, grabbed her clothes from the edge of the pool and wrapped them around herself, and drew her sword.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch, it hurts so much! I told Hart last time that the wooden fence around his bathhouse was rotten and needed to be replaced, but he didn't believe me. Now it's really collapsed. They say that those who don't listen to the advice of a petty person will suffer the consequences. That's so true. Hmm, there's a murderous aura!"

Du Lei covered his buttocks and cried out.

Just now, the two logs he was lying on, rotten from age, broke under the weight, causing him to fall. Luckily, he reacted quickly and avoided the sharp logs, otherwise, the consequences wouldn't have been as simple as just complaining of a sore bottom.

"Assassin! Kill him!" Just as Du Lei sensed the approaching danger, a slender, paper-thin longsword followed him like a shadow and slashed towards him. In Du Lei's view, the beautiful woman under the moon wrapped one hand in a thin shirt, her skin as white as snow, and held a longsword in the other hand, the blade of which seemed to defy frost. He was stunned for a moment.

"So beautiful... Ugh, this isn't the time to admire beauties. Wait, an assassin? Hold on, I'm not an assassin. Are you sure you're not mistaken?"

Du Lei belatedly realized what was happening, and with his agile movements, he instinctively shrank back, the sharp glint of the blade almost grazing his nose.

He clearly saw a strand of hair slowly drift down. Before the sweat on his forehead could solidify, he immediately waved his hand in a ceasefire gesture, leaned back, and sat down on the ground with a thud, raising a few snowflakes. Only at this moment did his heart suddenly tremble, and he couldn't breathe.

"Not an assassin? Then who are you? What are you doing sneaking around here?" The girl looked down at Du Lei with a haughty air. The blade in her hand was pressed against Du Lei's neck. If he made the slightest movement, she could easily draw a brilliant flower of blood from the tip of the blade.

"Sneaking around...nothing like that. Um...I'm a local, a hunter from around here...oh, no, I'm a carpenter. I saw the wall was damaged and was going to repair it. That's right, that's the situation. My two assistants can explain the situation to me..."

Du Lei considered himself a prominent figure in the hot spring village, possessing considerable courage and imposing presence. However, facing this young girl, he dared not even breathe loudly. He saw no shyness on her face; her golden pupils held only an icy indifference that chilled him to the bone.

"Assistant? What assistant? Are there any other people?"

The girl immediately became alert. She hastily emerged from the water, her skin still damp with warm water droplets. Her long black hair, which she hadn't had time to tie up, was loose and falling. Cherry blossoms from the trees drifted down onto her skin and then onto the blade.

"Huh? Black Wind, Copper Mountain, where are they? Damn, that's so disloyal! We agreed to share the good times and the bad, and you two ran off faster than dogs? No way, you're heartless, I can't be unrighteous. Um... they went to move some wood, and it looks like it needs fixing, right?"

Dure turned back to look for his two companions, but behind him was nothing but broken planks and cold wind blowing in; there was no sign of anyone. Clever as he was, he naturally understood the principle of 'every man for himself' in times of trouble, but he still forced a smile and persevered, displaying remarkable mental fortitude.

"Carpenter? The kind who repairs houses and makes furniture? The plank over there is indeed broken. Okay, I'll forgive you for now, but I'll just gouge out your eyes."

The girl glanced at the broken planks, nodded thoughtfully, and made a decision about how to deal with Dure in a calm tone.

"Oh dear, you're such a kind guest. There are so few guests like you who are so gentle, beautiful, and reasonable. Well then, I won't bother you any longer and will be leaving... Huh? What did you say? Gouge out my eyes?" Du Lei thought things were looking up when he heard the girl's tone soften, so he immediately started flattering her.

However, once he understood the meaning behind the girl's words, he immediately raised his voice, because he realized that the girl was not joking with him. The clear blade was already raised, and it looked like it was about to stab his eyes. The gods were about to close his bright windows!

"Sweet talk, cut your tongue out too!" The girl's eyes were sharp as a knife, and a cherry blossom fell onto the blade and was instantly sliced ​​in two!

"Hey, let's be reasonable. You can't be this brutal. Besides, I was praising you and stating the facts. How can you call it sweet talk? Hmm, there's murderous intent again... Quick, pounce on me!"

Du Lei shrank back and kept waving his hands; he didn't want to become mute and blind at such a young age.

Just then, his ears twitched again. He initially thought the murderous aura was coming from the girl in front of him, but upon closer inspection, he realized it was different. With a quick thought, he stomped his left foot and used the force of his right shoulder to ram forward, knocking the girl to the ground.

"How dare you! What are you doing? You're asking for death..." The girl was caught off guard. In her eyes, Dure was short and thin and posed no threat to her at all. She was a little careless for a moment. By the time she came to her senses, she had lost her balance and fell into the snow.

"Shut up, you woman! They're coming!" Du Lei snapped at the girl. At that moment, he couldn't care less about anything else. At the same time, a huge creature leaped high into the air and crashed down on the spot where they had just been standing.

"Boom!" When the enormous object landed, the ground made a loud noise, the surroundings trembled, and snowflakes flew everywhere.

"This is..." The girl was clearly stunned for a moment, and she couldn't care less about the awkward position she and Du Lei were in. Her chest heaved violently.

"Are these the monsters that have been appearing frequently on the outskirts of the village lately? Damn it, how did they get into the village? But don't worry, I'm here... Hey, what's this thing? It's soft and squishy. Did someone's rabbit escape?" Du Lei turned around and stared at these uninvited guests.

While marveling at the experience, he suddenly realized that the feel of the ball was unexpectedly good, and turned around in confusion.

"You bastard, where exactly are you touching?" The girl's cheeks flushed red, and her angry eyes were fixed on the guy in front of her, as if she wanted to devour him alive!

"Huh? Not a rabbit, but... um... Oh, actually I'm not only a carpenter, but also a doctor. I just gave you a check-up. This feel, this elasticity, it's perfect! Looks like you're developing very well. No need to thank me, you can skip the check-up fee!" Du Lei was stunned for a moment.

However, with his quick wit, he found an excuse in the shortest time and even gave the girl a thumbs up, praising her profusely.

"Unforgivable, unforgivable! You shameless bastard, go to hell right now!" Enraged, the girl drew her sword and slashed at him!

565 will definitely win.

The afterglow of the setting sun is golden, and the castle is golden. When the golden afterglow falls on the golden castle, it is perhaps the most dazzling scene that an ordinary person can imagine in their lifetime. You know, just digging a piece out of the castle with a shovel would probably make you rich for the rest of your life.

In fact, many of the people invited to the City of Gold did do just that. Of course, some people took a more sophisticated approach. They weren't foolish enough to dig for gold and make such a big fuss to attract attention. Instead, they chose to steal things that were more valuable.

Gems, antiques, and other valuables abound in the city of gold. While these people were frantically looting valuables, Dure remained atop the castle, leisurely enjoying the scenery. It was unclear whether he was gazing at the unchanging landscape or whether the landscape was gazing at him.

"Decades? What if we could live longer than decades?" Eli suddenly asked, sitting next to Durei.

"More than several decades? How long is that? A hundred years?" Du Lei thought for a moment, the average lifespan is only sixty or seventy years.

One hundred years old was a long enough lifespan he could imagine.

"What if it's even longer than a hundred years?" Ellie shook her head and continued to ask.

"Longer than a hundred years? I don't know. I don't think I could live that long. But I think an excessively long lifespan would only make people feel lonely." Dure gave an uncertain answer, after all, he had only lived for a little over ten years.

"Flowers wither, people die. Since life is a cycle, why are we born in the first place?" Ellie sighed softly.

"We probably can't choose to be born, and we can't decide to die, but the distance between life and death... is in our own hands." Dure couldn't answer one of Eli's previous questions, but he still had his own unique perspective on this issue.

"Master? What constitutes mastery?" Ellie continued to ask.

"Live the life you want, and make every day exciting and interesting... This may sound a bit unrealistic and too abstract, but... at least it should be something that makes you feel good, something that you can do and still feel exhilarated when you look back on it, so that you don't feel regretful."

Dure tried to describe his feelings, which may have seemed incoherent, but that was truly how he felt.

“Perhaps I still don’t quite understand what you mean, Mr. Redu… but I think I understand your feelings. So, what are your plans for this matchmaking event?” Ellie nodded thoughtfully and continued to ask.

“I will not marry that lady,” Dure replied firmly.

"Why? Is it because you think she's not good enough?" Ellie asked in surprise.

"No, although I've never met her and have heard various rumors about her, I think she probably has a lot of helplessness. She can't even decide her own marriage, which is very pitiful," Du Lei said, shaking his head.

“It is indeed a helpless thing that we cannot make the decision, but what if she also wants to become Mr. Redu’s wife?” Ellie asked again.

"I participated in the matchmaking event to protect my companions. Storm City is just a midpoint for me, not my final destination. So after the events here are over, I will continue my journey to Rock City," Dure revealed his true thoughts.

Although he and Ellie hadn't known each other for long—they'd only known each other for three days at most and had only met three times in total—it was still a long time.

But he believed that Ellie was trustworthy, a person with incredible power.

“But this doesn’t conflict with your marriage,” Ellie still didn’t understand.

"Well... to be honest, I'm also conflicted. But if I get married just to protect my comrades, I feel like it's unfair to that young lady." Du Lei shook his head. He was usually very decisive on other issues, but this one really gave him a headache.

“If you hadn’t married her, Mr. Redu, she would have married Mr. Jin anyway. Do you think it would have been fair for her to marry Mr. Jin?” Ellie asked another question.

"This..." Du Lei was stumped by her question.

"Actually, there's one question I've never been able to understand," Du Lei said slowly after a long silence.

"What's the problem?" Ellie continued to ask.

"Why does Tu Feiyuan have to do this? A man like him could give his daughter the right to make her own decisions. Why make her marry a complete stranger?" Du Lei couldn't understand Ababa's motives.

Generally speaking, there are three reasons for getting married. One is mutual affection. When two people like each other and their feelings have accumulated to a certain point, they get married.

The second reason is due to interests, such as marriage alliances between wealthy businessmen and politicians, or between large families, where they are bound together by some kind of interest.

The third reason is compromise marriage, where people are forced into marriage for various reasons.

But after thinking about it carefully, Dure couldn't connect Ababa with these three reasons no matter what.

"Perhaps he had no choice but to do it for his family?" Ellie replied ambiguously.

“Yes, no matter what happens in this world, even if it seems absurd and illogical, there must be a reason for its existence.” Dure thought for a moment and nodded slightly.

"It seems you've made your decision, Mr. Redu?" Ellie seemed to see an answer in Redu's face.

Previously, Du Lei's face was full of confusion, but now the gloom on his face is gradually dissipating.

“I know that someone like Kim won’t make that young lady happy, so I will defeat Kim and prevent him from succeeding,” Dure said confidently.

"So Mr. Redu is going to marry her?" Ellie nodded and asked again.

“I’m sorry, I won’t marry her either.” Du Lei shook his head.

"Then I don't understand. If you defeated Mr. Jin but didn't marry her, then who really won?" Eli was confused by Dure.

"Who cares who wins? It's not like we have to fight to the death. We'll make plans after the results are out. Besides, no matter how well I talk, it's not certain whether I can win. There's nothing I can do right now to change the final decision," Du Lei sighed and smiled bitterly.

“Mr. Redu is so amazing, I believe you can definitely win!” Ellie said confidently.

"I hope so." Dure smiled and turned to leave.

But just as he turned around, he saw someone walking towards him.

The one walking over is Jin.

566. Voluntary Exit

Du Lei is not one to easily make enemies. Even when he was still in the hot spring village, he was very cunning. He took advantage of others quite a bit, but no one got angry with him. Generally speaking, he was able to maintain a good relationship with everyone. Even after leaving the hot spring village, after three months, the number of people who had a grudge against him could be counted on one hand.

Apart from a certain young lady, there was no one else in Maple Leaf Academy. And outside of Maple Leaf Academy, there was only one other person, namely Jin, who was standing opposite him at this moment. The reason why he and Jin had a feud was largely because Jin had touched a taboo that he absolutely could not touch.

Jin attacked his friends. At that time, in order to force them out and prevent them from competing with him, Jin attacked them twice. Once he put them in prison. Actually, that was fine. At most, he just suffered a loss in silence and didn't take it to heart.

On another occasion, however, he directly attacked Winry, which Dure could not tolerate, leading him to openly break ties with King.

"Huh? This is... Mr. Kim?" Ellie recognized Kim and was somewhat surprised to see him here.