The most shameless alchemist in history

573 Same here.

In fact, not to mention the audience, even Du Lei himself did not believe that Miss Ellie would choose him before she appeared. The reason he was so confident was that he had already decided to take advantage of Jin's unpreparedness to kill him and leave Lan City in this way.

He had considered that Kim's death would cause chaos and lead to the renewed lockdown of Storm City, but he knew very well that there was someone who would help them leave Storm City: Kim's brother, Leon. By killing Kim, he had essentially cleared the way for Leon, and Leon had every reason to help them.

Of course, Leon could have chosen another approach, which was to kill them and then announce that he was the murderer. However, Dure had already planned for this, because someone on King's side knew that he had close ties with Leon, and he deliberately acted very flamboyant when he met Leon.

This means that if he dies, Leon's suspicion will be confirmed. But if they disappear alive, even if they are suspected, Leon can take over and erase everything. This is a choice that benefits all parties, and there is another important point.

He believed that Leon was a man of his word. This belief did not come from any flowery words Leon might make, but from Dure's own subjective judgment. It could be said that this was an agreement between him and Leon; he helped Leon, and Leon would naturally help him in return.

However, his long-planned scheme was disrupted by an unexpected event, because he never expected that Ellie would be her, the girl he had seen several times before, even just half an hour ago. She walked down slowly, looking so radiant.

“Mr. Redu, Mr. King, hello, we meet again.” Miss Ellie did not hide the fact that she had met the two men before.

“Ouch, ouch, ouch, but now is not the time to cry out in pain. You two… will soon pay the price for what you just did…” Jin’s confidant, who had just been beaten up by Kotetsu and Hyo-o, walked with difficulty behind Jin, filled with resentment.

"Oh, is this Miss Ellie? She actually greeted our young master on her own initiative. Have we met before? This is wonderful, a great start! Young master, what's wrong? Why do you look so unhappy?"

The confidant didn't recognize Ellie at first, even though he was present when they met half an hour earlier. However, at that time, all his attention was on criticizing Dure, so how could he care about an ordinary person dressed in men's clothing next to Dure? She was simply not worth his attention!

"Fine, fine, fine, you actually treated me like this? I'll remember this, I'll remember this debt!" Jin's face was extremely gloomy. He pointed at Dure and Ellie, so angry that he was incoherent. He quickly turned and left, which left his confidants somewhat puzzled.

"Hey, young master, what's wrong with you? Why are you leaving? Today is such a joyous day, what will we do without you? Don't go, don't go..." The confidant couldn't understand what Jin was doing, and he scrambled after him. He wasn't the only one who found it strange.

Even those inside the arena followed Jin's retreating figure, utterly puzzled as to why he would voluntarily leave when things were going so well.

Leaving at a time like this is tantamount to forfeiting, isn't it? That's the most foolish and irrational thing to do!

"Why did that young master Jin leave? He had a huge advantage; victory was already in his grasp!"

"I'm wondering the same thing. Could it be that he got too emotional and his brain short-circuited?"

"But he doesn't seem like a calm person... There must be some reason for this."

People were confused and astonished. While everyone was baffled, it seemed that only Dure, King, and Miss Ellie herself knew why. King, in particular, knew he had completely miscalculated the moment he saw Miss Ellie.

He hadn't expected that the tomboy he'd just met would be Miss Ellie herself. Dure, as the other party involved, was still a bit confused, but Jin knew that no matter how outstanding or advantageous his strength was on paper, he had already lost the initiative.

He hadn't forgotten Miss Ellie's open questioning of him half an hour ago. That was already a warning and an extremely unfriendly signal. Coupled with the way she looked at Dure, he knew he was completely doomed and utterly finished. In this situation, what was the point of staying?

Are you just asking for trouble?

"You...you are Miss Ellie?" Dure's mind went blank; he hadn't expected this to happen.

He is a person who likes to make plans for everything, and in these plans, he sets out the best or worst possible scenarios so that he can have a process of adapting to and accepting both scenarios, and truly adapt to them.

Based on his experience, everything tends to hover between the best and the worst, so he is perfectly capable of accepting and reacting to it.

But is Miss Ellie's appearance now the best or the worst possible outcome? Even Durley himself isn't sure.

He didn't really like this unexpected feeling; it didn't terrify him, but it clearly made him feel uneasy.

The direct manifestation of palpitations is a rapid, pounding heartbeat and shortness of breath.

He suddenly felt that he was afraid to face this person who was not a complete stranger.

“Yes, that’s me, Mr. Redu. Is there a problem?” Ellie looked at him with a smile.

She didn't react to Kim's departure because it was insignificant and unimportant to her.

“Um… my name isn’t Lei Du, it’s Du Lei. I didn’t mean to hide it from you,” Du Lei immediately explained.

“My name isn’t Ellie either, it’s Ellie. We’re the same.” Ellie replied with a smile.

"So, what's the situation now? Can you explain it to me?" Du Lei felt his cheeks getting hot.

Sweat beaded on his forehead as he anticipated what would happen if the assassination attempt on Kim failed, and what he would do next.

He also anticipated how to leave calmly after the assassination was successful.

But he didn't anticipate how he would deal with this situation, which he was not good at and had no experience with, after Ellie became Ellie.

“What do you mean by explaining… Mr. Redu… no, Mr. Redu, didn’t you already say that?” Ellie had a beautiful smile with shallow dimples on her face.

"Said that? What did I say?" Du Lei's memory wasn't bad, but now his mind was blank, and he couldn't remember anything.

"Huh? Mr. Dure, have you forgotten so quickly? Isn't it said that a woman should follow her husband wherever he goes, whether he's a chicken or a dog?"

Ellie laughed even harder.

m.

574 Wedding Planning

The turn of events caught Du Lei off guard. Although the favorite, Jin, had voluntarily withdrawn, there were still a few other competitive contestants left, including Du Lei, Tong Guogai, Ji, and others. However, the final decision rested with Miss Ellie.

To everyone's astonishment, Miss Ellie chose Dure as the ultimate winner. Before people could recover from their shock, the wedding ceremony had already begun. The grand golden castle was decorated with lanterns and colorful streamers, and the servants were busy preparing for the upcoming wedding.

Dure, the person involved, was completely bewildered. He had been taken away by Ababa's people, also in preparation for the wedding that would begin that evening. All the citizens of Lan City had been invited and would participate in this grand wedding as guests.

As for Durei's companions, Kotetsu, Hyobi, Ape Arm, and Winry, they were also warmly received. They looked at the clock on the wall and realized that there was less than half an hour left before the wedding officially began, and night was gradually falling.

"I never expected that guy and Miss Ellie knew each other before. What? No wonder he was so confident. He didn't tell us about this sooner. That's really unfair of him," Leopard Tail complained. He had been really worried for Dure at the time.

"No matter what, he won in the end. After the wedding ends tonight, the train station will resume operation tomorrow, and we can leave Lanzhi City, right?" Kotetsu sighed softly. Too much had happened in the past few days.

They had lingered in Storm City long enough, and now that they were finally about to leave the city's territory, he felt uneasy.

"Ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh ugh." The ape-like arm next to him gestured, but it was unclear what he was trying to express.

“Ape Arm, just write down what you want to say. I can’t understand what you mean by gesturing like this.” Leopard Tail handed Ape Arm paper and pen.

After taking the pen and paper, the ape-armed man wrote two words on it: "Du Lei?".

"Are you asking about Dure's future?" Bee Sting walked over, looked at the two words on the paper, and asked.

"Hmm!" The ape-armed man nodded heavily; this was the problem he was most worried about right now.

"As for that guy's future... to be honest, I'm not entirely sure either. He's already won in the end and become the son-in-law of that tycoon Ababa. With Ababa backing him up, he'll be set for life. He doesn't need to have any higher ambitions."

Leopard Tail paused here. How could it be that he didn't feel any envy in his words?

“But we’ve been through so much together, and we finally got here. If he suddenly leaves… it’s really hard to accept.” Bai Ling hesitated. She and Du Lei were from the same academy.

"This isn't a question of whether it's easy to accept or not; it's his own choice. We have no right to interfere with his choice of what's better for him, right? In any case, today is a joyous day for him, and we should still offer our blessings later," Leopard Tail sighed.

Although he has never been one to make his own decisions, at least on this matter, he chose to stand on Dure's side.

“Blessings? Yes, Mr. Dure doesn’t have many relatives or friends. We are his only friends here, so we should definitely give him our best wishes.” Wenli nodded gently, her face still bearing a tender smile.

"Miss Wenli, are you alright?" Bailing looked at Wenli with concern and asked cautiously.

"Me? Of course I'm fine, why do you ask?" Wen Li asked with a smile.

"This...no, it's nothing. I'm just glad you're alright." Although Bailing was a little worried, she didn't continue.

"Alright, everyone, get ready to go to the wedding. We'll meet in twenty minutes," Wenli said with a smile, clasping her hands together.

"Understood, then we'll go back and prepare. See you in twenty minutes." Kotetsu and Hyowei stood up, ready to leave.

The Golden Castle has many rooms, more than enough to accommodate them.

“Miss Wenli, you…” After seeing that everyone else had left and only she and Wenli were left in the room, Bailing hesitated to speak.

"Miss Bailing, you should go back and prepare too," Wenli said gently.

“But…” Bailing was really worried about Wenli’s condition.

"There are no 'buts'. I just want to be alone. Is that not allowed?" Wen Li suddenly raised her voice, somewhat out of control.

"I understand. If you need anything, just let me know..." Bai Ling knew that Wen Li was feeling bad, and she also knew that she really needed to be alone for a while. She quietly left the room, leaving Wen Li alone inside.

The large room was brightly lit, and through the windows, one could see the glittering stars.

Under a sky full of stars, servants were busy preparing for a grand wedding that was less than twenty minutes away.

"As a basic courtesy, shouldn't I offer my blessings to Mr. Dure? I should be smiling, I should keep smiling..."

Wenli murmured softly, trying her best to appear dignified, a matter of etiquette she had learned since childhood.

No matter how much she smiled or how composed she remained, why were tears always rolling down her cheeks?

At the same time, Dure came out of the room, now dressed in a black evening suit, and walked down the corridor.

He happened to run into Hu Che and his two companions, who had been blasted out by Bai Ling not long ago.

"Hey, isn't that Du Lei? What? Clothes really do make the man. I almost didn't recognize you after you changed your outfit." Leopard Tail looked him over carefully and finally recognized Du Lei. He went up to greet him.

"You..." Two servants stood beside Dure, their brows furrowed, intending to prevent Kotetsu and the others from approaching.

“It’s alright, they are my companions.” Dure shook his head, indicating that they didn’t need to stop them.

Soon, Hyo-o and Kotetsu and the others arrived safely.

"You're really something, kid. You're really doing it right." Leopard Tail punched Du Lei's chest and said with a laugh.

"Please spare me, I'm completely bewildered and have been forced into this situation." Du Lei's words weren't just modesty; he genuinely was bewildered and hadn't come to his senses yet.

"Come on, this kind of good thing has come to you and you're still confused? Why don't you give this good thing to me?" Leopard Tail said half-jokingly.

"If you want to come, I'll let you have it," Du Lei said innocently.

"No, I do want to, but they wouldn't even look at me. Okay, enough joking. Hurry up and get ready, the wedding is about to start, and I'm waiting to see you at your most handsome." Leopard Tail patted Du Lei on the shoulder to encourage him.

575 Destruction Descends

Fireworks lit up the dark night sky, and hundreds of bonfires were lit on the ground. Next to the bonfires were long tables laden with exquisite food. Servants brought out trays one by one, along with fine wines.

Before this, people had some resentment about being suddenly teleported to the Golden City, because it was not their choice to come. But now, participating in this grand wedding made them forget their troubles, and young men and women danced happily hand in hand around the campfire.

The fireworks lasted for two hours, and the banquet lasted for four hours before it ended. Most people enjoyed the joy and celebration of the wedding, but a very small number of people did not feel the same way, including the person involved, Du Lei.

Even after the wedding was over, he was completely bewildered and couldn't react for a long time. It wasn't that he was particularly dull or stupid, but rather that this was something that hadn't been part of his plans at all. Besides, he was only fourteen years old and had absolutely no idea about marriage.

“Mr. Dure, you don’t seem too happy?” Ellie and Dure were alone on the city wall.

From this vantage point, you can clearly see the bonfires spread out outside the castle, a grand feast that can accommodate tens of thousands of people.