The most shameless alchemist in history

"Understood, Miss Winry, and everyone else, please come this way." The butler next to Valan quickly led them out of the banquet hall.

The Varan family mansion was very large, and it took quite a while before they were led to their resting room.

"Miss Winry, this is your room. Please feel free to stay here for your convenience. If you need anything, please let us know."

After the butler settled Wenli and the others in, he withdrew.

"Hey, Bailing, what's wrong with you? You don't actually believe that fat guy, do you?" Hu Che asked anxiously.

"Yeah, that fat guy doesn't look like a good person at all. What if he attacks us?" Leopard Tail was also a little anxious.

They simply couldn't understand why Bailing would make such a choice.

"Captain Hu Che, and Leopard Tail, didn't you notice? This mansion is heavily guarded with sentries and guards everywhere." Bai Ling pointed around and whispered.

"Of course I noticed, and that's precisely why this place is dangerous," Leopard Tail replied confidently.

“No, that’s precisely why we’re safe.” Bailing shook her head, denying this.

"Hey, you've got it backwards, haven't you?" Leopard Tail didn't understand what she meant for a moment.

"I understand, Bailing, you're right to do it this way." After thinking for a moment, Hu Che agreed with Bailing's point of view.

589. Meddling in other people's business

Although Dure was young, he was no stranger to the underworld. Even though it was his first time in such a place, just like Winry, he acted like a seasoned veteran. The reason was simple: although he had never been there before, he had heard about it from others.

When he was still in Hot Spring Village, he often heard the mercenaries in the village talk about the underworld and its many rules. Black Wind was also listening with him at the time, but Black Wind regarded it as a longing for the distant future and was very envious of it.

He himself recorded all of these essential documents, knowing that he would definitely need them in time. In fact, his guess was confirmed, and this trip to Rock City proved to be very useful.

"Hahaha, I'm on a good streak today, I've won a lot of money, I can stay here for a while and don't need to go up anymore."

"Damn it, what kind of lousy cards are these? I risked my life to earn this bounty, and I lost it all in the time it takes to smoke a cigarette!"

"Dude, it's normal to have bad luck sometimes. Since you've lost everything, please move over. I'm itching to play."

Inside the underground casino, all sorts of people come and go, including wealthy businessmen who gamble away fortunes and mercenaries who live on the edge. Some win money and laugh wildly, while others lose money and complain or even throw tantrums. The air is thick with the smell of alcohol.

Some men were surrounded by beautiful women, their arms around each other, creating a chaotic scene under the dim lights—a sight never seen on Earth.

“Mr. Dure, isn’t this… a casino? What are we doing here?” Winry followed closely behind Dure.

It's not that she's unsophisticated, but she's only ever seen grand, formal occasions, and she always had people protecting her at those times.

But now that she had come to a completely unfamiliar, dangerous place filled with a violent atmosphere, it was inevitable that she would feel uneasy.

“As you can see, there are all kinds of people in the casino, including big businessmen, mercenaries, and even monks. The more people there are, the more sources of information there are. Gathering information here is the easiest thing to do,” Du Lei replied in a low voice.

Although he was very thin, he still stood in front of Wenli to protect her. The casino was so crowded that it was practically bursting at the seams.

Some people saw that he was young and thin, and deliberately bumped into him, but Durei did not give an inch and showed no weakness here.

"Hey kid, watch where you're going. Someone your age, coming to a casino? Is this a place for you?" A burly, drunk man bumped into Du Lei. He was much taller than Du Lei, by more than a head!

Although Dure and Winry were wearing masks, judging from their height and build, they certainly weren't very old.

Du Lei knew that the burly man was drunk and might have lost money gambling. He was deliberately taking his anger out on them. The best way to deal with this kind of person was to ignore him and just go on your way. That way, the other party would have no fun and that would be the end of it. If you paid attention to him, he would take advantage of you.

"Hey kid, I'm talking to you, and you're ignoring me? Why are you running away? Oh, is that a young woman with you? She's got such delicate skin." The burly man was annoyed that Du Lei was walking away so hastily. He tried to grab Du Lei, but missed.

But he quickly noticed Winry following closely behind Dure. He chuckled and reached out to grab her.

"Oh, please, please let go of me!" Wen Li was already a little nervous, and now that someone had grabbed her hand, she exclaimed in surprise.

She was so anxious she didn't know what to do, and looked at Du Lei in front of her with trepidation.

"Let her go!" Du Lei frowned, turned around and coldly rebuked her.

"Judging from your voice, you're only fourteen or fifteen years old, barely out of your teens, and you dare to yell at me? You probably don't know the power of your grandpa Pam!" The burly man was not angry at Du Lei's rebuke, but instead laughed. He grabbed Wen Li's wrist and lifted it high.

Wenli was already short, and with his tug, she had to stand on tiptoe to barely keep standing.

Her fair wrist was suddenly pulled until it bled bright red, which made Du Lei, who was standing next to her, bulge his veins.

"I'll say it again, let her go!" This time, Dure lowered his voice, clearly trying his best to control his anger.

"You think I'll just release him because you tell me to? Who do you think you are?" The burly man named Pam didn't take the boy in front of him seriously at all.

A crowd of onlookers gathered around, mostly with the attitude of wanting to watch a good show.

"Do you know that what you're doing is breaking the rules of the underworld?" Dure asked again in a deep voice.

He knew that in order to maintain order in the underworld and prevent people from causing trouble, there was a set of established rules.

One of the rules is that women and children should not be bullied, and any grievances should be resolved outside.

"Rules? You think you're worthy to talk to me about rules? I'll tell you today, you can only talk to me about rules when you can beat me. Otherwise, you might as well go back and wet the bed! Hahahaha." Pam laughed unrestrainedly, while increasing the force of his grip.

"Hey, what's going on over there? Isn't that Pam? Is he drunk and causing trouble again?" someone asked in a low voice.

"He's more than just drunk; he just lost twenty silver coins. This drunkard and gambling addict is really annoying."

"But you can't just bully a woman, especially a girl. Isn't he going too far?"

"What, you still dare to meddle in his business? Pam is notorious for being a troublemaker, so it's best not to provoke him."

People nearby whispered among themselves; many knew Pam and advised those who didn't know her not to meddle.

Even those who were indignant were pulled back by their companions, who advised them to avoid trouble.

"I've warned you three times already. Since you're still so stubborn, this is the only way!" Du Lei's face was grim. Even though you couldn't see his expression through the mask, his words were enough to send chills down your spine.

"So what do you think you can do... Ah! What did you do?" Pam hadn't taken the boy seriously at first.

But the next moment, he suddenly felt a burning pain in his wrist, accompanied by a deadly, icy chill.

The sharp pain caused him to loosen his grip, allowing Wenli to break free from his pull and retreat behind the boy.

A sharp dagger pierced through his wrist!

m.

590 Late-Night Fire

At first, Leopard Tail didn't understand what Bailing and Hu Che meant, but he quickly realized that at first glance, Valan did seem to have ill intentions. His mansion was heavily guarded with various hidden sentries. However, if you look at it from another perspective, they entered the city in full view of everyone.

In other words, the news of the envoy from the Land of Snow arriving in Rock City and staying at Lord Valan's residence had already spread throughout the vast Rock City. If Valan were to still attack them under these circumstances, wouldn't he be digging his own grave?

This is probably what they mean by the most dangerous place being the safest place. After dispelling this doubt, Leopard Tail was finally able to sleep soundly. Otherwise, he would have been constantly worried about Valan's underhanded tactics and wouldn't have dared to close his eyes. Now, the heavily fortified mansion had become a solid fortress.

After a hearty meal, Leopard Tail fell into a peaceful sleep, and soon the room was filled with even snoring. It wasn't until a dark shadow passed by the window outside the room that he was suddenly awakened from his sleep. He immediately got up and rushed out of the room towards the room where Bai Ling was, in order to prevent any accidents.

"Fire! Fire! Fire!" Just after Leopard Tail rushed out of the room, flames quickly shot into the sky from the southeast side.

The fire raged, illuminating the night as if it were daytime. At this moment, Kotetsu and the others arrived.

"What happened? How did it start a fire?" Leopard Tail was quite surprised by the sudden fire.

"Where is Bailing? Where is she?" Kotetsu was very concerned about Bailing, because at this moment she was playing the role of Miss Winry.

"I'm here, don't worry." Soon, Bai Ling and Feng Ci also hurriedly came over to join them.

"Is everyone alright? That's great. But what exactly happened? How did a fire break out out of nowhere?" Leopard Tail frowned, completely baffled. He had initially thought it was Lark who was attacked, but now it seemed to be just an accident.

“Such a large mansion has good fire prevention measures and it wouldn’t catch fire so easily. It just rained yesterday and the air is still very dry. There’s no reason for it to suddenly catch fire. We just arrived here. It’s hard not to suspect that the fire was set at a very opportune time.”

Kotetsu frowned. He absolutely did not believe that the fire was an accident. He calmly considered the ins and outs of the whole incident.

"Boss Hu Che, are you saying that this fire was set on purpose? It's aimed at us? But we're all safe and sound, and the fire is quite far away from us." Leopard Tail looked around. The fire was at least two hundred meters away from them, and many people rushed over to put it out.

"Could this be a smokescreen? Using arson to attract attention, then taking advantage of the chaos to attack us?" Bailing suggested.

"That's very possible! We must be careful and not give those hiding in the shadows an opportunity!" Leopard Tail nodded emphatically.

He deeply agreed with the possibility proposed by Bailing, and not only him, but also Kotetsu nodded slightly, reaching a consensus on the matter.

"It seems we really underestimated Lord Varan. We thought he wouldn't dare to make a move against us in the mansion, but it looks like he's planning to take advantage of the fire to kill us." Leopard Tail was furious when he thought of Varan's behavior at the banquet.

“No, I don’t think things should be like this. Valan has better ways to deal with us. There’s no reason for him to make a move in his own mansion. Wouldn’t that be putting himself in the spotlight?” Kotetsu shook his head. On this point, he did not agree with Leopard Tail’s speculation.

"If it wasn't Valan who did it, who else could it be? Could it be someone else?" Leopard Tail asked, stunned.

"Others? It's hard to say. Damn it, if only that guy Dure were here, he would definitely be able to deduce the correct result!" Kotetsu slammed his fist on the wall next to him. There was chaos all around, and all they could do was stay put and keep watch.

"He's not here right now, and I wonder how he and Miss Wenli are doing. I hope nothing bad has happened to them." Leopard Tail was also worried about Wenli's safety. After all, even they were in danger, let alone Dure and the other two. He really had no confidence in Dure's abilities.

"Don't worry, since the fire is burning here, it means they're after us. The more dangerous it is for us, the safer they'll feel," Bailing offered a different perspective.

“Bailing is right, but… are they really after us? It’s been so long and they haven’t attacked us yet.” Hu Che looked around. The fire was still raging, but there was no sign that they were being watched, which made him suspicious.

"If it's not aimed at us, then who else could it be? Could it be aimed at that fat bastard Valan?" Leopard Tail retorted.

"Varan... Oh no, they're definitely heading for Varan! We have to go check it out!" Hu Che shouted suddenly after thinking it over carefully.

But at that moment, a large number of guards suddenly rushed over and surrounded them.

"What's going on? What are you trying to do? You are... Colonel Luffy? Hey, why are your men pointing guns at us? Why don't you tell them to put them down?" Leopard Tail initially reacted strongly, but breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that the leading officer was Luffy.

Because Luffy and Valan were very close, they could be considered Valan's allies, and they were also Valan's guests.

He clearly didn't think Luffy would do anything to harm them.

"Why are you asking us? I'd like to ask you the questions!" Luffy didn't order his men to leave, but spoke coldly.

"What do you mean? What do you want to ask me?" Leopard Tail was baffled.

However, he also sensed Luffy's intense hostility, which gave him a bad feeling.

"Lord Varan treated you with great hospitality, fulfilling his duties as a host, but how did you repay him?" Luffy said bitterly.

"We? We didn't do anything. We are very grateful for Lord Valan's hospitality. Why do you want us?" Leopard Tail was increasingly puzzled.

Behind him, Hu Che and Yuan Bi also became more vigilant.

Being pointed at by dozens of dark gun barrels is no easy thing.

"You still won't admit it? Just now, you killed Lord Valan! You murderers, arrest them all!" Colonel Ruff shouted, and his men immediately tightened their encirclement, pressing closer step by step.

"What did you say? Valan is dead?" Leopard Tail's eyes widened.

Things are getting a bit complicated now.