The most shameless alchemist in history

"Your Highness, Boca is such an incompetent person, why keep him in his post?" Bee Sting couldn't help but say after seeing Colonel Boca leave. In the past two days, Boca has not only been slow to act, but his adaptability has also been extremely poor.

“Although Boca is incompetent and muddleheaded, he is very loyal to the royal family. This civil war has lasted for so long, and too many excellent officers have defected to the Southern Front. For the royal family, loyalty is always the top priority. Besides, even if we replace Boca, we can’t find a better candidate to replace him in a short time. After all, he has been in charge of Winter Town for many years. He can’t be replaced so easily. Moreover, he is a distant relative of Minister Rob. What do you think Lord Rob will think if we touch Boca?” Wenli shook her head slightly. She knew all too well how mediocre and incompetent Boca was.

But she also knew that there were too many things that were holding her back. Even her mother, the high and mighty Frost Queen, had many concerns when she did things.

"I see, I understand." Bee Sting nodded gently and didn't ask any more questions. She stepped aside. Suddenly, it started snowing outside. The snow fell silently. The children nearby were full of anticipation because they could build snowmen and have snowball fights. However, their parents had already taken them home early. Given the current situation in Winter Town, how could they feel at ease letting their children play outside?

Dr. Dure and his group had planned to leave Wintertown by train in two days, remaining indifferent to whatever happened there and trying to stay away from the trouble. However, even with these plans, trouble still came knocking, and guards came to the inn to arrest them.

"Please come with us." The lead guard said expressionlessly. A dozen guards rushed into the inn, and through the windows, dozens more guards could be seen waiting outside, clearly indicating that they had come prepared.

“Soldier, what’s going on? Have we broken any rules?” Dr. Sarah was baffled. She immediately went forward to inquire about the situation. They hadn’t even left the hotel for the past few days and really couldn’t understand how they had attracted these guards.

"We are ordered to arrest everyone who has entered Winter Town within the past week." The soldier coldly stated his purpose. After learning that there were four guests staying at the inn two days ago, which coincided with the time of the explosion, he led his men to seal off the entire inn, inside and out, so that not even a fly could get out.

“But I am a PhD from the University of Seine. Didn’t Sabo prove our identities before?” Dr. Sara emphasized this point. Everything had been peaceful for the past two days, but trouble suddenly came today.

"I don't care who proved your identities, I only know how to follow orders. If you refuse to cooperate..." The soldier waved his hand, and the other soldiers raised their guns, showing a strong intention to forcibly take them away if they dared to resist, which made the atmosphere tense.

“But one of our companions is still sick and hasn’t recovered, so she can’t come with you.” Rhodes was getting anxious. He was referring to Tanya, whose condition had finally stabilized and couldn’t withstand any more disruption.

“It’s alright, Rhodes, let me handle this. May I ask, whose orders are you on?” Dure waved his hand, signaling Rhodes not to argue with the guards, as it was pointless. He went up to ask the guards. When they first arrived in Winter Town, they encountered trouble and wanted to negotiate, but Sabo helped them out, saving them a lot of trouble.

With Sabo absent and the guards' attitude so firm that even invoking Sabo's name seemed to have no effect, Dure knew they were serious and had no choice but to confront them directly.

"We are acting on Her Highness Winry's orders!" the soldier said firmly, his tone leaving no room for argument. After all, compared to Colonel Boca, Her Highness Winry's name was far more prestigious, and not everyone had the opportunity to work for this future Frost Queen.

"What? Princess Winry? Which Princess Winry?" Dure was stunned. He immediately asked, because the name was very familiar to him!

"Insolence! There's only one Princess Wenli, how many could there be? I think you're trying to disobey orders!" The soldier was furious. He immediately showed signs of arresting people. These people were already suspicious, and now they dared to disrespect Princess Wenli. This was simply unforgivable!

“Really? I understand. You can leave them all here. I’ll go with you to see Winry.” Dure nodded slightly. He offered to meet Winry, confirming that the Winry the soldier mentioned was the same person who had gone to the Mountain Kingdom with him eight years ago.

"Who do you think you are? To see Princess Winry? Do you think you can just see her whenever you want? And not using honorifics, how arrogant! Take him down..." The soldier was furious and immediately waved to his companion to take the boy down.

But at that moment, the young man in front of him made a move. He grabbed the barrel of the gun in the soldier's hand, and soon the barrel began to hiss and emit high temperature. This startled the soldier, who immediately let go and looked at Du Lei in surprise.

()

718 Fleeing from Crime

"What, you don't actually think you can take me down just because you have more people, do you? All of you here, plus the people outside, are far from enough. So I'll repeat myself, take me to see Wen Li, and don't disturb the people here." Du Lei said coldly. He glanced around, and the gun barrel he had just been holding quickly softened, turning into molten iron that dripped to the ground. This move shocked the guards around him.

“This… I don’t have the authority to see Princess Wenli.” The soldier swallowed hard. He knew the young man in front of him wasn’t joking. If he wanted to, he could easily twist his head off.

"Then take me to see the highest-ranking officer you can see, understand?" Dure emphasized. He saw a guard leaning against the window, raising his gun and aiming at him, intending to take him down in one fell swoop. He casually pulled the military knife from the guard's waist and threw it out the window.

The sharp blade quickly pierced the wall, coming within half an inch of the guard's eye, who was trying to aim at it from outside the window. The guard broke out in a cold sweat and collapsed to the ground.

"Yes, I understand." The soldier knew this guy was someone they couldn't afford to mess with, so he could only agree repeatedly. He quickly waved to his companions, signaling them not to try to launch a sneak attack anymore, because it was pointless!

"Brother Du Lei, why don't we go over there together..." Dr. Sarah said with some concern. She would definitely feel bad if something happened.

"It's alright, Dr. Sarah, you can stay at the hotel. I'll take care of this." Dure waved his hand, indicating that it was fine, and then left the hotel with the guards.

"Doctor, is Dure alright?" Rhodes had also been on tenterhooks. He was just an ordinary college student, and he didn't know how to solve the problem.

"Don't worry, there won't be any problems. Just listen to Brother Dure and wait at the hotel." Dr. Sarah watched Dure's back as he left. Brother Dure has solved so many problems so far, this one will surely be no exception, right?

Colonel Boca was really annoyed today because he had been reprimanded several times by the guards in front of Princess Winry. Actually, if it were Princess Winry or General Restia who reprimanded him, he wouldn't have any objections, since they were of higher status than him.

But what about that woman named Bee Sting? He was a colonel, after all. If he worked hard for a few years and made some connections, it wouldn't be impossible for him to get the rank of brigadier general or even a general before retiring. Just thinking about how people would call him "General Boca" instead of "Colonel Boca" made him feel quite pleased with himself.

But that woman was just a guard, and her rank was only a lieutenant colonel, one rank lower than him. Yet she spoke to him so arrogantly. He had no choice but to be subservient because of Princess Wenli, which made Colonel Boca especially angry.

However, he accepted it and decided to get things done. He could just arrest everyone who had arrived in Winter Town in the past week and interrogate them one by one. However, when his men went out to make arrests, they encountered trouble. The suspects not only refused to cooperate with the arrests but also demanded to see him, which infuriated Colonel Boca.

"What kind of idiots are you? How can you not even handle this simple matter? You actually made me interrogate you personally... Kid, you certainly have a lot of airs." Although Colonel Boca was unwilling, this matter was personally supervised by Princess Wenli, so he had no choice but to come and interrogate him personally. After he sat down, he saw the young man his subordinate had brought back and immediately scolded him a couple of times.

"Who are you?" the young man asked Boca, frowning.

"You ask who I am? Kid, how can you survive in Winterhold if you don't even know me?" Colonel Boca slammed his fist on the table in a fit of rage. That woman, Bee Sting, relied on Princess Winry's backing to boss him around, but this kid was just a prisoner. Who could he possibly have backing him up? How dare he speak to him in such a tone? This was truly outrageous.

"Sir, this kid isn't from Winter Town. He only arrived here in the last two days. He's probably just a country bumpkin who's never seen the world. Please calm down." Next to Colonel Boca, an adjutant served him tea and water, patted his shoulder, and said with a smile.

"Are you in charge here?" the young man asked, frowning.

“That’s right, I’m Colonel Boca, the highest-ranking officer here. So confess your crimes honestly, and also confess about your accomplices. That way, we’ll all have a simpler time, understand?” Colonel Boca banged on the table and said loudly.

"Colonel Boca? I don't want to see you. I want to see Winry." It was none other than the young man from Dure who ignored Boca and directly demanded to see Winry.

"Kid, you're pretty arrogant. You have to address her as Princess Wenli. The title 'Princess' is essential, understand? And I've already told you, I'm in charge of this case. There's absolutely no need to disturb Princess Wenli. Do you understand?" Colonel Boca was furious. How could everyone be bullying him?

"So, you're not taking me to see Winry, right?" Dure felt it was difficult to communicate with him. He had tried his best to be polite, but this guy named Boca just wouldn't understand him.

“That’s right, you’re not qualified to meet Princess Winry, so you’d better behave yourself… What?” Colonel Boca was about to begin a rigorous interrogation when suddenly an explosion occurred directly in front of him, filling the air with smoke and dust, making it impossible for him to see what was happening.

"Cough cough, what's going on? Are the rebels from the Southern Front attacking us? Protect me, protect me!" Colonel Boca instinctively raised his hand to shield his eyes from the billowing smoke and dust. A bad feeling crept into his mind, and he cried out in alarm.

"Sir, look over there!" Just as the smoke and dust dissipated, the adjutant suddenly pointed to the wall on the right and exclaimed in surprise. At this moment, everyone, including Colonel Boca, turned their attention to that wall and were quite astonished.

"What's going on? The wall...it actually blew a hole in it? Did that kid escape? Damn it, he's definitely a fugitive, he's definitely the suspect who caused the explosion, there's no escaping him, chase after him, we must catch him!" Colonel Boca pointed to the location of the blasted hole and gave the order, we can't let him get away!

719 I won't make things difficult for you

Colonel Boca is convinced that Dure is the one who recently carried out the bombing attack in Winterhold. Didn't he just use the same trick to cause the explosion when he fled? There's solid evidence and witness testimony, leaving no room for that kid to deny it!

However, his worries were quickly proven to be unnecessary. After blasting open the wall, Dure calmly walked out. He neither ran away nor hid, but walked forward calmly. This attracted the attention of the guards, who realized something was wrong and raised their guns to pull the triggers at the suspect in the bombing. Gunfire erupted.

However, to Colonel Boca's surprise, even in the face of such firepower, the kid was still unharmed. Soon he noticed that ice was condensing in the air, and it was this ice that blocked the bullets for him. There were also tall and strong soldiers swinging giant hammers at him. The power of the giant hammers was much stronger than bullets!

"Did it work?" Colonel Boca, who had chased after them, broke out in a cold sweat when he saw the guy block the bullet, because he gradually realized that this kid was not someone that ordinary soldiers like them could handle, but the soldier who attacked him was different.

He's a magic user trained in the military, specifically designed to handle incidents that ordinary soldiers can't resolve. This is Colonel Boca's trump card, his ultimate weapon. That soldier is at the Steel Rank level, which is quite high among magic users!

"Boom!" To the astonishment of Colonel Boca and his men, a large amount of snow on the ground was kicked up, and snowflakes flew everywhere.

Colonel Boca clearly saw that the young man caught the warrior's attack with just one hand. Moreover, not only that, but icy energy spread along the giant hammer, quickly freezing it. It even seemed to be climbing up the warrior's wrist and arm, which stunned him!

"How is this possible? I am a six-star Steel-rank Magic Power User. How come you are completely unharmed?" The shirtless burly man was dumbfounded. He had always been very confident and believed that he could not find any opponents in Winter Town. But who would have thought that today a seemingly ordinary young man could overpower him so easily with one hand? What kind of sorcery did he use?

"Six-star Steel Rank? I was at that level eight years ago!" Du Lei sneered. He pushed his hand forward, and the ice cracked inch by inch. The broken ice fragments threw the big man away. He and his giant hammer were thrown dozens of feet away. The moment the big man landed, Colonel Boca's neck also shrank. It must have hurt a lot to hit the ground like that!

"Where is Winry?" Dure grabbed a terrified guard from the side and asked coldly. He knew the only way to solve the problem was to find Winry, and after eight years, he also wanted to see his old friend. He just didn't know if Winry still remembered that someone like him existed.

"No, no, I can't say." The young guard was terrified, his face turning ashen. He trembled incessantly, but even so, he kept shaking his head, unwilling to reveal Princess Wenli's whereabouts, because he knew that if he did, the consequences would be dire.

"Can't you tell me? Then I won't make things difficult for you. Just tell me which direction Winry is. If she's to the left, blink your left eye; if she's to the right, blink your right eye. Understand?" Dure was quite understanding of the young guard. He immediately offered a feasible solution so that he could find out where Winry was without making things difficult for him.

The young guard blinked his left eye, and Dure nodded slightly. He then tossed the guard aside and ignored him, turning his gaze to the left. He soon noticed a tower-like building on the left and guessed that Winry must be there.

The suspect, who was supposed to be brought back for interrogation, blew open the wall of the interrogation room in full view of everyone and swaggered out, causing quite a commotion. Du Lei, the person involved, didn't seem to care much about it.

But more and more guards surrounded him, and many of them fired at him. But the bullets were not enough to hurt him. He could easily create ice to intercept the bullets. Snowflakes flew everywhere, but no one could stop him.

"What's going on? Where did he come from?" Some guards were not clear about the situation, and more and more people were rushing over. This was a major incident.

"I'm not entirely sure either. It seems he suddenly ran away while Commander Boca was interrogating him." The guards kept firing at the young man, which was their most relied-upon method of combat.

"He ran away during the interrogation? What a joke! What does he want? Stop him! Stop him! We absolutely cannot let him go any further! Princess Wenli's residence is just ahead!" An officer directed the guards to take turns firing, but with little effect, they could not inflict any harm on the approaching young man.

The gunshots and commotion quickly caught Bee Sting's attention. After all, her job was to protect Winry's safety, and she had to be very careful to deal with anything that could threaten Winry. She saw the commotion outside through the window and couldn't help but frown.

"What's going on outside? Why are there gunshots?" Wenli, who was organizing documents in her room, heard the commotion outside and asked Bee Sting, who was observing from the window.

"It seems there's... an intruder?" Bee Sting observed for a moment and gave an uncertain reply, which made her feel a little strange.

"Intruders? This is interesting. Are they from the Southern Front? They just planned three bombings to retaliate for our arrest of their people, and now they've actually barged in here. Are they trying to provoke us?" Wen Li stopped what she was doing, went to the window, and looked outside. However, a lot of snowflakes were splashing outside, making everything white and indistinct. She could only vaguely make out the outlines of people.

“This intruder must be a magic user. Ordinary soldiers can’t stop him. I’ll go.” After observing for a while, Bee Sting found that the other party was unstoppable and very powerful. She thought for a moment and decided to go forward to intercept him. She must not let him get close to Princess Wenli.

"No need, with General Restia here, he can't get here." Wenli waved her hand gently. She wasn't worried about the intruder because she had a lot of confidence in Restia. After all, Restia was a powerful figure with the title of the strongest female general in the Snow Kingdom!

vertex

720 King-level strength

“Your Highness is right. General Restia is a King-level magic user. No matter how powerful he is, he cannot break through General Restia’s barrier.” Bee Sting nodded, agreeing with Winry’s opinion.

One reason for transferring the Griffin Legion to Winterhold is their high mobility, and another is that Restia is extremely powerful. With her there, no one will be able to threaten Princess Winry.

Durei advanced with unstoppable momentum, and ordinary guards were no match for him. However, Durei soon encountered trouble as spears were thrown at him. Spears are traditional weapons and cannot be compared to the latest firearms, but the spears thrown at him were clearly not ordinary.

The moment the spears hit the ground, icy air spread out. If there had only been one spear, it might not have caused much of a ripple, but the problem was that there were dozens of spears flying over, which formed an ice barrier, trapping Du Lei inside and subjecting him to the immense pressure of the cold air. If it were an ordinary person, they would probably be frozen into ice in an instant.

In fact, Dure was indeed affected by the icy air. Cold air began to spread from his feet, threatening to freeze his entire body. If this had happened eight years ago, Dure would probably have lost his ability to fight in an instant.

“Interesting, that’s… a griffin? Is it the Griffin Legion, one of the three elite legions of the Snow Kingdom?” Du Lei ignored the ice energy that sealed him and looked up at the sky. There were dozens of griffins flying low in the air. Griffins were one of the early flying magical beasts domesticated by humans. They were highly mobile and had outstanding magical attributes.

As for the griffin riders who ride on the griffins, they are all elites selected from thousands of candidates. Not only are they outstanding in individual combat, but their coordinated group attacks are also extremely effective. This was only the first wave of attacks, which froze Durei. Their combat capabilities are far superior to those of ordinary guards!

“Compared to ordinary guards, they are indeed much stronger… no, far stronger. But how does this level of ice compare to the ice storm of the Abyss of Winter?” Dure remained unmoved by the griffin legion’s attack. He simply took a step forward, and the ice that had frozen him instantly shattered, while the ice spears beside him also broke into pieces.

Realizing that the first wave of attacks had no effect on him, the griffin riders immediately launched a second offensive. They swiftly hurled icy spears at Dure, determined to kill him, but Dure neither dodged nor evaded the flying spears.

He caught one of them and crushed the ice spear to pieces with a gentle squeeze. Not only that, but a large number of snowflakes rose up in front of him and condensed into ice arrows. There were hundreds of ice arrows in total. As Dure pushed forward, the ice arrows flew towards the griffin rider!

Unable to withstand such a dense attack, the griffin riders could only scatter and fly away to avoid it. The reason why Dure was able to deal with them with ease was because he had been frozen in the Abyss of Winter for eight years. The frost attacks that the griffin legion was good at were almost ineffective against him, because the Abyss of Winter was the habitat of the ice dragon. For eight years, his body had been tormented by ice storms every day.

However, even though he had the advantage over the Griffin Legion, he did not pursue them while they retreated. There were two reasons for this. One was that the Griffin Legion was highly mobile and had raised their altitude. Dure did not have wings, so he could not deal with them. The other reason was that a woman in armor was walking towards him.

This woman wasn't very old, maybe only twenty-seven or twenty-eight at most. In a time of comprehensive military reforms, with gunpowder guns gradually replacing traditional weapons and becoming the mainstream, her wearing armor and wielding a spear clearly indicated that she was starting to fall behind the times.

But Dure dared not be careless in the slightest, because he realized one thing: this woman was extremely dangerous. His intuition told him that, of all the opponents he had encountered so far, apart from the Ice Dragon, she was the most powerful one!

Of course, based on his abilities, he was not worthy of being the Ice Dragon's opponent. The difference was simply not on the same level. Moreover, after Du Lei woke up, he discovered that Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai were missing.

Little White was an egg he found in a spider's nest beneath the Misty Forest. He always carried it with him, keeping it closest to his heart. Sometimes he felt like an old hen incubating her eggs.

Of course, that egg was definitely not a chicken egg, otherwise it wouldn't have taken so long to hatch. Xiao Hei was a Void creature with whom he reached a compromise in the sealing barrier beneath the Ash Tower. According to the contract between him and Xiao Hei, he provided Xiao Hei with a body, while Xiao Hei provided him with power. With their cooperation, they were indeed able to turn danger into safety in many dangerous incidents.

"By the way, Little White must have hatched and then left. No matter what kind of egg it was, it must have hatched in eight years. This icy and snowy place is not suitable for it, so it left. As for Little Black... it definitely won't waste any more time here. It has probably left to find a new host as well. I can't blame it for being disloyal. In any case, the problem lies with me. Moreover, they must have contributed a lot to my ability to survive in the Abyss of Winter for eight years. I should thank them for that. So, does that mean there's only Little Gray left now?"

Du Lei examined his condition. Little Gray was a loophole created from the simulation system launched by the Magic Power Association. It had a strong devouring ability, like a bottomless pit, capable of absorbing all magical energy.

“You can’t go any further, you have to stop.” General Restia stood in front of Dure, her words harsh and her attitude extremely firm.

"Are you... a King-level magic user?" Du Lei had encountered a King-level magic user before, when he had just returned to Maple Leaf Academy from the Mountain Kingdom. He had met Prince Jet, one of the heirs to the throne from the Rain Kingdom, and Jet's personal butler was a King-level magic user.

Moreover, the old man named Haibo was of a higher level than the woman in front of him, but even so, Du Lei could accurately judge that, in terms of pure combat strength, the woman in front of him was still superior to the old butler.