The most shameless alchemist in history

This made him more vigilant, because the thing rushing towards him possessed powerful magical energy, even stronger than his own!

"The Beast of Time?"

In Dure's line of sight, a huge creature soon appeared charging towards him. This thing had four legs and looked like a wild boar, but its body was covered with countless tentacles extending outwards.

Its head is a gaping maw, and inside the maw is a black, snake-like creature flicking its tongue.

This is a monster that looks extremely ferocious and terrifying.

Although Dure had never seen this kind of monster before, he had seen similar pictures in books. The books described this monster as the Time Beast, a king of destruction that moved in the rifts of time and space.

They will devour anything that accidentally wanders into the spacetime rift.

They are both protectors and devourers of spacetime.

It is precisely because of their existence that different worlds maintain a peaceful balance. If it weren't for the Time Beasts, people from other timelines could easily be transported to another world, which would inevitably bring terrible consequences.

“By the way, the place I am in right now should be a distorted space, that is, a spacetime rift. So in your eyes, I have become an intruder. Do you want to completely destroy me?” Du Lei quickly realized his situation.

Even though the Time Beast had blocked his path, he calmly took off the dark-attribute star stone and put it in his pocket.

"Coo coo coo coo..."

The Time Beast uttered indistinct sounds as it stared intently at Durei.

Dure knew this was a sign that it was about to launch an attack, and he immediately prepared himself.

“I’ve heard that Time Beasts always appear in groups. Luckily, I’m not unlucky. I only encountered one, and it’s not even a fully mature Time Beast. I should have a chance of defeating you.” Du Lei took out a giant bow.

This bow was forged for him by the blacksmith Tie Xin when he was at Maple Leaf Academy. He later made several improvements to it, and its power gradually increased until now, when he can use it with ease.

"Although the odds of winning are only 10%, it's enough. Come on!" Du Lei released his grip on the Time Beast, and a sharp arrow flew out, while he himself charged forward like an arrow released from a bow.

He wanted to seize the initiative and suppress the Time Beast as soon as possible!

At the same time that Dure was fighting the beasts, the mine was also greatly affected. Matthew and the others could clearly see waves coming from the dark place in front of them.

It looks like ripples spreading across the surface of water.

"What exactly is going on over there? I have a feeling something's not right." Pope swallowed hard; it gave him an uneasy feeling.

“It looks like they’ve already encountered it,” the shadowy figure said leisurely.

"You encountered something? What do you mean, 'encountered something'?" Popp asked, puzzled.

"What else could it be? Brother Du Lei has encountered the Time Beast." The shadowy figure was very knowledgeable about the things in the space-time rift.

"The Beast of Time? What is that?" Popp was getting more and more confused.

“To be precise, the Beast of Time is the will of your world itself,” the shadowy figure explained.

"What? The will of the world?" Popper was even more confused.

“Yes, you live in one world, while the Void Abyss I used to live in was another world. The two worlds were originally independent and did not communicate with each other. However, due to some special reasons, a passage appeared between the two worlds that did not intersect, which is a distorted spacetime rift. With the appearance of the rift, it became possible for creatures from one world to travel to another world,” the shadowy figure explained.

"So you're saying you came from another world?" Marlene asked, frowning.

"You can understand it this way: when I came to your world from the Abyss, I wasn't alone. I had more than 100 companions with me. We initially planned to conquer this world. With our strength, we could have easily razed your world to the ground and turned it into our paradise," the shadowy figure said confidently.

"What? You guys actually have such ambitions?" Pope was startled.

“If we all arrived, we could have done it, but an unexpected event occurred along the way,” the shadowy figure sighed.

"An accident? Did something happen?" Matthew pressed.

“You’re right, something did happen, and it was something very serious. We encountered Time Beasts, and a whole group of them,” the shadowy figure nodded and said.

"And then what happened?" Pope asked nervously.

"Actually, the Time Beasts are your world. In order to protect the creatures of this world, they formed a protective layer on the outside. They would kill and devour all the alien creatures that invaded the world. It is a really terrifying force. More than 100 of my companions were devoured by the Time Beasts, and in the end, less than 5 people were left." The shadowy figure recalled the encounter many years ago, which still made him feel scared.

"What? You're so powerful, yet you died such a tragic death?" Popper was taken aback.

He simply couldn't imagine what a ferocious force a hundred shadowy figures like these must be!

"That's right, the Time Beast is such a terrifying being. I only managed to escape here by sheer luck."

“But if that’s the case, you’re actually letting Dure face the Beast of Time, wouldn’t that be…” Matthew began to worry about Dure’s safety.

"It will be alright."

"what?"

"Although I haven't seen him for a long time, his current condition... the moment I saw him, I had a thought: if it were him, perhaps he could get the Star Stone right under the nose of the Time Beast."

"But what if Dure fails?"

"Did he fail? If he fails, then I can only perish with him." The shadowy figure said casually, yet with a resolute air about him!

“This…” Popp thought the shadowy figure was completely insane.

However, he quickly realized that the shadowy figure was not a normal human being, but an alien creature, so it was not surprising that it would behave strangely.

"Look over there!" Marlene exclaimed. Following her voice, everyone looked over and saw a figure being thrown out heavily from the void directly in front of them.

“That’s… Dure? Dure, are you alright?” Matthew moved over immediately.

He soon saw that the person lying on the ground was indeed Du Lei. At this moment, Du Lei looked to be in bad shape, his face was pale, and he was in a very weak state.

"Brother, I knew you would succeed! I knew I hadn't misjudged you!" The shadowy figure looked extremely excited.

"Alright, let's go back first, these two are about to collapse." Du Lei waved his hand weakly, and soon the ground did indeed rumble loudly.

"Understood, let's go quickly!" Matthew nodded, and the group helped Dure up, had Pope carry him, and hurriedly fled the mine.

After they had all escaped the mine, the huge mine quickly collapsed, forming a massive cavity.

"It was really dangerous. Several times I thought I was going to die in there, but I never thought I would manage to escape." Pope wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and said with lingering fear.

“Alright, let’s take Dure to rest first.” Matthew looked at Dure behind Pope, who had already passed out.

"By the way, what about that dark figure we encountered at the mine? Why didn't I see him?" Marlene suddenly noticed this question.

"I'm not sure either. I don't think I saw him. But isn't it a good thing that he's gone? I always feel a bit creepy being around a shadowy figure." Pop looked around and indeed didn't see the shadowy figure, but he didn't think much of it. Soon, they took Dure to the hotel.

The Nightingale Brigade members were also at the same hotel.

Two days later, the damaged railway was repaired. The Nightingale Brigade members who were tied to the railway left first. Marco Polo stayed for another day. On the fourth day, seeing that Dure had not yet woken up, he left a letter and also left, because he wanted to go back to his hometown to take a look.

Dure finally woke up a week later.

"Hey, buddy, you're finally awake? Looks like you had a really nice dream." A voice came as soon as Du Lei woke up, but the room was empty. If anyone else had encountered this scene, they would have been terrified.

But Dure was not surprised, because he knew who the voice was and where it came from. He looked at the floor and sure enough, there was a menacing shadow on the floor, which did not match his size.

Pope had been wondering where the shadowy figure he encountered in the mine had gone. He even thought the shadowy figure had disappeared, but in reality, the shadowy figure had always been by Dure's side, inseparable from him in the form of a shadow.

"It was indeed a very long dream, but the Time Beast was really difficult to deal with." Du Lei recalled the previous battle, which still made him feel lingering fear.

“I knew you wouldn’t have any problems, after all, I’ve staked my life on you. Now that you have the Star Stone, what are you planning to do next, and where are we going?” the shadowy figure asked excitedly.

"Next, of course, we'll continue along the same route to the Lava City in the east."

"Lava City? What kind of place is that?"

"I'm telling you, where do you get so many questions? Even if I told you, you wouldn't know."

"What you said seems to make sense, bro. Anyway, I'll just follow you. So, bro, let's continue on our way!" the shadowy figure said enthusiastically.

“Alright then…” Du Lei packed his things and left the room.

If an ordinary person had been asleep for this long, something bad would have happened by now.

However, Dure had previously been dormant for eight years.

Compared to eight years, these few days are really nothing.

He ran into Pope just as he left the room.

"Hey, Dure, you're awake?" Pope asked in surprise.

"Yes, I'm awake. I'm so grateful to you guys for carrying me back from the mine," Du Lei said gratefully.

Before he fainted, he still remembered that Pope had carried him on his back.

"What are you saying, Dure? If it weren't for you, the entire Scorching Town would probably have been wiped out. You're the one who saved everyone." Pope didn't take credit; he said seriously.

"By the way, where are Matthew and the others?" Dure looked around but couldn't find Matthew anywhere.

()

911 Lancheng Memories

Matthew had just finished his resignation, so when Dure saw him again, he had already taken off his sheriff's uniform.

"Matthew, what happened to you? Why did you resign?" Dure was quite surprised by this.

“We’ve been here long enough, and we’re thinking of changing our lifestyle,” Matthew said with a relaxed smile.

"Another way?" Du Lei pondered the question.

“Yes, Du Lei, you’ve seen it too. Almost ten years have passed, but we’ve remained stagnant. I used to be a train police officer, and now I’m still a security guard. I’ve always thought about what I should do to change the world. When I was in my early twenties, I thought I could do these things with just a lot of passion! But now, I’m almost thirty, and I feel more and more how insignificant and absurd I was back then.”

So I decided to slightly change my goals. I don't have the power to change the world, so I'll do something humble within my capabilities, at least something to help others, and at least to ensure I don't live an absurd life, and that I'm doing something meaningful.

Matthew had planned to leave long before Dure appeared, but something happened in the mines of Scorched Town at that time.

This made it impossible for him to abandon the people of Scorching Town and leave at this critical juncture.

Because once they leave, if a major problem arises in the town, there will be no one to solve it.

But now that the mine has collapsed, the threat of hiding in the mine no longer exists.

For Matthew, he had no more worries and could leave the town with peace of mind.

"Is it something meaningful? So Matthew, where are you planning to go?" Dure asked.

“We plan to go to the Free Commonwealth in the South,” Matthew replied.

“The Free Federation? That sounds like a nice place.” Dure nodded.

“We want to form a mercenary team to hunt down the bandit groups that are entrenched in various places, and to eliminate the monsters that are harming the people,” Marlene added from the side.

"That's good. If I didn't have something to do, I probably would have gone with you," Du Lei said half-jokingly.

"Let's forget it. Dure, you're a very busy person, unlike us. I only just found out that you're so famous, such a big shot," Pope said with a smile.