The most shameless alchemist in history

"Cough cough, so fast." Du Lei stood up with difficulty, looking at the noble youth who was slowly walking towards him. He had taken a hard kick.

"What? So that's all there is to him. He's just a worthless piece of trash." The noble youth squatted down in front of Dure. He reached out to grab Dure, who tried to dodge, but Dure still managed to grab his wrist, slam it to the ground, and twist it forcefully.

With a "crack," the sound of dislocated joints was heard as he bent the bone, and Du Lei let out a muffled groan, his forehead covered in cold sweat.

"You...you can tell me now what's wrong between us, right?" Du Lei endured the excruciating pain, his sharp eyes glancing at the noble youth's companions behind him before finally settling on the noble youth. He gasped for breath, wanting nothing more than to understand the cause and effect.

"A holiday? I have no grudge against you." The noble youth chuckled, his once handsome face now contorted into a hideous grimace.

"Then why?" Du Lei didn't believe that the other party was just targeting him because they disliked him; it was definitely intentional.

"But you shouldn't have messed with Euphemia. Euphemia is such a noble, beautiful, and radiant being. How could you, a piece of scum, be allowed to touch even a single hair on her head? Anyone who dares to harm Euphemia in the slightest is unforgivable!"

The young nobleman raised his leather shoe and kicked Dure hard again. The latter could only raise his right hand to barely defend himself, retreating to the corner with no way to fight back.

"So, Yuffie was involved in that matter?" Durei, facing the noble youth's continuous kicks, protected his head and leaned against the corner of the wall for support.

"Boro, that's enough, let's go inside." At this moment, the only woman among the companions of the young nobleman named Boro persuaded him. She looked to be about fifteen or sixteen years old, with delicate and pretty features, and she seemed quite out of place among this group of纨绔 (wan ku, spoiled) noble children.

"That's enough for today, kid. Remember, from now on, if you see Euphemia, run away with your tail between your legs, or the consequences won't be as simple as they are today." After giving Dure a stern warning by grabbing his collar, Boro pushed him to the ground and strode away.

"Running away with your tail between your legs? I'll remember that, Boro." Dure sat on the ground watching Boro and his group leave. Before their figures completely disappeared, the girl who had spoken up for him turned around and glanced back, but her eyes held nothing but pity.

As Du Lei spoke, he pulled a dagger from his trouser leg. When Boro attacked him, he had a chance to retaliate, but in that instant he realized that the price of a counterattack would be too high, something he couldn't afford at the moment.

"I hope we won't meet again." Dure stood up unsteadily, his left hand hanging limply at his sides. Suddenly, a rumble of thunder came from the sky, a sign that it was about to rain.

232 Don't cause trouble.

The rain soon poured down, and the sudden downpour washed away the dust in the air. Some of the pedestrians on the street had the foresight to prepare their umbrellas in advance and were able to open them at this time, while those who were unprepared could only hurry through the rain.

Some people chose to take temporary shelter from the rain on the street, while Du Lei, who had just been beaten up, chose to stand in the rain and wait. At this time, he changed into an expensive white evening suit, but there were many shoe prints on the suit, and he looked extremely disheveled.

"It's raining! Rainy days are so annoying. It would be so comfortable to stay home and sleep at a time like this. Only an idiot would stand in the rain and get soaked. Is that guy over there heartbroken or something to do? Hmm, why does he look so familiar?"

Having finished her business, Nono was the type who lacked foresight. She hurriedly ran across the street toward the entrance of Maple Tower. On her way there, she noticed someone standing in the rain waiting. She assumed it was some heartbroken boy and didn't pay any attention to it at all.

But the more she looked, the more familiar he seemed. Who else could that disheveled-looking guy be but Dure, whom she had brought along?

"No way, Du Lei, it really is you! What's wrong with you? Are you out of your mind or what? How could you stand here in the rain all by yourself? Don't you know where to find shelter? And your hands, and your body... did you get into a fight?" Nono scolded Du Lei first.

But when she ran over, she found that Dure's condition was different from what she had imagined; Dure was holding his arm and looked weak and listless.

"It's nothing, I just tripped and fell." Du Lei smiled and shook his head. It wasn't that he didn't want to find a place to take shelter from the rain, but the rain came too suddenly, and with his broken arm, he couldn't move very well for the time being.

"You're kidding me, you just fell down and got like this? Tell me what happened, who hit you and I'll go teach them a lesson for you!" Nono wasn't so easily fooled. She grabbed Du Lei's hand, turned around and was about to find the person who hit Du Lei, her face full of raging anger.

“I already said it’s nothing, this has nothing to do with you, I’ll handle it.” Du Lei insisted on standing still and didn’t let her drag him away.

"If you could handle this, you wouldn't have been beaten like this. You're my student, okay? You beat my student without my permission. Isn't that a slap in my face? Tell me who it is and what their name is!" Nono was determined to find out the other person's name.

It was clear that she was furious at this moment, but anyone who knows her knows that she rarely gets this angry.

"I can handle my own troubles. Do you want to cause me more trouble than I have?" Du Lei roared at Nuonuo in the rain. Since leaving the hot spring village, he had been trying his best to control his emotions and had never exploded like this before.

Nono, who had never been yelled at before, turned around and stared blankly at the guy behind her. In her eyes, he was a submissive and very patient person, but his current behavior seemed to be a little different from what she remembered.

Meanwhile, in the town of Juebi, a thousand miles away, even though it is early spring and a time of renewal, it is still snowing heavily. It is extremely difficult to move forward against the wind and snow. If one's body is even slightly frail, one will be blown away by the wind and snow.

Yet, in this town, known for its harsh environment and seemingly insurmountable natural barrier, someone managed to lay a railway track. Black steam locomotives meandered along the vast snow-capped mountains, eventually stopping at the platform.

This place is both the final stop and the station. The final stop is the end of the Western Continent. This place was once the place where legends ended. The majestic cliffs blocked everything that could lead here, but they could not stop the tide of history. Miraculously, a great tunnel was carved out of it.

As for the route to the Eastern Continent, in ancient times, neither the people of the Eastern Continent nor the Western Continent knew of the other's existence. They all thought there was only one continent in the world. However, as times changed, navigators and adventurers appeared, and new continents emerged one after another.

As the maps were constantly updated, people gradually realized that the world was circular and contained many continents. The largest and most expansive of these were the Eastern Continent and the Western Continent. In the early days, the two continents could only trade with each other by sea.

However, with the breakthrough of technological barriers, railways became a bridge connecting the two continents, closely linking them together.

“This is my first time here. It’s incredible that they were able to carve a tunnel out of such a huge cliff. Hey, old man, how did they do it?” A young man wrapped in a thick coat looked up at the cliff in the distance.

Amidst the swirling snow and wind, the cliff was forged into a colossal ice wall, standing unmoving amidst the vast expanse of snow and wind, merging seamlessly with the clouds in the sky, stretching as far as the eye could see. Before it, let alone mere humans, even the town of Cliffside was nothing more than an ant.

"They must have used magic. The entire cliff is protected by a huge magical barrier. Only magic can break through the barrier and carve out a tunnel. But I really don't know if this method of destroying the barrier is a blessing or a curse."

A hunched, short old man sighed softly. Both he and the young man who had spoken earlier had black hair and black eyes, characteristics of people from the Eastern Continent. In fact, they had only arrived in the Western Continent by sea a few months ago and now planned to return by land.

"Magic, old man, what's the difference between magic and magical energy? All I've heard about along the way is steam and magical energy, but I haven't heard much about magic," the young man asked疑惑地. He carried a long spear on his back and walked slowly even in the freezing snow.

"Magic is an ancient tradition, a power originating from the world itself," the old man explained in detail.

"Stop, don't give me all that long-winded explanation, I don't understand it. Just say what I can understand." The young man quickly gestured for him to stop; he didn't have the patience to understand those profound and obscure things.

"If we're going to explain it in the most direct way, ancient magic is the power borrowed from planets, that is, the world, while magical energy is the power forcibly plundered through violent and tyrannical means. Is my explanation reasonable, Grandpa Teng?" A girl walked over from behind.

"Oh, Miss, you've arrived. Not bad, not bad. This understanding isn't wrong either." The old man looked at the girl in the white cotton coat. They had gone through many hardships on their journey to the Western Continent, and he had long been prepared not to return. But he never expected that they would actually find what they were looking for.

"Miss is so clever and clear-headed, explaining things so clearly and concisely, unlike you, old man. You always complicate simple things, leaving people completely confused, as if only in this way can you show how knowledgeable you are." The young man immediately chimed in.

"So, we're finally leaving this place? I've been through so much and met so many people along the way." The girl turned around to look behind her, her vision blurred and indistinct in the rustling snow.

"Yes, this trip was really tough, but at least we didn't make a wasted trip and got the Star Stone." The old man ignored the young man; the more the young man argued with him, the more excited he became.

"Look, the train is already pulling into the station. It's freezing! In a week, I'll be setting foot on my homeland!" The young man pointed to the train slowly pulling into the station. This train, which runs across the east and west continents, only runs once a week, and its journey takes a full week.

"Finally, we're going back. But after we get back..." The old man hesitated, then looked at the girl in front of him.

"I know all that. There are still many things to do when I get back, and I'm all prepared." The girl clenched her fist, her gaze resolute.

"But Miss, he is yours," the old man said, still somewhat worried.

"No need to say anything more, let's go. Once we embark on our journey home, we'll never come back." The girl looked back one last time, her vision stretching to the horizon in a vast expanse of white. The train sounded its whistle as it pulled into the station; the night always came silently.

233 A certain party

After enduring Nuonuo for so long, Du Lei finally snapped at her, which took Nuonuo very seriously. Du Lei regretted it as soon as he said it, realizing that he had definitely angered Nuonuo and that he would probably never have a good life again. But Nuonuo was unusually silent. She pulled Du Lei to a small shop on the side.

It was only then that Du Lei noticed that Nuo Nu was carrying something in her hand. It was another brand-new dress. She handed the dress to Du Lei and told him to change into it. The dress he was wearing earlier had been soaked by the rain and was covered in shoe prints, making it impossible for him to go out in public.

"I think I acted a little impulsively just now. I don't mean to blame you, it's just that..." Du Lei changed his clothes and came out. When he saw Nuonuo again, he felt a little ashamed. In addition, his anger had subsided. He was struggling with how to make amends to Nuonuo.

"Why are you being so fussy, you're such a worrywart! Okay, okay, let's forget about it. I admit I was wrong too. But honestly, you definitely look better in black than white. How about I tie a pink bow tie for you?"

Nono didn't take Du Lei's words to heart, at least that's how her expression showed it. She rested her chin on her hand and carefully examined Du Lei. Du Lei had been wearing a white dress before, but now he was dressed in black. She compared the black and white.

"Pink is out of the question, it doesn't suit me at all. By the way, where did this outfit come from?" Du Lei couldn't imagine himself wearing a pink bow tie; just thinking about it made him feel uncomfortable. The outfit fit him perfectly, which made him suspicious.

"Of course I bought it. Where else could it come from? I bought it from that store just now." Nono didn't intend to hide anything from him.

"How come I don't know when it was bought?" Du Lei carefully recalled the scene at the time. Nono should have only bought one set.

"When I had the tailor take your measurements, I also picked out a set for you. I originally planned to give it to you when we got back, but I didn't expect it to come in handy now, so I had them delivered it. This shop is one of their branches. Hey, you're really not going to tell me who made you look so disheveled?"

Nono and Dure walked out of the shop, and the tailor shop staff escorted them to the door and gave them umbrellas as a gift.

“Don’t worry, I’m fine, and I’ll handle those things.” Dure nodded, readily admitting it.

"Alright, fine, don't worry about it then. Don't flatter yourself. Who would care about someone like you? Oh dear, it's getting late, let's go inside." After spending time with Du Lei, Nono roughly knew that he was stubborn, so she gave up on asking any further questions.

She checked the time; after all that fuss, it was already 7:50. It was completely dark, but Maple Tower was brightly lit. The prosperity of the entire city was reflected in this tall tower, and its dazzling lights could be seen clearly even from dozens of miles away.

"Don't rush off, don't hold me back." Du Lei originally wanted to go straight back, but firstly, it was too far to go back, and he couldn't activate the teleportation barrier by himself; secondly, Nuonuo had already spoken to him nicely, and as a man, he couldn't hold a grudge about the previous trivial matters.

Thus, he had no choice but to follow Nono into the Maple Tower. Nono had an invitation and passed the guards at the entrance smoothly. Du Lei followed her closely into the Maple Tower. Along the way, he carefully observed the surrounding scenery. The Maple Tower was magnificent and decorated with a lot of crystal.

It was clear that Maple Tower had undergone renovations and was equipped with the latest elevator system. After entering the elevator, the two of them easily reached the sixth floor of Maple Tower. Du Lei had never experienced such a device before, which made him very curious.

"Thank goodness I wasn't late! If I had missed the time, I would have been so worried. Hey, what are you looking around for?" After Nono stepped out of the elevator, she saw the clock on the wall, which showed 7:56, not yet 8 o'clock, which finally made her breathe a sigh of relief.

The floor was covered with a soft red carpet. Many well-dressed celebrities and gentlemen held wine glasses and chatted quietly in twos and threes with polite smiles. Waiters carrying trays moved among them, and musicians played melodious music. The atmosphere was harmonious and pleasant.

"I'm just curious about the elevator's structure. If Tongshan were here, he would definitely be very interested," Du Lei answered truthfully.

"What is Tongshan?" Nono had never heard of this term before and asked curiously.

“Tongshan is a friend I grew up with. He’s about this big and a bit chubby. But don’t let his bulky gait fool you; when he sits down and tinkers with mechanical devices, I believe few people are more dexterous than him.” Du Lei gestured with his hands to roughly describe Tongshan’s physique.

"You're kidding, right? How can someone be that fat? How can someone that fat walk and make machines? In my mind, mechanics are all slim and handsome." Nono didn't take Du Lei's words seriously, thinking that Du Lei was just fooling her.

"Tongshan is just an oddball, I wonder how he is now. By the way, now you should tell me what you're doing here." The image of his childhood friend appeared in Du Lei's mind. He, Tongshan, and Heifeng spent an unforgettable childhood together.

"Aren't you always supposed to be pretty smart? Now that we're here, can't you just guess for yourself?" Nono didn't answer him, walking ahead through the corridor. Every now and then, people would raise their glasses and smile at Nono, seemingly recognizing her, but Nono didn't respond to any of them.

"Is this some kind of party or something? It seems like they all know you. Why don't you say hello to them?" Du Lei noticed that quite a few unfriendly eyes were being cast at him. This was his first time in a place like this, and he didn't know any of those people.

So it's obvious that those people dislike him not because he offended them in the past, but because his relationship with Nuonuo has aroused their resentment.

"They don't know me, just what I represent. I can't be bothered with them. You're right, this is indeed a party. So what kind of party is it? Guess again." Nono didn't even glance at the people who greeted her and kept walking forward.

"You're putting me in a difficult position. I've never been to a party before, so I don't have any examples to draw upon. You could say my limited social experience has restricted my imagination," Dure shrugged, refusing to answer the question.

"How boring. I asked you to guess, but you wouldn't. Fine, I'll just tell you directly. This is an auction, of course." Nono stopped in front of a door, pushed it open, and pointed to the huge hall inside, finally revealing the purpose of Du Lei's visit.

Auction Venue 234

When Nono pushed the door open, Du Lei was presented with a huge venue. The venue was arranged in a ring shape, with a low center and high sides. There were thousands of seats around the auction stage. Due to the dim lighting, it was difficult to see other people clearly even from a short distance away.

People gradually took their seats in the densely packed room, while the staff on the auction stage were making final preparations. It was obvious that the auction would begin soon. Du Lei stared blankly at the auction hall; this was his first time in such a gathering of celebrities.

"Hey, why are you being silly again? Stop standing here like an idiot, come with me now, hurry up." Seeing that Du Lei was standing there without reacting, Nono simply pulled him forward. The two quickly found seats in the fourth row, a distance that was enough for Du Lei to see everything happening on the auction stage.

"Nono, what are you doing here?" After sitting down, Du Lei noticed that Nono was holding a number plate with "43" written on it. On the way here, he had guessed many times where Nono was going to take him, and the auction was not among them.

"I think you're really stupid. Why did you ask so many pointless questions today? Of course, we come to an auction to buy things. Is there any need to question that?" Nono glared at Dure. She began to regret whether bringing him along was the right decision. He was so lacking in common sense.

"Nono, do you want to participate in the auction?" Du Lei's knowledge of auctions was limited to what he had heard mercenaries talk about in Hot Spring Village, such as who spent a fortune to buy something at an auction, or what treasures would appear at a certain auction.

Before this, he always thought that such things were far away from him, but now those things that he could not reach were appearing one after another, which made him feel a little dazed and unreal. The noise and commotion around him made him even more confused.

“Of course, why would I be here if I wasn’t going to participate in the auction? It would be so much better to sleep in a warm bed in this weather. Look, I’ve prepared the number plate. Here, hold it. I’ll tell you to raise it when I ask you to, understand?” Nono handed the number plate to Du Lei.

"Is it really okay for me to lift this? I've never done anything like this before," Du Lei hesitated. He looked around and saw that most of the people attending the auction were well-dressed celebrities and gentlemen, who were in their thirties or forties, as well as young men and women in their twenties.

But there were very few teenagers like him and Nuonuo, and he once suspected that Nuonuo had come here to cause trouble.

"Ugh, why are you so long-winded? There's a first time for everything. I told you to lift it, so lift it. Watch carefully, it's about to start." Nono was getting impatient. She placed her hands on her knees, her fists clenched tightly, and beads of cold sweat appeared on her forehead.

Although she appeared relaxed and smiling on the surface, these signs indicated that she was actually very nervous inside, which Du Lei noticed.

"Okay, I understand, but let me make this clear first, don't blame me if I mess this up." Du Lei nodded, agreeing to the task.

Meanwhile, backstage at the auction, all the staff were busy at work. A sexy and alluring young woman, who was ready to go on stage, was hurriedly called to the dressing room just before she was to go on stage. This puzzled her, because the auction had already started.