The most shameless alchemist in history

"What's going on here?" Just when Du Lei was almost at his wit's end, another voice came. In fact, he was also familiar with this voice, unlike Boro before, where he had to see the person to remember who it was.

The moment Du Lei heard that voice, his heart sank, because it was someone he had a grudge against.

"Euphrates, you've come at the right time. You know that guy, right? He's the one who caused you trouble at the academy before." Boro, who built his happiness on Dure's pain, saw a girl walking over and immediately greeted her with a beaming smile, gesturing wildly as if he wanted to take credit.

"How come I run into you everywhere? It's so annoying. Oh, it's you." It was Yuffie, the young lady from the same academy as Du Lei, who walked over. She was also a participant in this auction. Du Lei had originally wondered if he would run into her, after all, this was an auction attended by many celebrities.

Even Nono came, so how should Du Lei deal with a young lady with a bad temper and a grudge? This troubled Du Lei for a while. Fortunately, he didn't encounter her at all during the auction, which relieved him. But he didn't expect her to appear when he was at his most embarrassed.

"That's right, it's him. He's just a piece of trash. How dare he mess with you, Yuffie? We didn't even need to lift a finger, and he's already shown his true colors. What are you all standing there for? Arrest them!" While boasting to Yuffie, Boro signaled to the staff to take Dure away.

Although he wasn't with the jade auction house, nor was he their superior, he knew they had no choice but to give him face.

"Who are they?" Euphemia only saw Dure, but didn't see clearly who the person Dure was holding in his arms was.

"Understood, Young Master Boro, Miss Yuffie. Now that the person has been captured, we've troubled you both. Take him away." The middle-aged man waved his hand.

“Wait, what on earth did he do?” Yuffie gestured for them to stop. She had just arrived and didn’t know what had happened.

"It's like this, something went missing from Maple Tower, and it's very likely related to them." The middle-aged man didn't say that it was the Jade Auction House that went missing, nor did he say what specific item was missing. In fact, even as the security supervisor in charge of this auction, he himself didn't know what was missing.

"You mean he's a thief?" Yuffie shifted her gaze to Dure. This wasn't the first time she'd seen him; the first time she'd felt contempt and disdain, the second time hatred, and the third time—was this...?

"Given the current situation, they are suspects. Wouldn't it be clear if we just went down and interrogated them?" The middle-aged man carefully chose his words, after all, he knew Yuffie's background; she was even more formidable than Boro.

“His companion seems to be sick. He’s not the kind of person who would steal. Let them go.” Euphemia hesitated for a moment, then looked at Nono.

Although Nono is a teacher at the academy, she is ultimately just a trainee teacher. Furthermore, Yuffie is an owl's student and doesn't attend classes regularly, so she doesn't know most of the people in the academy.

"Hey Yuffie, what are you talking about? Didn't that guy offend you before?" Before Dure and the middle-aged man could speak, Boro, who had just been boasting, froze. He pointed at Dure to confirm, hoping he had misheard.

“I do have a grudge against him, and I don’t like him either, but that’s a different matter from whether he’s a petty thief or not. Now his companion is sick, and we can’t deliberately delay or neglect him because of that, do you understand?” Euphemia had no good feelings towards Boro and immediately launched into a tirade of reprimands.

“But Miss Yuffie, releasing people is something that…” The middle-aged man, who was in charge of security, hesitated and dared not do as instructed.

"There are no 'buts'. Just listen to me. If you need anything, come to me." Yuffie's attitude was firm, and her words left no room for argument. After saying this, she ignored Dure's astonished gaze and left without looking back.

243 Strange People

Dure never expected that the person who would help him would be the young lady Yuffie, who had whipped him on his very first day in Maple City. In his memory, Yuffie dared to allow carriages to attack others on the street just because she was born into a good family.

Even after causing trouble, she showed no remorse whatsoever. This appalling attitude infuriated Du Lei. In fact, he even labeled her as someone to be punished and was determined to teach her a lesson if they met again.

But things just happened to be so coincidental. Not long after, they met again at Maple Leaf Academy. The atmosphere was tense, and with Charlotte's help, she became even more arrogant, which strengthened Dure's determination to deal with her. However, there were just too many messy things happening these past few days.

Since it was the start of the school year, he still needed time to familiarize himself with Maple Leaf Academy and hadn't run into Yuffie yet. In Du Lei's opinion, this was purely because Yuffie was lucky. He was sure he would teach her a lesson on their third meeting. However, this time at Maple Tower, it was their third meeting.

With Yuffie's unexpected help, he successfully left Maple Tower with Nono. Not only that, but after he went out, someone came to greet him and indicated that they could be taken to the nearest hospital by carriage. The person who came to greet him was not the driver of the carriage they had ridden in before.

However, in his haste, Du Lei didn't dwell on the matter and took Nono all the way to the hospital. Only after Nono received effective treatment did Du Lei breathe a sigh of relief. When he came to his senses and wanted to thank the driver who had helped him, he found that the driver had already left. In fact, he couldn't have guessed it.

The coachman was ordered by Euphemia to help them. As for why Euphemia would do this, Dure couldn't figure it out for a while. He just vaguely sensed that Euphemia wasn't as bad as he had imagined, and he changed his opinion of her.

"This is my first time in a hospital. I've only been to places like pharmacies before. But Nuonuo's condition has stabilized. I just don't know when she'll wake up." After leaving the ward, Du Lei sat on a chair in the corridor and looked around blankly.

Hospitals are medical institutions that have been built in the last ten years or so. Compared with traditional medicines and pharmaceuticals, hospitals have introduced entirely new treatment methods and medical services, which have greatly impacted the traditional medical industry. Due to habitual issues, many people find it difficult to accept.

Du Lei was initially a little uneasy, but as Nuonuo's condition stabilized, he felt relieved. Now, all he could do was wait for her to wake up.

"Don't worry, she'll be fine." Someone walked towards Du Lei and took over his words. This made Du Lei pause for a moment. He immediately looked up and saw a young man who looked to be in his early twenties. He was thin and tall and was wearing a black stand-up collar trench coat.

This was a handsome and imposing man. He didn't say much, but his words carried great weight. This was the first time Du Lei had ever seen such unparalleled charisma. If someone had told him before that there was something called leadership that was innate, he certainly wouldn't have believed it.

But after seeing this man, he believed it, because the man's words and actions exuded a commanding presence.

"You are..." Du Lei didn't know this person, but he knew that the "she" the other person was referring to was undoubtedly Nono.

"Who I am is not important." The man shook his head and walked to the door of Nono's ward.

"Nono needs to rest now, don't disturb her without permission." Du Lei became alert and immediately stood up to try to block the other party. He was already being quite polite, but as soon as he stood in the doorway, the other party threw a punch, catching Du Lei off guard.

What caught him even less off guard was the astonishing force of the punch, completely disproportionate to his slender physique. He was knocked back several meters and crashed heavily to the ground.

"What are you doing? You can't fight here!" A nurse who was passing by saw this and immediately rushed over to stop them.

After the man punched Du Lei away, no one could stop him from entering the ward.

However, he remained silent for a few seconds before turning away. The hospital security guards rushed over, but seeing his back from afar, no one dared to approach him, because everyone could tell that he was not someone to be trifled with.

"Are you alright?" The nurse came over and helped Du Lei, who had been knocked to the ground, to check on his condition.

"This guy is really strange." Du Lei waved his hand and stood up. He really couldn't figure out what the other person was doing there. He suddenly appeared, suddenly punched him, and then left without looking back. There was only one thing he was sure of.

That means he must know Nono.

Although Du Lei was full of doubts, he knew that these questions could only be answered once Nono came to her senses.

Meanwhile, inside Maple Tower, the auction had come to an end, and almost all the guests had left. They were very satisfied with the items auctioned, and even though only a few people managed to buy them, the excitement was enough to keep them entertained for a long time.

But the reason it's "almost" is that some people still remained inside the Maple Tower.

As most of the lights in Maple Tower went out and night fell, a series of agonizing screams echoed through the darkness. By the faint light of the candles, one could see people being thrown out one after another.

These burly men, dressed in uniforms from the jade auction house, were easily thrown against the wall. Before they could even resist, they were stomped on and coughed up mouthfuls of blood. Meanwhile, in the shadows, the auction house's trained fighters swiftly launched their attack.

They were not like the security personnel on the surface; they were the real killers kept by the jade auction house. However, even these assassins, who were famous even in the underworld, were easily grabbed by the collar, and then with a "snap," followed by a few struggles.

These experts, who had once made Nono and Dure wary, had their necks snapped. When their attackers released their grip, they lay motionless corpses on the ground.

"Well done, Jade Auction House. Do you really think that just because you've found a backer, you can do whatever you want? You actually tried to deceive me with a fake cursed bracelet. Do you really think I'm that easy to fool?" A young man walked over from behind.

He wasn't the one who did it; there were two. One was a bloated, obese man who looked dull-witted but was incredibly ruthless when he attacked. The other was a very thin man, like a monkey, but with sharp iron claws on his hands. Whenever he swung his hand to attack, blood would splatter everywhere. Most of the mottled bloodstains on the ground were his doing.

The young man who approached was neither fat nor bloated, and there was not a trace of blood on him. On the contrary, he was dressed very cleanly, in a black evening suit, white gloves, and was impeccably dressed and polite. At this moment, he still had a smile on his handsome face.

Even though his smile had a slightly sinister air about it.

"We are very sorry, we did not mean to deceive you. It was just an accident. Please rest assured, we will find the cursed bracelet, return it to you, and compensate you. We will definitely make you satisfied." The speaker was an old man.

If he were an ordinary old man, he would have been asleep by now, as old people are always early to bed and early to rise. But he couldn't sleep because he had to stay in Maple Tower to clean up the mess. And what's worse, it was his idea to use a fake cursed bracelet to get away with it.

He is Fama, the highest-ranking official here.

And standing on his opposite side at this moment is the person who bid the highest price and won the cursed bracelet.

“I’m giving you a week. If you don’t find the cursed bracelet within a week,” the young man said softly. Compared to his two ruthless henchmen, he seemed like a refined gentleman.

"Understood, understood, we'll definitely find them within a week." Fama was a man who had seen a lot, but even so, he felt a chill run down his spine. Although he didn't know much about the other party's background, the little he had seen was enough to make him tremble with fear.

"In that case, let's go. Oh, by the way, let me remind you, I'm not interested in compensation or anything like that, but you really need to teach your men a lesson." As the young man turned to leave, he seemed to remember something and turned back to say something.

"What?" Fama wasn't quite sure what he meant.

"Have you seen this invitation?" The young man tossed an invitation over from a distance.

“This is…” Fama looked at the contents of the invitation in the dim light, and his expression quickly changed from confusion to shock.

“Your men cornered the person holding this invitation at the gate, and unfortunately, she wasn’t in good condition when they caught her. This got back to another person who also had the same invitation—someone I wouldn’t dare to mess with.” The young man smiled.

He had a hint of schadenfreude in his voice. To be honest, he was somewhat disappointed that he hadn't gotten what he wanted at the auction today. However, he had learned something unexpected, which was a decent gain in itself.

"What?" Fama stared at the young man's departing figure, his scalp tingling with fear. He had finally managed to get rid of one troublemaker and gain a week's time, only to have attracted another one. He felt like dying.

244 I found you

Du Lei waited at the hospital until dawn the next day. Nuonuo finally woke up. The doctor had told her that she should rest in the hospital for a few days, and she had agreed verbally. But as soon as the doctor left, while Du Lei went to the restroom, Nuonuo looked at him with a smile.

Before he could even react, Nuonuo dragged him away from the hospital, showing absolutely no awareness whatsoever of being a patient.

"Nono, Nono, wait! Didn't the doctor tell you to rest properly? Why did you run away?" Du Lei didn't understand her actions.

"Oh dear, look at me now, I'm all lively and energetic, do I look like someone who's in trouble? If I stay in that place all the time, even something that's not happening will turn into something, and I'll become depressed. Besides, don't I have classes? There's a whole class of students waiting for me." Nono said this with great conviction.

“But last night…” Du Lei looked her over. At first glance, she did seem perfectly fine and lively, but she had fainted without any warning yesterday, which was really frightening. This gave Du Lei a psychological shadow, fearing that she might do something like that again at any time.

"It was all an accident, it's nothing, it's nothing. Why are you so worried? So you were really concerned about me." Nuonuo waved her hand, completely unconcerned about fainting. Instead, she was concerned about something else entirely.

"No, I came out with you. If anything happens to you, I won't be able to explain it," Du Lei denied, turning his head away. Although it had been raining all night, the sun was shining brightly after dawn.

"Oh, I see. I was actually a little hopeful." Nono looked somewhat disappointed.

"What else can you expect?" Du Lei glanced at her, feeling somewhat guilty.

"I won't tell you." Nono smiled slyly, her expression mysterious.

"Fine, don't tell me then. Who cares? Oh, by the way, someone came looking for you last night. He seemed to know you." Du Lei recalled what happened at the hospital last night, for which he even got punched, but he didn't mention it.

"I know about this." Nono suddenly stopped, her expression turning cold.

"Do you know who he is?" Du Lei didn't remember telling Nuonuo about this; maybe the nurse told her. Out of curiosity, he couldn't help but ask.

"It's nothing, let's hurry up or we'll be late." Nono shook her head, she didn't intend to discuss this matter any further. At this moment, they arrived at the academy's reception area, and they would return to Maple Leaf Academy through the teleportation barrier.

Upon returning to the academy, Nono rushed to the classroom and began lecturing from the podium. She looked as radiant as ever, as if nothing had happened the day before. However, Du Lei had been up all night and was so tired that he fell asleep on the table.

He spent the entire day in a daze, and finally managed to get out of school in the afternoon. He planned to go home and get a good night's sleep.

"Hey, Dure, where did you go last night? You didn't come back all night again. Don't tell me you went to the library. I went to ask, and you weren't there." Lance rushed over and hooked his arm around Dure's neck, asking mysteriously.

"Can you be a little gentler? You're going to strangle me like this. It's rare to see you go to the library." Dure broke free from Lance's arm. Lance went to the training ground every day and was very strong. Compared to him, Dure's small arms and legs were really not good enough.

"Heh heh, so hurry up and confess honestly." Lance was still relentless.

"Explain what?" No matter how much he pressed Du Lei for answers, he simply maintained an air of complete ignorance.

"Are you still pretending? Of course you went there with Teacher Nuonuo yesterday. I saw it today. You came with her. Don't tell me it's a coincidence. You left together yesterday and came together today. As for last night..." Lance grinned.

"Stop, Lance, when did you become so gossipy?" Durei wasn't buying it.

"Oh, I was just worried about you, so tell me, where did you guys go?" Lance tried to put his arm around Dure's shoulder again, but Dure nimbly dodged it.

"Ahem." Just then, someone walked over and coughed twice. Both Dure and Lance looked over.

"Um, Durei, I just remembered I have some things to attend to, so I'll be going now. Goodbye." Upon seeing the person who had arrived, Lance immediately gave Durei a wink, then turned and left with a smile, leaving Durei completely speechless.

It was Nono walking over.

"Hey, you didn't say anything weird to anyone, did you?" Nono asked, staring into Dure's eyes.

"What nonsense are you talking about?" Du Lei didn't understand what she meant for a moment.

"In short, I'm warning you, don't tell anyone any nonsense, or I won't let you off the hook," Nono declared solemnly.

"I don't have time to talk about nonsense, so you can rest assured. By the way, are you really okay?" Du Lei roughly understood what Nono meant, because he also noticed that people were looking at them strangely from time to time, but he didn't care about it.