As he groped around, Dudian touched the hunched old man's body again. It was wet and sticky, maybe a thigh or an arm, wrapped in the wrinkled and tattered robe. This time, although he was still a bit scared in his heart, he wasn't as nervous as before. Forcing himself to suppress the trembling in his heart, he groped along the robe. Suddenly, he felt two hard protrusions through the crumpled fabric.
He pinched them. They were extremely hard. He guessed that they were probably items the old man carried with him. He immediately opened the fabric and took out those things.
The touch was cold. He raised them and, by the faint starlight, managed to see that they were actually flints.
He was overjoyed. He immediately rubbed the flints to ignite the tinder. Soon, a faint firelight illuminated the darkness. By the firelight, he could immediately see the things in front of him clearly. When he saw it, his face turned pale. The part he had groped before was actually the hunched old man's shoulder. At this moment, that arm was broken at the elbow, and the ribs on the inner side of the chest were also charred and blurred from the explosion.
Dudian's heart was pounding wildly, and he was a bit nervous. He was afraid that the old man would suddenly pounce upright. After repeatedly confirming that there was no rise and fall in the old man's chest, he quietly let out a sigh of relief. Then he found scattered pieces of paper on the ground and lit them. At the same time, he threw several pieces of torn fabric on the fire.
As the fire grew brighter, Dudian could immediately see the appearance of the secret room after the explosion. The previous experimental workbench and various purification equipment had all fallen to the ground and were almost all damaged. Many things were also buried by the collapsed sand and dust. He took a closer look and immediately found the previous crossbow. However, the string of the crossbow had been broken, and the bow body was also broken. Obviously, it couldn't be used anymore.
Dudian felt a bit regretful in his heart and could only give up. Just as he was about to set the place on fire completely, he suddenly saw several books beside the firelight. The cover of the top book was titled "On Alchemical Life".
Dudian's heart stirred, and he stepped forward to pick it up. Besides the "On Alchemical Life" on top, there were several other books below. They were all books of the "life" alchemist school. And among them, there was a small handbook without a name. He opened it and saw that it was written with a quill pen.
"An alchemist's notebook?" Dudian was a bit surprised. He looked at the content and found that it was actually the hunched old man's alchemical diary.
"Great Wall Calendar Year 287, Black Snow Season."
"Today's experiment went smoothly. Sure enough, to create life, human beings are still the best experimental materials. What a perfect material..."
Dudian flipped through it. There were some records of the experimental process and other events. He didn't read them in detail. After thinking about it, he stuffed the alchemist's notebook into his chest. As for the several books like "On Alchemical Life" and the others, he simply flipped through them. Although the names sounded very grand, they felt similar to basic biology. Although he hadn't studied biology, at least with the thinking of a modern person and the common sense that had been subtly instilled in his heart since childhood, he could roughly judge.
He didn't take them. These books were too thick to hide and easy to expose. Just from the actions of this hunched old man, alchemy probably didn't have a good reputation in this world. Otherwise, he wouldn't have hidden in this deserted desert to secretly conduct experiments.
Dudian tore the books apart and threw them on the fire. The fire burned fiercely. He threw the remaining books on the hunched old man's body. Then he found the oil pot that had fallen to the ground and poured the lamp oil on the hunched old man's body and all over the secret room. At this moment, he had calmed down a lot. The first thing that came to his mind was to destroy the body and wipe out the traces!
As the fire spread, Dudian climbed up the wooden ladder he had rolled down before. The wooden ladder was placed far enough away and hadn't been broken by the shock. He struggled to push open the wooden board above his head and climbed out. He looked back and vaguely saw the firelight shining through the collapsed gap. He suddenly felt a trace of melancholy in his heart, let out a sigh, turned around, and ran back along the original path.
When he returned to the previous place, there were only a few scattered sparks in the burning fire pit, and he didn't see Mekin and the other two.
Dudian was shocked. Ignoring the need to sit and rest, he dragged his tired body and searched around on the ground. Soon, he saw the dragging marks and immediately chased after the sand marks. He saw a black shadow moving in the distance. His heart tightened, and he quietly groped towards it.
When he got closer, Dudian saw that it was Zach dragging Mekin and Shamu.
"He didn't pass out?" Dudian was taken aback. Then he thought that Zach had always been cautious. Most likely, like himself, he had been pretending to be dead. However, he had escaped by pretending to be dead, while he himself had almost lost his life.
Seeing Zach struggling to drag Shamu and Mekin, Dudian felt a warmth in his heart. He rolled the alchemist's notebook in his trouser leg and tied it with a cloth strip, then walked out.
"Who!" Zach was startled when he heard the noise. He let go of Shamu and Mekin and nervously bent down to grab two handfuls of sand.
"It's me," Dudian revealed himself.
When Zach heard Dudian's voice, he was greatly surprised and couldn't help but exclaim in delight, "You're back? Are you okay? Didn't that monster do anything to you?"
Hearing this, Dudian immediately knew that he had probably secretly seen his fight with the hunched old man and the old man's mutated shoulder. He said, "I'm fine. I managed to escape by chance. Let's get out of here quickly before we're chased again." After that, he grabbed Mekin's arm. Seeing that he was still breathing, he immediately knew that the green mist wasn't a lethal poison and felt relieved.
Zach's face turned pale. He couldn't help but look behind Dudian as if there was a monster staring in the darkness. He shivered, grabbed Shamu, and quickly said, "Hurry up and run. Don't get caught up." After that, he quickly dragged Shamu and ran forward.
Dudian dragged Shamu and followed behind. It was obvious that they couldn't stay in this place with abundant water sources for long. Although the hunched old man was dead, there was no guarantee that other alchemists wouldn't come. He sighed in his heart. He had to continue searching for a water source. He hoped that at the next water source point, they wouldn't encounter these alchemists who refused to be bound by the law.
...
...
Half an hour later.
Above the hunched old man's secret room, several black shadows appeared. One of the short black shadows took out a flint and lit an oil lamp with a cover. By the firelight, he looked down through the collapsed gap and immediately saw the messy secret room that had been burned inside.
"He's already been killed," one of the graceful figures seemed to have seen something. Her voice, as clear as a silver bell, was filled with a cold tone. "Destroying the body and wiping out the traces, burning down the hideout. It seems that they don't want us to find any clues."
"Such ruthless means. Most likely, it was done by other devil apostles. These beasts don't spare their own kind!" Another burly figure said sullenly.
The previous short black shadow said, "These alchemists have already sold their souls to the devil. They'll do anything to obtain the devil's power. Killing each other is nothing. However, they shouldn't fight for no reason. I think it's very likely that they were fighting over something! Damn it. If only we had come earlier."
"Look, it seems that this place was instantly destroyed by some kind of power," the previous graceful figure pointed at the burned secret room inside and the collapsed gap. "It seems that these alchemists have obtained some terrifying devil power again."