The linen bag carried by this sturdy boy was small but bulging. Obviously, he hadn't strengthened his body like Dudian. He struggled to carry it on his shoulder and soon began to pant heavily from exhaustion.
Dudian's vision was more than three times that of an ordinary person. He followed far behind, not worrying about being detected.
"At his age, he should just be an alchemy apprentice. I just don't know if he's using the materials himself or buying alchemical raw materials for his teacher," Dudian thought, his eyes showing a hint of contemplation. At this moment, the sturdy boy stopped a carriage at the intersection and got on it, which then drove away.
Dudian's face changed slightly, and he quickly caught up.
In this bustling and prosperous area, the carriage didn't move very fast. Dudian, carrying the linen bag, trotted and followed far behind. His strengthened body and the daily training over the past three years gave him much greater endurance than ordinary people. After following for seven or eight streets, Dudian began to feel out of breath. Just as he was about to hire a carriage to continue the pursuit, he suddenly saw the carriage in front stop.
Dudian quickly stopped. He saw the sturdy boy jump off the carriage, turn around to pay the copper coins, and then enter the alley by the roadside.
Dudian immediately walked over, pretending to be just passing by. He turned his head to look into the alley and was stunned. It turned out that the alley was a dead end, blocked by a wall, and the sturdy boy had actually disappeared in the alley.
What the hell?
Dudian raised his eyebrows slightly. As someone influenced by science, he naturally didn't believe that there was the kind of magic in fairy tales in reality. He entered the alley and carefully examined the ground.
This blocked alley was obviously rarely entered, as there was dust everywhere, and there were several barrels of garbage piled at the entrance. Thanks to this, Dudian's enhanced and sharp vision immediately noticed the trampled footprint marks in the dust on the ground. These marks extended forward and stopped at a wall in the middle of the alley.
Dudian's eyes flashed. He came to the wall and took a closer look, only to be stunned. It wasn't a wall at all but a piece of cloth painted the same color as the wall. If one didn't look carefully, it was impossible to tell the difference.
"This kind of simple hiding trick is exactly what an alchemy apprentice would do," Dudian said to himself. He reached out and touched it but found that it was hard behind the cloth. Most likely, it was propped up by some kind of stone, so it wouldn't be dented and exposed by rats or the wind.
Dudian secretly memorized this place and then turned around and exited the alley. Obviously, this was an alchemist's stronghold. If he reported it to the Holy See of Light, with his status as a scavenger, he could immediately receive a considerable amount of merit. However, he wasn't interested in doing such a thing. On the contrary, he planned to infiltrate the small circle of this stronghold to learn about the alchemists in this world.
After all, his knowledge of alchemists came from Rosyard's notes. Although it recorded a lot of things, most of them were information mastered by advanced alchemists, and there were relatively few records about basic properties.
However, to join the alchemist's circle, one must become an alchemist.
And the first proof of being an alchemist was the black tattoo.
Dudian hadn't thought about getting a tattoo on himself yet, nor was he ready to join the alchemist's circle so soon. After all, according to Rosyard's records, alchemists communicated with each other using other identities. The purpose of this was to prevent the situation where if one of them was exposed and arrested by a Knight of Light, they might be tortured into confessing the identities of others.
"I'll seriously consider this after I come back from outside the Great Wall," Dudian glanced at the alley, then turned and came to the intersection, stopped a carriage, and headed for the slum area. He had learned a truth since he was a child: doing many things simultaneously would affect efficiency.
Soon, the carriage arrived in front of the Wall of Boundaries in the slum area. Dudian jumped off the carriage and returned to the long-missed slum area. As soon as he got close, the strong smell in the air made him frown slightly. He felt a hint of helplessness in his heart but could only endure the strange smell. He followed the path to a more secluded place and found a dilapidated small inn to rent a room.
In the inn room, Dudian took out several raw materials from the linen bag. The first step was to extract sulfur from the sulfur ore. He planned to use the most primitive extraction method, heating the sulfur ore with high temperature to dissolve it, taking the upper-layer sulfur solution for cooling to obtain sulfur, and then grinding it into sulfur powder with a stone wheel.
Dudian asked the innkeeper for a brazier. Although it was the disaster rainy season and it was a bit strange to ask for a brazier for heating, with the copper coins Dudian gave, the innkeeper happily agreed. When taking out the dusty brazier from the warehouse, he also gave a few pieces of coal.
After returning to the room, Dudian locked the door behind him, used the flint given by the innkeeper to start a fire, burned the coal, and then placed the sulfur ore on it. After burning for a while, the fire was too weak, so Dudian simply bought a large bag of coal from the innkeeper.
The melting point of sulfur wasn't high, and it soon melted. Dudian took out the utensils he had bought in advance and began to hold the sulfur solution.
The room was filled with the strange smell of sulfur. Dudian secretly rejoiced that he had prepared in advance and put on a mask. Due to the nuclear radiation, the mask didn't seem to disappear with the technological disruption and had always been present in people's lives.
It had to be said that different environments promoted different developments.
Dudian thought that it would be great if he could make a gas mask like Rosyard's in the future. For alchemists, who often deal with various substances, it was inevitable to ingest some toxic substances. The function of a mask was minimal and was only used by alchemy apprentices.
In the evening, Dudian finally finished grinding the sulfur powder and saltpeter. As for charcoal, he planned to make it later by himself, as it was simple to make.
"I didn't expect that making the most ancient black powder would be so tiring," Dudian looked at his clothes, which were soiled by the coal, and gave a bitter smile. He suddenly felt a longing for the day when he could have an alchemy room of his own.
"I hope I can make a fortune outside the Great Wall this time!" Dudian wiped the ash off his face and became full of fighting spirit.
...
...
In the blink of an eye, seven days passed.
On the night before the mission, after saying goodbye to the Jura couple, Dudian, under their gaze, got on the black carriage sent by the Scavenger Headquarters of the Mellon Consortium and returned to the commercial district. He lived in the same ancient castle as before. Mekin and the others, as well as other scavengers who graduated together, were also brought here.
"I heard that we'll set off early tomorrow morning," Mekin said excitedly. "We'll be able to go outside the Great Wall tomorrow. I've wanted to see it since I was a child, but I was scared by those scary stories they told."
"You'd better save it. Although it's not as scary as they say outside the Great Wall, it's definitely dangerous," Zach said.
Sham smiled slightly and looked at the things Dudian had placed by the bed. "Dian, what's this thing you brought?"
"A toy," Dudian said casually. Glancing at the black fire explosive tube he had made in these seven days, he thought that with such packaging, they couldn't possibly not allow him to bring it.
...