The next day.
Dudian went to the tailor shop and picked up the robe and the mask. He put on the robe, and it fit him just right. He put on the mask and came to the alley on Wall Street. Immediately, he smelled the scent of two people inside, one less than yesterday.
"They really are here every day." Dudian thought secretly. He entered the alley, put on the mask, and reached out to lift the fabric that was smeared to look like a wall. Inside, there were stacked bricks. If an ordinary person accidentally noticed this fabric and lifted it, they would only see this wall. But Dudian knew there was a chamber inside, so he could immediately see the gaps between these bricks.
Dudian picked up a stone and knocked gently twice.
There was no response from inside.
Dudian knocked gently twice again.
At this moment, Dudian smelled the scents of the two people inside approaching. They were right behind this brick wall. He waited for a while, but didn't see them make a sound. So he knocked twice again, and controlled his throat to lower his voice, saying, "I'm your comrade. I have no ill intentions. I'm also an alchemist, seeking to join the organization..."
The two people behind the bricks seemed to be considering it. After a while, there was still no response.
Dudian suddenly smelled a strange odor. He frowned slightly and slowly pulled out one of the bricks.
Whoosh!
As soon as the brick was pulled out, something shot out from the gap.
Dudian had been prepared and dodged in time. But after this thing landed on the ground, it splashed out, and a few drops landed on the edge of his robe. The blackened robe was corroded and turned a bit white. It was actually sulfuric acid.
Dudian took a look and then continued to speak towards the bricks, "I really have no ill intentions. If I were from the Holy Church of Light, I would have already informed the Knights of Light to arrest you. I'm your comrade."
The two people inside seemed to have not expected that their sneak attack had not worked. Hearing Dudian's words, they also knew that at this moment, the initiative was in Dudian's hands. If he reported it to the Holy Church of Light, they would soon be surrounded and attacked here.
"How can I trust you?" A woman's voice came from inside.
Dudian asked in reply, "How can you trust me?"
There was a moment of silence inside. The woman's voice said, "Please show your alchemist tattoo."
Dudian smiled bitterly and said, "Well, you should at least let me in first. It's too unsafe here, and if we stay for too long, it's easy to attract attention."
Hearing this, the two people inside seemed to think it was reasonable. They slowly pulled out the bricks. The light inside was dim, but Dudian's vision was not affected at all. He immediately saw the appearance of these two people. They were both wearing masks. Judging from their figures, they were children of the same age as him, a boy and a girl. The boy he had tracked here before was not there. At this moment, the girl was in charge of pulling out the bricks, and the boy was hiding in a darker place beside them, holding a glass bottle in his hand, which still had half a bottle of sulfuric acid inside.
"Come in." The girl said.
Dudian nodded and jumped in. Below the bricks was a staircase, and the place blocked by the bricks was like a ventilation window.
The boy's eyes were full of vigilance behind the mask. He stared closely at Dudian and said, "Now you can show your alchemist tattoo, right?"
Dudian nodded slightly, lifted his black robe, and revealed the black cross tattoo on his chest, saying, "Can you see it clearly?"
The girl leaned closer to take a look and said, "You're really one of us. Follow me."
Hearing this, the boy let out a sigh of relief, greeted Dudian, and followed behind the girl.
Dudian followed them down the staircase and came to a chamber below. The chamber was extremely spacious. There were many shelves inside, on which various mineral powders or metal powders were placed. There were no animal remains, eyeballs, or other biological parts. As he had expected, they were all from the "Philosopher's Stone" faction, aiming to refine this magical stone.
"Come here, please." The girl said, coming to a table.
Dudian went over as she said.
"I want to take another look at your tattoo." The girl said. Obviously, the dim light in the corridor before hadn't allowed her to see it clearly.
Dudian nodded and revealed the black cross on his chest.
The girl and the boy leaned closer and took a careful look. After confirming that it was a black alchemist tattoo, she suddenly leaned close to Dudian's chest and sniffed gently. The warm breath exhaled from her nose made Dudian's chest tremble slightly.
"The smell of perfume?" The girl was a bit puzzled. She smelled the robe on Dudian's arm again. She couldn't help but look up at Dudian and said, "You're a boy. Why are you wearing perfume?"
Dudian coughed dryly and said, "I'm used to it."
The girl gave him a strange look but didn't say anything. She said, "How did you find us? We should have hidden this place very secretly, and the code words are only known to our own people. Even if you're an alchemist, you wouldn't recognize it."
Dudian said truthfully, "I saw a person in the market. A hook tattoo was revealed on his wrist, and then I followed him here."
The girl and the boy exchanged a glance and couldn't help but be angry, saying, "This stupid 'Rat'. We've already told him that having a tattoo in such a conspicuous place as the wrist is simply courting death. I don't know how his teacher taught him!"
At this moment, the boy who was walking with his parents on a certain street suddenly sneezed twice in a row and looked confused.
Dudian said sincerely, "Can I join you? Let's do research together."
The girl looked at him and said, "Don't you have your own circle? Didn't your teacher teach you that our circle rarely accepts other strange comrades?"
"My teacher is dead." Dudian said with a sad expression, "The few comrades I used to do research with have also gone their separate ways."
The girl was taken aback for a moment and said in a low voice, "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to."
Dudian shook his head slightly and said, "It's all in the past."
The girl thought for a while and said, "Well, if you're alone, I can let you join. But you're absolutely not allowed to bring outsiders in. You know, the more people there are, the easier it is to be exposed."
Dudian was overjoyed and repeatedly said, "I will definitely keep it a secret."
"Okay." The girl nodded and showed a smile on her face, saying, "My name is 'Nightingale', and he's called 'Viper'. Rat went shopping with his parents today and didn't come. If you want to join us, you also need to come up with a code name."
Dudian was puzzled and said, "A code name is only given when joining the Dark Church, right?"
"Yes, that's the formal code name and also a symbol of our identity as alchemists." Nightingale nodded and said, "But we also need a code name to call each other. We can't use our real names, can we? What if someone is arrested and exposes the others? Were you using real names in your previous circle?"
Dudian quickly said, "No. We used one of the characters in everyone's name instead."
"That can also be considered a code name." Nightingale said, "Here, we use an animal to replace it. Think about it."
Dudian thought for a moment and then said, "Let's call me 'Hound'."
"Hound?" Nightingale nodded and said, "Okay. From now on, we'll call you Hound."
Dudian nodded and looked around, saying, "Don't you have a teacher to teach you?"
Nightingale shook her head and said, "My teacher wouldn't come to a place for apprentice alchemists like us. He's busy with his own experiments."
The boy named Viper smiled at Dudian and said, "Nightingale is our teacher. She's about to strive for the Meteorite Badge. Then she'll be the youngest one-star alchemist. Isn't that amazing?"
Dudian looked at the girl in surprise. Since he came in, he had felt that this girl had more say. As expected, she was the leader of this small circle. He said, "That's really amazing. I've just started to get in touch with this. I still need to learn a lot from you."
Nightingale's voice behind the mask was a bit shy, saying, "It's not as exaggerated as he said. There are so many smart people. I'm not the youngest."
"Anyway, I think you're amazing." Viper said with a playful smile.
Dudian looked at him and thought that this person's personality had nothing to do with a "viper" at all. This code name was really a bit of a split personality.
"Okay, it's time to get busy with the experiment. Do you still want to get the Meteorite Badge?" Nightingale waved her hand.
Viper laughed and went to another room beside them and closed the door.
Nightingale said to Dudian, "We don't have many rooms here. There's still a storage room beside it. Clean it up and you can use it. If you have anything you don't understand, you can communicate with me at any time."