The Silly Alchemist

“Ohh, shut up!” Athena’s predictions were spot on, leaving Ye Lang embarrassed.

“I remember you used to pursue Li Yue but gave up halfway. Now I’m giving you a chance to get closer to her to make her hand over the Tianji Armor!” Athena responded.

“…If you want me to pursue her, I won’t do it. Please get another person instead.” Ye Lang was reluctant because the last time he tried to have her hand, he was mercilessly ignored.

“If so, are you alright with someone else playing with this innocent girl’s feelings?”

“Never!” Ye Lang shook his head.

“Then it is settled! You will be the one doing it.” Athena yawned.

Ye Lang nodded, “Alright then… Eh? That’s not right. If I pursue her, won’t that make ME the one who hurts her?”

“Exactly! You will be cheating on her. But you’ve already done it once, doing it once more won’t matter! Alright, I’ll head to sleep now. You better start preparing. I will help once I have obtained more information…” Athena said as she headed for her room to sleep.

“Prep for what?” Ye Lang did not know what he was tasked to do so he decided to ask Athena after she woke up.

“Little Zero, I will now bring you to the Coldblood Group. They seemed to be notified about you.” Ye Lang still kept in touch with the organization. His relationship with them was subtle, but they did not regard him as an outsider.

Besides the Vermilion Bird Empire’s royal family, the Coldblood group was the other organization that placed importance on Ye Lang, especially Coldblood Five, Coldblood Seven and now Little Zero.

Ye Lang may not know this but Coldblood Group is now under his ‘banner’ as he was the newly appointed Coldblood One!

Yep, just his ‘banner’. The emperor still had absolute authority. After his previous mistake, he did not want someone else to be in control of the group.

Ye Lang was just a puppet ruler appointed by the emperor to control the organisation indirectly.

Despite this farce, it deepened his relationship with the Coldblood Group, to the extent where he was allowed to designate missions as long as those missions did not go against the group’s original purpose and did not bring harm to the Vermillion Bird Empire.

“Teacher, let’s hold that plan off for now. I have so many questions for you…” Little Zero was reluctant to return. She barely got the chance to meet Ye Lang, there was no way she would give it up so easily.

“I’ll answer any questions you have back at Coldblood Group! It’s not convenient here!” Ye Lang said. “I’m not supposed to reveal myself here.”

Let’s not forget Ye Lang had to prevent others from knowing his partnership with Athena in this mission because if it were exposed, he would need to protect them.

The reason he came here last night was that it was already late and no one could see them.

“Hey, you have to leave your address, or how would I find you?!” Just as Ye Lang was about to leave, Athena burst out of her room suddenly. She had expected his departure and would obviously forget to leave a contact method.

“I will be at Zhu’s Soup House tonight!” Ye Lang replied as he left.

Zhu’s Soup House was currently the largest diner in the entire empire. It also provides hotel services, similar to those humongous modern hotels. They grew to power after the fall of The Smiling Pavilion and seemed to be somewhat related to Ye Lang.

“Nothing outrageous, okay? Please be careful, people there might recognize you,” Athena warned.

From his choice to stay only at the best places, it seemed like Ye Lang had yet to stop his prodigal behaviour. He was the one and only person who dared act this way in the entire continent, making Athena worry someone would recognize him.

However, with his disguise, Athena felt that people will not regard him as a human, but rather a fox.

It was just that his alchemy skills would definitely expose his identity. Though they may not be certain, as long as he showed a familiar side of him, it would ascertain those doubts.

Athena couldn’t imagine what would happen if they did recognise him!

“I understand. How could I be outrageous? I have always been humble!” Ye Lang waved, apathetic towards the matter.

“Humble…” Athena shook her head. After so long, she had known what he meant by ‘humble’.

……

“Tian Wang Covers Di Hu!”

“Lord Yu Loves Wang Mu!”

After exchanging secret codes, Ye Lang entered the base within the Imperial City where the Coldblood Group was situated at. As usual, the place was within a rowdy area: was it the Coldblood Group’s habit to be at such a place or was it a coincidence? No one knew.

When Ye Lang entered the hall, he was shocked —- “Little Idiot!” A melodious voice rang from the hall.

“…Why are you all here?” A surprised Ye Lang said.

<i>You all?</i>

This meant he recognised more than 1 person there!

But how many people in this organisation recognised him like this? Most importantly, amongst those, he could remember only two or three people, including the one next to him now.

That meant, the people there were Coldblood Five and Coldblood Seven!

“…Coldblood Five, Are you sure that’s him?’

Although Ye Lang was surprised with the sight of the two in front of him, Coldblood Seven was even more surprised when she saw Ye Lang’s disguise.

“Yep. That’s him. He looks different, but has the same vibe.” Coldblood Five nodded mildly.

“It can’t be. He still looked like a human the last time we met, not like this. Are you sure he’s not from the Fox Tribe?” Coldblood Seven studied Ye Lang with a face full of doubt.

Coldblood Five thought otherwise, “He is not a fox man. Hey silly, why are you looking like this?”

“I am undercover now, obviously! I cannot be seen here or there will be trouble!” Ye Lang answered honestly.

“Makes sense. It’s dangerous for you here…” Coldblood Five nodded and flicked Ye Lang painfully.

“Ouch…”

“If you know how dangerous this place is, what are you doing here?!”

<i>Hmph! How dare you abandon me the last time we met?! Time for revenge!</i>