The Silly Alchemist

Click. Click.

Ye Lang heard clicks as if some mechanism had been activated. At the same time, he felt the ground vibrate slightly. It must’ve been because of the door’s gears.

“Why don’t you ever listen to me!” cried Zhao Yarou furiously.

“Would I benefit from listening to you? Are you so sure you’re right?” came Ye Lang’s reply. It was obvious he did not care that she was angry.

“Even if I’m wrong, can’t you just listen to me once?” Li Yue was confused upon hearing this, Ye Lang even more so.

“If you’re wrong, why would I want to listen to you? Are you mad?” Ye Lang peered at her with an odd look on his face.

“Yes! I’m mad! Or I wouldn’t have done all the psychotic things I’ve done. I’m an absolute madman, I love picking the wrong options! I want to pick Death!” Zhao Yarou pressed on the ‘Death’ button.

“Fuck, you’re sick!” exclaimed Ye Lang.

“So I’m sick! Do you have medicine for me?” said Zhao Yarou coldly.

“How much do you want?”

“How much do you have?”

“It depends on how much you want, I’ll have it!”

“Well, I want everything you have!”

Why does this conversation feel so familiar…

“Ah….” While Ye Lang and Zhao Yarou were still bickering, Li Yue was in trouble. There was a shriek, and by the time Ye Lang and Zhao Yarou looked over, Li Yue had already disappeared.

There was a huge hole in the ground where she was. Obviously, this was the Death path.

“Li Yue!” cried Ye Lang and Zhao Yarou at the same time. Ye Lang sprinted over, and without a second thought, jumped.

“You like her THAT much? So much you’d die for her?” Zhao Yarou hadn’t expected him to do this at all. He’d jumped without knowing what was inside.

What she didn’t know was that he didn’t jump just for Li Yue, it was mainly for the Tianji Armour on Li Yue.

At this point, Zhao Yarou did something very unexpected too. Any Soaring Sky official would be stunned to witness this next scene.

Zhao Yarou jumped too. Like Ye Lang, although she knew this must be a trap, she jumped right into the hole.

This was a very questionable choice she made. It wasn’t like she had no choice! As long as she waited here, someone would come get her. At the same time, it was just Ye Lang and Li Yue. There was no one important enough for her to jump into a hole without regard for her own safety!

She had murdered her own father, was there really anyone in this world important enough to her?

It was an inexplicable decision– she was an absolute madwoman to have such complete disregard for her own life.

“Mr Fox…”

Li Yue had fallen into a pool. She felt like her entire body was almost broken into pieces from the sheer force of the impact. Being so weak, she had no strength to swim to the surface, all she did was sink slowly into the depths.

At that moment, Li Yue felt like her world had become very quiet, very peaceful. She did not struggle.

She didn’t feel like she was going to die either. For some reason, she knew Ye Lang would come save her. What happened next did not disappoint her at all. She saw Ye Lang approach, hold her in his arms, then swam up…

“Li Yue, are you alright?” Ye Lang asked frantically.

“I’m fine!” Li Yue shook her head with a smile.

“Fuck! Why did you follow me?” Ye Lang saw a silhouette fall into the water. That was Zhao Yarou, of course.

“Because I want to.” Zhao Yarou said cooly, first looking at Ye Lang then at Li Yue in his arms.

“Your Majesty…” Li Yue gasped in surprise.

“Fine. It’s not like I can do anything about it, you’re already here. We’ll have to look for the exit.” Ye Lang looked up to see that their ‘entrance’ had already sealed on its own. They had to look for another exit.

“There’s no exit!”

“The water’s rising!”

These were the two conclusions made by Ye Lang and Zhao Yarou after surveying the room. It was a rectangular secret chamber and water was gushing in through many small holes.

These holes could not fit even a hand, there was no hope of fitting themselves through it!

“It’s true then. This is Death! Zhao Yarou, do you understand now? You were the one who chose this option,” said Ye Lang mildly. His brows were furrowed, he was thinking hard.

“I like it. At least we die together. I’d pick this path again if I could,” scoffed Zhao Yarou coldly.

“You really are insane. Can’t you just die alone if you like dying so much? Why did you have to drag us into this too?” cried Ye Lang.

“It would be boring to die alone. Look how great it is having company!” Zhao Yarou was still cold as ever.

“I don’t have time for this! Fuck!” Ye Lang produced a wooden bucket. He placed it upturned on the water surface so it could be a temporary air supply. Air would be trapped in the bucket so at least this would keep them alive for a while.

Zhao Yarou and Li Yue both understood what he was doing…but was it useful here?

Zhao Yarou expressed her thoughts in full honesty. “What use would this be? It’ll just let you live a little longer, you’ll still die in the end!”

“Then don’t come here, you can die over there!” shrugged Ye Lang. It was true he did not care if she lived.

Then again, the scales tipped a little more towards Ye Lang wishing she was dead…

“Hmmph, fine! I’ll die over here!” Zhao Yarou did not approach Ye Lang, glaring furiously.

“That would be the best!” said Ye Lang.

As time passed, the water level rose slowly to fill up the entire chamber. The three of them maintained their breaths above water right up till the ceiling, only going under when the chamber had been completely filled. At this moment, Zhao Yarou glared coldly at Ye Lang before going underwater.

Ye Lang and Li Yue ducked under the wooden bucket, breathing normally again.

“Mr Fox, are you really going to leave Her Majesty there?” asked Li Yue. It was just a casual question, for she was sure they were only going to be alive for a while.

“Why bother? She can die if she wants to die, no one’s stopping her,” said Ye Lang coldly.

“I don’t understand why she followed us. She fully knew about the Death part too, did she really have to take the risk?” Li Yue did not understand. At the same time, her gaze at Ye Lang had another layer of emotion to it.

They knew the risks of coming here. Now that they were going to die, she grew emotional just looking at Ye Lang, who’d jumped in to save her.

“I don’t know either. She’s not normal, it’s not surprising if she does anything insane,” said Ye Lang as he shook his head.