Chapter 62.2 Jailbreak
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With Lin Xiao Puppy in tow, Zhuang Lao and Mr. Li entered the village prison like two high-level characters. Unimpeded, they reached the lower level without harming a single guard.
Finally, they descended another level of the room, reaching the deepest part of the dungeon, where they met Mr. Li’s old friend, the alchemy mentor, Alfarr.
Alfarr, dressed in prisoner’s attire, sat in the depths of the cell, facing away from the outside. Mr. Li tapped the bars and called out, “Alfarr—”
Alfarr, assuming it was a jailer calling for him, coldly replied without turning his head, “I’m not eating.”
Mr. Li: “You’re not eating what? Not eating food?”
Alfarr: “I won’t eat anything. Take it away. Don’t try to deceive me. I won’t fall for your tricks again.”
Mr. Li: “Who’s trying to deceive you? It’s me! Look at me, damn it!”
Only then did Alfarr turn his head, fixing his gaze on Mr. Li for a moment. He asked, “Who are you?”
Mr. Li: “Li Yu!”
“Li Yu? How did you end up here? Is it really you? They took away my glasses, and I can’t see anything clearly…”
He fumbled his way out of the cell, revealing a young face, dirty and thin, bearing the signs of suffering in the prison.
Mr. Li: “What’s on your back?” Earlier, he couldn’t clearly see what was behind Alfarr in the depths of the cell. But now, as he looked closely, his eyes widened in astonishment. Behind Alfarr, a pair of enormous butterfly wings had sprouted, identical to those of the Brightwing Butterfly. They were a vibrant blue, radiating a beautiful glow in the darkness. However, having such a pair of wings, so incredibly beautiful, on a human’s body appeared rather weird.
“It’s you, Li Yu!! It’s really you!!” Alfarr exclaimed with great joy upon seeing Li Yu. “Quick, save me and get me out of here!”
“How did you end up like this?” Mr. Li asked in astonishment. “What’s with these wings?”
“It’s a long story! It’s not safe here. I’ll explain when we get back…” Alfarr said. “What about the guards?”
“We knocked them all out cold. We have plenty of time, so you can take your time to explain.” With that, he used his bare hands to pry open the iron bars that had trapped Alfarr and rescued him from inside.
Alfarr squeezed through the gap in the prison cell, heaving a sigh of relief. “Let’s get out of here first,” he said. He had been trapped in this damn prison for months, thinking he would die here. He never expected Mr. Li and the others to show up so suddenly.
“You have him to thank for that,” Mr. Li pointed at Lin Zhaohe. “If it weren’t for him, you probably wouldn’t have seen me.”
Alfarr seemed to have gone without food for a long time and was extremely weak. Mr. Li lifted him up, feeling as if he was holding a feather. Surprised, he said, “You weigh less than a one-month-old puppy. Did Lin Xiao Puppy eat too much?”
Lin Xiao Puppy barked twice in strong protest against being questioned about its weight.
Alfarr had been worried that the guards might intercept him on the way out. However, seeing the unconscious guards lying all around, he cast aside those concerns. Carried by Mr. Li, he left the prison. Upon reaching the surface, he saw the white cocoons scattered everywhere in the town, and his expression turned grim. “He really… did this.”
Mr. Li put him down and asked, “How did you end up like this? Did Victor do this to you?”
Alfarr whispered, “Yes.”
“What’s going on with you guys?” Mr. Li was also a bit confused. He reached out and touched the beautiful wings behind Alfarr. “How did you grow something like this?”
Alfarr said, “It’s all Victor’s doing. He’s gone mad! Someone’s coming!”
The incident of Zhuang Lao and Mr. Li breaking into the prison had alarmed the people in the town. The three of them were surrounded by guards who had hurried over. Victor also appeared among the guards. He stood in the crowd, looking at them from a distance and loudly shouted, “Capture them quickly! They are mutated monsters!”
“Victor, don’t make one mistake after another!!!” Alfarr hoarsely shouted in response to Victor’s accusations.
“One mistake after another?” Victor sneered, “You’re the one who made the mistake, Alfarr.”
The surrounding guards closed in, pointing their weapons at them.
Alfarr said, “Don’t worry about me, just…” Before he could finish his sentence, he saw Mr. Li sweeping a leg, knocking down a circle of people. The heavily armed guards were no match for Mr. Li’s strength.
“Why run?” Mr. Li rolled up his sleeves. “Let’s fight first, and after that, we can see if we can sit down and have a proper conversation.”
Victor’s face turned pale, and he said, “Li Yu, don’t you want to help your friend return to being human?”
Mr. Li patted Alfarr’s shoulder and said, “Did you see him? His potion can turn you back in just one day! It’s your fault for not mastering the technique and taking a whole week!!”
Victor took a step back, raising his cane high and then forcefully slammed it into the ground. The cane shattered instantly, and a gigantic golden totem soared into the air. Upon seeing this, Alfarr immediately became tense and exclaimed, “Oh no! He’s summoning an alchemical beast!”
The totem began spinning rapidly, then a colossal golden creature emerged. It had a metallic appearance, with the body of an elephant, the head of a lion, and the wings of a griffin. Standing at a height of five to six meters, its footsteps caused a violent tremor on the ground.
“What is that?” Mr. Li looked up at the sky.
“A creature created through alchemy,” Alfarr said. “Don’t just stand there foolishly, run!”
Mr. Li: “Aren’t you as formidable as him? Why can’t you summon something similar?”
Alfarr: “I haven’t been back to my own laboratory in half a year. How can I summon something when all my belongings are inside?”
Mr. Li: “That makes sense.”
Upon seeing this colossal creature, the others scattered and fled in all directions. They had witnessed the power of alchemical creatures before. They were impervious to weapons, impervious to fire and water. Ordinary weapons were like scratching an itch to them. And the most terrifying aspect was that they had no weaknesses that living beings possessed. Whether it was attacking the head or the heart, it had no effect. Unless it was completely destroyed bit by bit, it wouldn’t stop before achieving its goal.
“Capture them!” Victor coldly gave the order.
The alchemical creature let out a long cry, seemingly acknowledging Victor’s command. It took a step forward and effortlessly crushed the surrounding buildings to pieces.
Alfarr also wanted to run, but his body was extremely weak. He had only taken a few steps when he fell to the ground, gasping for breath. He looked at Mr. Li and Zhuang Lao and noticed that they were still gazing up at the sky. The little dog in Zhuang Lao’s arms opened its mouth slightly, seemingly startled.
“What are you looking at?” Alfarr exclaimed helplessly. “If we don’t run now, it will be too late!”
Zhuang Lao glanced at Mr. Li, and Mr. Li returned the gaze. In just a few seconds, their eyes conveyed a lengthy exchange.
“Do you understand what I mean?”
“No.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to?”
“……”
“I don’t think it should be too unpleasant.”
The exchange ended. Mr. Li’s expression turned as if he had eaten something vile. However, what saddened him the most was that he seemed to really have to eat something vile.
“Forget it,” Mr. Li said. “Maybe it’s not as bad as we imagine.”
After saying this, he turned to look at the alchemical creature. Suddenly, his body began to expand dramatically. In an instant, a gigantic whale appeared in the pitch-black night sky, its massive form obscuring the heavens and enveloping the entire alchemical town. The previously exaggerated alchemical creature now seemed as small as a toy.
Lin Zhaohe’s eyes widened in disbelief. He had never imagined that Mr. Li’s true form could be so enormous, almost unbelievably large. He couldn’t even see the boundaries anymore, as the sky above had turned into Mr. Li’s white belly.
Victor was also dumbfounded, unsure of how to react to the colossal creature before him.
Ignoring the astonished onlookers, Mr. Li lowered his head and took a bite. With that one bite, he not only devoured the alchemical creature but also took a chunk out of the ground, leaving a large gaping hole. He chewed and gulped it down.
Zhuang Lao stood nearby, narrowly avoiding being bitten. The ground was scattered with debris. He shielded Lin Zhaohe with his hand, disgruntled. “Can’t you eat in a more refined manner?”
Mr. Li opened his mouth, and as Lin Zhaohe gazed at his massive head, he surprisingly understood why Victor was cursing.
The alchemical beast was actually eaten just like that. It was evident that their powers were not on the same level. Seeing the situation turning unfavorable, Victor turned around and attempted to flee. However, Zhuang Lao swiftly picked up a brick and hurled it at him, hitting the mark directly and knocking him down.
Alfarr, taking advantage of the situation, rushed forward and kicked Victor. Angrily, he said, “You naturalist piece of crap! I’ve told you this path leads nowhere, but you insist on being stubborn. The humanist philosophy is the eternal truth!” Victor was left battered and unconscious by Zhuang Lao’s blows but still managed to shout before passing out, “The naturalist philosophy is the truth!” With that, his eyes rolled back, and he fainted.
Mr. Li inspected the surroundings, ensuring there was nothing else he needed to consume. Only then did he revert to his human form, spitting out in disgust and cursing, “Damn, it tastes awful. Where’s that Victor? Sooner or later, I’ll smear shit all over his face.”
“Over there,” Zhuang Lao pointed to Victor, who was bound by Alfarr.
Alfarr, taking advantage of his dominant position, stood next to Victor with a smug smile. His butterfly wings on his back fluttered incessantly, making him appear far from normal. Mr. Li even suspected that he had been driven mad. He was about to approach and inquire about the situation when Lin Yan’s voice resonated from the sky.
“I’m back!” Lin Zhaohe looked up and saw Lin Yan… along with a large group of beautiful butterflies. He was flying in the air, surrounded by the butterflies, and holding a baby doll in his arms, the very same one that had been snatched away by the Brightwing Butterflies earlier.
Lin Yan descended to the ground, taking in the mess and the unconscious Victor. Astonished, he asked, “What happened? Was that gigantic whale in the sky Mr. Li?”
Mr. Li, finding a straw from somewhere, picked at the stone powder stuck between his teeth discontentedly. He grumbled, “What’s wrong? Don’t like it?”
Lin Yan weakly replied, “Not exactly…”
As he landed, the enormous Brightwing Butterflies settled around him. One of them, a woman with a half-human, half-butterfly appearance, caught Lin Zhaohe’s attention. She underwent a more thorough transformation than Alfarr, with her head entirely resembling that of a butterfly, leaving only her human body.
She approached Victor and, to Lin Zhaohe’s surprise, instead of saying anything or expressing astonishment, she lifted her leg and kicked him, abruptly waking Victor up.
“Ah!” Victor screamed in pain as he regained consciousness. The butterfly face before him startled him. He instinctively tried to retreat and escape, but the woman grabbed hold of him.
“Victor!” the woman called out his name.
“Emilia,” Victor immediately recognized the woman’s identity.
“Long time no see,” the woman said. “How has your career been going? It doesn’t seem to be going smoothly.”
Victor responded, “I’m trying my best, and I’m about to succeed. It’s all because of them, they’re the ones who have been stopping me!” He became emotionally agitated, attempting to stand up, but his hands and feet were bound, leaving him only able to twist in place. “Just give me a little more time… I can definitely…”
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