The Silly Alchemist

“I should head back. Maybe Athena would have a plan for this. That sly fox should have a better idea!”

Ye Lang found the mission troublesome, so he gave up on his current objective. He also found himself stupid, as he could never come up with useful plans in such situations and would always require a professional.

Athena, however, did not find him stupid- he was just lazy!

“You came back? Are you alright? Did you get the thing you went for?” Awaiting his return, Athena barraged him with a volley of questions upon seeing him.

Little Zero, who was still in daze jolted awake at Athena’s movement.

“I didn’t. It’s going to be a little troublesome this time.” Ye Lang shook his head but he didn’t seem worried.

This might be due to his trust in Athena’s intellect, or maybe he knew that there was no need to be hurried.

“What’s the situation?” Athena immediately asked.

“It was like this. I came to......” He explained the situation to them, including the news he eavesdropped from the guards, despite not really understanding them.

“So you’re saying that your previous home is now heavily guarded... and there’s a dragon rider involved!” Athena got a headache just by listening. The dragon rider was a huge problem.

Even when compared to a beastmen, the dragon riders were a strong entity. Their dragons were mighty beasts that cannot be disregarded in battle!

“Yep, it was as if they were anticipating us.”

“Yeah, right. They are trying to fend from people LIKE us who are targeting the lab!” Athena snorted. Wasn’t it obvious that wasn’t the case? How oblivious and arrogant can he be to think they were prepared JUST for him!

“But, that was my lab......”

“Uh......” Athena fell silent. Her words might be a little inappropriate because, after all, Ye Lang was unlike others and was only trying to get his stuff back.

“Teacher! When you built your lab, was there a secret passage?” Little Zero asked. A mysterious place like this would usually have a secret passage.

“Yes!” Ye Lang nodded while Athena was dumbfounded.

“What? If you had one, why didn’t you use it instead?” Athena blurted.

If there was already a secret passage, why did he care about all of this? Won’t using the passage be quicker? Why is this child so dumb?

However, Ye Lang eyed Athena curiously. “Of course we must first get to the entrance to use it. If not, how do we enter it?”

“......” Athena pondered for a while, and doubtfully asked, “Please don’t tell me the entrance to the secret passage is also in your yard?”

“It is!” He nodded innocently.

As expected...

“Then how many entrances do you have?” Athena’s brow twitched.

“Only one. Who has that much time making entrances?”

“You all must be tired. Let’s rest and come up with a plan tomorrow!” She furrowed her brows. She wanted Ye Lang to rest, though that did not indicate she would too.

She planned to sort out some things, obtain some information and then come up with suitable countermeasures. Wasn’t this what Ye Lang tasked her to do anyway?

“Alright! You better come up with a plan by tomorrow!” Ye Lang agreed and went on to rest.

“You’re so bossy. It is quite impossible for me to finish by tomorrow, you know? Let’s observe first...” She spoke softly. Despite looking helpless, she was serious.

She knew that she would have to pull an all-nighter that day. “I’ll have people look into the details...” She closed the door softly and sought help from her clansmen’s intelligence department. The fox race was an intelligent tribe, so of course, they would deal with reconnaissance matters.

These crafty people would not involve themselves, or even the beastmen, but rather the humans to seek the information they needed.

......

“Good morning teacher. I’ve prepared some water for you to wash your face......”

When Ye Lang woke up, he noticed Little Zero tending to his needs like a faithful servant, preparing the stuff he would need as well.

Does he still think he’s a prince? Living with a golden spoon in his mouth!

Athena felt uncomfortable. She did not understand why would anyone treat him as such. There was Taeya in the beginning, then it was Tigress, and now Little Zero!

Besides, he always had Little Xin with him. He’d sent Little Xin was to stay Tigress because there was a chance people might find out about her ‘situation’ and Ye Lang felt the need for someone to guard Tigress.

The updated Little Xin can now accept complex orders from Ye Lang. And under certain circumstances, from Tigress as well!

While Little Xin was beneficial to Ye Lang by improving his defences and helping him with certain jobs, it took up brainpower to control her and it reduced his ability to handle daily tasks.

Besides, Ye Lang felt that his safety did not compare to Tigress’s, so sending Little Xin was obviously the wisest choice!

“Morning!”

When Ye Lang saw Athena, he politely greeted her. But, obvious from her mood, she was unhappy.

“What are you implying?!” She grumbled.

“Huh? What happened?!” Ye Lang asked in surprise.

“Nothing!”

Ye Lang glared at Athena, making her uncomfortable. Ignoring it, she opened her mouth, “Now that you’re awake, let’s discuss the matters we were on yesterday.”