Chapter 22
Dudian slowly opened his eyes. From the fire that shimmered, he saw the old man dragging him into the darkness.
His eyes flashed but he gave up on the idea of attacking. Throwing sand at the old man’s back would not achieve any effect. Instead he would lose the chance of attempting a surprise attack. Furthermore, he had been dragged out for three or four meters. The best he could do right now was to grab a stone that was nearby the fire pit. But the stones placed near the fire pit were burning hot. Even if he grabbed a stone, he could only probably casually throw it without aiming properly.
“I can’t step into his lair.” Dudian knew that he was in great danger right now. Many ideas spun up in his brain. He had to do something before being dragged into the lair. After all, he was not aware if there were anyone else in the old man’s lair. He did not want to be left in the mercy of the old man.
The old man went back to the place where Mason previously wanted to urinate. He bent down to pick up the dagger.
Dudian decided that the right moment had arrived. His gaze fell on the side of the fire pit where stones laid. He grabbed a stone. It was scalding hot but he could still bear the pain. He stood up and using the strength of the momentum threw the stone the best he could.
Bang!. The stone did not hit the old man’s head but it hit his back.
The old man cried out in pain, and then stumbled but didn’t fall. He turned around to see Dudian running away. Never he would think that he will be tricked by a kid not once but twice. He angrily burst, “I’ll kill you!”. He made a flinging motion with his right hand. Something flew out of his gown’s large sleeve.
It hit Dudian.
Dudian slammed to the ground. His back was in pain. A pain so bitter that he almost fainted. His heart was in a loss: “The old man should not be so fast to catch up, was it a stone?”
He reluctantly looked back, his pupils tightened immediately.
He saw a scene that was completely beyond his imagination. A snake like being which was attached to old man’s sleeve was flickering in the light of the fire. It was as thick as baby’s wrist and more than 3 meters long. The cuff was completely torn. Impressively, the external body part was attached to old man’s shoulder and lied rooted there.
What was horrifying though were the blood veins that were bulging on his arm’s surface. It looked strange, hideous and disgusting.
Two words emerged out in Dudian’s mind: “biochemical transformation!”
Born into a family of scientists, Dudian knew that biochemical transformation did exist. Except, back in the older days, experiments such as this were taboo. Any biochemical human experiments were illegal. In World War II only, they were publicly used as weapons of war.
He heard his father and sister conversed about experiments of such nature. But he would never expect to see this incredible scene in a world which did not even reach the standards of industrial revolution.
It shocked Dudian. The contact point of old man’s shoulder and the transmutation grew for a few centimeters. The new section was stained with large number of silky tissue fluids.
Old man stared at Dudian: “The little devil, I will not kill you so easily. I will cut you into tiny bits. Actually you shall become part of my experiments!” After he finished talking, he took big steps toward Dudian.
Dudian’s face turned pale. At this moment he finally realized that the situation was not part of the assessment but a real danger. He wanted to get up but back pain was so bad that he couldn’t move. Moreover, the previous time when the old man had used the green fog, although he tried his best to hold his breath, but it [had] still affected him. His limbs felt weak.
“Want to run?” old man looked at him ferociously. He used his big hands to grab at Dudian’s hair and dragged him away.
Dudian grasped onto the old man’s wrist in pain. It felt like his scalp would be torn out. The man stopped dragging him. They were in front of a pit which Dudian had seen before.
“Roll in!” Old man kicked Dudian’s body into the pit.
Dudian rolled down. Along the way his body hit rammed a few stairs. His arms and back were in extreme pain. A few breaths later, his body hit the ground. He saw the place illuminated dimly. He was in an underground chamber.
At the same moment, the old man climbed down the ladder.
Dudian looked up and notice that the entrance to the chamber was covered in wood. Most probably one of them passed through the top of the shelter and alerted the old man.
He smiled wryly. Wherever plantation was dense, there would also mean abundance of water. Logically that would make the most suitable location for a shelter. He should have thought about it.
The Old man didn’t even care to look at Dudian but quickly paced to a table not far from the entrance. There were lots of pills and vials on the table. He mixed and poured few of them into a glass of water and drank it.
Dudian looked around. He saw few cupboards standing next to each other. There were large glass bottles sitting on the cupboards. Some of them had human hands, while one had a woman’s head inside it. The rest of the bottles contained hearts, lobes and other organs.
Old man noticed Dudian’s eyes, “Don’t be hasty. I’ll find a big container for you too.”
Dudian face became ugly, and said: “The Holy Church said that people like you have sold their souls to the devil, right?”
Ricky old man scoffed and said: “The devil? The Holy Church would use the creator and the devil argument to fool the world. When I am done with my experiments, I will be the Creator!”
“What experiments?” Asked Dudian. Naturally he was not interested about the experiments. He wanted to use the conversation to buy some time to restore his physical strength, and even to think of a way to get out.
The Old man sneered: “Don’t even try to attempt to escape. Do you know what this is?” He opened a drawer and took out a small crossbow.
Dudian’s face changed, the situation was already stacked against him. However he didn’t give up. He grit his teeth as he continued talking,” Why would a creator use the murder as a tool?
“Well, It is the wisdom of the Creator, it is not possible for you to understand,” the old man replied with a sneer, “great alchemy will cast immortality and you should feel honored to be the material to my experiment.”
“Alchemy?” Dudian hesitated.
He had some knowledge about the introduction to the Alchemy. It could be said that it was the foundation to chemistry which originated in Egypt. Conversion of a base metal into gold was one of the aims of alchemy tales.
However, the holy grail of alchemy was to create the ‘Philosopher’s stone’ or ‘Sage’s stone’. According to the legend it could turn a person into an immortal!
In history, there have been many great people who were exposed because of their practice of alchemy. Even the famous physicist Newton was an alchemy enthusiast.
“Are you an alchemist?” Dudian looked at the old man with alarm. “Isn’t alchemy just about turning metal into gold?”
Old man squinted his eyes and replied: “I did not think you knew so much. But there are two alchemist factions. One school studies the basic materials to manufacture the ‘Philosopher’s stone’ to gain the eternal life. The other group, including me, study the living things to create ‘life’, to become the Creator!”