NOVEL WEB Chapter 3 Cut off the crutch
Xia Zuo's uneasiness came true.
He, Little Nose, Little Fatty and Little Shorty were all taken to the alchemy room together.
My nose is small, my eyelids are swollen, and I haven’t slept enough.
The little fat man and the little thin man, two cellmates who rarely met each other, had sallow faces. They had not even eaten a few bites of bread before they were pulled over. Their calves were trembling with hunger and cold sweat dripped on their foreheads.
Xia Zuo covered his face with his hair, his posture was crooked, and he looked depressed, but he was actually in the best condition among the four.
The evil old man asked the four boys to stand against the wall and watch him brew the potion.
This time, it's not a simple test of medicine.
"It's been dozens of days and I still haven't succeeded."
The evil old man poured a spoonful of white powder into the crucible, tapped the mechanical arm, let it rotate, and continued to stir the thick potion in the crucible.
“I give you a chance to become an apprentice, I give you bread, I give you shelter.”
The evil old man turned around and stared directly at the boys with his two faintly ferocious eyes.
"Failed, still failed. You didn't succeed. No, no, no, no..."
The evil old man shook his head and slapped the desk hard with his right hand, making a loud bang bang bang sound.
"It's me! I failed!" the evil old man roared.
He picked up two bottles of dark green potion from the alchemy table, poured them all into the crucible, and threw them on the wall, leaving the glass bottles to shatter into slag.
Then, he picked up the other two bottles of potion and repeated the same action, becoming more and more rude and fierce.
"I am too kind!"
"I am too indulgent!"
"I should have done this a long time ago!"
The evil old man picked up a pot of potion under the alchemy table and poured it into the crucible. A strange thick green smoke shot out from the water, bubbles bursting in dense succession, and scalding hot water splashed into every corner of the alchemy room.
The four boys huddled together cringingly.
Xia Zuo used the bodies of his companions as cover and scanned the room, looking for the retractable crutch.
found it! On the desk, his body was covered by several books, only half of the handle was exposed.
Xia Zuo bit his lip, thinking about finding an opportunity to stab the almost crazy old man in the back with a heavy blow.
However, the evil old man seemed to have calmed down. He braced his arms on the alchemy table, his lungs beating and flattening like an old blower, breathing heavily.
The evil old man scooped up the boiling soup with a ladle and filled four bottles of the hot potion with boiling liquid.
"You guys, drink them!" the evil old man said while sitting on the wooden bench.
The little fat man, the little dwarf and the little nose seemed to be used to being obedient, and seemed to be afraid of being beaten and scolded, so they immediately walked to the alchemy table and drank the potion.
It seemed very abrupt to leave Xia Zuo where he was.
After the three of them drank the potion, they fell to the ground and rolled around. At first they could shout, but after more than ten seconds, it turned into grinding teeth and whimpering, and then they could only curl up silently, holding on to everything with their fingers. Something to grab onto.
"You! Drink the medicine!" The evil old man hammered the armrest of the stool.
Xia Zuo threw the Detection Technique at the potion, this time deducting 32 blood points in 60 minutes... No matter how many points he added, it would be of no avail... The 1 free attribute point given by upgrading to LV.2 can be saved...
Is it really over? Do you want to add attribute points to strength and give it a try?
"No! Wait!"
The evil old man stood up suddenly, grabbed Xia Zuo by the collar, sprayed saliva and shouted angrily: "I remember! You are lazy, pour out the potion! I discovered the little trick!!"
Xia Zuo was pushed to the wall by the evil old man, and his back hit the wall.
"I want to punish you!" The evil old man took out the remaining three pots of potion from under the alchemy table and poured them all into the crucible.
"Jie Jie Jie!" The evil old man laughed heartily and picked up the spoon to stir the crucible himself.
In an instant, a majestic thick mist spewed out of the water, blowing away the evil old man's broken hair, and his whole person exuded strong evil intent.
Xia Zuo stared at the desk and moved over slowly.
Gulu, bang.
A fist-sized bubble emerged from the crucible, and the sound when it exploded was like muffled thunder.
Xia Zuo paused. Was the gas released by the bubble just now carrying flames?
Gulu, bang.
It does carry a flame!
Gulu, bang.
Gulu, bang.
Bubbles are appearing faster and faster! Wisps of flames appeared above the crucible.
Xia Zuo frowned, hesitating whether to go to the desk or hide in the corridor of the cell.
Gulu, bang.
Gulu, bang.
Gulu, bang.
Xia Zuo moved in the opposite direction and quietly walked towards the door of the alchemy room.
Gulu, bang.
Gulu, bang.
Gulu, bang.
Gulu, bang.
The evil old man stared blankly at the flames, counted the overturned empty pots at his feet, put his hands into his hair and shouted, "What have I done! What have I done! No, I have to make amends!!"
The evil old man picked up the spoon and put it into the violently stirring soup. What he scooped out was a half-melted spoon.
"It's going to be bad!"
Xia Zuo shouted low, pulled up the unconscious little nose at his feet, and dragged his hands towards the aisle with all his strength.
As soon as he turned the corner, the popping sounds of bubbles behind him were as consistent as the firing of machine guns.
Chug tug tug tug tug
boom! !
The soup suddenly exploded, the air wave exploded the crucible, shattered the reagent bottle, and overturned the evil old man.
The majestic red flames swallowed up all the creatures and props in the alchemy room, and followed the fierce airflow into the corridor.
Xia Zuo was pushed to the ground and subconsciously protected his head with his hands. The scorching red flames passed over his body, causing a burst of severe pain and impact. There was a roar in both ears, and the eardrums bulged to the point of extreme pain.
Xia Zuo opened his mouth wide and wailed. He persisted in pain for several seconds and finally passed out.
…
After an unknown amount of time, Xia Zuo woke up again. In front of him was a gray mist sinking to the ground, and the entire cell tunnel was filled with a burning smell.
"How much blood do I still have?"
[HP] 10/20 (mild concussion, mild abrasion, mild shock, mild burn, mild poisoning)
"Ahem..."
Xia Zuo stayed close to the ground to avoid inhaling the smoke. He crawled to the alchemy room and saw three humanoid black charcoal bodies.
Where's the evil old man? Dead or not?
The ground was covered with broken boards and slats, and the alchemy table and desk were all shattered by the explosion. Where the crucible used to be, a pool of black mud appeared, which was the source of the smoke and burnt smell.
The figure of the evil old man was buried in a pile of charred debris, with only two legs exposed.
Xia Zuo stopped at the door of the alchemy room. He felt his nose was sore next to Little Nose... Maybe his eyes were smoked by the smoke, so he shed a few tears. It was nothing serious.
He continued crawling, looking through the scrap heap.
The evil old man was completely dead, with a sharp piece of glass stuck in his chest, and the red blood dyed his robe black.
Xia Zuo groped around the evil old man's waist and found a keychain and a small, shriveled money bag with some round hard objects inside.
The 6 keys in the cell are of the same type and are easy to identify. The key to the alchemy room is a bit longer. The longest and thickest remaining key must correspond to the iron door behind the desk.
Xia Zuo repeatedly blew away the smoke under the iron door. After several attempts, he found the keyhole and successfully unlocked the lock.
He lay on his side, put his feet on the wall, grabbed the heavy door panel with both hands, and tried his best to open only a small gap.
My strength is too weak. The metal door panel is as thick as three fingers and I can't pull it at all.
Oh, and that cane can be used as a crowbar.
Xia Zuo returned to the evil old man and found the crutch from under him.
He inserted the crutch into the gap, leaving half of it inside the door, and lay on his side again to exert force.
Squeak~ The rusty door shaft was forcibly turned.
Click, click, click, the crutch made a crisp sound, and broke into two pieces after the door panel rotated at some angles, revealing the precise double-layer structure inside.
You might be able to sell the broken telescopic crutch for money...
Xia Zuo put it away and climbed out through the crack in the door.
Outside the iron gate is a dirt tunnel extending upward. The slope is steep and the space is narrow. Grass roots and reptiles can also be seen in the dirt on both sides. Thick smoke from the alchemy room drifted outward along the tunnel.
Xia Zuo used his hands and feet to reach the top of the tunnel, which was sealed by a wooden board.
"1, 2, 3, harder!"
The wooden boards covering the turf were pushed aside, and the dazzling sunlight shone into the eyes. The fresh air that had not been seen for a long time was poured into the nostrils, nourishing the long-suffering lungs.
"Come out! Come out!"
Xia Zuo came out of the hole, opened his arms and cheered, intoxicated by inhaling the fresh air that smelled of grass, squinted his eyes and looked up at the sky, and then looked around.
This is a clearing in the forest. The woods are quiet and deep, surrounded by groups of trees. They were like silent guards, staring at the boy emerging from the hole in the ground.
Something is not going well.
Why do these woods look so similar from every angle?
Xia Zuo turned to the left and right, and then looked in front and behind him. No matter which direction he looked at, there were trees lined with tree trunks. The biggest difference was that the thickness and color of the trees were different.
Why is there not even a road for this? Where did the evil old man hide his alchemy room...
He raised his head and roughly calculated the southeast, northwest and northwest based on the position of the sun, and then returned to the underground alchemy room to search.
When he returned to the ground again, there was a cloth package on his back, which contained the only remaining dry food and fresh water, as well as a purse containing 3 silver coins.
The broken crutches were tied tightly with a hemp rope and were still usable.
The silver coins found on the evil old man were not thumb-sized coins.
They are genuine silver coins as big as the palm of your hand, with patterns engraved on the front and back, and words such as "Starry Night Kingdom, Minted by Rossak Province" and "face value 1 silver dollar".
The surface of the coin reflects the dazzling silver glow in the sun, making it very valuable at first glance.
No paper information was found in the alchemy room.
Regardless of the identity of the evil old man, the alchemy experiments he conducted, or the map here, etc., they were all reduced to ashes in the previous fire.
What's even more unfortunate is that Xia Zuo didn't learn any wilderness survival knowledge before traveling through time, so he could only rely on his own speculation to choose the direction of travel.
There are more trees under the trees on the east side. Under the trees on the west side, there are many bushes and gravel.
He walked a few steps into the woods to the south, and soon turned back with a pale face.
There was the burial place of the deceased boy... The stench was overwhelming, and half of his rotten arms were sticking out of the ground.
According to normal logic, the evil old man would choose a direction where no one has passed by to destroy the corpse and eliminate traces.
In the opposite direction, that is, to the north, there may be humans.
Xia Zuo tied the bag tightly, used his crutch to split the barbed trees, waved his hands to drive away mosquitoes, and walked hard in the forest.
This walk lasted a whole day.
Until late in the evening, when the sun hung low in the western sky, there was still no sign of human activity.
He briefly suspected that he was going in the wrong direction, even circling around the hole, but in the end he resisted the urge to turn around.
That would only waste time on the way back and forth. It would be better to go all the way north until it gets dark, until the food and water are exhausted, and until you have no strength at all.