The gears of fate that built the old world turned normally under the self-restraint of Wang Shui as much as possible.

Dr. Marl, who told Edward about the Philosopher's Stone, has been discovered and captured by the androids.

Edward, who had obediently gone home to rest for a few days, rushed back to Central City to look for the materials left by Dr. Marr at the Central Library, only to learn that the library had caught fire a few days earlier, and all the files and documents had been burned.

When the two brothers were disappointed, Colonel Mastan's subordinate, Second Lieutenant Ross, introduced Edward to a strange man, the Siska who possessed the ability to never forget.

The former central librarian, who was fired from his work for being obsessed with reading, is now worried about earning money to treat his mother.

However, when she helped Edwards write those handwritten documents, she was not for money, she was just instinctive to help others, and she was a rare kind person.

Marco left behind a lot of information, and it took five full days for Siskamer to write the Humanoid Library, and it took him nearly two thousand pages to sort out the documents.

To Ensign Ross's surprise, these materials were not research manuscripts, but rather recipes.

But Edward understands that this is a common encryption method used by alchemists, a special recording method similar to [Caesar encryption], but with a special conversion of secondary encryption.

As for the key to the secondary decoding, Dr. Marr had already written it on that note.

The decoding work is very boring, and these materials are also considered to be things flowing out of the military, which is more sensitive.

So the Edward brothers said hello to Colonel Mastan, and they borrowed a small room in the office building of the Eastern Army in Central City, and began to work on decryption.

Siska of Super Brain was also hired by Lieutenant Colonel [Mas Hughes], who was in charge of intelligence work at the military court.

A large amount of case information in the Central Library was burned, and Siska was a godsend to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, who had recently worked overtime to the point of sudden death.

There weren't many twists and turns in the cracking, and when all the information was put together, everyone was silent.

Colonel Mastan and other eastern officers, plus the Edward brothers, there were a total of eight people in the room, and everyone read clearly on the information:

[According to the final verification of the 1727th set of data, the best ratio of synthesizing the Philosopher's Stone is to transform 10 people at one time, and the physical fitness of these 10 people is close. 】

[Note 3: The minimum number of people who can be refined at each time is five, and less than five people will not form the Philosopher's Stone, but will only consume the life of the material in vain.] 】

"Forget everything you see today until I need your help."

As the highest-ranking and most authoritative leader, Colonel Mastan warned everyone in a commanding tone.

"Everyone, you must be careful, the water is very deep here, let's maintain the original rhythm of life and work first, as for how to deal with this matter......

Colonel Mastan knocked on the table, paused and continued:

"I promise you that this will never end here."

Everyone nodded solemnly, it stands to reason that ordinary people will always have a mentality of being afraid of things and their lives, and when they encounter this kind of thing, many people will choose to be ostriches.

But, this time is different.

According to the time on the research materials, and the Third Research Institute where Dr. Marr worked, they all knew that the so-called experimental materials must have been the Ishvars, those civilians who had been captured during the war of annihilation.

All the young officers present belonged to the Eastern Army, they all participated in this war, and they all felt deeply guilty about their evil deeds.

Especially after the war, President Ishvar denounced them for taking nearly two million civilians captive, and all the soldiers at the time refuted it, believing that it was an excuse for the mad dog president to want more compensation.

Now it seems that the President did not slander Amestolius, and the plight of the civilians was recorded in these studies and placed before them.

Edward and Al, who had not participated in the war, were also shocked, and at the same time their hearts were full of mixed emotions.

They were shocked that the Philosopher's Stone needed to be refined by consuming the material "human", and the use of the Philosopher's Stone was not a costless use of alchemy, but a price exchanged for human life.

The complicated thing in their hearts is that the two of them thought of a person at the same time, and thought of their beloved, erudite, and strict teacher who cared for them even more than their father's - Mr. Via.

Mr. Via had the Philosopher's Stone on him, apparently the red ink he used to save the little girl Nina, and he had discussed with Hohenheim about using the Philosopher's Stone to save their mother...... He had it a long time ago!

Now, the brothers finally know why their mother chose to die.

I also understood the meaning of Mr. Via's words - "exchange the lives of 10 heinous criminals for your mother".

Edward thought about it seriously, if he wanted to exchange other people's lives for his and Al's bodies, he really couldn't do it, his three views were deeply affected by his mother, but he knew that Mr. Via would definitely not hesitate.

So he's in mixed moods right now.

Edward is not detached to the wicked, but he has a sense of reverence for life, and he does not want to play with life to achieve his own ends.

Al next to him had a similar idea.

Soon, after Colonel Mastan's warning and unifying voice, everyone went home and went about their usual routine.

Edward and Al also returned to the hotel depressed, the dim moonlight spilled into the room, and Edward, who had been silent for a long time, finally spoke:

"Al, I'll restore your body."

"Hmm."

Compared to Edward's solemnity, Al only lightly agreed.

"Don't doubt Mr. Via, he's not the kind of bad guy who plays with human life, he must have his reason for holding the Philosopher's Stone, now that we know this information, the next time we see him, just ask him directly."

"Hmm."

"Al, even if there is no such evil thing, I will definitely be able to save you."

"I believe in you, brother!"

While the two brothers plucked up the courage to face a more uncertain future, there was another person who also had mixed feelings - Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, who was in charge of intelligence affairs at the military court.

Today, the work of the department has come to an end, and Hughes, who has been working overtime for a long time, is rarely able to go home from work on time to accompany his wife and daughter.

Usually no matter how busy he is at work, he will show his daughter to all his friends and colleagues and boast about his wife, but today he did not go home immediately, but returned to the court archives.

Today, when he was helping Edward sort out the materials of the Philosopher's Stone, the basic version of the Philosopher's Stone Refining Array on it made him a little familiar, probably because of the sensitivity and caution of the intelligence worker, and he was not sure of the source of this sense of déjà vu, and he was always a little relieved.

In the archives, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes picked out the most recently compiled material, then pulled out a map of the country and began to mark the riots and bloodshed that had occurred in various places in recent years.

As the nodes were marked, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes connected them with a serious face, and a standard Philosopher's Stone was formed in a formation against the backdrop of the circular land.

The above nodes, except for the parts located in Ishvar and the North, have all had serious bloodsheds, combined with the [Blood Mark] conditions mentioned in today's materials......

If...... If the Philosopher's Stone Formation Array were to be enlarged and launched nationwide, what would happen to the people of the entire country......

Hughes didn't understand, he wasn't an alchemist, but he knew, it was certainly not a coincidence!

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes quickly reset the file, folded the map, and put it in his briefcase, and he calmly packed everything up and left quickly.

He was very calm and did not panic enough to inform his superiors, there was obviously the presence of the Central Army behind these bloodsheds, including the Philosopher's Stone, which was also studied by the military.

The only person he can trust now is the Eastern Army, and the only one he can confide in and must inform is his classmate from the same military academy - Colonel Mastan.

Hughes walked to the parking lot in the darkness of the night, where Colonel Mastan and Lieutenant Hawk Ai lived not far away, his steps were brisk and calm, not much different from usual.

And when he walked into the silent parking lot, the dim lights around him brought him a different kind of pressure.

No, it's not right!

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes carried a briefcase in his left hand and put his right hand in the pocket of his military coat - today he did not carry a gun, he was a civilian, it was difficult to match a gun in Central City, and even if there was a combat mission, he had to apply for ammunition first.

In the oppression of the night, a faint sound of breaking wind came from behind, and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes jumped sharply to the side, flashing three black spikes at the same time, and also flung out the knife he had taken out of his pocket.

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes also came down from the battlefield, and his skills were quite good, and the throwing knife hit the target along the subtle sound, but just as he was about to touch the second throwing knife, more black spikes attacked fiercely, quickly opening more than a dozen bloody holes in his body.

As the black spikes are removed, Lieutenant Colonel Hughes collapses in a pool of blood, and the android Rust (lust) walks out of the shadows with Gratoni (Gluttony).

"The keen guys, both in terms of intelligence and skills, show this annoying acumen, but fortunately they have been sent to keep an eye on them, and that guy from Marco has really revealed something."

Rust grumbled as she approached Hughes, who was dying, and snatched Hughes's briefcase with the black spikes that her fingers had extended.

"Gratoni is hungry, can this guy eat?"

Although the android gluttony is relatively low in intelligence, it is very obedient.

"No, his corpse is still useful, and his death can anger those fools and keep them busy with this matter, so that it will not affect my father's plans."

"But I'm so hungry......"

"Well, let's go back and eat."

Killing a person was not difficult or burdensome for Rust, and the two artificial humans quickly disappeared into the night.

The pain was numb, consciousness was becoming lighter, and Lieutenant Colonel Hughes was dying.

He saw countless images, his life was replaying, he saw Colonel Mastan and wanted to warn him that the military was dangerous, but he couldn't make a sound.

Then he saw his wife and daughter, who were waiting at the table for him to return.

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes tried to get closer, but the picture grew farther and farther away, blurring and blurry.

Just as he was losing consciousness, he saw a blue glow of electricity.

"Fainted? You can't do it~"

At some point, a pickup truck in the parking lot drove up to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, and Sylvia, who was in the form of an artificial human, stretched out her left hand wearing three rings to Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, and complained in her mouth.

"It's normal to faint, the amount of bleeding is too much, and the remote operation is not accurate enough, so I just healed his penetrating wound, tsk, it's lucky that not a single spike hit his head."

This sentence was also uttered by Sylvia, and the voice was hers, but there was no doubt that it was aqua regia in tone.

"If that android attacks his head, or is about to eat him, I'm going to stop it. So it's not Hughes's luck, it's the luck of those two artificial people. ”

The same body turned into Sylvia complaining again.

At this time, Wang Shui was in a post station not far from Xinguo, and through the [Sylvia Network] and the signal amplifier, his spirit descended into Sylvia's artificial human body.

Lightning burst from Sylvia's fingertips again, but this time in red lightning.

After confirming that Lieutenant Colonel Hughes survived, the side of the van opened, and the two construct robots removed a dead pig, dumped it in a pool of blood, and stuffed Lieutenant Colonel Hughes into the compartment.

Wang Shui continued to use Sylvia's body to use alchemy, refining the pork in the pool of blood into the appearance of Lieutenant Colonel Hughes, carefully modifying many places, and even confirming the location of those blood holes before driving away.

"Is it necessary, it's so extreme, if you want to save people, you can save it, as long as I put on a mask and put on a cloak and go there, those androids will definitely run faster than rockets."

"I don't want to startle the snake, I can't let this part of the plot that is still going on change too much."

"Then don't save it, just a lieutenant colonel, he was going to die, right?"

"Yes, he died in the original plot, and tonight Mastan called me to help contact the Eastern Army, and also told them about their findings, I knew that Hughes was going to die recently, and the entire Central Army was full of artificial forces, and their every move was being monitored.

But I want to save him, and I have the ability to save him, so, why not?

It's like I wanted to eat shabu mutton tonight and ate it right away. With money, you can be satisfied materially, and if you have strength, of course, you must also pursue spiritual satisfaction, and I saved him purely for self-satisfaction. ”

"Let me control your body, and I'll eat too." Sylvia ignored the self-absorption of Shui Wang, she cared more about the mutton shabu.

"Come on, I'm open to exchanging control permissions, and we'll swap bodies."

……

……

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes awoke, weak, hungry, and, especially noticeable, thirsty, and his mind bombarded with complex senses, and he struggled to stand up.

I'm not dead......

This was his first thought, followed by a strong longing for his wife and daughter, after all, his last memory was that he was gradually dying and gradually moving away from his family.

Oh yes...... Mastan! The Sage's Stones are all over the country! He must be told right away that this country is dangerous!

Lieutenant Colonel Hughes struggled to sit up, and he immediately smelled a light scent, which was the smell of cake, meat, and rice porridge, and milk!

Guided by his gradually normal visual and tactile senses, he soon touched the food on the small table next to the bed, and immediately began to eat it.

With a large glass of warm milk in his stomach, his body began to slowly regain strength, and his mind began to become clear.

Then he saw the newspaper on the table, and the picture on the front page was the funeral scene of the high-level government at the Heroes' Cemetery, and everyone was in collective silence.

Hughes saw the president, who tried to hide his anger, his friend Colonel Mastan with tears in his eyes, and his friends and colleagues.

In the center of the picture are his wife and daughter, whose picture is affixed to the tombstone.

The newspaper is not fake, as an intelligence officer, Hughes quickly confirmed through the details of the paper material and layout that the newspaper was not spliced together, and the time on the newspaper was three days after that night, which is very reasonable, and it seems that the outside world really thinks he is dead.

So where is this? Who saved me?

Hughes stood up with questions in his eyes, and he looked around the simple room for some information.

But the owner here saved him and prepared food and newspapers, which showed that the other party had no ill intentions and that he didn't want to make a mess and leave a bad impression on the other party.

"Awake? Wait a minute, I'll be right over. ”

A woman's voice rang out from the surveillance probe at the top of the corner of the room, a clear voice as cold as the moon, so characteristic that Hughes was sure he had never heard it.

Soon the door opened, and a woman with a single black ponytail and a hunting trench coat walked in, she looked at Hughes, and then said:

"Lieutenant Colonel, oh no, you've already posthumously crowned Brigadier General, now there's good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"

This kind of bad taste is right for aqua regia.

(End of chapter)