The Alchemist's Guide to Flesh and Blood Ascension

Hart City had only recently changed hands and been given to the church, and they were truly helpless against the intricate underground city.

Indeed, the pipelines were like a maze, and with the abandoned pumping station, the network of interconnected pipes had been run by the rat people for no less than twenty years…

People from the church come and go in batches... After all, the native inhabitants of the entire lower city, including the ratmen, are not so welcoming to people from their respective churches.

For the church, aside from friends, there are only enemies... The first to be targeted are the ratmen who control the trading in Hart City.

The "rats" have many nests, so they must all be blocked off, leaving only one exit. Then, "irritating items" such as fireworks should be stuffed into the exit to kill them all at once.

Uriel also understood this principle well.

So he led his followers to eliminate one rat-man trade route after another, adhering to the principle of "better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free," and systematically destroyed every discovered warehouse.

Indeed, even those merchants who had briefly cooperated with the rat people were "kindly" invited for questioning, and only after voluntarily donating about two-thirds of the church's property were they allowed to return home.

The distribution channels were cut off one by one.

This is precisely the origin of those bright red crosses on the ledger.

Yunevo gently closed the ledger, looked up at the restless sixth ratman, and asked, "Do they know it was you who did it?"

The sixth ratman shook his head, subconsciously gnawing on his front paw: "Not sure. They only know it's a ratman trade route, and that's enough."

It stood in front of the table, carefully closed and put away the ledger, then hopped around twice: "Brother Yunevo, actually I think you could have changed your mind about this deal—"

"We humans have a saying, 'Risk and reward go hand in hand'... Who's in charge of that desert section?" Yunefu abruptly interrupted Lao Liu.

The sixth ratman paused for a moment, his front paws slowly drooping down, and he even forgot to flap his tail, remaining still in mid-air.

It smacked its lips, revealing its chipped front tooth, but quickly closed them again, leaving only a faint, mosquito-like inquiry: "You...you really want to take this job?"

Before Yunevo could speak, the sixth ratman hesitantly pulled out the ledger again, quickly flipped to the end, and found that many of the contacts on the list had also been crossed out.

"The Morse Desert was originally managed by Old Spiky, but it died a few days after the incident."

"A team of white-robed men entered the desert, claiming to be clearing out heretical merchants. Old Thornball told us to retreat first... When we came back to look for them later, we found a dried rat with its hand broken off."

It pulled out a huge, wrinkled "tablecloth" and covered its entire face with it, blowing its nose.

"No one dares to take on the desert section. In Old Thornball's memory, those hidden pits and quicksand... just like the island itself, are all buried in the ground. Most of the roads are dead, and the only legitimate trade route is still controlled by the White Robe."

The sixth brother tugged at the tablecloth, managing to fold it into a small piece and place it on the wooden table. After a long silence, he finally broke the silence: "Actually, there's another way..."

"They call that thing the Golden Trade Route. I don't know where the gold is, but it's said to be a miracle created by the first group of traveling merchants."

"The church has sent people there, but few have returned. They keep talking about the Tin Man and the indestructible Sand Demon... They've gone mad."

The sixth brother touched his front teeth, his shrewd eyes revealing nothing, and instead earnestly tried to persuade Yunevo to refuse.

"For us... it's just a matter of losing the foundation of Hart City. We can just start from scratch again, right?" It even came up with an excuse for being "reasonably rejected".

But noticing that gaze that had never left him, the sixth brother finally sighed: "I knew... I couldn't go against you, Brother Yunefu."

"I was thinking of making this little shabby place even simpler, so that even if you complain about it, I'll feel a little better..." Its voice, in sync with the movement of its head, grew lower and lower.

"It really is a lousy place. Even a wealthy but worthless rat has made such a mess of himself..." Yunefu laughed. "Why don't you consider working for me?"

The sixth brother suddenly raised his head, then hurriedly unfolded the "tablecloth" to cover his entire face, his voice muffled: "Well... we need to talk about compensation and stuff."

"Consider this as interest on those bottles of Abyssal Dragon Saliva you received."

"What about the principal? Wait... when did you owe me money?" Old Liu ripped off the "tablecloth" and jumped around rapidly.

"When did this happen? I never keep a confused record!" It picked up the wooden abacus and started clicking away, trying to get its brain working so it could properly flip through its past memories.

"If you're going to keep a muddled record, then you're really forgetful..." Yunefu waved his hand impatiently, turned around, unfastened the three bolts on the iron gate, and slipped out in a flash.

"Oh dear, what kind of business is this..." Old Six, the rat-man, slapped his abacus, hopped to the iron gate, and shouted at the figure in black robes, "This is the first time we've ever made such a mess of things! You better be back on time!"

Yonivo paused, but didn't turn around. He simply made a reassuring gesture, just like he had done when he left the sewers as soon as he recovered.

Then, through hard work and struggle, he avenged a small part of the church's wrongdoing and thrived in Stamock.

Now that he's made this gesture again, let's believe him...

For the sixth brother, that short, fat, grayish-white rat-man.

This is the best investment it has ever made, now and in the future.

Speaking of which, Yonivore's back is much straighter than it was when he left the sewers last time.

Old Liu took off his monocle, held it in his hand and wiped it for a long time, but the more he wiped, the more blurred it became. Suddenly he slapped his forehead.

"Oh dear! I forgot to give Brother Junev the intelligence!" It jumped up and down in a panic, threw its blurry monocle on the bedside, and turned around to search for various intelligence reports and Morse topographic maps.

This deal can't end here!

……

Yunevo returned to the shop, his face expressionless. Iserlia, who had been waiting for a long time, trotted up to him, tilted her head, and asked, "We're setting off again, aren't we... to see even more 'reality'?"

"The food in the desert might not be very good..." Yunevo rubbed the girl's head.

"Now we can eat more...eat our fill," Iseria said with a pure and innocent smile, magically producing a bowl of mushroom soup and several soft loaves of bread that smelled of malt.

"We've been waiting for you... Eat more!"