The air in the basement was filled with an indescribable smell of anxiety, which was the product of the smell of ozone remaining after the alchemical reaction and a deeper, more blasphemous aftertaste.
"Fullmetal Alchemist, you need to calm down."
The voice of Colonel Roy Mustang broke the dead silence. This was the first word that "Flame Alchemist" said since Ian·Alvin·Bones appeared. His eyes were as sharp as a hawk, locked tightly on this mysterious black-haired young man, and his fingers subconsciously rubbed the fabric of the gloves that caused fire due to friction.
"Calm down? How do you want me to calm down?!"
Edward was almost roaring, and the young Alchemy master was trembling all over. This was a physiological reaction caused by the collision of extreme shock and newly ignited hope. He pointed sharply at the man who had just completed the "miracle", and his voice became hoarse with excitement:
"This man... he just reshaped a perfect human body through Human Transmutation! No, to be more precise, he rebuilt Nina's decomposed body matter bit by bit! He even perfectly stripped and restored her soul!"
This operation completely subverted Edward's understanding of the iron law of Alchemy and "Equivalent Exchange".
"So?" Mustang's tone was still cold, but there was also an imperceptible shock flashing deep in his eyes.
"This means that his method may help us get our bodies back!" The tall armored man on the side - Alphonse, had obvious trembling and desire in his voice.
"Can you guys be quiet?"
Ian spoke indifferently. His voice was not loud, but it had a strange penetrating power, instantly overpowering the noise in the basement. He ignored the violent mood swings of the people around him, but leaned forward slightly and looked at the little girl who had just recovered from the Chimera form.
"How do you feel?" Ian asked softly.
Nina blinked, as if she had not yet fully awakened from the nightmare. She looked at Ian and answered obediently, "Brother, I'm fine."
"Is there any pain in your body?" Ian continued to ask, his fingertips gently hovering on the girl's forehead, feeling the fluctuations of her life magnetic field.
"It doesn't hurt."
Although Nina acted well-behaved, Ian's eyes that seemed to be able to see into the data flow clearly saw that the girl's mental threshold was on the verge of collapse. This was completely logical - she had just experienced the horrific trauma of being entered into a dog's body by her biological father, Fusion, and no carbon-based creature's psychological defenses could heal themselves in a short period of time.
Ian's fingers move slightly, Wandless Magic operates skillfully.
[Legilimency·Mental Soothing]
An invisible mental ripple spread, accurately cutting off the violent connection between the traumatic memory and the emotional center, blurring this horrific experience. Then, he applied a Enhanced Sleeping Curse.
Watching Nina fall into a deep sleep and his breathing became steady, Ian stood up. He straightened out his undisturbed sleeves, turned to look at Elric Brothers, who was full of hope, and his tone was as calm as if he was stating a mathematical axiom:
"Unfortunately, your idea is wrong."
"What do you mean?" Alphonse asked eagerly, and the armor made a clicking sound.
Ian glanced at the empty armor and calmly analyzed. "Your situation is completely different. The body you lost was paid as a toll to open 'Gate of Truth'. From energy From the perspective of conservation and the laws of the universe, that part of matter has returned to the macroscopic flow of the universe. Since 'Equivalent Exchange' is absolute in the rules of this dimension, simple reshaping technology cannot recover the concept of 'payment' out of thin air."
"Are you saying... that it's impossible for us to get our bodies back?" Edward·Elric gritted his teeth, his golden pupils full of unwillingness.
"I didn't say that." Ian shook his head slightly, with a condescending rationality in his eyes, "I was just stating the facts: the method just used to save Nina is not applicable to your special case."
At this moment, Lieutenant Lisa·Hawkeye, who had remained silent but always raised his gun, suddenly interrupted.
"Now that we're talking about this..." Her muzzle never moved away from Ian, her eyes were cold, "Have you noticed that this man easily controlled the rhythm of the conversation and even gained our trust, but until now, we don't even know his name."
Hawkeye paused and continued his analysis, "Moreover, he seems to know the physical condition of you two brothers very well. This kind of information asymmetry is too dangerous."
These words were like a basin of cold water, instantly dousing everyone's emotions. The atmosphere in the room became tense again, and everyone's eyes were warily focused on Ian.
Facing several hostile gazes, Ian just smiled nonchalantly. That smile was not a mockery, but a kind of tolerance in which the strong showed unnecessary vigilance to the weak.
"My name is Ian·Alvin·Bones. A traveler from afar." Ian started knitting in a calm tone. His identity setting, "I am currently traveling around the world, inspecting Alchemy System in different countries. Amestris is my first stop. After that, I will go to Xing."
"Do you have a passport and visa?" Colonel Mustang immediately jumped into the administrative procedures, trying to find loopholes.
"Of course." Ian took out his ID from his arms.
Lieutenant Hawkeye walked forward cautiously, holding a gun in one hand and taking the documents with the other and looking through them. After a moment, she frowned slightly. "He is Cretans, and his passport and visa are both genuine."
After confirming that the documents were correct, she handed the things back, and then raised the core doubt. "The last question. How did you suddenly appear here? Also, when you first appeared, you asked, 'Are you late?' This means that you foresaw that a tragedy would happen here. How did you know?"
This precise time entry point was Source that she suspected.
Ian put away the certificate and looked calm. "As for how I know, I can't explain it in a way that you can understand. You can understand it as a high-dimensional intuition. As for how I appeared - it's very simple, I teleported here."
"Absurd!"
Edward immediately retorted. As a believer in science and Alchemy, he could not accept this statement, "Alchemy is based on scientific principles! Such things as Teleportation only exist in science fiction! It is physically impossible to use Alchemy to realize Teleportation!"
"No, that's entirely possible."
Ian's voice suddenly became magnetic, which was the scholar's confidence when explaining Truth, "The principle is simple: decompose the body into an atomic state, and then reorganize it at another coordinate point. Of course, this requires borrowing another dimension as a 'channel' connecting the two points."
Edward·Elric was stunned for a moment and subconsciously murmured, "Like...Gate of Truth?"
"Correct answer." Ian hit the Snap and glanced at him appreciatively, "It seems you have a good understanding."
"Even so!" Edward is still struggling, "Even if the theory is established, the actual operation is impossible. The human body is composed of billions of molecules. As long as even one atom is lost, the recombination will fail. How can the human brain process such a huge amount of data in an instant?"
"Your thinking is stuck, Edward."
Ian stepped forward, like a professor teaching on the podium, and every word hit Alchemy's essential blind spot. "Alchemy is not 100% materialistic science. In deeper areas, it overlaps with spirituality, mysticism and even pseudoscience."
He stopped at the edge of Transmutation Circle, pointed at the traces left on the ground and explained:
"The soul is connected to the body through the 'mind'. During the transmission process, when the soul passes through Dimension Gate and reaches the target coordinates, as long as the 'mind' is strong enough, it is like a huge magnetic field core, and all the atoms that originally belong to the body will be pulled by quantum entanglement and automatically follow."
Ian looked around at the stunned crowd and came to his final conclusion:
"As for the process of reorganization, if you regard each atom as a microscopic life form with 'memory' and 'instinct', what the Alchemy engineer has to do is not to build the wall brick by brick like a mason, but as a commander, allowing these atoms to follow their instincts and return to their original positions. The body will Self be reshaped."
"There is no need to control it atom by atom."
This theory is not just nonsense made by Ian. In the original plot of <Fullmetal Alchemist>, Edward·Elric is revealed by Gluttony (Glu ttony) did use a similar method to teleport himself out through Gate of Truth. Ian just used the more systematic Magical Theory to interpret this phenomenon in advance.
Elric Brothers seemed to have been opened to a new world and fell into deep contemplation.
Lieutenant Hawkeye was keenly aware of another point: 'This man's mannerisms and speech... are very much like a senior mentor. More importantly, he seems to enjoy the pleasure of crushing knowledge.'
"Wait!"
Alphonse suddenly thought of the key point, "There is another problem - tolls! You must pay a price to open Gate of Truth. What did you pay when you teleported here just now?"
"Good question." Ian smiled mysteriously, "Unfortunately, this is a business secret and there is no comment."
Edward·Elric frowned and asked tentatively, "Could it be that... you own Philosopher's Stone?"
"If you are asking me if I have that bright red stone, the answer is no." Ian's expression became a little more serious and he said meaningfully, "But I can give you a piece of advice: your pursuit of that stone will only bring endless pain and tragedy."
After saying this, Ian turned to look at Hawkeye, who was still holding the gun, with a hint of impatience in his tone. "Lieutenant, could you please put the gun down? It's very uncomfortable to be pointed at, and... to be honest, it's meaningless. If I really want to do you harm, you have no room for resistance."
"Oh? Really?"
Mustang Colonel snorted, obviously irritated by these arrogant words. As an elite in the army, he did not accept such contempt, "Then let me see what you call 'powerless to resist'."
"Just like this."
Ian raised his right hand and lightly hit the Snap.
Snap.
There is no Transmutation Circle light, and there is no movement of hands together.
In an instant, red flames burst out around him out of thin air. It was pure high-temperature flames, surrounding him like a shield. Then, he hit another the Snap.
Zizzizi--!
The electrons in the air were instantly stripped away and accelerated. The violent blue current was like a thunder snake dancing wildly, covering the flames, ionizing the surrounding air into a pungent plasma state.
"That's...Flame Alchemy?!" Mustang's pupils contracted violently.
"How is this possible..." The gun in Lieutenant Hawkeye's hand lowered involuntarily. Her father is Founders of Flame Alchemy. The secret of this secret skill is engraved on her back. Apart from her and Mustang, there should never be a third person in the world who can master it, let alone this person does not need to refine the gloves!
Seeing everyone's expressions of shock and speechlessness, Ian calmly dissipated the energy around him, straightened his collar, and calmly pretended:
"I can be considered one of the greatest Alchemy masters of our time. Just taking a look at the basic principles and reproducing Alchemy to this level is as easy as breathing for me."
Showing force is only a means, the purpose is to establish absolute right to speak.
Ian ignored them and took one last look at Nina who was sleeping soundly. He thought to himself: 'I can save you, so my trip is not in vain.'
Then, his eyes fell on Xiu·Tucker, who was shivering in the corner.
From the moment Ian stepped into this room, this Sewing-Life Alchemist felt a tremor coming from the depths of his soul. It was absolute suppression at the life level, leaving him without the courage to even ask for mercy.
Ian looked away indifferently, this kind of scum was not even worth his own hands.
"Okay, now that my mission here has been completed and my vanity has been satisfied, it's time for me to leave. Nice to meet you, everyone."
Ian puts his hands together, but this is not the activation posture of Alchemy, but the prelude to magic.
A Dodge strange light flashed past, and his figure disappeared out of thin air in full view of everyone. This was not a space teleportation, but the use of light and shadow magic to deflect the surrounding light, achieving perfect optical invisibility.
Just when everyone had not recovered from the successive shocks, Ian actually did not leave.
In a state of invisibility, he stood quietly in the corner like a ghost, patiently waiting for nightfall.
He is waiting for someone--Scar.
That Ishval's Avengers.
Ian is not sure whether his intervention has changed the timeline, but he needs to confirm the death of Xiu·Tucker. Due to certain rules restrictions, he is inconvenient to execute this mission target personally, so he is prepared to borrow a knife to kill. If Scar does not come, he does not mind using Imperius Curse to control Scar to complete this matter.
Luck What is true is that the inertia of fate is powerful.
Late at night, the man with the scar on his forehead arrived as expected. Ishvalans had no mercy for the Alchemy division like Xiu·Tucker who desecrated life.
Ian watched the entire execution process with cold eyes.
Of course, he had a more important purpose for staying. At the moment Scar took action, Ian quietly launched Legilimency.
The tentacles of thought instantly penetrated Scar's brain, swept over the complex Transmutation Circle tattoo, and accurately located the research memory about his brother - that is the precious information about the combination of Alchemy and Xing "Alkahestry".
After a few seconds, a large amount of knowledge was copied by Ian.
"Data acquisition completed."
Ian whispered in his heart, then turned around and completely disappeared into the darkness, leaving only a pool of sinful blood behind him.