Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun had completely immersed himself in the study of alchemy knowledge.

He blended into the refugee team and had returned to Old Lington without realizing it.

The total annihilation of Princess Theresa's Scavenger team meant many would die, especially those in the intelligence umbrella organization, as the ducal house demanded accountability. A catastrophe of this magnitude without any intelligence in their hands was a death sentence.

Sabrina, the head intelligence officer of the outer city, was barely involved in this mission and was not deeply implicated.

But she needed to make preparations to extricate herself from the event, so she returned to the city first.

Su Lun did not need to worry about his maid, Sabrina, whose methods were much more formidable than her appearance suggested.

....

From a distance, seeing the towering walls of Old Lington, everyone sighed in relief.

The city lights were dazzling, illuminating the pitch-black underworld.

The light dispelled the darkness, and the lights also gave people a strong sense of security.

A wild ecstasy of survival surfaced on everyone's faces.

"Ah... finally back alive,"

"Yes, really picked up my life there. That damned dungeon, even if it kills me, I won't go back..."

"Hahaha... we've earned enough from this Scavenger hunt, we don't have to leave the city for the rest of our lives. Vice leader Jack, come on, let's take our brothers to the pleasure houses on Norton Street in the south city, soak there for a month!"

"Leader is mighty!"

"..."

Outer city Scavengers were accustomed to hunting, and not dying meant a huge profit.

Now that they had earned money, they excitedly hurried toward the city.

But with joy, there was sorrow.

The nobility and ladies from the inner city were filled with gloom.

They did not lack money and did not need to risk their lives Scavenging. Had it not been for the ducal house's orders, they would never venture into the dangerous dungeons in their lifetimes.

The area was very close to the city, with spacious roads.

On the street side, various luxury steam cars awaited, belonging to the reception teams of the great families from the inner city.

It was somewhat like the pickup scenes from Su Lun's previous life.

Servants and butlers held up signs of their respective families, and even the well-dressed noblemen and ladies were present in person. Each one of them looked forward eagerly, waiting for their teams to return.

Those who were reunited were overjoyed, those who were not, the despair on their faces deepened.

Many had gone to the underground to Scavenge, but less than twenty percent had returned.

"Has anyone seen people from our Firefox Syndicate?"

"Sir, have you seen the Turner family's team?"

"Captain Bob, why are only a few of you back, where is the young lady? Damn, the young lady didn't come back, what use is there for you being alive! Take him to the gallows!"

"..."

"Oh, Mr. Sandru, have you seen my young Orlando?"

"Sorry, Madame Leonard. I heard before the fog tide erupted that Young Master Orlando's team was still in the ruins, probably didn't make it in time..."

"Doctor! Doctor! Madame Leonard has fainted!"

"..."

Bad news kept arriving, and the scene was filled with wailing.

...

Dressed as a Scavenger, Su Lun blended in with the crowd and walked towards the city of Old Lington undisturbed.

Somehow, today he constantly felt a strange sensation, as if someone was thinking about him in the unknown.

Su Lun had now read many alchemy and mystical books and understood a fair amount of arcane knowledge.

He knew this was not a good sign.

After practicing the Secret Technique of spiritual power, one's mind becomes increasingly firm. This means those inexplicable sensations, hallucinations, and misperceptions become less frequent.

And there would be a kind of "passive perception" ability, usually detecting some mystical Spells.

If it appeared, it meant something bad was truly happening.

Such as being divined or even Curse Magic!

This feeling occurred more frequently the closer he got to Old Lington.

Su Lun frowned and muttered, "Strange... Theresa's team was wiped out by the Fallen Angel, and the divination shouldn't fall on me. The Oliver and Clark families were annihilated, and I have no enemies left. With Sabrina in the umbrella organization, even if something happened, she would have informed me in advance... Who else in Old Lington could be thinking about me?"

He quickly listed all the potential targets that could be his enemies in his mind.

After ruling them out, suddenly he thought of something, "Could it be the troubles brought by my original identity?"

Su Lun certainly hadn't forgotten that since his transmigration, he had been continuously wanted.

His original enemies not only banished him to this Black Tower but also sought to completely eradicate him.

On further thought, if it were divination, it would have been sensed by him, which also meant that the spiritual power of the other party wasn't much higher than his.

Probably a fourth-tier professional? And if it really were a fourth-tier professional divining, it must be from the surface.

If the family of his original identity was really the dominant "Regardie family" fragment of memories he shed, the problem seemed indeed serious.

"Or... is it just an illusion?"

Su Lun couldn't clearly identify whether the feeling was just his imagination, but he couldn't let that stop him from entering the city.

After all, he was already in Old Lington City.

Even if something bad were to happen, he wasn't alone now—the people from the "Mirror Organization" were all in the city.

Should a fourth- or fifth-tier enemy come, it wouldn't be a threat but rather a delivery of resources.

Su Lun was not careless, constantly extending his awareness outwards, wary of others targeting him.

....

It was when Su Lun mingled in the crowd, approaching the walls of Old Lington City.

Suddenly, the Diviner named Cade on the city walls noticed the crystal ball in his hand flashed once and displayed an image.

He hurriedly called to a pale-faced young man resting leisurely on a lounge chair nearby, "Young Master Evan, the target has appeared!"

Hearing this, Evan was startled and quickly got up, asking urgently, "Where?"

Cade pointed in a direction, saying rapidly, "At eleven o'clock direction, a man wearing brown leather armor and donning a bulging eye gas mask!"

Evan also saw the target, his eyes filled with excitement, having waited for this moment for days. He gave an order, "Chase him fast! Commander Miro, we must not let him escape again!"

"Yes, Young Master."

A resolute response.

At that moment, a ripple fluctuated in the air, as if something had vanished from beside him.

Almost simultaneously as they noticed, the Diviner Cade lightly exclaimed, "Oh... such strong awareness! He must possess abilities related to hostile sensing. Arachnid Lance, it's that 'SS wanted criminal Su Lun.'"

Having finally found the person, and the task arranged by his family nearly complete, Evan relaxed a bit.

He looked at the fleeing figure and chuckled, "Heh, it seems my cousin has been living quite well underground. To create such a commotion even after having his memory wiped."

Pausing a moment, he snorted disdainfully through his nostrils and added, "But what does it matter if he's been spotted? Since Commander Miro has him in sight, there's no way he can escape at this distance."

"Hmm."

Cade nodded in agreement.

A fifth-rank assassin in action chasing a second-rank, undoubtedly had no reason to fail.

Even if the target held in his hand that "Night Scythe of Xiupunos,"

his fate was sealed!

....

Although Su Lun was unaware that someone had been waiting for him for a long time, the hostile gazes that had momentarily fallen on him from atop the wall did not escape his awareness.

Being able to precisely spot him in a crowd, Su Lun knew without a doubt that trouble was brewing.

It seemed that his earlier suspicions were about to be confirmed,

the people coming to trouble his former self had arrived!

He too acted decisively, without any hesitation, he unshackled the Arachnid Lance armor and escaped into a tunnel outside the stream of people.

Although the enemy was two to three kilometers away, Su Lun knew he absolutely could not afford to take them lightly.

As he ran, he simultaneously sent out a distress message through his communication ring.

For, Su Lun had realized the enemy was very strong!

Even with strong stealth abilities and high-speed movement, some traces are bound to be revealed.

His "All-knowing Eye" was particularly sensitive to moving targets at high speeds, naturally capturing the ripples spreading through the air.

Clearly, a stealthy pursuer was on his trail!

"This speed, could it be… a fifth-rank assassin?"

Su Lun caught a glimpse of that exaggerated burst of speed, realizing he had no chance of escape.

He had no intention of running either.
Continue your journey with empire

Without understanding why his former self was being hunted, even if he went to the surface, troubles would still follow relentlessly.

Su Lun knew that Mr. Jing should be in the city, but it would still take some time for him to arrive.

He needed to hold out on his own, not to be killed on sight.

Second-rank against fifth-rank, there was no chance of winning.

Su Lun wasn't arrogant enough to think he could face off against such an expert directly; he formed sorcerer's seals with both hands and uttered softly, "Flesh Alchemy: Hormone Rampage!"

As the spell activated, hormones secreted massively within his body, his muscles stimulated to bulge instantaneously with explosive power, and his speed surged.

Meanwhile, just as one spell finished, he clapped his hands together and his skin suddenly overflowed with a dark golden metallic luster, the gold element thickening.

This state was clearly the condensation of his strongest defensive spell, "Vajra."

Having done all this, not only did this not ease Su Lun's breath, but the chilling intent from behind also made his hair stand on end.

As if Death's scythe was already touching his neck, half his life hanging by a thread…

Su Lun tread upon the air, with continuous "pop" "pop" sounds. But even so, compared to the professional assassin specialized in agility and strength, he was still vastly outmatched.

Before long, Su Lun darted into a deserted dungeon cavern.

The dungeon had a complex network of passages, twisting and turning. Normally, with the Arachnid Lance and Spatial Teleportation, he could almost ignore obstacles, not to mention shaking off the enemy, at least he could catch his breath.

But Su Lun found the enemy was closing the distance increasingly fast.

Not only was the Arachnid Lance proficient in obstacle movement, so was the professional assassin.

Climbing walls, burrowing, diving into pits, swamp pits... nothing could impede the chasing speed of that fifth-rank assassin.

If it were a third-rank enemy, or even a non-speed specialized fourth-rank, Su Lun might already have escaped.

But facing this individual, he had no chance of escape.

"Canine talent? Scent tracking?"

Su Lun caught a glimpse of those deep blue eyes, the speed so fast yet still pursuing, and realized that the assassin must also possess a special tracking talent. No matter how he circled, the assassin followed the same route, convincing him of the other's scent-tracking ability.

However, realizing this made no difference.

The urgent chase left no room for Su Lun to devise any strategy.

The absolute disparity in ranks could not be compensated by clever tactics.

Seeing escape was futile, Su Lun chose a relatively open cave and suddenly stopped there.

He formed sorcerer's seals with both hands, and the sky suddenly lit up with a Hexagram Array, a huge cross phantom quickly solidified. Dense silvery threads poured down, a scroll pulled, and nearly a hundred puppets were already guarding him.

....

The assassin watching Su Lun stop also halted a hundred meters away.

He squinted his eyes, carefully scrutinizing the surroundings.

The vigilance of an assassin was stronger than that of most other professions; his intuition told him he had to be cautious.

The previous divinations by Master Cade had yielded no results, meaning this assassination wouldn't be simple.

Besides, during the recent chase, he had noticed that this "Young Master Fick" displayed skills beyond what ordinary second-tier professionals possessed.

It wasn't just strong...

It could even be described as strangely strong!

Even on the ground, he had killed countless professionals but had never seen such bizarre methods from a second-tier.

Was this really the puppet master who reportedly only acted tough using banned objects?

Who the hell expects a second-tier Puppet Master to outrun a third-tier professional assassin?

Can you believe he mastered close-combat teleportation technique, "Stepping on Air"?

And these peculiarly arranged hundred puppets ahead, if not a bluff, could make one believe they faced a high-ranking Puppet Master!

The most crucial was his unflappable demeanor...

A second-tier against a fifth-tier, the sheer pressure of rank could make an ordinary professional tremble, yet this guy not only showed no fear, his eyes even held an unnervingly calm aura.

Milo suspected that this man in front of him hadn't had his memory wiped at all!

His gaze scanned the myriad of threads above, and he checked for any invisible entities as he tested out loud, "Heh... Young Master Fick, not running away?"

At this distance, it didn't matter whether he was eager to act or not.

Killing was but a thought away.

On hearing this address, Su Lun knew the man indeed targeted the original body. He kept his expression unchanged, feigning ignorance, "Who might you be, sir, and why are you after me?"

After all, he didn't know how long Mr. Jing would take to arrive; a little verbal sparring would buy some time.

But how astonishing was an assassin's intuition?

Even through this brief exchange, Milo faintly sensed a notion: he was stalling for time, waiting for reinforcements!

Recalling the divination's results, a sense of unease stirred in his heart.

His eyes shifted, and he remarked unconcernedly, "I didn't expect you to be this strong. Young Master Ewen has really underestimated you. If it wasn't me personally handling this task, others indeed wouldn't be able to capture you.."

Assassins were professionals who would stop at nothing to achieve their goals.

This man was also extremely cunning, never underestimating even a second-tier professional.

As the words left his mouth, his figure had already dissolved before the eye.

Dozens of meters in the blink of an eye, this speed was simply too fast to react to.

Even faster than the 'forensic doctor' Servis Gerard in the Black Clown state!

...

Nevertheless, Su Lun's eyes had caught signs of him moving, and the black-glimmering dagger had already appeared before his eyes, making him inwardly scream: "A Flesh Alchemy burst device!"

Although he had witnessed fifth-tier professionals take action before, he had only ever watched as a spectator.

This time, he first-handedly felt the crushing, tsunami-like pressure of a fifth-tier powerhouse.

The disparity of three whole rank tiers spawned in him a feeling of futility, as if any action was in vain.

At that moment, he vividly felt that sensation of impending death, his hairs standing on end.

It felt as if his soul itself had instantaneously awakened.

While his All-knowing Eye saw the enemy's rushing pattern, his own body couldn't keep up.

He wanted to dodge, wanted to use his puppets to block, but it was simply too late.

Milo appeared before Su Lun in what seemed like a flashing instant, coldly raising his dagger.

With a "whoosh", the blade slashed through, easily severing the neck among the heavily guarded puppets of "Su Lun", and a head rolled off to the ground with a thud.

However, no blood was seen.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a wooden head.

Milo had already felt something was off when he cut.

His pupils narrowed slightly: "Puppet tricks? So he was prepared…"

Milo scoffed inwardly.

Though he had dodged this slash, the outcome wouldn't change!

Almost concurrently with the puppet getting slashed, a "weird doll" a few meters away suddenly stretched out its fingers into the void and yanked fiercely: "Puppetry Secret Technique: Cocoon!"

Su Lun hadn't hoped that his attack would harm the opponent; his thought was to control him first.

With one pull, countless transparent threads suddenly solidified and visibly intercrossed, weaving into nets layer by layer, swiftly forming a "cocoon" that enveloped the assassin within!

Su Lun had anticipated the enemy's sneak attack and used puppetry to escape, gaining a split second to act.

While forming the cocoon, an invisible revenant had already swung its black scythe, aiming to slice the "cocoon" into two halves along with its large arc.

Yet, even with a speed boost from "Watkins's Pocket Watch" allowing more than double speed, the moment spatial cracks emerged, the black dagger within the cocoon slashed through the thick layers, and a shadow flashed out.

Su Lun's silver hair, despite its toughness, couldn't withstand the dagger's sharpness, refined by the fifth-tier rules; like cutting through mud, it easily sliced through the closely woven net, utterly failing to control anything.

The assassin broke free and appeared dozens of meters away.

This time, he had pinpointed where Su Lun's true body was!

Seeing the black scythe had not injured the assassin, Su Lun changed tactics as a hundred "Nightmare Dolls" clattered their jaws simultaneously, emitting a "cackling" ghostly laugh.

The eerie laughter merged into a chorus, echoing in the cavern, unavoidable.

Some of these trick puppets were inscribed with third-tier runes, greatly amplifying the effect of their visual and auditory illusions.

With a hundred trick puppets striking at once and psychic illusions stacking, it wouldn't be bold to claim they could control a high-tier professional, but influencing them for a moment was possible.

Su Lun chose this spacious cavern precisely for this echo, for this very moment.

However, unexpectedly, this meticulously planned strategy had no effect whatsoever on the enemy!

Upon closer inspection, Milo's pupils emitted a green ghostly glow, and his ears had sealed shut.

This level of visual and auditory illusion had no effect on him.

Moreover, even with his hearing and partial vision blocked, his movements were still agile.

Just as Su Lun maneuvered the puppet to attack, the dagger appeared once again at his heart.

Milo was certain this strike would be successful!

Yet, this strike bizarrely missed again.

"Huh..."

Milo was greatly surprised as he watched the figure he had hit suddenly disperse.

It wasn't speed, but spatial displacement!

"He's even proficient in spatial techniques?"

A moment of grave seriousness flashed through Milo's mind.

However, as an old-school assassin, his combat experience was exceptionally rich.

Although surprised, his hands did not slow down.

Right after his knife missed, he once again located Su Lun.

.....

This was the spatial instant technique "Flash" that Su Lun had obtained from Mr. Hei.

He had just mastered it two days ago and hadn't expected to use it so soon.

But this life-saving technique only allowed for very short-distance displacements.

The few meters covered by Flash were trivial to a fifth-tier assassin's agility.

Even multiple consecutive Flashes could be quickly caught up with.

Watching the black-light dagger slash again, Su Lun desperately dodged, but the dagger still cut through his dark golden skin on his lower abdomen.

It was like a blade cutting through tough leather; although there was some resistance, the dagger still left a two-finger-deep gash in his abdomen, causing a jet of blood to spray out.

It was like brushing past death.

In that moment, Su Lun truly felt the great terror between life and death.

Su Lun hurriedly flashed again.

....

Once again, the assassination failed.

Even more shocking, however, was assassin Milo.

After this strike, he was greatly alarmed, "Invincible? Third-tier rule?!"

Previously, during the pursuit, he thought he had overestimated this "Big Young Master Fick."

It turned out he had still underestimated him.

Just now, his dagger was wrapped with a fifth-tier wind rule.

Normally, cutting through a second-tier was like slicing through fruits and vegetables.

Even if it cut into the abdomen, the sharp blade aura could instantly sever a second-tier professional in half!

But what did he see?

Just a non-fatal gash!

He had thought the gold light on Su Lun's skin was just a similar technique; he didn't expect it was actually "Invincible."

A high-tier flesh alchemy technique, usually only mastered proficiently by fourth or even fifth-tier bodily professionals.

Moreover, what was most shocking was that he sensed that it was definitely a third-tier golden rule condensed by a true sorcerer!

A second-tier professional, who knows "Invincible," and has even comprehended a complete third-tier rule?

"This kid is tricky! I must kill him quickly!"

Milo sensed something was amiss in his mind.

All the bizarre signs indicated that there was something very strange about this guy.

No matter how talented a person is, it's impossible to possess these methods.

Therefore... behind him, there must be powerful backers!

How could there be a powerhouse in this dungeon who could nurture such a "monstrous" talent?

The thought was chilling, and he instantly broke out in a cold sweat.

With this thought, his blade became even sharper.

....

The enemy's assault suddenly became fiercer.

On the other hand, Su Lun was already in a sorry state.

He was becoming increasingly hard-pressed to cope, and many gashes were sliced across his body. Had his physique not been exceptionally strong, some of the tricky wounds could have been fatal.

To have lasted so many rounds against a fifth-tier professional assassin was no small feat.

For this record, not only was it commendable for a second-tier professional, but even a third-tier professional would be proud.

Now fully deploying his techniques, he managed just to protect his life.

The enemy had also figured out all his capabilities.

Life and death hung by a thread.

If he continued to fight, Su Lun knew he was certain to die.

Ultimately, Su Lun, no longer caring about his dignity, shouted at the top of his lungs, "Mr. Jing, save me!"