Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun struggled to control his thoughts, not letting himself think about the fact that the basement was a cursed space.

Because he feared that if he was pulled in too soon, he would encounter that blue-skinned zombie. If he were killed in an instant, or forced to leave early, his ambush would be meaningless.

However, once inside, he found the situation to be not too bad.

The familiar surroundings were clearly the third floor of the "Haviel Hospital" ward.

It was just as empty, with no people or monsters.

Su Lun breathed a sigh of relief and also felt fortunate that his ambush plan was already more than half successful.

....

After killing someone in this cursed space, it could trap a person's soul here.

Then the storyline after that person's death would continuously loop-back.

Now that the third floor showed no signs of the blue-skinned zombie, Su Lun guessed that the loop-back might have happened again.

As long as he didn't trigger the safe in the director's office on the second floor, that zombie shouldn't come up to the third floor.

If there was no blue-skinned zombie, Su Lun would be very curious whether the "Blind Detective" Bill was still sitting on the second floor. After all, the last time he was "killed," only part of his soul was peeled off. It might still be possible to peel off a few more times.

But he definitely couldn't go now.

Then, Su Lun began to implement his "Plan B."

Without any delay, he formed the sorcerer's seals with his hands, released the prosthetic armor, and cold flames surged from his body.

This time, he didn't just plan to leave the "Plague Doctor" Sergei trapped in the cursed space.

He also wanted to kill him face-to-face and find the method to lift the curse.

Because typically, the person who administers the poison would carry an antidote.

....

Sure enough, before long, space twisted nearby, and Sergei suddenly appeared in the corridor.

The man, filled with confusion as he observed the changing surroundings, clearly hadn't understood what was happening yet. However, as soon as he saw Su Lun with his menacing eight-armed spider spear not far away, he immediately realized he had been tricked, his expression turning cautious.

Seeing his quarry arrive, Su Lun's mouth curved upwards in a welcoming grin as if greeting a guest, enthusiastically calling out, "You've arrived, Mr. Sergei."

Yet as he spoke, he gave the enemy no chance to cast curse magic, immediately controlling his emotions, and picturing a scene in his mind: a ferocious Spider Queen making her appearance in the middle of the corridor, facing Sergei at close range!

No sooner had the thought arisen than a colossal being materialized in the corridor. A bloated spider abdomen, a ferocious eight-armed spider spear, a beautiful upper body—this was precisely the "Lord-level" Spider Queen Su Lun had once encountered in the cavern.

....

Indeed, Su Lun's method was to use this space's rule of "terror manifestation" to kill the enemy!

Simply luring the person in could indeed lead to their death.

But there was a problem: he couldn't get the enemy's loot.

Even if he entered the next time and the enemy was already dead, he would still face the "soul manifestation" of the enemy. Not only would he have to deal with the opponent, but also with the monsters spawned from their fantasies, which was trouble.

However, now that Su Lun was affected by the Plague Crow Blood Curse, he had to get Sergei's storage ring and fragments of memory.

So, this guy had to die here.

He had to die right in front of him.

And this was the most difficult part of the ambush plan.

That was because the monsters manifested in this space attacked indiscriminately.

This meant that Su Lun had to conjure up a target that could kill the enemy, but that he himself could survive from the monster's clutches.

The enemy willing to take the risk of luring people in had to be a professional of the second order or above.

Monsters capable of killing second order could generally also easily kill a first order like Su Lun.

But... there was an exception.

That was the mentally formidable "Spider Queen"!

Back in the dungeon, Su Lun had seen with his own eyes the monster easily kill a second-order assassin, meaning that the Spider Queen's mental control was effective against the vast majority of second-order professionals.

Moreover, the most critical point that Su Lun deduced was that there was a hidden rule in this space: the more realistic the details of the "horror manifestation" monsters were, the more controllable their abilities became. (With the power of imagination at its limit, the most likely outcome would be a plain octopus-headed monster because you truly don't know what that level of power entails.)

Therefore, the best were the monsters he had personally experienced and whose abilities he understood thoroughly.

Coincidentally, he almost knew all the detailed data about the Spider Queen, even the intensity of her psychic shockwaves.

Especially now, after merging with the Eight-Armed Spider Spear, that monster had almost no secrets in Su Lun's eyes.

It's like playing a game where defeating a new BOSS often leads to a wipeout at first, but after several attempts and finding patterns, the casualties become fewer and fewer.

The Spider Queen was powerful, her spiritual power control could affect a person without even looking directly; moreover, her skin could withstanding the impact of alchemy bullets.

However, Su Lun was very clear about one point: the Spider Queen's gaze was similar to a light wave; it could only attack targets that could be seen by her eyes.

This was why the monster that Su Lun conjured had its backside facing him and its face toward Sergei.

For humans, this narrow corridor was relatively spacious, but for the corpulent Spider Queen, turning around was difficult.

....

It was the moment that the monster appeared that Sergei also felt the threat of death and instinctively went to cast a spell in defense.

But as soon as the Spider Queen saw the human before her, a bright red light flashed in her eyes, and a powerful wave of spiritual power washed over the entire corridor like a tide.

Even Su Lun, who was behind her, felt his mind waver.

And Sergei, who was facing the monster, lost consciousness the moment he was hit in the face.

The Spider Queen did not hesitate, raising her spider spear and thrusting it through, skewering the guy from head to toe.

She had killed a second-order professional with just one meeting.

The distant Su Lun saw this and was delighted in his heart, "Killed him!"

If he couldn't control Sergei, he would immediately recite the name of the master of hatred and release it.

But now he saw, the plan went smoothly.

But suddenly, Su Lun's eyes fixed on Sergei's body, which did not emit gray fog, and his pupils shrank: "That's wrong, he's not dead yet!"

The spider spear had penetrated Sergei's skull, and at that moment, the corpse had turned into a human-sized crow corpse.

And like a cicada sloughing its shell, the back of the corpse tore open, and a pale middle-aged man staggered out from the back of the husk.

"So this is his legendary ability to evade physical damage?"

Su Lun also understood, this guy seemed to have a crow substitute similar to "decoy puppet" in effect.

And luckily, he hadn't chosen to use the scythe before, otherwise if that cut hadn't killed, it would have likely spoiled the whole plan.

At this time, Sergei, having been resurrected, temporarily regained consciousness.

Unfortunately, he was still at a face-to-face distance with the monster.

The Spider Queen didn't show surprise, her gaze intensified, and she hit the human before her with another psychic shockwave.

Then, gaining control, he thrust his spear directly into the chest.

Seeing the "gray mist" floating above the corpse, Su Lun finally confirmed that the guy was truly dead this time.

Facing such a spirit-type monster up close, there was nowhere to escape. Even though this "Plague Doctor" had countless strange and unpredictable spells at its disposal, none were used, and it was killed twice in quick succession.

Upon the death of Sergei, the spider queen naturally discovered there was another human behind it.

Just as the bulky spider body appeared to turn its head, Su Lun's two puppets suddenly pulled away, and they spat black oil and phosphorus fire toward the queen.

The flames instantly ignited both the spider's body and the corridor.

Su Lun didn't continue the attack; his octo-spider spear whirled rapidly as he charged toward the spider queen.

Right when the monster had turned a complete one hundred and eighty degrees, Su Lun reached its back, and with a pull of the steel wire from his mechanical arm gloves, he pulled himself across the burning backdrop of the creature.

This time, unlike the previous fight in the cave, he didn't need, nor was he able to kill the monster.

It was just a brushing pass and a close leap, allowing Su Lun to perfectly avoid the psychic shock wave of being directly faced by the spider queen.

In midair, he instantly retracted his prosthetic gear, then rolled to land, stripping off the storage ring from the corpse and casually absorbing the gray mist, murmuring the incantation completely: "Tillmido M. Chekhov."

The entire process was executed flawlessly, as if he had rehearsed it countless times.

The next instant, the lights and shadows around him shifted, and Su Lun had returned to the basement of 88 Green Street.

...

There wasn't much inside Sergei's storage ring; Su Lun emptied everything out.

Some strange bottles and jars; most contained materials that looked both dangerous and odd.

[Mummy's Pituitary Gland],[Plague Rat's Short Tail],[Rotting Giant's Tear Gland],[Komodo Dragon's Saliva]...

Then, upon identifying them with the Eye of Truth, he didn't bother with those bizarre plague materials.

After a search, he indeed found the method to remove the [Plague Crow Blood Curse]; a medicinal powder taken orally.

After reading the effects, he didn't hesitate to ingest it immediately.

Soon, the curse mark on the attribute panel also disappeared without a trace.

Having killed Sergei, a second-order professional adept at tracking, and having lifted the curse, the oppressive feeling on Su Lun's heart eased, and he exhaled a heavy breath: "Ah...luck is on my side."

Only then did his mind begin to ponder the memories he had just harvested.

'You have acquired 'Sergei Mari's' memory fragments*4'

'You have learned some information: "It seems that Dawn City Ruins is actually an ancient battlefield, many incredible treasures were discovered in the city..."'

'You have gained some 'Curse Magic knowledge'

'You have comprehended the skill [Curse Magic · Grass Man]'

'You have obtained some 'Crow Taming Knowledge'

'Alchemy spell casting experience +31'

'Spiritual power +0.8'

After absorbing the gray mist, Su Lun found that his mind was filled with many new things, mostly related to crows and curse magic.

Moreover, he had also directly mastered a new skill.

"Grass Man? It uses the target's blood for a long-range attack to torment both the mind and body of the opponent... The further the distance, the weaker the effect..."

Details of the skill flashed through Su Lun's mind for an instant.

This Curse Magic is somewhat useful, but its usefulness doesn't seem to be all that great.

It can harm from a distance, and its means of attack are indeed bizarre. However, if the distance is too great, it can only create nightmares and illusions to torment the target's spiritual power, which isn't of much use either.

Hmm... suitable for some vindictive women to torture their romantic rivals.

But suddenly, an inspiration flashed through his mind.

"Eh, if the closer the distance, the greater the damage... what if this curse is solidified into a Puppeteer doll, and during combat, if it absorbs the enemy's blood, wouldn't the enemy be harming themselves by attacking the doll? This Curse Magic seems not too bad?"

Su Lun only had a beginner's complete guide to making Puppeteer dolls, which explained various basic manufacturing methods and theories, but there weren't many design blueprints for finished products.

However, it did contain a phrase full of infinite possibilities: "Creativity and imagination are the most precious potential of a Puppeteer. A qualified Puppeteer needs to create runes dolls that suit themselves."

Su Lun felt that this idea of "Curse Magic + Doll" was in fact a pretty good one.

The thought flashed through his mind in an instant, and he considered giving it a try later on.

After digesting the harvested memories, he picked up the plague doctor mask that he had casually plucked from Sergei Mari's corpse.

Upon appraisal, it was also a powerful cursed item.

[Plague Doctor's Beak Mask]

Quality: Silver

Description: Plague doctors, are they death's harbingers spreading disease, or doctors saving the sick?

Curse Features: A poison-resistant mask with curse characteristics. When worn, it can filter more than 99% of the toxins in the air; wearing the mask over a long period will slowly increase your resistance to toxins, and significantly improve your plague resistance; but occasionally, you might be poisoned mysteriously by the residual ancient toxins in the mask or even contract the plague;

Detailed Explanation: One thousand eight hundred years ago, during an outbreak of plague in a certain city, a kind-hearted physician wore it to tackle the dreadful disease; after his death, the reputation of the plague doctor lived on.

The properties of this mask are quite impressive, with almost 100% toxin filtration, which is significantly better than the top-notch poison-resistant masks available on the market.

Moreover, wearing it over the long term can slowly enhance one's resistance to toxins. This growth attribute is excellent as well, the later the stage, the higher the toxin resistance becomes.

"The item itself is not bad, but it has too high a recognition factor. Wearing this, I'm afraid the whole of Old Lington would know I killed Sergei..."

Su Lun's eyebrows raised slightly, to him, this was a rather useless item.

He's not a professional doctor, and that occasional poisoning curse trait is quite a gamble; a breath in and the toxins might not be filtered, or worse, one might contract some ancient plaguing disease.

He couldn't guarantee that he would be able to cure himself if poisoned.

And besides, he was sure that if he put on that mask, the Crow's Gang would undoubtedly hound him to death.

.....

It's a bit of a pity that due to the urgency of time, the onboarding materials and augmentation gear on Sergei's body were not taken.

But it's still not bad.

The purpose of the murder was to escape; the harvest was just incidental.

Su Lun also felt quite satisfied.

He had thought that triggering the curse space would make Mr. Hei appear.

Su Lun even wanted to apologize to him.

But after waiting a while and he didn't come, Su Lun didn't linger in the apartment any longer.

To kill that Sergei had taken up quite some time, and the vanguard troops of the inner-city umbrella organization must have already arrived in the southern city.

What he needed to do now was to immediately return to Green Street and leave the city with his belongings.