Mechanical Alchemist

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A shot to the head.

Su Lun looked at the "gray mist" rising from Jack Edward's body in front of him and devoured it with a swift motion.

"Eh..."

After digesting those memory fragments in his mind, he uttered a light "Eh," a look of surprise appearing on his face at the same time.

「You gained 6* 'Jack Edward's Memory Fragment'」

「You have obtained some information: "Damn it, if something happens to Lena, all the family's investments will have been for nothing..."」

「You have acquired a large amount of 'Alchemy Knowledge'...」

「You have acquired some 'Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Potion Knowledge'...」

「You have gained some 'Intermediate Mysticism Knowledge'...」

「You are now proficient in [Old Nedese]...」

「You've gained some 'Advanced Firearms Theory Knowledge', Firearms Experience +365」

「Spiritual Power +0.11」

The memory fragments obtained from this corpse suddenly made Su Lun's mind feel enriched with an abundance of new knowledge.

A moment later, he emerged from that dazed state, feeling an emotional sigh within him: "Are all the students from Black Tower Academy this ridiculously knowledgeable..."

This was the first time that Su Lun had harvested so much "knowledge" from a single corpse.

The useful knowledge from bodies in the outer city's gladiator arena was extremely scarce; if one could harvest a bit of real battle experience, it would be considered quite good. The memories of those gladiators living at the bottom tended to be 90% useless—a mixture of brothel scenes, gambling, taverns... and entanglements with women of all sorts.

The stripped memory fragments had a slight chance of yielding experience and skills but a high likelihood of containing such low-quality content.

Jack's memories, however, were just the opposite.

Years of hard-earned alchemy knowledge from the academy took up a vast space in his memories; casually stripping led to uncovering "treasure."

Upon reflection, Su Lun could understand.

"Black Tower Alchemy Academy," as Old Lington City's top-tier noble academy, had students with no survival pressures, whose only task was to cram in all types of knowledge. With access to the richest alchemy tomes and ancient rolls provided by top-tier professionals as teachers, naturally, they were the select few who grasped the highest-quality alchemy knowledge.

Harvesting the Soul Shard from this Jack, Su Lun felt he had saved himself years of arduous study.

Besides, much of it was "Advanced Alchemy Knowledge" that outsiders couldn't learn even if they threw money at it.

Just the "Firearms Theory Knowledge" alone filled a significant gap in Su Lun's theoretical understanding. Before this, he knew how to use various firearms techniques without understanding the principles behind them, which meant he had not mastered their essence.

Now that he had supplemented this theoretical knowledge, his experience with firearms also soared a great deal, instantly reaching [Advanced Firearms Mastery 487/2000].

Su Lun was also very curious to see what the scenery would be like once the experience reached its full capacity and he became a legendary "Firearms Master."

Even that [Old Nedese] language had gone from "beginner" to "proficient," and mysticism and potion studies had also improved. Though it seemed like he might not need to use them anytime soon, it was still a noteworthy gain—having more knowledge is always beneficial.

....

Su Lun took the glowing "employment materials" and "Alchemical Growths" from Jack's body and kept them, all of silver quality. Taking along the storage ring and the two rune pistols at the guy's waist, the combat suit, advanced gas mask, night vision goggles, and armor... he stripped them all off.

All of these were valuable items but also things that could not be shown in the open.

Just those two rune pistols engraved with flame runes were significantly better than the named pistol [Three-Headed Ghost] he had obtained before. They felt very smooth in hand, with their sights, stability, recoil, and sturdiness all far superior.

As much as they were attractive, Su Lun couldn't use them, let alone sell them on the black market to monetize.

The moment someone noticed these items entering the market, his killing of this Jack would be exposed.

The "feigned death plan" would also crumble.

...

Previously he had not planned to abandon his current identity as a member of the Cross Society because he felt things had not gotten that bad yet.

Now that he knew the identity of that "Lena," he realized he had to make a decision.

The young lady had some serious backing, the sole daughter of the main house of "Reis family," a top financial conglomerate in Old Lington.

Even for those from the outer city, this conglomerate family was well-known, with the group operating the two most famous companies, "Old Lington Residential Drinking Water Supply Company" and "Black Earth Mining Group."

One controlled the water supply for residents, and the other dominated the development and sales of most of Old Lington's mineral resources. Their scale of assets was unimaginable.

Someone wanting to kill Lena surely had something to do with interests, considering she was the first in line to inherit the conglomerate.

This type of melodramatic struggle for power within a wealthy family, whether in a novel or in reality, was all too familiar to Su Lun.

He had no interest in delving into it.

But because he was embroiled in this baffling conspiracy, Su Lun's current situation had turned quite grim.

```

Those people chose to ambush during the trial, naturally considering all factors, first luring and killing the instructor, then releasing this relentless mutant creature...

In everyone's eyes, that girl Lena was as good as dead.

Her death would inevitably implicate many people.

Su Lun, the guide, would definitely be inextricably involved.

In the eyes of the inner city's big families, the lives of outsiders are worth nothing; they would not listen to explanations about being helpless or powerless. If the young lady died, someone would have to take the blame, become a scapegoat.

When the time came, even if he did not die, once interrogated, and his true identity revealed, Su Lun's end would also be tragic.

So, it seemed like he was not related, but in fact, he had no other choice.

To be safe, he decided to "run."

But after all, the Cross Society had taken him in, whether it was Qian Tao or Captain Kai, they both had taken good care of him.

Even if Su Lun ran, he didn't want to implicate them.

Now, it happened to be that Jack forced him to venture deeper into the dungeon to rescue someone, everything was legitimate.

Both of them "died" in the caves, their bodies lost, which would be the best outcome.

A minor guide sacrificing his life to save others, what could the inner layer financial powers have to say?

By then, the Cross Society would also suffer the least involvement.

Su Lun felt he had done his utmost in benevolence and righteousness; no one could do better than he had.

...

Su Lun was packing up his spoils of war while he had already started planning his life after getting out.

Giving up his current identity meant he had to give up everything familiar.

It would be a very difficult process; he couldn't expose his marksmanship, life habits, current image... everything had to start anew.

Thinking about it made his head ache, so Su Lun did not dwell on it further.

He cleaned the murder scene to avoid leaving any trace that could be investigated. Then he carried the body and walked toward the depths of the dungeon.

Since he planned to escape, he had an even more important task to do now.

And that was to find that "sealed object," the scythe!

Without an identity, he still had to take the treasure with him.

Now that several students and instructors with sensitive identities were dead and their bodies not yet found, the big shots of the inner city would surely organize a large-scale search and cleanup of the dungeon.

If high-level professionals came down, these mutant creatures in the caves wouldn't be able to stop them.

The scythe was nearby; it might be discovered by someone else.

Therefore, Su Lun planned to find that thing and take it with him before escaping.

This was the best opportunity, and perhaps the only one.

....

After walking a while with the body, Su Lun saw a vertical hole on the side of the cave.

From what he recalled, this seemed to lead into the deep underground.

Hearing the faint rustling noises of creature activities, he threw the body with treated wounds down the hole. In the caves, fresh corpses were the mutant creatures' favorite food, and the scent of blood would attract nearby mutants. It wouldn't take long before even the bones would be gnawed clean.

Su Lun did not dwell on this, continuing his journey toward the depth of the cave.

Fortunately, the previous battle had cleared most of the zombies in this area, making his progress smooth.

Then, following the memory route of the harvest, he arrived near the cave where the scythe was located.

This part of the cavern connected to a section of the city's sewer system, with the sound of water audible, and a thick, rotten stench permeated the air.

But all of a sudden, Su Lun, seeing tracks on the ground akin to oil, became very serious, "Those 'shape-shifters' actually followed this way?"

There were no traces along the way, seems like Assistant Rosa and that girl named Lena were led here through another corridor. They probably were also trying to find a way back to the surface, but it seemed to be blocked.

"Hopefully, we won't run into them," he muttered to himself.

Although he knew that those shape-shifters hardly attacked anyone, it was still better to avoid encountering them.

Not far along, as he was about to reach the place where the scythe lay, Su Lun saw signs of battle.

In the tunnel lay several corpses of spider-form mutant creatures, the bodies blasted apart by firearms, leaking green blood. Upon careful examination, Su Lun noticed an eerie human face pattern on the back of the spider bodies' abdomens.