Mechanical Alchemist

The cloaked man had a brief conversation with Su Lun, got the information he wanted, and then left the apartment.

He didn't even take a look at the basement.

But it made sense, even knowing how to get in and out, it didn't mean one would definitely make it out alive.

Going down to the basement would inevitably involve him.

If he indeed encountered one of those advanced blue-skinned zombies, even though he was a top professional in Old Lington City, it wasn't certain that he would come out alive.

However, Su Lun was somewhat surprised by this uninvited guest.

The cloaked man had shown no hostility from beginning to end, like a true gentleman, polite, reasonable, and fair in dealing...

But why would such an apparently gentle vice-chancellor of the Black Tower Academy defect from the inner city?

The reason was probably what he said himself: knowing would invite trouble due to certain secrets.

Su Lun's unique experiences allowed him to understand people's hearts more easily than others.

At least, he could distinguish between goodwill and malice.

He even felt that this "Nikola J. Emmerich" was the easiest person to get along with that he had met since coming to this harsh underground world.

....

Once the cloaked man left, the sense of crisis in Su Lun's heart completely dissipated.

Now that the hunter behind the trap had shown himself and stated his intentions, things were more or less clear.

Looking at the house he had been quite satisfied with, he said somewhat helplessly, "It looks like I have to move again..."

Although the cloaked man had said that the trap was not aimed at ordinary tenants and that he wouldn't bother them in the future, Su Lun had no intention of staying.

This kind of sensitive "battlefield" involving top professionals was better to be far removed from if possible.

He dared not go down to the basement again, thinking he would find someone to move his things out the next day.

At that moment, Su Lun thought of something and took out a notebook from his storage ring.

This was the "Zombie Research Diary" he had taken from the cursed space safe earlier.

The other party hadn't asked, and he had deliberately held back from bringing it up.

Now that he had some free time, he finally started to carefully flip through it.

It was a manuscript, each page filled with dense text and diagrams.

Flipping through at random, one could see colored pencil drawings of human anatomy, perhaps an arm, a skull, bones... or detailed depictions of various human internal organs.

The author of the diary had excellent drawing skills, making Su Lun feel as though he was looking at precise anatomical prints from a previous life, meticulously detailing every blood vessel, nerve, and muscle fiber...

From outward appearances to internal organs to skeletons, and even cellular structures magnified to the microscopic level.

Moreover, it wasn't just drawings; the notebook also contained many textual explanations. It detailed the functions of human organs, how blood, muscles, organs, and the brain operate. It specified where runes should be drawn on which blood vessel.

There were also many incomprehensible drawings of auxiliary devices, various scales, and strange component models...

Su Lun initially marveled at the content in the diary, surprised that ancient alchemists had taken life science research to such exaggerated extents.

Life science combined with the mysterious arts of alchemy was truly a magical realm.

However, his current level of a beginner in alchemy made understanding the content in this diary... somewhat challenging.

It was like a primary school student finding a quantum mechanics research paper; he could comprehend some of the words, but the whole content was baffling.

He had earlier been curious about the advanced runes on the blue-skinned zombies, but looking at them now, it made his scalp tingle.

The diary indeed contained detailed methods for drawing those runes and their operational principles. But this was no textbook, it was an experimental log. There were no step-by-step explanations, merely records of certain observations. Moreover, with the involvement of sensitive research content, it was clearly encrypted.

After reading a few pages, Su Lun was completely mystified and gave up on further exploring the professional knowledge.

This "advanced knowledge," he felt, was perhaps not something he, or anyone in Old Lington, was qualified to understand.

However, Su Lun also wondered why there was such a drastic disconnection between ancient alchemy and the modern times.

What happened to the missing stages?

.....

Su Lun stopped dwelling on the academic content and instead focused his attention on the parts of the "diary" he could understand.

Upon reading it, he understood how this "Zombie Research Diary" had come about.

Alchemy's simplest explanation is the refinement of precious metals, such as gold.

But, in fact, alchemy is not mysticism, not magic, but science.

There are three ultimate topics in the field of alchemy: resurrection of the dead, life transition, and life creation.

And in these diaries, there were research reports by that crazy ancient magician named "Tillmido M. Chekhov" recording his attempts to resurrect corpses.

Following the timeline recorded in the diary, Su Lun found the first diary.

"January 2, 1221. Ah... all because of my research error, which caused Miss Pestoya to suffer misfortune... Why can't I resurrect her? I reviewed the research materials left by ancient alchemists and found a lot of inspirations. Finally, I decided to restart the 'Resurrection Technique' project..."

When Su Lun saw the first diary, he showed an incredible expression.

Because he saw a familiar name: Pestoya.

If it wasn't a namesake, then it should be the ghostly little girl from the curse space of the manor when he had first traveled through time.

Previously, he didn't understand the background of this world and didn't know the origins of that little girl.

Now he knew, her surname was quite unique, Pestoya Isaac.

And that dilapidated manor was, unsurprisingly, the residence of Sir Isaac who was hailed as the "Alchemical Demigod" in the former era.

No wonder there was an altar capable of awakening S-grade talents in the basement of that manor.

There wasn't much recorded about Pestoya in the diary, and Su Lun didn't have enough clues to guess what kind of "misfortune" she had suffered.

What came next were hardcore research diaries.

"March 21, 1221, specimen number #001. I chose a fresh corpse and started the experiment..."

"May 1, I found a method from ancient books that could slow down the decay of corpses... an active potion + [Grade VIII Dark Attribute Mana Rune] could gather the spirit of the undead... I converted the hospital morgue into a research venue..."

"August 13, 1221, specimen number #624. I extracted a kind of active substance from the body of a super-tier abyss creature, which I named 'X Serum'. After injection, the fresh corpse regained some physiological characteristics of a living person..."

"Increasing the dosage of 'X Serum', the fresh corpse began to lose control, with tissue abnormalities and strange shapes emerging, eventually turning into a vile monster form, resembling a revertant abyssal creature... I adjusted the formula and continued to increase the dosage in an attempt, but the subject's body couldn't withstand, causing vascular and heart rupture..."

"The hospital corpses were no longer sufficient, and conditions didn't meet the needs for active research; I needed fresher corpses; I tried to approach those patients who were about to die..."

"The families of the patients noticed something unusual, so I dared not use hospital patients anymore. I entrusted a black market trader and bought slaves in the slave market..."

"November 7, 1222, specimen number #1135 showed signs of deformation after the X Serum injection but miraculously survived and even experienced an incredible enhancement in physique. I successfully extracted a biological antibody from the subject's blood that could suppress mutations. Oh, today is a day to be happy, the experiment has made substantial progress..."

"March 11. Today a 'rat' entered the laboratory and stole some research materials. It seems someone is interested in the 'X Serum', after all, it can invigorate the human body. Probably some nobles want to use it to extend their lifespan. I have no interest in interfering, let them be..."

"Failed again. Oh, what a terrible day..."

"April 24, 1224, specimen number #3335. The experiment finally made progress, I successfully refined the first active corpse. I began to try merging souls..."

"Damn it, even though I already successfully made the corpse possess all the biological characteristics of a living person and there was no issue with the bloodline, why did the soul merging still fail?! There was a clear bodily rejection of the soul... There's not enough time, I can't accept this..."

"... "

Page by page, Su Lun went through the content of the diary he could understand, and he roughly had an impression of the story.

It was about a powerful magician trying to find a way to bring people back from the dead, madly experimenting in the morgue, from corpses to patients, to live human experiments...

The diary suddenly stopped abruptly as if something unexpected had occurred, with no further details.

Chekhov had created a "living corpse," but ultimately couldn't endow it with life.

At least, according to the notes, he had failed.

...

"So that's how the 'active corpse' in the cursed space came about..."

After finishing the notes, Su Lun showed a look of realization.

While reading about the "living corpse," his first reaction was not to explore how the Resurrection Technique could be used, but rather he suddenly realized whether the blue-skinned "living corpse" could serve as a puppet medium for handling a scythe?

It had almost all of the living characteristics of a human and even possessed dark spiritual power...

The conditions for controlling a scythe were almost met.

But it was merely a thought.

The content in the notes was too advanced; even the basics were beyond his current comprehension.

Su Lun put away the notes.