Mechanical Alchemist

Having traversed time for not too short a period, Su Lun had always been vigilant about someone discovering the original host's identity.

During this time, he had actually come to understand the inner city quite well. The conglomerates were like the world's top 500 companies, with many big families in the inner city also owning businesses in the outer city, which were all well-known.

However, strangely enough, he had never been able to inquire about the origin of the "Lei Family."

He originally thought the original host must have come from a very low-key hidden world family, but now, he heard an answer from Miss Lena's mouth that he found unbelievable: There was no "Lei Family" in the upper echelons of the inner city society!

This made Su Lun very puzzled.

Whether it was the information on the retina or that mysterious warrant, both indicated that the original host's identity was definitely not simple, definitely not some obscure small family. If it was a hidden family, maybe others had not heard of it, but as the daughter of a top tycoon, Miss Lena should have heard of it, at least to some extent.

Su Lun thought for a moment. In this situation, either the "Lei Family" used another name in the inner city, or... the original host's identity might be even more mysterious.

However, before he could think further, Su Lun suddenly felt as if he were being stared at by a poison snake, which sent a chill of cold sweat down his back.

He immediately realized something and exclaimed in his heart, "It's coming!"

....

Su Lun finally experienced for the first time the backlash of the black sickle, that hair-raising sensation of terror.

He felt a slight chill in front of his chest as if the invisible Grim Reaper had quietly passed a sharp blade over his body. Before he felt any pain, suddenly, blood burst out from his chest. His skin burst open, revealing a wound a foot long, piercing from his chest to his abdomen, showing the organs inside.

Miss Lena, who was diligently checking the surgical tools for the third time, was caught off guard and splashed with blood on her face.

Because she had anticipated it, seeing the mysterious wound on Su Lun's chest, she became slightly panicked, then quickly pinched the sorcerer's seals and activated the "Life Conversion Array."

The Hexagram Array lit up with a green light in an instant, and Su Lun felt a vigorous life force being injected into his body.

Seeing such a severe wound on his chest, Su Lun was not alarmed but delighted instead.

Compared to having his head or neck cut, a chest wound was the least deadly location. Moreover, although the wound was deep, it had fortuitously missed the heart and had not gone two inches lower to the most lethal spot.

That could be considered extremely lucky.

The ensuing surgery then proceeded without much danger.

This crude sewer, although in a harsh environment, possessed the best emergency medical equipment from Black Tower Academy, along with Miss Lena, a top-theory medical intern.

This wound, which was not considered fatal, hardly made Su Lun blink an eye.

The only minor mishap, perhaps, was the small mistake Miss Lena made due to her nervousness.

"Ah... Mr. Su Lun, sorry, I... It's my first time handling a wounded person alone, and my hands are shaking a bit..."

"No problem. If it doesn't work the first time, just stitch a few more times."

"I'm very sorry, please bear with me!"

"Right, did you administer the anesthesia?"

"Ah... yes.. sorry! I got too nervous and forgot."

"Never mind, just sew it up like this... in case something happens, anesthesia might affect my ability to shoot."

"..."

Su Lun occasionally used his poor medical knowledge to direct Miss Lena, comforting the intern who felt terribly guilty about her minor mistakes.

Perhaps it was due to Su Lun's composure that Miss Lena gradually found her bearings as a doctor; once she entered the zone, the latter half of the surgery went extremely smoothly.

Indeed, the girl's perfect score in the assessment was not due to connections but earned through sheer competency.

The latter half of the surgery was textbook-perfect.

After about half an hour, the surgery was complete.

After stitching the wound, Miss Lena originally wanted to administer a bottle of "advanced recovery potion" to Su Lun to accelerate the healing process.

But Su Lun stopped her.

Currently, even the shirt Miss Lena was wearing belonged to Su Lun, so naturally the potions did as well.

Su Lun didn't have the resources; for such injuries, an intermediate potion was sufficient.

Advanced ones should be saved for more critical moments as wasting them would be regrettable.

The backlash of the banned items came without harm, and Su Lun felt a huge relief.

He did not stay in the sewer any longer than necessary; once his wounds had somewhat healed, he led Miss Lena along a route extracted from the memory of a Ghoulish Spider, moving upward.

....

Green Street had previously experienced several cases of disappearances. Unknown monsters had been to blame, but now Su Lun knew it was the Ghoulish Spiders from the sewers, creatures capable of bewitching the human mind.

The two followed the spiders' route to the surface, finding their way out.

After effortlessly dispatching a few unperceptive mutated creatures, they finally glimpsed the street lights through the gaps in the sewer.

With a clatter, the manhole cover was pushed open from below.

Su Lun climbed up followed by pulling up a completely filthy Miss Lena.

They were surrounded by dazzling neon lights that lit up the entire district.

Su Lun, seeing the familiar environment of Green Street's corner, finally relaxed his tensed expression.

They were finally safe.

Both let out a sigh of relief simultaneously.

This was Miss Lena's first time in such a chaotic and filthy entertainment district outside the city; she looked timid and scared, yet couldn't resist sneak peeking out of curiosity. Her beautiful clear black eyes blinked, reflecting everything in the shimmering light: staggering drunkards, scantily clad women beckoning customers, gangsters chasing each other with knives... it was all novel to her.

Knowing almost every corner of Green Street, Su Lun found a dark alley to conceal his conspicuous scythe.

Miss Lena waited quietly, showing no interest in sneaking around.

Yet, as she watched Su Lun climb down from the rooftop drainpipe, preparing to take her onto the street, she felt a reluctance inside.

She bit her lip and weakly proposed, "Um... Mister Su Lun, could I find a place to take a bath first?"

The Mung Bean Princess had had enough of her own stink. With no life-threatening crisis looming, her first thought was to take a bath.

Su Lun glanced at her and then pointed toward the nearby "Musketeer Inn" with its bright pink neon lights, as if to ask: Could that place work?

Miss Lena, seeing the obviously suggestive pink light, bit her lip but nodded anyway.

....

Ten minutes later, a knock sounded on the door of room 304 at the "Musketeer Hotel."

Su Lun, who had been by the window, saw the black panther motorcycle downstairs and knew who was coming, so he opened the door.

Chientiao stepped in quickly, looking at Su Lun, her furrowed brows finally relaxed a bit.

Earlier, upon receiving news that the trial team had been attacked, not only did the upper echelons of the Cross Society go into an uproar, but a large number of professionals from the inner city also rushed over and had already headed to the caves to start searching. According to the students who had survived, the incident had occurred several hours earlier.

Given such a delay in the news, everyone thought Miss Lena's chances were grim...

But suddenly receiving a message from Su Lun, Chientiao felt an explosive joy like she had turned the tables on a gambler!

Had they really survived?

How did they manage that?

Riding her motorcycle with a mindset of disbelief, Chientiao zoomed all the way here. Now, seeing a living person before her, her anxiety finally settled.

She looked around the room and saw no one else apart from Su Lun.

But from the bathroom came the sound of splashing water, suggesting someone was in the shower.

Su Lun, noticing Chientiao's puzzled look, just shrugged, neither confirming nor denying anything.

Chientiao was slightly taken aback.

What was going on?

Weren't they ambushed? Why take a bath now?

Just then, the bathroom door opened, and a head peeked out. Because she was washing her hair, the wet hair prevented Miss Lena from opening her eyes; she wrapped one arm around her chest, complaining with closed eyes, "Mr. Su Lun, why does the hot water in this hotel keep going from hot to cold?"

Su Lun casually replied, "An eighty-buck hotel, having hot water at all isn't bad. That's the standard outside the city..."

"Oh."

Miss Lena sounded quite chastened.

She hadn't noticed there was another person in the room and continued, "Could you please bring me a dry towel? This bathroom is too small, there isn't even a changing area..."

Su Lun: "..."

Upon hearing this, Chientiao's expression suddenly became very strange.

She had come here with a mindset ready for a fight, but instead of enemies, this scene unfolded before her.

This... what was happening?

Watching Chientiao's puzzled expression again, Su Lun spread his hands and explained, "Just came out from the sewers. This young lady felt it was dirty, so she decided to take a shower first."

Thinking it was Su Lun, Chientiao's curiosity instantly dissolved.

She trusted the people she had chosen herself.

Meanwhile, hearing Su Lun as if he was talking to someone else, another puzzled little head poked out from the bathroom door.

Miss Lena rubbed her eyes and upon seeing Chientiao, her face suddenly brightened, "Auntie Chientiao!"

After facing despair, seeing a relative nearly made her forget she was still not fully clothed and almost ran out like that.

Chientiao, seeing Miss Lena safe and sound, finally breathed a sigh of relief.

....

"Ah... Auntie Chientiao, will your clothes be too loose on me? It seems a bit too revealing..."

"Then what do we do?"

"I...I... Could you ask Mr. Su Lun to lend me another shirt?"

"Another?"

"..."

After the bath, Miss Lena, the young lady of means, was finally back to full health.

Chientiao looked at Lena, who was wearing a men's shirt and bearing her long, bare legs, wet hair sticking to her head, and touched her forehead: Wouldn't this be revealing too?

But she didn't really mind.

She was only puzzled, how had these two become so familiar in such a short time?

With no strangers in the room, the three of them started to "get their stories straight."

Su Lun briefly narrated the events that had happened in the cave.

Everything before killing Jack was known to all and told truthfully.

The events after killing Jack, however, were significantly downplayed.

He didn't mention encountering any Daniel, nor the second-tier assassin, and definitely not about any Spider Queen or sealed items... He likely glossed over his own role in the events.

He merely stated that they were looking for a way out and luckily stumbled upon the lost Miss Lena, whom he then led out. As for how she escaped being chased by the mutants, that was for Miss Lena to explain.

Miss Lena, quite sensibly, nodded in agreement. She hadn't seen much since she was blindly following, and kept to one line, "Yes, exactly, just as Mr. Su Lun has said!"

When they reached details she couldn't clarify, she chose selective memory loss: "Ah... I was too panicked then, I forgot."

Listening to this full of holes story, Chientiao wore a look of resignation.

Although she guessed the events might not be so simple, she didn't press for more detail.

The outcome was more important than the process.

That the young lady was still alive was a great fortune.

No matter what Su Lun had done, by bringing Miss Lena out of the caves alive, he was the greatest contributor.

After aligning their stories, Chientiao gave Su Lun a positive response that she and the Cross Society's upper echelons would handle this incident. Su Lun, the guide, would be an insignificant "invisible man."

This was precisely the outcome Su Lun wanted.

The scythe was safe, and he had materials for planting; the future looked promising.

He certainly didn't want to switch identities now...

PS. Brothers, the story is getting back on track, don't just accumulate books. Click when there's an update~ Aiming for the top three this week, please, please. Also asking for votes~