Mechanical Alchemist

Su Lun had been observing to see if there were any formidable enemies among the pursuing squad while fleeing.

Typically, higher-ranked experts carry a certain pride and wouldn't stoop to chase after lower-ranked professionals.

Unless... the prey exhibits astonishing lethality.

That's why Su Lun, despite being able to kill more pursuers earlier, only eliminated a few that posed a threat to them.

The more he killed, the more likely he was to attract the attention of high-ranking professionals.

Now, it was perfect!

....

There was no time for explanations.

At that moment, Kai wanted to ask something, but seeing Su Lun already pulling the pin of a flash grenade and throwing it, he said nothing.

"Damn!"

He cursed reflexively, but upon hearing the distinct "pop" of the flash grenade, he didn't hesitate to rush out with the puppet.

At that moment, he still chose to trust Su Lun.

Su Lun didn't expect the flash grenade to significantly disrupt the enemies, the main purpose was to tell the enemies that they were charging!

It was a subtle psychological hint that would instinctively make them target the moving figures after the flash.

Regardless of whether they could see clearly or not.

As expected, the moment Kai and the puppet dashed out, gunfire erupted.

All enemy firepower was drawn over, crazily strafing the two swiftly running figures.

It was in the instant of gunfire that Su Lun, hidden behind cover, suddenly stood up, raised his double guns, and sprayed a fan-shaped volley, covering all enemies in front of him.

The left hand "Blue Demon" was set to continuous firing mode, its muzzle spewing blue flames like ghost fire...

The right hand "Lei Snake" aimed at difficult targets, each shot was an alchemic bullet...

The super large-capacity magazine provided Su Lun with continuous bullets, turning one "Blue Demon" into a machine gun instantly.

What does it mean for a "gun expert" to have unlimited firepower?

It means death like a tide!

Su Lun, facing the group of enemies shooting at Kai, didn't give them a chance to turn their guns, headshots, eye shots, throat shots... each shot was fatal, felling a group with each burst.

With a normal magazine, Su Lun would have run out of bullets by now, and in the time needed to reload, the enemies would have had enough time to kill him.

But at this moment, his pistols continued to spit out deadly ghost fire.

This was the suppressive power of a machine gun!

"Da, da, da, da..."

The Steam Faction guys were caught off guard by this burst, and instinctively tried to avoid the damn suppressive fire.

Those who could hide did, scattering those who could... their formation broken.

In just a few breaths, about half of the fifty or so enemies were downed by gunfire, lying in pools of blood.

Su Lun was fearless, numbly continuing to harvest lives. Even if the enemies were now hiding behind cover, any slight exposure was met with a precise shot.

Precise, calm, numb.

Completely unflustered.

....

Kai screamed as he charged out, hearing the continuous gunfire and without much hope that he would definitely survive.

But something strange happened.

After running a few steps, he suddenly noticed the whizzing sound of bullets by his ear had vanished, and the shrapnel from a cannonball that brushed past his scalp was gone too.

"Huh... those guys aren't shooting at me anymore?"

The gunfire still hadn't ceased, what was going on?

Su Lun turned his head once more and saw a scene he would never forget.

"Fuck, can you actually play with a pistol like that?!"

The curse exploded in Kai's heart as he finally understood what was up with Su Lun's outrageous ammo box.

From the start, that guy had planned to go head-to-head with an enemy force twenty times his size!

At that moment, Su Lun, wielding two guns, was single-handedly suppressing all the enemies on the opposite side!

A realization dawned on Kai, and his face lit up with excitement, "Such a crazy plan..."

But now was not the time to think about that; his thoughts too started racing.

Currently, he and Su Lun were positioned in a triangular formation against the enemies. If he were to run, this was the best chance.

But Kai didn't run!

The two shared a kind of trust and understanding, just like Kai had unhesitatingly chosen to believe in Su Lun and used a puppet to draw fire.

Kai knew that Su Lun's firepower had temporarily suppressed the enemy, and they couldn't give them any chance to breathe.

They weren't planning to run; they were planning to counterattack!

"Fuck it! I'll join you in this madness!"

With that thought, Kai didn't hesitate and suddenly kicked off the ground with one leg, turning into a mantis springing forward, leaping straight into the midst of the enemy crowd!

Kai hadn't forgotten his advantage in close combat.

Without the enemy's gunfire suppression, he really wasn't afraid of these people in close-quarters combat!

Not far away, Su Lun kept firing steadily, his peripheral vision noticing Kai charging out, and a hint of relief passed over his face.

With such a quality teammate to coordinate with, eliminating all those enemies across them just became a lot easier!

In that breath's moment, the extra ammo box was also emptied.

Kai's charge exactly provided him with the opportunity to reload.

Su Lun, without any evasive action, pressed the mechanical catch, and immediately took off the ammo box and the support exoskeleton, then quickly swapped it with the extended magazine at his waist.

The ammunition was replenished.

Think you're safe behind cover?

Ever seen bullets curve?

With the ammo box's restriction gone, Su Lun's gunplay became more agile.

He flicked his wrists, and after pulling the triggers, two bullets glided through the air in a beautiful arc, exploding into brilliant splashes of blood on the targets behind cover.

At that instant, Kai was also amidst the enemy crowd, his knife slashing through them like it was chopping vegetables. Those hiding behind cover were also forced out.

One charged forward, while the other took precise back shots.

The two coordinated superbly, swiftly eliminating the enemies before them.

Su Lun, with a gun in each hand, emerged calmly from his cover.

He kept shooting as he pressed forward.

The abilities "listening for position" and "malicious perception" allowed him to precisely capture the enemy's location. Even if someone aimed from behind, he could turn around and shoot them in the head before they could fire!

Utter calmness made his brain function like a cold machine, calculating every enemy's position with precision.

And thus, a bizarre scene unfolded.

On this war-torn street, a solitary figure walked leisurely, bathed in a storm of bullets, his face utterly composed.

Bullets seemed to have eyes, utterly failing to harm him.

The gunfire and flying debris seemed like a welcoming salute, lining the path...

He did not dodge or hide, just walked straight ahead; each shot he fired either severely wounded or claimed a life.

Whether it was his aura or his firepower, Su Lun alone was able to suppress the entire street of enemies to the point where they dared not breathe.

The overwhelming and lethal oppression terrified the ordinary mobsters of the Steam Gang, as if they were facing a messenger from hell.

One look, and you really would die.

....

Soon, Su Lun had dealt with all the other common enemies around the block.

Meanwhile, Kai was entangled with two captains from the Steam Faction.

Almost all professionals in the Steam Faction had extensive mechanical limb modifications.

One was "Scissorhands" Huosuoen, whose modified mechanical limbs were somewhat similar to Kai's ability, consisting of sharp mechanical scissors forged with Mithril blue steel and equipped with an ultra-pressure steam power boiler, capable of easily cutting through human limbs and bones.

The other was "Ironlung" Durand, a modified race enthusiast. This guy was covered in full-body armor and had large steam-powered propulsion devices installed. The whole person was like a steel bull, capable of charging and bulldozing, with rapid Teleportation. He also had frost cannons and machine guns installed on both hands, making him formidable in close combat and ranged attacks.

Both were veteran professionals of the Steam Faction.

The advantages of such modifications were clear, giving them exaggerated mechanical strength and iron-like bodies.

At least, facing the two of them, a fellow class assassin like Kai seemed quite passive.

Although he could dodge the enemy's attacks with his agility, his own attacks did limited damage to the enemy.

If it came to a prolonged battle, it was hard to say if he could gain the upper hand.

Under the pincer attack from the two, Kai's situation became even more perilous.

However, fortunately, Su Lun came over.

....

Su Lun walked like a god of death, taking out the Steam Faction's gang members along the way.

Watching his subordinates dying miserably, "Ironlung" Durand was already furious.

He watched the fearless Su Lun approaching like a bull seeing red, his steam boiler powering up in an instant from behind, his mechanical legs stomping the ground so hard that it cracked open in a web-like pattern, hurtling forward like a cannonball.

Before he even arrived, the pressure of a mountain collapsing swept forward with a fierce wind of flying sand and stones.

Su Lun's expression still showed no change.

Mechanical movements are always mechanical; the preparatory actions were too obvious, lacking in directional change capability. The speed of the straight-line charge was fast, but... it was no threat.

He had already noticed that guy's steam buildup and the signs of powering up his legs.

So the moment Durand began his charge, Su Lun had already raised his "Lei Snake."

Perfect, a straight-line target, just as simple as shooting at a target.

The other side didn't fully recognize Su Lun and didn't take his gun seriously.

"Bang!"

"Bang!"

The distinctive sound of Amor-piercing alchemy bullets echoed down the entire street.

Su Lun shot twice in succession, hitting the guy's bulletproof goggles precisely.

From a distance, Kai anxiously watched the unflinching Su Lun, thinking he was unaware of the opponent's prowess and was about to shout "Be careful", but it was already too late.

If hit head-on, there was almost no chance of survival!

At that moment, it seemed as if time had slowed down.

All eyes were focused on that charging figure.

They all knew that a direct collision would definitively determine life and Death.

However, the next second, something unexpected happened.

The moment the gunshot sounded, Durand, who was charging like a steel bull, suddenly twisted his head eerily, and the momentum of his charge instantly slowed down.

Dead?

No one expected that the one to die would be the notorious "Ironlung" Durand!

His death was dismissed so lightly.

In an instant, the winner was decided.

The corpse's inertia carried it forward, but Su Lun gracefully stepped aside, seizing a bunch of grey mist from the corpse in passing.

Hmm... decent mechanical experience.

.....

If one said that before, when Su Lun killed those ordinary members of the Steam Faction, he had good shooting skills with a bit of luck,

now, killing a fully-armed professional with two shots, everyone realized his shooting skills were more than just good.

"He killed him? This..."

Kai looked at the fallen body, his eyes flickering with disbelief.

At that moment, he finally understood why Su Lun had been able to kill the previous anchor man, Parker.

"Could it be... that legendary advanced technique of gunplay?!!!"

Kai knew Su Lun was skilled in gun combat, but seeing those two shots, he immediately realized something.

The "technique of multiple overlay shooting," a superb gunplay technique specifically designed for penetrating armor.

It was said that in the whole of Old Lington, only a handful of "firearm masters" or a very few long-practiced "firearm experts" could master such an advanced technique.

Su Lun, so young, already knew this trick?

And his nearly inhuman calm just now, his bizarrely keen perception...

Kai felt that he had used up all the surprise he had in him for a lifetime in just one day.

....

"Damn it, where did this freak come from in the Cross Society!"

Scissorhands Huosuoen watched his companion die, swearing angrily in his heart.

He knew they had underestimated their opponent.

If they had known this guy had mastered that gunplay technique, they would never have been so reckless.

But who could have imagined, that the gunman, who seemed so "ordinary" during the previous chase, had been hiding this deadly skill?!

They had only seen "Blade" Kai as a threat, never realizing that the unremarkable little gunman was the truly lethal one.

"We've been ambushed!"

Huosuoen also instantly figured it out; from the moment they started the pursuit, this outcome was inevitable.

The gunman had been feigning weakness, waiting for this moment to ambush them.

It was too late for regrets.

Swearing in his anger, Huosuoen also felt secretly relieved that it hadn't been him who acted just then.

This guy was also extremely decisive; seeing his companion fall, he didn't hesitate to pull back explosively, turning and darting into a dilapidated building beside them to escape.

....

Su Lun fired two shots and, failing to keep the guy down, let it be.

After all, they were not there to kill enemies, but to retreat.

He walked over.

"Captain, are you alright?"

"Took a bullet, took a few stabs. But they didn't hit any vital spots, so I'm not going down just yet..."

"Let's go, the Steam Faction's officers will definitely be here soon."

"Hmm."

Su Lun supported Kai, who was limping from a bullet to the thigh, and they headed into the Honeycomb Building across the street.

Just then, from afar along Green Street, there suddenly came the booming of heavy artillery, and an armored vehicle was blasted high into the sky.

Seeing this, Kai rejoiced, "Our reinforcements are here!"