Mechanical Alchemist

After the major forces of the Cross Society arrived, the firefight between the two sides immediately escalated.

In Old Lington, where firearms were cheaper than drinking water, the gang warfare was fierce enough to resemble a local conflict.

Both sides deployed a large number of people and equipment, contending around the "Green Street position," each vying for control.

In the subsequent battles, Kai didn't participate due to his injuries, while Su Lun was still frequently active on the battlefield.

He avoided dangerous places, but where there were many corpses, he was often present.

However, Su Lun didn't stand out too much on the battlefield, and was just like an ordinary gang member—fighting when necessary and running when needed. With his exceptional perception, he was always able to anticipate danger in advance, and so he came out safe and sound.

War is actually just burning money.

The conflict between the two big gangs grew more and more intense, not only causing heavy losses to their backers but also involving more and more major forces. The high-stakes games between prominent families were complicated, and the more entangled they became, the greater the resistance.

Eventually, it was said that the major families in the inner city united to mediate, which finally calmed things down.

The conflict lasted three days and nights, with over ten thousand casualties, turning the entire Green Street into ruins.

The two major gangs were both severely weakened.

Later, Su Lun also learned the random cause of this gang conflict—it was indeed Young Master Martin who had been ambushed and killed. Among the assailants, there was someone who had awakened the Red Demon talent.

And by coincidence, the Cross Society's Red Demon, Goron, was also killed on the battlefield.

Death without witness.

There was also the Steampunk's Mad Dog, Hog, who was the official that previously accompanied Young Master Martin for negotiations. He was killed in broad daylight.

As for the true facts, ordinary gang members were not entitled to know.

And Su Lun felt it was no longer important.

Even he thought, perhaps when Red Demon Goron was sent to fight in the outer city, it had already laid the groundwork for this conflict.

But it's all unimportant now.

What's important is that Su Lun acquired a vast amount of mechanical knowledge from this war, directly advancing from "Mechanical Knowledge (Advanced)" to "Mechanical Knowledge (Intermediate Peak)."

The spoils of war were also enough to last him a very long time.

(Mechanic level annotations: Beginner, Knowledgeable, Master, Grandmaster;)

.....

Green Street had been reduced to ruins, and according to the mediation agreement, it temporarily became a neutral zone.

No one dared to do business there anymore, and the financial backers behind various pubs, gambling stalls, and pleasure districts all pulled out. With no profits to be made, the two gangs no longer cared about these run-down streets.

But for Kai, the former "boss" of Green Street, this seemed somewhat disheartening.

As the captain, he had lost both his territory and his manpower...

In this fire exchange, except for him and Su Lun, all the other men from Green Street perished.

It must be said, the elimination rate in the lower echelons of the gangs is truly high.

If Su Lun had joined the Cross Society back then and spent every day going to pubs and pleasure districts with his salary, instead of aspiring to advance his profession, he would probably have been cannon fodder in one of the firefights.

After this battle, many legends began to circulate in the underworld of the outer city.

Some new stars rose, while some old ones were laid to rest.

Among them was one that became more mysterious the more it spread: Scissorhands Huosuoen from the Steampunk personally admitted that there was a top gunner with a mysterious background in the Cross Society. He was an old gun expert who knew Mystery·Stacking Shot, and had killed at least two full squads and two veteran captains, "Iron Lungs" Durand and "Anchor Man" Parker.

But the rumor circulated for a long time, and even inside the Cross Society, no one knew who it really was.

Kai didn't say anything, and so no one else knew who it was.

After all, with all the members of Green Street gone, very few in the Cross Society knew Su Lun at all.

Logically speaking, Su Lun should have earned awards worth millions for killing so many enemies in this firefight.

But he had no intention of showing off, after all, this conflict taught him a lesson about the dangers of being too famous—Kai had nearly lost his life to his reputation.

However, he couldn't bear to give up on the reward. Fortunately, a thousand-strong boss knew about Su Lun's decent marksmanship and quietly inquired about the situation, then sent over a substantial reward.

Su Lun's life returned to normal, and with the absence of the entertainment venues from Green Street, even the nightly patrols at seven o'clock were canceled.

He had the whole day to himself, free to arrange his own spare time.

He stayed in his rented basement, training his physical strength, tinkering with mechanical equipment, and making tricky dolls... Occasionally, he went next door to the shooting range to keep his skills from getting rusty.

The struggles of the Cross Society were of no concern to him, this small gang member.

The only thing that could be considered bad news was the lack of a nearby arena to harvest souls. If he wanted to watch a combat match in another street, he would have to travel far. He had heard that the financial backers behind the Cross Society were preparing a "New Green Street," but it would take some time.

The knowledge gained from the battle was enough for Su Lun to digest for a long time, and he was not in a rush to find a new arena.

Time flew by, and another half a month had passed, and the situation had completely settled down.

....

One day, in the basement.

Su Lun was wearing his stained work clothes, engrossed in tinkering with a new contraption— a "spider bomb."

This was the inspiration he found within his own Octo-Spear Implant Suit.

He wanted to design a mechanical bomb that could crawl on its own, equipped with teleportation devices and time-delay detonators.

The bomb would be adaptable to various complex terrains, capable of climbing walls, burrowing holes, turning corners... reaching blind spots that normal bombs couldn't get to.

The mechanical spider on the workbench had already taken rough shape, and Su Lun was fully focused as he installed several brass components the size of watermelon seeds.

This was the most crucial step, as he needed to connect the explosive device with the mechanical timing system.

Su Lun thought he had been careful enough, but suddenly, white smoke emerged from the mechanical spider on the workbench. He cursed under his breath, and with quick reflexes, he took out a blast shield and covered the workbench with it.

Given his practiced response, it was clearly not the first time something had gone wrong.

"Bang!"

A muffled sound.

The high-powered exhaust system on the workbench whirred, sucking out the thick smoke produced by the explosion.

Su Lun lifted the blast shield and looked helplessly at his failed creation, muttering, "This isn't right... The 'H2 Type Quartz Timer' should be fine, the 'T3 Explosive Prototype' should be fine too... Why did it trigger an explosion? Could it be that my homemade wall-climbing device caused a conflict, or something else?"

Fortunately, it was just a prototype and the amount of explosive was not much. Apart from leaving him slightly disheveled, it wasn't enough to cause any harm.

But this explosion once again sent Su Lun into a spiral of self-reflection and doubt.

Repeated failures without a known reason made him gradually realize the root of the problem.

While the powers of the [Reaper of Death] were strong, allowing him to learn in a few months what took others several years or even decades, there was a significant issue: the knowledge he acquired was not systematic.

Without having undergone a systematized education, he simply couldn't pinpoint where exactly the problem lay.

Just like with this explosion, his "experience" told him everything was fine, but the reality of the explosion indicated that there was definitely an issue within his "knowledge blind spot."

All the mechanical knowledge he now possessed had been stripped from the bodies of the Outer City's Steam Faction, which mainly consisted of combat-oriented application mechanics with little theoretical research. His knowledge was very biased. While combat experience could be integrated through practice, gaps in mechanical theoretical knowledge cannot be filled in the same way.

These "knowledge puzzles" are missing pieces, like a skyscraper whose flaws are not known.

Although his "knowledge quantity" had now reached that of an [Intermediate in Mechanical Knowledge], for some basic theoretic knowledge, Su Lun might even be inferior to a rookie apprentice from the Black Tower Academy within the Inner City.

"Scattered mechanical knowledge that isn't systematic is indeed a big headache..."

Su Lun looked at the failed spider bomb, his brow furrowed, and mused, "It looks like I need to systematically study mechanical knowledge."

The knowledge of battle was fine since practice makes perfect, and one could master it with enough practice.

But it's not the same with theoretic knowledge. If there are gaps in knowledge, certain things just can't be connected.

With a mandatory nine years of education from his previous life, he was well aware of the importance of systematic learning. He urgently needed a thread to string together the fragments in his mind.

As soon as this idea formed in his mind, Su Lun immediately thought of someone.

Nikola J. Emmerich, the defector and former Vice-Chancellor of the Black Tower Academy!

When it came to systematic knowledge, who could know more than the Vice-Chancellor of Old Lington's top Alchemy Academy?

....

"That gentleman still owes me a favor..."

With this thought, since Su Lun no longer felt like tinkering with the spider bomb, he didn't dawdle in his basement and rode his motorcycle straight to the black market in Shadow Alley.

He wanted to leave a message at "Rosen's Alchemy Shop" and cash in that favor.

Although he had only met Mr. Emmerich once, Su Lun trusted his instincts.

The man bore him no ill will.

More importantly, a person being hunted by the Umbrella Organization offered a greater sense of security.

If it were just for some basic systematic alchemy knowledge, Su Lun felt there was no need to call in the favor.

He could get it through the black market's other channels, albeit with more trouble. Like getting a textbook from the Black Tower Academy or an apprentice manual from the Alchemy Guild.

Su Lun's decision to contact that gentleman was to maximize the value of this favor.

Because he knew that besides being a top-tier professional who might even be stronger than the leader of the Cross Society, Emmerich also had deep connections with the organizers of the black market.

The background of the black market was mysterious, and the organizer was rumored to be a true big shot who could vex the Umbrella Organization without any hassle.

Although Su Lun needed more intelligence to understand this world,

this mysterious alchemy world was like a veiled beauty of exceptional charm, and its mystery and strangeness endowed her with infinite allure, sparking a desire to uncover its secrets. Having uncovered a corner of the veil, he was eager to behold its true face.

The underworld was, after all, just too small.

From the previous gang wars, he had seen that, facing the financial tycoons of the Inner City, the gangs, no matter how fierce, were ultimately like tamed beasts trapped in a cage.

Having come to this fantastical world, Su Lun wanted to experience the view from the top.

Another consideration was that he wanted to explore the pathways to advancing to a second-order professional in the future.