Mechanical Alchemist

The cursed space and the outside world are cut off from each other, so if one wants to manipulate the death rate, then the five major families' Scavenger groups are certain to send people in.

Su Lun had guessed this possibility, so he had always kept an eye on certain people in the team harboring malicious intent.

He certainly did not want to come looking for materials, only to become "fertilizer" for someone else.

He had always sensed an indistinct "malice" within the team, and after observing for a while, naturally, he spotted this man wearing a hunting cap.

The reason why the malice was intermittent was because it was aimed at everyone in the team, not just at Su Lun.

....

More than sixty Scavengers filed into the inn, and Su Lun followed that guy inside as well.

The street outside was devoid of people, but the inn was bustling.

This was an exceptionally luxurious ancient inn, with beautiful candlestick-style classical crystal chandeliers, artful nude female murals, and the warm hues of the decor brightly lit by the lights, giving off a sense of heavy luxury the moment one stepped in.

Apart from the Scavengers, there were some staff in the hall, a polite-looking receptionist, a doorman, and some stern-faced security guards in black trench coats... but all these people were shrouded in a faint dark aura, a sign they had been contaminated.

Su Lun followed the man with the hunting cap directly through and went inside.

The man seemed very familiar with the layout of the inn and had a clear objective. As soon as he came in, he headed straight for the guest room area, glancing back from time to time as if vigilant against anyone following him.

Such anti-trailing techniques were almost useless against the current Su Lun.

He followed quietly, his super-fast neural response speed allowing him to easily catch the other's head-turning movements and then avoid them in advance.

After walking for a while, Su Lun saw the man stop in front of the "1021 room" door, pretending to be a smoking guest, waiting there for a while.

"Huh... Isn't this 1021 room said to be one of the rooms that absolutely must not be touched? What is this guy doing here?"

Su Lun watched with slight curiosity.

He didn't expect the man to head straight for this room.

Previous intelligence stated that this room must not be opened, as doing so could very likely trigger a horrific wipe-out scenario, possibly involving some terrifying "ghost species."

Is this the key to controlling the death rate?

Or is it that someone deliberately leaked misleading intelligence?

Su Lun just watched coldly, without intervening.

He knew the man certainly wasn't on a suicide mission; if he took such an action, even if it was as dangerous as the rumors said, he most likely knew some way to survive.

Moreover, Su Lun had previously guessed that the background story of this "1911 Inn" cursed space must be linked to this 1021 room.

Otherwise, why would there be several special rooms inexplicably on the same floor with the same level of contamination?

It's called "survival mode," but in reality, it's also "story decryption mode." Clearing the cursed space has always had more than one method.

But from the current intelligence, this space is all about how to kill monsters, with almost no information on the background story.

The Scavengers are here for treasure, too, and probably don't think to "meddle" and trigger any high-risk scenarios. No one would meddle unnecessarily.

But Su Lun was different; what he needed was on the second floor.

There is almost no information about it yet, and he needs to gather more useful information.

Now, watching this shifty-eyed man with "malice" heading for the 1021 room, Su Lun felt that he definitely needed to take a look.

And in that moment, he saw the man with the hunting cap, taking advantage of a moment when the service staff disappeared around a corridor corner, pull out his lock-picking tools and start fiddling with the lock.

...

The man glanced around while fiddling with the lock.

"Click, click, click..."

Faint metallic contact sounds came from inside the lock cylinder, those were the sounds of the tool probing for the correct positions of the pins.

Su Lun leaned against the corner of the hallway, took out a silencer, and unhurriedly screwed it onto the barrel of his gun.

He didn't even need to look to clearly discern from the sound how far along the man's lock-picking progress was.

The technique was not bad, but due to some nervous tremors, there were a few mistakes.

Then, after almost a minute, he heard a "click" sound.

Su Lun listened to the faint "creak" of the door opening from the corner and suddenly burst out.

His speed was incredibly fast; in a few strides, he appeared in front of the room door.

In the instant before the man closed the door, he grabbed hold of it.

Suddenly, someone grabbed the door, and the guilt-ridden man shuddered with fear.

Before he could react, the muzzle of a gun was pressed against his head.

Su Lun pushed the guy into the room and casually closed the door behind them.

"Speak, what are you doing here?"

"You... what do you mean..."

His speech was trembling with the gun to his head.

Su Lun lazily watched the man, whose face had turned pale with fear, but didn't immediately respond. Instead, he glanced around the room with his peripheral vision.

The room was very tidy, not looking like someone lived in it.

However, he immediately noticed a pair of feet with livor mortis on the white bed.

"A corpse?"

Su Lun was not surprised.

If the rumors were true that after midnight this room would be haunted, then it was plausible for a tenant here to have died.

But looking at the livor mortis, it seemed the body had been dead for a while.

Because a folding screen was in the way, Su Lun couldn't see the whole picture. He took a couple of steps, intending to move closer.

At this moment, the man opposite Su Lun seemed to think that his mind was not on the gun, and charged forward with a sideways glance, attempting to snatch the weapon and retaliate.

Then...

He was easily dodged by Su Lun, who struck him on the head with the butt of the gun.

There was no further ado as the trigger was pulled without hesitation.

"Biu~"

"Biu~"

The special sound of a silenced gun rang out.

Two precise shots shattered the kneecaps, and the man in front of him collapsed to his knees.

"Ah..."

A scream of agony.

As his cry of pain had barely emerged, Su Lun's gun was already pointed at his head, he said coldly, "If you don't want your brain blown out, shut your mouth."

The man endured the severe pain, sweat pouring down his forehead, and spat out resentfully, "We're both Scavengers, what... what do you mean!"

Su Lun spoke indifferently, "Tell me, what are you doing in this room, and all the information you know."

The man initially wanted to argue and hide his intentions, but hearing that indifferent voice, he had no doubt that if he said something that did not satisfy his captor, he would be killed instantly.

Withstanding the intense pain, he grimly threatened, "If you kill me, you're as good as dead too!"

Su Lun ignored his threat, for at that moment, he had already seen the body on the bed.

It was a male corpse with a blood-stained burlap sack covering its face.

Upon a glance from the All-knowing Eye, information immediately appeared.

[Faceless Man]

Details: A special malicious corpse containing strong fire attribute energy; one of the materials needed for an evil ritual; if damaged or the body is moved out of the room, the Caster would immediately discover it;

Upon further examination, the sack on the corpse's face was actually an alchemical item.

[Cursed Burlap Sack]

Details: A sack on the face—who would recognize you? This burlap sack, tainted with a special corpse qi, worn over the head, protects against specific vengeful spirits' attacks; it is a weapon, as well as a countermeasure against vengeful spirits;

Evil ritual?

These words especially caught his eye.

Seeing this, Su Lun's brow furrowed slightly as he suddenly realized that things were not as simple as they seemed.

His thoughts raced, and he immediately guessed the purpose of those taboo rooms on the first floor.

Seeing Su Lun appeared to be lost in thought, the man with the broken legs thought his threat had worked. He sneered and said, "Now that the door to Room 1021 is open, you're definitely dead! If you know what's good for you, just..."

But before he could finish, Su Lun cut him off, his face expressionless, "Are you trying to say that at midnight, this corpse will become a 'ghost species' and kill whoever enters next? And you plan to put on the sack from the corpse's head, so it won't attack you?"

As these words were spoken, any semblance of confidence vanished from the man's face, his complexion turning from white to black, his eyes wide with disbelief as he pointed at Su Lun, as if he were staring at a monster far more terrifying than any deformed creature.

"You... you... you..."

He roared inside his head, wondering why others would know this secret!

The man dragged his crippled legs, retreating nonstop until he finally leaned against the wall, with nowhere left to retreat.

Su Lun tilted his head, looked at him, and then pulled the trigger.

"Biu~"

"Biu~"

Two more shots broke the man's arms.

Su Lun had lost the patience to waste time on such people: "Now that the door is open, is there a way to prevent the corpse from turning into a ghost seed?"

With his limbs broken, the man was terrified by Su Lun's cruel methods.

Having his biggest reliance exposed, he knew he had no ground for negotiation, tremblingly said, "No... I don't know."

For the last time, Su Lun asked, "Tell me something you believe could save your life."

"I... I am a Scavenger exclusive to the Clark family..."

The man had not finished speaking when a bullet blew his head off.

Starting to assert his identity meant he had nothing worthwhile to reveal.

Su Lun had no interest in wasting more time on such people.

He walked over, removed the sack from the head of the corpse on the bed, and took it.

Now he had just over four hours until midnight; there wasn't much time left.

The corpse couldn't be moved or damaged; Su Lun didn't bother with it anymore and walked out.

....

To confirm his suspicions, Su Lun directly went to the "Room 1055" mentioned in the intelligence as strictly off-limits.

This room, too, had a "Do Not Disturb" sign hanging outside.

Su Lun's lock-picking skills were much more sophisticated than the previous guy's; it took him less than twenty seconds to open the door.

He then walked in and saw the hanging corpse with its feet off the ground, hanging from the ceiling, and had a moment of realization.

[The Hanged Corpse]

Explanation: Material needed for a certain evil ritual, a wind attribute vengeful corpse; damaging it or moving it out of the room would immediately alert the Caster;

The rope that the corpse was hanging from was also an alchemical object with a curse attribute.

The effects were more or less the same, used to avoid the damage from specific evil spirits and for restraint.

Then Su Lun went to "Room 1071" and found a [Drowned Woman Corpse] in the bathtub, and picked up a strand of [Damp Hair].

He had gathered water, wind, and fire attribute corpses.

The Scavenger team before him had figured out that there was something wrong with these three rooms, saving Su Lun a lot of trouble.

Finally, rooms 1090—1099 were unexplored, ten rooms in total.

Thinking it wouldn't take much time, Su Lun decided to check them out before midnight.

Of the doors marked with "Do Not Disturb," three had noises coming from the inside, indicating there were living people; naturally, there was no need to enter.

For those with no noises, he opened the lock to take a look.

Then in "Room 1099," he found an earth attribute [Large-headed Vengeful Infant] corpse on the bed and picked up an alchemical item, [The Vengeful Infant's Swaddling Cloth].

Looking at the four corpses with almost identical descriptions of special body materials.

Su Lun had a rough understanding of the "hidden plot" on the first floor.

Someone had set up an evil ritual and left four corpses in four rooms... perhaps even more?

But with many rooms in the hotel, just on the first floor there were ninety-nine, searching room by room would definitely not be enough time.

He felt he should go check the front desk to see who had checked into these rooms; maybe he'd find more clues.

As for the "Magician" he was looking for, there was no hurry.

The intelligence said that the Magician would only appear in an hour and perform at the hotel banquet hall; it would not be too late to go then.

....

The previous Scavengers lost their lives testing and confirmed that the first three rooms were "forbidden rooms."

Now that Su Lun had opened four rooms, it meant that likely four ghost species would appear eventually.

But he didn't feel much of a sense of crisis.

Since one "forbidden room" had already been opened, it was doomed that this group of Scavengers would be wiped out.

Su Lun thought that there might be a chance if they could figure it out.

Besides...

"Ghost species" were indeed formidable, but not truly unsolvable.

It's just that their methods were usually mental attacks, and they generally were immune to physical damage, so for the overwhelming majority of Scavengers who used knives and guns for physical attacks, they were unsolvable.

But in reality... it wasn't so extreme.

The so-called "ghost species" couldn't escape the category of energy either.

With magic, or certain magical methods, they could be injured as well.

For example, the cold flame of "Ninja."

As for the mental attacks of the ghost species, they also varied in severity.

Ordinary first-order ghost species couldn't control a healthy human as long as they weren't scared to the point of dropping their san value very low.

Want to scare Su Lun?

That didn't seem very realistic.

Want to control him forcibly?

That would probably require a very high-ranking ghost species.

From the current information explored in this space, it seemed that the first floor of the hotel wouldn't encounter such beings.

Things weren't too bad.

Moreover, that top-tier Card expert had also entered, so there was someone to back them up in case something happened.

.....

Without a room card key, Su Lun didn't have the privilege to go to the second floor guarded by guards at the stairwell entrance.

Thinking it over, he approached the hotel's registration front desk.

Similar to the previous "Bell Tower Space," the hotel had many space restorations of ancient people.

Guests, waiters, doormen, guards... there were easily a thousand "living people."

These NPCs didn't possess high intelligence, resembling pre-programmed robots who would perform certain fixed actions and react to certain fixed conversations.

They also wouldn't perceive these suddenly emerging Scavengers as outsiders.

As long as you didn't disrupt their normality, they would choose to "ignore."

This time, more than sixty Scavengers had entered.

It was evident that some had thought of getting some useful information from these hotel workers, like... which room housed a wealthy businessman or jeweler.

Directly stealing from them would yield a substantial gain.

But obviously, not just anyone could check the registration records.

When Su Lun arrived, a few Scavengers had just been rebuffed at the front desk and left cursing and swearing.

"Don't waste your time, those stupid receptionist girls won't reveal a single word."

"Yeah, ask a few more times, and they freaking call the guards. If you get caught, that's when it really gets bad..."

"But, on the other hand, those chicks at the front desk are pretty good-looking. If it weren't for not being able to force them, I really would like to try the taste of these ancient people..."

"..."

After waiting for the few to leave, Su Lun then approached.

Without beating around the bush, he got straight to the point, "Beautiful miss, could you do me a favor?"

As expected, even the NPCs reacted when praised for their beauty.

The blonde girl changed her indifference shown to the previous Scavengers and smiled brightly, "Sir, please tell me."

Knowing conventional methods were useless, Su Lun took out a badge and whispered mysteriously, "I am Officer Johnny, this is my badge. I am here on a secret mission to investigate an important fugitive, and so... I'd like to see the accommodation records."