Mechanical Alchemist

After all, there was quite a commotion tonight, and many people would want to understand the situation.

Pestoia's night visit was a minor episode, and it didn't stop there; several groups of uninvited guests came one after another to the Unicorn Inn.

There were second-order and third-order, all experts in stealth—assassins.

It seemed like it was probably the Umbrella Organization, or maybe spies from the factions who wished to harm Miss Lena.

In order not to reveal any flaws, and because he found the constant harassment troublesome, Su Lun simply shared a bed with Mr. Jing for the night.

It wasn't presumptuous, and both were very calm about it.

Having such a high-level combatant by his side, Su Lun didn't need to worry about his own safety and surprisingly had a good night's sleep.

...

The next morning, the stern rebuke of the old butler Anthony could be heard in the inn as early as dawn.

"Everyone, get ready with your gear, we depart at seven o'clock sharp!"

Su Lun got out of bed and also put together an adventurer's outfit for himself, complete with a trench coat and cowboy hat.

"Thousand Stripes" was still washing up; he went downstairs, found the latest briefing and messages among a pile of letters at the front desk.

These were the hastily printed newspapers produced by the intelligence brokers, containing the latest information about the camp.

They were pricey, but sold well.

Su Lun skimmed the content of the newspapers, which mentioned last night's attack extensively.

However, it was crude; aside from a few descriptions of "the mysterious cloaked person", there was no intelligence on the identity of the assassins.

He also saw the hidden message left for him by Sabina, which roughly informed him of the Umbrella Organization's next moves.

People from the Umbrella Organization were indeed still monitoring him.

However, they had lowered his profile level, so the threat was much smaller.

Just as Su Lun was reading the newspaper at the front desk.

A few people came down the stairs; turning his head, he saw it was Miss Lena leading her personal maidservant down.

Overnight, the sorrow had vanished from the young lady's face, replaced by a cold composure. She was wearing a liquid leather suit, not the standard Black Tower Academy design, but a more advanced alchemic product with special modifications. On her waist were a pistol, dagger, mechanical vest, and tactical belt, including a gas mask...

Even more notably, on her back she carried a mechanical case with a red cross painted on it—military-grade individual medical equipment.

It seemed the young lady was prepared for combat herself.

Su Lun glanced at her and raised his eyebrows slightly, naturally noticing certain changes in her as well.

Overnight, she had shed her youthful naivete, and now held an air of maturity.

When Lena saw Su Lun, she nodded, by way of greeting.

....

Unlike the hunting expeditions from other families that could reach thousands in number, the Reiss family only had four to five hundred people.

Apart from the hundred or so family guards brought by Lena, there were only a few medium-sized Scavenger groups from the Cross Society.

The group assembled in the tent area outside the camp, immediately drawing murmurs and comments from all kinds of people.

"Hiss~ That's Anthony, the Reiss family's butler, if I remember correctly. Didn't expect the old guy to have advanced to third order."

"I saw last night's battle; he is indeed very strong. But what a pity, with so few people, they probably won't make it to the center of the city area before facing annihilation..."

"Heard the Unicorn Inn was also attacked by assassins last night?"

"Assassins? Those were no ordinary assassins. I've heard..."

"So it's acknowledged by the Black Tower, no wonder the other branches of the Reiss family are so active. A storm is brewing..."

"..."

The news that Lena's close friend Julia was wiped out along with her entire family spread across the camp, and no one dared to interact with the members of the Reiss main family.

Lena faced the idle gossip without any expression throughout.

The team didn't linger for long and immediately set out on "Route Sixteen" towards the northeast of Dawn relic.

....

Because a third-order professional was leading, Su Lun's group moved quickly.

The monsters from the outer ring city area around the relic couldn't stop their progression. Moreover, since most of the outer ring had already been explored, there wasn't much reason to pause.

After a few minor skirmishes, by noon, they had already reached a section of broken city walls.

This was the landmark for entering the middle ring of the relic.

The team crossed the wall and continued further inward.

As they progressed deeper, there were more frequent monster attacks.

In no time at all, they arrived at a large area of unexplored ruined buildings and the group stopped.

Although the middle ring was separated from the outer ring by only a low decayed wall, the strength of the monsters varied greatly.

The outer ring generally housed first-order and below mutant beasts and abyssal creatures, but the middle ring saw second-order, third-order, and even beyond-order special monsters.

Beyond the middle ring was the "forbidden zone" for medium and small Scavenger groups.

Encountering any single group of social monsters could annihilate a medium Scavenger group led by a second-order professional.

The fog in the air thickened, and the atmosphere grew increasingly tense.

This was a real "high casualty area", where no one dared to take things lightly.

Through the communicators, orders from the team's commander came one after another.

"Stay sharp everyone! Pay attention to any anomalies. After entering the middle ring, keep your voices down, don't shoot at will..."

"Team Three, cover nine o'clock. Team Two, cover three o'clock... Assassins, spread out a bit for scouting, and keep an eye out for monsters and suspicious followers."

"Everyone, start searching this area according to plan!"

"..."

The team spread out in a lotus formation around Miss Lena.

The Cross Society's Scavenger groups were indeed funded by the Reiss family, and the members were akin to 'bondsmen' on a lifelong contract, tasked with the most dangerous pioneering duties in the front.

Su Lun and "Thousand Stripes" didn't do anything special, just followed the pioneering teams, beginning their venture into the unknown.

```

Moreover, in this place, there is hardly any difference between the head and the tail of the team—monsters might attack anyone at any time.

The ring of building ruins in the central area grew denser, with small buildings of more than ten stories already surrounding them.

In addition to residential houses, there were also large structures such as opera houses, city halls, and bathhouses.

Like a lush primeval forest, these large buildings were also the favorite haunts of monsters.

And not just on the ground.

Such a vast city also had a very complex sewer system, far more complicated than that of Old Lington.

Su Lun's current auditory perception enabled him to clearly sense the scurrying sounds coming from those sewer openings because of their arrival. It was as if a pair of eyes were hiding in each of those dark caverns, spying on them as uninvited guests.

This was the territory of aberrant monsters.

....

The relic was shrouded in fog, without any light, and visibility was very low.

Since they couldn't recklessly use large-scale illumination, the team members had to rely on the limited sight provided by alchemical night vision devices and carefully grope their way around.

The task given by Princess Theresa was to ask each family to carefully explore their respective routes and find some "things" of which they still did not know the purpose.

Therefore, the team needed to carefully examine each building, check every suspicious target, and break through every cursed space.

The exploration progressed slowly.

After the tasks were divided,

Su Lun followed "Thousand Stripes," leading a Cross Society Scavenger group to explore a residential building.

The team members were all unfamiliar faces; it seemed they were mostly "newcomers" the organization had recruited later.

Once they were away from the main team, the members spoke without so much restraint.

"Boss Thousand Stripes, why are there so few people in our group this time? I see that other families' Scavenger groups have at least a few thousand people... I heard it seems that our sponsor is facing a crisis?"

"Miss Thousand Stripes, there was such a big commotion in the city last night, what happened? I heard that the Princess's residence was attacked?"

"They say that the princess from the Duke's family is the 'First Beauty' of Old Lington, is it true..."

"Heh heh, this time those nobles from the inner city have to come scavenging just like us, right? Our lives don't matter if we die, but they would lose big..."

"..."

Scavengers from the lower echelons hold their lives cheap, ready to face death having chosen this bowl of rice.

Their mentality was quite optimistic.

Especially seeing the inner city folks join them in scavenging, they felt a heartless schadenfreude.

They didn't know about the relationship between Thousand Stripes and Lena, so they spoke without any concerns.

The group chatted and joked all the way.

Their spirits were much more joyful than those gloomy-faced elite city guards not far away.

Still alive,

chat about women,

earning money,

and gossip...

That's good enough.

The happiness of the lower-tier Scavengers was that simple.

The monsters within the relic were dense; in the dilapidated building they explored, there lived a group of monsters identified as [Abyssal Bloodthirsty Sentinels].

The constant "squeak, squeak, squeak" could be heard, and Su Lun had already spotted those crawling creatures that resembled bald, hairless white monkeys with large, off-putting human faces.

They could use rocks as projectiles, with a force comparable to bullets.

Fortunately, they were weak in defense and could be killed with normal bullets.

With Su Lun and "Thousand Stripes" in the team, they encountered no real danger.

Making their way and clearing enemies, they found good loot.

"Ha ha... these monkeys even dropped cursed materials. The drop rate for materials from the monsters around the central city wall is so high. The sponsor said that the scavenging materials belong to us; we're going to strike it rich this time."

"Let's talk about it if we can make it out alive..."

"But speaking of which, these standard firearms from the inner city are so reliable, they never jam. Our sponsor is actually pretty nice, the equipment each of us got might be worth hundreds of thousands..."

"Yeah, I heard the conditions for the Scavenger groups from the Steam Faction and Raven Gang are much worse than ours. They have to buy their bullets, not to mention getting equipped with gear..."

"With this gear, even if a second-tier monster comes at us, I dare to stand my ground against them!"

"..."

Not sensing any troublesome monsters in the building, the team dispersed to speed up the exploration process.

The captains formed teams of ten and took their groups to different floors.

Su Lun and "Thousand Stripes" chose a corner to sit leisurely, ready to provide immediate support in case of any unexpected events.

The communicator crackled with reports now and then.

"Reporting to the Commander, a small-scale monster attack was found in the opera house, and it's been cleared."

"Red Brick Building has found a high-tier aberrant monster group, requesting support from high-tier combat power!"

"Commander, a 'cursed space' was discovered in the dilapidated building in the direction of ten o'clock. Preliminary judgment is a 'Class C space,' please advise."

"..."

Gunshots burst throughout the relic, with the clearing operation proceeding methodically.

.....

In terms of individual strength, Lena's team was no less than any other Scavenger team.

Indeed, it was among the top.

With tier three professionals and more than a dozen tier twos.

The over one hundred direct descendants from the family that Lena brought were mostly well-trained official professionals. They had the best firearms, mechanical armors, and other equipment that money could buy... very strong in combat.

But the team also had one fatal flaw.

That is, too few people, low error tolerance.

```

Encounters with wild beasts mean that numbers are the guarantee of survival.

But it's high-risk cursed spaces that are truly deadly.

Because Princess Theresa had issued a death order.

No matter what, once a cursed space was discovered, it had to be investigated and dispelled.

This meant that if a squad led by a rank-one professional didn't return from an unknown-level cursed space, then they would have to send in a rank-two; and if they were wiped out, send in a rank-three...

Until they kept sending people in to investigate.

But in reality, most cursed spaces could be probed multiple times to find a method of resolution.

If there were enough people, using a slave group to pile in could also probe for a lot of information. Read latest chapters at empire

Just like the "1911 Hotel" Su Lun came across last time, theoretically it's "T-level", but after a few hundred deaths, some methods of resolution can always be determined.

Therefore, numbers are critically important.

And Lena's team did not have this opportunity to trial and error.

They only had a few hundred people in total.

Every loss of a squad meant that their overall chances of survival dropped a notch.

In the end, even high-ranking professionals would have to personally explore the spaces.

The density of cursed spaces in the middle ring area was much higher than the outer ring, and in this current ruin, they had discovered several cursed spaces.

The most deadly thing was...

Even knowing the danger, there was no opportunity to cheat or shirk!

Because there were three "supervisory teams" with white helmets following the team, and they were from the inner city's military. Their task was to supervise the Scavenger teams and report the battle situation and progress at any time.

If they died, or if the Scavenger team refused to carry out orders, masters from the Black Tower would come.

....

It looked like it was only a dozen or so kilometers from the middle ring to the core of the inner city, but the progress of pioneering was very slow.

In just one day, Su Lun's team had only managed to clear a few streets nearby.

The first day's battle was quite brutal, with more than thirty people dead and many injured.

The team didn't move forward but chose to make fire and camp in a sturdy building.

It's worth mentioning that Miss Lena had been busy since the beginning of the battle, actively present on the battlefield.

She cast aside the precious arrogance of being a rich young lady and personally worked with other members of the medical team, appearing in various parts of the battlefield that needed medical support, and treated the wounded with her own hands.

Lena's medical skills were quite good, more professional than that of most Scavenger teams' professional doctors.

Even now, during rest at the camp, she was still busy in the wounded's tent.

And because she, a distinguished young lady, had personally involved herself and was busy on the front line, the injured were not only without complaints but were instead excited, as though they had been injected with adrenaline.

"Oh, Miss Lena, my life... isn't worth such precious Potion..."

"My goodness, Miss Lena personally stitched up my wound..."

"To be able to serve Miss Lena is the honor of my life..."

"..."

The views on gratitude and resentment of ordinary Scavengers were very simple.

If you're good to them, they are willing to give their lives for you.

Normally, after fierce battles, the wounded would greatly affect the morale within the team.

But because of Lena's devoted and diligent treatment, not only did it not disperse the team's morale, it actually brought them closer together.

In the current situation, only by sticking together as a team would they have a greater chance of survival.

In the tent area not far away, everyone watched it all happen.

....

In the individual tents, Su Lun and Mr. Jing were having a simple meal.

Mr. Jing, looking at the busy Lena, lamented, "This girl has finally wised up..."

"She has indeed changed quite a lot."

Su Lun nodded as well, biting into the bread in his hand.

Then, he asked, "Mr. Jing, are you planning to leave?"

He remembered that he had said before that he would leave once he entered the relic.

"Yes. In a day or two, I'll find an opportunity to leave. There are very important matters to tend to."

Mr. Jing thought of something and said, "When that happens, be careful on your own. Those supervisors have been watching you, and there are a few fellows with bad intentions around Lena, who seem to have been bought off."

Su Lun wasn't surprised and replied, "Mhm, I've noticed too. I received information earlier that people from the Umbrella Organization still haven't given up their suspicions."

He had been aware that during the day's battles, there were always a few glances on him.

It seemed as if they wanted to pick up on a clue from his fighting style, to confirm whether he was "Su Lun" or had other connections.

Mr. Jing asked, "Can you handle it?"

Su Lun said indifferently, "No problem."

"That's good, then."

Mr. Jing didn't say more, as she had great confidence in Su Lun's abilities.

Something came to her mind, and she added, "Oh, one more thing. The monsters get stronger the deeper you go into the relic, so be careful to avoid these areas..."

Su Lun listened attentively and kept it in mind.

After Mr. Jing finished speaking, he asked the question he had been curious about for a long time, "Mr. Jing, where are all these monsters in the relic coming from?"

The monsters in the Dawn Relic were killed in droves yet still seemed unending, which was a bit against common sense.

Theoretically, the monsters in an area should satisfy an ecological chain.

If some are killed, the numbers should become scarce after a long period of time.

But in the relic, new and unseen monsters always seem to emerge, and their numbers never seem to dwindle.

Mr. Jing pondered for a moment and then spoke with a slightly stern tone, "It came from an interdimensional rift."

On hearing a new term, Su Lun slightly surprised, asked, "Interdimensional rift?"

"Mhm."

At this point, Mr. Jing seemed to think of something, with a solemn look appearing in her eyes.

She glanced at Su Lun and added, "Beneath this city of Dawn, in fact, there's a spatial passageway that connects to the otherworldly planes. In ancient texts, that plane is known as 'The Abyss.' This is something that dates back to the previous era, it is said that Alchemists of the Akavia civilization would use this passage to wage wars in other planes. Unfortunately, such a formidable civilization also vanished, and no one knows exactly what happened back then... When Sir Isaac founded Dawn City here, on one hand, it was to investigate the true reason behind the discontinuation of that civilization and to pursue the ultimate pinnacle of Alchemy; on the other hand, it was to guard this interdimensional rift, to kill those extraplanar creatures that mistakenly enter our plane from the Abyss's rift..."

After a long while,

Su Lun also understood.

The Akavia civilization of the "Dawn Era," once so powerful that it could wage wars across various planes, suddenly vanished from history.

And the people of that civilization left behind a sealed spatial passageway underneath the ground.

But due to the lapse of time, some cracks appeared in the seal, leading to some Abyss monsters leaking out.

And the "Dark Spiritual Power," it turns out, had spilled over from another plane.

Su Lun was also curious whether those powerful Alchemists who could hunt gods were destroyed, or if they had migrated to other planes...

....

In the ruins, especially in the central urban area, don't even think about getting a peaceful night's sleep.

The previous battle attracted monsters from far and near, and the gunfire lasted intermittently all night long.

It was not only their group who experienced this; nearly the entire Dawn Relic was the same.

Su Lun and Mr. Jing talked through most of the night.

This person of mysterious origin seemed to have no qualms about discussing some ancient secrets with Su Lun.

She seemed to be an eyewitness to that period of history, knowing many details that others could not possibly learn from historical records, or any other channels.

....

The next morning, the team broke camp and continued towards the core urban area of the relic.

Another day of fierce fighting ensued, yielding a not insignificant number of ancient relics; however, the casualties were becoming more and more serious.

Even exploring an A-class cursed space resulted in the death of a second-tier professional.

The central urban area of Dawn City was a dangerous place that would make even Mr. Jing furrow his brows when mentioned.

Not to mention this kind of blanket Scavenger operation.

It was almost no different from courting death.

However, the good news was that there were dozens of teams in the city "courting death" simultaneously.

As if a huge net was contracting inward, it also dispersed the monsters in the relic, easing the attack pressure on individual teams. Some big monsters were driven toward the center of the relic by the commotion coming from all directions.

Mr. Jing initially planned to find a valid reason to disappear from the team discreetly, but it wasn't easy for someone with the combat power of a second-tier professional like "Zoro" to find themselves in an accident.

And coincidentally, on the second night of camping, the team encountered a "Nightmare Mist."

This spreading black mist was quite strange; once inside, a person would vanish, just like a head-eating monster.

In reality, its essence was a kind of "moving cursed space."

Whether one could come out alive after entering it was one thing; even if someone truly did make it out, they would find themselves in a different location due to the movement of the space.

As the ghostly mist drew near, Mr. Jing detected the abnormality beforehand, and Su Lun also felt the unusual spatial energy fluctuations within the mist.

Conveniently, this also provided a reasonable excuse.

Then the watch team led by "Zoro" just so happened to wander into the ghostly mist that looked hardly different from ordinary mist, and the entire team vanished without a trace.

The disappearance of that patrol team threw the entire camp into chaos at once.

To avoid the mist, the entire Scavenger group relocated overnight in a panic, retreating hurriedly to the previous night's campsite.

....

"Zoro" had disappeared, his fate unknown, leaving Miss Lena heartbroken but even more resolute.

The Scavenger mission had to go on.

From the start, this Scavenger mission was destined to end in tragedy. No one could guarantee their own survival until the end.

Lena was mentally prepared for this.

After entering the middle zone of the relic, the Dark Spiritual Power in the air had become so dense, it was almost outrageous; everyone hardly ever took off their filtering and gas masks.

Mr. "Zoro" had essentially become a loner.

He only had "Zoro" as a familiar face in the team, and now even that was gone, appearing very solitary all day long.

However, this was just as well.

Su Lun knew that besides the three supervising teams, there were other hidden experts in the team keeping an eye on him.

Therefore, he needed to completely dissociate the identities of Zoro and Su Lun.

To prevent any trouble that might involve the Lei family.

Two days later, a special report was sent to the upper echelons of the Umbrella Organization: "Zoro Cerna, confirmed as a close-combat second-tier professional, proficient in combat skills, with weak spiritual power fluctuations, combat preferences lean towards the ranger profession... High probability of excluding SS wanted criminal Su Lun, recommend downgrading the file level to C-Class!"

Meanwhile, almost at the same time "Zoro" was still active within the Lei family's main house Scavenger group, the Oliver family's Scavenger team was ambushed.

A high-ranking member of the Crow Gang was killed, three second-tier bodyguards met a gruesome end, and over a hundred others were injured or killed.

Luckily, with many on their side and the presence of the third-tier Scavenger Guild Vice-President, the Thunder Sword King Nero Redgrave, Young Master Danze managed to avoid assassination.

The assassin retreated with injuries.

The news quickly spread. The assassin wore a crow mask and was skilled in manipulating invisible zombies and black scythes.

Intelligence matches, it was SS wanted criminal Su Lun.

Presumed to be seeking revenge!

Thereafter, within the files of the Umbrella Organization, the suspected link between the identities of Su Lun and Zoro was completely severed.

....

Finally, ten days later, the Lei family's main house team reached Su Lun's destination for this journey, the super-large cursed space — [Dawn City's Central Prison].

PS. Still struggling with the text, only one chapter. It's rather weakly written, apologies.