Mechanical Alchemist

Chapter 113: Deciphering a diary

With this clever method, Su'en spent several days burying himself in the basement, deciphering the contents of the diary.

There were many encrypted contents in the diary, but he selectively studied the part about researching distortion suppression potions.

Oh, not only encrypted text, but also language.

Fortunately, he had previously mastered the ancient alchemist's written language, "Guneed," when he separated his soul. Otherwise, it would have taken him several years just to become proficient in this ancient language.

However, even so, the deciphering difficulty was still not small.

The diary involved many obscure terms in ancient medicine.

The worst part was that some ancient terms and modern references were fundamentally different.

Su'en relied on the convenience of the "Complete Guide to Codes" and the All-Knowing Eye, stumbling through the translation for several days, and actually managed to decipher quite a bit!

He was certain that the deciphered part was the complete method for "distortion suppression potions."

But he couldn't translate the remaining thirty to forty percent, or the translations were inaccurate.

For that part that required highly specialized medical knowledge, Su'en handed it over to Danny, who was half a block away.

And for the part that he couldn't translate, he planned to consult the knowledgeable Mr. Black.

Coincidentally, in the newly arrived "Old Lingdun Daily," he saw information about a gathering of the black market circle.

........

On this day.

After spending several days at home, Su'en finally emerged from the basement.

There were no unfamiliar gazes from strangers on the street, which was a good sign.

It meant that their robbery operation two days ago was clean, and no one had found their way to Green Street for the time being.

He rode his motorcycle to the black market in Shadow Alley.

Putting on his cloak, he arrived at the secret space in the lower level of the black market five minutes before the agreed time.

The participants seemed to be very punctual. In the few minutes after he arrived, more than ten people arrived one after another.

This time, it was even more lively than last time. By the time Mr. Black arrived, there were already more than twenty people standing around the stone table.

Then came the familiar process, starting with the exchange of information.

Sure enough, as soon as they started, someone immediately asked about the explosion in West City.

"Does anyone know what happened at the abandoned park in West City a few days ago? I heard that even the Steam Party's cadres were not qualified to approach the explosion site, and many mysterious people from the inner city came to handle it. It seems to be the work of the Umbrella Organization."

"I received some information saying that there was a secret laboratory there. I don't know why, but it suddenly exploded."

"Heh, the laboratory made it to the outer city. Could it be some highly dangerous research?"

"..."

Those who could advance to the second stage were not fools, especially in the outer city. Most of these cloaked people were influential figures, and they had a wide range of information sources.

As soon as they heard that it was a laboratory explosion, they immediately speculated on a lot of information.

Su'en listened quietly as these big shots discussed, and their speculations were almost exactly the same as his.

"I received information a long time ago that the Steam Party had been secretly capturing vagrants for a long time. But I haven't heard of anyone in the inner or outer city who has received any of those goods. It seems that the disappearance of the population is closely related to that exploded laboratory..."

"Live experiments? Those damn guys from the Black Tower really don't care about the lives of us outer city people."

"I'm not sure about anything else, but I'm sure the one who caused the explosion is the current number one on the wanted list. By the way, I want to ask if any of you know any clues about her. Hehe... I'm very interested in that reward."

"I have some information, but it has already been exchanged for the reward. Someone saw her at the 'Black Knight Club' in West City. She killed Dam, the human trafficker in the Knight District, and then set the club on fire. Now that I think about it, she was probably asking about the whereabouts of the trafficked people..."

"Oh? So that's why the Black Knight suddenly caught fire. It was her doing! Hahaha, now that you mention it, I feel a bit satisfied with that explosion..."

"I have the latest information. There was a big battle in the North City last night. The Umbrella Organization somehow found her, and after a fierce battle, she was severely injured."

"So, was she captured?"

"No."

"She managed to escape?"

"..."

When the topic reached this point, the person who provided the information seemed to have some concerns. After pondering for a moment, he continued, "I heard that a third party force intervened and broke through the Umbrella Organization's encirclement, allowing her to escape."

"..."

Listening to this, Su'en realized that he had been blamed for trying to save people.

But at the end, when the person mentioned the "third party force," everyone present was surprised.

Su'en also thought, who in Old Lingdun would dare to oppose the Umbrella Organization?

And then he realized that there was one right in front of him.

Su'en also noticed that no one continued the topic after this, as if they all had concerns.

Mr. Black, as usual, remained calm and didn't speak.

There was nothing noteworthy about the rest of the information exchange, and Su'en also contributed some of his own speculative information.

Then came the item trading session.

The most discussed topic during this session was still the information about the "Dawn City" ruins.

Recently, many ancient relics had been excavated and sent back to Old Lingdun. These big shots in the black market now had many high-level cursed items and materials to exchange.

After a lively exchange.

Su'en also witnessed some strange and rare things.

During this time, he also found an opportunity to inquire about the "Mental Power Secret Technique" and the "Cursed Hair of the Weeping Witch," but no one responded.

That was expected as well.

However, towards the end, a cloaked person raised a purchasing request that caught his attention.

"I need a set of 'Frost Giant Battle Armor,' and it must be in stock. I'm leaving the city in three days, and during this time, as long as someone can get it, I'm willing to pay 20 million or an equivalent value of cursed materials..."

Su'en heard this and remained silent.In the batch of goods he and Kay had intercepted before, there were indeed five sets of finished battle armors.

But this stuff was special, once sold, there were only a few places it could have come from.

He thought, this guy was very likely fishing for information.

Moreover, the way the other party asked was very clever,

They were in a hurry, offering above market price, and setting a time limit.

If someone really had a channel and wanted to sell, they would definitely find a way to do so, after all, time waits for no one. And such goods were sensitive, it was not easy to find a buyer who dared to buy.

Su'en didn't speak, and the scene fell silent for a moment.

At this time, another person spoke up: "I can get it, but I'm not sure when. And... it might not be a complete set."

From the tone, it sounded a bit like the person who had a channel to get the battle armor last time.

Upon hearing this, the buyer also wrote a note, replying: "This is my contact information. But I can only wait for three days. If you can get it in time, the price can still be negotiated."

.......

The transaction was over, and this small gathering was nearing its end.

Su'en found Mr. Black, who was about to leave, and explained his purpose: "Mr. Black, I've encountered some difficulties in ancient knowledge and need your advice."

He didn't know if Mr. Black could see through this cloaking cloak, but he obviously recognized him.

Mr. Black seemed to be very interested in ancient knowledge, "Oh? Let's hear it."

Su'en took out the notes of sentences he didn't understand from the diary.

Upon asking, this "scholar" really knew.

He casually translated a few sentences.

"This sentence is a metaphor often used by ancient sorcerers, 'The wheat falls to the ground and dies' means that mercury dies in saltpeter and sulfuric acid. The flowing 'living silver' mercury becomes solid and dies, a pun. It is usually used when a certain material is being refined..."

"'The belly of the fire dragon hides magic steel, take four parts of the fire dragon and nine parts of the magnet' This sentence is a high-level alchemy process, the corresponding materials are..."

"Um... this one is very difficult. This is a professional term in the field of ancient medicine, using a double encryption method... I probably need some time to look through some materials to ensure accuracy."

"..."

Listening to him casually translating those codes that he couldn't guess even after racking his brains, Su'en's expression remained unchanged, but he was full of emotion.

Mr. Black was truly knowledgeable, as if he knew everything.

Thinking about his talent, Su'en felt that being erudite and mind-reading was a perfect match.

It seemed that without making a move, those wise eyes could see through everything about the enemy.

After all, it involved too many professional terms in ancient medicine, Mr. Black couldn't translate some of the content accurately for a while, but he didn't refuse to help with this small favor: "How about this, give me the note, I should be able to decipher it in a few days at most. I'll leave the note in the usual place..."

Su'en nodded and asked, "Mr. Black, what kind of price do I need to pay?"

Mr. Black said nonchalantly, "These precious ancient knowledge are the best reward you have already paid."

After a pause, he smiled and said, "Translating ancient scrolls is one of my favorite jobs. If you have more similar knowledge in the future, you can come to me, I would be happy to help."

As always, a gentleman.

Even if he guessed that Su'en must have more ancient scrolls in his hand, he hinted in the most unobtrusive way.

"Thank you for your generosity..."

Su'en sincerely thanked him.

He didn't rush to sell the stolen goods in his hand, planning to wait until the heat died down to ask.