Mechanical Alchemist

Chapter 44: The voyeurism of the mysterious person

After the ambush incident in the Tubular Building, the turf war in Green Street temporarily ceased.

Not only did the Steam Party admit defeat and sign a ceasefire agreement this time, but more importantly, the "Red Demon" Gelong became a cadre of the Cross Society and was responsible for protecting several small teams near Green Street. With such a powerful second-tier professional, the cost of launching another attack would be much higher.

As for the "scythe," the information left by the monster's memory fragments was different from human memory. It was vague and simple, only having the concept of turning at intersections, without the spatial concept of up, down, left, and right. Therefore, Su'en knew how to find it by entering the underground entrance, but he didn't know its exact location.

This meant that if he wanted to find it, he had to go down to the underground of the Tubular Building again.

Before he regained his self-defense ability, Su'en wouldn't be foolish enough to go down again.

So, his goal was to find a suitable alchemical implant as soon as possible.

He planned to try his luck in the black market and see if he could buy a more advanced blueprint.

Unless absolutely necessary, he didn't want to exchange the silver blueprint for the "Thousand Kill Feather Wings" at the headquarters of the guild.

After all, if he did that, it would expose the fact that his body had a high containment value, which might attract the attention of someone with ill intentions.

Normal people knew that, without special circumstances, the higher the containment value, the higher the quality of the breathing technique.

And high-quality breathing techniques were mostly mastered by the top financiers in the inner city, or even exclusive techniques of certain prominent families.

Su'en increasingly felt that the "Hegem Breathing Technique" that the original owner had learned was of extremely high quality and definitely couldn't be revealed.

For the time being, he planned to remain inconspicuous.

.......

The "Shadow Lane" black market held an auction every month at an irregular time.

During the auction, hunters, mercenaries, and professional thieves gathered to sell their goods, and the shop owners in the black market also brought out the good things and collections they had acquired from various sources for auction, so there were many valuable items available.

On this day, Su'en received the newly delivered "Old Lingdun News" in the inn.

In an inconspicuous corner, he saw a piece of news.

[Recruitment Information: Greenham Printing Factory is recruiting 12 workers, monthly salary of 2180 Lisuo, day and night shifts...]

It was said that the sources of the secret codes obtained by each force were different, not just the same message in the newspaper. If there were any problems, the organizers behind the black market could follow this code to find out where the problem originated.

It is worth mentioning that "cryptography" is an entry-level skill for alchemists.

The secret codes in the newspaper were the simplest applications.

In the previous era (a thousand years ago) when alchemy was flourishing, in order to prevent their research results from being stolen and to conceal the secrets of certain astonishing research, alchemists would divide their knowledge into many pieces and scatter them in various places.

Almost all the content of the ancient alchemical scrolls that have been passed down contains hidden messages that must be deciphered to reveal their contents. The purpose is to ensure that only those who are truly worthy can access them.

Therefore, the phrase "one book opens another book," frequently mentioned by Sir Isaac, who was hailed as the "Alchemy Demigod," became the motto of alchemists in later generations.

......

Su'en asked for a day off from Kay, saying that he wanted to visit the black market.

Because of their shared experience in the Tubular Building, he now had an extraordinary relationship with Kay, so taking a day off was smooth.

He planned to try his luck at the auction and see if he could find a suitable blueprint for the alchemical implant, and also see if he could exchange for another runic musket.

After all, the recognition of the "Three-Headed Demon" was too high, and everyone in the gang knew that it was the signature weapon of the assassin "Ironhead" Ivan.

He took the tram to the intersection of Bird Street in the North City and arrived here two hours early.

After observing the surroundings and finding no suspicious situations, he headed towards the "Shadow Lane."

There was a security gate because of the auction tonight.

Behind the iron gate, there was a small window, and the toll collector was a muscular man covered in tattoos.

Everyone entering needed to report the invitation code and pay an entrance fee of 5,000 Lisuo.

Spending 5,000 without buying anything made Su'en feel a little heartbroken. But this was also to prevent most people who were just here to watch the excitement.

Su'en wasn't a first-time visitor to the black market and was familiar with the route.

But today, there were indeed many more people here than usual, mostly wearing long coats and duckbill caps to cover their faces, or hooded masks, dressed mysteriously.

Su'en, wearing a deerstalker hat, blended in with the crowd without attracting attention.

The black market auction didn't have a specific hall; it was a bit like the "market day" in the previous era, where everyone found their own place and waited for the auction to begin.

With time still early, Su'en strolled along the narrow streets built with steel frames. He noticed that the "Missing Person Notice" of the original owner was still hanging on the bulletin board.

But today, in the most prominent position, there was an additional red missing person notice.

"Provide information and get a reward of one million Lisuo?"

Su'en became interested when he saw the long string of rewards and stopped to look for a moment.

The black and white photo showed a woman with delicate features and a professional demeanor, looking like a white-collar worker in an office. From the photo, it could be seen that she had a completely different temperament from the commoners in the outer city and should be someone from the inner city.

"This is a reward amount comparable to an S-class wanted criminal... What did this woman in the photo do?"

Su'en was puzzled but didn't stay for long.

Although a million reward was tempting, a high reward also meant high risk.With a bounty equivalent to an S-level fugitive, he had no intention of becoming a bounty hunter, even if he really encountered the target.

Su'en left the notice board, and at this moment, he just happened to pass by two people in black trench coats.

Judging from their figures, they seemed to be a man and a woman.

As soon as Su'en passed by, the man glanced sideways and muttered to his companion, "Huh... I feel like I've seen that guy before. Even though his face is covered, I'm sure I've seen him..."

The woman in the trench coat said indifferently, "Half of the people in the black market are wanted criminals, or have a criminal record in some organization. It's normal for you to find him familiar. But this is not our territory, it's best not to meddle."

The man in the trench coat withdrew his gaze and didn't think any further, "Hmm!"

......

Meanwhile, Su'en, pretending to know nothing, continued to walk forward, his face becoming serious, murmuring in his heart, "Have I been noticed..."

When he passed by those two people just now, he also felt an invisible pressure. It was the kind of hierarchical pressure that only came when facing high-ranking professionals.

His extremely high mental power made his perception very sharp, allowing him to sense some subtle things, such as other people's gazes.

He was certain that when they passed by just now, the man had glanced at him out of the corner of his eye.

"That guy must have recognized something with some special identification ability, or maybe he was just curious..."

Su'en didn't think that his current bald and eyebrow-less appearance had much resemblance to the original owner, but in this world with Transcendent abilities, people would definitely not rely solely on their eyes to identify others.

He became alert, but a moment later, the feeling of being watched disappeared, and Su'en breathed a sigh of relief.

It seemed that it was probably just a casual glance.

He didn't linger on the street, glanced at the sign of "Rosen's Alchemy Shop" on the side of the road, and plunged in.