Mechanical Alchemist

Chapter 171: The deceased

After Su'en left, Maggie Tan in the VIP room felt relieved.

Sitting on the sofa, he took a few deep breaths and felt the cold sweat soaking his back.

The several bodyguards and two stewards who had been doing business with him for many years had never seen their boss like this before, and they had no idea what had happened. Even the steward who had noticed the unusual goods before only thought there was something strange in the goods.

Now that the outsider had left, they immediately asked.

"Boss, your complexion doesn't look good. Is there a problem with this batch of goods?"

"Why don't you negotiate the price? I think that kid is hiding something. The source of the goods must be suspicious. If we negotiate, we might be able to make more profit..."

"..."

Hearing the inquiries from the old acquaintances, Maggie Tan's expression became very complicated.

Only he knew the danger he had just experienced during the transaction.

Fortunately, the other party did not come with the intention of double-crossing them. Otherwise, if it was the wanted criminal he suspected, they wouldn't have been able to leave alive today.

After pondering for a while, he sighed and said, "It's not just a problem. The person we just traded with is..."

But before he could finish speaking, he stopped himself.

Maggie Tan had a hunch that this matter absolutely could not be made public.

One of the stewards, puzzled, asked, "Boss, do you know that person?"

Maggie Tan pondered for a moment, shook his head, and said, "Forget it, you don't need to worry about this."

The others nodded at their boss's words and began to count the goods.

With the crisis over, Maggie Tan felt that his mind had become more agile.

He thought about the conversation just now and pondered repeatedly, "If someone wants to buy the Puppetry Master's Book, it's probably that person. However, the young master of the Oliver family is offering a reward..."

Wanted criminals also have a supply and demand for stolen goods, and the black market is their best channel.

This is also the main reason why black market bosses make huge profits in this line of work, often obtaining stolen goods at low prices and selling them at high prices.

Usually, legitimate businessmen would not sell out wanted criminals.

But it depends on the situation.

If the reward is too high, Maggie Tan wouldn't mind selling the information.

Now, the reward for the "SS wanted criminal Su'en" has skyrocketed, and the private reward added by the young Danze of the Oliver family is even higher than the profit from this batch of goods...

Thinking of this, Maggie Tan's heart was immediately moved, and he said to the group of associates, "Don't sell this batch of goods for now. Wait for me to come back!"

With that, he took out several storage rings from the box as "evidence" and immediately left.

......

After Su'en left the tavern, he quickly removed his disguise and appeared on the street again.

He watched Maggie Tan, the "Iron Lame," leave in a hurry, and he didn't need to guess where that guy was going.

Su'en didn't pay attention to that guy. The bait had been cast, and the goal had been achieved.

Even if he guessed that it was a trap, he had to take the bait.

In just a few days, the secret of the Puppetry Master's Book would probably be in his hands.

He thought that this time, he not only wanted the professional secrets but also wanted to play a big game for real!

After all...

The information on the wanted order still listed him, Su'en, as a first-tier professional.

But in fact, he was no longer the same as the original wanted criminal who could be chased by a few second-tier professionals and panic.

This time, he would probably catch a few big fish.

......

On the main street,

Su'en, dressed in an expensive white suit, holding a cane, and wearing a hat, looked like a wealthy young man strolling out for a walk.

He now increasingly felt the overflow of having Sabina as his maid.

With the intelligence in his hands, he almost knew everything in the camp, giving him the confidence to do anything.

This gave him too much convenience.

After leaving the Black Jazz Tavern, Su'en went to the Hunter's Guild again, scanned the new tasks and intelligence posted on the light screen.

Not finding what he was looking for,

he then went to the market.

The scale of the Hunter's Market in the Dawn Camp had increased several times, with the number of stalls more than ten times the original.

But due to the limited area of the camp, the market was still only planned for one street.

However, this did not limit the hunters.

They added steel outer supports to the small buildings on both sides of the street, and then built various uneven steel partitions. With iron stairs connecting them, the market was transformed from a flat area into a three-dimensional block, increasing the area several times.

Su'en strolled through the market, naturally looking for any opportunities to find what he needed.

After all, the ruins produced a large number of ancient relics, and there were countless good things in the goods.

Because Su'en had already advanced to the second tier, he had no need for professional materials.

Third-tier materials were also unlikely to appear on the stalls.

Therefore, he could skip most of the stalls, and his pace was quite fast.

Su'en often stopped at the stalls selling ancient books and scrolls to browse.

The likelihood of finding something valuable was greater at the book stalls than at the material stalls.

Because most alchemical ancient books were encrypted and written in ancient Nid language, translating them required a lot of effort.

Ordinary hunting groups basically had no translation ability, making it easier to mix in "good things."

Su'en had no problem reading them and could roughly tell what the content was with a glance.

Even if there was encrypted information, he could roughly determine its origin.

The more complex the encryption method, the more important the content of the book.So for Su'en, the more incomprehensible things were to others, the better.

But even in the ancient times when alchemy was flourishing, the classics that recorded alchemical knowledge were rare items. Most of the books on the hunter's stall were literary biographies and the like.

Looking around more, he occasionally found some good things.

This time, Su'en found a book called "Illustrated Explanation of Second-order Runes" on the stall.

He happened to need to brush up on his knowledge of runes, so he spent a few thousand dollars and bought it.

As for those various incomprehensible spell scrolls, although they were rare, he didn't touch them.

Now he had several scrolls of space magic given to him by Mr. Black, and he estimated that it would take a year or two to study them all. Being greedy for more would be of no use.

He walked along, browsing through hundreds of stalls.

He picked up a few ancient books and found some cheap materials suitable for making puppets, which could be considered a rich harvest.

As he walked, Su'en's gaze was suddenly drawn to a stall surrounded by many people.

There were many cursed materials on the stall, as well as some alchemical plants and equipment that looked like they were obtained by killing people.

The stall owner was a cold and ruthless man dressed as an assassin. Although his eyes were covered by a hood, one could still see the indifference and rotten skin at the corners of his mouth.

When someone asked for a price, he would reply with a low, hoarse voice that sounded like sandpaper rubbing.

If someone tried to haggle, he would ignore them.

Originally, Su'en had no interest in the materials on the stall, but when he saw that face, he felt a little familiar and walked over.

Looking closely, his pupils slightly contracted, "Kay?"

.......

There were many things on the stall, suitable for all professions, and the prices were fair, so there were quite a few buyers.

But some people were also interested in the strange-tempered stall owner and whispered to each other.

"Which group does this stall belong to? There are a lot of good things here. It's just that the stall owner seems to have a bad temper and doesn't seem to be afraid of not being able to sell his goods..."

"Heh heh, this stall owner is not from the hunting group, but a lone wolf."

"A lone wolf? How is that possible? With so many materials, don't tell me he got them all by himself?!"

"If you know who he is, you probably wouldn't think it's impossible."

"Does this guy have a big background?"

"Didn't you see the mechanical arm he's selling on the stall? Heh heh, the 'One-eyed' Max's mechanical spray gun, don't you think..."

"He's the 'Hyena' who slaughtered more than forty people from the 'Steel Cannon Hunting Group' three days ago?"

"..."

Listening to the whispers of these people, Su'en's face also showed a hint of surprise.

Kay was the first friend he had met in this world.

The two of them had gone through several life-and-death experiences together, and they could be considered close friends.

Unfortunately...

There was an accident during that escort mission.

If he guessed correctly, Kay's current identity should be a member of the inner city's Umbrella Organization.

Otherwise, he wouldn't still be alive.

But why would he appear here?

Kay flipped a coin on his finger, let it fall between his fingers, and then flicked it up with his thumb, making a pleasant metallic sound. He caught it in his hand and repeated the action.

Su'en watched this agile finger movement and his gaze slightly sharpened.

This was something he had taught Kay.

It was the secret code of the people on Green Street: if there was danger and it wasn't convenient to speak out, they would make this gesture to alert their teammates.

Seeing this gesture, Su'en felt a familiar yet unfamiliar term flash through his mind.

Green Street?

Although it hadn't been long, it seemed like a very distant term.

Green Street was destroyed in the conflict between the guilds, and the Cross Society squad no longer existed. Even the former members, except for him and Kay, had changed several times.

In the end, only the two of them were left.

This secret code was known only to the two of them.

......

"I remember 'One-eyed' Max is a second-order professional, right?"

"Yes, that's why this news is so sensational! In the hunting operation three days ago, this guy made a big harvest and even found a valuable ancient treasure. When a captain of the 'Steel Cannon Hunting Group' saw him alone, he wanted to get his attention. But the guy didn't waste any words and just killed the captain with one blow. Then 'One-eyed' Max wanted to take revenge with his group. But that guy didn't back down, and didn't care that Max was a second-order professional. He single-handedly took on the whole team. In the end, I don't know how, but the 'Steel Cannon Group' backed off and wanted to retreat..."

"Isn't that too unbelievable... one person made a second-order professional-led medium-sized hunting group back off?"

"You think that's the end? The real unbelievable part comes later!"

"Oh?"

"The 'Steel Cannon Group' backed off, but that guy didn't plan to let it go. With an attitude of not giving up, he dragged his injuries and chased down dozens of people from the 'Steel Cannon Group'. It's said that he ambushed them in the mist of the ruins and successfully killed Max! In the end, the 'Steel Cannon Group' only had a few small fries left to escape from the ruins..."

"Damn, he's really a monster."

"I've heard of him too. This guy is notorious for being fierce in battle, both in killing monsters and people. He's as cold-blooded as a monster. It feels like he treats every battle as his last, and he charges in to bite when he encounters an enemy, often ending up injured. But because of his fearless fighting spirit, his harvest is always extremely rich. Now, anyone who knows him says he's like a 'Hyena', whoever provokes him, whether it's a tiger or a lion, he'll fight to the death and won't give up. Few people dare to provoke him..."

"..."

Listening to the deeds of others, Su'en's brow furrowed slightly.He wasn't sure what had happened to Kay, but the cold-blooded assassin before him was starkly different from the cheerful gang lieutenant he once knew, who always wore a bright smile.

Su'en glanced around and, without approaching to greet him, turned and left.

...

An old friend not being dead was good news, after all.

In the evening, Su'en spent a long time in Sabina's room, where he learned some news from her.

Kay was part of the Umbrella Organization's inner city structure, not under Sabina's command, so there wasn't much intelligence on him.

But Kay's appearance here was directly related to Su'en.

In the pursuit of an "SS-class fugitive," the Umbrella Organization would mobilize all resources, monitoring all social relations of the target. His sudden appearance at dawn had only one purpose: to lure Su'en into the trap.

After all, among the social connections Su'en could trace, Kay was the most crucial acquaintance.

In the following days, Su'en didn't rush to contact the black market merchant.

After all, he needed to give the enemy some preparation time to catch a bigger fish.

His daily routine became very regular.

He would visit the Wild Hunt Guild early in the morning, then stroll around the market district to browse for goods.

At noon, he would stay in the inn to practice spatial magic and puppetry.

In the evenings, he occasionally spent a few hours with Sabina, listening to the latest movements of the Oliver family.

...

That night, at ten o'clock, the noisy Black Jazz Tavern was bustling.

"Iron Cripple" Maggie Tan was negotiating a deal in the tavern.

Suddenly, someone tapped him on the shoulder.

Turning around, he saw a man with his face hidden by a large trench coat.

Su'en spoke directly, "Mr. Maggie Tan, any news about the goods I requested?"

Hearing this, Maggie Tan immediately realized who the visitor was.

A flicker of nervousness passed through his eyes, but his expression remained calm, "Yes. I've found a channel to acquire a puppeteer's tome, even the unique art 'Puppet Theater' from Master Lloyd. But it won't come cheap. To get your hands on it, you'll need at least this much... and wait another two days."

Su'en glanced at the five fingers Maggie Tan held up, completely indifferent to the price.

He wasn't surprised at all that the man said it would take time.

After all... setting up an ambush takes time too.

He handed over a bag of large-denomination cash and agreed on the spot, "Good, this is the deposit. Four days from now, at two in the afternoon, we'll trade at the 'White Broken Wall' on the outskirts of the southern city ruins."

"About that..."

Maggie Tan's gaze fell on the money bag on the table, and he was about to say something when he looked up to find that Su'en had already disappeared into the crowded tavern.

At that moment, several sneaky figures lurking in the tavern began to converge.

After searching around, they found no trace of Su'en.

"He's really on high alert..."

"It's only natural for an SS-class fugitive to be so cautious."

"Did we confirm the trade location?"

"Yes."

"Let's set it up then. This time, we can't let that guy get away."

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