Mechanical Alchemist

"It's him, kill that guy!"

Su Lun heard the loud shout from afar, and without any hesitation, his eight spider legs sprinted and leaped as he ran wildly.

The direct heir of the Oliver family, Danzel, had arrived in person, and naturally, he was not without experts at his side.

With just a glance from the corner of his eye, apart from the four that had previously escaped, Su Lun also saw at least four or five second-tier professionals.

Only when he saw that enchanting woman in a white fox fur did he understand why there were Steam Party cadres in the team that had previously surrounded and attempted to kill the witch.

"The Oliver family is actually cooperating with the Steam Party supported by their competitors?"

A fleeting doubt crossed Su Lun's mind, but the speed at which he was escaping did not slow down in the slightest.

It wasn't just this group of second-tier professionals, but also over a hundred members from more than ten elite Scavenger teams of the Oliver family.

The intense glares filled with murderous intent were oppressive, making him feel like a spit-roasted lamb, continuously being turned over the flames.

...

The moment Su Lun showed his face, several rockets trailing long flames were already aimed at him and fired.

"Boom~"

"Boom~"

"Boom~"

The shells landed nearby, exploding incessantly.

Fragments of stone splattered against him, cracking upon impact.

Fortunate for Su Lun's keen senses, he was able to anticipate the trajectories of the rockets in time.

And it was lucky the agility of his eight-arm spider spear allowed him to traverse walls and ditches across the ruins with ease. Thus, he narrowly avoided the first volley of rockets without harm.

The bad news was, wherever he looked, enemies were all he saw.

The good news was, the ruins were spacious enough, with complex buildings within, allowing the superior teleportation abilities of his eight-arm spider spear to be fully utilized.

Having dodged the rockets, intense gunfire, like torrential rain, followed behind him.

But by then, Su Lun had already seized the opportunity to slip behind a building.

Then...

With a thunderous "boom," a fireball descended from the sky, and the building was instantly flattened by the bombardment.

"Second-tier magic professionals have made their move..."

Su Lun stumbled from the hot blast of the explosion but managed not to fall thanks to the stability granted by his extra legs.

However, he didn't dare look back, instead using the momentum of the blast to increase his speed by a fraction.

He could distinctly feel six or seven particularly chilling "killing intents" locked onto him from behind.

There was no need to think about it; those were the enemy's second-tier professionals in pursuit.

With his eight-arm spider spear, Su Lun could easily outpace ordinary professionals.

As long as he avoided the initial barrage of firepower, the hundred or so Scavengers from the Oliver family in the ruins of Dawn City were no threat at all.

From beginning to end, his troubles came from the few second-tier professionals who could both fight and chase.

Like...

The group of persistent black crows hovering overhead!

....

Su Lun dared not run towards the outer perimeter of the ruins.

He was well aware that running towards the outskirts would be safer, but those second-tier professionals would undoubtedly chase him relentlessly. Moreover, he was very likely to be surrounded and caught by various Scavenger groups mobilized by the Oliver family, with no chance of escape.

```

Only by running deep into the ruins would the chances of encountering people be lower.

The ruins were dangerous for him, and they were equally dangerous for those second-order professionals.

Only by taking advantage of the ruins' environment and its uncanniness to delay his pursuers could he possibly escape.

Fortunately, he had gathered a lot of information at the tavern yesterday, and Su Lun had a rough understanding of some of the dangerous zones in the eastern city. He hadn't dared to barge into those "death zones" and chose a direction to plunge headlong into the ring of ruins.

Su Lun looked at the crows flapping their wings above him and knew it was the doing of "Blood Crow" Langfero.

If these crows didn't die, he wouldn't have a chance to escape.

Without a second thought, he raised his gun and sprayed a volley of bullets.

Gunfire crackled.

Seven or eight crows fell at the sound, bursting into clusters of black blood mist in the air.

"This move again..."

Su Lun glanced at the blood mist and murmured to himself.

These crows were a sinister trick of the magicians. He still vividly remembered the scene of coughing up crows after an encounter with that "Plague Doctor" Sergei.

He had learned his lesson now, not only wearing a gas mask but also quickly avoiding the area where the crow's blood was scattering.

This wasn't Old Lington; there was no endless supply of crows here.

After changing the magazine, he raised his arm and fired another burst, and few of the pursuing crows were left flying.

Su Lun intended to kill off all the crows in one go, but at that moment, he suddenly became alert.

"I've been targeted!"

Su Lun sensed something and his expression shifted slightly.

His body instinctively turned to the side to avoid the killing intent.

But it was this evasive action that, instead of allowing him to dodge the bullet, made him "catch" it.

"Pop~"

A burst of blood erupted from his forearm, piercing a hole straight through it.

If it weren't for his current resilience from the "X Serum" and the bracer reducing the bullet's force, that shot would have blown his entire forearm off!

"How did it hit?!"

With his right arm broken, Su Lun felt not only astonishment, but also confusion.

He had dodged it, so how could he be hit?

But there was no time to think further as that familiar sense of fatality struck again.

"I'm in the sights of that gunman again!"

Su Lun's heart chilled and he instinctively tried to move and dodge.

This time, an odd scene unfolded once more!

He had figured out the direction of the hostile gaze from behind him, as well as the rough trajectory of the bullet, and his body instinctively moved out of the original path.

But even with such caution, a bullet still hit his back.

The gunman hadn't aimed at his original position, but seemed to have anticipated Su Lun's next footfall after dodging.

The enemy had anticipated his anticipation!

"'Gun King' Geiger?!"

Su Lun, realizing this capability, immediately guessed who the individual shooting from behind was.

Glancing back briefly, he caught sight of an individual holding a rifle. That figure quickly matched with the face in his memory, and he muttered to himself, "No wonder I was struck by two consecutive shots. It's not surprising it's this guy..."

The gunman was none other than the highly renowned "Firearms Master" of Old Lington City, one of the top figures among the gunman-professionals, known as 'Gun King' Geiger Kiriman!

```

The talent Geiger awakened was extremely compatible with that of a gunslinger—[B-098-Sixth Sense]. The old-fashioned rifle in his hand, the infamous assassin's sniper rifle known as [Lucky 777], was rumored to have taken the lives of well over a hundred professionals, not to mention countless ordinary folks!

His talent wasn't considered strong; in fact, it didn't enhance his body at all.

But to almost any gunslinger, it was one of those dream "god skills."

[Sixth Sense] wasn't some profound divination ability, just a kind of instinctual feeling. It allowed him to predict the target's next move, to dodge harm that was about to befall him, all without any side effects!

It wasn't a case of guessing right every time, but at least eight or nine times out of ten.

It was this ability that had kept Geiger alive through countless brutal battles, elevating him to the status of "King of Gunslingers" in the hearts of all Old Lington's professionals.

The two shots were less than ten seconds apart.

The angle was tricky.

The first bullet hit the arm, the second landed in the back.

However, because Su Lun had the alloy plate from the disassembled [PZ911 Mechanical Limb] on his back, the second shot didn't cause him any harm.

From a distance, Geiger, noticing this scene, was slightly surprised, "Eh... the material of this bulletproof plate is a bit special. Even my specially formulated 'armor-piercing round' didn't penetrate it."

Thinking this, he removed another bullet he had been biting on and reloaded, aiming at the fleeing eight-legged silhouette up ahead, with a mocking smile on his face, "To date, no first-class professional has survived three shots from my rifle. Looks like you'll need a fourth, buddy..."

...

And at the very moment Geiger was aiming, that shadowy sense of lethal danger struck at Su Lun's heart once again.

"A marksman who can predict with such accuracy... what a pain..."

Su Lun squinted his eyes, frowning tightly.

He knew that he probably couldn't dodge the next bullet.

But facing the 'King of Gunslingers', he didn't feel completely helpless.

This time, Su Lun didn't simply choose to teleport to evade; instead, as he darted, he pulled out four pitch-black puppets, positioning them at his body's vital points.

"Pop!"

Once again, the sound of gunfire.

The guy hit Su Lun's lower back once more.

And this time, the bullet was an "Explosive Alchemy Bullet."

When the bullet burst, Su Lun felt as if his back had been struck by an elephant, and he was blown away.

Being an "Arms Expert" himself, he immediately guessed Geiger's intention with the explosive bullet.

Being cautious enough of a sniper, Su Lun always kept his head hidden in the blind spot of the gunman's vision, even while fleeing.

Now that the second shot had tested out the alloy plate, Geiger knew he couldn't deliver a fatal blow to other parts, so he had to aim for the head. He wanted this shot to unbalance Su Lun, exposing his head for a final, lethal gunshot.

But...

If he had guessed that he would be hit, how could Su Lun not be prepared?

Even though the shot made him stagger, it wasn't a big issue. His Octopus Spear stabilized his body, keeping his critical head from being exposed to Geiger's gunfire.

The enemy, however, might not have been as lucky as he was.

This time, the bullet didn't hit Su Lun's body directly; instead, it struck one of the pitch-black dolls first.

The very instant the doll exploded, painful screams erupted from seven pursuers not too far away.

"Ah!"

The one who had teamed up in the [White Monastery] Curse Space to gang up on the second-class Magician clasped his head and shrieked in agony, as if enduring some intense mental torment.

The moment the second-class Magician clutched his head, Su Lun's eyes flashed sharply.

"Now!"

With a cold snort in his heart, he controlled the walking corpses to raise their hands and strike down.

The Magician was still in excruciating agony, unable to come to his senses, when a space rift had already appeared above his head.

Another supremely smooth cut, his skullcap flipped off, his head split into two crimson halves.

He died instantly on the spot!

At a distance, the few second-tier pursuers were all dumbfounded.

It was clearly "S-through Su Lun" who was shot, so why was it their comrade who got killed?

Now they already knew that Su Lun had the sealed item "Xiupunos's Night Scythe" in his hands, they were extremely cautious, so why were they still killed?

That scream from a moment ago was still fresh in their minds—Su Lun got shot, but why did one of their own suddenly get hit?

Could it be some sort of sinister spell?

Langfero, the "Blood Raven," knew Curse Magic too well, and was so frightened he turned pale, immediately realizing something, he loudly warned, "It's Curse Magic! Careful, don't hit the puppet on his body!"

He feared being even a second late; if someone hit the pitch-black doll on Su Lun again, someone would surely die once more.

Moreover, he guessed that one of them was definitely a curse doll mediated with his own blood.

Langfero knew that the spell couldn't kill him, but damn, paired with that black scythe, one controlled from afar, another killing from afar, it was simply "unsolvable"!

It gave no chance for any reaction; others couldn't save them even if they wanted to.

If this "combo" were to hit him, Langfero felt that he too would certainly be doomed!

Looking at the corpse beside him with its skull chopped open, the rank-and-file of the Raven Gang couldn't help but slow down a half step.

Because he knew, the further away he got, the lesser the influence of the "Grass Man's" curse would be.

...

Indeed.

This pitch-black doll was the "Voodoo Doll" that Su Lun had just made!

Back in the Curse Space, although the four second-tier professionals all managed to escape alive, they all suffered injuries and left behind blood in the monastery, enough for Su Lun to create a medium for Curse Magic.

The effect seemed to be very good now.

On the way to the ruins with the transport team, he had already tested the precise impact distance of the "Voodoo Doll."

Even though the effect of the Curse Magic on second-tier professionals was greatly reduced, Su Lun hadn't intended to use the spell to hurt anyone.

As long as he had a slight chance, the black scythe would follow right after!

Seeing that his strike was effective, Su Lun pulled out another eight or nine pitch-black dolls, trailing them behind him like kites, securely shielding his body.

Although only three of them were functional, he guessed his pursuers wouldn't dare take the risk.

If they hit the mark, someone would definitely die.

The tactical strike worked, and Su Lun had thought about blowing up the "Voodoo Doll" himself, which would almost certainly mean death for the other three.

But he didn't do that.

Because he wasn't sure how many more strikes the hateful living corpse could make.

With the two cuts in the Curse Space before, this was already the third.

If there were one more cut and immediate backlash was triggered, the hateful living corpse would die instantly.

Without the deterrent of the black scythe, it would also spell death for Su Lun himself.

Now this string of dolls seemed to be effective enough.

Even Geiger Kiriman, the "Gun King" who never missed, had stopped firing, not daring to shoot again.

That was sufficient.

With a bit more distance, the threat of the gunman would become smaller and smaller...