Mechanical Alchemist

Chapter 98: Spider bomb

After the main forces of the Cross Society arrived, the confrontation between the two sides immediately escalated.

In the old town of Lingdun, where firearms were cheaper than drinking water, the gangsters fought fiercely, turning it into a partial war.

Both sides invested a large number of personnel and equipment, vying for control of the "Green Street stronghold", engaging in back-and-forth battles.

In the subsequent battles, Kay did not participate due to his injuries, while Su'en remained active on the battlefield.

He avoided dangerous areas but often appeared where there were many corpses.

However, Su'en did not stand out on the battlefield. Like an ordinary gang member, he fought when he needed to and ran when he had to. Thanks to his super perception ability, he could always foresee some dangers in advance, making it seem dangerous but actually safe.

In fact, war is just burning money.

The conflict between the two major gangs escalated, causing heavy losses not only to their backers but also involving more and more powerful forces. The power struggle between the high-ranking families was intertwined with personal relationships, and the more people involved, the greater the resistance. Eventually, it was said that the major families in the inner city came out to mediate, bringing peace to the situation.

This conflict lasted for three days and three nights, resulting in thousands of casualties, and the entire Green Street was turned into ruins.

Both major gangs were severely weakened.

Later, Su'en heard about the inexplicable cause of this gang war. It turned out that Martin, the young master, was assassinated. Among the attackers, there was someone who awakened the talent of the "Red Demon".

Coincidentally, the "Red Demon" Golong from the Cross Society was also surrounded and killed on the battlefield.

There was no evidence of their deaths.

The "Mad Dog" Hogg from the Steam Party, who had previously accompanied Martin during negotiations, was also killed in front of everyone.

As for the true facts, ordinary gang members were not qualified to know.

Su'en also felt that it was not important.

He even thought that when the "Red Demon" Golong was sent to the outer city for a duel, it might have already planted the seeds for this battle.

But it didn't matter anymore.

What mattered was that Su'en gained a wealth of mechanical knowledge in this war, allowing him to directly advance from "Advanced Mechanical Beginner" to "Intermediate Mechanical Expert".

........

Green Street was turned into ruins. According to the mediation agreement, it temporarily became a neutral territory.

No one dared to come and consume, and various taverns, gambling dens, and the backers behind the scenes all withdrew. With no profit to be made, the two major gangs didn't care about these dilapidated streets.

However, as the former leader of Green Street, Kay felt a bit desolate.

As the captain, he lost his territory and his manpower...

In this confrontation, apart from him and Su'en, everyone from Green Street was wiped out.

It must be said that the elimination rate of the lower-level gangsters was really high.

If Su'en had joined the Cross Society and didn't aim to become an advanced professional, but instead spent his salary every day in taverns and pleasure houses, he would probably have been cannon fodder in one of the confrontations.

After this battle, many legends began to circulate in the underworld of the outer city.

A group of newcomers emerged, while a group of old-timers were buried.

Among them, there was one legend that became more and more mysterious. The "Scissorhands" Hossorn from the Steam Party admitted in person that there was a top-notch shooter in the Cross Society. This person was a veteran firearms expert who could use the secret technique "Multiple Reflections". He killed at least two reorganized squads, including the squad leaders "Iron Lung" Durand and "Anchor Hand" Park.

But after spreading for a long time, even the internal members of the Cross Society didn't know who it was.

Kay didn't say anything, so no one knew who it was.

After all, everyone from Green Street had been wiped out, and there were very few people in the Cross Society who knew Su'en.

According to reason, Su'en should have received rewards and honors for killing so many enemies in this confrontation, estimated to be worth millions.

But he didn't want to attract attention and didn't go to claim the money.

After all, this conflict had taught him a lesson. It was not good to be too famous, and Kay almost died because of his reputation.

But Qiantiao knew that Su'en was skilled in marksmanship, so he discreetly asked about the situation and sent a substantial reward.

Su'en's life returned to normal, and because there was no entertainment venue in Green Street, he even lost his nightly patrol duty at 7 o'clock.

He had the whole day to arrange his leisure time freely.

He stayed in the rented basement every day, training his physical fitness, tinkering with mechanical equipment, and making puppet dolls... Occasionally, he went to the shooting range next door to practice shooting to keep his skills sharp.

As for the struggles within the Cross Society, he, as a small gang member, didn't care.

The only bad news was that there was no nearby arena to extract souls. If he wanted to watch gladiatorial fights in other districts, he had to travel a long distance. It was said that the backers behind the Cross Society were preparing a "New Green Street," but it would take some time.

The knowledge gained from this battle was enough for Su'en to digest for a long time, so he wasn't in a hurry to find a new arena.

In the blink of an eye, half a month passed, and the situation completely calmed down.

.......

On this day, in the basement.

Su'en was wearing a stained work uniform, engrossed in tinkering with a new toy - the "Spider Bomb".

This was an inspiration he found from his Eight-Armed Spider Spear Implant.He wanted to design a mechanical bomb that could crawl on its own, equipped with displacement devices and delayed detonation devices.

This bomb could adapt to various complex terrains, climb walls, drill holes, turn corners... and climb to blind spots that people throwing bombs could not reach.

The mechanical spider on the workbench had already taken shape. Su'en focused his attention and installed several brass components the size of melon seeds.

This was the most crucial step, requiring him to connect the explosive device and the mechanical timing system.

Su'en thought he had been careful enough, but suddenly, white smoke emerged from the mechanical spider on the workbench. He muttered to himself, "This is not good," and quickly took out a blast shield and covered it on the workbench.

With a muffled sound, the high-power exhaust device on the workbench whirred and sucked away the smoke generated by the explosion.

Su'en lifted the blast shield and looked helplessly at his failed creation. He murmured, "Something's not right... The 'H2 Quartz Timer' was fine, and the 'T3 Explosive Prototype' was fine too... Why did it trigger an explosion? Could it be a conflict with the wall-climbing device I made myself?"

Fortunately, it was just a test product, and there wasn't much ammunition. Apart from making him feel embarrassed, it didn't reach the level of causing harm.

But with this explosion, Su'en once again fell into self-reflection and doubt.

Repeated failures for unknown reasons made him gradually realize the root cause of the problem.

Although the ability of the "Reaper of Death" was strong and allowed him to learn the knowledge of others in a few months that would take them several years or even more than a decade, there was also a very big problem: the acquired knowledge was not systematic.

Without systematic learning, he couldn't even figure out where his own problems were.

Just like this explosion, his "experience" told him that there was no problem, but in reality, it exploded, which definitely indicated the existence of a "knowledge blind spot."

All the machinery he currently mastered was stripped from various corpses, just like Lego building blocks, piece by piece.

But these "knowledge puzzle pieces" were missing a part, just like building a high-rise building full of holes that could collapse at any time.

Despite having reached the level of "Intermediate Mechanical Mastery" in terms of knowledge, there were some basic knowledge that Su'en was not even as good at as a novice apprentice.

"It's really troublesome that the machinery is not systematic..."

Su'en looked at the failed spider bomb, frowned, and pondered, "It seems that I need to systematically learn mechanical knowledge."

Combat knowledge didn't matter, as practice made perfect and he could master it through repetition.

But theoretical knowledge was different. Without a knowledge framework, certain things couldn't be connected.

Having gone through nine years of compulsory education in his previous life, Su'en was well aware of the importance of systematic learning. He urgently needed a thread to connect the fragments in his mind.

With this thought in mind, Su'en instantly thought of a person.

That person was the former Vice Dean of the Black Tower Academy, Nikolai J. Emirich, who had defected!

When it came to systematic knowledge, who would know more than the Vice Dean of the top alchemy academy in Old Lingdun?

.......

"That gentleman still owes me a favor..."

Thinking of this, Su'en no longer had the mood to continue tinkering with the spider bomb in the basement. He rode his motorcycle to the Shadow Lane black market.

He wanted to leave a message at "Rosen's Alchemy Shop" and use that favor.

Although he had only met Mr. Emirich once, Su'en believed in his intuition.

That person had no ill intentions towards him.

The key point was that being pursued by the Umbrella Organization made him feel safer.

If it was just for some basic alchemy knowledge, Su'en felt that it wasn't necessary to use up this favor.

He could find other channels in the black market, although it would be more troublesome. For example, he could get textbooks from the Black Tower Academy or apprentice manuals from the Alchemy Guild.

Su'en chose to contact that gentleman because he wanted to maximize the value of this favor.

Because he knew that besides being a top professional suspected to be stronger than the Cross Society President, Emirich also had a deep relationship with the organizers of the black market.

The black market was very mysterious, and the organizer was rumored to be the true boss that even the Umbrella Organization couldn't do anything about.

Although Su'en needed more information to understand this world, the mysterious alchemy world was like a stunning beauty veiled in mystery and strangeness, giving her infinite charm and arousing people's curiosity. He had already lifted a corner of the veil and couldn't wait to catch a glimpse of her true face.

The gang's structure was too small after all.

He had already seen through the merger of the previous gang. Compared to the financial magnates in the inner city, the gang was just a tiger trapped in a cage.

Su'en had crossed over to this fantasy world to witness the scenery at the top.

Another consideration was that he wanted to understand the path to becoming a second-tier professional in the future.