“What are you?” Suren was questioned by the other party. He spoke out the prepared words, saying, “I am a hunter. My team and I got separated when we encountered a group of ‘Lightning Lizards.’ Now I lack food and water. If you are willing, I would like to buy some, or maybe exchange for some…” Because he lacked understanding of this world, he tried to speak ambiguously.
This sentence was half true and half false, not completely made up. He had indeed encountered a group of giant lizards before. However, he didn’t expect that these people in front of him seemed to be going after the kind of lizards that were as fast as cheetahs. Suren clearly noticed the looks of excitement on their faces when he said this statement. Sure enough, someone directly asked, “Did you encounter a group of ‘Lightning Lizards’?”
“Yes,” Suren turned his head and pointed to the passage, saying, “On the left side of this passage, leading to the b11 district, there is a large group. I guess they have a lair there.” Hearing the accurate response, the faces of those people on the opposite side became even more delighted.
The team leader with the mechanical prosthetic limb, Yu Guang, glanced at the gun on Suren’s waist and asked, “Are you alone? Which hunter group are you from?” Without thinking much, Suren casually said, “I am from the ‘Straw Hat Hunter Group.’”
“Oh?” The captain’s eyes narrowed slightly, not knowing what he was thinking. His gaze then fell on the black storage ring on Suren’s hand and asked, “Are you from the Crow Gang?” This statement made the expressions of the eight people on the opposite side turn unfriendly. “… ” Suren keenly noticed the expressions of several people and became alert. He didn’t understand the exact meaning of the term “Crow Gang,” but he vaguely felt that the other party’s tone was certain and seemed to have guessed something from him. Obviously, something was wrong.
He felt that the problem might be with the firearm at his waist. He didn’t realize it before, but now that he compared them, he found that the runic pistol he found in the bald storage ring looked much more advanced than the ones these people had. But obviously, admitting to being a member of the “Crow Gang” would probably cost him his life on the spot. Suren knew that if he continued to ask, there might be trouble, so he could only be evasive and respond, “As you can see, I am a free adventurer. I’m sorry, I just wanted to buy some food and water. If you don’t have any extras, then forget it.”
“Free adventurer?” The team leader listened to Suren’s lack of affiliation and his eyes suddenly became playful. However, he clearly saw Suren’s concerns and suddenly showed a kind smile on his face. He gestured to his subordinates to put down their guns and said, “No, what I mean is… if you don’t have a faction, you can choose ours. As you can see, we are the ‘Steam Brotherhood. You can call me Dick.’”
His words just fell, and someone next to him added, “He is our captain, Dick Nalson, also known as the ‘Silver Mechanical Hand’ in the Dongcheng Langgestreet Area.” Suren glanced at his silver prosthetic arm and politely said, “Of course, I have heard of Captain Dick’s reputation.” Compliments are never wrong, regardless of whether you know each other or not.
From the tone of the other party, Suren guessed that the “Steam Brotherhood” should be a very large organization. Moreover, judging from the tone of the people next to him, this Dick should be very powerful… “Silver Mechanical Hand” Dick suddenly changed his attitude and beckoned, “Brother, do you want to come into the camp and rest? We can sell you some food and water.”
“Thank you very much.” Even though he was no longer held at gunpoint, Suren felt that he didn’t have the right to refuse. He entered the camp where a bonfire was burning. Suren had no intention of staying for long, nor did he dare to talk too much. But obviously, the other party was constantly testing his bottom line.
“Brother, what’s your name?”
“I’m called Suren.”
“Brother, aren’t you a professional?”
“Hmm, I am not.”
“Oh, then you should consider joining our ‘Steam Brotherhood.’ As you can see, we can offer you many choices for the ‘job materials’ and ‘alchemy planting blueprints’ you need in the future. You know, besides the ‘Cross Association’ and the ‘Crow Gang,’ no one in the outer city can provide more resources than we do. And if you want to modify your mechanical limbs, only our ‘Steam Brotherhood’ is the top choice…”
“I will consider…” Suren caught a lot of useful information from their words. It seemed that there was a distinction between “inner city” and “outer city” in that city. And there were three major factions in the outer city…
Seeing that Suren did not agree, Captain Dick talked about their purpose of this trip again. He tentatively said, “We came out this time to prepare the curse materials needed for the vice captain’s alchemy equipment. Our goal is the ‘Lightning Lizard’s leg tendons’ or the ‘Abyssal Hellhound’s skin.’ If you have these materials, you can sell them to us…”
“Sorry, I don’t have them. Our team encountered danger and scattered shortly after we went out, so we didn’t gain anything.” …
The atmosphere of the conversation seemed harmonious. The other party prepared three days’ worth of drinking water and food for Suren. Originally, Suren didn’t want to think so badly of human nature, but with the next move, he knew that he had to take action.
They handed him their water bottles, and the Omniscient Eye appraised it, displaying a few words: [Water with Neurotoxin] The purpose was already obvious. Since they revealed their malicious intent, Suren’s eyes also became cold when he looked at those guys. They appeared to be sitting around the campfire, but they were more like surrounding him. And their wandering gazes were always on his gun at the waist. It seemed that as long as he made any unusual movements, they would strike first.
Suren pretended not to know and unscrewed the water bottle. He had no intention of reaching for his gun. He knew very well that even if he drew his gun as quickly as possible, he could only fire one or two shots at most. There were eight people on the other side. And there was also that extremely dangerous professional, “Silver Mechanical Hand” Dick.
But the good news was that except for the two sentries, the other six people were within ten meters of Suren. And this distance happened to be within the range of influence of [Curse Item – Runic Harlequin Puppet]. …
Suren’s face showed a sincere smile, as if he was about to drink the water. But just as the water bottle was placed at his mouth, he stopped and suddenly remembered something. He smiled and said, “Captain Dick, thank you for your warm hospitality. Although I encountered some danger
on this trip, I still gained something…” Speaking of which, Suren calmly reached for the bag hanging from his waist and revealed the wooden box inside.
“Suren, you are too kind…” Although Dick looked full of smiles, there was a hint of vigilance in his eyes. He was very confident that even if the opponent detonated a hand grenade at this time, he could dodge it the first time. “This is something I found in a mansion ruin before. I haven’t figured out what it is used for yet, so I gave it to Captain Dick…” Suren also pretended to be oblivious and smiled at Dick, opening the box and taking out the runic puppet.
Since there were curse items of spiritual control in this world, there must be something to resist spiritual control. In his mind, Suren was actually considering that even if it didn’t achieve the expected effect, he would still have an excuse.
Apparently, Dick was deceived by Suren’s “kind” smile and saw that he didn’t make any dangerous moves. Those people didn’t have any defenses either. Of course, no one would expect him to take out such an “odd thing”! …
In the moment when the puppet was exposed to the air, something eerie happened! An invisible spiritual power fluctuated instantly. Obviously, the power of this puppet was stronger than expected. Even Dick, who saw the puppet, instantly froze with a terrified expression. The other five people by the bonfire also seemed to have their souls sucked away and their gazes became dull.
Suren was waiting for this moment! Suren saw the sudden fear in their eyes and a fierce light burst out of his eyes! Without any hesitation, he pulled out his gun from his waist and pulled the trigger at Dick’s eye socket in front of him. Suren had long noticed that this guy, as the only “professional” in the squad, had many magical abilities like Ivan. So, even if he was controlled, Suren felt that this guy had to be killed first! “Bang!” His head exploded like a smashed watermelon. 「Obtained ‘Dick Nelson’s Memory Fragment*2’」「You have gained some ‘Intermediate Mechanical Knowledge’」「Acquired Memory: ‘The distortion events in the city are increasing, I feel…’」「Steam Mechanical Combat Experience +4」「Spiritual Power +」
The corpse also emitted “gray mist,” and Suren waved his big hand, swallowing the gray mist into his soul. He didn’t have time to digest the obtained information and immediately raised his hand to shoot again, pulling the trigger at the sniper on the watchtower in the distance.
One shot hit the lower abdomen, and a figure fell down. The two snipers didn’t fall into the puppet’s control range, but they also didn’t expect Suren to suddenly attack. Let alone that Suren could instantly “control” six people in their team and instantly kill their captain. Suren fired two more shots without giving them time to react.
Then he decisively took cover behind a mud wall. As expected, the next second, with a “crack,” a bullet exploded on the mud wall, nearly hitting Suren. Then, there was a continuous shooting sound, and the wall that was nearly a meter behind Suren was instantly shattered.
At this moment, the only remaining threat was the sniper hiding on the watchtower. Suren knew that he didn’t have the advantage in marksmanship and terrain. If they exchanged fire, the pistol definitely couldn’t beat a sniper rifle. He didn’t have time to waste, so he directly pulled out the runic pistol filled with special alchemical bullets and fired several shots toward the sniper’s position on the sentry post.
[Alchemy Bullet (Incendiary Round)]*2, [Alchemy Bullet (High Explosive Round)]*2, [Alchemy Bullet (Shock Round)]*2. Although he only loaded the large revolver with six rounds, he directly unleashed firepower against the sniper. Suren didn’t know that this round of shooting consumed much more ammunition than a hitman’s annual budget.
The power of the three special bullets was astonishing. After the ammunition was fired, the entire watchtower was directly blasted into oblivion. The explosion noise from hundreds of meters away was very loud, especially the last two “shock rounds”, even Suren felt a buzzing sound in his head.
He didn’t waste any time and left the mud wall, rushing out. Due to his heightened vision, he saw the struggling sniper attempting to crawl up. He then added two shots. “Bang!” “Bang!” The body fell to the ground. 「Obtained ‘Sinus Catt’s Memory Fragment*2’」「You have gained some ‘Basic Alchemy Knowledge’」「Gun Experience +6」「Spiritual Power +」 …
Suren didn’t dare to be careless and found another sniper who was shot in the abdomen and also added a shot. Then, he returned to the bonfire and without hesitation, fired four shots, killing four of the twisted figures that were twisted like puppets. Leaving the vice-captain, Laun.
After peeling off the memories of three bodies in a row, Suren discovered that his head had become a little overwhelmed from consuming too many memories. It felt like staying up all night, with his thoughts muddled. However, he also found that if he didn’t peel the memories in time, the “gray mist” on the body would become lighter and lighter. The longer the interval, the lower the quality of the memory peeled off. After about five minutes, the gray mist on the body would completely dissipate.
At this moment, Suren roughly understood some of the limitations of the ability of the [Death Reaper]. He rested for a moment, waited for the memory fragments in his mind to be completely digested, and then opened his eyes. Suren took a deep breath, his eyes shining brightly. “With this [Reaper] talent, I feel like I can become invincible in this world…” The souls of the seven corpses brought him many benefits. His mind suddenly gained a lot of strange knowledge and an understanding of this world. He felt that he had visibly become stronger. In just a few minutes of digestion, he felt that he had learned knowledge and skills that would take one or two years to learn! …
Suren put the [Runic Harlequin Puppet] back into the wooden box. He looked at Laun, who was bound tightly by him, and muttered to himself, “Originally, I didn’t plan to communicate with you in this way…” Unfortunately, you had to harbor evil intentions.
After the puppet was put away, Laun regained his consciousness from the spiritual confusion. As if just waking up from a dream, this guy still didn’t understand what had happened when he saw the corpses all over the camp, and then he looked at Suren. Instantly, a look of terror appeared on his face. “You…” Suren didn’t give him more time to speak and quickly tore off his name tag. He smiled and said, “Don’t be afraid, I just need to know one thing. This is not a request, but a command. Answer me truthfully, what is the purpose of your trip this time?”
