Mechanical Alchemist

After successfully securing his job, Su Lun finally became keenly aware of the disparity between "professionals" and "non-professionals."

Moreover, this was still just the gap in physical attributes and skill enhancements after securing a job. The true boost to a "professional's" combat power lay in the "Alchemy Refinement Equipment."

Although Su Lun couldn't see other people's attribute panels, he guessed that advancing to the rare class "Puppeteer" with gold materials would definitely crush other professionals of the same type by a large margin.

This made him increasingly "worried" about the direction he would choose for his future alchemy refinement equipment.

Such a great talent and attributes felt wasted on ordinary refinement blueprints. Even the silver equipment "Thousand Killing Wings" from the gang's executive "Night Angel" Goethe seemed somewhat underwhelming to Su Lun.

The high agility attribute was a match, but the high skill and high spiritual power were somewhat wasted.

Without much thought, Su Lun spent an entire day in meditation at the hotel after getting the job.

He needed time to properly adapt to the explosive growth in his attributes after the job acquisition.

The "Rune Puppet" brought a leap in his physical quality, and for a long time to come, this growth would continue in a diminishing fashion until the curse properties in the materials were fully digested.

Throughout this "digestion" process, he would often hear whispers from the unknown beside his ear. These were insights that the alchemist who had created the "Puppeteer" legacy materials wanted to impart to him; through this process, he might comprehend more professional abilities.

....

As night fell, the fog that enveloped the entire city gradually thickened.

It was time for the work assembly.

Su Lun awoke abruptly from his meditation ahead of time.

His thoughts returned to reality, and the unbearable noise from the room next door crept in again.

He scanned the dismal condition of the room, furrowed his brows, and muttered, "Looks like I need to find a long-term place to stay."

Checked out, he left the hotel.

Su Lun arrived at the assembly point a quarter of an hour early than scheduled.

In front of the abandoned building next to Green Street, a fire was lit in a barrel, the flickering flames casting monster-like shadows on the wall.

But today, the atmosphere was a bit off.

Captain Kai sat on the steps nearby with a cold face, void of any smile. The old birds also didn't joke or frolic today; they were silent as if they knew something was about to happen, sitting quietly.

Su Lun walked to the curb, found a spot, and squatted down in the same ruffian pose as the old birds.

People kept arriving, and some, sensing the abnormal atmosphere, started whispering to each other.

"What happened? I don't think Captain Kai's looking too good..."

"Hey, the sniper who attacked us yesterday was found out. It was an old man from the gang, Miller. He had a really good relationship with Captain Kai, too bad..."

"Ah... you mean Captain Miller from Red Street is a traitor?"

"Shh, the Captain's in a bad mood, don't bring it up."

"..."

Su Lun listened from the side and roughly understood the reason for Kai's darkened countenance.

But he wasn't too surprised.

He had guessed early on that there couldn't be many snipers capable of taking a precise shot from that distance. If it was someone from inside the crucifix, it would be easy to find out.

A friend turning traitor naturally wouldn't put Kai in a good mood.

However, when Su Lun heard that the shooter had committed suicide out of fear, he felt that things might not be so simple.

But he didn't think too much about it, as it was something for the higher-ups of the gang to worry about.

Before long, everyone had arrived.

Captain Kai wasted no words and with a somber face simply said, "Those who didn't make it to yesterday's gang action, step forward!"

Though he didn't raise his voice, everyone could hear the unfeeling coldness in his tone.

The crowd looked at each other, and at that moment, two gang veterans with pale faces stood up.

"Captain, it's not that I didn't want to... I drank too much yesterday, really didn't hear the assembly..."

Big Beard just started to explain something when Kai interrupted him expressionlessly, "Joe, you've been in the gang for a long time, you should be very clear about the gang rules. Do it yourself..."

"I..."

Hearing this, Big Beard's face turned a shade of ugly.

But he knew the gang rules allowed no room for personal feelings. Clenching his teeth, he stopped dithering. He picked up an axe not far away and without hesitation chopped toward his own left wrist.

There was a "crack" as the bone audibly snapped.

```

The sharp axe severed the wrist with a single chop, and the amputated hand hit the ground, blood spraying out.

Joe's head was drenched in cold sweat as he looked at Kai and lowered his head, "Captain, I was wrong."

Kai still didn't speak, but glanced at another person, "Dorn, what about you?"

"I..."

The other guy, a skinny Cock's Comb, though pale with fright, still trembled his way forward.

Not everyone can chop off their own hand without blinking an eye, and this guy was still so scared that he stuttered, "Captain, I... I can't bring myself to do it..."

No sooner had the words left his lips than a flash of cold light followed by another severed palm hitting the ground.

A cacophony of ghostly screams and howls of agony filled the broken building.

....

Su Lun and his gang members had witnessed a bloody gang enforcement scene, but this was also a routine interlude in the life of the gang.

The discipline within the Cross Society was lax, but there was no mercy when it came to breaking gang rules.

Fortunately, in this world, losing an arm wasn't too troublesome, thanks to mechanical prosthetic technology—the most basic mechanical hand cost only about ten to twenty thousand yuan. However, those two unlucky fellows hadn't participated in yesterday's mission, nor had they received any bonuses, so they were likely to be hanging with a severed hand for quite some time.

At seven o'clock in the evening, Kai promptly took everyone for a patrol through three blocks of Green Street.

Half an hour later, they were done.

The veterans did as they pleased—those who desired drink went to drink, those who sought women found women, and the crowd dispersed.

Su Lun once again sat next to the octagonal cage in Crimson Fortress, beginning his night of gambling.

Maybe it was because gamblers who didn't care about winning or losing always had good luck, but Su Lun won two consecutive bets.

However, the stakes were not large, a thousand per bet.

Originally, he wanted to bet on every match tonight just like yesterday, wagering evenly on either the red or blue side to save the trouble of placing bets each time.

This way of betting would definitely not lead to a fortune, but statistically, he wouldn't lose much either.

Since Su Lun wasn't there for gambling money anyway, he didn't really care.

But just when he planned to bet like this, a hearty female voice suddenly came from behind him, seemingly asking him.

"Next round, which side do you fancy?"

Turning around, he was surprised to see a blue-haired woman with a spirited air, wearing four long swords at her waist.

She made her way straight to Su Lun and sprawled casually by the fence. Judging by her earnest demeanor, she appeared to be there to get a clearer view of the arena—every inch the image of a woman addicted to gambling.

"Boss Thousand?!"

Su Lun recognized her as familiar, and at second glance at the fierce tattoo on the arm she revealed, he immediately recognized her as the Cross Society's officer, the 'Four-Armed Rakshasa' Thousand.

Though she was not dressed in the sexually explicit red leather armor from the previous day, today's loose kimono-like dress did little to conceal her towering figure.

Thousand seemed slightly surprised by Su Lun's address and glanced at him, "Yo... a newbie?"

Su Lun nodded, "Yeah."

He figured she was talking to him because of the "Cross Society" emblem on his clothing without making him feel an outsider.

Thousand didn't seem to care about the title and said, "You can just call me Sister Thousand like Kai and the others."

Su Lun nodded, "Alright, Sister Thousand."

In his mind, though, he wondered, what was an officer doing here at the arena?

Thousand's gaze fell back to the octagonal cage; she seemed to have a passionate obsession with gambling.

It appeared she had indeed come specifically to gamble.

She asked again, "You seem to have good luck... who do you think will win the next game?"

"I'm not sure..."

Su Lun knew that the two red tickets in his hand had given away the fact that he had won two consecutive games.

But his betting was purely for show; he was only there to "harvest" memory fragments from the dead bodies, he didn't really favor any side.

Thousand felt his evasive answer was quite unsatisfactory and asked with a raised eyebrow, "So which side are you planning to bet on?"

"Blue... the blue side, I guess."

Su Lun felt that if he continued to bet on red, it would seem very perfunctory, so he changed to blue.

Unexpectedly, as soon as Thousand heard this, she immediately waved over a betting girl and shouted, "Put down ten thousand on the blue side."

```