Mechanical Alchemist

Chapter 156: Twisted light gate

Su'en disappeared without a trace when the five major families and the City Guard's troops arrived to surround her.

There was a commotion in the Dawn Camp all night.

Those guys were probably trying to find the accomplices of the wanted criminal, but they ultimately found nothing.

As a participant in the crime, Su'en was even more at ease.

He found a secluded cliff to rest for the night.

Camping on the rock wall was not bad, except that occasionally some strange-looking insects would crawl up to "say hello".

No one slept soundly. Early in the morning, Su'en squatted not far from the Dawn Camp, on the road leading to the ruins.

He and a group of penniless wanderers who couldn't afford to stay in the city were waiting for the large group of hunters to come and pick them up for the expedition.

Before long, the troops began to leave the city one after another.

Listening to the hunting teams heading towards the East City, Su'en casually joined a team that was heading in the same direction as his destination and set off.

Following the team, he could inquire about some news from last night.

Going on the expedition, it was also good for fabricating a "background".

.......

In the eastern part of the city, near the Central Ring, there was a huge black lake.

There were ruins of buildings by the lake, which was where the "1911 Hotel" was discovered.

Before coming here, Su'en thought that there wouldn't be too many people here.

But when he arrived, there were about two thousand people.

These guys had already set up a small camp here with stones and mechanical equipment.

Looking at the flags on the tents in the camp and the numerous hunting teams, there were dozens of them.

Naturally, the responsible ones were the direct hunting teams of the five major families.

Su'en didn't rush to enter the camp like the other hunters to inquire about the news of this cursed space. Instead, he looked at the camp's defense situation.

He wasn't thinking about how to get in, but instinctively thinking about how to escape after coming out of the cursed space.

He still had the card that Mr. Black gave him in his pocket, which made Su'en feel like the danger of the instance had decreased a lot.

But... he had a feeling that something was going to happen.

Looking around, he didn't find the guy who looked like the cloaked person he saw before.

Su'en didn't pay much attention and entered the camp.

In addition to the armed hunters, there were also information merchants who looked like "scalpers" selling information in the camp.

These guys brought their business directly to the front line of hunting, without having to enter the ruins themselves. They only needed to buy the latest information from the hunters who came out and then consolidate and sell it to make a profit.

Most of the people who came here to hunt were hunters with some strength.

No one would be stingy to buy some information to increase their chances of survival.

The information merchants were doing well.

While Su'en was wandering around the camp, a middle-aged man with a small beard approached him, "Hey, brother, want to buy some information? The latest information, guaranteed to be worth it..."

"How much?"

"Fifty thousand."

"Forget it then."

"Ten thousand?"

"No money."

"Tsk, poor guy..."

Su'en wasn't in a hurry to spend money, but instead listened carefully to eavesdrop on the surroundings.

It's better to listen to multiple sources than just one.

After inquiring, the information was similar to what he bought from "Red Nose" Fox before, but there was some new information as well.

Basically, it said that the "ownership" of this cursed space belonged to the five major families, but they couldn't handle it themselves, so it was open to all hunting teams. After entering, they must complete a designated exploration task assigned by the families. If they completed it, the rewards would belong to the individuals, and there would be additional rewards. If they didn't complete it, they would have to pay a hefty "entrance fee" when they came out.

Most of the ninety-nine rooms on the first floor of the hotel space were explored in this way.

These conditions didn't sound too bad.

Risk in exchange for reward.

As for what the five major families wanted, in their words, they only wanted the high-level items on the second floor of the space and the final "Cursed Source".

......

The twisted light gate of the cursed space appeared twice a day, with about a hundred people entering each time.

The casualty rate varied, sometimes high and sometimes low.

Sometimes they would be wiped out for no reason,

Sometimes most of the people would survive,

Overall, the death rate was about sixty percent.

This was still within an acceptable range.

Also, because there were exploration tasks arranged in advance, the people in the camp roughly estimated the "high-risk rooms" on the first floor that couldn't be explored based on the casualty rate.

As for the information Su'en wanted to know about the second floor, it was still scarce.

In summary, most of the first floor consisted of first-tier anomalies (black iron and silver);

As for the second floor, it was said that the anomalies all started at the silver level, and there were also an unknown number of second-tier anomalies.

Su'en also understood that the higher the floor, the higher the combat power of the guests transformed into monsters, and the better the materials produced.

.....The death rate of this instance is not low. Although there are one or two thousand people in the camp, not many dare to go in.

Just right, there are two groups every day, which can almost fill up a hundred people.

Su'en signed up for the next round of exploration in the cursed space and received a mission to explore room 1088.

Then he sat in the waiting area and listened to the temporary captain explain some precautions for this time.

"After entering, no one is allowed to hunt down the guests in the hotel in advance! Otherwise, after midnight, these dead will definitely turn into 'phantom species', which will harm yourself and others!"

"Remember, rooms 1021, 1055, and 1071 are not allowed to be opened, and you are not allowed to disturb the guests in these three rooms!"

"You can search for clues, but don't offend the guests or do anything strange. Otherwise, if you are caught by the hotel security, you will be locked up and undoubtedly die! Last time, there was a guy who got carried away and harassed a noblewoman. He enjoyed it himself, but he also prevented the noblewoman, who was originally a second-floor guest, from going upstairs at midnight. She directly turned into a second-order anomaly on the first floor and almost wiped out that team..."

"Before the ghost mist appears, we have plenty of time to search for clues. But remember, don't trigger some difficult plot points casually. The fewer accidents, the greater our chances of survival in the end."

"..."

Su'en listened silently, which was not far from his speculation.

Although the plot in each cursed space they entered was the same, the outcome was different because of human intervention.

For example, when the midnight ghost mist descends, there is a big difference between guests in rooms and guests not in rooms.

Although they will all become anomalies, the difference in combat power may be the gap between black iron and silver anomalies.

There is also a big difference between being dead and alive. The dead will become "phantom species" and the living will become "zombie species"...

.......

While Su'en and the others were listening to the temporary captain's explanation, the camp suddenly became noisy.

"Look! The exit of the cursed space has appeared!"

"It's the 'Falcon Squad'..."

"Hmm... quite a few people survived this time. It seems like they had a good harvest."

"..."

Not far from the camp, a several-meter-high elliptical distorted portal suddenly appeared.

Like a black hole, it sucked in the surrounding light.

This is the usual way the cursed space appears.

In just a moment of noise, some hunters with more or less injuries walked out of the pitch-black portal one after another.

However, although these survivors looked a bit disheveled, they all had relieved smiles on their faces.

Coming out alive means that the harvest has now turned into "real gold and silver".

At the moment these people came out, professional merchants had already stationed themselves at the entrance of the space, competing to make offers to buy the treasures they brought out.

"Thirteen pieces of black iron, five pieces of silver cursed materials..."

"Oh, it's actually a rare ancient job material..."

"Oh my god, Belok, where did you find so many alchemy books? This batch alone can be sold for at least seven million!"

"Wow~ high-purity gemstones, these are good materials for enchantment. One piece is worth three hundred thousand. Brother, you've made a fortune. This bag is worth..."

"..."

The merchants were counting the hunters' harvest.

Each offer stimulated the excitement of the hunters outside.

Not to mention that these hunters might have hidden good treasures that they didn't bring out, just the current harvest alone was worth millions per person.

For the majority of ordinary hunters, this was already a fortune worth risking their lives for.

Su'en also squeezed into the crowd to watch, but his gaze fell on the distorted portal.

With the All-Knowing Eye, he identified the result.

[1911 Hotel]

Explanation: A large-scale compound cursed space, sealing a fragment of the super-tier creature "***". The guests have been contaminated by corpse energy, and at midnight, they will completely transform into anomalies. Surviving in the space for twenty-four hours will cause the space exit to appear again; death in the space will impact and destroy the seal, current progress of breaking the seal: 1157/3000;

Su'en saw the information about this cursed space and remained calm.

Even though he saw that the "source of contamination" was a fragment of an unrecognized super-tier creature, he didn't feel surprised at all.

Without this super-tier existence, it would be impossible for an entire hotel full of people to transform into boss-level monsters.

When he saw the last sentence, he muttered to himself, "As expected, it's this kind of nature..."

This cursed space, which produces good results, is definitely not a good intention of the five major families.

Su'en had only suspected before, but now, looking at this information, it was solid evidence.They seemed to have discovered another way to break through this space.

That is, instead of exploring, they directly used human lives to fill the gap.

Perhaps because the area being developed recently was getting larger and larger, and the slave group was not enough, these guys thought of attracting scattered groups in this way.

"I was wondering why the death rate remained high, so that's why..."

In the same instance, logically, the more times it was cleared, the lower the casualty rate would be. But here, the death rate always remained around 60%, which was quite strange.

But it wasn't all about total annihilation, they left some people alive to spread the news and attract more people.

No matter how you look at it, it seemed fishy.

Upon seeing this, Su'en lost interest in the treasures produced by the ruins. He focused on each person who came out, especially those who were uninjured or didn't seem too excited.

Soon, he discovered something.

......

After the twisted light gate appeared, it disappeared again.

By evening, the entrance appeared again.

And there were just over a hundred people in the camp, lined up waiting to enter.

Su'en was going anyway, so he led the undead to line up in the middle of the queue.

He scanned the team entering this time again, but still didn't find the person who might be the "Card Cloak Man".

"Did I get it wrong?"

Su'en didn't think much about it and followed the team into the space.

After he entered, he didn't know that a small incident had occurred outside.

The number of people entering the space was not constant, it was about a hundred people.

But in reality, the stronger the people who entered, the fewer the number.

Originally, over a hundred people were prepared, but as they entered, the light gate suddenly disappeared.

This abnormal scene left everyone puzzled.

"Eh... why did the light gate disappear after only so many people entered this time?"

"It seems like only over sixty, right?"

"That's not right... Even when there was a second-tier professional leading the team, over ninety people entered. Why are there so few this time?"

"Did the space have a problem?"

"..."

The news quickly reached the ears of the managers of this small camp.

However, this did not attract their attention.

All kinds of strange things could happen in the ruins, and they thought this fluctuation in the number of people was probably normal.

The leaders of the five major families' hunting groups were troubled by other things.

In the tent, several leaders were gathered together, discussing something with worried expressions.

"The higher-ups have given a death order to break through this sealed space as soon as possible. But from the looks of it, at least one or two thousand people need to be sacrificed before this space can be broken."

"I heard that there was a big mess at the main camp last night. The mysterious item brought back by the 'Blood Axe Group' was stolen, which angered the higher-ups of the Black Tower..."

"Ah, it's useless to talk about those things. Spread the news and try to attract more hunters..."

"But no matter how much we spread the news, only about two hundred people can enter per day. We can't always kill people inside, can we? If the death rate is too high, it won't attract scattered groups after one or two times..."

"..."

......

On the other hand, Su'en and his group had already entered the cursed space.

This was the street scene of Dawn City a thousand years ago.

The hunters appeared on the street, and in front of them was a luxurious building with a sign that read "1911 Restaurant".

The temporary team leader also noticed the abnormal number of people, slightly puzzled, but didn't think much of it.

"The number of people this time is a bit small, everyone be careful. Remember the precautions I told you before, alright, disperse..."

"Yes."

Everyone dispersed.

Seeing that the number of people coming in was significantly reduced, Su'en guessed something and thought to himself: "So he really came in..."

However, he didn't rush to enter the restaurant to search for treasures like the others, but found the source of the faint "malice" and followed it.