Chapter 1 A Headshot

Suren watched the “gray mist” on Jack’s corpse before him and swallowed it casually.

“Oh…”

After digesting the memory fragments in his mind, he let out a soft exclamation, a look of surprise appearing on his face.

[Acquired Memory Fragments of ‘Jack Edward’ *6]

[You have acquired some information: ‘Damn it, if Reina is hurt, all the family’s investments will be for nothing…’]

[You have mastered a large amount of ‘Alchemy Knowledge’…]

[You have mastered some knowledge of ‘Elementary, Intermediate, and Advanced Potionology’…]

[You have comprehended some ‘Intermediate Mysticism Knowledge’…]

[You have mastered fluent [Gunnish]…]

[You have acquired some ‘Advanced Firearms Theory Knowledge’, Firearms Experience +365]

[Spirit +0.11]

The memory fragments obtained from this corpse made Suren suddenly feel like his brain was filled with a lot of new things.

After a moment, he recovered from the dazed feeling and couldn’t help but sigh, “The students of the Black Tower Academy, do they all have such an exaggerated amount of knowledge…”

This was the first time Suren had harvested so much “knowledge” from the same corpse.

The corpses in the outer city arena had very little useful knowledge. Being able to harvest a little practical experience was already good. Ninety percent of the memories in the minds of those gladiators living at the bottom were useless information: brothels, casinos, taverns… and scenes of entanglement with various women.

The memory fragments that were peeled off had a small chance of yielding experience and skills, and a high chance of yielding this low-quality content.

But Jack's memory was the opposite.

Alchemy knowledge, painstakingly acquired over many years at the academy, occupied a large amount of his memory space. Just peeling off a little bit was like digging up a “treasure.”

After thinking about it, Suren felt he could understand.

As the top aristocratic academy in Old Lunden, the “Black Tower Alchemy Academy” placed no survival pressure on its students. Their only task was to cram all kinds of knowledge. The students had top-level professionals as teachers and could access the richest alchemy classics and ancient scrolls. Naturally, they were among the small group of people who possessed the highest quality alchemy knowledge.

Harvesting this soul fragment of Jack's made Suren feel like he had saved at least several years of hard study.

Moreover, much of it was “advanced alchemy knowledge” that even outer city people couldn't get access to, even with money.

The "firearms theory knowledge" alone filled the gap in Suren's theoretical understanding. Before this, he knew how to use many firearms techniques, but he didn't understand the principles behind them. He couldn't be considered to have fully mastered the essence.

Now that he had filled in this theoretical knowledge, his firearms experience had also skyrocketed, instantly reaching [Advanced Firearms Mastery 487/2000].

Suren was also very curious about what the legendary “Firearms Master” would look like when the experience bar was filled.

And the [Gunnish] language had also changed from "Beginner" to "Fluent," and there were improvements in mysticism and potionology as well. Although they didn't seem to be useful for the time being, they were still considerable gains. Knowledge was always beneficial.

…

Suren collected the glowing "job change material" and "alchemical implant" from Jack's corpse. Both were silver-grade materials. Along with the storage ring, the two rune firearms on the guy's waist, the combat suit, the advanced gas mask, the night vision goggles, and the protective gear... he stripped them all off.

These were all good things, but they couldn't be exposed to the light.

Just those two rune firearms with flame runes all over them were obviously much better than the famous gun [Three-Headed Ghost] that Suren had obtained before. They felt very smooth in his hands, and their accuracy, stability, recoil, and durability were all superior.

He was very envious, but Suren couldn't use any of these things, or even sell them on the black market to turn them into cash.

Once others discovered these things circulating on the market, the fact that he killed Jack would be exposed.

The "fake death plan" would also fail.

…

Before, he hadn't planned to give up his current identity as a Cross Society member because he felt that things weren't so bad yet.

Now that he knew the identity of that “Reina,” he knew he had to make a decision.

That young lady's background was no small matter: the only daughter of the main family of the Old Lunden’s top financial group, the “Reis Family.”

Even outer city people had heard of this financial family. The group operated two of the most famous companies: the “Old Lunden Residential Drinking Water Supply Company” and the “Heide Mining Group.”

One controlled the residents’ water supply, and the other controlled most of Old Lunden’s mineral development and trade. The scale of their assets was unimaginable.

Someone wanted to kill Reina, which must be related to interests. After all, she was the first in line to inherit the financial group.

Suren had become accustomed to such clichéd plots of wealthy families fighting for position, whether in novels or in reality.

He had no interest in understanding it.

But it was because of being involved in this inexplicable conspiracy that Suren's current situation had become very bad.

Those people chose to ambush her during the trial, naturally considering all factors. First, they lured and killed the instructor, and then released this relentlessly pursuing aberrant monster…

In everyone's eyes, that Reina was doomed.

Once she died, many people would be implicated.

Suren, as the guide, would definitely have an inescapable connection.

In the eyes of the inner city magnates, the lives of outer city people were not worth mentioning. They wouldn't listen to your explanation about whether you were powerless to help. If the young lady died, someone had to take the blame and be buried with her.

At that time, even if he didn't die, once he was interrogated and the original owner's identity was exposed, Suren's ending would be very tragic.

So, although it seemed to have nothing to do with him, he actually had no choice.

As a precaution, he decided to “run away.”

But after all, the Cross Society had taken him in, and both Qian Tiao and Captain Kai had taken good care of him.

Even if Suren ran away, he didn't want to implicate them.

Now that Jack was forcing him to go deep into the crypt to rescue people, everything was justified.

The two of them “died” in the crypt, their bones not even remaining. This was the best outcome.

A small guide gave his life to save people. What could those inner layer magnates say?

At that time, the Cross Society would be implicated the least.

Suren felt that he had done his best. No one could do better than him.

…

While Suren was cleaning up the spoils, he was already planning his life after he left.

Giving up his current identity meant that he had to give up everything he was familiar with.

This would be a very difficult process. He couldn't expose his marksmanship, his living habits, his current image… Everything had to start over.

Thinking about it made his head hurt, so Suren didn't think too much about it.

He dealt with the scene of the murder to avoid being traced. Then, he carried the corpse and walked towards the depths of the crypt.

Since he planned to run away, he had something more important to do now.

That was to find that [Sealed Object] scythe!

His identity was gone, but he still had to take the treasure.

Now that several students and instructors with sensitive identities had died, the inner city bigwigs would definitely organize a large-scale search and cleanup of the crypt before they saw the bodies.

If high-level professionals came down, these aberrant monsters in the crypt couldn't stop them.

Now that the scythe was nearby, it might be found.

Therefore, Suren planned to find that thing and take it away before running away.

This was the best opportunity, and maybe the only opportunity.

…

Carrying the corpse for a while, Suren saw a vertical pit on the side of the cave.

In his memory, this seemed to lead to a very deep underground area.

He seemed to hear the sound of monsters moving, so he threw the corpse, which he had treated the wounds of, down into the pit. In the crypt, fresh corpses were the aberrant monsters’ favorite food, and the blood would attract nearby aberrant monsters. It wouldn't be long before even the bones were eaten clean.

Suren didn't think too much about it and continued to move towards the depths of the cave.

Fortunately, the previous battle had cleared out most of the zombie species in this area, so the journey was smooth.

Then, following the memory route he had harvested, he arrived near the underground lair where the scythe was located.

This part of the crypt was connected to part of the city's sewer system. He could hear the sound of water, and the air was filled with a strong stench.

But suddenly, Suren saw traces of what looked like petroleum on the ground, and his expression became solemn. “Those ‘amoebas’ actually chased after them here?”

He hadn't seen any traces along the way. It seemed that Assistant Instructor Rosa and the girl named Reina had led them from another tunnel. They should also be trying to find a route to the ground, but it seemed to be blocked.

“Hopefully, I won’t run into them.”

Suren muttered in his heart.

Although he knew that those amoebas almost never attacked anyone, it was best not to run into them.

Not far away, as he was about to reach the place where the scythe was located, Suren saw traces of a battle again.

Several corpses of spider-shaped aberrant monsters lay in the tunnel. The corpses looked like they had been torn apart by firearms, and green blood was flowing out. Upon closer inspection, these spider corpses actually had a strange human face pattern on their abdomens and backs.