In the vast cursed space, the phosphorescent flames continued to burn.

The high temperature and dense smoke had reached the point where one couldn’t see their own fingers in front of them.

Fortunately, thanks to the all-encompassing silk threads of the “Puppet Theater,” Su’en was able to precisely locate the hundred-plus corpses.

This search yielded countless spoils of war.

Hundreds of storage rings, alchemical prosthetics, professional materials…

Equipment, firearms and ammunition, steam machinery…

If it weren’t for Su’en’s own storage space, he wouldn’t have been able to take much of it with him.

Of course, in addition to the spoils, Su’en also harvested over a hundred soul fragments.

It must be said, the quality of the soul fragments from Oliver’s elite team was much higher than those from the outer city.

During the battle between the Cross Society and the Steam Party, Su’en harvested the fragments of several hundred people. The quantity was substantial, but in terms of quality, they were far inferior to this hundred-man elite team.

In the outer city gangs, most were brutes who barely recognized a few common characters. They possessed plenty of strange knowledge and practical skills, but almost no alchemical knowledge.

Whereas nearly everyone in this hundred-man team was from the inner city.

Not to mention the few second-tier professionals, even the dozens of first-tier professionals, and even the ordinary team members were literate, many having studied in the academy system.

After this harvest, Su’en felt that the gaps in his foundational knowledge were instantly filled.

Mechanics, runes, various techniques, tracking skills, wilderness experience, monster compendium…

Bomb mastery, swordsmanship, rope binding, jailbreak techniques, cooking, flirting…

These elite team members each had their own areas of expertise,

With this harvest, Su’en felt like he had amassed a vast amount of knowledge in various fields.

Of course, the cost of harvesting so many soul fragments in such a short time was not small.

Su’en hadn’t dared to carefully digest the excess information and just crammed it into his mind.

Even so, it was like being drunk, his head heavy and foggy.

After digesting some, he continued to harvest…

He also discovered a pattern: after his mental strength value increased, the efficiency of absorption was much higher, and the heavy feeling became weaker and weaker.

…….

Su’en was constantly calculating the time.

For an ordinary professional to travel from the camp to this location at full speed, it would take about half an hour. If they had to accommodate the speed of a puppeteer with a weak physique like Danze Junior, it would probably take an hour.

So Su’en wasn’t in a hurry and stayed in the sealed space for about half an hour.

After harvesting the spoils of war and having enough time to gather the bodies, he set them on fire to destroy the evidence.

After doing all this, he found a direction near the sealing barrier, opened a spatial gate, and stepped through.

The scenery changed all around him, from a smoke-filled environment to a low, dilapidated building.

Su’en looked around; it was roughly the position he had estimated before being sealed, a location he had observed in advance.

The spatial gate was concealed by the dilapidated building, perfectly avoiding the line of sight of others.

When he emerged, there were already many people piled up outside the barrier, from all four directions.

The Oliver family had deployed dozens of teams in the southern ruins of the city to ensure Su’en’s capture, ensuring nothing went wrong.

The barrier couldn’t be opened, nor could they see inside.

These late pursuers, bored from waiting, were gathered around the barrier, whispering to each other about the operation.

“Hey, do you think Mr. Lloyd and his team caught that wanted criminal?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Once the barrier is sealed, not even a fly can escape.”

“Pity, I was a bit too far away and missed out on that easy bonus. Danze Junior said there would be a reward for participating in the encirclement, and a hefty one for capturing that guy…”

“Yeah, the third team got lucky. Hey, do you think that ‘SS-ranked fugitive Su’en’ really has three heads and six arms? I heard that this time, there were no less than five second-tier professionals involved in the hunt…”

“Who knows. An SS-ranked fugitive definitely has some tricks up his sleeve. But it seems there were not only five second-tier, but maybe seven or eight?”

“We’ll let you in on a secret, but don’t spread it around. The reason Danze Junior is so frantic is related to the last monastery hunt. It’s said that the young master suffered a big loss last time, got his materials stolen, and even had a few second-tier professionals killed by Su’en…”

“Cut it out, that’s an exaggeration, right? Su’en is just relying on having two ‘Sealed Items.’ Give them to me, and I could do it too…”

“…”

Su’en casually listened to a few sentences from inside the dilapidated building, didn’t step out, and roughly figured out the enemy’s position.

There were quite a few enemies outside, but without any second-tier professionals, they posed almost no threat.

More and more teams were returning, and he had no intention of staying here any longer.

Just as he was about to teleport away, he suddenly heard gunshots.

Then, there was no movement from those outside.

“They haven’t caught him yet, huh? That guy sure can jump around.”

“I heard that guy alone wiped out the fifteenth team to the north. If it weren’t for the patrol team discovering him, he almost managed to break the barrier.”

“Let’s all be careful. The patrol team is responsible for the pursuit; we just need to guard the barrier.”

“But speaking of which, Su’en’s accomplice is really loyal, to dare come alone in this situation to face death…”

“…”

Su’en frowned upon hearing this.

My accomplice?

His eyes shifted, and he immediately thought of something.

During the ambush at the trading location, he remembered someone blocking the follow-up shots from the “Gun King” Geiger.

Su’en immediately guessed who it was.

…….

The sound of gunfire moved towards the depths of the northern ruins.

Su’en didn’t delay, formed the sorcerer’s seal with his hands, teleported several times, and escaped the surveillance of those people.

He followed the direction from which the gunshots had come and saw an elite ten-man squad supporting two injured members, cautiously heading back towards the barrier.

Su’en originally wanted to go up and “ask for directions,” but suddenly, his ears twitched, and he noticed something.

Looking again, a figure burst out from the mist in the distance, clearly a hooded assassin flickering in and out of visibility.

The person was incredibly fast, moving like a ghost, flickering in and out.

The entire body was pressed low, as if to stick to the ground. Even more eerie was that his feet seemed not to be stepping on the ground, but on the air.

“Eh… Air-stepping?”

Su’en recognized this technique from his memory.

He had seen it once before, used by the Thousand Strands Smoke Ghost.

It was a very high-end secret technique, requiring extreme coordination of the body and explosive muscle strength. Only a few second-tier melee professionals knew it.

If it weren’t for his improved eyesight, it would be teleportation-level speed.

Su’en raised an eyebrow as the person, like a ghost, darted through the crowd.

The figure passed, and only then did a series of explosions sound in the air, “pop” “pop” “pop”…

Then, a burst of gunfire, “tap” “tap” “tap”…

Bullets sparked everywhere on the ruins, but the hooded assassin had already vanished.

In the crowd, a scream rang out as a soldier’s neck was slit open, blood gushing out. The cut was cunningly placed in a gap not covered by mechanical bones, killing him instantly.

“Damn it! Damn it!”

The team leader was livid with rage but helpless.

Su’en recognized the cloaked figure and murmured, “It’s really Kay…”

Saying this, he didn’t delay and teleported into the midst of the group.

Before they could understand what happened, eight spider spears pierced through, and the bodies fell in unison.

Su’en knew Kay was nearby and called out into the thick fog, “Captain, long time no see.”

Hearing this, the hooded man,

Although his face was not clear, his scrutinizing gaze was obviously shocked.

An elite squad, wiped out in a single encounter?

Looking at the familiar dark golden eight-armed spider spear, Kay recognized the person as Su’en.

Su’en cleaned up the spoils from the bodies, threw an incendiary grenade to burn the evidence, and then said to Kay indifferently, “Let’s go, we’ll talk somewhere else.”

Saying that, he glanced at Kay and led the way deeper into the ruins.

The hooded assassin hesitated on the spot for a moment.

He looked at that figure and decided to follow.

…….

Su’en walked ahead,

Kay followed at a distance, not saying a word.

Two friends who once had a life-and-death bond were caught in an awkward atmosphere.

Su’en raised an eyebrow.

He had a strange feeling.

Kay was still alive, but his soul seemed to have died.

Finally, after walking for a while, Su’en found a place that was not easy to be surrounded and stopped.

Not that he didn’t want to go further, but he noticed that Kay had a gunshot wound.

Su’en found a stone stump to sit on and then tossed over a potent healing potion.

Kay caught it instinctively, looked at it, and seemed hesitant.

He also found a stone to sit on, holding the potion in his hand without moving, seemingly indifferent to his own wound.

The atmosphere not only didn’t ease but became even more awkward.

Thinking it over, Su’en broke the silence and said, “Thanks for just now.”

Whether it was blocking the shots from “Gun King” Geiger or coming to the barrier, he was risking his life to save someone.

Even alone, he tried his best to save someone.

Su’en knew that this was still the same Captain Kay.

Kay’s gaze was evasive; he didn’t look at Su’en but stared at the contours of the buildings deep in the ruins, becoming more profound.

After a long silence, he uttered three words: “I’m sorry.”

Su’en heard deep self-blame in his tone but shook his head, “Captain, I’ve never blamed you, you don’t need to be so hard on yourself.”

Although Su’en didn’t know what had happened to Kay, he knew that after the transport incident, it must have been tough for him.

The Smoke Ghost, whom he trusted like a father, turned out to be a traitor to the Cross Society, and a chance he thought would lead to great success ended up killing his most trusted brother.

Kay shook his head and said, “I’ve been clinging to life just to say ‘I’m sorry’ to you.”

But having said that, he seemed relieved and finally turned to look directly at Su’en, then took off his hood and smiled at Su’en, “Brother, I’m happy to see you’re still alive, and I’m glad you’ve become so strong…”

The smile was sincere, and his eyes twinkled with relief.

At that moment, there was finally a sign of life in him, but his words sounded more like a farewell, the smile fading, and the last bit of attachment to the world gone.

Finally, Su’en understood why he wasn’t in a hurry to tend to his own injuries.

The half-face covered in grotesque tumors and the lifeless state of mind made it seem as if he was looking at a corpse that had walked out of the grave.

“I must have scared you, huh?”

Kay laughed self-deprecatingly.

Clearly, he knew he wouldn’t live long.

He didn’t want to say more, stood up, and said, “Alright, I’ve said what I needed to. Seeing you alive, I have no regrets.”

Kay put on his hood, tossed the potion back to Su’en, and chuckled, “I won’t live for a few more days anyway, so there’s no point in wasting such a good potion.”

“…”

Su’en looked at the potion in his hand, his gaze complex.

Kay grinned, finally showing that signature radiant smile, “In the next life, I’ll still be your brother.”

But it seemed he hadn’t smiled in a long time, and the expression felt foreign to him.

The smile hadn’t fully formed before it was withdrawn.

After a pause, he looked uncertainly at Su’en and added, “I hope you won’t mind.”

Seeing Kay about to leave, Su’en thought of something, shook his head, and called out, “Captain, wait!”

Kay turned back with a puzzled look.

Su’en didn’t waste words and tossed him two potions.

Looking at the potions in his hand, Kay frowned, even more puzzled.

Su’en didn’t wait for him to ask and directly said, “The blue one is a ‘Mutation Suppression Potion,’ which should solve your problem after injection. The green one, you should recognize, it’s the ‘X Serum’ we robbed together from the Steam Party convoy.””???”

Kay looked at the two vials, his gaze growing complex.

Doubt, amazement, bewilderment… but most of all, disbelief!

Could mutations be reversed?

But when he saw that green vial, it seemed to trigger memories of that robbery they had pulled off, and a hint of reminiscence crossed his face.

Thinking back, if it weren’t for Su’en’s formidable strength, they would have been in big trouble that time.

And now, it felt like that happened a very long time ago…

Kay’s eyes suddenly deepened.

Su’en didn’t give him much time to think and went on to explain in detail: “The ‘X Serum’ has a 75% chance of significantly enhancing your physical strength after injection, and a 25% chance of death. But from what I’ve seen, your body has a high tolerance for mutations, so the success rate of the injection should be quite high. You can choose to inject the ‘X Serum’ first, then the [Suppression Inhibitor]. Of course, there’s a minor side effect; it will turn your skin blue for a long period of time.”

Usually, once a mutation occurs, humans would lose their will and turn into monsters in a very short time.

But Kay’s condition was quite special.

Su’en had seen it once in the Bell Tower Freaks’ space.

He was sustained solely by his willpower, not fully mutated.

But it was a dead end sooner or later.

…….

To be honest, Kay owned half of those “X Serum” vials.

Now that Su’en was confident, it was only natural for him to give one to Kay.

Hearing this series of unbelievable statements, Kay’s expression became very rich.

In his current situation, death was certain for anyone, yet Su’en was talking about saving him?

Doubt?

No, he had none.

It was just that… he felt very complicated.

Kay looked at Su’en, then at the vial in his hand, as if he was back in the days when he was still with the Cross Society.

In those desperate times, Su’en always managed to bring him hope for life in an unbelievable way.

Kay thought of something and smiled.

But then he let out a bitter laugh.

The light that had just sparked in his eyes suddenly extinguished.

He shook his head, not dwelling on the vial, but said, “I’m now a peripheral member of the Umbrella Organization. They kept me alive to find clues about you through me. I’ve been clinging to life just to see you and say ‘I’m sorry.’ Now… I have no regrets. Even if I could live, I wouldn’t continue to work for them.”

The life that Smoke Ghost had arranged for him,

was not what he wanted.

Su’en: “Then defect.”

“It’s not that simple…”

Kay’s tone was heavy, as if he was shackled by an invisible chain.

He shook his head and explained, “To control some special peripheral members, the Umbrella Organization makes them take a slow-acting poison. They must receive an antidote every month, or they won’t live long. I won’t go back anymore…”

Su’en looked at Kay, his tone slightly odd, “If it’s the antidote for the Umbrella Organization’s ‘Grom Parasitic Toxin’… I think I happen to have it.”

“???”

Kay listened as Su’en directly named the toxin, and the corner of his eye twitched involuntarily.

He felt an absurd yet real… sense of familiarity!

This guy, it seemed like he knew everything, nothing could stump him!