Standing before the Office Building, Wang Zhen had Little White circle overhead and survey it from above. After comparing the two, he was already seventy percent confident. Next, he needed to go inside and see whether it was suitable for laying out the Transmutation Circle.
Wang Zhen used Money Magic to get into the Office Building with ease. First, he toured it under the pretense of being a prospective tenant. Since the building wasn't fully rented out, it was easy to inspect its layout and count the people inside. Finally, he checked the underground parking garage before leaving.
Back in his hotel suite, Wang Zhen relied on his memory and used Alchemy to make a scale model of the entire Office Building, along with a model of its underground parking garage. Then he began planning the layout of the Philosopher's Stone Transmutation Circle.
His Philosopher's Stone Transmutation Circle only covered a radius of ten meters. To expand it enough to encompass the entire building, he would need to place nodes around the perimeter.
He was now calculating and measuring where to place those nodes. If even one was misplaced or damaged, the entire Transmutation Circle would fail.
It wasn't until after eight that evening that Wang Zhen finished measuring the final node. He left the hotel once more and headed to the now-closed Office Building. This time, he didn't use Money Magic. He could get away with it during the day, but doing the same thing at night would make even a fool realize he was up to no good!
So Wang Zhen used his vampire abilities to hypnotize the security guard, then quickly set about placing the nodes. He had calculated and measured each one over and over, making them as hard to spot as possible. Fortunately, his vampire physique let him work at incredible speed, and before long, every node was in place.
At last, he went into the underground parking garage. The office workers had already gone home, so it was empty—a far cry from the packed rows of cars he'd seen during the day.
Wang Zhen considered that a good thing.
Only with the garage empty could he set up the final position—the most crucial one of all!
This was where he, as the one activating the Philosopher's Stone Transmutation Circle, would have to stand!
Since this circle wasn't entirely powered by his Dead River ability, he couldn't activate it at will. A circle built around Dead River as its core might produce the same effect, but if a node was damaged, the circle would fail. It would also fail if the person activating it moved or couldn't keep supplying mental energy. And the farther the circle's reach extended, the longer the transmutation would take—several times longer, or even ten times as long.
So Wang Zhen had to find the ideal spot. Otherwise, if he got hit, the circle would definitely fail!
He'd already found the spot using his scale model.
Once he reached the ideal position he'd calculated and measured so many times, Wang Zhen held out both hands and used the Transmutation Circle to turn the floor there into a circular pit three meters in diameter. Then he transmuted the excavated soil into a circular slab of the same size and set it over the pit. Before leaving, he transmuted the cracks around the edges, joining everything into one seamless whole.
After all that, even Wang Zhen's sturdy body felt a little tired. It was his first time building a stove for a pot—the first reason was that he was unfamiliar with the work, and the second was that he was unfamiliar with the work. Though he'd made calculations and measurements over and over beforehand, he'd still run into a few snags while setting everything up. Fortunately, he'd prepared well, and managed to get through it without incident.
Now Wang Zhen was ready to head back to the hotel and get some sleep. Once he was well rested, he'd have the energy to fire up the stove and stew some meat tomorrow!
Just as he walked out of the Office Building, Little White suddenly sent him a message. It couldn't see Kayako's family, but it had noticed something was wrong from the state of the newcomers. The clever bird immediately alerted Wang Zhen.
"Takeo Saeki and Toshio Saeki are here, but Kayako isn't?" From the way the newcomers had died, Wang Zhen had more or less guessed it was the father-and-son duo who always attacked together.
Even without Kayako, Takeo Saeki and Toshio Saeki were worth a lot. Since he'd run into them, he might as well keep the pair.
Wang Zhen turned and headed for the hotel where the newcomers were staying. He hadn't gone far when he saw a blue-faced, vicious-looking little brat charging toward him with both hands raised!
"???"
"What's going on?"
Wang Zhen had thought the father and son were busy slaughtering people at the hotel. Why was the kid charging at him?
He knew that Toshio Saeki might not do much damage, but his ability was a real pain to deal with. The instant the brat ran at him, Wang Zhen drew his Remington 1875 and pulled the trigger!
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."
Since it was nighttime, Wang Zhen activated a special Transmutation Circle before firing. It worked like a silencer, instantly muffling the deafening gunshots.
All five bullets carried the Flame Transmutation Circle. Five blue fireballs, each about the size of a golf ball, shot straight toward the brat!
Japan was a country where guns were banned, much like the neighboring Rabbit. People could learn plenty about firearms from movies and books, but few had ever faced a real gun!
Toshio Saeki had probably only ever seen guns in cartoons, movies, and TV dramas. Now, with a gun pointed right at him and firing, he was bound to freeze up—even as a ghost!
The five blue fireballs burned at two thousand degrees. So even though Toshio Saeki froze, his instincts kicked in when danger struck, and he teleported away!
Toshio Saeki could only teleport a short distance, so his main advantage was catching people off guard!
But Wang Zhen knew exactly what he could do and forced him to teleport. The moment the brat activated his ability, Wang Zhen drew his gun with his other hand and fired!
"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."
Five more shots!
Five more bullets!
But this time, they weren't blue fireballs from the Flame Transmutation Circle. They were grape-sized balls of blinding white lightning from the Lightning Transmutation Circle, linked to one another by Chain Lightning!
The five bullets and the Chain Lightning between them covered the entire area Wang Zhen could sense!
The moment Toshio Saeki appeared, he was struck by all five balls of lightning and the Chain Lightning connecting them!
"Ah..."
After one piercing ghostly shriek, Toshio Saeki disappeared.
"One Toshio Saeki clone eliminated!"
"Toshio Saeki (clone): 500 reward points"
"???"
You could do that?!
Before you continue