The stove for the first pot has already been built!

Staring at the office building, Wang Zhen observed it from the air via Little White, comparing the aerial view with his own assessment. Having gained seventy percent confidence, his next step was to enter the building to determine if it was suitable for setting up an alchemy circle.

Wang Zhen employed Money Magic to gain easy access to the office building. He first toured the premises under the guise of a prospective tenant. Since the building wasn't fully leased, he had no trouble inspecting the interior layout and estimating the number of occupants. Finally, he surveyed the underground parking garage before taking his leave.

Back at his hotel suite, Wang Zhen relied on his memory to use alchemy to craft a scaled-down model of the entire office building and the underground parking garage. With these in place, he began the simulation for setting up the Philosopher's Stone alchemy circle.

Because Wang Zhen's Philosopher's Stone alchemy circle only had a diameter of ten meters, he needed to place nodes around the perimeter of the building to expand its range enough to cover the entire structure.

Wang Zhen was currently calculating and measuring these nodes; if any were placed incorrectly or damaged, the entire alchemy circle would fail.

It wasn't until past eight in the evening that Wang Zhen finished measuring the final node. He left the hotel again and arrived before the now-closed office building. This time, he did not use Money Magic; he could get away with it during the day, but at night, using such methods would make it obvious to any fool that he was up to no good.

Therefore, Wang Zhen utilized his unique vampire abilities to forcefully hypnotize the security guard. He then began rapidly placing the nodes. Having repeatedly simulated and measured these points, he ensured they were as concealed as possible. Fortunately, his vampire physique allowed him to work with incredible speed, and he finished placing all the nodes in no time.

Finally, he walked into the underground parking garage. Since the office staff had already clocked out, the garage was empty, a stark contrast to the scene during the day when it was packed tight with cars.

Wang Zhen considered this an absolute blessing.

Only in this state could he set up the final and most critical position.

This position was where he, the initiator of the Philosopher's Stone alchemy circle, would be stationed.

Because this alchemy circle was not entirely his own Dead River ability, he could not activate it at will. While an alchemy circle expanded using the Dead River ability as its core framework yielded the same results, it came with risks: if the nodes were destroyed, the circle would fail; if the initiator moved or could not continuously channel mental energy, the circle would fail; and the time required for alchemy would increase several-fold or even tenfold, directly proportional to the expanded area. The larger the area, the longer the transmutation would take.

Therefore, Wang Zhen had to find the optimal position, or else a single attack against him would cause the entire alchemy circle to collapse.

Using the scaled-down model, Wang Zhen had already identified this spot.

Upon reaching the precisely calculated location, Wang Zhen extended his hands and used an alchemy circle to transmute the floor into a circular pit three meters in diameter. He then transmuted the excavated soil into a cover of the same diameter to seal the pit. Before leaving, he transmuted the seams around the edges to fuse them into a single, seamless whole.

After finishing, even Wang Zhen felt a hint of fatigue. After all, this was his first time "building a stove for the pot"—he was unfamiliar with the process, and despite the repeated simulations, he still encountered some minor hitches during the actual setup. Fortunately, his thorough preparation ensured everything went off without a hitch.

Wang Zhen prepared to head back to the hotel to sleep, intending to rest up so he would have the energy to "light the stove and stew the meat" tomorrow.

Just as he stepped out of the office building, Little White suddenly transmitted information. Although it couldn't see the Saeki family, it had detected something amiss through the state of the newcomers, and the clever bird immediately notified Wang Zhen.

"Takeo Saeki and Toshio Saeki are here, but Kayako isn't?" Hearing the method of the newcomers' deaths, Wang Zhen roughly guessed it was this father-son duo acting in tandem.

Although Kayako hadn't shown up, the father and son were still worth a decent sum. Since he had run into them, he might as well take them out.

Wang Zhen turned and headed toward the hotel where the newcomers were staying. He hadn't gone far when he saw a pale, purple-faced, and vicious-looking brat running toward him with his hands raised!

"???"

"What's going on?"

Wang Zhen had assumed the father and son were busy slaughtering the people at the hotel; why were they charging at him?

Wang Zhen knew that while this brat Toshio Saeki didn't deal much damage, his abilities were incredibly disgusting. The moment he saw him running over, he drew his Remington 1875 and pulled the trigger!

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."

Because it was night, Wang Zhen had activated a special alchemy circle before firing, acting as a silencer to instantly dampen the thunderous roar of the gun.

These five bullets were infused with a Flame Transmutation Circle, and five blue fireballs the size of golf balls reached the brat in an instant.

Japan was a country with strict gun control, much like the neighboring Rabbit country. While citizens could learn about firearms through movies and books, they rarely encountered them in reality.

Therefore, the brat Toshio Saeki had at most seen guns in cartoons or movies, but when actually faced with a gun firing at him, even as a ghost, he was still caught off guard.

These five blue fireballs carried a temperature of 2,000 degrees. Even in his confusion, Toshio Saeki instinctively teleported when the danger arrived.

The distance of Toshio Saeki's teleportation was actually very short, so he relied on catching his opponents by surprise.

However, Wang Zhen, who knew his tricks, forced him to teleport. The moment the brat initiated his move, Wang Zhen drew his other gun and fired!

"Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang..."

Five more shots!

Five more bullets!

Only this time, they weren't blue fireballs from a Flame Transmutation Circle, but grape-sized, incandescent spherical lightning bolts from a Lightning Transmutation Circle, connected by chains of electricity between the bullets.

The five bullets and the lightning chains between them instantly enveloped the area he had sensed.

The moment the brat Toshio Saeki reappeared, he was immediately struck by the five spherical lightning bolts and the chains of electricity connecting them.

"Ah..."

After a shrill, ghostly wail, the brat Toshio Saeki vanished.

"Eliminated Toshio Saeki (Clone)!"

"Toshio Saeki (Clone): 500 Reward Points"

"???"

Is this even allowed?