Framed

Inside an alchemy materials shop in Cloud Fang City, the shelves were overflowing, and a pungent smell filled the air.

Su Ming's eyes were full of disdain.

The poor quality of the goods here was the first he had seen since arriving in Taya.

If this shop were located within the territory of the First Sunrise Republic, it would definitely go out of business due to lack of customers.

Or it could be investigated and shut down by the Alchemist Association.

Su Ming pinched his nose and picked through the list with Yise.

Because the items were so bad, the two decided to just go all out and ruin them.

They chose the cheapest and lowest quality item among similar products.

Many of the selected materials could be downgraded from "Low Rank alchemical materials" to "junk" if their impurity content were even slightly higher.

The boss also saw only disdain.

"No wonder he's a country bumpkin from northern Water Chestnut Island," he thought to himself.

That's incredibly stingy! Soon, the two finished their selection.

The shopkeeper did the math; it was a pretty big bag of materials, but the total price was only ten gold coins.

"Are these two really not buying this to wallpaper their walls?" the shopkeeper thought to himself.

Su Ming didn't care at all.

He haggled with the shopkeeper for a while, managing to get the price down to eight gold coins and five silver coins before finally paying and leaving satisfied.

Before leaving, they even extorted an extra bottle of lubricating oil.

****

Their next stop was the Black Claw stronghold.

Su Ming left Yise nearby and went in alone.

Hubiang was already waiting for him, with a large sack at his feet.

"He just died recently, and I bought it for one gold coin," he boasted.

In fact, the surveillance personnel had been tracking Hubiang the entire time today. The corpse in the sack was that of an orc laborer who had died tragically. He was not from the area, and no family members were nearby. As was customary, his body was to be transported to a mass grave outside the city for disposal.

Hubiang obtained the body without incurring any cost, and the body carrier was happy to save himself a trip.

Su Ming pretended not to know anything about it.

He picked up the sack, weighed it in his hand, and gave a nonchalant reply.

"Well done!"

To a superhuman, a corpse is of little weight.

Su Ming left quickly.

Hubiang was filled with curiosity, wondering what this man wanted with the corpse. But he dared not inquire further, nor did he dare to follow him.

What are Level 4 superhumans up to? How do the Black Claw find out?

Besides, why bother investigating?

Buying and selling corpses was the most legal business he had ever done.

**** Afterwards, the group revisited the place and quietly arrived at the shack where they had stayed for a few days in the slum.

The Yuye siblings left for a while, and the place remained vacant as no new residents took a liking to it.

It is clear that even the poor do not appreciate its conditions.

Su Ming emptied the corpse from the bag, Yise also dumped a bag of alchemical materials onto the ground.

Jinxiu detached herself from Su Ming and released a sound-concealing array.

"Huff, huff." She looked at the pile of alchemy materials on the ground. "Can such rubbish materials even be used?"

Su Ming took out a Magic Power crystal.

This was obtained incidentally when I broke into Beiweier's safe.

A flash of light appeared in his palm, and the Magic Power crystal in his hand was instantly transformed. The turbid, flocculent impurities fell away, and the crystal surface became incredibly clear.

"What kind of purification technique is this!" Jinxiu's eyes lit up immediately.

"That's ' Summoning of All Things '," Yise revealed.

The girl took out her phone and showed the screen. In the Radiant Holy City, next to the Rift Magic Array, a flawless crystal had been reduced to scrap powder and was being swept into a recycling bin by staff.

Jinxiu's face fell. "What a disappointment."

"Inferior materials don't affect my summoning," Su Ming explained. "It only requires Magic Power and an extra purification step."

Yise took stock of the materials and quickly made preparations.

As Su Ming activated the "Summoning of All Things" spell, the corpses, inferior materials, and Magic Power crystals on the ground were simultaneously engulfed by the light.

Refactoring begins.

Grayish-white rhinoceros horn powder was rolled up and swirled around the corpse like fine sand; silver-patterned sand seeped into the flesh and skin, forming a Magic Power circuit; a dozen flawless crystals were embedded in the bones, supplying energy for the puppet's movements.

Light and shadow danced in the shack, and dust rose in the Magic Power vibrations.

Materials from a shoddy shop, bordering on junk, were given such value by Su Ming that they would be moved to tears.

The light faded, and a delicate doll appeared on the ground, now wearing a short skirt.

The doll's spotless face stood out starkly from its surroundings.

Su Ming scrolled through the runes Chloe had sent him on his phone, then cast a spell to activate the puppet.

The latter stood up from the ground, lifted her skirt, and spontaneously curtsied to Su Ming.

The movement can be described as elegant, but it involves lifting the skirt far beyond the normal limit, and the meaning is very clear.

Su Ming was at a loss for words when it came to Anrelo's design.

Bold and creative!

And this dazzling, oppressive atmosphere is simply... unbearable.

****

Su Ming gestured for the puppet to stand up and return to its normal posture.

Its expression was blank, but it was breathing, its gaze could follow its owner, and its posture was quite agile.

As the puppet moves, soft, natural wrinkles appear on its skin.

Su Ming reached out and poked it; it was still warm.

Putting aside its purpose, the design is indeed very meticulous, worthy of a spell with 5600 characters. Yise, standing to the side, snorted in dissatisfaction.

"This doll is indeed beautifully made, isn't it?" Su Ming smiled gently.

"Is this the type of person you like?"

"It's simply an appreciation of beautiful female dolls," Su Ming said. "I can't honestly say they're not pretty."

Yise snorted again.

She took out the "Raven Key," took out a box from it, and then took out Anrelo's notebook from the box.

"Should we let all of this go now?"

"Wait a moment."

Some crystals reappeared in Su Ming's hand and "transformed" into flawless grade under the light of "Summoning of All Things".

He persevered and replaced some alchemical materials with pure materials by "refining the broken ones".

Let's upgrade it first!

The following day, Anrelo once again assembled the city guards.

The suspect who stole the remains of the "Evil God Alchemical Beast" was not found yesterday; the investigation will continue today.

Everything is reasonable and logical.

But Anrelo wasn't really looking for that.

The characteristic search techniques he distributed to the shamans included a section on detecting magical fluctuations in notebooks.

The elaborate search for the remains of the "Evil God Alchemical Beast" was just an excuse; finding the notebook was his only purpose!

The shaman leading the group stepped forward, Anrelo issued them the updated scouting spell.

This is the version that Anrelo revised overnight.

He suspected that some of the solidified spells on his notebook had been erased, so he modified his Detection Spell, adding the ability to detect the notebook's own materials and binding runes.

Anrelo waved his hand, and the dozen or so teams set off again from the small square to search the entire city once more.

He calmed himself down.

Only half a month had passed since the safe was last accessed, and the laptop theft clearly occurred after that. Yes, Anrelo never believed from the beginning that the people who stole the laptop were the same group who stole the rocket debris.

He didn't understand the former's purpose.

But the laptop was enchanted with rune locks, especially after Anrelo's meticulous and complex encryption.

In less than half a month, Anrelo was absolutely confident that the contents of the document would not be deciphered, and the creation formula for the "Death Knell Puppet" had not yet been revealed.

Anrelo prayed silently, hoping that today's search would be successful in finding the notebook and killing the thieves.

Hopefully, this nightmarish incident will pass quickly.

As for Abidaqi's instruction to "find the culprit who stole the rocket debris from the Beiweier family within two days," that was never a problem.

Yesterday, so many orcs surrendered. If we randomly pick one of them, verify his identity during the "review," and arrest and kill him.

The matter was then perfectly resolved.

****

Less than an hour later, news came that the search team had discovered a notebook!

Anrelo immediately snapped to attention and rushed over. As he approached the location where the discovery was made, a sense of unease arose in his mind.

"The Niu Nier family?"

This orc was a subordinate of Hairspring, and shared the same class as him.

However, compared to the reliance that Death Knell placed on him, Hairspring's management style was very autocratic, so Niu Nier had far less real power than him.

Anrelo arrived at the door, where Niu Nier's butler and servants blocked the way, preventing the search party's guards from entering.

Anrelo took a deep breath.

It's unclear why items matching the characteristics of a notebook would appear in Niu Nier's house.

But no matter what, he had to go in and investigate!

Anrelo revealed her identity.

"I am under orders from Abidaqi to investigate the disappearance of the remains of the ' Evil God Alchemical Beast '."

He said sternly.

"How dare you stop me!" Upon hearing this, the stewards and servants quickly made way.

But Anrelo didn't let the guards follow.

"They're colleagues, after all. Give Niu Nier some face," he said, feigning composure. "You all wait outside; I'll go in and take a look myself."

"The fewer people who know about this laptop, the better, "Anrelo thought to herself.

Ideally, destroy it immediately upon receiving it!

Led by the butler, Anrelo walked towards the house gate, simultaneously unleashing her detection magic.

As the distance closed, a strong response wave emanated from it.

A chill ran through him: his notebook really was here!

Anrelo rushed forward, past the butler, and was about to push open the door.

Suddenly, a violent surge of Magic Power hit them, and the entire door instantly shattered into pieces.

Anrelo immediately deployed his shield, but the impact was so great that he was forced to retreat more than ten meters before he could stand still.

As the dust settled, a slender female figure appeared behind the door. Anrelo, upon seeing her, was immediately terrified.

Others might not recognize him yet, but he would never mistake that figure.

It's Death Knell!

As the smoke and dust dissipated slightly, Anrelo could see the woman's face clearly again, and his expression froze.

"A doll??"

"How is this possible!"

He said in disbelief.

The Death Knell Puppet required a huge amount of materials, and Anrelo almost exhausted his financial resources during the experiment.

He originally planned to accumulate for another year or two to complete the final manifestation.

Although I completely cannot understand why this happened, the situation has come to this point.

Anrelo steeled her resolve, extended her claws, imbued with Magic Power, and lunged at the Death Knell Puppet.

We'll investigate the matter later; right now, we must destroy this evidence!

But as soon as you get close, multiple rays of light illuminate the doll's body, creating a layer of transparent scales that float in the air.

Anrelo's claws slammed into the shield.

The friction sound exploded, his entire arm went numb from the shock, and the recoil cracked the stone slab beneath his feet, causing him to stagger back a few steps.

Anrelo then discovered that, unlike his original design, the doll had more than twenty flawless crystals installed on it.

He cursed inwardly:

Who is this jerk who's so rich?!

Anrelo also saw that the doll was holding a book in one arm across its chest.

The cover clearly shows it's his notebook!

Anrelo bared his teeth, unleashing his strongest attack technique. Red runes appeared between his palm and claws as he launched another attack.

But then the puppet stomped its foot, triggering a ring-shaped repulsive force that propelled him far away.

Then the Flight Spell was activated. Under the influence of cyan wind magic, the doll's toes lifted off the ground, and a swirling wind ring appeared beneath her skirt. With a posture far more graceful than her real body, she leisurely flew into the sky.

The thin skirt billowed up, the lace and ribbons being pulled apart by the airflow.

Freed from the cover of smoke and dust, the orc guards looked up and had a clear view of everything.

But upon seeing the doll's face, everyone felt a chill run down their spines, wishing they could gouge out their own eyes.

It's the Clock Hand hand, the Death Knell!

****

Two or three minutes later, the real Death Knell arrived swiftly.

No one would dare not report something like this.

Anrelo was also unable to cover up the situation in front of everyone.

He tried to forcibly destroy the doll, but he couldn't break through the defense constructed by more than twenty flawless Magic Power crystals.

Anrelo finally gave up, kneeling on the ground, trembling like a leaf.

"It's over, it's all over." Tears streamed down his face, his heart filled with remorse. He was extremely unwilling to die like this!

The Death Knell saw the life-size doll dressed in a tacky maid outfit and bearing its own face, it was astonishing.

The anger in my heart rose uncontrollably.

Her eyes turned icy cold instantly, and with a flick of her wrist, the shield that Anrelo could only dream of shattered into tiny fragments.

More than twenty flawless crystals shattered simultaneously, and the doll was also cut in half.

His upper body, clutching the notebook, plummeted, while his lower body, lifted by out-of-control wind magic, tumbled once before crashing through the eaves of Niu Nier's house.

The sword energy continued its momentum, affecting the guards on the ground.

The wailing sounded briefly, then was forcibly silenced, leaving broken spears, shattered armor plates, and blood scattered all over the ground.

The orcs fell silent on the spot.

The injured helped each other and hurriedly retreated, no one daring to provoke the bad luck of the Death Knell at this moment.

The Death Knell approached the doll, its chilling aura emanating from it.

Look at that face and figure, it's exactly the same as mine, even the mole on her collarbone is perfectly replicated! The manufacturing process is even more lifelike, the texture is indistinguishable from the real thing.

Death Knell almost ground her teeth to powder; she vowed to utterly humiliate the culprit!

Then tear him to pieces!

With Death Knell of his hand, the notebook flew into his grasp.

She turned it over in a fit of rage.

Then, a look of surprise appeared on his face.

On it, the handwriting was clearly written in fine, Hairspring strokes.

No, Hairspring's impossible, the Death Knell thought to itself.

I've been dealing with Death Knell and Hairspring for many years.

This man wasn't entirely averse to women, but he wasn't obsessed with them either. Their daily interactions were unremarkable.

The handwriting on the notebook is a frame-up by some master forgers!

Death Knell suppressed the surging anger within him and looked at Anrelo, hoping he could offer some insights. But she saw that this usually calm half-fox subordinate remained kneeling on the ground, seemingly lost in thought.

It did not respond to the summoning of the Death Knell, clearly stunned by the event.

That useless guy!

With Death Knell furious slap, the roof of the Niu Nier house in front of him immediately exploded.

Bricks, tiles, and beams shot into the air and then crashed down in all directions.

Intricate auxiliary magic circles were carved on the exposed floor of the house.

Creating such a lifelike doll requires an incredibly complex spellcasting process, necessitating the use of auxiliary magic arrays.

The Death Knell slowly descended from the sky.

The array patterns were inlaid with crushed silver powder and purified magic-guiding ink, and the severed lower half of the puppet had also fallen here.

The house was in complete disarray from the impact, with over a dozen unused flawless crystals and a large quantity of pure alchemical materials scattered on the floor.

In Cloud Fang City, no one could obtain such a quantity of high-end materials.

Aside from Hairspring himself! Death Knell forced herself to calm down, trying to find more evidence and connections.

She suddenly smelled a suspicious odor, and tracing it back to its source, she discovered that a thick layer of lubricant had been applied to a certain part of the doll's lower body.

"Hairspring!"

The Death Knell could no longer endure it.

In a fit of rage, she rose into the air, her two legs flying like dragons in response to her call.

The sound of the Death Knell falling heavily on his back made a faint cracking sound.

Clearly sensing that terrifying aura, the wyvern didn't even dare to groan, desperately flapping its wings and flying towards the coastal front.

Below, guards and orcs knelt on the ground until the chilling aura faded into the distance, only then did anyone dare to raise their heads.

Everyone collapsed to the ground, as if they had just survived a disaster.

Then came angry complaints.

"Who the hell did this shit?!"