Mr. Rat of the Steam World

Chapter 93: How come there's a second form?! (3k3)

Blood, doctor, promotion, time...

Lu Ran felt that he should have guessed what Perez was going to do.

Mattia had something done to her when the doctor came last night, which is why she was feeling unwell and had to leave the group today.

This way, you'll have a good reason to "disappear" for a while.

This suggests that the time required for potion advancement is not short, otherwise this guy would have taken action last night.

Lu Ran's gray shadow followed closely along the cold stone wall at the corner, chasing after Perez's footsteps, his heart pounding.

In other words... we're about to face the so-called potion ritual?
To be honest, although Lu Ran's life in the present day has been inevitably intertwined with the extraordinary, he has never seen the proper process of using magic potions. He is quite curious about how this strange thing works.

However, the fact that the ritual required a living person was quite unexpected and seemed rather sinister.

However, Lu Ran judged that it was probably not a real sacrifice of the entire person, but more like a temporary use?

Otherwise, there would be no reason to make someone disappear into thin air when everyone knows that Mattia is here to attend the salon. There are powerful and influential noble children around, and a disappearance under such circumstances would inevitably attract a lot of attention.

Unless he plans to abandon this identity and run away after pulling off this job?

But this guy's public identity is one of the biggest farm owners in the area. Lu Ran felt it was impossible for him to just give up such a large business.

What's wrong? After reaching the third tier, you're going to ascend to another world and leave the continent behind?

Sure enough, the next moment, Lu Ran saw Perez suddenly stop at the top of the stairs and say to the two maids beside him.

"I'll take Mattia upstairs to rest. I'll take care of the others and make sure no one comes to disturb us. If anyone asks, I'll say Mattia is sleeping and the doctor said she just needs a day of rest."

The maid quickly nodded, "Yes."

After dismissing the maid, and once no one else was in sight, Perez turned at the top of the stairs and helped Mattia to the basement from the previous day.

The familiar sound of the mechanism turning rang out, and the door slid open as usual.

I didn't see Lu Ran yesterday. Today, I was carrying someone while walking, so I didn't even notice the fleeting gray shadow under my feet.

The heavy door clicked shut behind us, sealing itself completely and cutting off all sunlight.

The gentleness and anxiety on Perez's face had long since faded, leaving only a resolute expression mixed with excitement and greed. He casually picked up the dazed Mattia and laid her flat on the cold lab table.

"It will be over soon, dear Mattia."

His whispers echoed in the silent basement, carrying an almost fanatical devotion: "Your bloodline is the key to unlocking the door to life; this is your innate mission, and also my... destiny."

Then, he quickly walked to a safe hidden inside the wall. With the sound of heavy gears turning, he took something out from the deepest part.

It was a small bottle carved from dark crystal. There were no labels on the bottle, but it was filled with a thick, green liquid that resembled liquid jade and emitted a deep, toxic luster.

With just one glance, Lu Ran instantly realized that this thing must be the potion that Anthony craved.

Unlike the first-tier potion from the assassin woman I had obtained before, this third-tier potion seemed to exude a captivating power as it was shaken.

Lu Ran sensed that familiar presence and quickly looked away.

Damn it, if I hadn't suffered from a random divination before and gotten a little used to it, I would have almost lost my psychic powers with just that one glance.

Even so, Lu Ran's mind was still racing with thoughts.

The potion has appeared. Should I drink it immediately? Should I make my move?

Fortunately, out of the corner of his eye, he noticed that Perez did not drink it immediately. He placed the crystal bottle very solemnly on the side of the lab table closest to him. Then he unfastened a bracelet-like object from his wrist and removed a green object embedded in it.

If you had to compare it to something else, it's somewhat like the alien plant seed that Anthony took off his necklace that day, the one that could turn into a giant man-eating flower. Given that their powers are from the same source, Lu Ran felt that it must be something similar.

However, he didn't dare to look closely, and could only roughly observe Perez's general behavior.

"Tsk-!"

The next moment, Lu Ran's expression froze.

Perez swiftly sliced ​​through the inside of his forearm with a sharp scalpel! Skin and muscle fibers tore open instantly, and blood gushed out.

Perez's expression showed no pain, only extreme focus. Without hesitation, he forcefully pressed the strange seed into his still-bleeding, fresh wound!

"Ugh..." A suppressed groan escaped from deep within his throat. The instant the seed touched flesh, an indescribable burning pain spread wildly along his veins. His forehead instantly became covered in beads of cold sweat, his body tensed from the excruciating pain, and his jaw clenched tightly.

A few seconds later, a strange sight occurred!
Several thin, hair-like, emerald-green roots, shimmering with a metallic sheen, visibly emerged from the edge of the wound on his arm!

Like living, miniature creatures, they greedily sucked up Perez's fresh blood and burrowed and spread into the wound at a terrifying speed, as if trying to build a nest in his flesh!

The veins under the skin of the arm were faintly bulging, and their color was gradually darkening. At the same time, the blood near the wound began to turn into a viscous, dark green color, almost like tar.

The seed is sucking blood, it is taking root...

Lu Ran frowned as he looked at the scene before him, secretly relieved.

This thing looks painful; thankfully, I didn't take that path.

What followed was a long wait.

At this moment, Lu Ran noticed that Perez had closed his eyes and was completely focused on the changes in his body, so he became a little bolder in observing him.

From the outside, the plant's growth rate wasn't fast, but Lu Ran had a feeling that the plant's roots were actually growing into Perez's body along the blood vessels and bones.

The thought that this guy's body might gradually be covered in plants sent chills down Lu Ran's spine. It seemed that the Abundant System was indeed inseparable from plants and animals, either turning its own arms into beast claws or stuffing seeds into its arms.

Growing impatient, Lu Ran carefully took out his small cloth bag, retrieved the empty bottle from when the Invisible Hand potion was finished, and then cautiously examined the bottle of Abundance Sanctuary potion that was quietly placed on the table.

It's probably... time.

……

Perez endured the torment both inside and outside his body; the pain of his muscles being torn apart and his blood being assimilated contorted his face.

After an unknown amount of time, Perez suddenly opened his eyes. There was no joy in his eyes, but rather an even stronger sense of unease and tension. He took a deep breath and his gaze urgently fell on the bottle of emerald green potion on the lab table!

However, just before his fingers touched the cold crystal bottle, the scene before him shattered as if it were a mirage.

His movements froze, and his gaze instantly solidified!
"empty?!"

Perez's voice was filled with extreme shock, disbelief, and a momentary terror!
He suddenly picked up the crystal bottle and shook and examined it frantically like a desperate, trapped beast! The bottle was empty!

"Who's there? Where's my potion?!"

Perez roared wildly, cold sweat instantly pouring down his forehead.

More than his anger at the missing potion, he was terrified. He immediately got up and looked around, his trembling eyes fixed on the plant on his arm.

"Whoever you are, whatever your conditions are, please, give me back the potion."

"Please, I'll give you anything, hurry...hurry!"

Perez roared, growing increasingly frantic.

He clearly took out the potion himself, and the secret chamber was so narrow that it was impossible for anyone else to fit inside.

how come? !

who? !

Overwhelmed by shock and panic, he was instantly overwhelmed by the previous elation and pain. He looked up sharply, his sharp gaze sweeping across his surroundings like a searchlight—the cold instruments, the ancient stone walls, the dim light... and, on the lab table, the unconscious Mattia.

Nothing! Absolutely nothing! This basement, which he considered a fortress, was suffocatingly empty!
"Do not!!!"

A roar of extreme pain, filled with violence and despair, like the mournful cry of a wounded beast, suddenly exploded in the cramped space of the basement!

Perez's eyes instantly became bloodshot, and the muscles on his face twitched violently. Suddenly, he felt an itch in his ear, reached out and touched it, and a slender plant tendril slowly emerged from his ear.

Those terrified eyes were fixed on the unconscious Mattia on the lab table.

"No! That's right! And you too, Mattia, help me!"

Perez shakily pulled out a scalpel, and the eerie green roots on his arm wriggled like living things, with tiny buds even breaking through the skin of his torn wound.

He approached Mattia, just as he was about to strike!
boom!
A burst of flames erupted.

A piercing explosion resounded in the cellar! At the same moment, a very faint curse rang out: "Damn it."

His raised head jerked violently to the side! A scorching, spinning lead bullet tore through the air with perfect precision, piercing his nape at an extremely tricky angle, exploding into a bloody mess.

*Thud! Crack!* The terrifying sound of the neck bone shattering was clearly audible!

Perez's forward momentum came to an abrupt halt. His head, twisted in madness, slumped down like a puppet's head that had lost its support.

"call."

One shot into the soul!
In the shadows of the corner, a gray rat clutching a large revolver breathed a slight sigh of relief. Although it had intended to hit the head but missed, the result was about the same.

Lu Ran murmured, "Fortunately, it's still a carbon-based life form; it would die from a single shot."

But in the next moment!
……

……

One, two, countless roots, several times thicker than before, wrapped with scarlet blood vessels and emerald green tendrils, gushed wildly from the broken bone fragments and muscle gaps of the severed neck!

While greedily sucking the warm blood gushing from Perez's mangled body, they twisted, intertwined, and supported each other violently, as if they had found a target, forcibly lifting the heavy head back up from its drooping position!

"Crunch...squeak...hiss..."

As the vines tightened and twisted, they made a teeth-grinding sound, like old leather rubbing against rough wood, mixed with the gurgling of flowing liquid and the faint cracking of bone fragments colliding and scraping.

Under Lu Ran's incredulous gaze, Perez, whose neck had been broken, spoke, his voice filled with a strange gurgling sound from the blood in his ruptured trachea, staring intently in Lu Ran's direction.

"Thief... damn it! He made me... lose control..."

"Found you...!"

"I'm going to... skin you alive!"

……

"Crap!"

Lu Ran's face turned green.

"How can there be a second form?!"

(End of this chapter)