Early the next morning, Durin arrived at a nearby market on the street.
Most vendors used a large iron basin to display their vegetables and meats, neatly categorized. Beside them, wooden signs displayed prices:
Cauliflower 5 copper circle coins/jin, Potatoes 4 copper circle coins/jin, Pork Belly 15 copper circle coins/jin, Ribs 22 copper circle coins/jin...
It had to be admitted that prices in Piltover were much more expensive than in Zaun.
The pork belly he had previously bought in Zaun's Entresol Level was 10 copper circle coins per jin, whereas in Piltover, it was 15 copper circle coins per jin.
Durin spent 1.2 silver lun coins to buy a rooster weighing about 3 jin.
Durin was still thinking that no matter whether the necromantic spell succeeded or not, he would eat an entire chicken today. He was going to make stewed chicken with mushrooms!
It was time to treat himself!
Finishing a whole pot of stewed chicken with mushrooms by oneself was simply divine!
After returning home, Durin first went to the washroom. His past experience as a butcher in Zaun made him very skillfully grip the chicken's head and wings, and the cleaver quickly made two cuts on its neck.
Blood immediately gushed out. Durin felt the struggles in his hand suddenly intensify, but they stopped after a moment.
Then, it was time for him to test whether the second necromantic spell had been successfully mastered.
Durin first closed the doors and windows in the room, then, following the correct Ochnun pronunciation described in the Lich's Notes, he recited the incantation again: "Marutaya, Smisecilin Karon... Yasaron Tan!"
His voice merged with the whispers echoing in the air.
As the Ochnun from Durin's mouth grew increasingly twisted and bizarre, the whispers from the shadowy corners became exceptionally clear. When the last character fell, the sound abruptly amplified, almost echoing directly in his ears.
Durin also made a fist gesture. Suddenly, the necromantic energy floating in the air seemed to receive a command, surging towards his left hand, forming a small vortex as it crowded together. At the center of the vortex was a standard spell rune model that had emerged.
Mana flowed from Durin's body to his limbs, as if trying to break through his body, to overcome this barrier. They devoured the vitality within Durin's body as if they had gone mad.
Durin gritted his teeth, enduring this indescribable pain, and shot the wild and restless necromantic energy towards the bleeding chicken corpse on the washroom floor.
The murmuring whispers echoing in his ears seemed to come from a dark forest, exuding an unsettlingly cold aura.
A trickle of black blood flowed from the corner of Durin's mouth. He felt his mouth filled with a bitter taste, like drinking a medicinal decoction brewed from a dozen different Chinese herbs. His throat was particularly sore, as if he had swallowed a stone wrapped in gauze.
But he immensely enjoyed this process, because when the mana enveloped the dead chicken corpse, a very fragmented soul remnant could be clearly seen floating and drifting in the colorful air.
Furthermore, his bedroom, washroom, balcony, under the bed, on the ceiling—everywhere was crowded with glass-shard-like soul remnants drifting about. They floated as if without consciousness, and when Durin's mana tentatively reached out.
Instantly, these soul remnants fixed their cold and malicious gazes on Durin.
But Durin ignored them. A bunch of remnants that couldn't even be considered lonely ghosts dared to direct malicious gazes at him. Durin roughly enveloped a soul remnant with mana, then stuffed it into the chicken corpse.
Instantly, the bleeding chicken corpse twitched reflexively, then shakily stood up from the ground.
This temporarily resurrected chicken corpse had gray-white eyes, its bright red comb completely drooped, and the bleeding wound on its neck had miraculously stopped flowing, as if someone had forcefully plugged the wound with a cork.
A faint scent of death and an unknown stench of decay emanated from its body, even masking the smell of blood.
Clearly, Durin had successfully mastered the second necromantic spell—Temporary Zombie Art!
Hmm... next up is making stewed chicken with mushrooms.
After confirming that the necromantic spell was mastered, Durin immediately cut off the mana connection to the zombie. Losing mana support, the chicken that had just stood up collapsed back to the ground.
The next moment, Durin was about to lean in and pick up the chicken corpse from the ground. As his finger just touched it, the skin and muscle beneath the chicken feathers rapidly dried up at a visible speed, as if all moisture had been extracted.
Immediately after, the entire vibrant chicken turned a stony gray-white, its feathers constantly shedding and falling all over the floor.
With a gentle squeeze, the chicken's bones shattered in Durin's palm, turning into a fine pile of grayish-white ashes that slid directly through his fingers and down into the drain.
This scene happened so suddenly that Durin was completely bewildered, his eyes wider than light bulbs, almost bulging out.
After a long period of dazedness, Durin cursed, "Goddammit... I'm so screwed! My money!"
Damn it, why didn't that Lich note that Temporary Zombie Art would turn the corpse into a pile of ash?!
If he had known this, he wouldn't have spent 1.2 silver lun coins on this experiment. What's the difference between this and throwing money away?!
It's over, the stewed chicken with mushrooms is ruined!
No feast tonight...
Durin resentfully cleaned the washroom, then went out to a nearby tavern for a simple meal, spending 20 copper circle coins. He ate his fill, then lay in bed and went to sleep early.
---
After finishing the Social Image Management class on Wednesday morning and Archaeology in the afternoon, Durin took the tram to the cable car area. He now needed to take a shortcut to return to Zaun.
Tonight, at 2 AM, was the time he and Powder had agreed upon.
Of course, there were still 13 and a half hours until the appointed time. He could first complete the task Mr. Wes had given him: to investigate whether the weapon blueprints were still with the alchemical transhuman named Janet.
All her information was already in Durin's hands. After reviewing it in detail, Durin set off.
At this moment, it had started to drizzle.
While returning to Zaun via the shortcut, he noticed that many buildings showed signs of being unfinished. Some already dilapidated reinforced concrete was exposed, and various additions and alterations extended out in strange structural ways.
Therefore, Durin was extra careful to avoid slipping when jumping, climbing, and running.
The walls of these buildings were covered with iron frames, hung with countless neon shop signs, too many to take in at a glance: "Miracle Doctor Clinic," "Top-Notch Knife Shop," "Chang Sheng Rice Store," and so on.
Between these buildings, there were seemingly precarious steel sky-bridges connecting the two structures.
Durin was traversing these iron bridges, which were even livelier than the ground streets of Zaun's Entresol Level.
It took him about forty minutes to finally reach the Entresol Level of Zaun, by which time a curtain of rain had completely enveloped the entire Upper City.
The dense Chem-Tech green haze also thinned out under the washing of the rain, which was falling harder and harder… it seemed even the heavens were helping him.
The rain could wash away the scent information he left nearby, blurring Durin's footprints, making it impossible for anyone to know where he went, or how tall or heavy he was.
Wiping the rain from his cheeks, Durin put on his face mask, grabbed an umbrella from a shop doorway on the street, opened it, and walked out.
Since it was daytime, Durin had to be extra cautious; he needed to avoid Silco's subordinates as much as possible.
The problem was that Silco's reputation was growing stronger; judging from his portrayal in the anime, a few years later, Silco would completely control Zaun, becoming a true emperor.
In the future, Silco could even make a trusted subordinate a new Chem-Baron; his will represented the will of the Chem-Baron group, and even more so, the will of Zaun.
Along the way, Durin had encountered people following him many times, requiring him to frequently look up and around to observe his surroundings.
He often had to zigzag through a street, ducking into alleys and circling several times to completely shake off his pursuers before finding a suitable path.
This only showed that Silco's control was becoming more comprehensive, making it difficult to find any unpatrolled routes.
Thus, Durin walked, stopped, and detoured, taking twice as long.
According to the information provided by Mr. Wes, the Spencer Family's third butler, the Chem-Tech modified woman, Janet, most liked to go to a pub called 'Knight's Medal' on Third Street in the West District of the Entresol Level to find bounty missions and entertainment.
Durin planned to go to this pub first to find Janet; she would surely want to dispose of the item as soon as possible, and her familiar pub would be the best place.
Especially since the West District was primarily where various gangs lived and operated, it was a place of certain order within chaos. It was most suitable for a bounty hunter like her to sell stolen goods to a gang member.
Durin wanted to first see if the weapon blueprint was still on this female thief; if not, he would make plans then.
However, venturing into such a place was also a challenge for Durin. Fortunately, before coming, he had specifically changed out of his mage robe and put on the most inconspicuous clothing, with his face covered by a mask. As long as he kept a low profile, he would generally be fine.
The pub was a three-story building with walls made of bluish-gray bricks. The front door was not the typical half-wooden door that allowed light and lively sounds from inside to be seen; instead, it was a fully enclosed, heavy oak door reinforced with iron plating.
The windows facing the street were also sealed, and the sign depicted a knight.
Durin had thought that gathering information would be a troublesome matter, but as soon as he entered the pub, he heard—
"Did that woman Janet recently come into a windfall?"
"I heard that woman stole a valuable item from Upper City. Why don't we have that kind of luck?"
Two red-faced gang thugs staggered out of the Knight's Medal pub, reeking of alcohol, chattering about something that made Durin's eyes widen.
Well, this rough style was very Zaun.
It certainly saved him trouble.
Durin smiled slightly and walked towards the two gang thugs.
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