Chapter 53: Encounter with an Old Acquaintance

Su Hao dragged his somewhat weary body and slowly pushed open the door to his exclusive room.

As soon as he entered, his gaze inadvertently swept across the corner of the room. The unopened treasure chests instantly caught his eye, as if silently summoning him and recalling all his previous experiences.

He still remembered that time outside the cave, when two Qi-Consolidation stage evil cultivators suddenly appeared like ghosts, attempting to claim the cave as their own. Their evil aura permeated the surroundings, making one feel nauseous.

Su Hao knew there must be extraordinary items hidden within them.

Then there was that minor leader of the evil cultivators. Although slightly weaker in strength compared to the other two, he could not be underestimated either. After a bout of combat, Su Hao successfully subdued him and obtained a treasure chest emanating a green glow. Although its radiance was not as dazzling as that of a blue treasure chest, it still exuded a unique and mysterious aura.

At this moment, these four treasure chests were lined up before him like soldiers awaiting inspection.

Just then, an ethereal voice echoed in Su Hao's mind:

[Candidate Cleaner, do you wish to open the treasure chests?]

Su Hao took a deep breath, a trace of anticipation and determination flashing in his eyes, and said in a clear voice:

"Open them all."

As his words fell, a bizarre scene unfolded.

One of the blue treasure chests—specifically the Yuchen treasure chest dropped by Ji Yucheng's clone—burst into intense blue light the moment it was opened. The radiance surged outward like a violent tide, stinging one's eyes painfully.

Su Hao instinctively and hurriedly closed his eyes tight, while his curiosity grew even stronger as to what rare treasures could possibly be hidden inside such a commotion.

After quite a while, Su Hao slowly opened his eyes. The dazzling light had just dissipated, and a lingering afterglow seemed to remain in the room. He hurriedly focused his gaze and saw that the items inside the chest were now clearly revealed.

[You have obtained a "Compendium of Alchemy", a top-tier alchemy furnace, and two cosmic particles.]

[You have obtained two cosmic particles and ten cosmic particle fragments.]

[You have obtained one cosmic particle and ten cosmic particle fragments.]

[You have obtained five cosmic particle fragments.]

Su Hao's gaze fell upon the rather strangely shaped book before him. He furrowed his brows slightly, filled with confusion and muttering to himself:

"What on earth is this 'Compendium of Alchemy'?"

With that, he slowly reached out and gently picked up the Compendium of Alchemy. The tactile sensation upon contact carried an archaic heaviness, as if it had weathered countless years of sedimentation.

He gently flipped open the pages and glanced through them roughly at first. That single glance, however, made his eyes widen in astonishment. The pages were filled with bizarre characters resembling the tadpole script of the Alpha Beta planet—crooked and densely packed, enough to make one's head spin just by looking at them.

However, Su Hao was not stumped by these strange characters. Having completed two missions on that planet previously, he had firmly memorized its written language. Looking at them now, while he could not claim to read them effortlessly, he could certainly understand them at a glance.

His gaze gradually grew more focused as he studied the text word by word, line by line. The more he read, the more profound the contents felt, as if a door to an entirely new world had been swung open for him.

With such intense concentration, everything around him seemed irrelevant; the entire world consisted only of him and this magical book.

After quite some time, Su Hao slowly raised his head, his face beaming with pleasant surprise, and muttered to himself:

"This thing appears to be extremely useful. Who would have thought that the art of alchemy on the Alpha Beta planet is so exquisite and intricate? I used to think it was just some illusory legend, but now it seems to be entirely real."

Su Hao sat quietly at the desk in his exclusive room, the surrounding air seeming to be tinged with a sense of tranquility.

He reached out his slender, well-articulated fingers and gently picked up the archaic-looking Compendium of Alchemy. His gaze then fell back upon the pages, continuing to immerse himself in careful study.

As his reading deepened, his sword-like eyebrows knitted slightly, and he felt secretly astonished. It turned out one could not simply become an alchemist on a whim; in addition to possessing a formidable intelligence attribute, the requirements for mental reflex speed were remarkably high.

There was no room for the slightest carelessness here; a momentary distraction could easily lead to a disaster in alchemy.

As he pondered this, Su Hao instinctively raised his eyes to check the skill panel emitting a faint glow before him. Upon looking, he noticed some changes on the panel—the skill options had slightly increased compared to before.

His gaze swept across them one by one, softly reciting: "Mid-stage Free Combat Level 40, Mid-stage Swordsmanship Level 40, Early-stage Knife Technique Level 5, Early-stage Marksmanship Level 5, Early-stage Firearms Level 5, Mental Reflex (Passive) Level 20..." At this point, his voice came to an abrupt halt.

His eyes were filled with confusion as he stared at the newly added "Early-stage Alchemy Level 0," murmuring to himself: "When did this alchemy skill pop up? Could it be that just by reading the Compendium of Alchemy for a little while, it automatically appeared here?"

Right at that moment, a mysterious voice suddenly transmitted into his mind. The voice seemed to come from the distant void yet remained distinctly audible:

[Candidate Cleaner, alchemy is a combination of theory and practice, and it is a skill with a very strong practical attribute. To upgrade this skill, you can only rely on your own study of the theory and actual hands-on practice in alchemy.]

Upon hearing this, Su Hao was startled at first, but then a gleam of excitement flashed in his eyes. The corners of his mouth hooked upward into a confident smile as he pondered inwardly:

"Heh, what a coincidence. Since I now possess both this Compendium of Alchemy and, by sheer luck, an alchemy furnace, doesn't that mean I can just try my hand at alchemy?"

The mysterious voice seemed capable of perceiving his thoughts and immediately responded:

[Naturally you can, and the Cosmic Environmental Protection Agency can also provide you with the required alchemy herbs for a fee.]

Su Hao clenched his fists slightly, as if he could already see himself advancing step by step along the path of alchemy. The Compendium of Alchemy was gripped a little tighter in his hand, and he stood up impatiently.

His gaze shifted once more to the archaic alchemy furnace standing quietly to the side. The furnace emitted a mysterious aura, as if silently recounting the wondrous tales of ancient alchemy.

Su Hao could not help but pace slowly around the alchemy furnace, reaching out to gently stroke the slightly rough yet textured surface of the furnace walls while imagining in his mind the scenes of himself utilizing this furnace in the future to refine various miraculous pills.

The corners of his lips curved upward, his eyes brimming with expectation and yearning for the future.

Su Hao checked the remaining three treasure chests, which surprisingly contained entirely cosmic particles and cosmic particle fragments.

A faint smile could not help but surface on his lips as he mentally calculated: when all was said and done, he had acquired a total of five cosmic particles and twenty-five cosmic particle fragments. This haul was by no means small, and it certainly justified the several perilous battles he had survived.

Su Hao exchanged all the cosmic particle fragments for cosmic coins and checked his wealth: 499 cosmic particles and 2,587 cosmic coins.

He continued reading the knowledge regarding alchemy furnaces in the Compendium of Alchemy and inspected the furnace itself. To his surprise, it was a top-tier furnace, capable of refining virtually all types of pills.

After weighing his options, Su Hao decided to head to the Contractors' Trading Plaza to try his luck and see if there were any pills for sale there.

With these thoughts in mind, he lifted his foot and stepped out of the door of his exclusive room.

As soon as he stepped outside, a wave of intense hunger surged over him like a tide. His stomach let out a series of rumbling noises, reminding him suddenly that he hadn't put a single morsel of food into his stomach all day.

A casual glance spotted a restaurant not far away, causing his stomach to rumble even more loudly, as if urging him to hurry and satisfy his hunger.

Su Hao quickened his pace and stepped into the restaurant.

The moment he entered, a crisp and pleasant female voice drifted over from nearby, sounding delightfully clear like a splashing spring in the mountains:

"Qingming-gege, are you here to eat?"

Hearing this, Su Hao looked over and saw a young girl of about ten-odd years old standing there. Her fair face carried a touch of youthful naivety, resembling a freshly ripened peach tinged with a faint blush, and her large eyes blinked with spirited liveliness.

The voice sounded very familiar, yet no matter how Su Hao searched his memory, he could not recall knowing such a young girl.

He furrowed his brow slightly and asked with a puzzled expression:

"Who are you?"

The moment the words left his mouth, a flash of inspiration suddenly struck his mind. He instantly recalled the voice, slapped his forehead in realization, and smiled as he said:

"Little pipsqueak—no, wait, you're Guyu!"

Guyu's initially expectant expression instantly dimmed. Her small lips pouted slightly, and she spoke with a hint of disappointment:

"Qingming-gege, you really did forget about me."

The large, bright, sparkling eyes were now seemingly veiled by a thin layer of mist, brimming with grievance.

Su Hao was suddenly at a loss for what to do. He scratched his head and awkwardly explained:

"This... well, you see, I've never seen you looking like this before! The last time I saw you, your face was covered in pitch-black mud, looking just like a little kitten. The difference between then and how clean and pretty you look now is just too big."

Upon hearing this, Guyu let out a sudden burst of laughter. Her smile was like a flower blooming in spring, instantly scattering the gloom from her face, and she said with playful coyness:

"I'm just teasing you."

With that, she made an inviting gesture with her hand and warmly said:

"Qingming-gege, please come inside."

Only then did Su Hao let out a sigh of relief. He hurriedly took three steps in two and rushed into the restaurant, found a window-side table, and sank into a chair. As he reached out to pick up the menu on the table and prepared to see what delicious food was available, he heard Guyu say in a crisp voice:

"Qingming-gege, this restaurant is run by my best friend. This meal is on me, so just order whatever you want and eat your fill."

Hearing this, Su Hao felt quite pleased, though he teased her verbally instead:

"Is your chef's name Sea Cucumber?"

As he spoke, he raised his eyes to look at Guyu, a trace of a smile in his gaze.

Guyu was completely baffled by the remark. She blinked her large eyes and asked with a puzzled expression:

"Qingming-gege, what do you mean by that?"

She muttered inwardly to herself:

"This Qingming-gege is really something else. He asks for the chef's name when ordering food; I really can't figure out what's on his mind."

Without rushing to answer, Su Hao deliberately kept her in suspense and drawled leisurely:

"If your chef's name isn't Sea Cucumber, then I'll have a plate of sea cucumber fried rice."

Guyu was stunned for a moment before reacting, then burst into uproarious laughter. She quickly covered her mouth with her hand, though muffled laughter still escaped between her fingers as she said:

"Haha! Qingming-gege, our restaurant is completely authentic; we don't have any jokes like that here."