HISS—

Li Ang was shocked, not because the Magic Box was too weak, but because it was ridiculously powerful.

The Alchemy Workshop that the Magic Box opened up not only served as a portable storage space of 200 square meters, but also allowed the use of an inside Forging Furnace to craft spare otherworldly materials into equipment and items of up to Rare Level.

You have to understand, most players' special materials collected in the script world were either sold to the mall at extremely low prices or sold to individuals or organizations at market price (bearing the risk of identity exposure). It was difficult to convert otherworldly materials into actual combat power.

Li Ang himself had heaps of various materials stored: Black Zombie hair and nails, Plague Ghost Skin, the nameless bony spine exchanged from the One-eyed Giant, and brown-cheeked deer tendon swapped from the Tiger Demon.

Li Ang had always been reluctant to sell these items to the mall at a low price. He either locked them in a safe or kept them in his inventory slot. The Plague Ghost Skin was infectious, and the Black Zombie hair and nails could carry unknown viruses, so they had to be stored in his inventory slot.

Especially after Li Ang had amassed a large sum of money and made many purchases, the already limited space in his inventory slot became even more cramped. Using the Forging Furnace to deplete the otherworldly materials would be a blessing.

Suppressing his excitement, Li Ang first left the Alchemy Workshop and went to the side bedroom, checking a large pile of miscellaneous items.

Things like a simple machine tool, steel, diesel engines, a chemical experiment table, empty oil drums, the fish tank containing Zou Zhengze, and the filthy raincoat he had brought back from Dusheng Village... All of these items, without exception, were moved by Li Ang into the Alchemy Workshop.

With ample storage space at his disposal, Li Ang no longer worried about the neighbors upstairs, downstairs, or next door hearing noises when working on materials. Nor did he worry about the landlady's inspections, which came every few months. Perhaps after the heat dies down, I might even find a way to procure truly advanced experimental equipment and turn the Alchemy Workshop into a lab truly capable of experimenting with and analyzing otherworldly powers...

After sorting everything, Li Ang officially stood in front of the Forging Furnace and began to operate the device.

"First, insert at least two otherworldly materials to test their compatibility, then press the confirm button to start forging..." he muttered to himself. He put on two layers of rubber gloves and two layers of cotton gloves, took out the Black Zombie's fingernails and hair from his Backpack slot, and poured them into the conical funnel above the Forging Furnace's shredder.

With the input of these two items, the Forging Furnace roared into operation. On the control panel directly in front of the machine, something resembling a steampunk version of a triple-slot carousel slot machine spun wildly before finally settling on the number "95."

95% is probably the compatibility between the fingernails and hair. Since both came from the Black Zombie, their compatibility was naturally very high.

Li Ang pressed the cancel button on the Forging Furnace and retrieved the fingernails and hair from the trapezoidal funnel beneath the shredder. Then, he took out other otherworldly materials from his Backpack slot, one by one, and inserted them to test their compatibility.

After a lengthy experiment, Li Ang found that the 'Black Zombie hair, nails, and Plague Ghost Skin'—these three infectious materials—had a compatibility of 90% when combined.

The brown-cheeked deer tendon currently had no highly compatible material.

The nameless bony spine had a compatibility of 87% with the Steel Stick equipped on Li Ang.

The better the compatibility of the materials, the higher the probability of forging high-quality equipment and items.

Li Ang would still have to rely on the Steel Stick for self-defense for the time being. He put the Black Zombie's hair, nails, and Plague Ghost Skin into the funnel, pressed the forging button, and paid 1,000 Game Coins.

The Forging Furnace roared into motion, projecting [Forging Time Remaining: 1440 minutes] above it.

24 hours, which equates to one day.

Li Ang stood beside the furnace for a good while, watching intently, but he couldn't decipher how this contraption worked. He could only surmise that it was entirely some incomprehensible otherworldly technology.

Maybe once I've activated my Alchemy Skills, I'll be able to perform an initial analysis.

With this thought, Li Ang left the workshop. Since the Alchemy Workshop could function normally even in the form of a Magic Box, he simply shrunk it down and placed it on a bookshelf, pretending it was a decorative art piece.

For the next half day, Li Ang began by browsing through the ancient texts from the altar of Dusheng Village. He found the content to be extremely hollow, with the only useful items being some rather bizarre Formation rituals.

As for the principles and operational concepts behind the rituals, the book offered no explanations, making it difficult to decipher the system of power behind them.

Since the texts were incomprehensible, Li Ang tossed them into his Backpack slot and went over to his computer desk to search for any information about Dusheng Village online.

Clearly, the Special Affairs Bureau had taken action. There was not a single recent news story about Dusheng Village online. The latest was a year-old interview with Lu Maodian about 'donating funds to help poor families with education, philanthropic entrepreneur showing great love for his hometown.'

Tsk, the irony.

In any case, no news is the biggest news.

It looks like the Special Affairs Bureau is taking the Dusheng Village incident very seriously indeed...

Li Ang stretched languidly. Based on his understanding of player psychology, that Lv4 newbie player, Wei Linglan, would probably have surrendered to the Special Affairs Bureau by now and was undergoing a background check. Because her personal information had already been obtained by another player, if she didn't want to be blackmailed for life, the only remaining option was to seek refuge with the Special Affairs Bureau.

Luckily for me, she doesn't have too much information about me.

Li Ang, somewhat troubled, rubbed his temples, resolving to keep a low profile for the time being to avoid drawing attention. I probably can't use the Vest "King Han" anymore.

Putting all scattered thoughts to the back of his mind, Li Ang ate a bowl of instant noodles, went to the bathroom to freshen up, and retired to his bedroom early to rest. Before going to bed, he glanced at his player information panel once more.

[Frenzied Ripper · Li Rising]

[Lv9. Experience Point bar at 259/900]

[Strength: 8] (The level of a top-tier weightlifter)

[Agility: 8] (The level of a top-tier sprinter) Find the translation on MV&LEMPYR.

[Intelligence: 9] (A genius)

[Physique: 8] (The level of a top-tier marathon runner)

[Perception: 9] (The level of an apex predatory carnivore) (Carefully Cautious +1) (Bone-Tracking +1)

[Charm: 4] (Plain appearance with slightly odd behavior)

[Equipment slot: Strange Eye, Face-Changing Mask, Soul-Banner, Steel Stick, Ruitu Military knife 300, Damaged Alchemy Magic Box]

[Backpack slot: AK-47, SCAR-H, Silenced handgun, IED remote control device, Molotov cocktail, Thermite incendiary bottle, flashlight, dagger, Datura 3 reagent]

[Skill slot: Adrenaline Activation Method, Ripple Breathing Method, Fragment Scatter]

[Game Currency: 2990]

Lights out, time to sleep. As a blossoming youth of his country, Li Ang still needed to get up early for school tomorrow.