210 Dark Alchemy!

Two days later.

In the central part of the Alliance, a county town.

In the cold drizzle, the streets are sparsely populated, muddied, and most of the ground-floor shops have been closed for years, with only a few scattered small stores remaining, where the elderly owners idly crack sunflower seeds while playing with their mobile phones.

As urbanization advanced further and agricultural automation became widespread, villages neared extinction, and the decline of the county towns was not far off.

A man in a black trench coat, carrying a black umbrella, wearing a black mask and black gloves, walked leisurely alone in the rain, seemingly enjoying the dilapidated scene.

If this were a movie, the appearance of the man in black would be quite jarring, resembling a graceful reaper who doesn't blend with all around him, seemingly on a mission.

But to the few elderly residents with limited eyesight here,

he was just a passing crow.

Knock knock knock—