Chapter 179: Assassination at the Magic School
Owen was taking a bath in the bathroom, with Dier helping him scrub his back. But the constant scraping of the headlights made him distracted, thinking about whether he should eat two strawberries later to satisfy his cravings.
At that moment, Shinobi suddenly appeared and brought unexpected news.
“Bryan was assassinated?” Owen was stunned at first, then remembered who Bryan was. Finally, when he recalled that Bryan was hired as a professor at the magic school, he immediately stood up in agitation.
He wasn’t worried about Bryan’s life or death, but about the safety of the magic school.
The magic school was responsible for cultivating a new generation of magic users for the territory. If any problems arose, it would have a significant impact on the future development of the territory. He couldn’t afford to be unconcerned.
“Tell Hogg to strengthen the patrols in Autumn Field Town , especially at night. At the same time, order Bella to lead the Nomad Cavalry to spread out. The area around the territory is open, and no matter what the motive for assassinating Bryan was, it won’t be easy for them to escape.” Owen’s expression was grim.
The territory lacked talent, so even though Bryan’s situation was somewhat complicated, Owen still chose to accept him.
Although he had anticipated that Bryan would bring trouble, he didn’t expect it to happen before any results were achieved, and it was an assassination, such a brutal method. Therefore, Owen didn’t intend to let the perpetrator go easily, after all, Bryan was now one of his people.
Shinobi made a few hand gestures, and the ninjas hiding nearby went to convey their master’s orders.
Owen didn’t know what the current situation at the magic school was. He had Dier help him dress, then took Charle and two Witch Hunters with him. Shinobi and a squad of ninjas followed secretly as they headed to Green Shade Town .
Rushing to the magic school, fortunately, the assassin wasn’t the kind of berserker who believed that killing everyone was a successful stealth mission. So the magic school wasn’t covered in blood and limbs, which made Owen slightly relieved.
“How is the situation?” Seeing Ai Mi Er coming out of the stone tower, bowing her head, Owen asked somewhat urgently.
“The intruder’s infiltration ability is very strong. Many of the academy’s traps weren’t triggered, and those that were triggered were disarmed using special methods, so no one noticed until the explosion.” Ai Mi Er frowned, clearly the magic school wasn’t as safe as she had imagined.
“Fortunately, the intruder had a clear objective. Apart from Bryan, there were no casualties.” From the establishment of the school to now, Ai Mi Er had been personally involved, and most of the little witches here were previously under her care, so she had a deep affection for them. Speaking of which, she was finally relieved.
“By the way, Bryan’s current situation is a bit special. I can’t tell if he’s dead or alive.” Ai Mi Er’s last sentence stunned Owen. How could someone be in a state where it was unclear if they were dead or alive?
Entering the stone tower, the first floor, originally used for receiving guests, was now a murder scene. Duomi stood by helplessly, looking as innocent as the murderer. Bryan lay pale on the ground, no one dared to move him with a gaping hole in his chest, his heart shattered.
However, Bryan was still alive. There was a strange box beside him, from which many tubes extended, connected to the severed heart and blood vessels, taking over the function of the heart to transport blood throughout the body, forcibly maintaining the minimum bodily functions.
But the previous explosion had destroyed the tables, chairs, and part of the floor, causing many fragments to embed themselves in Bryan’s body. So this device could only barely sustain his life.
Because the situation was too complicated, Ai Mi Er didn’t even dare to use a Magic Potion .
Bryan had already lost a lot of blood. If a potion was used, it would cause the wound to squirm, causing the tube connected to the heart artery to detach. With massive blood loss, even if he was soaked in a magic potion, he couldn’t be saved. Besides, the fragments in his body weighed at least half a pound, scattered throughout all his organs. It was a miracle that he was still alive.
“Is this Professor Bryan’s research?” Owen asked Duomi as he had Warm Baby scan the box.
“It’s the second heart that Teacher researched. It can be implanted in the chest cavity in advance. Not only can it improve a warrior’s combat effectiveness, but it can also replace the heart when necessary. However, it was rejected by the Imperial Border Army due to its cost. Only one prototype was made.” After seeing Owen, the flustered Duomi finally calmed down a bit and quickly answered Owen’s question.
After seeing Warm Baby’s scan through the glasses projection, Owen was surprised by Bryan’s talent in this area.
Bryan wasn’t completely dead yet, not solely relying on this second heart. There was also a special potion that entered his body along with the blood transfusion.
The potion was hidden in the second heart’s box and had already flowed throughout his body along with the blood, keeping him in a state of suspended animation. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have been able to hold on for so long.
No wonder even Ai Mi Er was helpless, because once this balance was broken, Bryan’s fragile flame of life would be extinguished immediately.
Faced with the current situation, Owen felt a bit numb.
Fortunately, the territory wasn’t in its initial stages anymore. Owen still had a lot of talent under his command. After calling two Priests , with Divine Light and Magic Potion , they managed to pull Bryan back from the brink of death.
However, the shattered heart had lost its vitality. Even with a magic potion, it couldn’t be restored. As for growing a new one, it wasn’t impossible, but it was absolutely not feasible.
It wasn’t like bones or teeth that could slowly grow back. A newborn heart couldn’t support an adult body. In the time it took for the heart to mature, Bryan could die eight hundred times.
Besides, only his external wounds had healed. To prevent further blood loss, the fragments hadn’t been removed. Inflammation and rejection were inevitable. So Bryan was really like the cat in the box, unsure whether to judge him as dead or alive.
Seeing Bryan still in suspended animation, Owen, eager to know the clues about the assassin, chose to take him to the secret chamber of the dungeon .
An artificial heart wasn’t a difficult problem. Flame Empress had the complete technology. After Owen modified it based on this, it only took him a few hours to hand-craft an artificial heart.
The installation wasn’t difficult either. Owen cut out the shattered heart, placed the artificial heart inside, and then connected the heart arteries.
Worried about connecting the wrong wires, he even had Flame Empress check it. After confirming there were no problems, Owen activated the artificial heart.
Blood circulation was normal, and various hormones were released, stimulating the organs in Bryan’s suspended animation state to activate, waking him up from his suspended animation.
Due to the time constraints, the heart replacement process was a bit rough. Plus, the messy fragments hadn’t been removed, causing Bryan’s expression to be extremely painful. But the effect was immediate. He woke up not long after. Owen didn’t know if he was woken up by the pain, but it looked painful to him.
However, as a professional, the first thing Bryan paid attention to after waking up wasn’t his own physical condition, but the workbench he was lying on.
In the past, to facilitate puppet production, Owen had exchanged for a basic multi-function workbench ๐จ. Now it had long been upgraded to a high-level one. Combined with alchemy, it was enough to create monstrous creations like artificial humans.
Bryan was a discerning person. He could tell at a glance how precious the workbench he was lying on was. Now he wished he could grab Owen by the neck and have him throw him on the ground so as not to dirty the workbench.
