Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Just when Sun Hang was contemplating whether to break the trial rules and take down the Overlord directly, a slender eerie skeleton appeared like a phantom behind the Overlord, its ten dagger-like fingers piercing directly into the back of the Overlord's skull!

The Overlord let out an inhuman howl and turned to slap the eerie skeleton away, but at the same time, the air wall that confined Sun Hang dissipated into nothingness.

Seizing this opportunity, Sun Hang swiftly dashed into the convenience store.

"What's going on? Did that guy get furious out of humiliation after being thwarted?" Sun Hang looked at the Puppet Master and asked.

The eerie skeleton that ambushed the Overlord was obviously one of the Puppet Master's deceitful equipment, yet what puzzled Sun Hang was that despite this particular skeleton being much stronger than the ones before, the Puppet Master didn't use it against him, instead lending a hand during his crisis.

Could it be that this girl was going easy on him?

"It's not out of humiliation." The Puppet Master shook her head, a trace of sorrow flashing in her eyes, "His meme mutated suddenly."

"Meme mutation? What does that mean?" Although Sun Hang had been cramming knowledge in this area since becoming a Mysterious Creature Hunter, it was evidently a new concept he hadn't encountered yet.

"Mysterious Creature Hunters usually have relatively stable memes, with the infection process showing no significant changes for years or even decades. But once a meme mutation occurs, the infection process will breach the danger threshold in a very short time, leading to complete transformation," a strange voice sounded not far away. Sun Hang turned his head and saw a handsome man in a brown trench coat and a hat squeezing through the crowd towards them.

Though his attire was indeed dashing, it was already early summer, and the heavy woolen coat seemed out of place with the surroundings.

Especially with a thick woolen scarf wrapped around his neck.

"Who are you?"

"A third-level Hunter from Dubhe Tower, 'Candle Dragon'." The handsome man nodded towards Sun Hang, "Received a temporary notice to come for reinforcement."

As if afraid Sun Hang might misunderstand, Candle Dragon added, "The promotion trial has been paused; I'm here to handle this guy."

After speaking, he pointed to the Overlord tangled with the eerie skeleton on the other side.

"So, has this guy been completely transformed?" Sun Hang asked.

"It's hard to say, but according to the information I received, his infection process broke through the danger threshold a minute ago," Candle Dragon said.

"It's not because of me, is it?"

"There are many inducements for meme mutations, hard to attribute to a single cause," Candle Dragon replied, "Don't feel guilty; you might just be the last straw that broke the camel's back."

"I don't feel guilty." Sun Hang rubbed his nose, blowing out a clot blocking his nasal cavity, "I've got this good trait of never making things difficult for myself."

"That's good." Candle Dragon smiled and nodded.

"He hasn't fully transformed... He's become an eerie skeleton," the Puppet Master suddenly said, "I can sense his emotions, which are not anger but fear."

"Fear?" Candle Dragon was slightly startled, "Miss Zhong, please elaborate."

"It seems that his meme sensed a mortal threat within him, and to survive, it was forced to mutate..." the Puppet Master murmured softly, her eyes slightly closed, "I can read a very clear concept from it—'Predator'."

"... Predator?" Candle Dragon pondered for a moment and turned his gaze to Sun Hang.

"Uh, this shouldn't have anything to do with me, right?" Sun Hang said, "He was about to strangle me, and I didn't even have any killing intent towards him."

As soon as Sun Hang heard the word "predator," he knew this matter was probably closely related to him.

Although the Overlord didn't know his meme came from the Taotie, for Dubhe Tower, it wasn't a secret at all.

"It might be that you scared him," Candle Dragon mused, "Some mysterious creatures are inherently restrained by others, just like hunters and prey in nature... The infected carrying their memes are the same."

"So, this means I'm definitely going to take the blame for this?" Sun Hang felt a bit helpless.

"No, according to Dubhe Tower's rules, you don't need to bear any responsibility," Candle Dragon said, "He came to find you privately, already disobeying orders, so if there's any blame for the meme mutation, it should be borne by those researchers in the control room."

"So what do we do with this guy now?" Sun Hang looked at the Overlord.

"Meme mutation is irreversible, and according to Miss Zhong, he has been transformed into an eerie skeleton. Dubhe Tower will likely have to consider the question of minimizing the loss afterward..." Candle Dragon said, "I think, since Miss Zhong can sense him, he will probably end up being made into your deceitful equipment, right?"

"That's possible?" Sun Hang murmured.

"Many eerie skeletons controlled by Miss Zhong are former Hunters who were transformed," Candle Dragon said, "But this should be the first eerie skeleton transformed from a leveled Hunter; controlling it smoothly might still be a question."

"Let's not discuss this now; that eerie skeleton is about to be overwhelmed," Sun Hang said, "This guy has grown stronger than just a bit after breaking the danger threshold."

"Rest assured, I'm here." Candle Dragon slowly raised his hand, the surrounding temperature suddenly dropping, causing even Sun Hang to shiver involuntarily—he suddenly understood why Candle Dragon was wearing such warm clothes in this season.

If possible, he wanted to get a big cotton coat to wear now.

Over a dozen streams of water emitting a chilling aura surged from the cracks in the pavement, slithering like some sort of serpents on the ground, swiftly approaching the Overlord who had become an eerie skeleton.

The Overlord, engaged in a struggle with the Puppet Master's eerie skeleton, also sensed the approaching danger. He quickly abandoned his original combat opponent and punched through the air towards the nearest snake-like stream.

"Boom!!!"

The ground shattered, debris flew everywhere, and the snake-like stream was shattered—but promptly regrouped, continuing to swim towards the Overlord.

Though they appeared like snakes, these snake-like streams were essentially just a cluster of liquid, no matter how powerful the punch, it could not completely "destroy" them.

If Wang Xiyi were here, perhaps a Dragon Breath could evaporate the snake-like streams, but the Overlord's attack methods were completely countered by Candle Dragon's ability—in the blink of an eye, the chilling snake-like streams entwined themselves around him.