Hunter of Mysterious Creature

"Could it be that you've been possessed by the soul of some pet dog?" Sun Hang asked, pinching his own chin in wonder. "Are you really the infamous Yamata Orochi?"

The Yamata Orochi didn't reply... Well, maybe it simply couldn't speak the human language.

Sun Hang took a deep breath and tentatively reached out to touch the snake head that was taller than he was.

The smallest scales on this head were larger than the palm of Sun Hang's hand. They felt like sheets of steel pressed out by a hydraulic press—cold, smooth, with a metallic sheen, and their edges were razor-sharp, faintly reflecting Sun Hang's shadow.

As Sun Hang stroked the head of the Yamata Orochi, the giant snake actually closed its eyes, looking thoroughly pleased.

It felt to Sun Hang more like he was petting a large dog he had at home, rather than a giant serpent's head.

"Do you want to be my pet?" Sun Hang rapped his knuckles on the Yamata Orochi's scales as if knocking on a door. The serpent opened its eyes and looked at him, flicking its tongue out to lick the nearby wall.

Straight away, the granite wall emitted a "sizzling" sound, and its smooth facade was instantly corroded into a pitted surface.

Sun Hang couldn't quite see how he discerned joy in those dark gold vertical pupils... but his intuition clearly told him that the serpent's current mood was no different from a little dog wagging its tail excitedly upon seeing its owner.

"Good thing it didn't lick me like a dog..." Sun Hang thought to himself.

"Hiss... hiss..." A low hissing sound came from the mouth of the Yamata Orochi, but unfortunately, Sun Hang was completely clueless about snake language.

"I'm not Harry Potter; I can't understand what you're saying," Sun Hang said, spreading his hands with a hint of helplessness, yet the Yamata Orochi continued hissing by itself.

For some reason, this big snake gave him a feeling of being somewhat not very bright.

"Alright then, you figure out a way to get me outside, then find a place to hide. Don't appear in front of other humans, can you do that?" Sun Hang said.

Having the Yamata Orochi as a pet seemed like a mighty thing, but the actual trouble it would bring was unimaginable. The mere thought of explaining it to Dubhe Tower was enough to give Sun Hang a headache.

He absolutely couldn't say that just by exerting a commanding aura, this little snake obediently surrendered and voluntarily became his pet, could he?

Even though the reality seemed to be somewhat like that, would the people of Dubhe Tower really believe such a story?

Let alone them, even Sun Hang himself wouldn't believe it.

The best way to handle this was to set it free in the sea, not only saving a substantial amount in feed costs but also keeping it as a hidden ace... of course, mainly to save Sun Hang from much unnecessary trouble.

He wouldn't want Dubhe Tower connecting him to all those things that happened on Nameless Island... A fisherman's brain structure is basic; he shouldn't overthink the events on the island. As for Shino, Sun Hang couldn't guarantee he wouldn't gossip, but at least he hadn't seen Anna the white-haired girl's "alive" appearance nor did he "hear" the peculiar conversation between Sun Hang and the white-haired girl.

Most of Shino's suspicions were rooted in his conjectures, and conjecture was baseless, unfounded...

But if he really returned to the Federation with Yamata Orochi, then even if the fisher and Shino said nothing, there would still be endless inquiries and inspections awaiting him... Sun Hang considered himself patient, but he couldn't guarantee whether Yamata Orochi had patience.

If the Yamata Orochi went on a rampage and killed many people... would that responsibility lie with the pet, or its owner?

The Yamata Orochi submerged half of its head in the water, then moved toward Sun Hang, seeming to indicate he should climb onto its head.

Sun Hang didn't hesitate and scrambled up it. The next second, an unknown secretion surged from the gaps between Yamata Orochi's scales, forming a hollow air sac that encased Sun Hang.

The Yamata Orochi dove into the water with Sun Hang, and after passing through a dark, narrow channel, the surroundings suddenly opened up. Sun Hang quickly realized that he had left Nameless Island and entered the waters nearby.

In the beam of a flashlight, he could faintly see the enormous body of Yamata Orochi submerged in the sea—it didn't just have eight heads; it also had eight tails, like the bodies of eight serpents entwined together... Sun Hang couldn't help but wonder, did all eight heads of the Yamata Orochi share one consciousness, or did each have a separate mind?

"Forget it... I'll leave that kind of question to the ophiologists to puzzle over."

With the increasing brightness, Sun Hang knew he was rapidly approaching the surface... a few minutes later, he finally saw the sunlight again and, several nautical miles away, the Nameless Island still billowing thick smoke.

"Alright, this is as far as you go." Sun Hang patted the snake head he was sitting on. "Get going quickly, if anyone else finds you, it'll be trouble ... and by trouble, I mean my trouble, not yours, got it?"

Another snake head peered at Sun Hang from beneath the shallow sea surface. The next second, the air sac burst, and the Yamata Orochi silently sank, leaving Sun Hang alone on the water.

Logically, when such a massive creature descends into the depths, it'd easily form a whirlpool pulling Sun Hang down with it, but the Yamata Orochi seemed to merge with the seawater. The entire submerging process didn't stir up the slightest undercurrent—the surface was calm, not even a ripple in sight.

Considering that the Yamata Orochi could manipulate the water flow, such a situation wasn't all that surprising—it could create deadly undercurrents or render turbulent waters smooth and still.

Floating on the sea, Sun Hang surveyed his surroundings. He couldn't see the coast from where he was, nor the warship that had sent them to the island—only the Nameless Island a few nautical miles away was the closest piece of land... swimming back to the Xiazhou Continent wasn't very feasible, Sun Hang thought and decided it would be best to return to Nameless Island and wait on the beach for rescue.

After all, the biggest threat before him had just become his pet... the island's beaches were probably the safest place on the whole island for him now.

He wondered how the warships that came to lay siege to the Yamata Orochi would feel once they arrived at the scene to find nothing there?

Relieved, angry, or maybe an "All this for nothing" sentiment?

Sun Hang didn't know, but at any rate, the Federation's high command and Dubhe Tower were certainly letting out a sigh of relief—in truth, they probably hoped more than anyone that the Yamata Orochi's intel was a "false alarm," given just how close this was to Chunming City.

Sun Hang stretched his arms, and just as he was pondering whether to use the dog paddle or some other stroke to swim back to Nameless Island, the Yamata Orochi surfaced beneath the water once again.

A massive serpent head drew near Sun Hang and then opened its mouth.

A reasonably intact landing craft emerged from Yamata Orochi's mouth, overturning on the surface of the sea.

The Yamata Orochi nudged the landing craft gently, and it flipped upright.

"How thoughtful?"

Sun Hang climbed directly aboard the landing craft, while the Yamata Orochi nudged the bottom of the craft gently, as if in farewell to Sun Hang...

A few seconds later, it finally disappeared completely from Sun Hang's view.