Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Although Sun Hang knew that his recruitment plan would be approved, he never expected it to be approved so quickly.

Early the next morning, Sun Hang's phone chimed with an important message alert. He carefully extracted his numb arm from under Wang Xiyi's head, got out of bed, and unlocked his phone.

The Dubhe Tower and the Federation Council had already approved his plan, not only without changing a single word but also seemingly urging him to implement it as soon as possible... Some council members even suggested that the recruitment plan be implemented starting today.

In the words of those council members, this not only addresses the employment issues of disaster-affected citizens but also supplements the manpower shortage in various defense departments of Celestial City—aside from the research institute's field operations team, they suggested that the Shuzhou Military District, Tianfu City Defense Guard, and Celestial City Public Security Bureau should follow this approach and recruit reserve members from the disaster-impacted populace.

As for Sun Hang's plan to recruit minors, it wasn't mentioned in the message, but it also wasn't rejected.

"What's going on?" Wang Xiyi groggily propped herself up, the thin blanket outlining a beautiful silhouette, and mumbled, "Is there a mission so early in the morning?"

"It's not a mission." Sun Hang shook his head.

"Then stay and sleep a bit more with me."

"But it's something more important than a mission." Sun Hang quickly got dressed and shoved his phone into his pocket.

"Something more important than a mission?" Wang Xiyi was suddenly wide awake, jumped out of bed naked, "Could something have happened at the underground palace?"

"Relax, relax," Sun Hang waved his hand, "It's just that my recruitment plan was approved, and the Federation Council is urging me to start recruitment."

"Tch, I thought it was something important." Wang Xiyi nonchalantly stretched, not minding at all that her perfect body was completely exposed to Sun Hang, "So, do you need me to go with you?"

"Today, we'll first look for a smaller refugee camp to gauge the people's reaction," Sun Hang said. "Your look is too eye-catching for a pilot test; we should keep it low-key."

"What do you mean by eye-catching?" Wang Xiyi turned slightly, gently flicked the hair over her shoulder, and her slender dragon tail lightly coiled around Sun Hang's ankle, her gaze almost melting.

"Wow, where did you learn that?" Sun Hang was stunned. "Mr. Wang, could it be that you've been possessed by Bao Si?"

"What's wrong? Can't I have some feminine charm?" The tail wrapped around Sun Hang's ankle tightened immediately, implying she might fling him out with one wrong word.

"Of course not, just joking." Sun Hang awkwardly smiled. "What I mean is, your dragon horns and tail are too conspicuous. I'm worried there might be extreme elements among the refugees infected with hatred... Although I know they can't really hurt you, if it causes unrest, it would be problematic."

"It's not a big issue; I'll borrow a full-body Power Exoskeleton from the Field Operations Department. Once it's on, you can't tell if I'm male or female." Wang Xiyi said.

"And what about your tail? Power Exoskeletons designed for humans probably don't have space for a tail," Sun Hang glanced at the dragon tail still coiled around his ankle.

"That's even simpler, just find the largest size exoskeleton and coil the tail around my waist."

...

...

Celestial City, west of the city.

The convoy marked with the emblem of the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute slowly drove into a refugee camp with about a thousand people. Sun Hang stuck his head out the window to take a look at the large metal sign standing at the entrance.

"Sixth Temporary Settlement Camp."

A makeshift podium had already been set up before Sun Hang and his team arrived. Several vehicles slowly pulled up beside it, and just as Sun Hang opened the car door, a Power Exoskeleton over three meters tall that had been clinging to the back of the vehicle landed with a thud, closely following behind him.

"How do I look in this gear, cool, right?" Wang Xiyi's voice came through Sun Hang's earpiece.

"Cool, cool, cool." Sun Hang agreed repeatedly.

This Power Exoskeleton resembled the power armor seen in sci-fi films. However, unlike the metal can-like power armor, the Power Exoskeleton emphasized mobility and terrain adaptability over defense—after all, the defense of humanoid mechas could never surpass that of a heavy tank.

Dressed in a Power Exoskeleton, Wang Xiyi carried a 20mm portable machine cannon and stood behind Sun Hang like a personal bodyguard, leaving Ye Jiu, who got off another vehicle, momentarily stunned.

"Is that guy... a bodyguard assigned to you by the higher-ups?" Ye Jiu asked in confusion. "Considering your skills, is he protecting you, or are you protecting him?"

"Not a bodyguard, it's Mr. Wang," Sun Hang explained. "I was worried her appearance was too conspicuous, so she made an entrance in this way."

"This armor is also quite conspicuous."

"At least it won't attract hate from some extremists," Sun Hang whispered. "I read an online statistic before; in the eyes of Celestial City netizens, 7.1% believe the infected are no different from the mysterious creatures."

"True, makes sense," Ye Jiu nodded. "It would be a hassle if unrest leads to a pushing or stampede incident."

"Hmm."

"By the way, I thought about your plan carefully again yesterday and felt it was somewhat inadequate," Ye Jiu said. "Even with intensive combat training, it would take at least six months to train a qualified field operative from scratch... And considering the dropout rate due to deaths or injuries... Don't you think the cost-effectiveness is a bit low? In my view, the best approach is to recruit from the various military systems, at least those people have some basic training, and many basic training programs can be bypassed..."