Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Sun Hang drew his gun once again, this time deliberately slowing down his movements a bit.

He wanted to see if the boy would choose to dodge or try to snatch the gun.

The boy jumped up from the chair and charged at Sun Hang, trying to make him lose balance and drop the handgun.

Unfortunately, his idea was good, but both his speed and strength were too weak—instead, before he even reached Sun Hang, Sun Hang had already kicked him away.

The boy fell heavily to the ground, but at the last moment, he used his hands to protect his head, preventing a direct impact—though the backs of his hands were scraped on the rough ground.

Sun Hang had somewhat controlled his strength with that kick. Under normal circumstances, the boy's ribs should've been shattered by now, and his internal organs completely crushed... he wouldn't be able to get up from the ground, and before he even hit the ground, he would've been a corpse.

"Can you get up?" Sun Hang asked.

"I can." The boy got up.

"Come here." Sun Hang waved him over.

The boy walked up to him.

"Do you know how to use a gun?" Sun Hang asked.

The boy shook his head.

"See this? This is the safety. Flick it down and then pull the trigger to shoot. Of course, make sure the bullet is chambered before you pull the trigger." Sun Hang pulled the slide of the handgun and, after hearing the crisp sound of loading, tossed the handgun to the boy.

"The spot above the gun barrel is called the front sight, and the notch at the end of the gun is called the rear sight. Align the front sight, rear sight, and target into one line to aim at your target. Now, point the gun at my head." Sun Hang instructed.

The boy raised the gun and aimed at Sun Hang's head.

The distance between them was only one meter. At this range, even a complete novice would have a hard time missing the target.

"I'd recommend holding the gun with both hands," Sun Hang said. "Though the caliber of this gun is only nine millimeters, the recoil might be bigger than you expect."

The boy placed his other hand on the gun as well.

"Now, shoot at my head." As Sun Hang said this, he silently enveloped them both in a soundproof field.

The boy didn't hesitate at all. As soon as Sun Hang finished speaking, he followed Sun Hang's instructions, released the safety, and pulled the trigger.

"Bang!"

In bullet time, the gunpowder smoke from the muzzle bloomed like a slowly unfolding peony flower, and the lead bullet flew out, leaving a visible trail behind it.

The next moment, a fist composed of countless mycelia suddenly extended from behind Sun Hang, clutching the bullet in its palm.

"Well done," Sun Hang nodded. "You can return the gun to me now... oh, and don't forget to engage the safety."

After holstering the handgun, Sun Hang sat down again and asked the boy, "What were you thinking about when you shot?"

"Nothing," the boy replied.

"Did you ever think that you might kill me with that shot?"

"No."

"Then why did you fire?"

"Because you told me to shoot," the boy said, showing a rare thoughtful expression. "I thought it might be part of the training."

"Well... when you put it that way, I guess you're right," Sun Hang said, pressing his fingers to his forehead in exasperation. "But I can't shake the feeling that you're not like a fifteen or sixteen-year-old boy... Oh, I almost forgot to ask, how old are you?"

"I'll be fifteen in two months."

"Where did you study before?"

"In the Intermediate Vocational-Technical College of Tianfu City."

"You've been going to a technical school since you were fifteen? How were your grades before?"

"Not bad, I was once ranked first in my class in the first year of middle school," the boy answered.

"And you're in a technical school? With those grades, you could easily get into an ordinary high school." Sun Hang said in surprise. "Even in the worst middle school, a student who can rank first in class shouldn't end up in a technical school, right?"

"That's my mom's decision. She said I need to enter society early and work to help support all the younger siblings at home," the boy calmly replied.

He spoke as if it wasn't about himself, but something that happened to a stranger.

"Is your mom out of her mind? Sending a kid who can be top in class to a technical school?" Sun Hang scratched his head. "And your dad? Didn't he object?"

"My dad... he doesn't like me very much. He always thought I didn't look like him and suspected I was my mom's child with someone else," the boy said. "He prefers my brother."

"Wow, this suddenly turned into a prime-time family drama," Sun Hang muttered. "By the way, why are you participating in the training? Are you really doing it for your parents' wishes... to support those brothers and sisters?"

The boy was silent.

"If you wish, I can help you with the paperwork," Sun Hang offered.

"What paperwork?"

"The paperwork to sever parental ties with your biological family. From that point on, all your benefits can be enjoyed by you alone... the only downside is that if you die, no one will be able to claim your death benefits."

"Okay." The boy nodded.

"Tsk... Since you have no affection for your biological family, why are you still participating in this potentially fatal training?" Sun Hang furrowed his brow. "Is it to earn money and become independent, or to escape from that family? Or is there another reason?"

"Can I ask a question?" the boy suddenly inquired.

"Go ahead."

"Does God really exist in this world?"

"Why do you ask that all of a sudden?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes, "Did you perhaps... see something 'special'?"

"My mom is very superstitious of the gods and Buddhas. She has a lot of them enshrined at home, and we have to let them eat first before we can start our meal. But the gods and Buddhas never blessed us; our life has never changed... Not only that, during the evacuation, our neighbors, who never prayed to the gods, were all safe, but my dad was hit on the head by a falling concrete block," the boy stated calmly.

"Superstition is incorrect," Sun Hang laughed. "The religions people worship are all fabricated by humans, just a form of spiritual sustenance. You can't expect some fictional deities to provide help, right? If you ask me, traditional religions are not even as good as those cults that worship supernatural creatures, as at least the supernatural creatures really can grant power to their followers... albeit at a rather 'high' cost."

The boy looked at Sun Hang, saying nothing.

"Let me put it another way—your mom's so-called prayers don't involve giving anything more than devotion, do they?" Sun Hang said. "The food offered is eaten afterward; the incense burned eventually turns to wax and ashes... Even if something regarded as a deity or Buddha does exist, why would they help you if they're getting nothing from you? As for 'faith power,' that's something from fantasy novels. I don't believe ordinary people's belief in something and sheer Spiritual Power can make it stronger—unless the person is an infected individual with special abilities."

"But it seems like I saw a real god," the boy said.

"Oh, what did the god you saw look like? Tell me." Sun Hang asked, intrigued.

He estimated that what the boy saw was probably just some sort of supernatural creature.

But then again, when a supernatural creature becomes powerful enough to possess abilities comparable to the gods in mythological stories... can it then be considered a god?