Hunter of Mysterious Creature

"No wonder..." Sun Hang muttered to himself; those without permission can't see, while those with permission wouldn't go out of their way to find this kind of file—he himself fell under the latter category.

Although Sun Hang had free access to the Dubhe Tower's archive, he hadn't even had time to look at the list of contained specimens there, let alone the vast sea of dossiers and documents available.

"Ignorance, the simplest of poisons and the least needing explanation, leads to a darkened mindset, foolishness, and ignorance of reason... I read the briefing you sent over. This Chen Hongjuan lady can be said to possess all three poisons and has been severely eroded by them. It's not surprising she turned into a mysterious creature."

"You don't intend to use this Buddhist theory to persuade those council members, do you?"

"Why not? Although the deities of religion are fictional, greed, anger, and ignorance are indeed real. When dealing with such cultures, we must learn to discard the useless and embrace the essence..." Pei Zongjun replied casually.

"Oh no, my scalp is so itchy, feels like my brain is about to grow." Sun Hang scratched his head jokingly.

"Alright, just relax about the situation with Chen Hongjuan on your side. Whatever research equipment or data you need, don't hesitate to ask Dubhe Tower... but there's one thing I need to discuss with you in advance."

"Keeping things secret, right?" Sun Hang cleaned his ear with his pinky finger, "Even guessing with my heel, I'd know."

"Exactly. While you understand my words, and the council members can too, not every ordinary citizen will. If this matter is disclosed, for most people, it would seem like a woman who carried no mysterious creature memes suddenly transformed into one, which would lead to a massive societal panic and result in unpredictable chain reactions."

"On one hand, you say the Xiazhou Federation has been peaceful for too long and lacks a sense of crisis; on the other, you're advocating message lockdown for stability. You've said all the contradictory things. What can I say?" Sun Hang couldn't help but gripe.

"These points aren't contradictory... We need the public to realize humanity is on a dangerous edge, but this must be done gradually... rushing too fast might lead to disaster." Pei Zongjun suddenly blurted out a swear.

"If that sentence got out, your esteemed image would be completely ruined."

"You spread it; no one would believe anyway." A gentle laugh came from the other end of the phone.

"...At least two hundred people witnessed Chen Hongjuan's transformation onsite, blocking isn't going to be easy, guiding might be better. Rather than making all of them and the participants sign confidentiality agreements, I actually have another solution."

"What solution? Tell me?"

"According to Chen Hongjuan's son, Ling Xiao's testimony, she circumvented the resettlement camp guards and snuck into a forbidden ruin a few days ago, where she held an unauthorized ceremony." Sun Hang explained, "We can completely claim that she violated the resettlement camp's regulations by entering the restricted area, leading to infection... Maybe it could even make those who are impatient in the camp behave better."

In truth, that day, Chen Hongjuan and her children did encounter a mysterious creature, though it didn't attack her.

"That's indeed a good solution." Pei Zongjun said, "So we'll proceed as you suggested."

"OK, if there's nothing else, I'll end the call." Sun Hang said decisively, and disconnected the communication.

"You... You speak with Mr. Pei still like this?" Yang Qi couldn't help asking beside him.

"All the ceremonial bullshit is the culprit of inefficiency in work; Mr. Pei understands this way better than you." Sun Hang tapped Yang Qi's forehead, who immediately tried to swipe his hand away, only to find a tough filament wrapping her wrist, binding her hands.

"You... You're getting more arrogant!" Yang Qi grumbled unhappily.

"How can it be called arrogance when it's just a small intimate interaction between colleagues?" Sun Hang chuckled, quickly walking to the vehicle—Chen Hongjuan had already been placed into the Eternal Freeze Coffin, and six field agents were collectively lifting it into the vehicle compartment.

As the vehicle door opened, a rush of cold air spilled out, instantly forming a thin layer of frost on the nearby concrete surface.

The panicked crowd had been properly controlled, and Ling Xiao, having completed his task, came over, blankly watching the container holding his mother being pushed into the vehicle, not uttering a word.

"No matter what, she's still your mom... Tsk, I still don't even know who or where my mom is." Sun Hang whispered, "Do you feel nothing at all inside?"

"No." Ling Xiao answered.

Sun Hang slapped his forehead: "I almost forgot, all your emotions had been devoured by that woman, asking is pointless."

"What got devoured?" Wang Xiyi suddenly descended from above and wrapped an arm around Sun Hang's shoulder, smiling and asked, "What did you eat that was so good?"

"Couldn't eat." Sun Hang pointed to the transport vehicle not far away, where external agents in full protective gear were connecting a large bunch of tubes from the vehicle interior to the Eternal Freeze Coffin, and Song Yarong and several researchers stood further away, nervously watching their tablets and monitoring various metrics of the contained specimen.

"I really wanted to eat it though, but its nutritional value isn't high, better suited for those lab coats to research... too wasteful as food." Sun Hang continued.

"Tsk... This vehicle and these setups remind me of some bad memories." Wang Xiyi pouted, "I too was transported back to the research institute like this that day, liquid nitrogen is really damn cold."

"At least you won't be sliced and dissected." Sun Hang tilted his head.

"Damn, suddenly I'm pissed off, feel like practicing boxing; you can be my partner." Wang Xiyi slapped Sun Hang's back hard, "There's a boxing ring in the research institute's gym area, come fight with me for a while."

"You really want to fight?"

"Of course, but let's be clear, no special abilities, only physical strength. Otherwise, I can't beat you."

"Physical strength?" Sun Hang sized up Wang Xiyi's dragon scales and the swinging tail behind her, "Don't tell me that tail counts as your 'physical strength'?"

"Of course."

Sun Hang suddenly had an ominous feeling.

...

...

In Tianfu City, at the Mysterious Creature Research Institute's gym area.

The constant "smack, smack" sound of punches echoed from the boxing ring, while on the stands, the "crunch, crunch" of chips being munched could be heard. Song Yarong carried a giant bag of snacks, distributing them to the spectators one by one... Besides bagged, puffed snacks like chips, she even managed to procure a huge tub of steaming popcorn from somewhere.

"Aren't you in a rush to study Chen Hongjuan?" Yang Qi glanced at her, receiving a handful of sunflower seeds, couldn't resist asking.

"No hurry, no hurry." Song Yarong giggled, "Watching a Taotie Meme-infected and Black Dragon Meme-infected person fight is much more interesting than that middle-aged woman."

Beside Yang Qi, Ye Jiu held a mini-sized monocular, intently focusing on the boxing ring fight, simultaneously yelling strangely: "It must be that woman, bringing Sun Hang to his knees, surely intends to drag him back, force him to wield star-fury power!"

In the boxing ring, having just defended a heavy punch from Wang Xiyi, Sun Hang turned and pointed at Ye Jiu's nose shouting: "Damn it, Ye Jiu, what good is your imagination?!"