Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 668 - 183: Defective Product (Part 2)

After the trial ended, Sun Hang investigated the profiles of some of the Hunters who participated in the trial... He discovered that many people hadn't actually met the standards to participate in the advancement trial, such as the female Hunter who traveled with him, and the overly familiar fisherman.

The eligibility to participate in the advancement trial isn't so easily obtained. Aside from Hunters like Sun Hang who receive a direct invitation, the vast majority have to submit an application—and the acceptance rate of these applications is actually quite low. Excluding this trial, the approval rate of applications in previous rounds was less than twenty-five percent.

The fisherman's abilities theoretically qualify him for the advancement trial, but under normal circumstances, his first application would almost certainly be rejected—because many more eligible Hunters would have submitted applications. From the usual application process, it isn't just that meeting the requirements guarantees approval; among those who meet the requirements, a certain proportion is selected to participate in the trial.

As for the remaining qualified Hunters who get rejected, their priority will increase when they apply next time—except for a unique case like Mr. Wang who is extraordinarily strong; more "ordinary" Mysterious Creature Hunters typically need to apply three to five times before they have a chance to participate in the advancement trial.

But this time, in the Nameless Island trial, many people were accepted on their first application.

"It feels... as if they're just a bunch of cannon fodder to make up the numbers." Sun Hang muttered, staring at the snow-white ceiling.

What is the purpose of the Dubhe Tower?

To let these people pave the way for them? To attract the attention of other mysterious creatures in the ruins of the research institute?

Then... to make him release Anna?

A subtle change occurred on Sun Hang's face.

He always felt that releasing Anna from the Nameless Island was his mistake... but in reality, it seems this was the purpose of the Dubhe Tower... one of them?

"Mr. Pei... what exactly is going on in your mind?" Sun Hang couldn't help but murmur.

If he hadn't released Anna, at least the tragedy in Lizhou City wouldn't have happened, and so many lives wouldn't have been taken by the "Fiery Sun."

If Pei Zongjun's purpose was to release Anna, then did he anticipate this step?

Sun Hang felt that, whether or not Pei Zongjun anticipated this step, it didn't seem like a good outcome.

If he didn't anticipate it, it means things have gone beyond Pei Zongjun's control... or expectations; if he did, then for Pei Zongjun and the Dubhe Tower, what about the victims at Panlong Airport and the area affected near the airport... what are they to him?

"An acceptable cost?"

Isn't that cost a bit too great?

"No... this cost isn't great, not at all." Sun Hang answered himself, "For his plan, for his purpose... this cost isn't great at all."

Sun Hang decided that once this mission was over, he would fly to Chunming City again to have a face-to-face talk with Pei Zongjun.

Even if the other party couldn't directly tell him the truth, he at least had to find a way to get a statement from him.

Sun Hang had to confirm whether the other party was aware of Anna's existence—this was very important.

"There's always a feeling of being calculated by someone." Sun Hang sprang up from the bed like a fish and walked up to the window.

The window of the living room floor was a floor-to-ceiling window; for buildings of that era, the design of floor-to-ceiling windows was somewhat advanced, but one had to admit that the view from a floor-to-ceiling window was indeed excellent; even the distant sea could be seen... 𝐟𝚛𝕖𝚎𝕨𝗲𝐛𝚗𝐨𝐯𝐞𝕝.𝐜𝗼𝗺

Hold on, the sea?

Sun Hang distinctly remembered that the room he was in should be Room 102 on the first floor.

The height of the first floor, even with a floor-to-ceiling window in the bedroom, shouldn't allow for a view of the distant sea.

Sun Hang looked down only to realize that outside the window, the height was at least five or six floors high, several meters above the crowns of the trees planted in the flower beds.

"Indeed... if Chimera 17 had always been staying in this room, then the view outside the window it could see would only be like this." Sun Hang nodded thoughtfully, "It has never been in a room genuinely on the first floor, so memories would naturally not have the scenery outside a first-floor window."

These rooms used an identical interior decoration template, and even the scenery outside the windows was exactly the same.

"It seems the floor Chimera 17 stayed on before was quite high."

Sun Hang stood in front of the window, and faintly, an extremely familiar feeling rose within him.

Involuntarily, he gazed at the sea where the silhouette of military ships appeared on the surface one after another.

Some of these ships flew the old Xiazhou Federation flags, while others had the Siberian Federation flags—as a collaborative project between the Xiazhou Federation and Siberian Federation, military ships transporting personnel and supplies were naturally from both entities.

Sun Hang suddenly turned his head and found a blurry humanoid shadow beside him, mesmerized as it lay against the glass, intently watching the military ships on the distant sea.

This humanoid shadow was quite short, only about 1.23 meters in height, with no discernible facial or gender features, but for some reason, Sun Hang could sense this shadow's thoughts.

It was counting the ships on the sea and the patterns of signal flags on them.

Day after day, day after day.

The sun rose and set, day and night alternating, as the shadow lay against the glass, counting the flags on the ships.

That intense feeling of loneliness surged through him once again.

Time froze again at dusk, as the setting sun painted the sea like a flowing sheet of gold, and a Siberian Federation military ship slowly sailed out of the harbor, the sound of its horn coming from afar reverberating throughout the small room.

At some point, the humanoid shadow leaning on the window multiplied into two.

Sun Hang also couldn't clearly see the newly appeared shadow, but somehow, despite the blurred vision, the feeling given by the second shadow was entirely different from the first.

Disabled, ugly, flawed... this was the first impression this shadow gave Sun Hang, who vaguely saw that its limbs were completely malformed... and not just the limbs; even the trunk had various mismatched feelings.

Almost like a deformed baby born to a mother exposed to radiation...

But when this shadow appeared, the first shadow suddenly became much clearer... although Sun Hang still couldn't see its face, if he had to describe the change in letters, it would be...

"Becoming more like a person."

The loneliness within Sun Hang's heart gradually dissipated somewhat. Though he could still feel that sense of solitude, two shadows were better than one.

"Huh... why am I thinking like this?" Sun Hang was startled for a moment, and when he realized it, the first shadow was already gone.

All that was left was the second shadow, lying in the place where the first shadow lay, counting flags all alone.

"Chimera... 17?"

The shadow lifted its head, its nonexistent gaze "staring" at Sun Hang.

After a brief moment, it spoke in a very unpleasant, grating tone: "I don't like the code name humans gave me; to me, it sounds like an irrelevant defective product on a production line."

Yet in the next moment, it suddenly laughed, a chilling laughter filling the entire room: "But they're not wrong, I indeed am just a defective product."

[P.S. Many readers previously complained that the plot around the advancement trial was unreasonable, saying it sacrificed so much valuable combat power or that some Hunters behaved more like cannon fodder rather than elite... To avoid spoilers, I've been holding back until now, finally able to write out the reason, and it feels like the relief of overcoming constipation. (However, I suspect not many of those who complained will still be reading this chapter now, right?)]