Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 674 - 1: After Dawn_2

"So the abandoned children, burdened with various hereditary diseases, still have to thank their irresponsible parents?" Sun Hang questioned, "I suspect this is a form of PUA."

"That's just an example," Anna said softly, "What 'Mama' has granted us goes beyond the mere gift of life; it is the concept of 'existence' itself... More magnificent than any reproductive behavior of carbon-based lifeforms."

Anna paused for a moment, then continued, "Moreover, human emotions don't apply to us."

"I see Chimera 17 nearly driven mad by suffering; is this kind of 'existence' really necessary?" Sun Hang remarked, "It wholeheartedly seeks death, making the desire to escape pain far greater than the need for 'existence.' If so, perhaps it would have been better not to be born into this world at all, don't you think?"

Anna pressed down her skirt as the wind blew, gently sat beside Sun Hang, and softly recited: "'I am grateful I can still feel pain; it reminds me that I'm alive.'"

"What?"

"A fragment of memory I assimilated," Anna replied, "It seems to come from a child suffering from a terminal illness."

Sun Hang suddenly felt that dwelling on this topic might be unnecessary.

Chimera 17 had perished, yet his own questions remained unresolved... Even though the micro-world of Chimera 17 had provided Sun Hang with much critical information, the more he learned, the more new questions arose.

Like the process of human exploration of the world—the more knowledge one gains, the clearer one's sense of ignorance becomes.

"Let's return to the main topic then, so... The embryo... is actually..." Sun Hang started, but suddenly realized his mouth was opening and closing without producing any sound. Vaguely, he seemed to see a monkey covering its mouth, crouched on a rock not far away.

"Damn!" This expletive escaped Sun Hang's lips.

"Rather than worrying about these things, why not think about the future?" Anna smiled lightly, seemingly having guessed the words Sun Hang couldn't say, "Mama, you're now a hero among humans."

"I have no interest in being a hero." Sun Hang spit into the muddy ground, "I just want to be a despicable, selfish person."

"There's a saying, 'Judge deeds, not hearts.' Regardless of how you think, your actions have indeed saved many." Anna said, "So you are undeniably a hero."

"What's the benefit of being a hero?"

"Many benefits." Anna giggled, "At the very least, beautiful ladies would be willing to throw themselves at a hero."

"Even without this, many beautiful ladies are willing to throw themselves at me." Sun Hang countered.

Just as he was wondering why Anna wasn't replying, a familiar presence suddenly fell from the sky, heavily "landing" less than five meters away from Sun Hang.

The splashed mud instantly covered Sun Hang's face.

"Yo, still alive?" Mr. Wang folded his wings, walked over to Sun Hang, grabbed his arm, and pulled him up from the mud, "The limbs aren't missing, why are you just lying there? When I saw you from the sky, I thought you were barely hanging on."

"I've finished my work, can't take a breather in the mud?" Sun Hang complained, "Such rare good weather."

"Indeed, rare." Wang Xiyi looked up at the sky, "Did you cause this?"

"Why ask that?"

"Because when we went deep into the giant cocoon, you disappeared," Wang Xiyi said, "I suspected you left us behind to challenge Chimera 17 alone."

"I can't beat it." Sun Hang shrugged.

"Yang Qi sent a message saying Chimera 17, upon reaching the critical outbreak point, concentrated all its energy and directly blasted towards the Evernight, perishing along with it. Honestly, I'm puzzled, can phenomena like the Evernight really be eliminated through physical means?"

"Suggest you ask Yang Qi about such issues." Sun Hang replied, "If you ask me, I can only give you an 'I am guessing' answer."

"Yang Qi doesn't know either, or rather, no one can explain the reason behind it now." Wang Xiyi laughed, "It's not just the research institutes in Tianshu City going mad; even the group of lunatics in Dubhe Tower thousands of miles away has gone mad... well, although they were quite mad to begin with."

"Did Mr. Pei seek me out?" Sun Hang asked.

All of Sun Hang's communication devices were ruined, even the phone Yang Qi gave him had become a brick... Sun Hang couldn't be sure if this was the doing of Chimera 17 or the three apes, but one thing was certain: neither Chimera 17 nor the three apes would compensate him with a new phone.

"I don't think so... although Dubhe Tower is desperately trying to contact us and quite a few researchers are already on their way here, we haven't received any direct communication from Mr. Pei." Wang Xiyi shook her head.

"Could it be that too much information led to an oversight?"

"Are you joking?" Wang Xiyi looked at Sun Hang a bit exasperated, "Messages from Mr. Pei are certainly of the highest priority; there's no way his message would be overlooked... If Mr. Pei really wanted to reach you, Yang Qi would have informed me immediately."

"In that case, it seems like all of this is part of Mr. Pei's calculations." Sun Hang muttered to himself.

"Calculations? What kind of calculations?" Wang Xiyi was bewildered. 𝗳𝗿𝐞𝕖𝘄𝗲𝕓𝗻𝚘𝚟𝕖𝐥.𝚌𝕠𝕞

"Speaking of which, what kind of security forces does Mr. Pei have? Shouldn't be just one Iron Guard, right?" Sun Hang suddenly asked.

"What are you planning?" Wang Xiyi became instantly alert.

"Nothing... just want to have a face-to-face talk with him."

"Haven't you met him once?" Wang Xiyi asked in confusion, "Besides, can't you contact Mr. Pei anytime? This privilege is held only by you and the former director in all of Tianshu City..."

"No, what I mean is, I want to see Pei Zongjun in person." Sun Hang shook his head, "Talking through holographic projection doesn't count as 'face-to-face.'"

"..." Wang Xiyi was silent for a few seconds, then shook her head, "I heard even the senior officials in Dubhe Tower haven't seen Mr. Pei himself."

"He told me his health has deteriorated to a very poor state, unable to break free from dependence on life-support equipment," Sun Hang said.

"If that's the case, then seeing a projection or meeting him in person makes no difference, right?" Wang Xiyi questioned, "If Mr. Pei is really in that condition, he can't get out of the Life Support Pod to communicate face-to-face with you."

"I just want to confirm one thing."

"What thing?"

"Whether Pei Zongjun is still purely human."

...

...

Airborne warfare platform, "Garuda."

Yang Qi had resumed her previous busy state—even though the two major troubles, Chimera 17 and Evernight, had been inexplicably solved, there were a series of follow-up matters to handle. Tianshu City—halted for months—wouldn't return to normal just with a mere lifting of the martial law order.

After completing the final action report, the various project groups under the pesticide plan would be dissolved, but this doesn't mean these people could take time off... On the contrary, a more cumbersome and tedious workload awaited them in the coming period.

The Disaster Response Committee wasn't disbanded; nobody was certain whether the Evernight would make a comeback. Following discussions between Dubhe Tower, Federation Government, and the Disaster Response Committee, it was decided to set a "observation period" of three months during which one-third of the personnel from each city-state supporting Shuzhou would remain as emergency forces. Additionally, a series of non-livelihood projects designed to address Evernight—with progress below seventy percent—would either stall or slow down, prioritizing resources to resettle citizens displaced by Evernight.

"Alright, alright, I understand, I'm already arranging this on my end." Yang Qi just hung up a call when her phone rang once more, "Wang Xiyi? What's up? Did Sun Hang ask you to contact me? What's on his mind?"

"What? You're saying he plans to visit Chunming City? Now?"