Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 142 Curse
"It's impossible for a person to drown himself in a bathtub. The water in the bathtub is too shallow, and the instinct to survive will make him struggle to raise his head." Sun Hang said, "Unless he has a sudden heart attack or high blood pressure, or he accidentally hits his head and faints, but these are all accidents, not suicide."

"But we cannot rule out another possibility. His will is controlled by a strange creature." Yang Qi said in a deep voice, "This kind of control can overwhelm the human instinct for survival."

"In my opinion, the cause of death of these people is the same," said Sun Hang.

"Same?" Yang Qi was slightly startled. "Have you read these files a long time ago? Or..."

"I haven't read their death records, but based on your description, anyone with a discerning eye can tell." Sun Hang continued, "The reason for their death is only one: the curse."

"Curse..." Yang Qi silently repeated these two words.

"The curse of the Nameless Island. Anyone who escapes from that island cannot escape this curse. Death will eventually find them, no matter in what form." Sun Hang murmured, "They can only choose to stay and become part of the curse; or escape from that place with the curse, and then wait for death to come."

"Why do I feel... that you are more familiar with this nameless island than I am?" Yang Qi asked doubtfully.

"No, I just think it's very cool to talk like that." Sun Hang chuckled and returned to his normal tone.

“You guy…” Yang Qi was immediately furious. “But then again, if the Nameless Island is really cursed, then you hunters who are about to land on the island, aren’t you…”

"Are there any hunters among those who escaped back?"

"No... they are all researchers and logistics personnel. The two infected people were also infected with the meme in the 'accident'. Before that, they were all normal humans." Yang Qi said, "There are a total of six monster hunters stationed on the island, and all of them disappeared in the accident."

"That's right. For ordinary people, this is a fatal curse, but not necessarily for hunters." Sun Hang said, "Just like the synchronization rate between the infected and the strange equipment is very low, that's because the hunters already have the memes of other strange things in their bodies, so they can't match the memes of the strange equipment themselves... The same is true for curses. As the saying goes, there can't be two tigers in one mountain. Since the curse wants to kill the hunter, the memes in the hunter's body will definitely fight hard... After all, the death of the host also means the demise of the meme."

Sun Hang paused and continued, "Although memes do not necessarily have self-awareness, you should know that viruses and human immune cells also do not have self-awareness, but the law of nature will make them fight each other for the survival of the host... You can also regard them as the result of natural selection - memes that do not know how to protect the host have long since died out, and memes that can make the host become a hunter have actually become part of the hunters' immune system... It's just that this immune system is not immune to bacteria and viruses, but to 'other memes' that invade from the outside world."

It seemed that Sun Hang's long speech was a little difficult for people to digest for a while. Yang Qi was silent for more than ten seconds before speaking: "... Based on my professional knowledge, what you said is simply a fallacy, but after thinking about it carefully, I think what you said seems to make some sense... Where did you learn these things?"

"Half of it is told by my intuition, and the other half is the result of my thinking." Sun Hang said with a smile, "Who made me so gifted and intelligent?"

"Don't be so sarcastic." Yang Qi said unhappily, "But from another perspective, your idea may be right... According to the rules of this trial, Tianshu Tower prohibits any non-infected humans from landing on the uninhabited island... In other words, the only support they can provide you, apart from some supplies, is the drones in the sky... "But don't rely too much on drones. I looked at the drone patrol records in the blockade area during this period. The loss rate of drones near the uninhabited island area exceeded 70%, and those surviving drones did not collect any meaningful information."

"What about the communication? If nothing unexpected happens, there should be a shielded area, right?"

"Well, remote-controlled drones cannot enter the blockade area. All drones used to collect intelligence are autonomous. They set round-trip routes in advance, and the videos they shot can only be obtained after they return. Therefore, the cause of the loss of those drones cannot be found out."

"So, once we get to the island, we'll have to rely on ourselves for everything?"

"The warship that takes you to the island will stay on the sea five kilometers away from the island. You can send messages via flares, or you can use flares to call for artillery support."

"What is the firepower of that warship?"

"It's a 'Mermaid-class' missile destroyer. The firepower of the entire ship is enough to raze the ruins of the research institute on the island to the ground, and even the underground structure can be completely destroyed." Yang Qi said.

"I'm wondering why the Federation didn't just nuke the uninhabited island... Was this island kept for over a hundred years just to be used as a trial site for us?"

"It is said that there are some valuable research materials in the institute that were not brought out... In those days, there were no computers or networks, nor any central databases. Most of the materials were paper documents, all locked in a steel safe in the basement of the institute. If I am not mistaken, the purpose of your trip should be these documents."

"…If these documents are so valuable and important, how could the Federation delay for so long?"

"Over the past 100 years, the Xiazhou Federation has sent people to the island four times. The first two times, they were investigation teams composed of ordinary people. The third time, the investigation team brought two hunters, and the fourth time, it was an elite team composed purely of monster hunters." Yang Qi sighed, "The first three investigation teams were completely wiped out. After three hunters inexplicably disappeared, the leader of the fourth hunter team decided to abandon the mission and leave the island... After that, the exploration of the island was shelved. I don't know why Tianshu Tower restarted this investigation mission this year, and it is being carried out as a part of the promotion trial."

"Maybe there are not enough cannon fodder willing to die..." Sun Hang joked.

"This is all the information I can provide you. I used my teacher's resources to get this..." Yang Qi paused and said seriously, "Be careful... If you find that the situation is getting out of control, don't hesitate and evacuate the Nameless Island immediately. It's better to give up the upgrade trial than to take the risk."

(End of this chapter)