Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 238 Contingency Plan
"However, a few months later, Shang Dalin's body began to change." Ye Jiu continued. He did not look through the thick stack of documents. It seemed that he had memorized all the information in his mind. "According to Shang Hongxiu's memory, Shang Dalin's weight dropped dramatically. He was as thin as a skeleton. He began to cough all the time and often coughed up blood."

"It sounds like he has tuberculosis," Sun Hang commented.

"The symptoms are indeed similar to those of tuberculosis, but according to the analysis of experts, the reason why Shang Dalin has such symptoms is that he is already an infected person at this time. Not only that, his infection process is likely to have entered the accelerator, and his body organs have begun to mutate and lose their normal physiological functions..." Ye Jiu said, "In addition, during that period of time, Shang Dalin began to become nervous, suspicious and irritable, and often punched and kicked the women imprisoned in the underground palace for no reason."

"Will this happen to all infected people after they enter the accelerated period?" Sun Hang asked.

"You'll have to ask Yang Qi and the others about that. I'm not a researcher." Ye Jiu said, "After that, Shang Dalin often started mumbling things like 'tomb', 'resurrection', 'rebirth', etc. Shang Hongxiu and the others didn't understand and didn't dare to ask - because during that period, several women had been beaten to death by Shang Dalin."

"Isn't this Shang Dalin planning to imitate the pharaohs of ancient Egypt and make himself into a mummy, sleep in a tomb for thousands of years, and then be resurrected?" Sun Hang complained, "I have to say, this guy is really bold."

"Don't interrupt me. Where was I just talking about? Oh, yes, several women were beaten to death by Shang Dalin." Ye Jiu continued, "Although Shang Dalin looked like he was dying, his strength had become abnormally strong. Shang Hongxiu saw with her own eyes that a beaten woman tried to escape, but Shang Dalin grabbed her head and crushed her skull with just the strength of his five fingers."

"Is this the power gained after being infected with the meme?"

"Yes." Ye Jiu nodded, and then reacted, "Didn't I tell you not to interrupt me? Damn, where was I just talking about?"

"Crush the head."

"Anyway, that's what happened. Shang Dalin was about to be completely transformed because of the meme infection. In order to be able to 'resurrect' himself in the future, he built this underground palace into a mausoleum... He captured many people from outside and forced them to work for him, making soldiers and burial objects... The corpses you found in those caves before were the remains of these people. Before performing the 'resurrection ritual' on himself, Shang Dalin first used these people as test subjects. The result of the experiment was that all of them became highly distorted infected people and died in those caves."

Ye Jiu pulled out a thick stack of files separated by labels from the pile of documents and handed it to Sun Hang: "These are the cases of missing persons that have not been solved in Tianfu City and the surrounding towns and villages in those years. The number of missing persons and the time of disappearance can basically match... At least 130 people died in Shang Dalin's underground palace."

Sun Hang briefly looked through the files. Most of them were photocopies of old residents' files and yellowed files that had been sealed in the Public Security Bureau for nearly a hundred years.

"So, those women were also test subjects?"

"No, they are not." Ye Jiu shook his head. "When it was their turn, Shang Dalin's 'transformation surgery' had been successful. He implanted a meme that could make people 'immortal' into their bodies. As a price, their hearts would be crystallized and sealed in the Eternal Lamp. As long as the Eternal Lamp is not extinguished, they must stay in the underground palace forever and cannot go anywhere... Only when the Eternal Lamp is extinguished and the crystallized hearts return to their bodies can they regain their freedom, but at the same time, their lives will also enter a countdown."

"So these women are considered...living burial objects?"

"That's about right." Ye Jiu nodded. "That's all I can get out of Shang Hongxiu."

"What about that red cube crystal?" Sun Hang glanced at the pile of documents. The files and files on the missing persons only accounted for a small part of them.

"Following the clue of Judra, the Tianshu Tower found a person - an eyewitness of the theft of the Vatican treasury, the current director of the Chunming City Christian History and Culture Archives, and the youngest son of the last Pope: Cassim Borgia." Ye Jiu said, "But Cassim said that he had never heard of any treasures like red cube crystals in the Vatican's treasury. As for why all European countries issued a wanted order for Judra at that time, it was entirely because of the request of the Pope himself... The Tianshu Tower even violated the regulations and secretly used a lie detector. The results showed that Cassim was telling the truth and not a single word was a lie."

"How old was this Qasim when the theft happened?" Sun Hang asked.

"Nine years old."

"It's normal that he doesn't know... If I were the Pope himself, I wouldn't tell a child about the existence of such a thing." Sun Hang said, "Since there is no result from the Cassim line, what about the research institute? Those researchers have been in the underground palace for three days, haven't they figured out anything yet?"

"Not yet." Ye Jiu said, "Now we can only confirm that the red square crystal is an artifact-type strange object, and the number and nickname are not yet determined. To be honest, I really want to complain... Isn't this fucking nonsense?"

"Artifact-type weird things? Are they sure?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes. "Being able to create new weird things... This ability is close to rule-type weird things, right?"

"But this thing has a physical body?" Ye Jiu was stunned for a moment and retorted.

"No one has stipulated that rule-based monsters cannot have concrete entities, right?" Sun Hang asked back.

"Hiss... it seems... that's the truth." Ye Jiu slapped his thigh vigorously, "Then... if this thing is a rule-based weirdo... then wouldn't we who discovered it be famous in history?"

"First of all, you are not included in this 'we'; secondly, what's the point of being recorded in history... If humans can't win this war against the monsters, do you think the history of human civilization still has any meaning?" Sun Hang looked at Ye Jiu with disdain, "Instead of thinking about showing off, you might as well think about what use this thing can be used for."

"Who said I wanted to show off? I just mentioned it casually..." Ye Jiu said unconvincedly, "Forget it, let's not talk about this, let's talk about conscription... I read the plan you sent me. Are you serious about conscripting minors?"

"if not……"

“If this gets out, and if those guys studying journalism take it out of context and then let public opinion ferment it... we’ll probably be scolded to death.” Ye Jiu said with a worried look on his face.

"It's just the reserve force." Sun Hang said, "Being able to enter the talent training base affiliated with the Tianshu Tower to receive professional training is an opportunity that many people dream of... An excellent soldier should be trained from a young age, right?"

"I've seen your draft training plan. With this level of training, many people will die! And there's too much actual combat content in it, right? In the second week of the official training, we have to go to the suburbs to track down traces of strange creatures... Even regular field operators have to receive at least half a year of training before they can be assigned such a mission, right?"

"Is there any problem?" Sun Hang asked calmly.

"How can you be called a reserve? You are clearly cannon fodder!"

"The surviving cannon fodder will become experienced veterans, or even excellent officers," Sun Hang said. "I've read several books on the history of war in the past few days, and they all say this."

"Then have you ever thought that there is a high probability that they will be wiped out?" Ye Jiu questioned, "Their enemy is not humans, but monsters! The history of human wars has no reference value at all!" "Oh...then why didn't anyone jump out to stop the Abnormal Investigation Bureau when they used people like me as cannon fodder?" Sun Hang asked.

"These are two completely different things! Those so-called 'temporary investigators' are basically the debtors who owe huge debts, or they are scum who have committed many crimes... Letting them be temporary investigators can only be regarded as making use of waste. According to federal law, these people were originally going to be either shot or imprisoned until they die... This way of handling them actually gives them a way to regain their freedom. After all, not every temporary investigator will die in the mission." Ye Jiu paused, "As for your situation... it can only be said to be a very rare exception..."

Ye Jiu suddenly stopped talking here. He knew very well that what was considered an "extremely rare exception" to others was, for the person involved, an event with a "one hundred percent probability"... He found that he could not find a reason to convince Sun Hang.

"So...are you still holding a grudge against the Bureau's arrangement at that time?"

"Do you want to hear the truth?"

"nonsense."

"To be honest, I don't care too much." Sun Hang walked to the water dispenser nearby and poured himself a glass of water. "The relationship between you and me can only be regarded as a relationship of mutual benefit. You want to use my abilities, and I use your resources and information. We each get what we need."

"We? You mean... the federal government?"

"Whether it's the federal government or the Tianshu Tower." Sun Hang took a sip of water. "It's not impossible for me to contribute to the cause of saving humanity, but I have to pay more."

"... You, I always feel like I can't see through you." Ye Jiu frowned and said, "What kind of person are you?"

"I don't know either. I even suspected at one point that I was not a human being," said Sun Hang.

He suddenly remembered a sentence he had seen somewhere.

Many times, the truth is often spoken in the form of a joke.

"You are really a rude guy sometimes." However, Ye Jiu did not notice the hidden meaning in this sentence and continued, "Do you really think that this conscription plan... can pass the vote of the parliament?"

"Can't the authority of Tianshu Tower bypass the Federal Parliament?" Sun Hang's eyes revealed a hint of puzzlement.

"Of course not! The Federal Parliament is the highest decision-making body of the Federation! Tianshu Tower is just a research institute!" Ye Jiu knocked on the table and said, "All major decisions of Tianshu Tower must be approved by the Federal Parliament. Even if it is the authority given to you by Mr. Pei, it must be approved by the Parliament first before Mr. Pei can transfer the authority to you. Do you understand?"

"So your father has a lot of power?"

"It's impossible for a single councillor to change the decision of the entire council." Ye Jiu said seriously, "Besides, my father will never agree to your plan... Taking advantage of people's hatred for monsters, recruiting minors from the disaster-stricken population, and then sending these minors to perform tasks with extremely high mortality rates, do you know what this means?"

"What does it mean?"

"If my father had said this in parliament, his political career would have been over."

"But I think you seem to have misunderstood a very crucial issue." Sun Hang said.

"what is the problem?"

"I never said from the beginning that these combat missions would have a high mortality rate..."

"Does it matter whether you say this or not? Please, can you please stop treating the members of the Federal Parliament as the good-for-nothings of the Tianfu City Management Committee... People who can sit in this position are no longer the elite. They can tell at a glance what the nature of these missions is... Even if you write that the mortality rate is only 0.01%, they will definitely not approve this plan."

"The mortality rate of 0.01% is too low. I think it should be controlled within 20%." Sun Hang pondered.

"20%?" Ye Jiu was stunned. "Wait, are you serious? I thought you wanted to deceive your superiors and subordinates, but it turns out you are really stupid? 20% mortality rate? You didn't get the survival rate and mortality rate reversed, did you? A group of half-grown boys who only received one week of basic training were thrown directly into the wilderness shrouded in eternal night... Is there any difference between this and sending them directly to the execution ground? Oh, there is a difference. At least they can die more painlessly if they are sent to the execution ground."

"What if there is a professional accompanying you?" Sun Hang asked.

"Professionals? Do you mean the sheriff or the city defense guard?" Ye Jiu frowned, "Don't expect the field operators to guide the new ones... They are busy with their own missions and have no time to take care of these rookies."

"Me, and you." Sun Hang pointed at himself, and then at Ye Jiu, "Let's lead the team ourselves and train a group of elite backbones in the fastest time. Do you think it's possible?"

"You and I will lead the team personally?" Ye Jiu was dumbfounded. "Now that you put it that way... it seems possible, but do you have any experience in this area?"

"No." Sun Hang said calmly, "That's why I asked you to come too."

"But... I don't have any experience!" Ye Jiu said, "I only know how to fight. All the training courses I received were customized according to personal abilities. They are not suitable for ordinary field operators!"

"Then go and learn it." Sun Hang kicked him. This time, Ye Jiu failed to dodge and was kicked out of the office by Sun Hang. "Whether you can learn it or not, I will submit this plan in a week. You can do it yourself."

(End of this chapter)