Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 262 Banknotes
Sun Hang once again picked up the container of rotten meat and held it in front of the rearview mirror.

For some reason, he suddenly felt that rotten meat didn't seem so disgusting... He even had a desire to taste it.

"I must be out of my mind."

Sun Hang sighed, put the container aside, took another bite of the compressed biscuit, and forced himself to swallow it.

But just when Sun Hang swallowed the biscuit, he suddenly discovered that the "old woman" walking in front of him had disappeared.

The high beam was on, and the area within a hundred meters in front of the car was within sight. This wasteland was not only barren, but there wasn't even a single large rock. There was no place to hide at all...

"Where have you gone?"

Sun Hang couldn't help but think of some scenes in horror movies. He jumped out of the car and checked it inside and out, even the bottom of the car and the trunk, but still no trace of the "old woman".

"This is really 'seeing a ghost'." Sun Hang concluded.

The banknotes are still there, and the "rice cakes" are still there, which at least shows that all this is not an illusion.

But why did the “person” who gave him these things disappear right under his nose?
Sun Hang gripped the steering wheel with both hands and closed his eyes tightly.

He began to think about every detail of his recent interaction with the "old woman", every sentence and every word she said.

Sun Hang could not find any valuable clues...

The only thing the other party seemed to repeatedly mention was not to let oneself "starve"...

In other words, in this place, "hunger" is a very serious problem?

"Could this be some kind of 'rule-based weirdo'?" Sun Hang muttered to himself, and forced himself to swallow a mouthful of unpalatable compressed biscuits.

The good news is that although compressed biscuits are difficult to swallow, they will still make you feel full once they enter your stomach... Otherwise, Sun Hang might really have eaten the "rice cake" made from rotten meat.

"That's not right... If 'hunger' is a dangerous thing, then why would the other party share food with me?" A very outrageous idea popped up in Sun Hang's mind...

It couldn't be that the "old woman" was really his great-grandmother, right?
Sun Hang had no memory of the past, and he couldn't remember which of his relatives were still alive in this world...

Assuming this is really the occupied area of ​​Yunnan and Yunnan...

He was attacked in a small town near Tianfu City, but he was unfamiliar with Tianfu City... In other words, he was not a native of Shuzhou.

Is there a possibility that... I am the descendant of the refugees who fled to Shu when the Yunnan and Yunnan regions fell?
Putting aside the strange memories of the Nameless Island, Sun Hang felt that his speculation made some sense.

Not all refugees were able to escape to Shuzhou. A considerable number of them were left behind in the occupied areas... and among those who stayed behind, there might be some of my ancestors...

But...if that "old woman" was really his ancestor, then why didn't she feel the slightest bit excited when she saw him?
Logically speaking, the reunion of relatives after a long separation shouldn't be so dull, right?

Or is it that I just look like the younger generation of that "old woman", so she showed such kindness to a stranger like me?

"Damn... am I going to become like that?" Sun Hang was shocked.

He glanced at himself in the mirror. Both his facial features and body were still normal human beings - but it was useless. When he was talking face to face with the "old woman", the other person's reflection in the mirror was also human. Only when the other person turned around would the mirror reflect his "real appearance".

"I can't see it by looking in the mirror...I have to find another way."

Sun Hang thought about it, turned his head, took out his mobile phone, turned on the camera function, aimed it at the rearview mirror, and then closed his eyes.

He took a deep breath, cleared his mind of all distracting thoughts, and pressed the shooting button.

"Click."

Sun Hang slowly opened his eyes and looked at the phone screen the first time.

In the photo, the rearview mirror still reflects a human being, not a monster made up of deformed pieces of flesh.

Sun Hang breathed a sigh of relief.

Although he was unsure of the authenticity of the photo, this was the best he could do under the current conditions.

It's better than seeing a monster reflected in the photo.

"I can't be sure that the other party has good intentions..." Sun Hang looked at the "rice cake" in the container, "Who knows, if I eat this thing, I will die, and then the other party will come back to collect my body... Then I will become their food."

"No, it's still wrong."

"Not only did they give me food, they also gave me money...wait! Money!"

Sun Hang was startled and sat up straight.

He suddenly realized that there was a very important message hidden in it!

The other party gave me money and asked me to buy the food I liked... Does this mean that there is a place where I can spend this money? !

Sun Hang immediately thought of the "ghost market" that is a common feature in various supernatural works - but from the current world view, it would be more appropriate to call it "strange market".

Sun Hang imagined in his mind a group of strange creatures gathered together and traded goods using the old currency from decades ago...

What would be traded between the monsters?
A spook? A meme? Something else?
"Can this kind of paper money, which has long been discontinued in the civilized world, still be used as hard currency in the 'occupied area'?" Sun Hang raised the crumpled banknote with some doubt and pointed it at the reading light on the roof of the car. The warm yellow light shone through the thin banknote, making the face value written in Chinese characters on the front of the banknote quite conspicuous.

Even middle school students know that paper money itself has no value and cannot serve as hard currency - real hard currency is something with actual value, such as precious metals such as gold and silver, or food and industrial raw materials. If placed in the world of weird things, memes can probably barely be considered a kind of "hard currency"...

As for paper money, although it is called currency, it is actually closer to a kind of "credit certificate".

In order for paper money to circulate, there must first be a country or political system with sufficient strength, wealth and credit.

Could it be that the monsters have established a "monster country" in the occupied areas?
If this speculation were to spread in the human world, it would probably shatter many people's views.

"No...it shouldn't be possible..."

"This paper currency should have limitations. It may just be a 'prop' that can be used under certain conditions, rather than currency..."

Sun Hang recalled a case he had seen on the research institute's intranet. He had just escaped from the strange office building and had developed some interest in environmental strange things, so he specifically looked for some similar cases.

The case described an amusement park that had turned into a Type G monster. All the rides in the park had become "torture instruments" with an extremely high mortality rate. For example, the water in the water slide was replaced with gasoline, and when players slid down the slide, the slide, including the pool at the end of the slide, would be directly ignited. Another example was that a huge axe appeared on top of the pirate ship, and every time the pirate ship swung to its highest point, the axe would sweep across and harvest everything that was higher than the side of the ship.

According to a surviving investigator, the axe was invisible when it was not moving, and the reason he survived was simply because he was short enough...

In addition, there is a Ferris wheel whose cabin floor disappears randomly, a haunted house that is truly "weird", and a magic show that can "turn the dead into something else"...

If humans who accidentally enter the game want to leave alive, they must use two crucial props - tickets and game coins.

The ticket will automatically appear in the pocket of everyone who enters the strange amusement park. Every time you play an item, an extra stamp will appear on the ticket. You need to collect the stamps of all items to reach the exit of the amusement park...

But this is not the end... In addition to collecting stamps, players also need to collect enough game coins. The way to obtain game coins is also very simple. When playing various projects, you can exchange them with the points you get. The higher the score, the more game coins you can get.

Players need to pay enough game coins to redeem their bodies in order to walk out of the amusement park intact... Otherwise, all that will come out of the exit are scattered body parts.

The game coins collected by playing all the projects are definitely not enough to redeem yourself. If you want to get out of the amusement park alive, you can only repeatedly play those relatively dangerous projects... to "grind" the game coins.

Could it be that the banknote in my hand is the same as the ticket and game coins in the amusement park?

Is this wasteland actually an oversized environmental monster?

Five minutes later, Sun Hang started the car.

He drove in the direction where the "old woman" was coming from.

He clearly remembered that when he saw the "old woman", there was a vague dirt road under her feet... But with the disappearance of the "old woman", even this dirt road could not be found.

Staying where I am is definitely not a solution. Since I was originally planning to drive in that direction, I might as well just keep driving there and see what’s there where the other party is coming from.

After driving straight for nearly twenty minutes, Sun Hang finally saw something different in the wilderness.

A rusty road sign stood abruptly in the open space.

Sun Hang got out of the car and walked forward.

The paint on the front of the road sign has completely peeled off, and the characters originally printed on it can no longer be seen... But on the back of the road sign, there is an arrow engraved, and next to the arrow are a few crooked words engraved: "Linhai Road, 3 kilometers ahead, Maoyun Town."

In the Xiazhou Federation, many cities have roads named "Linhai Road", so Sun Hang cannot determine his location based on this name... But it must be said that in such a wasteland where not even a puddle can be seen, the name Linhai Road is indeed a bit ironic.

As for Maoyun Town, Sun Hang had never even heard of it.

He returned to the car, turned on the onboard navigation device, and entered the place name "Maoyun Town" in offline mode.

"Seventeen results matching the search criteria have been found." The navigation device made a sound. "Navigation is not available in offline mode. Please reconnect to the GPS network or browse in map mode."

Sun Hang clicked on "Map Mode".

Seventeen "Maoyun Towns" are marked on the map, but none of them is located in the Yunnan-Yunnan region.

Sun Hang realized where the problem lay - the data in this navigation device was updated every day. After the Yunnan-Yunnan region was designated as an occupied area, all the data related to it would definitely be deleted... Otherwise, the navigation software would accidentally navigate people to the occupied area, which would be a lot of trouble.

If you want detailed geographical information about the Yunnan-Yunnan region, you have to buy old maps from decades ago... This kind of thing is not difficult to get in Tianfu City, but for Sun Hang now, there is no way at all.

"I'm happy for nothing." Sun Hang curled his lips and stepped on the accelerator.

Since this signpost indicates the direction, I will go to this "Maoyun Town" to take a look... Even if that place is a trap, it is better than wandering around in the wilderness like a headless fly.

Even though I lost my ability... but for some reason, after coming into contact with that "old woman", my fear and dread of strange creatures suddenly weakened a lot...

Is it because the "old woman" is too kind and charitable?

But who could have imagined that such a kind and benevolent old man was actually a deformed mass of flesh that could barely be distinguished as a human shape in the mirror?
Sun Hang hummed the theme song of Ultraman Tiga from time to time, and carefully adjusted the direction of the car to ensure that he was driving as straight as possible...

Finally, dots of lights appeared in the distance, and under the reflection of these lights, the outline of a low building could be vaguely seen.

Sun Hang immediately turned off all the car lights.

Using the lights as a guide, he drove slowly closer.

However, in less than five minutes, Sun Hang's idea of ​​"quietly entering the village without firing a gun" was ruined.

A searchlight lit up without warning, covering Sun Hang's car and illuminating a nearby watchtower.

This watchtower had almost merged into the darkness before, and Sun Hang was completely unaware of its existence.

At the foot of the watchtower, an old man with an armband so dirty that the original color could not be seen came over, knocked on the car window with the rubber baton in his hand, and asked in a stiff tone: "Where are you from? Where are you going?"

"I... I'm going to town to buy some food." Sun Hang replied after thinking for a moment.

"Buy food? Do you have money?" the old man asked.

"Yes." Sun Hang took out the banknote.

“If you want to buy food, just buy food. Don’t steal or rob. Just go there openly... Why are you acting like a thief?” The old man’s tone seemed filled with dissatisfaction.

"This is just to save some electricity." Sun Hang made up an excuse.

He actually wanted to complain that the other party hiding in the darkness was more like a thief, but based on the principle of less trouble is worse than more, Sun Hang suppressed the desire to complain.

The old man did not make things difficult for Sun Hang. Instead, after Sun Hang turned on the car lights, he returned to the watchtower and turned off the searchlight.

Sun Hang noticed that after he returned to the watchtower, he turned around, with his back to him, motionless... He looked like a fashion model abandoned there.

Sun Hang didn't say much, but drove forward a short distance carefully, then looked in his rearview mirror.

(End of this chapter)