Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 305: 67th Field Team
"Then...should we still go in?" Jiang Yu hesitated.

"I don't know. The command center didn't give any clear instructions... It probably meant that we should act according to circumstances." Yin Xiang said, "I think the team leader should be discussing this issue with the commander of this unit now."

Just as Yin Xiang said, two minutes later, the voice of the leader of the 67th Field Team was heard in the team communication channel: "Attention, all operators of this team, the mission content has changed. We will be responsible for the investigation of Factory 105 and the search for the missing hunters. Friendly forces will be responsible for our vigilance and fire support. We are currently only two kilometers away from the target location... Everyone, check your equipment one last time to make sure everything is safe."

The leader of the 67th field team has a very young voice, and his speech before the mission began was very formulaic - in fact, a few months ago, this leader was just a newcomer in the field department of the institute who had to bow and nod to everyone he met, but now, he has transformed himself into a small leader with more than a dozen people under him.

The reason is simple, it's because most of the senior officers who have been in the service longer than him and have more experience and seniority have already died... For operators like him who joined the field department before the large-scale expansion, as long as they can survive to this day, they can more or less hold a position.

The deputy team leader of the 67th field team is Yin Xiang, a former investigator and current field operator who had just been transferred from the Investigation Bureau to the Weird Things Research Institute.

"Alas... the team leader..." Yin Xiang said with a bitter look on his face, "Why did he take the initiative to take on the most tiring, hardest and most dangerous work for us..."

"Is there any problem with this?" Jiang Yu asked in confusion. "We are the field department of the Weird Thing Research Institute. Dealing with weird things is our job. In terms of experience, we should have more than those professional soldiers..."

"What the hell is rich..." Yin Xiang sighed, "You know that except for the team leader and me, all other members of our 67th Field Team were recruited after the large-scale expansion. They have no experience at all! In terms of firepower, we are not as good as those soldiers... They have machine guns, tanks, and tactical mechas. What do we have?"

Yin Xiang pulled out his pistol from his waist - it was a 9mm caliber semi-automatic pistol with a magazine capacity of nine rounds - and threw it casually on the empty passenger seat.

"Does the team leader intend to let those fully armed soldiers watch by our side and let us go into the factory with small pistols to deal with the monsters?" Yin Xiang couldn't help but complain.

"We..." Jiang Yu turned his head and glanced at the parallel armored vehicles. The soldiers on the roofs were wearing a set of heavy exoskeletons that were almost the same as power armor, and they were holding the 12.5mm heavy machine guns mounted on the roofs. "We should be able to borrow some equipment from them, right?"

"It's no problem to borrow a few guns, but will it make a big difference if we replace the pistols with rifles?" Yin Xiang shook his head. "In my opinion, it's better to just drive the tanks in, bombing all the way, blowing up everything that can move in sight, and razing the entire factory to the ground..."

"Then we don't need to come for this mission. We just need to use drones to bomb the factory area." Ling Xiao said calmly, "The team leader said that the production line of Factory 105 is very important. Our ultimate goal is to restore the factory to production, not to eliminate the monsters."

"Yeah, forget about it." Yin Xiang slapped his forehead. "It's annoying... maybe the monsters that invaded the factory have already destroyed the equipment... To be honest, I'm not afraid of death, but I'm afraid that my death will be meaningless."

"We're here." Ling Xiao said suddenly.

The armored SUV in front of Yin Xiang had stopped, and Yin Xiang also stepped on the brakes.

The soldiers and field operators jumped off the vehicle one after another, while Yin Xiang climbed onto the roof and looked into the distance with the telescope he carried with him.

As a downstream industry of anti-memetic agents, Factory No. 105 was not built in an industrial park with densely populated factories. Instead, a separate piece of land was set aside on the side of a suburban road for building factories. There was no human habitation within a few kilometers. The only man-made facilities that could be seen were the four-lane road under Yin Xiang's feet and the steel structure wire rack beside the road.

There was no difference between the image of Factory No. 105 seen through the telescope and the image taken by the drone. There was nothing unusual in the entire factory except that there was no single person in the image.

The factory gate was closed, and an electronic warning sign on the door read "Production operations in progress, no entry for outsiders."

"Isn't the factory's circuit cut off?" Yin Xiang muttered.

"No." A young man wearing a black and gray combat uniform and a carbon fiber helmet came over carrying two large bags. "Not only is the circuit not cut off, the communication lines are also open, but no one is answering the phone."

"Then can't we connect to the factory's security system? There should be cameras everywhere inside the factory, right?" Yin Xiang put down the telescope and asked.

"The security system has failed and is locked. No one can access it." The young man shook his head. "Even the authority of the Institute and the Management Committee cannot be identified."

"Tsk... This is really a headache." Yin Xiang put the binoculars back into his bag and climbed down from the roof. "Hey, team leader, how exactly are you discussing this with them? Are you planning to have the tanks and mechas just watch from outside, and then let those of us who don't even have exoskeletons rush in and fight the monsters?"

This young man, who looks to be less than 67 years old, is Ding Chao, the leader of the th field team and one of the six deputy directors of the field department.

"The command center has issued a strict order. The highest priority of the mission is to ensure the integrity of the production line of Factory 105, followed by finding the missing people and searching for traces of strange things... I can't let the tanks just crash through the wall of the factory and drive in, right?" Ding Chao said helplessly, "But I got some equipment for you, including the exoskeleton you asked for."

Ding Chao unzipped the two large bags, and inside were four sets of carbon fiber exoskeletons. The weight of one set, including the motor, was only a little over six kilograms, which was the lightest model in the military grade. In addition, there were three CQB version assault rifles, a shotgun that could switch between semi-automatic and fully automatic modes and used drum magazines. All weapons were equipped with thermal imaging and low-light sights - plus the night vision goggles on the exoskeleton helmet, at least the problem of vision was solved.

"To be honest, the 'Red-haired Witch' disappeared in the factory... I always have a bad feeling." Yin Xiang said while wearing a powered exoskeleton, "Can't the Investigation Bureau send some people to take the lead?"

The people Yin Xiang was referring to were naturally the temporary investigators who had signed a "contract of sale" - even though he cursed the Tianfu City Management Committee and the Abnormal Investigation Bureau in his heart when he was a temporary investigator, when his identity and status really changed, he found that his perspective on things would also change accordingly... Although this practice is very inhumane, when some lives need to be spent to explore the way, instead of letting the field operators and regular investigators trained by the Federation at a great cost of manpower and material resources to take risks, it is better to let these criminals who are mostly sentenced to death or life imprisonment, and the dishonest people who owe the federal government a lot of money but are unable to repay it, take over - for them, being able to exchange their lives for a piece of valuable intelligence may be the most meaningful thing in their lives.

Yin Xiang didn't want to admit it, he felt that his thoughts were somewhat shameful... but apart from being shameful, he didn't think there was anything wrong with his thoughts.

If those temporary investigators can survive the mission, the federal government will give them the promised rewards, or even exempt them from punishment - Yin Xiang has experienced this firsthand. At least, the federal government will not default on such matters.

"The Investigation Bureau is too far from here." Ding Chao was busy organizing his equipment and didn't even have time to look up. "What's more, there is a big gap in the reserve of temporary investigators... The prisoners in several large prisons in Shuzhou who are willing to sign contracts have basically signed them. The only ones left are those who would rather be shot than be temporary investigators... Come to think of it, you were also a temporary investigator before, right? Why were you willing to sign that contract? You didn't commit a serious crime that could be sentenced to death. At most, you will be released after a few years in prison."

"It's not just a few years, it's 27 years." Yin Xiang said, "In addition to owing money, there are also fraud, tax evasion, insurance fraud, forgery of official seals, etc. ... I will be in prison for at least half of my life. At that time, I had no idea how dangerous the job of a temporary investigator was. I thought that if I took a chance, I might be able to regain my freedom and pay off my debts, so I signed."

"Then you really won... You are a talented guy, how could you commit so many crimes?" Ding Chao glanced at Yin Xiang with some surprise.

"If I say I'm taking the blame for someone else, do you believe me?" Yin Xiang said unhappily.

"I believe it. Why not?" Ding Chao said naturally, "Did the person who asked you to take the blame promise you some benefit, or did he have some leverage over you?"

"No... I was just stupid at that time." Yin Xiang waved his hand. "In fact, it can't be considered as taking the blame. Those things were more or less related to me... Sigh, I won't mention the past. It's all the retribution I deserve."

"You are now an operator in the field department of the Tianfu City Weird Thing Research Institute. Don't be so discouraged." Ding Chao handed the assembled assault rifle to Yin Xiang. "Since you can still be promoted, even if your strength is not good, at least you must have good luck. Believe in yourself. If you can complete the previous missions, you will definitely be able to complete this one as well."

"Team Leader, are you trying to comfort me?" Yin Xiang was speechless. "Why does it sound weird?"

"Uh..." Ding Chao scratched his head, "I'm not very good at talking, just don't mind... By the way, Ling Xiao and Jiang Yu, are you two ready?"

"I, I don't need this thing..." Jiang Yu pointed to the last exoskeleton in the bag, "Can I not wear it?"

"That's right. You're a hunter... Your physical fitness is definitely better than this thing, so you don't have to wear it." Ding Chao nodded, "This thing might even hold you back."

On the other hand, Ling Xiao obediently put on the exoskeleton - thanks to the motion sensors and smart chips, this type of exoskeleton can be easily operated without prior training. Except for a few movements that can exert the limit of human flexibility, this exoskeleton is like a piece of clothing worn on the body. While providing support and power assistance, it will reduce its own presence as much as possible.

The price is that software accounts for more than two-thirds of the cost, and the cost of the entire exoskeleton is several times more expensive than the electronically controlled exoskeletons worn by the soldiers nearby.

"Let's go. I'll take the lead." Ding Chao gently waved his left arm, and a foldable transparent shield popped out from the hidden groove on his forearm.

……

The 67th Field Team was formed twelve days ago. Except for Ding Chao, Yin Xiang, Ling Xiao and Jiang Yu, all members have zero actual mission experience - of course, the mission experience here refers to the experience they have after becoming field operators. In fact, the 67th Field Team is already a relatively elite team in the field department.

Otherwise, Ling Xiao and Jiang Yu would not have been assigned to this group.

In addition to the four of them, eight of the other twelve team members are active soldiers from the military, three are full-time investigators from the former Abnormal Investigation Bureau, and the remaining oldest team member was a civilian before joining the company, but he is a scout who retired from the special forces. In terms of skills, tactics and experience, he is not inferior to the others in the same group.

At this moment, the sixteen field operators were armed to the teeth, and under the focus of countless eyes and cameras, they carefully approached Building No. 105 of Factory No. .

"The memetic monitoring equipment is not responding." An operator carrying a large metal box on his back whispered, "At this distance, based on the monitoring range and penetration of this type of equipment, it can be basically confirmed that there are no strange creatures in Factory No. 1."

"Don't be careless. Maybe the weird thing has the ability to hide its own memetic fluctuations." Ding Chao reminded, "You should read the operating manual of the equipment carefully, but don't take the instructions in the operating manual as a creed."

Ding Chao paused and added, "This is what a senior taught me when I first joined the company."

"Where is that senior?" Yin Xiang asked in a low voice.

"He died during the last operation to trap Chimera No. 17." Ding Chao sighed, "I hope everyone will be as careful as possible... I don't want anyone to pay the price of their life due to carelessness."

(End of this chapter)