Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 311 "Matryoshka"

A sharp laugh suddenly came out from the headphones. The laughter was so harsh that for a moment, the three people thought their eardrums were torn.

"What the hell, what kind of sonic attack is this?" Lilith quickly turned off the radio function of the Bluetooth headset, while Ling Xiao beside her had already bent over and started vomiting.

Fortunately, he didn't eat anything except an energy gel before going on the mission, so what he vomited was relatively bland. However, under the stimulation of the surging stomach acid, he felt a burning sensation in his esophagus, causing Ling Xiao to cough continuously.

"Water...is there any water?" Ling Xiao asked while coughing.

"Water? Yes?" Lilith nodded, "But...the water in the other world, do you dare to drink it?"

Ling Xiao stopped talking immediately. He covered his throat with his hands, took a deep breath, and forced down the feeling of discomfort.

"The water from the other world...why can't we drink it?" Jiang Yu looked at Lilith, then at Ling Xiao, and asked in confusion.

"It's not just water. In fact, the less interaction you have with anything in the other world, the better." Lilith said, "When I said you could take these devices out, I was just joking with you."

"Ah? Why is this happening?" Jiang Yu was even more confused. "Is there something wrong with the things in the other world?"

"Copies are just copies after all, and if these things that shouldn't exist are brought back to the surface world through a card bug, guess what will happen?"

"What will happen?" Jiang Yu asked.

"Four years ago, there was a comic book called 'Three Days in the Otherworld'... I think Ling Xiao should have read it, right?" Lilith asked.

Ling Xiao nodded.

"The second female character in that comic brought a diamond necklace from the inner world back to the outer world, and the next day, she was strangled to death by the necklace." Lilith shrugged. "Yes, the necklace that shouldn't have existed in the outer world turned into a strange object, and opened the passage to the inner world that had been closed by the protagonist, releasing a bunch of strange objects." Lilith said.

"But isn't that a comic?"

"Of course, ordinary people would think that this is just a fictional plot created by the comic book author, but as a hunter, I know that this comic book is based on a true story... because under the pseudonym of the comic book author, he is actually a monster hunter, a monster hunter I know." Lilith said.

"Then if we take the things here out, will they also become weird things?"

"I don't know. If you have received formal hunter training, you should know that the characteristics of monsters are not universal. Even if it is an identical meme fragment, it will show different characteristics in the bodies of different monsters. So, I can't give you an accurate answer." Lilith sighed, "In short, it's better to avoid bugs... Be careful not to become part of the bug if you keep doing it."

"Ahem... I'm fine now." Ling Xiao suddenly said, "Let's continue listening to the next channel."

"Are you really okay?" Jiang Yu looked at Ling Xiao with some concern - she and Lilith were both hunters, and their physical fitness was much stronger than Ling Xiao, an ordinary person. But even so, the shrill laughter just now made Jiang Yu feel very uncomfortable. It is conceivable how seriously Ling Xiao was affected.

"I'll just plug my ears." Ling Xiao took out two cotton balls from his emergency medical kit and stuffed them into his ears. "If something goes wrong, I'll plug my ears tightly."

"I like you, kid." Lilith suddenly smiled at Ling Xiao, then turned to look at Jiang Yu, "What's the relationship between you two?"

"What kind of relationship?" Jiang Yu was stunned for a moment, obviously not reacting.

"She and I are colleagues. We are both interning in the 67th Field Team, so we can also be considered teammates." Ling Xiao said.

"So, you're not even considered a 'partner'?" Lilith's eyes narrowed into crescents. "How about this, let me have your teammate. I'll give you satisfactory compensation."

"Give it to you...what does this mean?" Jiang Yu felt overwhelmed now - ever since she met the hunter named Lilith, she felt that her way of thinking seemed to be on a different channel from the other party, and even the content of the conversation was always led by the other party.

"I like him, and I want him to be my partner—a very close partner." Lily said without disguising anything, "If we can get out alive, I will submit a report to the Tianshu Tower and the Tianfu City Weird Things Research Institute... I just think that before I do that, asking for your opinion might seem... um, polite?"

"You like... Ling Xiao?" Even Jiang Yu herself didn't know why her cheeks felt slightly hot after hearing Lilith say this.

Shouldn't the red-haired witch be the one blushing? Why should I blush?

"Although it may seem like an old cow eating young grass... the little boy will eventually grow up and become a man." Lilith continued with a smile, "As for me, I will never age. I am 20 years old now, and I will still be 20 years old in ten years."

As she spoke, she suddenly threw a coquettish glance at Ling Xiao: "How about it, are you interested in becoming my partner? I rarely take the initiative to invite others like this~"

"It's time to play the next frequency band." Ling Xiao repeated expressionlessly.

"Hiss... This kind of personality is exactly what I like!" Lilith pressed the play button while smiling.

What can be heard outside in the 333.3MHz frequency band is intermittent panting sounds... and now, coming from Lilith's Bluetooth headset, there are some more "weird" subtle sounds.

Although Jiang Yu has never been married and has never had a boyfriend, there is a saying that goes, "Even if you haven't eaten pork, have you seen a pig run?"... In just a few seconds, Jiang Yu had heard what was going on in the audio, and her cheeks, which were already slightly flushed, suddenly turned red all the way to her ears.

"Interesting, interesting..." Lilith clapped her hands softly, "It makes my heart beat faster... Brother Ling Xiao, do you know where this panting sound comes from? What are you doing at this moment?"

"Reproduction." Ling Xiao said calmly.

"That word is used to describe animals... When used on humans, it should be..."

"Humans are animals too." Ling Xiao interrupted her, "I think we should be alert. If this strange creature has the ability to reproduce, we may face multiple enemies next."

"Should I praise your clear thinking or criticize your dull emotions?" Lilith muttered softly. "I have no emotions." Ling Xiao said, "If the monster is reproducing, it may be a good opportunity for us to attack it."

"But unfortunately, all the radio stations can find are probably just recordings." Lilith shrugged.

"No, all the sounds we heard, whether it was whispering or laughter, were happening." Ling Xiao said seriously.

"What did you say?" Lilith put away her teasing expression and said, "Seriously?"

Ling Xiao nodded.

"You felt it with your ability?" Lilith asked again.

Ling Xiao hesitated for half a second, then nodded.

Jiang Yu managed to catch up with the two's thoughts this time, and asked anxiously, "Does that mean that there is more than one monster attacking Factory 105... one of them is crying, one is laughing, one is talking about revenge, and the other one is... doing that kind of thing?"

"No, it should be the same one." Ling Xiao said.

"You perceive more than one layer of the inner world, right?" Lilith asked Ling Xiao seriously.

"Yes."

"Damn, this is a nesting doll-like otherworld!" Lilith suddenly cursed, "We are so damn lucky!"

"What is... nesting dolls?" Jiang Yu asked weakly.

"There are many recorded otherworld events. The most complicated and difficult type of otherworld is the 'nesting doll' type. This type of otherworld is like a Russian doll, with one layer inside another... The worst thing is that you don't know which one you are in... When you pass through the 'channel', it is difficult to determine whether you are going out or going deeper."

"Ah..." Jiang Yu opened her mouth slightly, looking stunned.

"What's even worse is that the creature that created the inner world usually has 'millions' of special abilities in its inner world... or to put it more bluntly, 'privileges'." Lilith sighed, "And from what Ling Xiao noticed, I can preliminarily judge that one of the abilities of this creature is that it can leave a projection in every layer of the inner world."

"Projection... does it mean shadow?" Jiang Yu asked nervously.

"Rather than calling them shadows, it would be more appropriate to call them replicas." Lilith pointed at the equipment not far away, "These things are also projections of the surface world. Do you think they are shadows?"

"That means there are several layers of the inner world... and there are as many copies of that strange creature as there are?"

"That's the theory, and what Ling Xiao just said is right... If one of the replicas is mating, we may have to face a large number of offspring in addition to these replicas." Lilith said with a "tsk", and continued, "I thought it was a three-on-one fight... I didn't expect that we would be the unlucky ones who were beaten up."

"But... these projections are attached to the inner world, right?" Jiang Yu suddenly said, "If the inner world can be destroyed, these projections will disappear as well, right?"

"It's a genius idea, and it's true. Unfortunately, we can't do it." Lilith spread her hands helplessly. "With our abilities, it would take a lot of effort to raze this factory to the ground. Do you think it's possible to destroy an entire other world?"

"This……"

"There are at least eighty recorded inner worlds within the Federation. However, the Federation has basically adopted a blockade against these inner worlds... Why do you think the Federation doesn't destroy all these inner worlds? Don't they want to?" Lilith complained.

"Those otherworlds...how did the Federation deal with them in the past?"

"How should we deal with it? Send in the hunters and get rid of the weird things inside, and that will be the end of it."

Lilith continued, "As long as there are no fools who rush into the inner world without monsters, basically nothing will happen... Only a few inner worlds that are in a very unstable state will be destroyed by the Federation. The rest... will either be used as experimental areas by the Tianshu Tower, or the surrounding areas will be blocked off and labeled as 'Forbidden Zone No. XX'. Once the files are stored in the database, the corresponding countermeasures team can be disbanded to enjoy the holiday."

"Then our goal is to destroy that strange creature..."

Lilith interrupted Jiang Yu halfway through his words: "The nesting doll type inner world is the most troublesome... First, no one knows how many layers of the dolls there are; second, the more layers there are, the larger the total space of the inner world is, and the more troublesome it is to clean out the monsters hidden inside... Third, it takes a lot of hunters to clean up the nesting doll type inner world, and these hunters who enter the inner world can easily get lost in it... Over time, these lost hunters may even become unstable factors themselves... and become a threat."

"Turning into a strange corpse?" Jiang Yu couldn't help but ask.

"It's okay if he turns into a skeleton...but I'm afraid that the hunter whose consciousness collapses will directly merge into the inner world. In this case, the only way to eliminate the threat is to completely destroy the inner world." Lilith said.

"How to destroy it?"

"Super-super-super-large nuclear weapons... I don't know exactly how many they will use. I just remember that more than 30 years ago, in order to destroy an inner world, the Federation directly emptied two of the three major nuclear warhead warehouses... It seemed that the number was not enough, so a batch of additional nuclear warheads were urgently transferred from various places." Lilith said, "Although this information may not be accurate, you just need to know that it is very difficult to completely erase an inner world by physical means."

Just as the two women were chatting animatedly, Ling Xiao, who had been squatting beside them in deep thought, suddenly said, "Lilith, can you play each frequency band in turn? I think maybe I can find the projection of the floor we are on now."

Hearing Ling Xiao say this, Lilith's eyes lit up: "Damn it! Why didn't I think of it just now!"

"What didn't you expect?" The honest Jiang Yu continued to play the role of the supporting actor.

"We can use the clarity of the sound to determine which frequency band of the sound comes from the level we are in!" Lilith said excitedly.

(End of this chapter)