Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 324 TV

"Isn't it said that his ability can only absorb life force and not weird memes? Then how did his infection progress beyond the danger threshold?"

"...To be precise, Lucas's condition should not be described as an intensification of the infection, but rather a kind of 'evolution'." Yuri seemed to be brewing his words, and after hesitating for a few seconds, he answered, "The vast amount of vitality caused Lucas to evolve into a very special 'life form', and his own self-consciousness was also erased in the process."

"Does this new 'life form' have self-awareness?" Sun Hang asked.

"Nothing has been found yet..." Yuri said, "but the area around Lucas has become a real life restricted area - in fact, Type B423 is a composite monster, which includes both Lucas's 'entity' and the 'phenomenon' of the life force materializing and madly dissipating and penetrating around. But because the latter is more obvious in its manifestation, and the 'entity' has become a 'medium of occurrence' for the phenomenon, we classified this monster as a Type B monster."

"Life restricted zone? I don't think so..." Sun Hang shook his head, "It's just that the human body is too fragile and can't withstand this level of vitality. If the body is strong enough, this thing is almost equivalent to a mobile fountain... Uh, you know what fountain means, right? It's the resurrection point in MOBA games where you can recover health. By the way, have you ever tried to let some hunters with extremely strong physical abilities get close to him?"

Speaking of extremely strong physical abilities, two people immediately emerged in Sun Hang's mind - one was Lao Wang who inherited the black dragon meme, and the other was the "Iron Wall" whose body seemed to be made of steel.

If these two people get close to each other, they shouldn't be blown up, right?
"At the beginning, a researcher proposed this idea, but later the experiment was stopped because the risks were too great," said Yuri.

"Oh, you guys still consider the risks?" Sun Hang said jokingly, "I thought everyone in Tianshu Tower was a bunch of crazy researchers who don't care about anything for the sake of scientific research."

"Actually... the experiment had already started. The first test subject was not the hunter, but a toad monster... The toad monster had been treated beforehand and was already in a dying state. But after it was placed in the range of influence of B423, its dying state instantly recovered, and its size increased dozens of times in just one hour... It even tried to devour Lucas... The team in charge of the experiment paid a heavy price to deal with the out-of-control test subject. Subsequent experiments were also stopped after that accident."

"I see. You didn't continue the experiment because you were afraid of creating a super monster that couldn't be solved. Is that what you mean?"

"That's about it... I guess." Yuri replied somewhat awkwardly.

"Then what are those cups on this guy's back used for? Cupping?" Sun Hang asked.

"Those are special 'pressure relief cups'. The collection containers contain 'inhibition fluid', while the pressure relief cups contain 'super inhibition fluid' with ten times the strength. The materialized vitality in Lucas's body will continue to overflow. Instead of letting it overflow uncontrollably, we choose to actively guide it and draw the vitality that Lucas's body cannot temporarily contain into the pressure relief cups. After compression and inertization, it will be returned to Lucas' body... In this way, the influence range of B-423 can be compressed from a radius of eight meters to about half a meter." Yuri replied.

"If I remove these cupping jars now, will both of us explode?" Sun Hang asked with a smile.

“Please don’t make such a dangerous joke…” Yuri was a little helpless. “B-423 is very dangerous. Once you choose it and start absorbing it, we will not be able to interfere with the process… If you find that you can’t absorb it at that time, then everything will be too late.”

"The absorption process cannot be interrupted?" Sun Hang asked.

“Yes... but once you fall into that state, your self-awareness will be affected, and you will be extremely resistant to anything that tries to stop you from continuing to absorb.” Yuri said, “Just like Lucas at that time. We sent robots to pull him away, but he used bombs to blow up the robots that were close to him... He even let himself be blown to pieces by the bombs that exploded at close range...”

"With such a strong vitality, even if the head is lost, a new one can grow in a few minutes, right? What's the big deal about this little injury?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes. "You said that there is no way to interrupt the absorption process without hurting Lucas, but in fact, you want to see what changes will happen after he completely absorbs the vine monster, right?"

"..." Yuri fell into a long silence until Sun Hang took another step forward. He spoke again, "Please keep a safe distance from B423 as much as possible... It is not only dangerous from itself, but also from other monsters in this containment area."

"You are worried that after B423 breaks out of containment, it will fatten up the other monsters, right?" Sun Hang glanced at him, "Okay, then I won't touch it for now... But you can put this thing on the list first."

"Okay." Yuri tapped a few times on a virtual projection screen, and the transparent box containing B423 sank into the ground.

"Let's go take a look at something else." Sun Hang said, "Is there anything else good here?"

"Well, there is another strange object... How should I put it? We have not yet decided what category this object should be classified into, and we know nothing about its characteristics and abilities... If the instrument had not detected the extremely high intensity of memetic fluctuations inside it, we might not have discovered that this was a strange object."

Yuri paused, then continued, "I originally didn't intend to recommend this strange thing to you...but Mr. Pei specifically told me that he might be able to let you take a look at it."

"It's so mysterious? What is it?" Sun Hang's curiosity was also aroused... The thing that could make Pei Zongjun specifically instruct on it must be a very special thing.

"Take me there."

……

……

Twenty minutes later, in the containment area numbered "999".

This shelter is very special. It is arranged like the living room of an ordinary family. There are fabric cushions and stuffed dolls on the sofa, a tempered glass coffee table in front of the sofa, and an old-fashioned TV on the opposite wall. On one side of the living room is a huge floor-to-ceiling window... It is called a floor-to-ceiling window, but in fact, there is a huge screen behind the window. What is displayed on the screen is a city in the night, with thousands of lights against the backdrop of high-rise buildings, and civil airliners with flashing red and green signal lights slowly passing through the clouds. In the distance, there is a viaduct with a lot of traffic and suburban hills gradually disappearing into the night.

The images presented on the screen were so realistic that Sun Hang had the illusion that he was not in the strange creature containment area of ​​the Tianshu Tower hundreds of meters below, but on a certain floor of a high-rise building.

"Where's the weird thing?" Sun Hang looked around the room.

"It's hanging on the wall." Yuri said.

"……TV set?"

Yuri nodded.

"Why is it so difficult to classify this? Isn't this a typical artifact-type strange object?" Sun Hang said, "Also... why is its containment area so special?"

"This is where we first found it. To ensure its stability, we moved the entire living room of that house directly here," Yuri said. "The night view outside is also a real-time picture taken at the discovery site with an ultra-high-definition camera."

Sun Hang glanced at the night scene on the screen and asked, "Shencheng?"

Yuri nodded.

The reason why Sun Hang could recognize the city "outside the window" at a glance was not because he was very familiar with the city, but simply because he saw the landmark building that everyone in Xiazhou knew - the "Metropolitan Television Tower".

"So what are the characteristics and capabilities of this TV?" Sun Hang asked.

Yuri shook his head. "I don't know... We have conducted experiments on it many times, but it never responded."

"Is it plugged in? Is the signal cable plugged in? Is it connected to the set-top box?" Sun Hang asked continuously.

"None...but we have done all the experiments you mentioned." Yuri said, "Its performance is just like an ordinary TV, there is no difference." "Oh...by the way, that on the coffee table, is it the TV remote control?" Sun Hang asked.

"Yes."

Sun Hang walked forward, but just as he was about to reach out to grab the remote control, a hissing sound suddenly came from the TV.

Sun Hang suddenly felt the hairs on his back stand up. He raised his head abruptly and looked at the TV screen.

The TV screen was pitch black, reflecting the reflections of Sun Hang, who was bending over, and Yuri, who was standing by the door.

"Yuri." Sun Hang kept bending down to pick up the remote control and asked softly, "Did you hear... the TV making a sound just now?"

"Sound?" Through the visor of his helmet, Sun Hang could see that Yuri's expression gradually became serious. "Did you hear any sound?"

"Electric current noise." Sun Hang said, "It's the kind of signal noise when the TV can't receive a signal and the screen is covered with snow."

"I didn't hear it... Did you hear it?"

"Yeah." Sun Hang nodded slightly, "Are you sure this thing... is not plugged in?"

"Please leave the area immediately. I will send someone to investigate right away!" Yuri said immediately.

"Is it necessary?" Sun Hang asked, "Are you a researcher?"

"Yes...but..."

"So am I a Trickster Hunter?"

"Yes...but..."

"There are both researchers and hunters here. If there are any abnormalities with the contained monsters, shouldn't we be the ones to investigate this matter?" Sun Hang asked in return.

"But, you are here... This matter is of great importance..." Yuri wanted to dissuade Sun Hang, but was stopped by Sun Hang's words.

"Pei Zongjun asked me to look at this thing. He probably anticipated this situation. You have been researching for so long and haven't come up with anything. But when I came, it showed abnormalities. That means I am the key person, don't you think?"

“…Yes.” Yuri nodded reluctantly, “But this is too hasty. Please wait a moment. I will immediately arrange for a professional research team and equipment. They will provide you with the most comprehensive assistance.”

"I don't think they can provide any help." Sun Hang said, picking up the remote control from the table.

At this moment, he seemed to see the TV screen flash.

"Wait! Please wait a moment..."

"Let me confirm with you one last time. This TV is not plugged in, right?"

"No."

Sun Hang pressed the power button.

Yuri's expression froze instantly.

A few seconds of silence passed and the TV didn't respond. Just when Yuri breathed a sigh of relief, a somewhat distorted startup music sounded in the living room.

"The old machine is so slow." Sun Hang muttered softly, "This remote control doesn't seem to be very sensitive either. I pressed the power button more than ten times before it responded."

"A dozen... times?" Yuri's astonished gaze moved from Sun Hang to the TV screen. After an old-style startup animation, the screen turned into a "Select Signal Source" interface.

Of course, the signal cable of this TV is not plugged in, so the four signal source interfaces all show the same "no signal".

Sun Hang didn't think much about it, directly selected the first signal interface and pressed OK.

It was not the expected snow noise, nor was it the silent black screen - a picture with slightly poor quality appeared on the TV screen.

The screen showed a living room with two guys dressed like the Michelin Tire Man standing in it. One was standing in front of the coffee table with a black remote control in his hand, and the other was standing by the door, looking very nervous.

"…Isn't this the surveillance footage of this living room?" Sun Hang raised his head, and the "he" on the TV screen also raised his head.

However, Sun Hang did not see any surveillance camera at the corresponding location on the ceiling.

Not to mention the exposed cameras, he couldn't even sense the hidden pinhole cameras.

"That's weird...it should be this angle..."

"Sun, Sun Hang...your face..." Yuri's voice came from the side.

"What's wrong with my face?" Sun Hang turned his head and asked with some confusion.

"The face on your screen...under your helmet visor, is a skull!" said Yuri.

"Skull?" Sun Hang thought for a while, then pulled Yuri over and said to him, "Raise your head and stare at where the 'lens' is."

After Yuri raised his head and looked at where Sun Hang was looking, Sun Hang turned his gaze to the TV screen.

Sure enough, in the blurry picture, under Yuri's helmet mask, there was clearly a white skull!
(End of this chapter)