Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 410: Another Mutation
Tianfu City Weird Things Research Institute, Combat Command Center.

"Report! We lost contact with the forward observation post bunker No. 1 four minutes ago!"

"Sending drones to forward observation posts!"

"The drone has arrived at Bunker No. 2!"

"Drone signal lost!"

"Bunker No. 2 has lost contact!"

Bad news came one after another from the front, and the entire combat command center was almost in chaos for a while.

"Quick, send a mobile force to the forward observation post immediately! No, a mobile force is not enough. Are there any hunters on standby now?"

"My suggestion is to call in Garuda directly!" said a military staff officer.

"No! Garuda is too big a target! It could easily cause an overreaction from Chimera 17!" A researcher in a dirty white coat slammed the table and retorted, "According to the latest observations, the organ that releases the energy beam on Chimera 17 has undergone four mutations within six days. Now no one knows how far the energy beam can reach. If Garuda is shot down, can you take responsibility for it?"

"Last time when we collected memetic samples, weren't we able to use a drone to trick Chimera 17's stress response? Can't we just do the same this time?" said another staff officer.

"Haha... Do you really think we have endless drones? Or can we just press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V to copy a bunch of them?" The head of the logistics department sneered, "Do you know how many drones the entire Tianfu City has consumed since the advent of the Eternal Night? To be honest, the drones we can deploy now, even if we count the children's toy-level ones, we can't even produce a thousand..."

The head of the logistics department knocked hard on the table and continued, "As for high-performance military drones that can meet long-distance round-trip requirements and ignore the effects of radiation and heavy rain... Even if you put a gun to my head right now, I can't produce more than 20!"

"Calm down, Lao Chen. We didn't force you to bring out so many drones. This is just a suggestion, isn't it?" An officer who was familiar with the head of the logistics department laughed. "Don't keep pointing a gun at my head. If we shoot you, where can we find another logistics officer as capable as you? Don't you agree?"

"I'm really fucking fed up with you bastards! If you don't manage the household, you don't know how expensive firewood and rice are." The head of the logistics department was still furious. "You just do whatever you want all day long, without considering the actual situation in Tianfu City... Tianfu City's production capacity is not comparable to metropolitan cities like Chunming City and Shencheng, and now the whole society is completely shut down. I'm trying to split every dollar into two... Forget it, I have no right to say anything in this combat meeting. Anyway, I just want to say that the drones have been used up and the inventory cannot be replenished in a short time."

"Then we have to try another method." The staff officer who first suggested calling in Garuda said, "What do the hunters say?"

"There are currently four hunters on standby in Tianfu City. We have notified them." The communicator said, "Two of them said they can set off immediately, and the other two did not respond."

"No reply? Are you sleeping?" The staff officer asked with some dissatisfaction, "Which two hunters didn't reply?"

"Ye Sha and Sun Hang." said the communicator.

The staff officer immediately lost his temper.

These two great gods are really not someone he can invite.

Not to mention, in order to ensure the safety of the research institute headquarters, one of the two hunters must stay here and cannot go out at the same time.

"Contact Director Yang and ask her if she can send one of them to the front observation post... The situation this time may be more serious than we imagined, so we'll have to trouble them." said the staff officer.

"Director Yang said she was calling Sun Hang."

At least there was one thing the staff officer was right about.

The two hunters who did not respond were indeed sleeping.

And they sleep together.

When Sun Hang's cell phone rang with Yang Qi's exclusive ringtone, he had only been asleep for less than ten minutes.

A slender dragon tail was tightly wrapped around Sun Hang's left hand and left leg, and the cold scales were pressed against Sun Hang's skin, bringing a refreshing coolness. On the other side, Yang Qi's warm body was like an octopus, wrapping around the other half of Sun Hang's body, not wanting to be outdone.

The research project on human physiological tolerance did not go smoothly, but at least no one was killed.

After breaking free from the restraints on both sides, Sun Hang turned over and got out of bed. He picked up his phone and answered the call: "Hello, Director Yang, what's up?"

Sun Hang was woken up just after falling asleep and was a little irritable. But when he realized that the person on the other end of the phone was sleeping next to him, Sun Hang suddenly became much more well-behaved and sensible.

"There was an accident at the forward observation post." Yang Qi said, his tone extremely serious.

"Don't things happen at the forward observation post every other day?" Sun Hang asked as he was getting dressed. In his impression, the attrition rate at the forward observation post has always been quite high, with an average of one person lost for every five patrols - radiation, heavy rains, and scattered strange creatures roaming around Chimera No. 17. These factors combined have made that area the most dangerous place around Tianfu City, bar none.

"This time is different... Bunker No. 1 and Bunker No. 2 have completely lost contact, and the signals of the drones sent over have also been lost." Yang Qi said, "Now, apart from you and Wang Xiyi, there are only two hunters that can be sent out in the entire Tianfu City."

"Both Bunker No. 1 and Bunker No. 2 have lost contact?" Sun Hang knew about Bunker No. 1. The last time they collected memetic samples, they started from Bunker No. 1.

He clearly remembered that Bunker No. 1 was quite far from Chimera No. 17?
"Yes... they didn't send back any news." Yang Qi said, "The last communication was seven minutes before the loss of contact, a routine report on the observation results of Chimera 17."

"Did you find anything unusual in this routine report?"

"No, as usual, Chimera 17 is expanding in size, but other than that, the report does not mention anything unusual."

"This thing is still getting bigger? By the way, how's the progress on the memetic reverse engineering?"

"It's 14% faster than expected, which means that before the deadline, the completion rate of 'insecticide' will be higher than expected." Yang Qi said, "But the problem is that this deadline is only an estimate based on the initial data of Chimera ... Once Chimera mutates, this data will lose all its value."

"Are you worried that Chimera 17 has completed its hatching ahead of schedule?" Sun Hang asked, "So that's why Bunker No. 1 and Bunker No. 2 lost contact?"

“This is the worst-case scenario.”

"Okay, I understand. There's nothing I can do. I'll just go over there." Sun Hang put on his boots and tightened the shoelace knob. "Remember to pay me overtime!"...

Tianfu City Weird Things Research Institute, Combat Command Center.

"There was an explosion! I detected an explosion reaction in the restricted area! The explosion site should be very close to Chimera 17! It is even possible that the explosion occurred at the feet of Chimera 17!" A researcher shouted. On the screen in front of him, more than a dozen dynamic curves that others could not understand at all were fluctuating violently up and down.

"Explosion? How big was the explosion?" Everyone in the combat command center who were still arguing suddenly fell silent, and an officer immediately asked.

"I'm calculating... I figured it out!" The researcher was stunned for a moment, "The equivalent of the explosion is probably between 45 and 50 kilograms."

"So small?" The officer was stunned for a moment. "Fifty kilograms of explosives... this power is less than one-tenth of a common aerial bomb? Could this be a mistake?"

"There's no mistake! This new instrument was just delivered from Chunming City last week. It has very high accuracy. We have set up more than 2,400 signal receivers around Chimera 17. It's possible that the data sent back by one or two signal receivers are wrong, but if the data sent back by all the signal receivers are the same, the possibility of error is very small." The researcher said firmly.

"Could it be that Chimera 17 has undergone another mutation?" another officer asked with a worried look on his face. "Did this mutation cause the explosion?"

"I'm more inclined to believe it was a methane explosion," said the officer who had previously complained that the explosion was too small.

"That place doesn't have the conditions to gather biogas. Your statement is not reliable at all."

"Could it be the survivors of Bunker No. 1 and Bunker No. 2? Did they launch an attack on Chimera No. 17?" a young staff officer suddenly said.

"Are you kidding? Let's not talk about why they want to attack Chimera 17. How they are going to get close to Chimera 17 is a problem! I know the equipment configuration of the forward observation post very well. They are unable to break through the Chimera 17's stress response high-speed missile. The only thing that can carry out long-range strikes is the several individual rocket launchers equipped in Bunker No. 2, but the effective range of that thing is only 600 meters. You don't think that with just these few people, they can break into a place 600 meters away from Chimera 17, right?"

The young staff officer was speechless.

This thought just suddenly popped up in his mind, and he said it out loud without even thinking about it.

Now thinking back... my idea was indeed a bit too far-fetched.

If the hundred or so people at the forward observation post alone could get close to Chimera 17, wouldn't all the sacrifices they made when collecting meme samples previously be a joke?

……

……

"Restricted area", twenty-six meters away from Chimera No. 17.

When the meme collection operation was being carried out, people discovered that within a circle of 300 meters around Chimera 17, there was a "dry area" with no rain. However, after the meme collection was completed, this dry area quickly shrank and finally disappeared completely - the heavy rain fell directly on the giant cocoon transformed by Chimera 17, and then evaporated into water vapor and rose into the sky.

The surface temperature of Chimera No. 17 has reached an astonishing 900 degrees Celsius. The continuously falling rain is completely unable to cool it down. All it can do is just prevent the temperature from rising further.

Chimera XVII is now a giant nuclear reactor - the core is completely exposed and there are almost no defense measures.

The rainwater contaminated by radioactive substances evaporates into the air, turns into dirty rain and falls down, then becomes contaminated with more pollutants and evaporates again... In this ongoing cycle, the area of ​​the radiation contaminated zone around Chimera 17 continues to expand, and the radiation intensity in the contaminated zone is also increasing day by day.

Old Xu lay in the mud, letting the rain fall on his body. He looked at the huge object towering into the sky, and a trace of doubt arose in his heart.

Why am I still alive?

He remembered clearly that in order to ensure the success of the explosion, he inserted six detonating cords into the polymer explosives, and then drove his motorcycle at full speed towards Chimera No. 17.

He remembered it very clearly. At the moment when the motorcycle hit him, he was thrown into the air by inertia and hit the surface of Chimera XVII heavily.

His body had lost the sense of pain, so the high temperature on the surface of the giant cocoon did not make him feel painful, but instead gave him a very warm feeling.

Then, the polymer explosive on the motorcycle exploded, and the huge shock wave blew him away... He could feel his body being torn apart, and a mixture of broken flesh and blood slapped on his face. In his broken arm, he was still tightly holding the remote control of the detonator.

I should be torn into pieces, why am I still alive?

No matter how lucky I am... my body was blown to pieces... why am I still alive?

Old Xu tried to close his eyes, and scarlet eyelids immediately covered his eyeballs - the eyelids were transparent, like a layer of congested film, making everything in his vision turn blood red.

Old Xu's mind was still a little confused. He felt like he had blacked out from drinking...it seemed that a section of his memory was completely missing.

The fire and smoke produced by the explosion had long been extinguished by the heavy rain, and Old Xu didn't know how much time had passed since he was blown away.

He tried to feel his own body, but he heard an uncomfortable sound in his ears, similar to the crawling of a flesh monster.

Old Xu was a little afraid to look at his own body.

He was afraid of seeing a pile of rotten meat in pieces... He once had a colleague who was killed by a bomb in front of him. The guy's body was shredded as if it had been poured out of a blender. He didn't need to chop it again when using it to make dumplings.

Old Xu couldn't feel any pain, and he suspected that his pain center had been completely damaged... But the question was, why was he still conscious?
Is this the legendary last burst of light before death?

Old Xu tried to raise his right hand.

He saw a "tentacle" covered in mud and rain, made up of many pieces of meat.

(End of this chapter)