Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 438 In the Tunnel
The temperature around the cave entrance has dropped to less than 80 degrees Celsius, which is a completely bearable temperature for ordinary people, but no one is happy about it.

Less than five meters away from the cave entrance is magma with a temperature of four thousand degrees. The surrounding air has been heated to the point that if you crack an egg at a height of one meter, the egg white and yolk will condense into a fried egg before they fall to the ground.

This strange low-temperature area seemed like a trap specially set by Chimera No. 17, waiting for the prey to come to it.

But, will anyone really fall for such an obvious trap?
some.

Because the prey have no choice.

In other words, the prey do not think of themselves as prey, they are hunters, they are here to hunt... The being that sets the trap is the prey.

In nature, the relationship between hunters and prey changes rapidly. Strength, skill, strategy and even luck can all become key factors in determining life and death... As for whether strange creatures belong to the natural world, there is still no conclusion.

The talkative hunter took a deep breath, tightened the Velcro on the cuffs of his combat uniform, gritted his teeth and followed.

Next came two expressionless mass-produced hunters.

"Let's go." Sun Hang took Fukada Miki's hand and stepped into the cave.

It was very dark inside the cave. The dragon flame on the tail of Wang Xiyi, who was walking in front, became the most eye-catching light source here. The hunters following behind her held weapons in one hand and high-intensity flashlights in the other, looking around vigilantly.

Rather than calling it a cave, it would be more appropriate to describe this place as a tunnel... The crowd walked forward for about two hundred meters. The width of the tunnel had not changed much, but the temperature had dropped to more than ten degrees. Even Fukada Miki took off his helmet, and his right eye, with a blue glow, scanned back and forth on the inner wall of the tunnel.

"So, we've been walking in a straight line, right?" said the second hunter. "My sense of space isn't very good, especially in this dark environment... Did you guys notice any signs of us turning?"

"No," said another hunter, "we took a straight route."

“Then let’s keep going. Maybe we can get out from the other side of the cocoon?” the hunter muttered.

"Can't tell."

At this moment, the flashlight in his hand suddenly flickered a few times, and then the light quickly dimmed.

"Damn it! Why did it malfunction at this time!" the hunter cursed and quickly lowered his head to check his flashlight.

But he soon discovered that it was not the flashlight that was broken, but the battery that was running low.

"Did it not fully charge before departure or did it leak? What's the logistics department doing...how could such a low-level mistake happen?" The hunter couldn't help but complain.

But another hunter immediately said, "Strange... My flashlight is out of power, this is not right..."

Two more flashlights went out.

"It seems that the power consumption rate will become particularly fast in this tunnel." Fukada Miki said, and she raised her wrist. There was a handheld computer fixed on the wrist of the anti-gravity suit... Sun Hang remembered clearly that when Fukada Miki came out of the metal tube, the handheld computer still had 98% power left, but now, it has automatically shut down due to lack of power.

"The battery of the headset is low." A low prompt tone came from his ear. Sun Hang took off his communication headset and saw that the power indicator light on the side of the headset turned from yellow to red in just a few seconds, and after flashing a few times, it went out completely.

The team's communication channel became extremely silent.

This kind of communication headset is specially made. Even after the low-battery prompt sound is heard, it can still last for about two hours under normal use. But now, let alone two hours, the remaining battery can't even last two minutes.

"Should we... withdraw?" a hunter suggested, "This seems... a little weird..."

"We are now inside the body of the monster. It would be weird if nothing weird happened." Another hunter who was a little braver said, "I think this abnormality is insignificant. It just consumes more power. At least it won't pose a direct threat to us."

He took out a glow stick from his backpack and twisted it hard. With a slight sound of glass breaking, the two chemical liquids in the glow stick mixed together and emitted a light green fluorescence.

"But I always feel a little uneasy." The hunter who suggested leaving also pulled out a glow stick and turned it on.

"If you're scared, just say it. There's no need to hide it." The previous hunter said again, "To be honest, I'm scared too, but if we quit, wouldn't it be like our mission failed? It's just that the battery consumption rate is abnormal, and we have no way to solve this abnormality. There's no point in quitting..."

"That's right... I can only bite the bullet and keep moving forward."

Everyone continued to move forward.

Sun Hang could feel that the hand of Fukada Miki that he was holding was trembling slightly - she had been using her special powers all the way. Although Sun Hang was not sure how much the "Eye of Death" consumed, Fukada Miki's pale face and the beads of sweat on her forehead were definitely not fake.

Just when Sun Hang was wondering whether he should stop and let Fukada Miki rest, he vaguely heard a gust of wind coming from deep in the tunnel.

The next second, the glow sticks in the hunters' hands dimmed, and even the dragon flame on Wang Xiyi's tail went out.

There were still residual images of the glow stick and the flame on the retina, but the surroundings were completely plunged into darkness where one could not see one's hand in front of one's face.

There was no exclamation from the hunters. Apart from the darkness, what completely enveloped Sun Hang was absolute silence.

He suddenly realized that his hands were empty - the person he was holding, Miki Fukada, had disappeared, just like the hunters who disappeared when the light went out.

"Teleportation? Or an illusion?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes slightly, "Can't we try something new?"

The sound of the wind in the tunnel began to become gradually sharper, and meaningless whispers could be faintly heard in the wind. However, Sun Hang did not feel any movement of air. Even the hair on his forehead did not move at all.

Sun Hang reached out and touched both sides. As he expected, the two walls of the tunnel disappeared. He now seemed to be standing on a vast plain. There was endless darkness all around him. The sound of the wind carrying strange whispers kept coming from the distance.

In a trance, Sun Hang found that the surroundings suddenly became brighter.

He was standing in a room filled with sophisticated instruments and with mirrors embedded on the walls front, back, left and right.

He was no stranger to this room.

A beam of strong light fell from the ceiling, enveloping Sun Hang.

"The blood-black nothingness begins to weave a network," an emotionless electronic synthesized voice sounded in the room.

Sun Hang said nothing.

"Are you scared? Have you ever imagined yourself in an environment with no light at all?"

Sun Hang remained silent.

"The cells are connected to each other," "When was the last time you made a decision?"

"What is the thing you least want to face?"

"The blood-black nothingness began to weave a network, with cells connecting to each other and then to the trunk."

"What's the most frightening thing you've ever dreamed about?"

"Do you feel that humans are your kind?"

"What was the last time you had a strong emotional fluctuation?"

“What does survival mean to you?”

"Then, against the backdrop of darkness, a fountain appeared, gushing white water high up."

"Do you feel that you are no longer human?"

“Do you often feel hungry?”

“Have you ever thought about the meaning of your existence?”

"What does your ideal opposite-sex partner look like?"

"Have you ever felt unbearable hunger?"

"Through the smoke I glimpsed a tall, white fountain, and I woke with a start."

As if to give Sun Hang time to answer or repeat, the electronic synthesized voice paused for a full half minute after reading the last line of the poem, and then said: "The test is over."

The lights in the room returned to normal, but Yang Qi did not open the door and walk in.

Sun Hang looked around, examining with interest those testing instruments that he didn't recognize but knew were extremely expensive at a glance - suddenly, when he was staring at one of the instruments, the screen that originally displayed a lot of data and wavy lines suddenly became distorted, and black and white noise swept across the screen like waves, and questions emerged between the black and white noise.

“Do you feel lonely?”

Lonely? Why do I feel lonely?

Is it because everyone around me has disappeared?

"Don't you hate this world that is incompatible with you?" The question on the screen changed again.

Out of place?

Sun Hang suddenly found it a little funny.

He didn't know whether he was incompatible with this world, but if you asked him whether he liked this world or not, the answer was beyond doubt.

He quite liked this world. In this world, there was an old man who would stuff a plastic bag of glutinous rice cake into his hands, a busty beauty who would lend him a complete set of pirated Ultraman discs, a tsundere office lady in black stockings who would hug his neck tightly and breathe softly in his ear but usually had a sour face and acted righteously, and a woman who liked to nag like an old mother but would always help him clean up the mess and deal with various aftermaths - if the illusion before his eyes perfectly replicated the contents of Sun Hang's memory, then she should have opened the door and was chatting with him about the salary and benefits of monster hunters.

Sun Hang has no reason to hate this world.

Sun Hang didn't want the world to become like the occupied areas.

In comparison, a place like Maoyun Town is simply not a place for human beings to stay.

If any sane person is asked to choose between Tianfu City and Maoyun Town, he or she will definitely choose the former without hesitation, right?

This is also one of the reasons why Sun Hang, although always unhappy with the federal government, has always maintained a cooperative relationship with the federal government.

He didn't want the world he loved to become like Maoyun Town.

After another trance, Sun Hang found himself standing on a crowded street. This was the most prosperous commercial street in Tianfu City. It was no exaggeration to say that every inch of land here was worth a lot of money. Unfortunately, Sun Hang had only seen such a scene twice after he woke up, and it disappeared afterwards.

The coming of eternal night changed everything.

Sun Hang passed by this commercial street once later. Because of the martial law, it had long been abandoned. The glass windows that stretched for several kilometers were covered with thick dust, and the various signs looked like tombstones hanging in the air. The empty sidewalks were littered with flyers for discounts, but the deadlines on these flyers had already passed for several months.

Now, this commercial street has been revived before Sun Hang's eyes.

In other words, Sun Hang saw what it looked like when it was alive.

But what Sun Hang cared about more was not the bustling commercial street itself, but the huge shadow looming over the commercial street.

The source of these shadows is the crowds of people on the street.

Countless negative emotions intertwined and condensed into a huge monster. This monster was entrenched between the neon lights of high-rise buildings, rising and falling with the flow of people... If the color tone was not too depressing, this thing would look like the kind of holographic projection monster commonly seen in cyberpunk works.

Sun Hang merely glanced at the monster, and the endless stream of negative emotions began to erode his mind frantically - sadness, sorrow, anger, fear, anxiety... Everyone walking on this street has more or less some of these emotions in their hearts, and when these emotions come together, the irresistible impact makes Sun Hang's brain seem to be alkalied by them.

For a moment, Sun Hang almost lost himself under the impact of these negative emotions, but fortunately he quickly cut off the connection with these negative emotions, directly withdrew his self-consciousness, and looked at these negative emotions that were entangled with each other and showing their fangs and claws like ghosts from a third-party bystander's attitude.

"Anna." Sun Hang called out, "Dinner is ready."

no respond.

The projected advertisement on the glass curtain wall across the street suddenly seemed to be invaded by a virus. The movements of the bright-eyed and white-toothed celebrity spokesperson were frozen, and large patches of mosaics and messy blocks of color tore the original composition into pieces. A line of text appeared between these messy blocks of color.

"Humans are the source of these negative emotions. The more these emotions accumulate, the faster this world you love will collapse."

"You can't save them, and you don't have to save them."

"They have themselves to blame for this."

(End of this chapter)