Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 452 Giant Sand Worm
"So, you think if I go to Egypt, I might encounter this... 'sand worm'?"

“It’s not just possible, it’s certain that we will encounter it,” Zhulong said seriously. “Or to put it another way, the country of Egypt was destroyed by the giant sand worms.”

"They?" Sun Hang immediately realized the problem. "Are there many of these 'sand-sinking giant worms'?"

“According to the information provided by Cairo at the time, there were more than 8,000 confirmed sightings of the giant sand worms in Egypt, Libya and Sudan. Although there may be duplicates in these records, judging from the extent of the damage to those African cities, the total number of giant sand worms active in the Sahara Desert is at least 30,000,” Zhulong said.

“Thirty thousand bodies…that’s not a lot.” Sun Hang said dismissively, “The Sahara Desert is so vast, if you throw thirty thousand insects in, that’s only one insect per three hundred square kilometers.”

The area of ​​the Sahara Desert is similar to that of the once-complete Xia State Federation, both being nearly ten million square kilometers. In such a vast region, 30,000 sounds like a lot, but after being diluted by the land area, it can only be considered a drop in the ocean.

"Do you know why the name 'Sand Giant Worm' has the word 'giant' in it?" Zhulong's tone remained serious. "A mature Sand Giant Worm can reach a length of over three kilometers and a body diameter of over one hundred meters... In the Sudan region, someone once discovered a non-natural underground tunnel with a diameter of five hundred meters, and that underground tunnel contained a large number of Sand Giant Worm memetic reactions..."

Zhulong swallowed hard and continued, "The mouthparts of the Sand Giant Worm are extremely sharp. In addition to being able to open a path in compacted sand, they can also pass through hard bedrock without any hindrance... If that tunnel was 'drilled' out by the Sand Giant Worm, then according to the body proportions of mature individuals, there may be super-giant individuals in the Sand Giant Worm population that are 15 kilometers long."

"This thing is that big?" Sun Hang asked in surprise. "Then how big was the giant sand worm you encountered in the Taklamakan region?"

“It did not reveal its entire body, but judging from its diameter, it should not be a mature sand-buried giant worm. Its diameter is only about 30 meters. According to the 1:30 ratio, its total body length buried under the sand should be about 900 to 1,000 meters... However, after comparing the memetic samples we obtained at great risk with the samples provided by Cairo, we found that there was an 8% difference between the two memes. Therefore, we cannot determine whether this ‘subspecies’ sand-buried giant worm is ‘immature’ or a small-sized species that has mutated due to environmental factors.”

Zhulong paused for a moment and continued, "After all, the Taklamakan region is much smaller than the Sahara, and resources such as food are correspondingly scarcer. Reducing its size may be a survival strategy for this monster."

"How powerful is this thing?" Sun Hang asked. "If we have the chance, perhaps we could try some giant worm sashimi?"

"Very strong? Its defense and regeneration capabilities are at least in the top three among the Class C monsters I've ever seen... Moreover, it has characteristics similar to an earthworm."

"You mean... if you cut a giant sand worm in two, it will become two giant sand worms?"

Zhulong nodded.

"So how did you deal with that giant sand worm back then?" Sun Hang asked again.

"We failed to defeat it. Before encountering the Sand Sinking Worm, we only lost one hunter, but it caused a major loss of four people to us—two of them were swallowed up by the Sand Sinking Worm that emerged from the sand during the journey, and the other two died while obtaining memetic samples," said Zhulong. "My abilities were simply no match for such a behemoth. After obtaining the memetic samples that our companions had risked their lives for, the other surviving hunter and I immediately decided to end the exploration and return to the border."

"It didn't chase you?"

"The superhuman who sacrificed herself had the ability to create spatial barriers. She burned herself to exhaust all her abilities, creating a spatial barrier strong enough to trap the entire Sand Giant Worm, giving us a chance to escape," Zhulong recalled. "As for the Sand Giant Worm's movement speed, Cairo's records state that 'its maximum movement speed in desert areas is 160 kilometers per hour.' The Sand Giant Worm's movement speed within rock strata is determined by the hardness of the rock."

"This thing can even be driven on the highway now," Sun Hang muttered to himself.

"Moreover, the skeleton inside the sand worm has an extremely strong load-bearing capacity. In the combat records of the old Egyptian Republic, there are even images of the sand worm breaking through the sand, soaring into the sky, and swallowing up aircraft thousands of meters in the air... They can maintain this upright position for several hours..."

Zhulong continued, "After the discovery of the Sand Giant Worm in the Taklamakan region, the Tian Shu Tower and the Federal Government were on high alert. This is because they had never been seen outside of the African continent before. This time, they not only appeared in Asia, but also in the Taklamakan region, which is so close to us... Once the Sand Giant Worm begins to migrate towards human-controlled areas, large swathes of the Federation's territory will fall... This kind of monster is almost devastating to human cities."

"Did the Sky Tower and the federal government take any measures that day?"

“I’m not clear about the specific measures. After I retrieved the meme samples and completed the action report, I was granted a two-month leave.” Zhulong shook his head. “I only know that the Tian Shu Tower subsequently sent several more exploration teams to the Taklamakan region. As for their experiences… you should be able to find them in the mainframe.”

“I’ll check it when I have time.” Sun Hang nodded. For information with a particularly high level of confidentiality, it cannot be found through the Tian Shu Tower’s networked database. Those things are either stored in a safe as physical documents or in an area inside the mainframe that is completely isolated from the network. To access this information, one must return to the Origin Palace.

“However, the only thing I’m certain of is that the Tian Shu Tower subsequently lowered the threat priority of the Sand Giant Worms,” Zhu Long said. “My direct supervisor told me that, according to the Tian Shu Tower’s investigation and research, the probability of the Sand Giant Worms from the Taklamakan region entering the Federation’s territory is basically zero.”

"Because they only like to stay in the desert?" Sun Hang guessed.

"I don't know... but Egypt was indeed completely turned into a vast desert by them."

“Isn’t more than 95 percent of Egypt’s territory desert?” Sun Hang said.

He had previously seen a mummy artifact at the Tianfu City Museum, next to which was a detailed introduction to Egypt. One passage in particular left a deep impression on Sun Hang: "More than 95 percent of Egypt's land area is desert. Only 5 percent of the land, located in the Nile Valley and Delta region, is non-desert. And in this 5 percent of land, 97 percent of the country's population and agricultural activities are concentrated."

“I’m referring to the Nile River basin, the remaining five percent,” said Zhulong. “Wherever the sand worms go, all the oases will turn into deserts, and even the ruins of cities will gradually be swallowed by the desert—because they swallow everything that their mouthparts touch and then excrete it as sand.”

"Tsk, this monster is simply the number one enemy of the desertification control project," Sun Hang complained.

“Before the Taklamakan region fell, the Federation had already made considerable progress in desertification control in the area, and the vegetation coverage in the Hexi Corridor area had reached 20 percent… But when I went there that time, all I could see was a desolate Gobi Desert and an endless sea of ​​sand,” Zhulong said.

“To be honest, I’m more interested in the situation in Egypt,” Sun Hang said. “Tell me about that country’s… ‘war of annihilation’.”

“There was no war of annihilation at all.” Zhulong sighed. “Even with the aid of the United States and the European Federation, the Egyptians were still powerless against the giant sand worm. They could only watch helplessly as city after city was flattened by the giant sand worm, which pushed them all the way from Lake Nasser to the Nile Delta.”

"Are all weapons ineffective against the sand-sinking giant worms? What about nuclear weapons?" Sun Hang asked. "Isn't this sparsely populated desert region the most suitable place to use nuclear weapons?"

"We tried it, but it wasn't very effective. The giant sand worms have extremely strong regenerative abilities. If they don't hit us directly, nuclear weapons have a hard time killing them. They just need to burrow underground, and the lethality of nuclear weapons will be greatly reduced... As for hunters and conventional weapons, to be honest, in front of that enormous monster, many 'fatal wounds' for elephants are probably not even scratches for them."

"Furthermore, at that time, there were very few monster hunters in Egypt, fewer than a hundred," Zhulong continued. "Cairo announced its abandonment when more than a third of the Nile Delta had fallen, and government officials and the wealthy fled to Europe. As for the refugees stranded in the Nile Delta region, well..."

Zhulong didn't continue, but even if he hadn't said anything, Sun Hang could guess the fate of those refugees.

To the south lies an endless desert, a no-man's-land; to the north lies the Mediterranean Sea, where hordes of strange creatures emerging from the deep sea are wreaking havoc in southern Europe and the northern coast of Africa. Crossing the Mediterranean by boat is virtually impossible.

The only way out for the refugees was to cross the Suez Canal, pass through the Sinai Peninsula, and seek refuge in Central Asia... But this refuge route also required crossing one desert after another. These deserts were extremely barren and had none of the abundant resources and produce that the Nile River basin had. It would be extremely difficult for the refugees to cross them on their own.

"Do you think there might still be any surviving humans in Egypt?" Sun Hang asked, a somewhat far-fetched idea suddenly popping into his head.

“That possibility cannot be ruled out.” After thinking for a few seconds, Zhulong nodded. “More than 90% of the monsters that crawled out of the Mediterranean Sea were attacking the European region. The northern coast of Africa was relatively less affected, and apart from the giant sand worms, other monsters appeared very infrequently in the Sahara region. It is precisely for this reason that, although many cities were destroyed, many refugees still survived and poured into the Nile Delta region. As long as large-scale human settlements are not built, they should not attract the attacks of the giant sand worms. If that’s the case, there may really be survivors in the northern African region.”

“As long as no other strange creatures descend upon that area, and the problem of survival resources is solved… it should be easier for humans to rebuild their homes there than in other occupied territories, right?” Sun Hang said.

“That’s true, but those two conditions are already difficult enough to meet.” Zhulong shook his head again. “The few oases in the Sahara Desert have been almost completely destroyed by the giant sand worms… I can hardly imagine how the survivors will survive.”

“Let’s consider that issue once we get to Egypt. Even the giant sand worms aren’t a priority… Our most crucial problem right now is—how do we get to Egypt?” Sun Hang said. “What’s the furthest the Tian Shu Tower has explored in the occupied territories?”

"As far as I know, the furthest point should be the Ural Mountains region of the former Siberian Federation, which is also commonly known as the dividing line between Eurasia."

"How did you get there?"

“Generally speaking, in occupied areas near the border, we would use ground transportation such as vehicles. However, for longer distances, the risk of aircraft crossing occupied areas over long distances is extremely high, so they would probably use a near-Earth orbit airdrop method.”

"Airdrop into low Earth orbit?"

"It involves sending people into space using rockets, then aiming at the target location, breaking through the atmosphere, and parachuting down," Zhulong said. "This method can avoid most of the monsters in the occupied area, but it also has two problems."

"What two questions?"

"The first problem is that the fall cannot be observed, so the location can only rely on data from the old era, which is prone to errors. It's even possible that what was once a plain has now become an abyss. The second problem is that there are also some powerful monsters in near-Earth orbit, such as..."

"Gemini balloons?" Sun Hang recalled that experience.

"Yes... However, the trajectories of the strange objects in low Earth orbit can be predicted, since this is not an area that cannot be observed. In addition, these strange objects in low Earth orbit do not have a strong desire to attack humans. As long as the calculations are accurate enough, rockets and airdrop capsules can completely avoid them."

"Not very aggressive? Are you sure?"

(End of this chapter)