Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 454 Grabbing food
Sun Hang took two steps forward, and in a daze, he suddenly felt a little dizzy... But when he looked around again, his brows furrowed involuntarily.

The pedestrians on the commercial street were shoulder to shoulder, but behind each person was a shadow of varying shades. These shadows were pulled and squeezed as people moved, and then mixed and condensed together, forming something like a fog above the crowd.

"This street is called Yong'an Street. It is the main thoroughfare that runs through the east and west districts of Chunming City's 'Tianshiyuan' and intersects with the north-south central axis of Chunming City to form a cross." A girl in a white dress, whose hair, eyes and skin were dazzlingly white, suddenly appeared in the crowd. She faced Sun Hang against the direction of the surging crowd and said with a smile.

The scene looked a bit eerie—the all-white-clad girl stood out so much in the crowd, yet the people around her seemed oblivious to her presence, not a single one giving her a second glance.

But it doesn't seem right to say that you can't see her—because everyone who walks past her naturally avoids her. There's no bumping or shoving, and no one even touches the hem of her skirt that's being blown up by the wind.

It was as if there was a streamlined air wall where the girl was standing, cutting the crowd in half and diverting them to both sides of the wall.

"Anna, what are you doing now?" Sun Hang questioned. "Are you trying to create a monster here?"

“If I wanted to do that, I would have done it already.” Anna’s smile turned into a smirk. “I just wanted to show Mom the true nature of these creatures.”

"These creatures? You mean these people?"

"Mom, have you ever thought about whether what's inside these shells called 'human' is 'civilization' or 'beasts'?" Anna asked.

“I never thought about it, it has nothing to do with me.” Sun Hang cautiously surveyed his surroundings—although the negative emotions of a single pedestrian were far from enough to create a monster, there’s a saying that goes, “quantitative change leads to qualitative change.” There were simply too many people on Yong’an Street. If all the negative emotions of these people were gathered together, it might give birth to a formidable monster…

“It’s the weekend. According to data released by the Chunming City Industrial and Commercial Bureau, the daily foot traffic on Yong’an Street will reach 350,000 people on weekends. That means an average of four people pass by me every second, and I can sense what’s lurking in their hearts…” Anna said. “Although people who go out shopping are generally in a better mood than those who are stuck in their cubicles working overtime on weekends and are full of resentment, as long as you’re human, you’ll definitely have negative emotions… and those shameful, sordid things…”

Sun Hang suddenly noticed that when pedestrians passed by Anna, the shadows trailing behind them would noticeably fade. From the pedestrians' perspective, it was as if stepping over a paving stone made them feel much more relaxed, their thoughts became more open, and some of the emotions that had been bothering them quickly subsided. Many people even unconsciously curled up a smile as they walked past Anna.

Sun Hang realized that Anna was absorbing the negative emotions of these passersby—after all, she had once said that human memories and emotions could become her nourishment, so negative emotions were naturally a kind of emotion as well.

To be honest, this ability would be quite suitable for becoming a psychologist.

She doesn't even need to counsel patients; she simply "eats up" all the negative emotions in their hearts, and all sorts of mental illnesses naturally resolve themselves.

Sun Hang could even picture Anna in a white coat sitting in the consultation room, with banners on the wall behind the room that read "Dr. Anna's miraculous healing skills".

Oh no, Anna's last name isn't Anna, it's Dimosina.

“You’re doing well, eating right away.” Sun Hang’s tone suddenly became relaxed. “I was still wondering where to have lunch… I should have asked Zhulong to book a restaurant for me in advance, that guy looks like a gourmand.”

“If Mom wants to eat… the food isn’t far from you.” Anna smiled.

I must say, her smile is truly beautiful...

“Of course I know the food isn’t far from me; there are restaurants everywhere on both sides of Yong’an Street. But the problem is, I’m a civilized and low-key person. I don’t want to cut in line, nor do I want to use the privileges that Old Man Pei gave me,” Sun Hang said.

No, you don't need to queue.

"No need to queue... Wait, what kind of food are you talking about?" Sun Hang suddenly realized, and his body, which had just relaxed, tensed up slightly again.

"Mom, your craving for human food is just a 'delusion' that exists only in your mind. I don't need to tell you what your body really needs as 'food,' do I?"

"There is a strange thing nearby."

"Your reaction time is a bit slow," Anna said.

“I can’t sense any memetic aura from it. Surely not every random monster could have such a strong ability to hide, right?” Sun Hang frowned. “Or is it just outside my sensing range?”

"If you want to survive under the nose of the Heavenly Pivot Tower, how can you not have strong concealment skills?" Anna laughed, but there seemed to be a hint of coldness hidden in her laughter. "Besides, isn't its trace quite obvious?"

“Traces? Obvious?” Sun Hang looked around again and quickly realized what Anna meant by “traces”.

The crowd's negative emotions formed a miasma, and as Anna "ate," this miasma formed a structure around her resembling an "eye of the storm"—the surrounding miasma constantly gathered here, only to be continuously devoured by Anna...

Beyond this "eye of the storm," the miasma formed from the materialization of negative emotions is also slowly flowing.

Sun Hang saw a force coming from another direction, pulling the mist and drawing these negative emotions toward a certain place.

No wonder Anna was smiling with a hidden knife just now; it turns out someone... no, some kind of monster was trying to steal her food!

There were many people on Yong'an Street, and there was also a lot of negative emotion as "food". Even if the unknown monster increased the force of the negative emotions it attracted, Anna would not be affected... The two should have been like water and water, but for some reason, Anna seemed to be full of hostility towards the other party.

Is it because that strange creature has similar abilities to her?

Sun Hang suddenly thought of an old saying: "Two tigers cannot share one mountain."

"Mom, you're a hunter, aren't you going to hunt that monster?" Anna asked.

"I'm on vacation. I'm just an ordinary federal citizen right now." Sun Hang put his arms behind his head. "Even if there are monsters lurking in Chunming City, that's the job of the hunters on duty. It's none of my business." Sun Hang didn't want to hunt the monster—in a way, the monster that devoured negative emotions was like a "cleaner." Its feeding behavior was beneficial and harmless to Chunming City and these passersby... As for its purpose in lurking in Chunming City, and what it would do after it was full, that was not something Sun Hang needed to care about.

Anyway, once he mentions it to the mastermind, Sun Hang can relax and be a hands-off manager.

“But it’s stealing my food,” Anna said again, her voice tinged with a hint of coquetry.

"There are so many negative emotions, it's not like there aren't enough for you to eat."

“Not enough! I have a big appetite!” Anna immediately said. “Since Mom won’t go hunting for it, I only have one way.”

"You're personally taking charge?" Sun Hang glanced at her.

“It’s better to increase revenue than to cut costs. Since there’s not enough food, as long as we create enough panic among the people, these negative emotions will be amplified infinitely… As for how to create panic, Mom, what do you think about me using these negative emotions to create a physical monster?” Anna laughed.

Sun Hang found it hard to reconcile such a dark thought with such a radiant smile. However, he also understood that this seemingly angelic girl was actually a ruthless killer... What was even more deadly was that she had no concept of good or evil and felt no psychological burden when killing people.

"Are you threatening me?" Sun Hang asked, somewhat annoyed.

"It's not a threat," Anna said, feigning a pitiful look. "Anna is so pitiful; she often goes hungry and doesn't have enough to eat..."

"Bullshit." Sun Hang sighed helplessly. "Fine, I'm going to find that monster. You stay here, don't move, and don't cause any trouble... behave yourself! Understand?"

"Mom is the best!"

……

Following the direction of the "fog," Sun Hang struggled to push through the crowd, ignoring the displeased looks and complaints from people with various accents, and crossed Yong'an Street to the foot of an office building.

The concrete negative emotions were like a wisp of black smoke, passing through the azure glass curtain wall without hindrance and drifting into the interior of the office building.

Sun Hang walked to the elevator. There were already dozens of people waiting for the elevator. Judging from the elevator's maximum load capacity, even if the elevator arrived at the first floor immediately, it wouldn't be Sun Hang's turn at the back of the line.

Sun Hang didn't push forward; instead, he turned and went around to the entrance of the fire escape staircase, then ran up the stairs.

The office building's second to sixth floors are a comprehensive shopping mall with shops selling all kinds of things, including a large number of restaurants and beverage shops. To Sun Hang's right, there is even a movie theater and a small children's playground.

Sun Hang blinked hard, using his "wish-fulfilling" ability to enhance his special visual perception of tangible negative emotions—he quickly discovered that the negative emotions inside the office building showed a trend of being stronger at the top and weaker at the bottom, as if they were a gas with a lower density than air, constantly floating upwards.

Amidst the slightly surprised glances of the people waiting for the elevator, Sun Hang continued up the stairs—the third floor, the fourth floor, the fifth floor… The higher he went, the stronger his negative emotions became. When he reached the seventh floor, the miasma that had just appeared on Yong'an Street reappeared.

Keep in mind that this seventh floor is an office area, with a much lower population density than the streets below, but the level of negative emotions is just as intense... This shows just how strong the resentment of overworked office workers is.

Sun Hang looked down and saw a thin black mist seeping into the floor, drifting up from the lower floors, merging with the mist on the seventh floor, and then continuing to drift upwards.

"Still up there?"

Just as Sun Hang was about to continue upstairs, an office lady carrying a folder emerged from the side corridor. She looked Sun Hang up and down, and asked with a hint of doubt, "Excuse me, sir, who are you looking for?"

"Anyway, I'm not looking for you," Sun Hang replied casually.

"Hello sir, this entire floor belongs to our company's office area." Seeing Sun Hang say this, the OL's attitude became noticeably colder. "You didn't display our company's nameplate, nor did you register as a visitor at the front desk... In addition to your suspicious behavior, I'm considering whether to call security over."

"Go ahead and call out," Sun Hang continued dismissively, while looking up to observe the trajectory of the black mist flowing across the ceiling.

“You…” The office lady was stunned for a moment. She looked Sun Hang up and down again. The man was wearing a short-sleeved T-shirt from a mass-market brand, and jeans that she couldn’t tell the brand of but were probably not too expensive. His sneakers were a brand name, but they were an old model that cost only three or four hundred yuan after the discount, which was even less than the stockings she was wearing.

This man looks like a tourist who wandered in by mistake... If he were a corporate spy from a rival company, he probably wouldn't have answered like that when questioned like this, right?

Their company is located on the seventh floor. Although it is only one floor away from the mall, the mall's elevators can only go up to the sixth floor and cannot go up to the seventh floor. If you want to come up, you can only take the private elevator or climb the stairs. Generally speaking, mall customers will not accidentally come up here.

"Never mind, whoever he is, I'll just get security to kick him out," the office lady thought to herself, pulling out her phone to call security.

But at that moment, Sun Hang scratched his head and looked at her for the first time: "Oh, I forgot, I should have shown you my ID first."

"Identity?" The office lady was taken aback again. Could this man be some kind of public official? A sheriff? Or someone who inspects fire safety?

Why doesn't he wear a uniform?

Sun Hang rummaged in his pocket for a moment, then pulled out an ID and waved it in front of the OL.

"A...a hunter's license?" The office lady's expression froze. "You're...a monster hunter?!"

(End of this chapter)