Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 456 Cooling Pump Channel
The black mist contracted faster and faster, soon leaving only a thin black line. By this time, Sun Hang had already caught up to the edge of the Yong'an Street commercial district.

This is a construction site. In the area enclosed by the safety barrier, huge hollow structures can be seen everywhere on the ground. Through these hollows, the underground "ecliptic layer" can be vaguely seen.

The black line passed through one of the openings and quickly plummeted down to the ecliptic layer below.

"Underground?" Sun Hang hesitated for a moment. "This guy's ability... can it really affect that far?"

But he quickly realized that it wasn't that the other party's ability affected a long distance, but that the other party had been constantly fleeing! The strange creature's hiding place should have been in an inconspicuous corner of the Yong'an Street commercial district, but after it realized it had been exposed, it began to move in this direction, leading Sun Hang here as well.

Sun Hang walked to the edge of the openwork area, squatted down, and reached out to touch the ground.

There was a small pool of blood on the ground that hadn't dried, and the blood carried a faint scent of eerie memes.

There were also some scraps of fabric nearby.

The blood is human blood, and the fabric fragments come from clothing worn by humans.

Is it an infected person? Or... a humanoid monster?
The concrete on the ground was very rough. The strange creature must have tripped and fallen while running past, and then tumbled and crawled down.
Or perhaps, in their sole focus on escaping, they didn't have time to brake when they realized there was a bottomless abyss ahead, lost their balance, fell to the ground, and then, due to inertia, rolled down through the opening?

Apart from two warning signs, there were no guardrails along the edge of the openwork area—after all, the entire construction site was surrounded by a cordon, and ordinary citizens could not get close to it at all.

This place was originally a huge man-made well. The workers built a steel frame inside the man-made well to support it, and then poured concrete into it. The hollow parts left on the ground are the hollow parts of the steel frame.

It was the weekend, and the construction site was closed. Sun Hang looked around but couldn't see a single worker.

"Mainframe." Sun Hang patted his bracelet, activating the mainframe. "Where is this place down there?"

"One of the thirty-six power centers that drive the entire Chunming City," the mainframe immediately replied. "You are currently in the seventh cooling pump channel of this power center, which is currently undergoing renovation."

"A cooling pump channel? So, is the temperature down there hot enough to instantly vaporize a person?"

“When the cooling pump channel is activated, steam at temperatures as high as 1,200 degrees Celsius will pass through it. Although this temperature is not enough to instantly vaporize a human, it is still fatal to most carbon-based life forms,” the mainframe said. “However, the No. 7 cooling pump channel is currently under renovation and has been disconnected from the cooling pipe network of the power center, so it is safe.”

"Safe?" Sun Hang stood at the edge of the hollowed-out area and looked down. It was pitch black below, and the depth was at least one or two hundred meters. If an ordinary person were to fall in, regardless of whether there was high-temperature steam in the cooling pump channel, they would probably be dead.

Of course, if it's a ghost, then who knows?

Where does the No. 7 cooling pump channel lead?

"The No. 7 cooling pump channel is connected to the cooling pipe network of the power center, but the independent module of the No. 7 cooling pump channel has now been separated from the pipe network, and all interfaces have been sealed off."

"So, this is a dead end?" Sun Hang asked the mainframe to confirm.

"Yes."

"Finally, some good news! That's rare!"

Sun Hang walked another halfway.

"Keep an eye on this only exit for me. Stop anything that comes out." Sun Hang leaned forward slightly.

"As you wish."

With a slight buzzing sound, the locked drone hangar on the construction site was suddenly awakened, and dozens of drones instantly took off and hovered above Sun Hang's head.

The engineering mechs seemed to be possessed by electronic ghosts, and they started moving without human intervention. The power limitations of the equipment installed on them, such as welding torches and pile drivers, were quietly lifted, and these tools were transformed into weapons in an instant.

"The efficiency is good."

Sun Hang gave a thumbs-up to the drone in the sky, then plunged headfirst into the cooling pump channel.

Only the top 200-meter section of the No. 7 cooling pump shaft is vertical. After that 200 meters, there is a slope of about 45 degrees, and then the slope becomes gentler.

On this slope, Sun Hang also found some bloodstains and fragments of clothing smeared on it.

A faint, almost imperceptible stench of blood, along with a subtle hint of eerie memes, filled the air.

"How is the interface of the cooling pump channel sealed?" Sun Hang asked the mainframe.

"The alloy sealant is of specification 45, with a physical resistance strength of level IV or above, a thickness of six meters, and an additional fifteen layers of polymer interlayer inside, with airtight treatment around the perimeter. Even if the module of the No. 7 heat dissipation pump channel is not disconnected from the pipeline network, high-temperature steam cannot enter the No. 7 heat dissipation pump channel."

Although Sun Hang had no concept of the parameters and technical terms mentioned by the mainframe, he understood the phrase "six meters thick." Putting aside what that No. 45 alloy was, even if it was just a lump of scrap iron, a thickness of six meters was not something an ordinary person could penetrate.

The fact that it survived a fall of 200 meters but was injured suggests that the creature it was tracking had a slightly stronger body than a human, but not by much. Without suitable tools, the chances of it penetrating a six-meter-thick block of rotten iron were practically zero.

"That guy shouldn't be able to break through the seal and escape, right?"

"The sealing plug uses a physical locking method, which can only be rotated and removed from the pump channel by heavy machinery. Moreover, these operations can only be carried out on the outside of the pump channel. People or objects inside the pump channel cannot escape from the interface without damaging the sealing plug."

"That's good."

Propelled by gravity, Sun Hang ran swiftly down the slope—he hadn't run far before the ground beneath his feet changed from concrete to metal, and each time the soles of his shoes hit the top line, they made a very distinct sound that traveled far along the pipe.

Since he had already been exposed, Sun Hang was too lazy to conceal his whereabouts anymore. Just thinking that the approaching footsteps might give the other party a sense of pressure as they were gradually falling into a desperate situation, Sun Hang stomped his feet even more enthusiastically.

Sun Hang enjoys watching horror movies, but what he likes isn't the tense and terrifying atmosphere, but rather immersing himself in the scary things in the movies.

To be honest, it's quite interesting.

The slope gradually decreased, and the cooling pump channel changed from being vertical to almost parallel... Then, three forks appeared in front of Sun Hang.

"Why is there a fork in the road?"

"The No. 7 cooling pump channel has three interfaces that connect to the cooling pipe network of the power center, so there will be three branch pipes," the mainframe replied.

Sun Hang twitched his nose twice, then decisively chose the passage on the right. "How long is the branch pipe?"

"Based on your previous orientation, the pipe on the left is 461 meters long, the middle pipe is 195 meters long, and the pipe on the right is 790 meters long."

"They even chose the longest one," Sun Hang complained under his breath. "What a waste of time... By the way, are there security cameras inside the cooling pump duct?"

"The cooling pump channel is equipped with pressure, airtightness, and temperature detection devices, but there are no surveillance cameras," the mastermind replied. "Moreover, because the No. 7 cooling pump channel is under renovation, these sophisticated electronic devices have been removed and will not be reinstalled until the final stage of the project."

“That makes sense.” Sun Hang nodded. “Installing surveillance cameras in a pipe that is constantly filled with steam at thousands of degrees Celsius does seem like a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

After saying that, Sun Hang stopped.

790 meters isn't a long distance; there are less than 50 meters left before the end of this branch pipeline.

The rusty sealant completely blocked the passage, and the space between the sealant and the passage walls was filled with black airtight glue, making it impossible for even an insect to squeeze through.

Sun Hang could feel the memetic aura of the strange creature gradually intensifying, but he couldn't see anyone in sight, only a tattered tracksuit stained with blood lying on the ground.

The seal was intact, and there were no signs of it being pried open, not even the airtight sealant around the edge.

Sun Hang stepped forward and examined the clothes that were lying on the ground.

Besides the tattered tracksuit, there was also a white short-sleeved T-shirt and a white pair of briefs with a bow.

Although the sportswear is unisex, the size is 155/68A/XXS. Only women or children can fit into this size... Considering the bow on the briefs, the infected or strange creature is most likely a petite woman...

As for why there was no bra among the clothes she took off... Sun Hang thought about it and figured it might be because for a woman of this build, it didn't seem to matter whether she wore a bra or not...

But the problem is... the clothes are all here, but where did the "person" go?

"Master, is there an outlet for some kind of cooling pump channel?"

“No,” the mainframe replied. “After you entered the heat pump tunnel, I mobilized several drones equipped with meme monitoring devices from the nearest Tian Shu Tower branch, and so far no anomalies have been detected.”

"Could these clothes be a misleading signal? Did that guy pull a fast one on me, taking off his clothes here and then hiding in another branch pipe... No, if she were that fast, she would have already shaken off my pursuit..."

Sun Hang suddenly raised his head and looked at the upper wall of the pipe: "It must still be here."

Sun Hang vaguely felt that the surroundings seemed somewhat dark.

He used his "wish fulfillment" ability to give his eyes a buff, so even in a completely dark environment, Sun Hang's vision would not be affected. But for some reason, after reaching the end of this branch pipe, he always felt that the brightness around him suddenly dropped by several degrees.

"I see you," Sun Hang said in a low voice.

There was no movement.

"I really saw it, I'm not lying to you, come out."

Still no movement.

Sun Hang took a deep breath and, at the cost of one-tenth of his mental energy, amplified his vision in tracking concrete negative emotions to the extreme.

In an instant, the originally dark tunnel became "colorful"!

Various dazzling images appeared in every corner of the cave walls. Countless distorted faces and limbs were stretched, squeezed, decomposed and reassembled, and then decomposed again, looking like something created by a mentally ill patient or an abstract artist.

Or rather, something created by a mentally unstable abstract artist.

Just as Sun Hang reached out towards the nearest image, these things suddenly gathered together, coalesced into a naked body, and quickly ran towards the outlet of the cooling pump.

However, before it could run more than a few steps, thousands of mycelia caught up with it, wrapped it up like a rice dumpling, and dragged it back to Sun Hang's feet.

The human form of this strange creature was a girl of about eighteen years old—Sun Hang thought it was actually only fourteen or sixteen years old or even younger, but to avoid suspicion of pedophilia, he still treated it as an underdeveloped eighteen-year-old girl.

After all, the Law on the Protection of Minors does not protect adult monsters.

Whether from the perspective of age or species.

The "girl" struggled desperately within the mycelium, but her strength was negligible compared to the mycelium, and she had no consciousness other than causing the humanoid rice dumpling to pupate back and forth on the ground.

“I’m quite curious,” Sun Hang said, squatting down next to the zongzi. “Can’t you escape by transforming into an energy form? Why didn’t you use that method to get out? These mycelia shouldn’t be able to trap you, right?”

"Or..." Sun Hang continued, "did you deliberately let me catch you? Planning to get a permanent position in the Tian Shu Tower and freeload? I can understand that, after all, a government job with a secure job is still pretty good, right?"

"But what I'm more curious about is... are you human? Or a monster?"

The girl was still struggling, and her exhausted panting inevitably stirred up some fantasies.

Sun Hang thought for a moment, then used a few mycelium strands to hook over the clothes it had taken off, then released the mycelium strands that were trapping it, and threw the clothes over.

"Put it on," Sun Hang said. "I don't like talking to an exhibitionist."

"I...I'm not an exhibitionist," the girl murmured softly.

She dressed quickly, but Sun Hang still saw everything clearly, including things he shouldn't have seen...

It was indeed a woman's body, and it was indeed the kind of body that was very underdeveloped.

"Now, answer my question." A liquid metal blade stopped at the girl's neck, separated from her "carotid artery" by only a thin layer of skin.

(End of this chapter)