Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 473 Yan Yu'an

"Where are we going now?" Xue Yue asked.

"Are you hungry?"

"Uh... I'm a little hungry." Xue Yue nodded. "I still have half a bag of red bean buns that I haven't finished eating at my place. Can we go back and get them? That... that bun was pretty good."

"The fuel cost for one round trip with this car would be enough to buy ten bags of red bean buns, wouldn't it?" Sun Hang said, somewhat speechless. "How much is a bag of your red bean buns?"

"I bought bread from the supermarket that was nearing its expiration date...it only cost 1.5 yuan a bag," Xue Yue said. "It's still edible even if it's a few days past its expiration date..."

"At a price of 1.5 yuan per bag, the fuel cost for the round trip can be converted into cash enough to buy 14.63 bags of red bean buns nearing their expiration date." The seemingly idle mastermind immediately converted the value of the red bean buns and fuel for Sun Hang.

Ordinary cars don't consume this much fuel, but because air-floating vehicles need to power their propulsion systems and maintain the levitation device at all times, their fuel consumption is at least several times higher than that of cars that move on wheels on the ground.

"Forget about your expired bread. I'll take you out for a big meal, and after that, we'll go to the elevator platform," Sun Hang said. "Mastermind, arrange a private plane to fly directly to the front-line camp in Baikal City."

……

However, to Sun Hang's surprise, he saw two familiar figures on this suspended lifting platform.

Zhong Ling was still wearing her countless pairs of pure black long dresses, the long sleeves covering her hands. She glanced at Sun Hang, then at Xue Yue, who was following behind Sun Hang timidly like a little wife, and a hint of doubt flashed in her eyes.

Compared to her taciturn nature, Wang Xiyi was at the other extreme. Upon seeing Sun Hang and Xue Yue, she immediately blurted out, "Hey, it's only been a few days, where did you pick up such a pretty young girl again? But this girl doesn't look like an adult at all... Oh no, you haven't gotten into pedophilia, have you?"

“She’s not human,” Sun Hang said.

"Why are you swearing?" Wang Xiyi said instinctively, then paused slightly, "You mean... she's not human?"

“Yes, she’s not even an infected person.” Sun Hang nodded. “She’s a complete monster, and this body is just a borrowed shell. Her name is Xue Yue. I gave her a fake identity and told everyone that she’s my sister.”

“Your fake identity is too fake... You’re a person of unknown origin with no relatives or friends, and suddenly you have a sister? Who would believe that?” Wang Xiyi frowned.

“No one else needs to believe her,” Sun Hang said. “Moreover, her fake identity was directly entered into the Federal Citizen Archives by the core mainframe of the Tian Shu Tower. In terms of ‘authenticity,’ it is even more ‘real’ than those real identities.”

"Are you planning to take her to Baikal City as well?" Wang Xiyi asked again.

"You knew I was going to Baikal?"

“Yes, it was Zhulong who told us.” Wang Xiyi nodded. “Tianfu City has a bit of an excess of combat power right now, and since we were just killing time, we decided to come and find you… Yang Qi actually wanted to come too, but she was tied up with a bunch of miscellaneous things in Tianfu City and couldn’t get away at all.”

"Where's Yang Lian?" Sun Hang asked instinctively.

“She’s working as her sister’s assistant now, and she’s just as busy as ever.” Wang Xiyi shrugged and said with a smile, “Luckily, I don’t know how to handle those paperwork tasks, otherwise I would have been drafted into it too.”

"And you? Are you here to see me too?" Sun Hang looked at Zhong Ling.

However, Zhong Ling's answer directly shut Sun Hang down: "My home is in Chunming City."

"Ahem... Okay, I almost forgot, you're a native of Chunming... By the way, you've been away for so long, have you even been home this time?"

“I’ve already gone back. Dad’s not home. He’s working overtime at the research institute and won’t be back for the next few months,” Zhong Ling said. “I don’t have any missions right now, so I can go with you.”

"You're going to Baikal City too?" Sun Hang suddenly felt a headache coming on.

Zhong Ling nodded.

"Sigh... Get on the plane, get on the plane." Sun Hang waved helplessly. "I originally planned to act alone and finish this quickly, but I didn't expect you guys to come along."

"What? You think we're a burden?" Wang Xiyi glanced at him. "To be honest, there are probably very few hunters in the entire Federation who would dare to say that... Well, then again, you could be considered one, though."

"It's not that I look down on you, it's just that after seeing the reports from the front lines, I feel that this Baikal's remains are truly mysterious, and the danger of this expedition is probably..."

"Can anything be more dangerous than the Eternal Night and the occupied territories?" Wang Xiyi lightly flicked Sun Hang's arm with her tail. "To put it bluntly, aren't you just looking down on us?"

“Besides going home, I also went to the research institute,” Zhong Ling said. “I replenished a batch of combat-type undead, and the No. 1 undead was also fully enhanced.”

A clanging metallic scraping sound came from afar, and the No. 1 monstrous creature, dressed in a complete set of custom-made armor, climbed up from the edge of the elevator platform—previously it had been hanging upside down on the steel structure below the elevator platform like a bat, its armor with built-in optical camouflage almost completely integrated with the massive and complex steel structure.

This armor also seemed to incorporate some kind of aura-shielding device. Combined with the No. 1 monstrous body's own camouflage ability, Sun Hang could not sense its presence until it entered the cabin and came within twenty meters of him.

Once outside this range, although Sun Hang could see it, in terms of aura perception, the No. 1 Ghost Relic was as if it did not exist at all—it felt to Sun Hang like an incredibly realistic holographic projection.

Sun Hang turned to look behind him. More than a dozen cryogenic coffins had been moved into the cargo hold of the aircraft by ground crew wearing powered exoskeletons for engineering purposes. Then, safety ropes were used to secure these cryogenic coffins to the floor or inner wall of the cargo hold.

For some reason, Sun Hang suddenly felt like he was in a Pokémon game—Zhong Ling was like a Pokémon training session, these frozen coffins were her Poké Balls, and the undead inside were the Pokémon she had "captured"...

As for the first ghost, which rarely lies in an eternally frozen coffin, it's like the Pichu that always follows the Pokémon protagonist and never goes into a Poké Ball... However, after considering the true identity of the first ghost, Sun Hang ultimately decided not to tell this somewhat hellish joke.

After all the permafrost coffins were secured, the ground crew gave a thumbs-up to the camera above the cargo hold, and the driver immediately pressed the button to close the cargo hold door.

"Takeoff in 120 seconds." A young woman wearing a dark gray windbreaker and with the same short haircut as Ye Xuan entered the cabin, nodded to Sun Hang, and said, "Hello, I am Yan Yu'an, the deputy captain of the Third Squadron of the Tian Shu Tower Armed Forces, with the rank of lieutenant colonel. I will be your guide for this operation."

Sun Hang glanced at her, about to ask if this person was arranged by the mainframe, when Yan Yu'an took the initiative to say, "I just returned to Chunming City yesterday, and today I received a special mission from Elder Pei. Elder Pei specifically instructed me to obey all your orders—regardless of whether these orders are reasonable or not."

"I issued the order using Mr. Pei Zongjun's name." The mainframe's voice sounded in Sun Hang's earpiece. "Currently, not many people inside the Tian Shu Tower know that Mr. Pei Zongjun is dead. Please do not reveal too much information to her."

“Lieutenant Colonel Yan, I’ve met you before. Back then, you were just a squad leader, and your rank was only major,” Wang Xiyi suddenly said.

Yan Yu'an immediately looked at Wang Xiyi, her expression changing slightly: "'Night Fury'...Miss, of course I remember you too."

"Do you two have some kind of grudge?" Sun Hang noticed the change in the atmosphere and couldn't help but ask.

"It wasn't really a grudge... I was taking an ability test in Chunming City back then, and I didn't control my dragon breath properly. I accidentally injured the guard at the testing site, causing him to be permanently disabled... That guard happened to be one of her men. At that time, she pointed her finger at me and called me an extremely dangerous infected person, saying that I would become a monster sooner or later..." Wang Xiyi said in a nonchalant tone.

“I’m sorry… those were just words spoken in anger…” Yan Yu’an’s gaze shifted elsewhere, “Back then, my superior wanted to punish me, but you stopped him…”

"And then?" Sun Hang asked with great interest.

“I told her that if she wanted to avenge her subordinates, she could arrange a fight with me, and I promised to only take the beatings and not fight back,” Wang Xiyi said.

"So she really agreed to fight you?"

"Of course not... After she apologized in person, she was transferred to another location to carry out a mission, and I only saw her again today."

Sun Hang took another look at Yan Yu'an. This woman was very tall; she must have weighed at least 180 pounds, including her shoes.

Her skin had a wheatish hue from years of sun exposure, and there were two very obvious notches on the outer edge of her ears, marks left from some unknown battle.

The windbreaker she was wearing was clearly two sizes too big for her; it was bulky underneath, and the outline of armor could be vaguely seen on her shoulders and back—although she was dressed casually, she was still fully armed.

A two-centimeter-long corner of a white dressing was visible on her neck. Sun Hang's nostrils twitched slightly. A faint smell of blood still lingered on her body.

“You seem to still be injured,” Sun Hang said.

"It was just a superficial wound. It was stitched up at the field hospital and is almost healed now."

"You said you just returned to Chunming City yesterday... You came back from Baikal City?" Sun Hang thought that since the mainframe had found him a guide, he should be very familiar with the situation in Baikal City.

“Yes, I stayed there for a month and carried out four reconnaissance missions to the remains of Baikal. This wound was left during the fourth mission when I was attacked by the monster,” Yan Yu’an replied.

“Those who can carry out four reconnaissance missions on the remains of Baikal and return alive can be considered the elite of the elite,” Wang Xiyi interjected. “I’ve seen the data from the front lines; the casualty rate of the troops carrying out the reconnaissance missions is very high, and there is already some resistance within the military to the missions of reconnaissance on the remains of Baikal.”

“Yes… Although I shouldn’t say this given my position and status, the intelligence that reconnaissance missions can obtain has become very limited… The casualties of those soldiers are gradually becoming meaningless.” Yan Yu’an sat down on a chair on the other side of the aisle and sighed.

The plane had already left the takeoff platform and disappeared into the clouds—at this speed, they would be able to land on the helipad at the forward camp in less than an hour.

“I’m quite interested in the wound on your neck. Could you tell me the details of the attack?” Sun Hang asked.

“It was a humanoid monster, very thin, with a body shape like a skinny human child, but its arms were very long, like a gibbon, long enough to drag on the ground,” Yan Yu’an recalled. “We were attacked while passing through an arch-like structure. This humanoid monster was hanging behind the arch. When we passed under the arch, it jumped down from above and slashed my neck with its claws.”

"You're still alive?" Sun Hang exclaimed. "You really are lucky to be alive."

“Yes, I was very lucky. Although the wound was deep, it did not damage the trachea or the aorta,” Yan Yu’an said. “The moment I was attacked, I threw the monster away. It was very strong, but very light. With the help of the powered exoskeleton, I easily threw it dozens of meters away. My teammates immediately picked up their weapons and opened fire. It was hit by multiple bullets, but it still managed to run away with its wounded body.”

"Speaking of which, can't the meme monitoring equipment detect the memes of this strange creature?" Sun Hang asked.

"It's very difficult. The entire Baikal Remains is a giant environmental monster. Meme monitoring equipment inside can't detect meme fluctuations at different frequencies at all times. The data is too chaotic... Unless you are a professional researcher, it is very difficult for ordinary soldiers on reconnaissance missions to analyze the complex data to determine which parts belong to the Baikal Remains itself and which parts belong to other monsters hidden in the Baikal Remains."

"Can you tell the difference?" Wang Xiyi glanced at Sun Hang and asked.

"I think it's possible? I'm not entirely sure," Sun Hang said.

Distinguishing between different memes isn't difficult, but Sun Hang must have encountered similar memes before. Otherwise, even if you simply extract fragments of two memes and place them in front of him, he wouldn't be able to tell which fragment belongs to the remains of Baikal and which belongs to the "gibbon" meme that attacked Yan Yu'an.

The most troublesome aspect is that the meme fragments of Baikal's remains are extremely complex, with differences between different regions... Moreover, according to information obtained at the cost of lives by frontline reconnaissance troops, the meme fragments of Baikal's remains are changing every day.

The data, which was built on the cost of human lives, was still relevant one day, but became worthless the next... No wonder the morale on the front lines was so low.

Yan Yu'an's statement that "some resistance arose" is already a very euphemistic way of putting it.

(End of this chapter)