Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 480 Ice Cream

Sun Hang gently patted his clothes, and the fabric, which had been soaked by water, instantly dried—which made the guards carrying fire-fighting equipment glance at him a few more times.

"Is this also... an ability acquired through devouring by the Taotie?" Ganna muttered to himself as he watched Sun Hang calmly walk out of the clinic.

After dealing with the aftermath of the mutated soldier, it was almost time for the agreed meeting. Sun Hang instructed Ganna to take the psychiatrist who was showing signs of mutation to the people at Tian Shu Tower, while he took Ganna's car keys and drove Xue Yue to the camp's entrance number one.

Before the car even got close, Sun Hang could see a group of people already standing near the entrance waiting for him. The most conspicuous one was Lieutenant Colonel Yan Yu'an, who had a stern face and was holding two ice cream cones.

The ice cream cone that Lieutenant Colonel Yan was holding had three green matcha-flavored scoops piled on top—that ice cream cone was relatively normal. But the ice cream cone she was holding in her other hand had more than a dozen colorful ice cream cones stacked on top of each other like a human pyramid, with the tallest one even reaching above her head.

Fortunately, the temperature in the Lake Baikal region is cool even in summer, so the ice cream melts very slowly. Otherwise, Lieutenant Colonel Yan would probably have had to find a way to bring over a freezer.

"Wow, I didn't expect the camp cafeteria to have so many flavors of ice cream," Sun Hang said to Xue Yue as he drove. "Looks like you're in for a treat."

"She...she doesn't seem very happy," Xue Yue said softly.

“Most people aren’t happy at work,” Sun Hang said casually, then slammed on the brakes, and the SUV executed a beautiful drift, coming to a steady stop in front of everyone.

The blast of air from the car made the towering ice cream tower sway precariously. Yan Yu'an immediately tensed up and quickly adjusted the angle of her arm to keep the constantly swaying ice cream tower balanced.

"Thank you for your hard work, Lieutenant Colonel Yan." Sun Hang took the matcha-flavored ice cream from Yan Yu'an's hand and licked it with his tongue.

The ice cream didn't contain real matcha powder, but rather a food additive with a matcha flavor. Its extremely high sweetness almost completely masked the original bitterness of the matcha. However, considering that this was ice cream provided by the front-line camp canteen, Sun Hang didn't dare to ask for too much.

For the soldiers, having freshly made ice cream was enough; who would care whether it was made with real matcha powder or matcha-flavored additives?
Besides, there's nothing wrong with a slightly sweeter taste—life is already tough enough, so the food has to be sweet, right? In particular, sweetness can stimulate the release of dopamine in the body, which, from a certain perspective, can help suppress the soldiers' negative emotions.

Although this help can only be described as negligible...

After saying thank you, Xue Yue carefully took the towering ice cream tower from Yan Yu'an's hands—as soon as the ice cream tower left her hands, Yan Yu'an's tense expression relaxed at a visible speed.

But then it was Xue Yue's turn to be nervous—facing an ice cream tower nearly half a meter high, stacked with an extremely high level of difficulty, just holding it in her hands was already very difficult. Having never eaten ice cream before, Xue Yue had no idea where to start. She could only stare blankly at the ice cream tower in front of her, like a puppet, not daring to move at all.

"Lieutenant Colonel Yan... did you carry these two ice creams all the way from the cafeteria to here?" Sun Hang couldn't help but ask.

"Yes," Yan Yu'an replied in a businesslike tone, "This is the task you assigned, and I will naturally do my best to complete it. Do you have any further requests?"

"Uh...didn't you ever think of taking a few disposable lunch boxes and putting the ice cream scoops in them?"

Yan Yu'an: "..."

"I told you to bring two ice creams, but I didn't say they had to be in this shape," Sun Hang asked, barely suppressing a laugh. "Are you, Lieutenant Colonel Yan, an ice cream fundamentalist?"

"Only spherical ice cream served in a cone-shaped wafer can be called ice cream, and everything else is heresy?" Sun Hang added insult to injury. "That joke isn't funny," Yan Yu'an said sullenly. "Maybe I just don't have a sense of humor and can't understand your joke."

"Do you have self-heating individual rations in your supplies?" Sun Hang asked.

"Have."

"There should be folding plates inside, right? Take one out."

Yan Yu'an quickly took out a folding plate from the ration bag, and then used a military dagger to help Xue Yue dismantle the half-meter-tall ice cream tower piece by piece and place it on the plate.

Finally, she handed the disposable plastic fork and spoon from the food ration packet to Xue Yue, then looked at Sun Hang—her eyes seemed to be asking him, "Is everything I did this time alright?"

"Although it's a bit gossipy, I'm still a little curious. Lieutenant Colonel Yan, do you usually not know how to be flexible?"

"I will strictly carry out the tasks assigned to me by my superiors," Yan Yu'an replied solemnly.

“Sometimes being too rigid isn’t a good thing.” Sun Hang couldn’t bear to continue teasing her, so he waved to everyone, “Get in the car, we’re heading to the Remains of Baikal.”

As soon as she finished speaking, Zhong Ling opened the passenger door and sat down next to Sun Hang. Yan Yu'an hesitated for half a second before climbing into the back seat.

Xue Yue, who was sipping her ice cream while holding her tray, immediately shrank to one side, making more space in the back row.

"No need to save me a spot." Wang Xiyi smiled at Xue Yue, her dragon wings unfurling behind her. "I'll follow you from the sky."

"Old Wang, keep an eye on the altitude. Don't fly above that 'membrane,' or I'm worried you'll crash," Sun Hang instructed.

"Don't worry, I'm confident... As long as I notice my vision getting blurry, I'll just fall to the ground."

"Is all the equipment ready?" Sun Hang looked around and finally fixed his gaze on Zhong Ling.

Everyone else's equipment could be carried with them, but Zhong Ling's "mysterious artifacts" had to be transported over in another vehicle.

“The truck carrying the permafrost coffins will follow us,” Zhong Ling said. “Once we reach the remains of Baikal, I will release those undead remains.”

“Okay.” Sun Hang glanced at the military truck waiting to the side. The soldier driving it seemed a little unnatural, as if he was under a lot of pressure. In contrast, the No. 1 monstrous creature sitting next to him seemed much more relaxed.

Just as Sun Hang was about to set off, a familiar voice suddenly shouted "Wait!" and ran out from another corner of the camp.

"Fisherman?"

(End of this chapter)