Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 481 The Remains of Baikal

Sun Hang wasn't too surprised by the fisherman's appearance.

While reviewing Sergei Belov Andreyev's file, Sun Hang found the fisherman's name, which meant that the fisherman was one of the few survivors in the entire city of Baikal when the aurora borealis struck.

However, in Sun Hang's view, after such a huge change, and with his superior turning into a monster right under his nose, the fisherman should have been sent to an inland city for a vacation and recuperation according to the usual procedure. He didn't expect that this guy would still be staying in the front-line camp.

"Huff... huff..." The fisherman rushed to the car, slamming his hands heavily on the hood, panting heavily. "Holy crap... Sun Hang, is it really you?!"

"Why do I feel like I'm some kind of rare, low-level monster?" Sun Hang couldn't help but complain.

"It's really hard to meet up. After the trial ended, I was thinking of finding some time to get together for a meal, but a series of upsetting things kept me busy... Sigh, never mind! I just came back from a patrol mission outside the camp, and my colleague told me that the Tian Shu Tower sent a hunter surnamed Sun. It seems like he has a very high level of authority. I was wondering if it could be you... I didn't expect it to actually be you!"

"Would you like an ice cream?" Sun Hang asked.

"I eat this ice cream every day, I'm so tired of it." The fisherman waved his hand vigorously and said excitedly, "I've also seen the battle report from Shuzhou. I knew you were strong, but I didn't expect you to be this strong. You actually managed to take down Chimera Seventeen all by yourself... Sukabul! That's a super monster that can destroy an entire city!"

"All by herself?" Sun Hang was taken aback, then turned to look at Yan Yu'an, who was sitting expressionlessly in the back row. "Lieutenant Colonel Yan, what's going on?"

“You should ask her,” Yan Yu’an said, looking at Wang Xiyi.

"Big sister...would you like some ice cream?" Xue Yue asked softly.

The ice cream scoops piled on the folded plate were already showing signs of melting, and even if Xue Yue doubled her stomach capacity, she still wouldn't be able to finish all of them.

"I won't eat," Yan Yu'an replied in a robotic tone.

"Old Wang, what's going on?" Sun Hang waved to Wang Xiyi. "Didn't you say you'd help me keep a low profile? How did it turn out that I single-handedly took down Chimera Seventeen?"

"Because the operation report cannot be falsified, including myself, everyone who entered the giant cocoon, we were traveling in the deep tunnels until we were trapped by the suddenly shrinking cocoon tissue after Chimera Seventeen's death. We didn't even have a chance to inject the insecticide... So who else could have killed Chimera Seventeen besides you who mysteriously disappeared along the way? Who told you to run off to Chunming City without even leaving a few words in your report? Who can you blame for that?"

"Who came to this conclusion? Yang Qi?"

"It's a conclusion reached unanimously by all those involved in the pesticide project. The Disaster Countermeasures Committee, the higher-ups at Tian Shu Tower, and the Federal Parliament have no objections either." Wang Xiyi shrugged. "Actually, quite a few people wanted to investigate you in detail, but Elder Pei stopped them all... Hmm, speaking of Elder Pei, you've already met him, haven't you?"

Wang Xiyi suddenly remembered what Sun Hang had said to her before leaving Tianfu City, and couldn't help but feel a little worried.

However, since Sun Hang is still standing here unharmed, it means that Elder Pei should be fine...

The moment the thought crossed Wang Xiyi's mind, she was startled by her own reaction—she had actually suspected Elder Pei? Could it be that Sun Hang had secretly devoured some kind of bewitching entity?
"Yes, I've seen him." Sun Hang nodded. "He's doing well."

Or to put it another way, he passed away peacefully.

"Hey! Are you ignoring me?" the fisherman shouted from the side. "Speaking of which, doesn't this great hero get a vacation? You just solved the Chimera 17 problem in Shuzhou, and now you've been transferred to Baikal City? Is the federal government treating you like a brick, moving you wherever they need you?"

“No, I came here on my own initiative,” Sun Hang said. “I came to Baikal City for vacation.”

"...Are you out of your mind?" The fisherman looked Sun Hang up and down like he was an idiot. "Baikal City was indeed a resort...but that was a few months ago. You're here for a vacation now? Are you planning to watch some weirdo that does pole dancing or are you going to have a thick, black 'specialty latte'?"

"Oh? Are there really strange creatures here that can do pole dancing?" Sun Hang's eyes lit up.

"No," the fisherman said irritably, "but I do have a thick, dark latte, though I don't know if you dare to drink it."

“Of course I dare, what’s there to be afraid of?” Sun Hang said with a grin.

"...Forget it, I can't fathom what you're thinking." The fisherman bluntly stated, "Judging from your current state, are you planning to go to the remains of Baikal? And set off at this hour?"

"what happened?"

“Night is almost here, and the remains of Baikal at night…” The fisherman’s gaze shifted to Yan Yu’an sitting in the back seat. He clearly recognized this officer from the Tian Shu Tower’s directly subordinate armed forces, who had been at the front-line camp for some time. “She must have told you how dangerous the remains of Baikal are at night, right?”

"When you go to an amusement park to play in a haunted house, you must wait until late at night to have the most fun, right?" Sun Hang asked rhetorically. "On holidays, there are more tourists than staff dressed as ghosts in the haunted house, so there's no scary atmosphere at all. Then the ticket money is wasted."

"You're not really here for a vacation, are you?" the fisherman asked in astonishment.

"if not……"

“I’ll go with you.” The fisherman opened the back door of the car.

"Didn't you say that the remains of Baikal are dangerous after nightfall? Aren't you afraid of dying?"

“You’ve already taken down a Chimera Seventeen. I wouldn’t be too surprised if you could smash the entire monster city with one punch now.” The fisherman got into the car. “If I still get humiliated following a tough guy like you, then I’ll accept it.” “I can’t guarantee your personal safety,” Sun Hang immediately issued a disclaimer.

"Don't worry, I won't hold you back... Speaking of which, how come I didn't realize you had this kind of strength back on that nameless island? Ouch..." The fisherman showed a pained expression, "Every time I recall what happened on the island, I always feel like I've missed something, but I just can't remember... Could it be a lingering effect from hitting my head on the steel pipe inside the submarine?"

“Very likely.” Sun Hang knew very well that the Three Apes had erased his memories of Anna. He only remembered that the self-destruct device of the Nameless Island Research Institute was triggered, and then the three of them ran wildly. He and Yano hid in the submarine in the underground dock, while Sun Hang escaped underwater by another route. But whenever the fisherman tried to recall the details of the escape, he always felt that those memory fragments became very blurry, like an old movie with a 360P resolution and severely dropped frames.

The fisherman called Yano afterward, but Yano must have signed a similar confidentiality agreement. Whenever the fisherman brought up the many things that happened on the nameless island, Yano would deliberately cover it up with a cough, clearly reminding him not to continue on the topic.

The phone recordings between the fisherman and Yano are archived. If the two mention anything prohibited by the confidentiality agreement during the call, even if they are both involved in the incident, the "relevant authorities" can still hold them accountable.

To avoid being held responsible, he could only resort to vague metaphors... but that was precisely what the fisherman wasn't good at. He talked to Yano on the phone for a full twenty minutes, but didn't get any valuable information.

Only when the fisherman asked Yano if he had been experiencing memory loss recently did Yano remain silent for a few seconds before saying, "It's probably because I'm getting old; my memory is indeed not as good as it used to be."

According to human age calculations, both the fisherman and Yano were still in their prime... Yano's words clearly implied something else.

The fisherman couldn't help but look at Sun Hang in the driver's seat—he wondered if this guy was also experiencing memory lapses... He'd better ask him privately when he had the chance.

"Let's go! Let's go! Let's go!" Sun Hang glanced at the navigation route on the central control screen, stepped on the gas and turned the steering wheel at the same time, and the barrier at the entrance of the camp slowly rose.

The officer sitting in the control room stared blankly at the bright red warning messages that popped up one after another on the computer screen, and then impatiently clicked them off one by one. All entrances and exits of the camp were equipped with instruments to detect strange memes, in case the troops going out on missions accidentally brought back any "dirty things". People and vehicles entering the camp need to be checked, and people and vehicles leaving the camp also need to be checked.

However, the first of the two vehicles was carrying a monster hunter and two superhumans, with a half-human, half-dragon beauty crouching on the roof. The military truck following behind had more than a dozen frozen coffins neatly stacked in its cargo container, each containing a monster skeleton... If Ganna hadn't already informed the officers to turn off the alarm, the blaring alarm would probably have already echoed throughout the entire camp.

"This is quite a commotion, and they're making their move so close to dusk... This is something big." The officer stared at the monitor screen, watching Sun Hang and his men drive out of the camp. Then he pulled a metal flask from his pocket, unscrewed the cap, and took a big gulp.

Feeling the slight stinging sensation of the bubbles bursting in his mouth, the officer couldn't help but frown—Sukabul, which bastard said that sparkling water could replace vodka? There's absolutely no comparison between the two!
……

"I'm a bit bored, let's play a song... Wait, why doesn't this car have a music player? And the radio can only receive military communication frequencies?" Sun Hang held the steering wheel with one hand and fiddled with the center console with the other, looking quite relaxed... He looked like he was really on vacation.

As he gazed at the silhouette of the city gradually swallowed by the night in the distance, the fisherman couldn't help but recall the expressions on the faces of the soldiers who had left the camp after carrying out reconnaissance missions.

The fisherman turned to look at Yan Yu'an, who was also sitting in the back seat—this was the expression a normal person should have. Didn't Sun Hang feel any tension at all?

Just as the fisherman was marveling at how rather abnormal Sun Hang was, a clear, sweet little girl's voice suddenly rang out beside him—"Do you want some ice cream? I'm a little too full..."

Fisherman: "I...I can't eat either."

"Whoosh!" A cheer came from the roof of the vehicle. A loud flapping sound of wings hitting the air was heard, and a dent was clearly visible in the roof. The half-human, half-dragon female hunter shot into the air, did several somersaults in the air, and then readjusted her direction before diving down towards the remains of Baikal.

"Want to listen to music?" The woman sitting in the passenger seat, who was as beautiful as a figure in a painting, suddenly spoke. She pulled out a Bluetooth earphone from somewhere and handed it to Sun Hang. "You can play it on your phone, but I only downloaded some instrumental music. I don't know if you'll like it."

“…Sukabulye.” The fisherman suddenly realized that it seemed that he and Yan Yu’an were the only normal people in the car.

……

……

The two vehicles stopped in front of an open space with reflective warning signs. The truck driver watched with a sigh of relief as the No. 1 monstrous object got out of the truck, and then pressed the button for automatic unloading.

The cargo box on the back of the truck unfolded on the spot, and the massive robotic arm carried the permafrost coffins to the ground one by one.

The sound of something cutting through the air came from above. Wang Xiyi landed precisely less than half a meter away from the SUV. She fanned the dust she had kicked up with her wings and then opened the car door for Sun Hang.

“We’ve arrived,” Wang Xiyi said, looking at the “Remains of Baikal” that was so close at hand.

At this moment, the sun had been almost completely swallowed by the horizon, with only a sliver of afterglow still illuminating the western sky—while the eastern sky had turned a deep, dark blue.

“The sun has set.” Sun Hang jumped out of the car. “To be honest, after staying in Tianfu City for so long, I’ve gotten quite used to operating at night.”

“Look, the city is moving.” Wang Xiyi pointed to a tower less than 300 meters away from them. “In the past ten seconds, this tower has moved about half a meter from west to east.”

“This is just the beginning.” Yan Yu’an also got out of the car. “Once it gets completely dark, the movement speed of these buildings will suddenly increase. The entire city will be completely transformed.”

"Can the GPS device be used in the city?"

“It can be used, but its usefulness is very limited.” Yan Yu’an shook her head. “Even if you can determine your location, you may not be able to find your way out of that maze-like complex of buildings.”

(End of this chapter)