Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 494 Underground Cemetery
Sun Hang: "This is a tribute, this is what we call a tribute."

“Yamaguchi Masayuki died of overwork in the second month after the completion of the old city of Baikal. In order to commemorate his contributions, the refugees made an exception and buried him in the Cemetery of Heroes of the Defenders of the Nation on the outskirts of Baikal,” Zhong Ling said.

"How many years has he been dead?" Sun Hang asked.

“If we consider the completion date of the old city of Baikal, it must have been at least seventy or eighty years ago,” Yan Yu’an replied.

Seventy or eighty years... Sun Hang couldn't help but fall into deep thought.

If the underground city of Baikal's Remains is indeed a "homage" to the fortified city of Hakone, then it is very possible that the designer, who died seventy or eighty years ago, did not die completely, but instead transformed into a "vengeful spirit" or a kind of spiritual entity.

Even if he didn't become a monster, his obsession was most likely attached to some monsters... These monsters, which served as carriers, were not completely destroyed by the Death Aurora, but were released during this opportunity. Combined with the resentment of those Siberian Federation veterans, they gave birth to a "monster version" fortress city called Baikal's Remains.

Thinking about it this way, everything seems to make sense...

Moreover, judging from this perspective, Masayuki Yamaguchi's obsession probably accounts for a considerable proportion of the "self-awareness" of the Baikal Remains.

"Should we smash it?" Wang Xiyi squatted on the ground and gestured with her fist to the ground beneath her feet. "When I flipped it over just now, I glanced at the thickness of the soil. Conservatively speaking, a dozen or so punches should be enough to smash a passage to the surface."

"Don't smash it yet. Since we're here, let's make the best of it." Sun Hang shook his head. "Anyway, Liu Li's dynamic model is already useless. Even if we return to the ground, we won't be able to reach the veterans' sanatorium smoothly."

“Just fly there, it’s only two blocks away anyway,” Wang Xiyi said dismissively.

“That was just now.” Yan Yu’an’s expression was very serious. “After we were swallowed underground, our location had already changed... Even if we return to the surface now, we won’t be in the same place as before. Moreover, if the remains of Baikal can swallow us once, it can swallow us a second time.”

Yan Yu'an paused for two seconds, then said with a hint of reluctance, "I agree with Sun Hang's statement. Now that the remains of Baikal have 'restored' to a relatively quiet state, why don't we continue our exploration in this underground city... If we really can't make any progress, then we'll find a way to return to the surface."

"Have you noticed something?" Zhong Ling suddenly asked.

Wang Xiyi: "What is it?"

“It’s very quiet here… The remains of Baikal simply swallowed us, but didn’t send any monsters to attack us,” Zhong Ling said. “Moreover, that giant bear monster just now wasn’t very strong; it seemed more like it was there to distract us than to kill us.”

"Hmm...that seems to make sense." Wang Xiyi nodded. "Now that I think about it, when Lieutenant Colonel Yan was fighting the giant bear, the surrounding buildings seemed to stop moving, as if they were charging up some powerful attack. And once the giant bear died, the ground started to split open..."

“Suppose, I mean suppose.” Sun Hang walked to a ‘house’ on the side of the street and gently stroked the rough wall with his hand. “Suppose that the remains of Baikal are really a strange object created by Yamaguchi Masayuki’s obsession, then we may have chosen the wrong target in the first place… After all, Yamaguchi Masayuki is buried in the National Heroes Cemetery, not in the veterans’ sanatorium.”

"Are you saying that the remains of Baikal are deliberately 'correcting' our route?" Yan Yu'an's eyes widened in surprise.

“It’s certain that the veterans’ sanatorium has a special significance within the remains of Baikal, but that shouldn’t be the key to solving the problem.” Sun Hang picked up a small pinch of something that looked like lime from the wall and rubbed it gently between his fingertips. “I’m increasingly convinced that the remains of Baikal possess a clear self-awareness… except that this self-awareness is a bit dim-witted, only now realizing that we are hunters to solve the problem, not invading monsters.”

"This isn't right, is it?" Wang Xiyi muttered. "If the Remains of Baikal wanted to cooperate with us, why didn't it just lay out the key to that problem in front of us? If we weren't somewhat capable, we would have been buried in the abyss long ago, wouldn't we?"

“Those who will perish in this abyss lack the ability to solve problems; this can be considered a screening method.” Sun Hang looked into the distance. “Besides, how do you know it hasn’t presented the key points of the problem to us?”

"what?"

“We are currently in a situation where there is only one road,” Zhong Ling explained to Wang Xiyi on behalf of Sun Hang. “This road is straight, flat, and without any obstacles.”

"It even thoughtfully blocked off the other end of the road," Sun Hang continued.

They were now in a dead end, with buildings blocking the other three sides except for the road they were on.

Sun Hang casually tossed the lime in his hand aside: "We don't even need to worry about which direction to go."

"I'm still worried, what if it's a trap or something..." Yan Yu'an said softly.

"Whether it's a trap or not, you'll find out as you go."

……

The four formed a defensive formation, with Sun Hang at the front, Zhong Ling in the middle, Yan Yu'an and the No. 1 Ghost closely protecting her behind, and Wang Xiyi, in her semi-dragon form, at the very back of the group to bring up the rear.

The remaining "miscellaneous" ghost skeletons scattered under Zhong Ling's control. Two of them walked in front to clear mines for Sun Hang, while the rest walked on the outer perimeter of the group, forming a defensive circle that could react immediately if an enemy attacked.

Sun Hang looked at the two grotesque creatures about ten meters away from him. The one on the left still barely resembled a human, while the one on the right was nothing more than a large, moving lump of fat. Its pale skin was covered with bluish-purple blood vessels. With each step it took, the layers of folds hanging down its body would sway slightly. Behind its ankles, the folds dragging on the ground had been rubbed raw, and a mixture of pus, blood, putrid fluid, and rotten fat slowly seeped from the wounds, leaving a wet trail on the ground.

A rather unpleasant smell lingered in the air.

What left Sun Hang speechless was that his "anti-gravity" effect only targeted the four of them plus the undead themselves; the exudate from the fat undead wasn't included. This meant that if the amount of exudate was small, it would be fine as it would be absorbed by the ground. However, if the amount was large, under the influence of gravity, it would gradually gather into a droplet and then drip down. From Sun Hang's perspective, it was as if liquid on the ground gathered together and then, at the moment it exceeded the surface tension threshold, flew vertically into the air.

Sun Hang almost came into close contact with these droplets of exudate several times. The most recent drop almost slid past the tip of his nose. The smell... well, needless to say.

Sun Hang didn't quite understand why Tian Shu Tower would equip Zhong Ling with such a "strange artifact". Was it because the quantity and quality of the stored strange remains were not good enough, or was it because this strange remains had something unique about it?
However, with its soft, flabby body, its defense doesn't seem very strong. Although its strength attribute should be high, without sufficient agility, strength alone is far from enough.

This thing is shaped like a sumo wrestler, but its opponent won't be another sumo wrestler, nor will any strange creature obediently stand in a drawn circle and foolishly compete with it in pure strength.

"If this monstrous creature gets blown up, will it burst with liquid?" Sun Hang wondered to himself. He felt that his position was somewhat dangerous—if this monstrous creature really exploded, the liquid that would make people vomit their dinner just from the smell would probably cover him completely.

Sun Hang was already prepared. As soon as the monstrous creature was attacked, he would immediately erect a liquid metal shield in front of him, which would also cover Zhong Ling who was following behind him.

Just as Sun Hang was about to ask Zhong Ling what special abilities this fat ghost had, the searchlight suddenly shone on a crooked stone tablet by the roadside.

The stone tablet is about two meters high and is made of a stone that simulates the texture of granite. On the front of the tablet, crooked characters are carved, which look like they have been altered by AI. It can be vaguely seen that the characters were originally the official script of the former Siberian Federation, Russian.

The grooves in the characters were filled with vibrant red paint, making them look like the blood of some kind of animal.

The top of the stone tablet is a triangular structure, with a red five-pointed star that looks like it has been soaked in blood at the very tip of the triangle. The five-pointed star is surrounded by a circle of rusty copper wheat ears.

“This monument…” Yan Yu’an’s tone was slightly excited, “This is the entrance to the Cemetery of Heroes Who Defended the Country!”

"Are you sure?" Sun Hang turned around and glanced at her. Although this result was entirely expected, the necessary confirmation was still indispensable.

"Look." Yan Yu'an quickly sent a photo to Sun Hang. The photo showed an almost identical stone tablet, except that the text on the tablet was in standard Russian and Chinese characters, and the text read "Siberian Federation Patriotic Heroes Cemetery".

The group passed the stone tablet and continued walking forward. The buildings on both sides of the street quickly thinned out, and the road surface under their feet changed from the original asphalt road to a brick road paved with palm-sized blue bricks.

Every so often, there were a few steps, and the angle of inclination of the surrounding ground proved that they were now "going uphill".

"The Cemetery of the Patriots, located on the outskirts of Baikal, is built on a hill, with a relative elevation of about 80 to 100 meters from Baikal. The 35-meter-high monument to the heroes stands at the highest point of the hill, and behind the monument is a cemetery for burying ashes."

“I saw it.” Sun Hang nodded.

Under the light, a monument could be vaguely seen standing high up, but several figures seemed to be attached to it, climbing upwards—unfortunately, both the monument and these figures looked like dark lumps, making it difficult to discern the details.

"Are there any photos of this monument?" Sun Hang asked Yan Yu'an.

"There's something... something off about this monument. We'd better be careful," Yan Yu'an said in a low voice, clearly having also noticed the shadowy "creatures."

Sun Hang glanced at the photo of the monument she sent. The main monument of the National Defense Heroes Cemetery was a very clean square stone pillar. Apart from some carved decorations at the top and bottom corners of the pillar, there was nothing superfluous on the main body of the pillar. In the photo, the sunlight shone from behind the pillar, and the shadows cast on the ground had straight and clear edges. There was no trace of anything that looked like someone was clinging to it.

A rather audacious idea suddenly popped into Sun Hang's mind: "Could the 'impurities' of Baikal's remains... be these human figures clinging to the monument?"

"Lieutenant Colonel Yan, lend me your gun," Sun Hang said.

Yan Yu'an paused slightly, then handed the weapon to Sun Hang. She had originally wanted to remind him that this gun was specifically designed for the Willow Leaf Armor, and that ordinary people without powered armor or a mechanical exoskeleton would have difficulty withstanding its recoil—but then she thought again, Sun Hang was hardly an "ordinary person"...

With his strength, he could easily twist the gun into a metal contortion, let alone the so-called recoil.

Sun Hang took the gun, raised the muzzle, and aimed at a figure on the monument—the figure's back was hunched over, like a hunchback, and its head was pressed tightly against the monument, with most of its cheek "melted" into it.

Its limbs can only be barely distinguished above the knee and elbow joints; the hands, feet, forearms, and calves have completely merged with the monument.

"Are you planning to snipe those figures?" Wang Xiyi asked.

"Hmm." Sun Hang had barely finished speaking when he pulled the trigger.

"Bang!" A gunshot echoed in the underground cemetery. The bullet, which had just left the barrel, instantly traveled nearly a hundred meters and pierced through the figure's body.

A large hole, the size of a bowl, appeared on the back of the figure, running from front to back, but other than that, nothing else changed.

The monument still stands there, and the figures remain motionless—neither the one who was hit nor the others climbing on the monument.

"Are you playing dead with me?" Sun Hang's expression was somewhat subtle. He returned the gun to Yan Yu'an and walked step by step toward the monument.

(End of this chapter)