Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 502 Beef Noodles

"Wait, there's someone staring at me over there!" the chameleon head said to its companion.

“What’s so strange about that? With such an eye-catching head, it’s normal for people to take a second look at you when you walk around,” his companion said. “Let’s not talk about anything else. You’d better come with me to the Institute of Strange Things right now. Maybe those people in white coats can save you… If you delay any longer, it will really be too late!”

"No, I have a feeling that person can hear our conversation." The chameleon-headed man's tone became urgent.

"So what?" his companion said impatiently. "This is Dragon City, not the mainland!"

"No, no, no... I can't go to the Monster Research Institute with you. I have to leave here, leave immediately!" The chameleon's head started to slur its words. At this moment, Sun Hang had already closed to within ten meters.

At this distance, Sun Hang could sense that the memes within the chameleon's head were being forcibly suppressed by a force from the drug, but this suppression was rapidly weakening... Once the suppression was broken, the memes within its body would most likely instantly break through that dangerous threshold.

In other words, this hunter is very likely to become a ghost in the street—either a ghost skeleton or a ghost creature.

The high dose of inhibitor prevented the hunter's bracelet from detecting changes in his infection process in time... but by the time the bracelet alerted, it was too late.

Xue Yue's brows furrowed slightly as she saw the hunter's various negative emotions growing, with fear, anxiety, and anger intertwining to form a huge shadow looming over his head.

"Something's wrong with you!" The chameleon-headed companion instinctively reached into his pocket, but he was a beat too slow—the moment his hand touched the weapon, the long tongue had already pierced his throat!
Screams erupted around them, and the crowd began to stir. A middle-aged man dragging a suitcase fell in front of Sun Hang, which triggered a series of chain reactions—people around him tripped and fell like dominoes, and a stampede with heavy casualties seemed inevitable.

The crowd was so dense that those who fell didn't even have room to make defensive movements like covering their heads or curling up. Just as they closed their eyes in despair, a soft, large net woven from white mycelium scooped up their bodies and lifted them into the air.

The large-scale casualties mean that the entire Dragon City will be under martial law for some time to come, which is the last thing Sun Hang wants to see.

The passersby in front of him were all pulled into the air by the mycelium net, and there was no longer any barrier between Sun Hang and the two hunters.

He clearly saw the chameleon's tongue retract, while the hunter with the pierced throat stared wide-eyed, clutching his bloodied neck as he collapsed heavily to the ground.

"You forced me to do this! You forced me to do this!" Chameleon Head roared hysterically. He looked around, his gaze lingering briefly on Sun Hang before he took off running towards the city gate.

Sun Hang did not make a move because he could sense that at least four or five auras had locked onto the crazed hunter.

Before the chameleon's head had even run ten steps, a sudden gunshot rang out through the street, and his enormous head instantly exploded, with various colored filth mixed with bits of flesh flying everywhere.

Four drones arrived in an instant and hovered at the four corners of the incident site, with yellow and black holographic barriers separating an open space about twenty meters square.

A helicopter flew over from the direction of the city wall and stopped about five meters above the ground. A group of soldiers in black military uniforms and equipped with powered exoskeletons filed out of the helicopter. One of them, carrying a large-caliber sniper rifle, was obviously the gunman who had just killed Chameleon's head.

"Target confirmed dead. Clean up the scene immediately!"

"Get the medical team here immediately to treat the injured! Get those who are seriously injured onto the helicopter!"

"Where's the sheriff? Which police station is responsible for this street? Tell them to send people over to maintain order!"

"Gather all those with infected tissue and send them to the hospital for examination..." After issuing a series of orders, an officer turned to reprimand the sniper behind him: "I told you not to use explosive rounds! This mess of flesh and blood is everywhere... It's fine if it takes more time to clean up, but if a few infected people accidentally appear in the crowd, that would be a huge problem!"

“But if we don’t use explosive rounds, and we fail to kill the target on the spot, it could lead to even greater casualties…” the sniper said with his head down, sounding somewhat aggrieved.

"You brat... fine, fine, you're right, okay? You'll stay behind and work overtime with the cleaning team! If you can still see blood in the cracks of even one floor tile, you're not allowed to return to the team! Got it?"

"Yes!"

Sun Hang glanced at the group of medics who had rushed to the seriously injured hunters to begin treatment, shook his head helplessly, and walked directly through the holographic isolation zone.

The moment he crossed the holographic isolation zone, the drones overhead began to emit a beeping alarm—but the alarm lasted for less than half a second before stopping, as if the loudspeaker had suddenly malfunctioned.

"Huh?" The officer looked over immediately after hearing the alarm. His expression darkened when he saw Sun Hang ignoring the cordon and breaking in. He instinctively wanted to send someone to subdue Sun Hang. But before he could give any further orders, the information displayed on the AR screen inside his helmet visor silenced him.

"Hunters from the Heavenly Pivot Tower?" the officer muttered to himself. "Why would hunters from the Heavenly Pivot Tower come to Dragon City?"

Just as he was about to investigate the "background" of this hunter named Sun Hang, Sun Hang had already walked up to the group of medics.

The hunter's injuries were severe. The chameleon's tongue not only pierced his trachea but also broke his cervical vertebrae and carotid artery. Had it not been for the fact that the hunter's physique was far superior to that of an ordinary person, he would have died the moment his throat was pierced.

Even so, he was now breathing less and exhaling more.

"Hemostats! Give me the hemostats!"

"Adrenaline! Four units! Inject every two minutes!"

"Intravenous push! Do not inject intramuscularly! By the time the intramuscular injection takes effect, the person will already be dead!"

"The injured man's temperature is dropping... Hand me his hunter's license! He's Rh-positive, blood type B! Quickly, give him a transfusion!"

Six medics wearing Red Cross armbands were busy tending to the wounded hunter, but his vital signs were gradually weakening, and his heart had stopped beating.

"Excuse me, please." Sun Hang squeezed through.

"Who are you?" The medic who had just shouted "IV push, not intramuscular injection" glanced at him. "We are treating the wounded! Please, unrelated personnel, do not come and cause trouble!" "With your current treatment methods, the person would already be a corpse before even getting on the helicopter," Sun Hang said calmly.

"you--"

“I’m a hunter too, I can save him,” Sun Hang interrupted.

"You're a hunter?" The medics were taken aback. "How are you going to save him?"

“Just like that, save him.” Sun Hang placed his hand on the injured hunter’s chest. He only infused the other man with a tiny bit of “diluted” life force, and the man’s bloody, mangled wound in his throat began to wriggle on its own.

Numerous tiny granulation tissues emerged from beneath the wound, resembling countless pink maggots entwined together—even those without trypophobia would feel their scalp tingle upon seeing it. If someone with trypophobia were to see it, even if they didn't faint on the spot, they would probably have nightmares for days afterward.

In less than twenty seconds, the wound on the injured hunter's throat, which had been gushing blood, disappeared, replaced by a patch of new skin with a striking color contrast to the surrounding skin.

"Hmm, it feels like something's missing?" Sun Hang muttered to himself.

"Heart!" a medic who was stunned exclaimed instinctively. "The wounded man's heart has not started beating again."

"Oh right, the heart!" Sun Hang snapped his fingers, and a bluish-white arc of electricity flashed across his fingertip. A slight cracking sound was heard in the air, and the next second, the heart in the wounded chest began to beat powerfully.

"Ugh—" The injured hunter took a deep breath, like a drowning person coming to a sudden awakening, and then coughed violently.

A large amount of blood clots and tissue fragments that had accumulated in his trachea were coughed up from his mouth and nose. The medic holding the syringe looked at his team leader and then at Sun Hang, seemingly asking if he still needed to inject the adrenaline in his hand.

"Cough cough cough cough... I... I... cough cough cough... I'm not dead?!"

The hunter's first reaction upon waking was to reach out and touch his throat, but he was stunned when he touched a patch of intact skin. As if he couldn't believe the sensation in his fingertips, he repeatedly touched his neck, even the back of his neck. Finally, he gently pinched a piece of skin on his neck with his fingernail and then pinched it hard.

"hiss……"

The pain made the hunter gasp. Only then did he raise his head and look at the medics surrounding him, asking, "Was that just my imagination? Did that beast's tongue miss its mark?"

“It’s not an illusion… your throat really was pierced.” The medical team leader, whose rank was two stars higher, shook his head. “He’s the one who saved your life.”

"He...you?" The hunter's gaze shifted to Sun Hang. "You are...you are also an infected? A hunter?"

"Yes." Sun Hang nodded. "Since you're alright, I should go now."

"and many more--"

“I have urgent business to attend to. If you try to stop me, you might end up in a military court.” Sun Hang’s words froze the hand of the team leader who was reaching out to grab him.

Watching Sun Hang return to the crowd, the sniper asked his superior with some surprise, "Company commander, are we just... letting him go like that?"

"What else can you do if we don't release him? Arrest him?!" The officer, referred to as the company commander, glared at the sniper.

"No... what I mean is, since this hunter helped us so much, isn't it a bit... a bit... at least we should let him leave his identification so we can help him apply for some kind of honorary award or something..."

"Do you think this guy lacks a little honor and reward?" The company commander was immediately furious. "Besides, what he just said wasn't a joke. If we had actually stopped him... we would have been sent to a military court!"

"Huh? Does he have some urgent mission?" the sniper asked in surprise. "What kind of mission? Is it related to our Dragon City?"

"You're asking me? Who am I supposed to ask? I've been searching for ages, and all I get are four words: 'Insufficient permissions'... Insufficient permissions is one thing, but I just casually checked Tian Shu Tower and they sent me a warning telling me to stop. Do you think I'd dare to keep searching?" the company commander said irritably.

"Who is this person?" The sniper was puzzled. He was also wearing tactical goggles similar to those worn by the company commander. These tactical goggles, when equipped with security assistance software, have a facial recognition function. As long as the wearer focuses their gaze on someone's face, the person's brief information will appear on the inside of the goggles within a few seconds—provided that the database contains the person's file.

However, when the sniper focused his gaze on Sun Hang's face, a series of question marks appeared on the inside of his eyepiece. A few seconds later, even the question marks disappeared—the identity verification program had been forcibly disabled.

However, judging from the company commander's words, it seems that he already knows the other party's identity.

"We'll talk about it when we get back." The company commander glared at the sniper. "Also, remember to clean the floor thoroughly! I'll be checking it during my patrol tomorrow!"

……

“I never expected you to actually help a stranger.” In a noodle shop on the street, three bowls of steaming beef noodles were served on the table. Zhulong picked up the vinegar pot next to him, poured vinegar into the noodles, and said in a low voice, “I thought you would choose to stand by and do nothing.”

"It depends on my mood. I'm in a good mood today... Slurp." Sun Hang slurped up a big mouthful of noodles. "These noodles are good... Boss, add another four ounces of braised beef!"

"I thought you were planning to recruit that injured hunter," said Zhulong. "This noodle dish tastes better with vinegar, why don't you try some?"

“That guy is too weak, there’s no need to recruit him.” Sun Hang shook his head. “The vinegar should be added last. Taste the original flavor of the noodles first, and add the vinegar after you’ve eaten half of the noodles. That way you can taste two flavors in one bowl of noodles.”

"You also know about beef noodles? That surprises me even more than your help just now," Zhulong said, his eyes lighting up.

"Hehe...it just so happens that Zhong Ling taught me this way of eating." Sun Hang laughed a little embarrassedly, "When it comes to eating, that little girl is definitely a master."

(End of this chapter)