Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 514 Treasure Map

"How would I know?" Zhulong said with a wry smile. "But judging from how fast news travels within the stronghold, I estimate that most of the people here already know that 'a new hunter is asking around about a place called Sima Hengjie'."

"That's good." Sun Hang nodded.

"What are you planning to do next? Are you going to contact the hunters at the outpost to see who can be recruited, or continue to inquire about this place that doesn't exist? If I remember correctly, recruiting hunters is the main purpose of our trip to Dragon City, isn't it?"

“We still have plenty of time, doing a side quest first won’t hurt,” Sun Hang said. “Besides, don’t you think the rewards for this side quest might be quite generous?”

"Excuse me for being frank... but I didn't see it." Zhulong shook his head.

"It's my intuition," Sun Hang pointed to his forehead. "My intuition has always been very accurate."

"What if no one comes knocking on our door? Should we move to another location and ask again?" Zhulong asked.

"How many such outposts are there in Yumen?"

“I remember there were four, but that was many years ago,” Zhulong said. “I’m not sure if the number has changed now.”

Just as Sun Hang was about to ask another person, the man in the suit who claimed to be the accountant reappeared in front of him like a ghost.

"I heard Mr. Sun is looking for a place called Sima Heng Street?" The man in the suit stepped forward and asked Sun Hang in a low voice.

"See, they've come knocking on our door, haven't they?" Sun Hang glanced at Zhulong with a smug look, then turned to the man in the suit. "So, you're the contact? Or perhaps your boss?"

“My boss has heard about this place and he’s very interested in discussing this with you,” the man in the suit said.

Sun Hang: "Isn't your boss busy with some research and refusing to see anyone?"

"To be honest, my boss is the recipient of that package." The man in the suit gestured for him to come with him. "Please follow me."

……

……

The so-called "secret room" at the Spring Breeze stronghold was actually the central control room of this air-raid shelter. The walls of this room were covered with screens, which were connected to surveillance cameras throughout the air-raid shelter, closely monitoring everyone's every move. To Sun Hang's slight surprise, all of these surveillance cameras were actually working properly. He had originally thought that at least half of those ubiquitous cameras were already broken and useless.

A strangely shaped figure was sitting behind a huge table, which was covered with pieces of paper of different sizes and shapes. Each piece of paper had abstract lines and patterns on it, which were very similar to the one in Sun Hang's hand.

"Hello." The owner of Chunfeng raised his head and looked at the three people who had been led into the secret room. "I am the owner of Chunfeng, Nagano Soya."

"Oh, Mr. Chang, it's a pleasure to meet you," Sun Hang said very politely.

"He's of Japanese descent; his surname is Nagano, not Naga," Zhulong whispered a reminder.

“It’s alright.” Nagano Soya waved his hand. “A name is just a code. If it weren’t for the fact that it’s the only thing my late mother left me, I might have chosen a more memorable code name for myself.”

As Sun Hang approached, he realized that the reason Nagano Soya's figure looked somewhat strange was because he didn't have human limbs—his arms and legs had been severed at the root, replaced by a set of somewhat outdated mechanical prosthetics. He was wearing a loose coat, and the shirt underneath was open, revealing his chest and abdomen covered with scars and ulcers.

Three plastic tubes were inserted into his throat, lower left chest cavity, and flank abdomen, respectively, while the life support equipment placed next to the table was beeping.

“People who meet me for the first time are always curious about what happened to me,” Nagano Soya said. “I was once a hunter, just like you. Unfortunately, after overusing my ability, my infection process suddenly accelerated, and I broke through that irreversible danger threshold in the blink of an eye.”

“But your infection progression seems quite stable right now,” Sun Hang said. “You can’t say it’s irreversible, can you?”

“I was lucky. I had two options at the time. One was to undergo ‘detoxification’ before transforming into a monstrous creature or a monster, and die as a human. The other option was to have my limbs and some internal organs, which were rich in monster memes, removed and try to physically remove those mutated memes from my body. The person who performed the surgery told me that the success rate was less than 30%, and even if it was successful, I would be a cripple for the rest of my life.”

"Can't we perform organ transplants and limb replantation?" Zhulong couldn't help but ask.

“My meme is rather special. If I undergo limb replantation, my infection process will quickly escalate... The only way to survive is to remain in this ‘human pig’ state…” Nagano Soya laughed, a series of bubbles rising from the tube in his throat. “At first, I also thought about ending it all, but now, I’ve come to terms with it… For me, every day I’m alive is a gift from God.”

"Good attitude." Sun Hang took out the box containing the small cards from his backpack. "Getting back to the point, this is what you wanted, right? You also posted that delivery task?"

“Yes, considering that you encountered a deadly sandstorm on your way here, I am willing to pay you double the reward for the mission,” Nagano Soya said.

"Can you tell me what's inside?" Sun Hang asked.

Sun Hang did not use mind-reading on Nagano Soya—although the other party was already a cripple, he was still considered an infected person, and he would be able to detect if mind-reading was used on him.

“Didn’t you already open it and take a look?” Nagano Soya said with a smile.

"How did you know?" Before leaving the hotel, Sun Hang had already used his "wish-granting" ability to restore the box containing the small cards. From the outside, there was no indication that it had been opened.

“You stared at these pieces of paper on my desk as soon as you came in. Judging from your eyes, you’ve obviously seen something similar elsewhere,” Nagano Soya said. “I didn’t intend to hide it from you. This is a treasure map, and what you have in your hand is the last piece of this treasure map.”

"A treasure map?" Sun Hang opened the box and took out the small card. "Can you tell me what treasure is hidden here?"

"I don't know," Nagano Soya said, shrugging his shoulders.

"You don't know??" Sun Hang found it a bit funny. "You don't even know what's hidden there, and you call this a treasure map? What if you follow the coordinates on the map and find a deadly monster waiting for you instead of treasure?"

“I have no interest in the treasure on the treasure map,” Nagano Soya shook his head. “Do you want to hear what you’re saying?” Sun Hang pointed to the dozens of small pieces of paper on the table. “If you’re not interested, I can take all of these pieces of paper.”

“After I complete the treasure map, I will publish it online so that any hunter interested in the treasure can browse it,” Nagano Soya said. “In fact, I was asked to start collecting the fragments of this treasure map.”

"Entrusted by someone? Entrusted by whom?" Sun Hang narrowed his eyes. "I have every reason to believe this is a trap to lure hunters into dangerous territory. If you can't convince me, I have the right to take you away for investigation... Oh, right, I forgot to introduce myself, I am..."

"You are Sun Hang, the legendary hunter who dealt with Chimera Seventeen and Eternal Night in Tianfu City. In less than a year, you went from being an unknown to becoming one of the Federation's top hunters, and even have extremely high authority in the Tian Shu Tower," Nagano Soya introduced Sun Hang.

"You know me?" Sun Hang was slightly surprised. "Is I that famous?"

“In Chunfeng, almost everyone knows your name, but I’m probably the only one who really knows what you look like… I have some old friends who participated in your ‘Insecticide Project,’ and one of them secretly filmed a video of the mission, which included footage of you,” Nagano Soya said. “But don’t worry, I’ve already persuaded him to delete the video.”

Sun Hang was momentarily at a loss for words—the other party had clearly said everything he could.

"Of course you can investigate me, but before that, can you let me piece together this treasure map?" Nagano Soya said, extending his hand to Sun Hang.

"What will happen after you finish the puzzle?" Sun Hang handed the small card to Nagano Soya.

“I’m just as curious as you are.” Nagano Soya placed the last fragment of the treasure map on the table and then fell into deep thought.

Just as Sun Hang was getting impatient and about to ask how much longer, Nagano Soya's two mechanical prosthetic limbs suddenly moved. His ten fingers, which were even more dexterous than his original limbs, quickly rearranged the fragments... In just thirty seconds, all the small pieces of paper on the table had been moved to a different position.

“No…nothing is right…” Nagano Soya’s hands hovered above the table as he slowly shook his head.

"What's wrong?" Sun Hang asked.

“The order is wrong… The person who asked me to piece together the treasure map told me that as long as I put it in the correct order, the locations marked on the treasure map will be clearly visible…” Nagano Soya murmured.

"Who exactly is the person who commissioned you?"

"An unnamed free hunter told me that during an exploration, he discovered a treasure in the uninhabited area of ​​the Hexi Corridor that could change the status quo of human civilization, but they were powerless to take it away. One of his companions could only draw the treasure's coordinates into a treasure map, dividing it into thirty-two parts, and imprinting them into the memories of thirty-two people through mental suggestion..."

"Where is this nameless free hunter now?"

“He’s dead.” Nagano Soya shook his head. “He died eleven years ago, and it took me a full twenty-five years to find the other thirty-one people who went into the no-man’s land with him back then.”

"So, you're the one who spread the recent rumors about treasures being discovered in the uninhabited area of ​​the Hexi Corridor?" Zhulong asked.

“It was me, that’s right… Back then, that hunter’s team had thirty-two people, each of them quite skilled, but even so, they still couldn’t bring back that treasure. So, this time I need to gather even more hunters…”

"So if someone gets their hands on that treasure this time, what will you do? Will you ask them to buy it, or will you use some 'other means' to get your hands on it?"

“I won’t do anything. I’m just curious about what this treasure is,” Nagano Soya said. “If it’s really as that hunter said, a treasure that can change the current state of human civilization, then the federal government and the Sky Pivot Tower will definitely take corresponding actions. Even if I wanted it, it’s not something I could have.”

"So what exactly are you after?"

“That nameless free hunter, he was my father,” Nagano Soya said. “My name comes from my mother, while the information about this treasure map, and the strange meme that almost killed me, came from my father.”

"You don't even know your father's name?" Sun Hang was somewhat taken aback.

“My mother didn’t know his name either. People who knew him at that time called him ‘Anonymous’.”

“The nameless hunter?” Zhulong’s eyes changed slightly. “I think I’ve heard of this person before.”

"you know?"

“I don’t know him.” Zhulong shook his head. “I only know that such a person once existed, but I don’t know much about his specific deeds. I only heard that he was active in the northwestern border area and had completed many difficult missions.”

“My father left me a considerable inheritance, and I am able to start Spring Breeze thanks to this inheritance,” Nagano Soya said. “Finding the treasure map was my father’s last wish… In his later years, he unfortunately developed Alzheimer’s disease, also known as senile dementia. He even forgot my and my mother’s names, but he never forgot this ‘treasure’ left in the no-man’s-land.”

“I see…” Sun Hang said, “Then I have another question.”

"please say."

"Since your father was so obsessed with this treasure, why didn't he organize another group of hunters to go into the no-man's-land to search for it? Not only that, he also divided the treasure map into thirty-two parts. Wasn't that just making things more difficult for you? Or did he not want you to search for this treasure at all?"

“No… there’s a reason why the treasure map was divided into thirty-two parts,” Nagano Soya said. “My father once told me that everyone who has seen that treasure has been aroused by greed. They even killed each other for it… Fifty-seven of them entered the no-man’s land together, but in the end only thirty-two survived.”

“…I have a feeling this thing sounds a bit eerie,” Sun Hang said. “How did these thirty-two people survive?”

"Among them was a hunter with abilities related to memory. He could seal, erase, or even tamper with people's memories. In the instant he was fatally wounded, he regained his senses and erased everyone's memories of the treasure. And in his dying moments, he divided the memory of the treasure's location into thirty-two parts and sealed them in the minds of thirty-two survivors."

"These thirty-two survivors have agreed that unless this problem of infighting can be resolved, they will never reunite in this lifetime, nor will they be able to piece together the treasure map again," Nagano Soya added.

"So, has this problem been solved now?" Sun Hang asked.

Nagano Soya shook his head.

(End of this chapter)