Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 529 Giant Hill

After a brief exchange, Sun Hang and the group of free hunters, including Seabuckthorn Rose, reached a temporary non-aggression agreement. As for the recruitment order, many people gave him a "you're kidding me" look after hearing that the destination was the occupied territories of Egypt.

Sun Hang is indeed very strong. Even if he didn't tell them his true identity, the strength he displayed in the battle just now was overwhelming... But the problem is that no matter how strong Sun Hang is, the benchmark for comparison is only human hunters.

However, compared to Egypt, which is 6,000 kilometers away and has been occupied for more than a century, this strength is somewhat insufficient.

So much time has passed since the first war against the monsters. In the Xia State Federation—or rather, in human civilization—countless super hunters have emerged like stars. There are even those like Sun Hang who can single-handedly reverse the course of the entire war. Yet, even so, in the past hundred years, the Xia State Federation's territory has not expanded by even a fraction; on the contrary, it has been constantly being devoured by the monsters.

They couldn't even reclaim those occupied territories right next to the border, yet they wanted to cross half the globe to search for some rare and bizarre artifact samples in the occupied territories of Egypt—it all sounded like a fantasy.

If the treasure map released by Nagano Soya has any credibility, then Sun Hang's "Operation Egypt" can only be described in four words:

“Vague and ethereal”.

"So, what exactly are you looking for when you recruit people to go to Egypt?" The beast-like female hunter, who had finally regained her senses, asked in the communication channel. "I know that the Federation has been investigating the occupied territories outside over the years, but Egypt... is just too far away. How did you determine that what you're looking for is there?"

“That’s confidential,” Sun Hang replied.

"I knew it, people from the Celestial Pivot Tower are always like this," the beast-like female hunter said with some disdain. "They want us to risk our lives for them, but they won't tell us what we're getting in return... Are they trying to fool us like idiots?"

"The reason I terminated my full-time contract with the authorities and came to this godforsaken place to become a free hunter is because I don't want to die without knowing why," an older free hunter sighed in the communication channel. "Life as a free hunter is tough, but at least you have your own life in your own hands."

"Alright, that's enough," another hunter said. "We're almost at Giant's Hill, so be quiet!"

"Holy crap, I didn't even notice, it's less than a kilometer away!"

"Keep radios silent! Reduce speed! Close windows and doors! If any windows or doors are damaged, put on a gas mask or something similar!" an experienced hunter immediately said. "Don't drag everyone down with you if you're going to die!"

The communication channel fell silent. Not only that, the speed of the convoy also slowed down. Those illegally modified vehicles, whose engines were originally louder than the motorcycles of the street racers, were now moving at a slow, quiet pace. Even the people sitting in the vehicles slowed their breathing.

"Giant Hill?" In this atmosphere, Sun Hang couldn't speak loudly. He followed the example of the others and asked Yang Qiaoxi, who was driving, in a low voice, "What place is this?"

Yang Qiaoxi's motorcycle was abandoned during the recent shootout. After the shootout ended, she took the initiative to take over the task of driving the off-road vehicle, while Zhulong, who was happy to be free, moved to the back seat.

“Besides the destination, Nanhua Town, the route we chose has two of the most dangerous places,” Yang Qiaoxi said softly. “One is Sunfall Ridge, and the other is Giant Hill, which is not far ahead.”

"Is Giant Hill also an environmental mystery?"

“No, Giant Hill is just a place name.” Yang Qiaoxi shook her head. “It’s different from Sunfall Ridge. The danger isn’t in this place, but in the ‘giants’ scattered among the hills.”

"Class C strange object?"

Sun Hang was wondering why the mainframe hadn't spoken up to explain, but when he glanced at his phone screen, he discovered that his phone signal had been blocked five minutes earlier—this blocking wasn't from the outside, but rather someone had written an interference program inside the phone, preventing the normal operation of the signal transceiver.

Judging from the countdown on the phone screen, the interference program will be deleted by itself in two hours, and Sun Hang's phone communication function will return to normal.

This appears to be the first time the mainframe has proactively severed its connection with Sun Hang—since Sun Hang became the new head of the mainframe.

Not only cell phones, but everyone in the convoy turned off all devices that could send and receive radio signals. Yang Qiaoxi even took off her fitness tracker, turned it off, and casually threw it into the armrest box next to her.

"in case."

As Yang Qiaoxi spoke, she took out a gas mask from her backpack and put it on her face.

"We're not girls... Is it really that serious?" Seeing Yang Qiaoxi and the others' behavior, Sun Hang was immediately confused. "Why do you guys act like thieves... It feels so suspicious."

"Oh, right, the most, most important thing," Yang Qiaoxi said solemnly as if she had remembered something, "After entering Giant Hill, whatever you do, whatever you do, do not use your abilities. Suppress the memes within your body as much as possible and do not let your aura emanate. If you can disguise yourself as an ordinary person, that would be even better."

“I can do it, but you have to tell me why,” Sun Hang said, even more puzzled.

“In order not to wake up those sleeping giants,” Yang Qiaoxi said, “sound, radio waves, touch, changes in temperature and humidity, as well as meme fluctuations of a certain intensity, could all be triggers to awaken them.”

"These so-called giants...are they such light sleepers?" Sun Hang was somewhat speechless. "They can be woken up by the slightest breeze?"

“It’s not that it would wake up with just a light touch, otherwise we would have abandoned the vehicle by now,” Yang Qiaoxi said. “The main problem is that we are still unsure of what factors would cause the giant to awaken… but at least two factors are certain.”

"Which two?"

“Human breath and warm blood,” Yang Qiaoxi said. “If these two things come into contact with those slumbering giants, they will immediately awaken and fall into a state of rage.”

"It doesn't sound like a giant, it sounds like a rice dumpling," Sun Hang muttered.

“If the giant awakens, more than 90% of the people in this caravan will probably die here,” Yang Qiaoxi said.

"If that's the case, why take this path at all?"

“Because one side of Giant’s Hill is the Great Rift Valley, and the other side is the Wind Nest, which is ravaged by deadly sandstorms 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, this route is actually the safest. If we take a detour, we will have to travel more than 400 kilometers and pass through more dangerous areas,” Yang Qiaoxi said in a low voice. “After the three convoys split up, they will all pass through Giant’s Hill. We should be the first group to arrive.”

"We're in deep trouble now." Sun Hang glanced out the window at the convoy that looked like it was facing a formidable enemy. After the recent firefight, the number of vehicles in the convoy had been drastically reduced. Including Sun Hang's car, there were only eight cars left. The driver who had survived the beast-like female hunter had abandoned the almost wrecked car and moved to another car with an empty seat.

"Shh, keep quiet, we've arrived," Yang Qiaoxi said nervously. "Don't talk to me, I need to concentrate on driving!" Sun Hang immediately looked up and ahead.

The so-called Giant Hill is actually a small desert located in the Gobi Desert. The wheels of the car rolled over the yellow sand, making a tense "whoosh" sound. At the edge of his field of vision, Sun Hang saw a dark gray arm emerging from the sand, stretching straight towards the sky.

Only the part of the arm above the elbow is exposed, and the material looks like some kind of stone carving. If calculated according to human body proportions, the body of this statue buried under the yellow sand must be at least seven or eight meters tall from head to toe, making it a veritable giant.

The two lead cars carefully avoided the arm at a speed of less than 10 miles per hour and continued driving forward.

As the convoy ventured deeper into the desert, these "giant statues" appeared more and more frequently. They maintained various postures, with most of their bodies buried under the yellow sand. The one with the highest "exposed" proportion was the sixteenth giant statue that Sun Hang saw. Its entire upper body was propped up on the sand, and its hands were in a strange waving motion.

It looked like a drowning person struggling desperately.

Sun Hang looked at the giant statue's face, but to his disappointment, the giant statue's face was covered by a mask with a strong tribal style, making it impossible to see its features and expression.

Behind the head, there are intricately carved braids, the strands of hair so fine that it looks as if a bunch of hair were tied together and then painted with the same color as the statue. It's hard to imagine how low the success rate would be if such carving precision could be achieved without the aid of modern technology.

Sun Hang couldn't help but think of the scouts in Baikal whose bodies had been "asphalted".

"Are these giants animal-type or object-type monsters?" Sun Hang couldn't help but ask in a low voice.

Yang Qiaoxi pursed her lips and shook her head slightly.

What is the origin of the giants and Giant's Hill?

"Don't ask... I don't know either." Yang Qiaoxi said helplessly, "The Tian Shu Tower has sent several survey teams before, but each time the giants would be awakened halfway through the survey and then wipe out the survey team... Later, the Tian Shu Tower decided to cooperate with the Dragon City Defense Army to eliminate all these giants... But just the day before, those giants were blown up with bombs, and the next day, the same number of giants rose up from the depths of the desert."

When Yang Qiaoxi speaks of the depths here, she is referring to the depths in a vertical sense—no one knows how many giant statues lie buried at the bottom of this sea of ​​sand.

How many giants are there in Giant's Hill?

“One hundred and forty-four,” Yang Qiaoxi replied. “The Mystery Research Institute in Dragon City releases a statistical task every month, and this number has remained unchanged for many years, never increasing or decreasing.”

Just then, the convoy suddenly stopped.

Yang Qiaoxi also stepped on the brakes.

A mercenary wearing a gas mask tiptoed to Sun Hang's car and gently poked the window with his gloved fingers.

"What's wrong?" Sun Hang rolled down the car window and asked.

"There's a car ahead, its tires are stuck in a sand pit." A muffled voice came from behind the gas mask—the nearest giant statue was nearly a hundred meters away, but the mercenary still dared not raise his voice even slightly.

Fortunately, Sun Hang's hearing is good enough.

“They sent me… to ask you,” the mercenary continued in a low voice, “whether to abandon the vehicle, or… provide assistance.”

"If we abandon the cars, there probably won't be enough left, right?" Sun Hang remembered clearly that after the shootout ended and they got back on the road, every car was already fully loaded.

Even if one more person could squeeze into the back of Sun Hang's car, there would still be four people with nowhere to go.

Sun Hang originally wanted these people to climb onto the roof of the car, but considering that these people didn't even dare to open the car windows at Giant's Hill, and that the car windows that had just been pierced by bullets were still tightly sealed with electrical tape, asking them to cross Giant's Hill in an exposed manner was something that not only would these abandoned car owners not agree to, but the driver wouldn't dare to give them a ride either.

If they accidentally stumble upon a giant statue and the aura of these living people inadvertently awakens the giant, then the entire convoy will be wiped out.

"I'll go take a look," Sun Hang nodded to the mercenary.

"Put it on." Yang Qiaoxi turned around and handed over an internally respirator-equipped gas mask.

Sun Hang put on a gas mask, opened the car door, got out, and followed the mercenary toward the front of the convoy.

The vehicle involved in the accident was a heavy-duty off-road vehicle with both rear wheels deeply embedded in the sand. Logically, with the vehicle's horsepower, as long as something was placed under the vehicle and the accelerator was pressed, the entire vehicle would have been able to get out of the pit.

But in Giant's Hill, where even speaking loudly is considered dangerous, having the driver floor the accelerator is practically suicidal.

Several free hunters and mercenaries discussed and argued in hushed tones, their emotions tense. They gestured as they spoke, seemingly afraid that their voices were too soft for the other party to hear.

Upon seeing Sun Hang arrive, the group immediately showed expressions of joy.

"So you're planning to have me lift the car up?" Sun Hang asked, "Just like we did at Sunfall Ridge?"

The group immediately nodded.

“Okay.” Sun Hang bent down and grabbed the rear bumper of the SUV.

He pulled upwards with all his might, and a loud "squeak" was heard that made everyone's hair stand on end. The tires were not lifted up; instead, the rear bumper of the SUV was deformed by Sun Hang's pulling.

“No… the wheels under the sand seem to be stuck on something,” Sun Hang said with a serious expression.

(End of this chapter)