Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 562 Anger

"What a pity..." Zhulong sighed as he looked at the power armor that was now completely wrapped in a large cocoon of cordyceps mycelium.

“What’s there to regret? He was just a brute.” Yang Qiaoxi’s eyes twitched twice. “If this guy hadn’t met such a good customer as the Chen family, he would probably be lying dead in the wilderness by now. It’s also thanks to Chen Dazhuang’s loyalty that he has given him all his resources to treat him every time he was seriously injured… However, this time Chen Dazhuang can’t save him.”

At this moment, Chen Jing, who was still cleaning the fourth district, also saw Jin Hongyi's condition and couldn't help but let out a heart-wrenching scream: "Old Jin... Uncle Jin!!"

“I don’t know what to say either.” Nagano Soya sighed. “I’ve dealt with Jin Hongyi a few times. Apart from his tendency to be reckless, he’s probably the most suitable person I know in this world to be a friend… no, a brother… I don’t know if this happened because he trusted Bai’s power armor too much or underestimated the capabilities of these mycelium golems…”

“Those who frequently take risks will eventually die from them,” Yang Qiaoxi said. “The Chen family has been too indulgent towards him, so this is a case of him reaping what he sowed.”

"You seem to have a problem with Jin Hongyi?" Sun Hang glanced at Yang Qiaoxi and asked.

“He got into a fight in my shop before. Apparently, another group of customers were complaining that Chen's Trading Company was controlling the prices of some goods in Longcheng. Those customers were saying some nasty things, and Jin Hongyi just started fighting with them and smashed up my shop.” Yang Qiaoxi shrugged. “Although the Chen family compensated me later, I had to close down for a full half month just to renovate… Anyway, I have absolutely no interest in customers like him.”

“He’s not dead yet.” Xue Yue, who had been mostly silent and whose presence was almost nonexistent, suddenly spoke up. “I can feel his emotions… very strong.”

"Emotions?" Sun Hang was taken aback and immediately activated his special vision that allowed him to see negative human emotions. He saw a crimson shadow shooting straight into the sky from within the large mass of fungal flesh, looking like a blood-red pillar of light from afar.

Of course, only Sun Hang and Xue Yue could see this beam of light... To everyone else, Jin Hongyi was already dead beyond any doubt.

"What strong emotions? What are you talking about?" Yang Qiaoxi looked at Xue Yue and then at Sun Hang, completely confused.

The next second, a roar that resounded throughout the entire battlefield drowned out all the gunshots, explosions, and shouts of battle. The blood-red pillar of light exploded directly, spreading outwards from Jin Hongyi like a crimson wave.

The massive mass of flesh, composed of dozens of mycelial puppets, exploded with a deafening roar, revealing a lithe, blood-covered figure in everyone's view.

The power armor on Jin Hongyi's body was gone, replaced by bulging muscles and blood-red mist constantly gushing from his pores. There were many bleeding cuts on his chest and back, and inside these cuts were eyeballs glaring angrily at all directions... Because of the presence of these eyeballs, the blood flowing from the cuts turned into blood tears, filled with a feeling that was both eerie and violent.

"Ugh—ah—!!!"

Jin Hongyi tensed all his muscles and let out another roar that resounded through the sky. The mycelium puppets that were relatively close to him were even blasted away by the sound waves!
"I feel like I'm going deaf!" Yang Qiaoxi covered her ears tightly. "What kind of Lion's Roar is this?"

That wasn't all. Suddenly, two sharp bone blades popped out from the inside of Jin Hongyi's arms, their surfaces ablaze with crimson flames... Without any hesitation, he plunged into the pile of puppets, brandishing the two bone blades and beginning his slaughter.

"Is this... a complete metamorphosis?" Yang Qiaoxi said, rubbing her ears. "But I remember Jin Hongyi wasn't an infected person. Where did this metamorphic meme come from? It can't be from those mycelial puppets, can it? It doesn't even look like the same kind."

“Could it be…” Zhulong looked at Sun Hang with a heavy expression.

Sun Hang nodded: "It's emotional transformation, like those who transform themselves due to extreme negative emotions... The trigger for his transformation was the extreme anger that erupted from his heart... Wait a minute?"

"What's wrong?" Zhulong asked, puzzled.

"He doesn't seem to have completely transformed into a monster yet?"

"It hasn't completely transformed into a monster yet?" Yang Qiaoxi asked in astonishment. "Isn't it just a living, breathing humanoid monster in its current form?"

Sun Hang did not speak.

Behind Kim Hong-yi, in the shadow that symbolized tangible anger, he vaguely saw a glimmer of clarity.

Does this guy still retain human-like consciousness?
The danger threshold of the infection process is the golden benchmark for judging whether an infected person has entered the "rapid transformation phase". However, entering the rapid transformation phase does not mean that the infected person has become a monster or a ghost. It can only mean that he/she is rapidly approaching this end.

What truly measures whether an infected person has become completely bizarre is their self-awareness and cognition.

Only infected individuals whose self-awareness and self-cognition have been completely erased or distorted will be identified as completely bizarre.

However, in practice, once an infected person enters the "rapid transformation phase," the time left for them is often very short, or they may be directly disposed of in a harmless manner. Therefore, in the eyes of many people, once the infection process exceeds the danger threshold, it means that the person has become "completely bizarre."

This might be acceptable in ordinary situations, but from an academic perspective, it's not rigorous.

Complete transformation is irreversible, but there are examples of hunters who have entered the rapid transformation phase being "rescued".

For example, Lao Wang.

After his emotional transformation, Jin Hongyi was like a war god. In just half a minute, he broke through the array of mycelium puppets. The highly corrosive mycelium and spores that landed on him were instantly burned to ashes. Not only his bone blades, but flames invisible to the naked eye seemed to burn on his body as well.

“I used an optical thermometer to check from a distance,” Zhulong said. “Jin Hongyi’s body surface temperature is now over 600 degrees Celsius, and at the ‘eye structure rift’ on his chest, abdomen and back, the temperature has risen to about 1,000 degrees Celsius. The blood and tears flowing on his body are also at a higher temperature than his skin.”

“The blood flowing through this guy’s body is probably as hot as lava right now,” Sun Hang said. “I feel like he doesn’t even need to use his bone blade to kill those puppets. He can just ram them with his body. Look at those mycelium puppets that pounced on him. Not only did they fail to restrain him, but they also started burning one after another. This ability is simply invincible when it comes to dealing with mycelium puppets.”

The mycelium golems "killed" by the pair of bone blades would also burst into flames, which would spread among the surrounding mycelium golems. After Jin Hongyi killed one mycelium golem, the spreading flames could kill at least three or four neighboring mycelium golems.

Wherever he went, he left behind only ashes and scorch marks.

Jin Hongyi quickly reached the fourth district under the astonished gazes of everyone. After he cut down the last mycelium puppet between himself and the others, he stopped.

His knees were slightly bent and his spine was arched, making him look like a feline predator ready to pounce at any moment, with a dozen pairs of angry eyes staring intently at the crowd.

"Old Jin!" Chen Jing pushed through the crowd and strode forward.

"Protect the young master!" the retired veterans shouted immediately, but the rest of the hunting party remained unmoved—they had all witnessed how Jin Hongyi had slaughtered those mycelium puppets, and rushing in now would be nothing short of suicide. Seeing that they couldn't get anyone else to listen, the retired veterans had no choice but to step forward themselves, pick up their weapons, and rush to the front, pointing their guns at Jin Hongyi, whose body was heaving with each breath.

"No shooting! No one is allowed to fire without my order!!" Chen Jing shouted.

"Young Master... Old Jin... he's become a monster!" a retired veteran couldn't help but shout.

"When I was little, Lao Jin saved my life twice. I owe him two lives!" Chen Jing shouted. "Even if he kills me now, I still owe him one! I'm not afraid, so what are you afraid of?!"

The retired veteran was speechless for a moment, thinking to himself, "Young master, you are not afraid of death, but if you die, how are we supposed to go back and explain to the head of the family?"
The head of the family will not think that it is a matter of course for you to "return" your life to Lao Jin; he will only think that we failed to protect him properly.

"Young Master, how about I do it?" A retired veteran stepped forward with the determination to die, but was pushed aside by Chen Jing, who was wearing power armor.

Chen Jing walked step by step to Jin Hongyi. Due to the height of the power armor, his field of vision was about three meters high. Jin Hongyi slowly raised his head, and more than a dozen pairs of eyes focused on Chen Jing at the same time.

Being stared at by a dozen eerie eyes like that would be a lie to say he wasn't terrified. Chen Jing suppressed his fear and asked in the softest voice he could muster, "Old Jin...you...you should still recognize me, right?"

A burst of scalding blood mist gushed from Jin Hongyi's nostrils. He suddenly jumped up and pushed Chen Jing, who weighed over 300 kilograms including his armor, to the ground.

Jin Hongyi stood with his feet on Chen Jing's breastplate, his bone blades crossed in his hands, slashing at Chen Jing's neck like scissors.

At this point, Chen Jing didn't have time to put on his helmet.

"Don't hurt the young master!"

"Old Jin!!"

Several retired veterans opened fire at the same time, but when the bullets hit Jin Hongyi, they produced the sound and sparks characteristic of metal colliding.

The powerful stopping power of large-caliber ammunition seemed to disappear from Jin Hongyi's body. He was not injured, and he didn't even experience the brief stiffness or backward lean that comes with being hit by a bullet.

But Chen Jing's head did not separate from his body.

The bone blade stopped just millimeters from his neck, and a struggle flashed in Jin Hongyi's eyes.

His body began to tremble slightly, and because of this trembling, the sharp bone blade cut two small incisions on both sides of Chen Jing's neck, and blood slowly flowed down along these two incisions.

"Old...Old Jin?" Chen Jing felt his heart pounding wildly; he had never felt so close to death before.

"Old Jin?" Chen Jing asked again.

The only response he received was a low, indistinct growl coming from Jin Hongyi's throat.

The bone blade tightened again, its sharp edge slicing into the flesh.

Just when Chen Jing thought he was really about to die, Jin Hongyi's eyes—including the "eye structure cracks" on his body—suddenly closed, and the two bone blades were retracted into his arms with a "whoosh," leaving only a long, narrow wound that healed rapidly.

Jin Hongyi collapsed to one side as if he had lost all his strength, and after he fell, a figure that Chen Jing found somewhat familiar appeared in front of him.

Chen Jing remembered that this young man, like Zhulong, was sent by the Tian Shu Tower to supervise this hunting operation.

In the young man's hand, he was holding a large, empty syringe.

Clearly, it was because he had just injected something into Jin Hongyi's body that Jin Hongyi, who had almost killed Chen Jing, fell into a coma.

"Thank...thank you..." Chen Jing said, panting heavily. Sun Hang then pulled him up from the ground, armor and all.

“No need to thank me. You’re going to treat me to dinner anyway, how could I let you die under my nose?” Sun Hang said. “But this enhanced inhibitor is really effective. One injection and this guy immediately calmed down.”

"An inhibitor?" Chen Jing was taken aback. "The inhibitor you just injected into Lao Jin?"

“Yes, an enhanced and condensed version…” Sun Hang nodded.

This thing can even force Old Wang out of his dragon form. For ordinary infected people, this thing is no different from a deadly poison.

"Old Jin... has he already turned into a monster?" Chen Jing asked again.

“Not yet. If he had been completely corrupted, your head would have been gone long ago.” Sun Hang shook his head. “He’s just been blinded by a negative emotion called anger. He’ll be fine after a good night’s sleep.”

"He'll be fine after a good night's sleep? You mean... there's still hope for him?"

"Whether he can be saved or not is not up to me; it's a matter for professionals." Sun Hang waved to the distant Zhulong, "Call Longcheng and have them send over a permafrost coffin!"

At this moment, the retired veterans arrived and surrounded Chen Jing.

The veterans looked at Sun Hang with strange eyes—Chen Jing might not have noticed, but they all saw it clearly: the young man in front of them was hundreds of meters away one second, but the next second he appeared behind Jin Hongyi.

Moreover, this young man effortlessly inserted a needle into the skin that even a large-caliber, full-power bullet couldn't leave a mark on... What terrifying power that is!
(End of this chapter)