"..." Zhong Ling didn’t speak, but from her eyes, it was clear she didn’t quite understand why Sun Hang would say such things at this mont.
"I don’t have many friends. You are one of them," Sun Hang said. "If it were a stranger, I’d wish for more cannon fodder to scout the way for ... But since I consider you a friend, I naturally won’t let you die in vain."
"In my view, whether the mission can be completed doesn’t really depend on how many people we bring," Sun Hang continued. "Enough people have already died... I think, with your family conditions, you probably don’t lack that pension money."
Zhong Ling stood there dumbfounded, her usually expressionless face rarely showing a trace of complex emotions.
But she didn’t speak again, only watching as Sun Hang carried heavy equipnt, stepping forward step by step through the mud.
"Are you a bit disappointed?" Wang Xiyi’s sowhat weak voice ca from the side. "To him... you’re just a friend."
Zhong Ling shook her head, but then nodded: "I also... don’t know."
"Be content. That’s the first ti I’ve heard him say such things," Wang Xiyi murmured. "This guy actually seldom expresses his true feelings."
"Are you considered his friend too?" Zhong Ling turned her head to look at Wang Xiyi, who had just woken up.
"Returning your earlier answer, I don’t know," Wang Xiyi sighed. "Maybe yes."
...
...
Having resud solo mode, Sun Hang imdiately quickened his pace. He no longer checked those disconnected outposts along the way and completely ignored the intermittent signals from other teams, heading straight in the direction of Chira 17.
The appearance of the three apes made Sun Hang realize there was unlikely to be more gains from this operation... Now, all he wanted was to complete the mission quickly, return to his place, and while those mories hadn’t yet blurred beyond words, record them on paper and pen.
Although he wasn’t sure if the three apes would erase his journal through physical ans, having a physical record was better than keeping everything stored in mories that could be altered at any mont.
"Whoosh—"
Another signal flare exploded in the sky. Sun Hang looked up; it was a red signal flare, exactly like the one he just fired.
This was a distress signal flare.
Sun Hang estimated the distance. The location where the signal flare was fired was probably three to four kiloters away from him. Given the current depth, the rear rescue team couldn’t get through, and the person who fired the signal flare could only rely on the other Hunter teams that entered this area with him.
Among these Hunter teams, Sun Hang was likely the closest "team" to them.
Sun Hang pondered for a mont, then continued in his direction without changing course.
"Whoosh—"
The second signal flare exploded, still in the sa direction, but judging by the distance, it seed closer to Sun Hang.
If the two signal flares were fired by the sa person, it ant this person was moving towards Sun Hang.
Sun Hang couldn’t help but frown.
"This guy wouldn’t be drawing so serious trouble, would he?"
The other party’s actions were already a serious violation of combat regulations... In an ergency, even if he killed the other party, he likely wouldn’t have to bear any responsibility afterward.
The reason Sample-collecting Hunters were divided into many groups, approaching Chira 17 from different directions, was to prevent too many people from gathering in a small area, triggering Chira 17’s "stress reaction"—also specifically ntioned in the previous combat eting that each team could move back and forth according to the actual situation on their planned route; however, lateral movents outside the planned route were strictly forbidden.
The main fear was that two full teams accidentally colliding would surpass that dangerous threshold, then getting wiped out by the energy flow shot out by Chira 17.
It’s a classic scenario where one harms oneself and others.
Fortunately, Sun Hang was now alone. Even if a full team ran over from that end, at this distance, it shouldn’t draw Chira 17’s attention.
"Sss... Help...can anyone hear ...this is Team Four...sss..."
As the distance between the person firing the signal flare and Sun Hang continued to close, the sound of the other party began to be heard in the communication channel.
The radiation here was severe, causing serious interference with wireless communications...even if the two sides were only one or two kiloters apart, Sun Hang could hardly hear a few complete sentences.
"...Help...our team...sss...encountered...SOS..."
"Sss...only left...sss... alone..."
Finally, the figure of that Hunter appeared in Sun Hang’s line of sight.
He was wearing a custom-made combat suit, driving a hover motorbike, skidding at high speed over the mud... But what puzzled Sun Hang was that he watched the other party skid several hundred ters on the bike without seeing anything chasing him.
"Team Four, this is Team One." Sun Hang reluctantly pressed the communication button. "I see you."
"...Sss...First, Team One...sss..." The other party’s voice was filled with terror. "No, can’t be right?...sss..."
The hover motorbike finally skidded close enough that several arm-thick filants shot out, tightly wrapping around the motorbike’s bumper, forcibly halting the speeding hoverbike.
Sun Hang turned off the communicator, walked directly to the bike, patted the person’s shoulder, and asked, "What happened? What did your Team Four encounter?"
"You... you are that Sun Hang from Team One?" The Hunter looked up, gasping, and said, "How did you end up here?"
"I ended up here?" Sun Hang almost laughed from anger. "You’re the one who left your team’s planned route, how can you turn the tables on ?"
"Ah?" The Hunter’s eyes widened. "Impossible, I was turning back. Even if I deviated in direction, I should’ve t up with Team Three or Five! How did I run into you?!"
The Hunter looked terrified, even during the conversation with Sun Hang, he frequently turned his head to check behind him.
"What exactly did you encounter?" Sun Hang asked again. "Stop looking back, I watched you ride all the way here, there’s nothing chasing you."
"We...we encountered a monster!" The Hunter exhaled sharply, his voice trembling. "The kind of monster you can never imagine!"
"Aren’t abnormal entities all monsters? Unnaable anomalies are not rare, why are you so scared?" Sun Hang looked at the other with so disdain.
Logically, participants in this operation were seasoned Hunters; why was this guy acting just like a rookie on their first mission?
"I...I don’t know how to describe that thing!" The Hunter kept waving his arms, acting a bit hysterical. "We couldn’t see it, but it kept killing our teammates one after another! It never showed itself from start to end; we didn’t even know what kind of enemy we were facing!"
"Very fast? Or invisible? Or remote attack? Unobservable energy entity? You didn’t encounter a rule-based anomaly, did you?" Sun Hang asked.
"I don’t know... I just feel like it might still be chasing , right behind..." Although the Hunter’s breathing had stabilized sowhat, when speaking, he would still turn around from ti to ti.
"The blood on your gloves." Sun Hang suddenly took a step back, pointing at the other person’s hands. "Is that yours?"
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