Once outside this range, although Sun Hang could see it, the No. 1 Wraith felt non-existent in terms of aura—giving Sun Hang the impression of an incredibly realistic holographic projection.
Sun Hang turned his head to look back. More than a dozen Eternal Freeze Coffins had been moved into the plane's cargo hold by ground crew wearing engineering power exoskeletons. They then secured these Eternal Freeze Coffins to the floor or the inner wall of the cargo hold with safety ropes.
For so reason, Sun Hang suddenly felt a hallucination of Pokemon—Zhong Ling was like a Pokemon Trainer, and these Eternal Freeze Coffins were her Poké Balls. The wraiths inside were the Pokemon she had "captured"...
As for the No. 1 Wraith, which rarely entered the Eternal Freeze Coffin, it was like the Pikachu always accompanying the Pokemon protagonist, never entering the Poké Ball...
But considering the true identity of the No. 1 Wraith, Sun Hang ultimately didn't voice this sowhat dark joke.
After securing all the Eternal Freeze Coffins, the ground crew gave a thumbs-up to the cara above the cargo hold, and the pilot imdiately pressed the button to close the cargo hold door.
"Takeoff in 120 seconds." A young woman wearing a dark gray jacket, with short hair similar to Ye Xuan's, entered the cabin and nodded to Sun Hang. "Hello, I'm Yan Yu'an, Deputy Captain of the third squadron of Dubhe Tower's Ard Forces, rank: lieutenant colonel. I will be your guide for this mission."
Sun Hang glanced at her, about to ask if she was arranged by the main brain, when Yan Yu'an proactively said, "I just returned to Chunming City yesterday and today received a special mission from Mr. Pei. Mr. Pei specifically instructed to obey all your commands—whether or not they seem reasonable."
"The orders were given under the guise of Mr. Pei Zongjun," the main brain's voice ca through Sun Hang's headset. "Currently, not many within Dubhe Tower know that Mr. Pei Zongjun is already deceased, so please don't reveal too much to her."
"Major Yan, I've t you before; you seed just like a small squad leader back then, only with the rank of major," Wang Xiyi suddenly said.
Yan Yu'an imdiately looked at Wang Xiyi, her expression subtly changing: "'Night Slayer'... Miss, of course, I rember you."
"Do you two have so kind of grudge?" Sun Hang noticed the change in atmosphere and couldn't help asking.
"Not really a grudge... Back then, I was taking a capability test in Chunming City, and I got carried away with Dragon Breath, inadvertently injuring a guard at the test site and leaving the guard permanently disabled... It just so happened that the guard worked under her. At the ti, she pointed at my nose and called a highly dangerous infected person, saying I'd eventually turn into a wraith..." Wang Xiyi said nonchalantly.
"Sorry... those were just angry words..." Yan Yu'an shifted her gaze elsewhere, "Back then, my superiors wanted to punish , and it was you who stopped them..."
"And then what?" Sun Hang asked with interest.
"I told her that if she wanted to avenge her subordinate, she could challenge to a fight, and I'd make sure to only take hits without fighting back," Wang Xiyi said.
"Did she really challenge you to a fight?"
"Of course not... She apologized in person and was then transferred elsewhere for a mission, and I didn't see her again until today."
Sun Hang looked Yan Yu'an over once more. This woman was very tall, likely reaching 1.8 ters if her shoes were included.
Her skin was a sun-kissed tan, and there were two very noticeable notches on the outer edge of her ear—a token from past battles.
The jacket she wore was clearly two sizes too big for her, and it bulged with sothing underneath; the outline of armor could be vaguely seen around the shoulders and back—even in plain clothes, she was fully ard.
At her neck, a corner of a white bandage was exposed by two centiters. Sun Hang's nostrils flared slightly, as there seed to be a faint trace of blood about her.
"You seem to be injured," Sun Hang remarked.
"It's just a flesh wound. It was stitched up at the battlefield hospital and is mostly healed now."
"You said you just returned to Chunming City yesterday... from Lake Baikal City?" Sun Hang thought that since the main brain found him a guide, she should be familiar with the situation in Lake Baikal City.
"Yes, I spent a month there, executing four reconnaissance missions on Baikal Remains. This wound was from the fourth mission, inflicted by a wraith attack," Yan Yu'an replied.
"Completing four reconnaissance missions on the Baikal Remains and returning alive makes you the elite of the elite," Wang Xiyi interjected. "I saw the front-line data; the loss rate for units performing reconnaissance is very high, and there's already so resistance within the army to the mission of reconnoitering the Baikal Remains."
"Yes... Although it's not appropriate for to say this given my position and role, the intelligence from these reconnaissance missions has beco very limited... The casualties among those soldiers are gradually becoming aningless." Yan Yu'an sat on a seat on the other side of the aisle, sighing.
The plane had left the platform and ascended into the clouds—with the speed of this plane, they'd reach the helipad at the front-line camp in less than an hour.
"I'm rather interested in the wound on your neck. Can you tell about the details of the attack?" Sun Hang asked.
"It was a humanoid wraith, very thin, resembling a skeletal human child, but with extrely long arms—long enough to drag along the ground like a gibbon." Yan Yu'an recalled. "We were attacked while passing under a structure resembling an archway. This humanoid wraith was hanging on the backside of the arch. As we passed beneath, it jumped down and scratched my neck with its claws."
"And you didn't die there?" Sun Hang marveled, "You're really lucky then."
"Yes, I was fortunate. Though the wound was deep, it didn't damage the trachea or major arteries," Yan Yu'an said. "The mont I was attacked, I threw the wraith off—though it was strong, it was also light, and with the power exoskeleton, I was able to hurl it tens of ters away. My teammates imdiately opened fire, but despite being hit multiple tis, it managed to drag its wounded body away."
"Speaking of which, can't the tic detection equipnt detect the s of this wraith?" Sun Hang inquired.
"It's very difficult; the entire Baikal Remains is a huge environntal anomaly, and the tic detection equipnt can never stop detecting fluctuations across different bands. The data is too chaotic... Unless you're a specialist researcher, it's hard for ordinary soldiers on a reconnaissance mission to analyze from the complex data which parts belong to the Baikal Remains itself and which belong to other wraiths lurking within." Yan Yu'an explained.
"Can you tell them apart?" Wang Xiyi gave Sun Hang a glance and asked.
"I think I could? But I'm not entirely sure," Sun Hang replied.
Distinguishing different wraith s isn't hard, but only if Sun Hang has encountered similar wraiths before; otherwise, if two fragnts were presented to him, he couldn't tell which belonged to Baikal Remains and which to the "gibbon" wraith that attacked Yan Yu'an.
The most troubleso part is that fragnts from Baikal Remains are exceptionally complex, exhibiting regional differences within its various parts... Moreover, according to intel gained from the reconnaissance forces, the fragnts of Baikal Remains are changing daily.
Data built on the bodies of people that had reference value the day before could beco garbage the next day... No wonder morale on the front line is so low.
Yan Yu'an's comnt about "so resistance" was already a rciful way of putting it.
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