Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 386 - 37: Arrival

Before the voice had faded, the staff member shouted again, "Chimera 17’s stress response observed again! Strike impact at the D15 area, identical to last time... No, it’s different, there’s about a 2.9-degree deviation this time!"

"Does this mean that the Hunter successfully evaded the first energy surge of the stress response?" The military representative’s eyes lit up, "Didn’t you say Chimera 17’s energy flow strike is unavoidable?"

"When the energy surge is observed, it’s already too late to dodge it, its speed is akin to that of a laser," Ye Xuan said. "However, Chimera 17 has a short charging phase before it fires the energy surge. It can’t fire instantly or continuously... Meaning, from Chimera 17’s perspective, it needs to predict the target to some extent to ensure the energy surge hits."

"So as long as we can predict its prediction, can we dodge the energy surge?" One field operative with a Velcro patch of the Dubhe Tower insignia on his arm pondered, "But in the end, isn’t luck a major factor here?"

"For us, it indeed comes down to luck," Ye Xuan shook her head, "But for Sun Hang, it might not purely be luck."

As they spoke, the seventh observation post detected the third stress response!

"Three times!" The military representative clenched his fist tightly, "You’re right; he definitely isn’t relying on luck!"

"But don’t be too optimistic; Sun Hang might be dead already," Ye Xuan said expressionlessly. 𝒻𝑟ℯℯ𝑤𝑒𝑏𝑛𝘰𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝒸𝑜𝘮

She was always accustomed to thinking about things in the worst possible way.

"As long as Chimera 17’s stress responses continue, it means he’s still alive," the field operative from Dubhe Tower said, "He must have figured out some kind of pattern or trick..."

But that sentence seemed to place a flag on Sun Hang, who was tens of kilometers away—as after three stress responses, Chimera 17 fell silent, with no activity for five to six minutes.

"Did he...did he fail?" The field operative from Dubhe Tower opened his mouth, and then gulped with difficulty.

"We can’t rule out the possibility that something happened with Chimera 17," Ye Xuan said, "Previously, there were never consecutive stress responses... Even though we’re not yet sure of the structure of the organ Chimera 17 uses to fire energy surges, firing such intense energy three times consecutively should at least overheat it even if it doesn’t burst."

Although she was habitually pessimistic, when the worst came, she could always find the best development path among a pile of disastrous outcomes.

This was the education Ye Xuan received throughout her life—to always regard the situation as desperate, yet never give up hope in such situations.

"Are there any updates from the other teams?" The military representative shifted the topic.

"The ninth team has been confirmed wiped out, the fifth team withdrew after losing two members, the sixth and seventh teams launched signal flares for help, but they were too deep, and we can’t reach them. The fourth team also launched two signal flares for help... However..." The Dubhe Tower field operative pressed his hands on the table, staring intensely at the screen.

"However what?" The military representative pressed.

"The fourth team’s two signal flares deviated severely from their planned routes, with the second flare appearing on the path planned for the first team."

"Does this mean the first team’s stress response trigger was due to merging with the fourth team?"

"Absolutely impossible. Only Sun Hang remains in the first team, and the capacity to trigger a stress response with team numbers has a margin. Even if the fourth team had a full roster with Sun Hang included, it wouldn’t reach the threshold to trigger a stress response," the field operative quickly explained to the military representative, "Moreover, even if the two teams merged, according to the operational plan set before departure, they would have dispersed two kilometers out, approaching Chimera 17 in groups of two to three."

"Fourth...fourth strong energy response!" The tech personnel sitting on the other side abruptly stood up, knocking over his folding chair, "Still the same direction! But the actual impact point of the energy surge is in the D9 area, five hundred meters from Chimera 17!!"

"Is it Sun Hang?" Yang Qi’s voice interjected—as the planner and commander of the operation, Yang Qi had to sit in the main command post at the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute. She had wanted to speak several times during Ye Xuan and others’ discussion earlier but ended up just listening quietly on the other side of the screen without saying a word.

"It can only be him..." Ye Xuan took a deep breath and bent down to lift the chair that had been knocked over.

"Can we send in drones?" The military representative asked, "We can send a hundred, no, a thousand drones, as long as one can transmit an image!"

"All six hundred and fifty drones from the seventh observation post are already airborne," Ye Xuan said, "Now we can only wait for headquarters to replenish them."