Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 394 - 41: Mowing Down

"Zero?!" If it were not for the mechanical pistons of her artificial throat, the exorcist would have almost spat out old blood.

She had seen many test subjects come for synchronization testing, but never with a score of zero... Even those technicians who conducted the tests themselves managed to get at least a fraction of synchronization rate.

Even though...

The exorcist’s smile hadn’t fully formed when her whole body stiffened—she suddenly remembered something.

No piece of deceitful equipment, no matter how peculiar, no matter how hard to tame, would have a synchronization rate of zero with humans.

It’s like life on Earth, regardless of how different the organism is from humans, they will share common genetic segments.

Despite the inappropriate timing, a joke she once saw surfaced in her mind.

The joke was about a family ethics drama where a father found his son’s genetic similarity was only thirty percent, suspecting he was an unwitting dad...

Yet in reality, humans and bananas share over fifty percent genetic similarity.

Of course, the joke could be rationalized by turning the family drama into a sci-fi thriller—the son wasn’t a human but a disguised spy sent by aliens...

"Zero... How can it be zero?"

The exorcist suddenly had a thought she couldn’t believe even herself.

Compared to the large equipment in the institute that could measure synchronization rates up to ten decimal places, the device on the test subjects’ wrist could measure up to four decimal places, which was more than sufficient for daily needs.

However, whether it was large equipment or the portable monitoring wristband, there existed a significant issue in the fundamental logic of the program which was rarely encountered.

The issue was that the integer value before the decimal point for synchronization rate would only display up to two digits.

This meant, theoretically, the wristband could show a maximum synchronization rate value of 99.9999%

The reason this issue remained unresolved was because there was simply no need—no one’s synchronization rate could reach such a value, even those exceeding 75% were extremely rare.

Naturally, once the synchronization rate exceeded 75%, the subject would immediately be separated from the deceitful equipment and put under strict surveillance—for both the deceitful equipment and the subject, the 75% synchronization rate is similar to the critical danger threshold in the mysterious creature hunters’ infection process; once breached, control is lost.

Could this zero be due to this individual’s synchronization rate having exceeded 100%, causing a reading error and resulting in zero being displayed?

No! Impossible! Absolutely impossible!

The exorcist shook her head vigorously, as if trying to dismiss the idea from her mind.

How could anyone have a 100% synchronization rate with deceitful equipment?

If such a case were to occur, the person would have already merged with the deceitful equipment, transforming into a mysterious creature themselves!

In that case, both her wristband and his would have been sounding alarms without pause by now.

Could this guy’s synchronization rate truly be zero?

Is he one of those exceptionally rare "insulators"?

The exorcist had heard from researchers that theoretically, synchronization rates of zero, as "insulators," could exist, but only theoretically.

It’s like two individuals with 100% identical DNA could theoretically exist, but couldn’t be found in reality—not just twins, even clones couldn’t be completely identical in genes.

Every breath increases differences between two clones—differences potentially subtle enough to evade detection by the most advanced instruments, yet undoubtedly existing.

Just like memetic changes in mysterious creatures, human genes also evolve and change.

Evolution and mutation occur incessantly.

Could this guy’s synchronization rate be so low it fell outside the wristband’s detection scope, thus displaying as zero?

Perhaps, to the fifth decimal place?

While the exorcist pondered this, Sun Hang had already rushed out with a shotgun.

"Wait!" The exorcist couldn’t help but shout at him, "Come back!"

If his synchronization rate was truly that low, then the deceitful equipment gun he held was equivalent to an ordinary shotgun.

Lead shot and steel balls could kill zombies with physical bodies, but were useless against spirit bodies like the wraith.

"Come back!" The exorcist yelled at Sun Hang’s back, "You’re courting death!!"

But at the moment Sun Hang pulled the trigger, the exorcist’s mouth, agape from shouting, could no longer be shut.

Specially processed lead shot sprayed from the shotgun’s barrel, each grain wrapped in a bloody mist. When the shot contacted the charging wraith, it produced billows of white smoke, followed by the wraith’s agonized howl and subsequent evaporation... or rather, "purification."

Sun Hang’s right arm instantly wasted away, his skin cracked, flesh dried... yet as his white bones were exposed, fresh flesh rapidly grew on them, and in an instant, the right arm consumed by the deceitful equipment was restored.

"How... he... he he he... I... I I I... He... Synchronization rate... zero... Impossible!!" The exorcist felt like her language center had malfunctioned, standing there stammering for ages, unable to utter a complete sentence.