Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 553 - 125: Safe House_2

"What about now? Have you confirmed it?"

"It’s hard to say... As a pawn, Sasha’s level is too low." Song Yarong sighed, "Ye Jiu, I need you to find a way to figure out the true identity of ’the Holy Master’... I’ll handle the matters on Yao Yu’s side, but I’m counting on you for this."

"The identity of the Holy Master? Isn’t it Chimera 17?" Ye Jiu asked in confusion, "Who else, apart from Chimera 17, would be able to command so many mysterious creatures to cooperate with that guy to attack Sun Hang..."

Ye Jiu actually wanted to say not to assign such interrogation tasks to him anymore, as he was really not good at this sort of thing... But the words stuck in his throat and he swallowed them back down.

"If you carefully review the whole incident, you’ll find that any cult organization with a certain level of power could have carried out this attack instead of Chimera." Song Yarong said, "Poisoning the tap water source is something humans can do. As for those who were memetically infected and became bizarre beings, they don’t really need to be commanded. They will naturally seek out living humans nearby... and the only living humans in that area were Sun Hang and Yang Lian, so of course they would think of gathering at the villa..."

"But... but there’s one thing that doesn’t make sense!" Ye Jiu argued, "According to Sasha’s confession, the way she and ’the Holy Master’ communicated was through ’dream visitation’. I don’t think humans can send dreams to other humans, right?"

"What if this cult organization possesses some mysterious creature that can influence human dreams?"

"Now that you mention it... it does make some sense..."

"Alright, continue interrogating her. I have other matters to deal with, so I’ll hang up now."

...

Inside the "safe house" at the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute.

Song Yarong cut the communication with Ye Jiu, glanced at the "NO SIGNAL" message in the middle of the black screen, and tiredly massaged her temples with her fingers.

"Care for a drink?" Wang Xiyi, sitting on the table, handed over a can.

"Thanks." With a "pop", Song Yarong pulled the tab, but merely sniffed it before pushing the can back to Wang Xiyi, "I don’t drink alcohol while working... Alcohol impairs my logical thinking."

"How dull, right? Then what would you like to drink? Tea? Coffee? Or maybe soda?" Wang Xiyi, despite her words, was grinning broadly as she pulled the can of beer to herself and took a swig.

"Soda, please, not the sugar-free kind." Song Yarong glanced at the draft paper filled to the brim beside her computer, "I need a little sugar... no, not just a little, I need a lot of sugar."

"Here you go." Wang Xiyi placed a can of cola in front of her, "Mr. Yang, do you want a can too?"

"I’m good, thanks." On the other side of the table, Yang Qi was resting her cheek on the back of her hand, her face angled toward the rapidly flickering screen with a furrowed brow.

"I do, I do." Shinkata Misaki set down the game console and hurried over, rummaging through the plastic bag Wang Xiyi had brought in.

According to Sun Hang’s instructions, the activities of the three were restricted to this safe house, with only Wang Xiyi being able to temporarily leave the room. Hence, their meals and needs had to be brought in by Wang Xiyi from outside.

"This is basically prison!" Shinkata Misaki said disgruntledly, pulling out a can of beer from the bag, "That jerk Sun Hang, he promised he’d let me observe Chimera 17 up close, but now I can’t even see a trace of him! I’m so pissed!"

"Underage drinking is prohibited." Wang Xiyi snatched the can from Shinkata Misaki’s hands and shoved a bottle of kvass at her instead, "If you really want to drink, drink this."

"Boring." Though unwilling, Shinkata Misaki couldn’t contest the physical disparity between the two and reluctantly accepted the kvass, unscrewing the cap and taking a huge gulp.

She choked immediately.

"Cough, cough, cough..."

"Are you okay? Want me to pat you on the back?" Wang Xiyi asked.

"No... cough, cough... I was fine... If you pat me, I’ll definitely be in trouble! Cough, cough!" Shinkata Misaki waved her hands repeatedly.

From the first day being "locked" in the safe house, she had experienced the force of this human-shaped black dragon—just like many times before, while Yang Qi and Song Yarong weren’t watching and Wang Xiyi went out for food, she tried to sneak out alone, only to be carried back into the safe house by Wang Xiyi like a chick before she could leave the floor.

"By the way, Mr. Wang." Song Yarong mimicked Sun Hang in addressing Mr. Wang, "About that Wen Ya, have you interacted with him?"

"Interacted?"

"Well, I mean, have you ever fought him?"

"Once, in Chunming City." Wang Xiyi said, "At that time, he was just a fourth-ranked Hunter, same as me."

"What was the result?"

"Both of us were required to use only thirty percent of our strength, so there was no result." Wang Xiyi shrugged, pulling out a large drumstick from a plastic meal box, "It was a draw."

"Have you seen the clash between Sun Hang and Wen Ya on video? What do you think of Sun Hang’s current power level?" Song Yarong asked.

"There’s something you may not know," Wang Xiyi revealed a mysterious smile, "Wen Ya isn’t the strongest Hunter Sun Hang has faced."

"Who else then?" Song Yarong was slightly taken aback.

She had studied all of Sun Hang’s fighting records, and among the battles against other Hunters, Wen Ya should have been the top tier... anyone above Wen Ya could only be a bona fide first-ranked Hunter.

"Sun Hang faced Iron Wall, right in front of me." From across the table, Yang Qi said expressionlessly.

"Iron Wall? When did this happen?!" Song Yarong’s eyes went wide.

"Just before Sun Hang’s first visit to Dubhe Tower to see Mr. Pei."

"And... and who won?" Song Yarong hesitantly swallowed, "Uh, I... I mean, how long did Sun Hang last under Iron Wall?"

"Three minutes." Yang Qi replied.

"Phew... not bad, not bad." Song Yarong let out a sigh of relief. Though surprised, the result was still within her understanding.

"It ended in a draw." Yang Qi added.

"What?! What did you say?" Song Yarong’s neck stiffened, "You’re saying Sun Hang fought Iron Wall to a draw?"

"Because the three-minute duration was set by Mr. Pei, they didn’t continue, but toward the latter half of the battle, Sun Hang fully overpowered Iron Wall..." Yang Qi took a small sip from her cup, "Though I don’t want to believe it, my intuition tells me that if the fight had continued, Sun Hang would likely have been the final winner."

"Does that mean Sun Hang could be one of the top ten Hunters on the ranking list?"

"Do rankings even matter?" Wang Xiyi glanced at her sideways, "Only those with too much time on their hands care about such rankings... Besides, that ranking hasn’t been updated for years."

"That’s true..." Song Yarong conceded dejectedly, "But it’s still surprising... A new Hunter climbing into the top ten so quickly... It sounds like a dream."

"The Taotie Meme is just like that, its growth and adaptability are incredible." Yang Qi nodded, "Otherwise, Mr. Pei wouldn’t have met him specifically."

"What did Sun Hang and Mr. Pei talk about during their meeting?" Song Yarong was very curious.

"I don’t know either." Yang Qi shook her head, "All I know is that this guy seems... quite disrespectful towards Mr. Pei."