Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 623 - 161_2

Anna said again, "In the eyes of the anomalies, humans are no different from cattle and sheep in the eyes of humans."

"According to what you're saying, that anomaly lured me out, was it trying to kill and eat me?" Sun Hang suddenly felt like laughing, "Could it be that the thing has also absorbed the meme of the Taotie? Would a Taotie eating a Taotie get prion disease?"

"No, there's one thing I'm sure of, it won't attack you," Anna said.

"Did you scare it away accidentally or on purpose?"

"On purpose." Anna suddenly chuckled, "I have a strong possessiveness toward my mom; I don't want a third party to interfere in our intimate relationship."

"Possessiveness?" Sun Hang instinctively thought of Wang Xiyi and Yang Lian... If this Anna is a possessive yandere, she wouldn't go after the two women, would she?

Anna once again peered into Sun Hang's inner thoughts and laughed, "Don't worry, Mom. I'm not concerned about your relationships with human women. I'm very clear that the main reason for your reproductive behaviors is to gain physical pleasure... that's just biological instinct and doesn't compare to what we have."

"..."

"Just like how human men don't see their partners' little toys as love rivals, and they aren't jealous of the stuffed animals their partners cuddle while sleeping," Anna said. "I don't mind at all if Mom engages in reproductive behavior with humans, if Mom wishes, I can even find more perfect human females for her..."

"...So, was my visit wasted?"

"Does Mom really feel that spending time alone with me is meaningless?" Anna's voice carried a hint of resentment, "We used to be so close..."

"Stop." Sun Hang turned and walked toward the exit of the restricted area.

This visit wasn't entirely fruitless. At least from Anna's words, Sun Hang learned the fatal weakness of the "wish-fulfillment" ability.

This ability is very easily deceived.

For example, the enemy makes Sun Hang fall into an illusion where a terrible monster exists, along with a towering mountain, and Sun Hang uses the "wish-fulfillment" ability to collapse the mountain onto the monster, killing it...

But in the real world, there isn't a monster or a mountain, nothing happens, and Sun Hang is just left standing there foolishly, wasting a large amount of mana.

Just like what those soldiers saw in the drone surveillance footage.

Another kind of illusion completely separates what Sun Hang perceives from reality, creating a "void zone" in between. Sun Hang's wish-fulfillment ability would be stuck in between the virtual and real, within this "void zone."

Everything he perceives in the virtual world has a counterpart in the "void zone" — and any ability he uses is applied directly to that counterpart within the "void zone."

This means Sun Hang cannot use his ability to influence the virtual world nor the real world.

His power is swallowed up by the void zone, like a black hole.

Just like in Maoyun Town.

Sun Hang drove while pondering how to respond.

By the time he reached the entrance of the research facility park, he hadn't come up with any reliable strategies.

Nevertheless, the key points were twofold: firstly, he must be able to discern whether what he sees is real or fake; without this ability, breaking the illusion is out of question.

Secondly, if he confirmed being in an illusory world, he had to find its irrational parts—the "paradox points" he had been searching for—and from that point, pull his consciousness and awareness out of that illusory world.

Strictly speaking, it wasn't Sun Hang who broke the illusion in Maoyun Town.

The old lady was a "backdoor" Anna left for him—or rather, an "introducing NPC" connecting the virtual and reality—and Sun Hang was guided out through this NPC, not by his own will.

In some sense, it seems Anna hasn't reached the yandere level just yet.

At least she'd allow him a chance to leave... she's not like those heavy-taste stories where the yandere cuts off the protagonist's limbs and gouges out their eyeballs, then confines them in a basement, feeding them nutrients daily...

She seemingly treats him well, at least in her own opinion.

Sun Hang parked the car, took the elevator, and arrived at the safe house prepared for Yang Qi and the others.

As soon as he pushed open the door, Shinkata Misaki's eyes fiercely glared at him: "You're finally here! You said you'd take me to observe Chimera 17 up close. When will that happen?"

"Next time for sure," Sun Hang casually replied, then turned to Yang Qi and Song Yarong, who were busy, "How's the situation with Chimera 17?"

"Not optimistic," Yang Qi said.

"I was gonna ask if you gained anything from your trip." Song Yarong sipped her coffee, "Seeing how you look now, I guess not."

"Yeah, it was a dead end," Sun Hang nodded, "The anomaly that attacked me only leaked a bit of aura and then completely vanished."

"I would say it's pointless to go after that anomaly," Shinkata Misaki said, "The anomaly attacked you means it was carrying out orders from Chimera 17... You don't need to find it, just attack its master, and it'll show itself."

"True." Sun Hang pursed his lips. He hadn't told them about the anomaly videotape. To Yang Qi and the others, the anomaly lurking in the mall and the one Sun Hang was chasing were partners... but Sun Hang knew clearly, the anomaly that took the videotape probably had no connection with Chimera 17.

It's like a ghost wandering in Tianfu City, neither helping Chimera 17 nor humans... it only does things it finds interesting...

As for what it finds interesting... one is the anomaly videotape; the other, probably, is Sun Hang himself.

Not knowing whether the other side was a friend or foe, it seemed better not to provoke it.

At least Anna was right about one thing, not all anomalies hold malice towards humans.

"The reason behind Chimera 17's second mutation is still under analysis. The only thing we've confirmed is that the human faces on the surface of Chimera 17's cocoon are of the people it killed."

"Liu Li figured that out early on," Sun Hang said, "So the command center was busy all day just to rephrase Liu Li's results?"

"There isn't enough data," Yang Qi sighed, "We can't even determine when Chimera 17 will hatch."

"So it could hatch at any time?" Sun Hang murmured, "And then rush over to destroy Tianfu City?"

"It doesn't need to rush over," Yang Qi shook her head, "The expert team estimates that at the moment of hatching, the cocoon will explode, releasing a massive amount of energy equivalent to 4.5 megatons of TNT, roughly 300 times that of 'Little Boy.'

"Tianfu City will be leveled in a nuclear blast," Song Yarong added.

Sun Hang: "...How's the meme reverse engineering group coming along?"

"The completion rate has reached 70%, faster than expected," Yang Qi said, "I've decided that three days from now, we'll begin the final operation."