The remaining road wasn’t easy to traverse, but there weren’t any very tricky problems encountered, except for one vehicle that plunged into a fissure leading deep underground due to sudden terrain changes. After that, the hunting group did not experience any more casualties.
The convoy arrived steadily at the pit zone located outside Nanhua Town.
"I need to meet with Chen Jing and the head of Dubhe Tower. The task of setting up the camp is yours." After throwing this line to Cheng Ming, Bai Lingqiu left with Miss Shadow and several attendants, leaving Cheng Ming alone to face the entire convoy and the colleagues who had "been waiting for a long time" at the scene.
Cheng Ming couldn’t help but sigh.
Although he lacked commanding experience, as a qualified Mysterious Creature Hunter, his training included some command courses—after all, when hunting mysterious creatures, hunters often need to cooperate with investigators from the Anomaly Investigation Bureau and ordinary soldiers. In the frequent communication breakdowns, the onsite command authority typically shifts to the most experienced hunter.
The relationship between Mysterious Creature Hunters, anomaly investigators, and ordinary soldiers is somewhat like the modified warriors in Warhammer World and the Star Realm Army composed of mortals; however, the largest difference is likely combat ability—in Warhammer, an unarmed interstellar warrior can easily defeat a fully armed soldier from the Star Realm Army in a one-on-one duel (except for certain legendary units), whereas an unarmed hunter desiring to defeat a fully armed regular soldier in a direct confrontation is something at least two-thirds of hunters across the Federation cannot achieve.
Cheng Ming glanced at Bai Lingqiu as she and others walked towards the Dubhe Tower camp, then turned his gaze to the chaotic members below, feeling that Meng Yunfeng’s evaluation was quite appropriate.
"A ragtag group."
...
...
"So, you’re planning to conduct the first round of fire reconnaissance inside the pit tomorrow morning at seven?" Sun Hang asked Chen Jing and Bai Lingqiu.
"Yes." Bai Lingqiu nodded, "The second phase hunting group brought a lot of heavy firepower equipment, so if we can use ammunition to replace lives, why not?"
"I didn’t expect you to care so much about the lives of these temporarily recruited hunting group members," Sun Hang said with a half-joking tone, "I thought they were just mercenaries hired with money to act as cannon fodder for you."
"It’s just not cost-effective." Ya Qiaoxi suddenly interjected, "Hiring these people to work for you, besides the previously promised rewards, if any hunters die, the three major families need to pay a high sum of compensation to the hunter’s family or designated heir... While the shells and explosives they use for fire reconnaissance are just expired stock from Bai’s Military Industry’s warehouse, the actual cost to the Bai Family might be less than a fifth of the market price. This is a straightforward calculation, and if it were me, I wouldn’t casually use people as cannon fodder."
"What Mr. Ya said... is quite reasonable." Chen Jing awkwardly touched his nose, "However, aside from economical calculations, we also need to consider the reputation of the family and group, not just within Dragon City, but also for outsiders... For businessmen, connections, fame, and prestige are as important as profits."
"You’re quite honest." Ya Qiaoxi seemed satisfied with Chen Jing’s words, "Unlike some things, preaching benevolence and morality on the surface while scheming nasty plans behind."
"Ahem." Candle Dragon coughed twice, giving Ya Qiaoxi a look, signaling her to stop talking.
Some things are best left unsaid when the other party’s attitude is so sincere; there’s no need to make the scene awkward.
"Alright, I understand, continue with what you need to do... Oh, and let Miss Bai stay, I have some words I’d like to say to her privately."
A trace of surprise flashed through Bai Lingqiu’s eyes, but she maintained her expressionless face, silently nodding and saying to the others, "You may leave first."
"Miss Bai’s personal bodyguard should also stay." Sun Hang called out to the female hunter who intended to exit the tent, "Your codename... is ’Miss Shadow,’ right?"
The female hunter stopped, turned to Sun Hang, nodded, and then returned to stand behind Bai Lingqiu.
After waiting for everyone else—including Ya Qiaoxi and Candle Dragon to leave the tent, Sun Hang casually set up a soundproof barrier in the tent, then smiled and asked, "Miss Bai Lingqiu, I’m curious about something."
"Please, go ahead."
"During the combat meeting just now, why did you seek your personal bodyguard’s opinion every time I raised a critical question?" Sun Hang asked, "Does your bodyguard also serve as an advisor?"
"How did you notice?" Bai Lingqiu’s eyes flashed with a hint of panic.
"You may not even realize it, but every time you need to answer a critical question, your gaze unavoidably drifts toward your bodyguard. Although you quickly withdraw your gaze, unfortunately, I noticed." Sun Hang said.
Of course, Sun Hang wouldn’t reveal that during the entire meeting, he used his mind-reading ability on both "Bai Lingqiu" and Chen Jing—neither of them were infected, and using mind reading on them wouldn’t be detected and would consume much less mental energy compared to probing an infectee’s inner thoughts.
"Uh..."
Bai Lingqiu wanted to say something, but Miss Shadow suddenly stepped forward, addressing Sun Hang, "Since you are a representative of Dubhe Tower, there’s nothing to hide from you about this matter..."
"So, you are Bai Lingqiu while she is the real ’shadow’?" Sun Hang pointed at Miss Shadow and then at "Bai Lingqiu," asking.
Miss Shadow, or rather, the real Bai Lingqiu, slowly removed her mask, revealing a face almost identical to "Bai Lingqiu," saying, "That’s correct, I am Bai Lingqiu, and she is a substitute arranged by my family."
"Because of the infection?"
"Yes... I was infected by a mysterious creature when I was very young, and back then, Dragon City had severe discrimination against infectees. My father only has me as his daughter, without any other children, so to ensure my inheritance rights, he had to resort to such a measure..."
"So, your stiff expression is due to cosmetic surgery?" Sun Hang looked at the impassive "substitute Bai Lingqiu."
The lady had to answer since her own Miss had confessed, "Yes..."
"However, times have changed. Even infectees should inherit the patriarch position, why still make you a ’shadow’?"
"Father thinks this is a form of protection for me... Moreover, the offspring of infectees cannot guarantee stable mimemes..." Bai Lingqiu said, with a slightly apologetic look toward her substitute.
"She not only acts as your substitute but also helps you have children?" For a moment, Sun Hang wondered if he had accidentally stumbled into the production set of a clichéd soap opera...
"The reproductive cells produced within the body of an infectee have a certain probability of not carrying any mimetic traces of the mysterious creature. As long as these cells are quickly extracted from the infectee’s body and placed into a ’clean’ developmental environment, even infectees can have normal offspring... I know this violates Federal law, but..."
"Federal law? Those lunatics from Dubhe Tower violate it nearly every day..." Sun Hang waved his hand dismissively, "I’m not interested in the trivial affairs of your Bai Family; I’m interested in you, personally."
"Uh?" Bai Lingqiu was startled, cheeks slightly blushing.
"Or more precisely, your abilities."
"Uh... Oh..." Bai Lingqiu responded awkwardly, realizing she had misunderstood.
"Tell me, how did you get infected, and what is your ability?" Sun Hang asked, "I can sense your mimeme... it’s quite unique."
Bai Lingqiu took a deep breath, and the next second, a small, somewhat worn-out comic book appeared in her palm.
"This is the source of my infection. After being infected by it, it merged into my body; I don’t know if it’s now an independent deceptive equipment or part of my body."
"’Xiazhou Strange Tales’?" Sun Hang read the book title on the cover, "It seems like this book has been around for quite a few years."
"Yes, this book was printed by the youth book publisher of Chang’an Book Society in the Chinese Almanac year 4658... The first time I saw it was at the flea market in Dragon City, I was only seven at the time. I don’t know why, but at first glance, I was captivated by it, so I used my pocket money to buy it... During that time, I read this children’s picture book every day, as if enchanted by it. I was drawn to the bizarre stories within the book... until I summoned the contents from the book into the real world for the first time."
"Contents from the book? Summoning?" Hearing Bai Lingqiu’s words piqued Sun Hang’s curiosity.