Candle Dragon did not answer Charles’ question.
"If you were the commander..." Charles tried asking in a different way, "would you agree with this battle plan?"
Candle Dragon nodded, then shook his head, "’If you are not in the position, do not concern yourself with its affairs.’ I am not in the position of the hunting party commander, so I can’t give you an answer."
"Isn’t it just a matter of saying a few words?" Charles muttered, "You don’t even need to speak, nod YES, shake head NO, just move your neck."
"As a Mysterious Creature Hunter, I am only responsible for executing the tasks assigned to me by my superiors," Candle Dragon said, "I rarely rely on my subjective judgment to decide the life or death of someone or some group."
Upon hearing this, Sun Hang suddenly recalled his employment test.
When Candle Dragon became a Hunter, he must have undergone a similar test.
However, after completing the test, Sun Hang discarded those questions, similar to the ’Trolley Problem’, which have little argumentative value... but judging by Candle Dragon’s behavior, he seems to have stuck to those words he once said even until now.
"Really?" Charles looked at Candle Dragon with some suspicion, "Isn’t it said that all you top Hunters are more individualistic than one another... Why do I feel like you’re just puppets. Well, the word puppet is a bit unpleasant, let’s say... war machines? No, war machines are for the army... Oh, yes, hunting machines! Ruthless hunting machines!"
"You’re not wrong." Candle Dragon nodded slightly.
"Receiving tasks, executing them, tasks succeeding or failing, dying or returning... writing task reports, recuperating or on holiday, and then taking on the next task." Charles murmured, "I know a number of freelance Hunters; they decided to leave the official organizations because they didn’t like this endless cycle... I’m a little curious, do you think beyond the task when accepting one?"
"You’re a mercenary, right?" Candle Dragon turned to look at him.
"Yeah... what about it?"
"Have you ever pulled the trigger on humans?"
Charles remained silent for a moment, opened his mouth as if he wanted to say something, but ultimately stayed quiet.
"Keep watching, even though I think their chances of success are very slim... but in reality, there are still many variables," Candle Dragon’s gaze moved to Sun Hang, "especially that Hunter named Cheng Ming, I believe he is the biggest variable, what do you think, Sun Hang?"
"He... will succeed," Sun Hang slowly said, his expression strange, as if he had seen something incomprehensible.
Just two minutes ago, Sun Hang had used his authority to have the main brain ’divine’ the raid team’s actions, a spur-of-the-moment ’impromptu prophecy’ without any prior preparation, the price paid was extremely high — the main brain virtually rallied all computing power and nearly a third of Dubhe Tower’s energy supply, taking a full thirty seconds to get the result.
The main brain handles an overwhelming multitude of tasks every second, and a thirty-second halt is sufficient to have a massive impact on the entire Federation — various cities experienced network connectivity and power system issues to differing degrees, the control systems in mysterious creature research centers around went haywire, one research center even prematurely lifted all security measures in the mysterious creature reception area, scaring the staff who thought the facility was under mysterious creature attack...
The chaos affected hundreds of cities and tens of millions of people... and the prophecy received was brief, only four words long.
"He will succeed."
Pei Zongjun once said to Sun Hang, the prophecies provided by the main brain are often vague and abstract, these prophecies can yield vastly different conclusions owing to differences in individuals’ comprehension and thinking processes, Pei Zongjun even repeatedly cautioned Sun Hang, the main brain’s (half of Sphinx’s brain) prophecy should only serve as a reference, and not be believed one hundred percent.
He entrusted everything to Sun Hang purely because, aside from Sun Hang, he couldn’t find another answer.
The main brain told him, every path of human civilization’s future is a dead end, only the path with Sun Hang’s name at the end shrouded in mist.
No one knows whether what lies behind the mist is a wall, a pit, or a group of monsters preying upon humans.
But this time, the main brain provided an unusually clear answer.
"He will succeed."
Sun Hang wondered for a moment if there was something wrong with the main brain.
"You’re that confident in Cheng Ming?" Ya Qiaoxi also looked at Sun Hang with a puzzled face.
But on Sun Hang’s face, she saw an expression just like her own.
...
...
The personnel under Chen Jing and Bai Lingqiu had already gathered all the ammunition together, the firing modes of the armored vehicle’s cannon were all set to "overload mode," in which the firing frequency would be increased by three to four times, achieving powerful firepower for a short time at the cost of damaging the cannon barrel... Moreover, the angle of the barrel was adjusted, changing the bombardment area from the entire pit to a circular area about twenty meters in diameter at the southeast corner of the pit.
Including Cheng Ming, twenty-eight assault team members donned power exoskeletons provided by the Bai’s Military Industry and secured themselves under the ’Major Harrier’ heavy military drone using the drone’s own attachment points — the standard load-bearing capacity of this ’Major Harrier’ heavy military drone can reach over a ton, having four or five people underneath it is more than manageable.
The drone’s rotors sliced through the spore mist cluster, slowly positioning the assault team right over the drop point.
"’Major Harrier’ one to six are in position, the assault team can be deployed at any time," the technician controlling the drones said to Chen Jing.
"Deploy the assault team ten seconds after the last round of bombardment," Chen Jing said in a deep voice, gripping the edge of the table, eyes fixed on the screen displaying the drone camera feed.
"Understood."
...
Meanwhile, directly above the pit, drone number one ’Major Harrier’.
This drone had five people hanging underneath, Cheng Ming being one of them.
"This thing feels like riding a roller coaster," one Hunter patted the safety railing shielded before him, "except roller coasters don’t throw you out when reaching the highest point... Damn, I’m kind of regretting it now."
"Regret? It’s too late..." another Hunter glanced at him, "I heard about the drone parachute troop training before, normally this kind of drop method has a mortality rate of five per thousand... and like us, who have never undergone this kind of training... guess how many might fall to their deaths later?"
At this moment, another Hunter suddenly retched, drawing the attention of the others on the same drone.
"Feeling unwell already?" the Hunter who had spoken earlier laughed, "Your complexion hasn’t seemed right since getting rigged up to the drone."
"My family runs a meat processing factory... this rigging method reminds me of those factory pork cuts hanging on the production line after slaughter... Ugh..."