Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 571 - 134: "Volunteer"_2

"I don't know." Sun Hang laughed.

"..." Yao Yu was slightly taken aback. He glanced again at Ye Xuan and Wang Xiyi standing next to Sun Hang and continued, "One type views mysterious creatures as deities, believing that they are divine punishments or salvation. Only through sincere repentance can one be spared in this world-ending disaster... This type of cult organization is quite extreme and behaves more frantically, but its cohesion relies entirely on human despair and fear. Its scale and strength are not too strong, and it is difficult to sustain long-term development."

"So, according to you, the cult organization you've joined belongs to the other type?"

"Yes." Yao Yu nodded seriously, "This type does not worship mysterious creatures... Or to be more precise, they don't worship the creatures themselves, but rather the power of these creatures."

Sun Hang looked at Yao Yu, signaling with his eyes for him to continue.

"Actually, what the organization is doing is similar to Dubhe Tower." Yao Yu said, "They're trying to fuse humans with mysterious creatures, figuring out how humans can gain powers that originally belonged only to these creatures..."

"Be careful, Dubhe Tower might sue you for defamation." Sun Hang reminded.

"This isn't defamation. I am a person from Dubhe Tower. I know better than you what we've done." Yao Yu said, "Isn't the lady next to you a product of the artificial Hunter program?"

Sun Hang glanced at Mr. Wang, who shrugged, showing a "can't say anything" expression.

"Unfortunately, Dubhe Tower is constrained by the Federation Council, and those bugs have gotten used to a century of comfortable life... They've long lost their will to advance and their spirit of adventure, always hesitating and refusing to accept any overly radical proposals... Almost ninety percent of artificial Hunter programs have been stopped, and the remaining projects that are still in the exploratory phase are restricted in numerous ways, with almost no progress in the past decade."

"So you joined the cult organization to continue the artificial Hunter program that was halted by the Federation?" Yang Qi's voice directly rang out in the interrogation room—this time, she didn't use the interrogation officer as her proxy.

"Yes, but not entirely." Yao Yu nodded, then shook his head, "What the organization is doing is indeed similar to the artificial Hunter program, but my goals extend far beyond."

"By saying this, the organization sent you and Wen Ya to approach Chimera 17 to steal its meme samples and then use them to create infectees?" Yang Qi asked, "If so, infiltrating into the reverse engineering team for the memes would make it easier to obtain the samples, right?"

"I don't know the organization's true purpose, but since they chose to directly target Chimera 17, it means there's something more valuable in the actual creature than in the meme samples." Yao Yu said, "But for me now, none of that matters."

"Indeed it doesn't matter; you're almost dead." Sun Hang nodded.

"In my opinion, both the organization and Dubhe Tower's directions are wrong." Yao Yu completely ignored Sun Hang's "death threat" and continued, speaking faster, "Fusing, assimilating human and mysterious creature memes is a forced compromise... Although humans can gain mysterious creature power this way, humans themselves are too fragile. This foreign power will eventually lead to backlash—that's why every Hunter, every infectee, ultimately cannot escape complete transformation."

"Are you saying you've found a way to solve this problem?" Ye Xuan asked sharply.

This has been an ultimate conundrum in the realm of mysterious creature and infectee research.

Once humans are infected with mysterious creature memes, no matter how well the infection process is controlled, the infectee will ultimately fully transform... The difference is just the length of time.

It's akin to people who will eventually die... But when ordinary people die, that's it. Whereas infectees, once infection breaks the danger threshold, if not "made harmless" promptly, they will explode like a countdown timer.

If Yao Yu truly finds a solution to this problem, even offering a feasible idea, then he'll surely be awarded this year's Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine—assuming the Nobel Prize Foundation still exists.

"Humans must surpass mysterious creatures; the relationship between Hunter and prey must be reversed." Yao Yu said, "To me, fusing mysterious creature memes is just a forced method to enhance human power... But no matter how humans use this method to increase their power, they can never be stronger than the power source itself."

"This guy's mind seems a bit off," Song Yarong quietly criticized in the communication channel, "I don't know why, but I feel like he's been talking nonsense all along."

"I agree." Wang Xiyi nodded in agreement.

"To change the current situation, humans must actively attack, hunt mysterious creatures." Yao Yu continued.

"Isn't that what Mysterious Creature Hunters are doing?" Ye Xuan asked.

"Mysterious Creature Hunters are just in passive defense... In these hundreds of years, have humans regained even an inch of lost territory?" Yao Yu's speed suddenly slowed, and his tone returned to calm... However, the close-at-hand life sign monitoring equipment readings were telling everyone that his heart was anything but calm.

"Do you know what the true definition of 'hunting' is?" Yao Yu asked.

"Don't ask me, just say what you want." Sun Hang glanced at his bracelet, "You've wasted nine minutes of my time already. If what you say next doesn't interest me, I think this conversation will end here."

"In primitive society, humans hunted beasts to satisfy hunger." Yao Yu stared intently at Sun Hang, "Now, we should hunt mysterious creatures for consumption."

"And the only one capable of devouring is you with the Taotie Meme!" Yao Yu continued, "You are the most special infectee; only you are truly a Mysterious Creature Hunter... Other Hunters are merely human civilization's pitiable tools against the mysterious creature invasion."

"Is that all?" Sun Hang yawned, "I'm getting sleepy."

"I hope to modify my handling result." Yao Yu said.

"After all that talk, aren't you just afraid of dying?"

"I'm not afraid to die; I just have a suggestion." Yao Yu said.

"You are free to suggest, and I am free to listen, but whether I'll consider your suggestion is another matter."

"You could execute me, or you could use my life for something more valuable." Yao Yu said.

"The value of your life doesn't outweigh the crimes you've committed." Ye Xuan said coldly.

"No, I mean..." Yao Yu took a deep breath, "Let Sun Hang infect me with the Taotie Meme and use me as a test subject to observe my changes after infection. As a senior researcher at Dubhe Tower, I can provide clearer and more accurate subjective experiences and feedback data... These things are what those death row prisoners cannot offer."

The communication channel suddenly fell silent.

Theoretically speaking, the Taotie Meme cannot infect humans... Yet Sun Hang is that exception.

As the source of infection, Sun Hang has infected two people, one being Song Yarong, and the other being Jiang Yu, but both were infected with the Taisui Meme, not Sun Hang's original "Taotie Meme."

Regarding if the "Taotie Meme" can indeed infect other humans besides Sun Hang... Every researcher who has thought about this question is undoubtedly extremely curious about the answer.

The "perverse nature" of the Taotie Meme is evident to everyone. If it could truly "mass-produce Sun Hang"... Then launching a counterattack on the Surrendered Area to reclaim lost territory might not be so far-fetched.

Moreover, Yao Yu has a point; as a "volunteer" for this experiment, he is undoubtedly the most "suitable" candidate at present.