Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 637 - 168: Encirclement (Part 2)

Of course, what Shinkata Misaki didn't know was that the number of hunting missions she had participated in was more than that of all the others in the convoy combined.

Many of the field agents stationed at the secret camp had been urgently recruited after the eternal night descended. The missions Zhong Ling participated in were more experimental rather than hunting missions... As for Sun Hang, in the Hunter's records, the hunting missions he had formally completed added up to less than double digits.

"Should... should we abandon the cars and head up the mountain?" Shinkata Misaki tentatively suggested.

She completely forgot that they had just escaped from the mountain summit not long ago.

"There's a place north of Shuzhou, south of the Hexi Corridor, that's quite suitable for you to defend," Sun Hang glanced at her and said.

"What place?"

"Jie Ting."

"Jie Ting... what kind of place is that?" Shinkata Misaki looked bewildered.

"Haven't you read Romance of the Three Kingdoms?"

"I've only played Dynasty Warriors... come to think of it, there seems to be a checkpoint called Jie Ting, but I don't remember clearly. Is there something special about this place?"

"I suggest you play less games and read more books when you get back." Sun Hang sighed. Sometimes, trying to make a joke only to find the other person can't catch on is the most frustrating thing.

"If we go up the mountain, and shadows rise from the foot, the situation will only get worse," said the field agent, "Besides, didn't you just retreat from the summit?"

"I... I forgot," Shinkata Misaki's face turned crimson. She suddenly wanted to slap herself—why did she suggest such a stupid idea?

In hindsight, it would have been better to remain silent.

"Keep moving forward," Sun Hang said calmly. "If the shadows are just driving us, I'm curious to see where they want us to go."

Sun Hang opened the holographic projector situated on the co-pilot's roof. A 3D holographic map of the valley immediately appeared before him.

Just as the field agent said, the road they were on now was the only passage in and out of the valley. Otherwise, to leave the valley, they would have to abandon their cars and climb over the mountain peaks on either side.

"What about support?"

"A support helicopter will rendezvous with us in seven minutes," the field agent said. "But at our current speed, we'll be out of the valley and onto Highway 505 in four minutes."

"Do we still have any drones?" Sun Hang asked.

"There's one more on the car."

"Give me the controller."

Accompanied by the sound of rotor blades whirring, a small drone flew out of the sunroof and swiftly passed over the convoy, heading toward the valley exit.

The holographic projection in front of Sun Hang split into two parts—one showing the valley's terrain projection, and the other displaying the real-time footage from the drone.

Sun Hang operated the drone controller with both hands, continuously lowering the drone's altitude until it was about ten meters above ground when the right-side projection suddenly paused, and then vanished completely.

"Warning, drone signal lost! Warning, drone signal lost!"

"Did the drone crash?" Shinkata Misaki couldn't help but ask. "But I thought the flying altitude wasn't too low, and the area is quite flat... I've flown drones before; at this speed, it shouldn't be easy to crash, right?"

"Not crash, but shot down..."

Before the words were out, a sudden braking sound came from ahead.

Facing the rapidly enlarging rear of the car in front, the field agent driving slammed on the brakes, the ABS system emitted a piercing noise as the car's rear began drifting to one side—fortunately, the three of them in the back had their seatbelts fastened and didn't crash into the front seats.

"What's happening? Why brake?" The field agent in the back instinctively placed his hand on the holster at his waist.

"The lead car... the lead car disappeared!" A frightened voice rang out on the convoy's communication channel.

The field agent recognized this voice; it belonged to a "junior" who joined the team a month later than him, also the driver of the second vehicle in the convoy.

"Explain clearly, what exactly happened?"

"I... I don't know either, just as we were driving, the car in front seemed to be swallowed by a shadow or something and just vanished. I just hurriedly hit the brakes..."

"It's that shadow!" Shinkata Misaki exclaimed, "That shadow has circled in front of us!"

"Car Two, can you see the road in front of you?" Sun Hang picked up the intercom and asked.

"It's... it's just a dark mass, hard to see... I turned on the high beams, but even the light seems to be swallowed—"

The voice on the communication channel abruptly cut off.

Sun Hang noticed a faint shadow overlaying the car in front, causing the once pristine paint to crack and peel, revealing a rusty metal skeleton. The people inside turned from living beings into skeletons in mere seconds.

In the blink of an eye, the car in front completely vanished from view.

"There's... only our car left!" The field agent driving glanced at the rearview mirror, his voice filled with irrepressible fear. "The cars in front and behind... they're... all gone!"

"They've been consumed by the space-time anomaly," Sun Hang said calmly.

The driver's hands gripped the steering wheel, the sweat from his palms soaking the leather wrap, making it feel sticky and slippery. He didn't dare even to breathe heavily... it seemed as if any sound from his breathing would cause the invisible shadow to devour him.

"Yang Qi, there's bad news," Sun Hang said through the communication channel, "we're surrounded by a space-time anomaly."

"But there's also good news," Sun Hang added, "the space-time anomaly seems... hesitant to act against us."

"Hesitant to act against you? Why?" Yang Qi was puzzled.

"I don't know, but after it consumed the other vehicles in the convoy, there's been no movement," Sun Hang said.

Could it be... it's afraid of me?

No, it's not me it's afraid of. It's afraid of the Three Monkeys.

Can phenomenological anomalies also have fears?

"Don't act rashly; the rescue helicopter will be there soon," Yang Qi said. "The helicopter is equipped with heavy-duty cables. When it arrives, fix the hooks in place, and it'll lift you and the vehicle out of the valley."

"Tell the helicopter not to come," Sun Hang said. "Unless you want to lose another helicopter and its crew."

"Then what are you going to do?"

"Trust me, keep moving forward," Sun Hang patted the driver's shoulder and said softly.

"Huh? Keep driving?" The driver was stunned. "But—just now we watched that car's occupants turn into skeletons and then disappear!"

"If the shadow wanted to consume us, it would've done so by now," Sun Hang said. "But since we're still here, it means it's wary of us. Don't be afraid; just drive forward. It'll let us pass."

The driver glanced at Sun Hang, took a deep breath, gritted his teeth, shifted gears with trembling hands, and gripped the steering wheel tightly as he slowly released the brakes.

The car began inching forward.

Ten centimeters... twenty centimeters... half a meter... one meter...

Soon, Sun Hang's car reached the spot where the car in front had vanished.

Nothing happened.

The driver let out a sigh of relief, quickly wiping the cold sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand, and softly asked, "Should we keep going forward?"

"Yes."