The people from the institute arrived a little later than those from the City Defense Guard. Besides the "cleaners" wrapped entirely in white protective suits, Yang Qi, Yang Lian, and Wang Xiyi also came along.

Sun Hang noticed that Yang Qi had two heavy dark circles under her eyes, her once smooth hair appeared oily and clumped, and although she had changed into a new white lab coat, there was an extremely strong smell of coffee emanating from her—it was clear this person had just returned from an anomalous space-time and jumped straight back into work without even having time for a shower.

"Did you stay up all night until now?" Sun Hang looked at her, marveling, "You're too dedicated..."

"There aren't enough people at the institute, nothing can be done." Yang Qi sighed, "By the way, thanks to your timely rescue, Song Yarong is out of danger, but..."

"But what?" Sun Hang asked.

"Although she survived, she has become an infected person." Yang Qi said, "Fortunately, the memetic mutation she was infected with, Tai Sui, is relatively mild and easily controlled. Except for that one flaw, it can even give her superhuman physical recovery abilities...

"And what's that one flaw?"

"The Tai Sui memetic mutation has a primary and secondary classification. The bearer of the primary memetic mutation has absolute control over those with the secondary one." Yang Qi continued, "In other words, you could easily decide her life or death with just a thought."

"Oh, then there's no problem." Sun Hang shrugged, "I'm not interested in controlling others."

"I know." Yang Qi said with certainty, looking at Sun Hang, "So the road ahead will be her own choice. She can switch careers to become a Mysterious Creature Hunter, or she can remain at the institute as a researcher."

"With her enthusiasm, I bet she'll use herself as a research subject." In Sun Hang's mind, an image of Song Yarong sitting on the edge of a surgical bed, holding a scalpel in one hand and tweezers in the other, "dissecting herself" flashed by.

"I suppose... not?" Yang Qi paused, but then she nodded, "You're right, I need to inform the professor to keep an eye on her."

"Sun Hang, did you make this big pit?" Wang Xiyi glanced at the battle scene nearby before turning her gaze to Sun Hang.

"Kind of, I took advantage of the terrain." Sun Hang nodded, "I originally thought it was just a group of ordinary thugs, but unexpectedly, there was an infected person among them."

"I just checked the surveillance in the supermarket, and this infected person, if I'm not mistaken, the mysterious creature that infected him might be Wusan 328 'Bloodstain Mold'." Yang Lian suddenly interjected, casting a meaningful glance at his sister.

"Speaking of this matter... it's still our institute's responsibility." Yang Qi sighed, "'Bloodstain Mold' was first discovered in the southern part of the Yundian Region's Mengbalaxi Rainforest. Its appearance turned four local villages into barren lands... According to the original plan, the federation was supposed to clear a blank isolation zone around then use special chemical agents and incendiary bombs to eliminate it. However, a considerable number of experts believed that the mysterious creature was controllable and had high research value, so before the elimination action started, a hunter team was sent to extract a sample of the mold and bring it back to the Yuanmou City's Mysterious Creature Research Institute."

Yang Qi paused and continued, "Later, the Yundian Region fell, and the personnel, research data, and a large number of experimental samples from the Yuanmou City Mysterious Creature Research Institute were transferred to the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute, and the research project on the Bloodstain Mold was temporarily shelved... With the security measures of our institute, if it was sealed away, typically there shouldn't be an accident."

"If there was no accident, then an accident is likely to occur." Sun Hang stated.

"Indeed... A few years ago, an impatient researcher... um, speaking of which, this guy's personality was somewhat similar to Yarong's, just more insane and without limits." Yang Qi continued, "Using his authority, he transferred a batch of death row prisoners from the Celestial City prison to his lab and secretly began human and Bloodstain Mold fusion experiments..."

"Looks like his experiment succeeded?" Sun Hang turned to look at the big pit, where the institute's "cleaners" were using a crane-like robotic arm device to collect the scattered bones at the bottom of the pit, storing them piece by piece into special containers.

"You could say it succeeded, or you could say it failed." Yang Qi shook her head, "Only four people survived the experiments, but without exception, all lost control and rampaged, killing the researcher and his assistant before breaching the lab... By the time the security team arrived, several staff members were already killed... Plus, coincidentally, no hunters were in the Celestial City that day, and the security team managed to take down only two of the four, letting the remaining two escape."

"So there's another one like this out there?" Sun Hang asked.

"No, the other experimental subject was emotionally unstable, attacked passersby everywhere after escaping the institute, and was quickly taken down by the City Defense Guard in cooperation with hunters. The one you took out was the one fugitive who had been on the run for several years."

"There's something strange; the car he used seemed to perfectly shield the aura of the mysterious creature. And its aura was very faint... almost like it employed some method to block perception. Do you know what's going on?" Sun Hang asked.

"It was a special serum he stole from the institute." Yang Qi said, "After being injected, the serum can greatly suppress one's aura, originally intended for hunters who need to sneak close to targets... Now that you mention it, could you still sense his aura after he injected that serum?"

"I could 'smell' a bit." Sun Hang said, "But if he was inside a vehicle or building, it was hard to detect."

"Logically, after injecting this serum, the mysterious creature's aura would be completely shielded for seventy-two hours... Especially for someone like him, a fusion-type infected person, the shielding effect should be even better. Even if I were face to face with him, I might not smell that odor." Wang Xiyi said, "Is your nose that sensitive?"

"I don't know... maybe he didn't inject the full dose to save the serum; it could also be that this batch of serum was stored too long, past its expiration date." Sun Hang said casually.

"Okay, let's put this matter aside for now." Yang Qi looked at Sun Hang and spoke seriously, "I came here for an important matter to discuss with you."

"Important matter?" Sun Hang turned his head, gesturing with his eyes at the big pit, "Isn't this important enough?"

"No, what I want to talk about is more important than this." Yang Qi said, "According to the Disaster Response Committee's requirement, taking advantage just as the Eternal Night descends and mysterious creature activity is not yet lively, they plan to gather the Mysterious Creature Hunters and Deceitful Equipment users and compatible personnel to carry out a crucial mission."

"Be it local hunters from Shuzhou or reinforcements from other regions, all must participate in this mission." Wang Xiyi said, "The plane is already waiting for us."

"Where to?" Sun Hang asked.

"Baqiu City, at the front-line command center set by the Disaster Response Committee in the Shuzhou Region." Yang Qi said, "The operation meeting will be held there, and only then will we know the mission's objective."

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