"If you have no objections, then this matter is settled," Mr. Lee said with a smile.

"But, as a Hunter, don't I also have tasks to complete?" Sun Hang asked. "Especially after this operational meeting ends, I might be even busier than Yang Qi's teacher, right?"

"You don't need to worry about that. Dubhe Tower will provide sufficient management personnel and teaching resources for this academy. The position of principal is more like an honorary title... or a model for the students," Mr. Lee explained.

"Then, what about the salary for this principal role?" Sun Hang pondered. Since there was no reason to refuse, he might as well try to gain more benefits.

In this era where human societal order has not yet collapsed, money is still very useful.

"Equivalent to a top-level researcher at Dubhe Tower," Mr. Lee replied.

"What level is that exactly?" Sun Hang glanced at Yang Qi.

"My teacher's compensation is also equivalent to that of a top-level researcher at Dubhe Tower," Yang Qi retorted with a side glance. "For someone with that compensation, salary is the least important thing; authority is what matters."

"So, with that authority, am I on par with the director of the Tianfu City Research Institute?" Sun Hang asked.

"Other than those permissions exclusive to the director, you have everything my teacher has," Yang Qi said. "You can even directly issue orders to me and Night Slayer."

"Sounds impressive," Sun Hang nodded approvingly. "So, can I randomly slap members of the Management Committee then?"

"Uh... theoretically, you could order them to slap themselves," Yang Qi muttered softly, "I didn't realize you held grudges that much."

"Since you've agreed, let me introduce someone to you—Ye, come in," Mr. Lee called out.

A man with facial features very similar to Ye Jiu and Ye Xuan, but overall looked much more mature, walked in. He adjusted the frame on his nose and extended his hand to Sun Hang: "Hello, I'm Ye Qi, a primary researcher at Dubhe Tower."

"And also the prospective Director of Education for the new academy," Mr. Lee added from the side, "your future right-hand man."

"Are you and Ye Jiu... biological brothers?" Sun Hang shook Ye Qi's hand and asked.

"Yes," Ye Qi nodded.

"Your names... are they chosen so casually?"

"Because there are too many children in our family. Except for our eldest brother, Ye Quan, the rest of the siblings are named in the order of birth," Ye Qi explained with a smile.

"Then, what about Ye Xuan?"

"Xuan'Er is our tenth sibling, the youngest in the family, and our father's only daughter," Ye Qi said. "Father always wanted a daughter, but ended up having nine sons in a row until Xuan'Er was born to fulfill his wish."

"Ten children... your mother must have had a hard time?" Sun Hang asked instinctively, not noticing Yang Qi's expression changing slightly.

"We have five mothers. The eldest, second, and third brothers were born to Ms. Lan; the fourth brother, sixth brother, and I were born to Ms. Qin; the fifth and eighth brothers to Ms. Rong; while the ninth brother and Xuan'Er were Mrs. Na's children," Ye Qi said in an even tone, as if it were a normal thing.

"If I remember correctly, isn't the federation practicing monogamy?" Sun Hang muttered. "Is this the privilege of a council member?"

"Not everywhere practices monogamy," Ye Qi said lightly. "In the Siam region to the south of Xiazhou Continent, to accommodate the customs of some immigrant groups, city-state laws allow polygamous marriages. My father and mothers were married there."

"Back then, refugees fleeing from Crescent were resettled in the Siam region by the federation, and many customs and traditions from Crescent took root there as part of local customs."

"Is that so?" Sun Hang blinked. "Well, that's enlightening."

"It's actually not that unusual," Ye Qi said. "Many nobles and wealthy people often fly to Siam to get married in order to marry several legal wives. The wedding industry in the Siam region is even more developed than in Chunming City."

"Got it, open a harem, go to Siam," Sun Hang joked, giving Ye Qi a thumbs up.

"Ha ha, you young folks are so energetic!" Mr. Lee laughed.

"I know some very beautiful female Hunters. If you're interested, I can introduce them to you," Ye Qi said to Sun Hang.

"Are you trying to observe what kind of offspring results from combining different Mysterious Creature meme carriers?" Yang Qi suddenly interjected.

"Yes," Ye Qi unabashedly admitted, "I do have that in mind, but I would secure the consent of both parties before conducting any research..."

"Ye, using children as experimental subjects is inhumane!" Mr. Lee suddenly interrupted him sharply. "I hope I won't hear such words from you again in the future."

"Alright, teacher." Ye Qi nodded obediently without further elaboration, then slightly bowed to Sun Hang, "I apologize for what I just said."

"It's fine; I don't mind," Sun Hang waved it off generously.

Feels like... this guy is also not a normal person, Sun Hang thought to himself.

"Ye is just too eager for results... when you become partners in the future, you'll need to pay more attention to this aspect and prevent him from causing any trouble," Mr. Lee said to Sun Hang.

"Hmm," Sun Hang nodded. He noticed that Ye Qi's expression hadn't changed much, whether introducing his family background or being scolded by Mr. Lee; his face always maintained that standard smile.

If it weren't for his resemblance to Ye Qi and Ye Xuan, Sun Hang would have suspected his face had surgery, like those small fresh meat actors in idol dramas, who have only a few expressions despite being in hundreds or thousands of shots.

Sun Hang always felt that this guy truly exemplified the kind of "unflappable" person Mr. Lee described.

"Alright, time's about up," Mr. Lee glanced at his watch. "The operational meeting should resume."

...

...

After some time of discussion, the second half of the operational meeting saw a clear consensus emerge among everyone—transforming the Hunters' task from straightforward and rough direct searches for the "source of proliferation" to "tracking Mysterious Creatures appearing in the Shuzhou Territory during Eternal Night" and "collecting data such as the movement routes of Mysterious Creatures."

What Sun Hang and the others had to do was to record the movement paths of the Mysterious Creatures like ancient documents and then transmit them back to the Disaster Response Committee. These data would be processed by Dubhe Tower's supercomputer to infer the possible locations of the "source of proliferation."

Before Mysterious Creatures appeared on a large scale, Hunters just needed to wait at observation points in various towns and suburbs.

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