Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 302 Ants
……

Several researchers dressed like Michelin men carefully took the container of meme samples from Sun Hang, and then quickly got into an armored all-terrain vehicle that had been waiting on the side. Under the escort of several armed vehicles and a large number of drones, they quickly drove towards Tianfu City.

Sun Hang turned his head and looked in the direction of Chimera No. 17. From time to time, he could see one or two energy streams cutting through the night sky, tearing through the rain curtain, and falling somewhere beyond his sight.

"How many members of the 'suicide squad' that was sent in later have been evacuated?" Sun Hang looked up at Ye Xuan who was standing on the edge of the concrete base holding an electronic telescope, and asked.

"There are a total of three thousand people, and about six hundred have been evacuated so far. About two hundred people have been confirmed killed. In addition, nearly four hundred people are missing." Ye Xuan said without turning her head.

"The human wave tactic was your idea, right?" Sun Hang asked again.

"Yes." Ye Xuan did not deny.

She put down the binoculars, looked down at Sun Hang who was riding on the hoverbike, and added: "Using any means necessary to achieve victory is my consistent code of conduct. If you don't like my approach, or think my decision is too inhumane, you can protest to the Federal Parliament. No matter how the Federal Parliament intends to deal with me, I will not resist."

"I didn't say you did something wrong." Sun Hang shrugged. "I just think that many people died in vain. In fact, if you didn't organize this 'suicide squad', I could also bring out the meme sample."

"In a war between races, when one race is at a disadvantage, as long as they can win the war, individual life and death and dignity are irrelevant." Ye Xuan continued, "Have you seen Animal World?"

"I haven't seen it." Sun Hang said.

"When I was a kid, there was an episode in this documentary that made a big impression on me."

"Is it the episode called 'The breeding season is here again'?" Sun Hang asked.

"Didn't you say you haven't seen it?" Ye Xuan frowned slightly.

“I haven’t seen it, but that doesn’t affect me not knowing the origin of a certain popular internet meme, right?” Sun Hang joked.

"The episode I mentioned is about the red fire ants native to South America. This creature originally lived in a tropical rainforest climate, where heavy rains for days or even months in a row are very common. When heavy rains cause floods that wash away the red fire ants' nests, they will spontaneously gather together to form an "ant raft", placing the fragile eggs, pupae and larvae on the top of the ant raft, and the most important queen ant is wrapped up and placed in the safest position inside the ant raft. This ant raft composed of countless red fire ants can drift on the water for a long time until they find land and then rebuild their nests." Ye Xuan said.

"This story seems a little familiar." Wang Xiyi suddenly interrupted, "But the version I've heard is about a sudden forest fire, and the ants huddled together and rolled out of the sea of ​​fire."

“Whether it’s a flood or a fire, the survival rate of the ants in the outermost circle is almost zero. They will be drowned or burned to death… But it is precisely because of the sacrifice of these ants that the entire ant colony can escape the crisis of extinction and continue to reproduce.” Ye Xuan said, “The current situation of us humans is actually not much different from that of these ants that encountered natural disasters.”

"So, when you distribute the pensions to the families of the fallen soldiers, will you also tell their families this story?" Sun Hang scratched his head.

"Of course not. I will tell the families that their children died gloriously on the battlefield against the monsters. They saved the people of an entire city. Their sacrifice has a lofty meaning and incomparable value..."

"Wait a minute," Sun Hang interrupted Ye Xuan before she finished speaking, "What will you say if Tianfu City fails to be defended in the end?"

"Then it won't be my turn to speak." Ye Xuan said calmly, "I have told my father that if Shuzhou falls, I will stay on this land forever."

"Uh... your father has no objection?"

"Of course I have objections! And they are very big!" Ye Jiu walked over angrily, "If it weren't for the pressure from the parliament, Dad would have wanted to find someone to kidnap Xuan'er back to Chunming City... I was wondering why you are so stubborn this time, insisting on issuing a military order... Now I'm in a dilemma."

"I have never regretted it." Ye Xuan said, "If you are afraid, you are fully capable of leaving Shuzhou before the situation gets out of control."

"There's no point in me leaving. My dad gave me a death order, telling me that I must ensure the safety of his precious daughter." Ye Jiu said angrily.

However, he did not say the second half of what his father said to him - "If it is impossible, then knock Xuan'er out and bring her back. I will find a way to deal with the military order!"

"If I'm afraid of death, what will they think?" Ye Xuan pointed to a messy artificial floating island not far away - the "suicide squad" who had just withdrawn were gathered on several temporary artificial floating islands. Those who were strong enough could climb up by themselves, but more soldiers were pushed or pulled onto the floating islands by their companions.

They had to march at full speed for forty kilometers in the swamp, and had to worry from time to time whether energy strong enough to evaporate everything would fall on their heads. On the way of retreat, there were also various independent monsters controlled by Chimera No. 17 and parasitic colleagues... These death squads had reached their limits both physically and mentally.

They were either lying or sitting, completely ignoring the mud on their bodies, and not caring about the effects of radiation if they opened their masks, and they sipped special nutrient solutions in big gulps; some of them had injected themselves with overdoses of stimulants during the retreat, and now they fell down and fainted as soon as the effect of the drugs wore off... Medics wearing Red Cross armbands moved among them, carrying those with more serious injuries onto stretchers, and then transporting them back to temporary hospitals in the rear by all-terrain vehicles or helicopters.

"Do you feel that the radiation here seems to have weakened a lot compared to when we first arrived?" Sun Hang suddenly changed the subject.

"The technicians reported this to me half an hour ago," Ye Xuan said. "Chimera 17 is absorbing radiation from the surrounding environment... The observers also found that even the energy stream it emits is recovered before it completely dissipates. It seems that it has a sense of crisis about our operation and is unwilling to waste too much of its own energy."

"So will it break out of its cocoon earlier?"

"According to calculations, this little bit of radiation in the environment is only a drop in the bucket compared to the total energy required for it to hatch..." Ye Xuan nodded, then shook her head. "The time it takes to break out of its cocoon will indeed be advanced, but only by a few minutes at most, which is within an acceptable range."

"It can absorb human memories. I guess it already knows about the 'Pesticide Plan.'" Sun Hang said as he walked into the bunker. He glanced at Yang Qi's portrait on the big screen and asked, "Director Yang, do you have any countermeasures?"

"No." Yang Qi said with a tense face, "The plan has already started. It cannot be stopped or modified."

"The good news is that most of the hunters who participated in the operation did not know the full content of the 'Pesticide Plan'." Another researcher-like person on the screen said that Sun Hang had only seen this person a few times. He was said to be one of the right-hand men of the old director in the wheelchair. "Most of the hunters only knew that their mission was to collect memetic samples from Chimera 17. As for what these memetic samples would be used for, they did not know." Yang Qi also said, "Only a few of you know the details of the entire plan. Fortunately, you all returned safely."

"But the hunters are not fools. After knowing the content of the mission, they can more or less guess part of the plan... not to mention that a group of hunters came on the same flight as the meme reverse engineering team." Sun Hang still insisted on his opinion, "And Chimera 17's IQ is not low. It can not only simulate the way humans think, but also has information processing capabilities similar to supercomputers... After collecting enough 'intelligence fragments', it can completely piece together the general content of the 'Pesticide Plan'. I think you should still treat the plan as if it has been exposed."

"Then there is no time left for us to revise the plan again." Yang Qi sighed, "According to the original plan, we will have to race against time... Sun Hang, we really don't have time."

"There's no need to drastically modify the plan... What I mean is, if Chimera 17 comes up with some countermeasures based on your plan, can you prepare some countermeasures to counter these countermeasures?"

Sun Hang felt like he was speaking a tongue twister.

"I'll find a way..." Yang Qi's eyes flashed with fatigue. She rubbed her temples with her index fingers. "You've worked hard... The goal of the first phase has been achieved. They should all return to Tianfu City. Before the 'insecticide' is successfully developed, we should not stimulate Chimera 17, lest it mutate again."

……

……

At four o'clock in the morning of the next day, Sun Hang was awakened by the preset alarm clock. He sat up, looked at Wang Xiyi who was sleeping very badly next to him, gently moved away the dragon tail wrapped around his waist, and then stretched comfortably.

For researchers, this period of time is a time to work overtime to catch up with the progress... but for hunters like them, it is the last "holiday" before the war comes.

Sun Hang turned over and got out of bed, picked up the clothes thrown on the ground, put them on, and walked to the bedroom window.

It was always pitch black outside the window, whether it was four in the morning or four in the afternoon.

"Only two hours of sleep?" Wang Xiyi's voice came from behind, "When did you start learning from Yang Qi?"

"Yang Qi is just an ordinary person. She may die suddenly, but I won't." Sun Hang sighed, "You let me stay up for ten nights in a row, and I probably won't even feel sleepy."

"Then why are you still sleeping? You might as well practice cultivation." Wang Xiyi said with a chuckle.

"In fact, apart from sleeping, I found that I can do without eating or pooping." Sun Hang opened the window, and the cold wind of more than ten degrees below zero outside blew in. The air he exhaled from his mouth and nose immediately turned into a touch of white frost.

"Then why do you still eat, sleep and poop? I find these things troublesome." Wang Xiyi complained, "Even if they improve the taste of nutrition bars, you will still get tired of eating this kind of thing all day long."

"Eating, sleeping and shitting make me feel like I'm still a human being," said Sun Hang.

Wang Xiyi fell silent for a moment. After about half a minute, she asked, "If I eat normal food, I might have to eat several tons a day to be full. Do you think I am still a human being?"

"Others may think it's useless, but you have to think it's useful yourself." Sun Hang closed the window and picked up the water glass beside him - but just when he was about to drink water, he found that a thin layer of ice had formed on the water surface.

"That's it. Whenever you doubt whether you are still human, just repeat to yourself a hundred times, 'I am a human, not a monster'... What's that word called? Oh, yes, it's called 'ideological stamp'... Why don't you just stamp yourself with an ideological stamp?"

"Have you ever done this kind of thing?" Sun Hang looked at Wang Xiyi with a playful look.

"Not really." Wang Xiyi shook the tail that was longer than her height, "I always thought I was a human, just an outlier among humans."

"Very good." Sun Hang curled his lips.

The biggest difference between him and Wang Xiyi is that Wang Xiyi has a clear human identity...but Sun Hang doesn't even know where he came from.

If... the occupied area is my "homeland"...

Could it be that I am... a strange creature that looks like a human?

"Do you know how the difference between infected people and monsters was defined in the beginning?" Wang Xiyi suddenly asked.

"The rate of change of the infection process? Or clear self-awareness?" Sun Hang asked.

"Neither, but emotions." Wang Xiyi shook her head. "Infected people with normal and reasonable human emotions are considered to be infected people who have not been completely weirded. In other words, they are still considered 'humans'. Infected people who have lost all emotions, or have gone to extreme and lost their rationality in some emotions, are considered to have been completely weirded and turned into a weird creature."

"..."

"Of course, this way of definition is not rigorous and was later abandoned." Wang Xiyi shrugged, but this action caused the blanket hanging on her to slide down, revealing a large area of ​​beautiful scenery.

"Do you think you have those human emotions?" Wang Xiyi did not pull the slipping blanket, but showed herself to Sun Hang generously, "Happiness, sadness, frustration, disgust... or love?"

(End of this chapter)