Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 683 6: Consciousness Extinction

From the terror-stricken expression of the Sheriff, it seemed highly likely that Sun Hang appeared very frightening in his eyes—this piqued Sun Hang's intense curiosity... After devouring the Taotie's avatar, what exactly had he become?

But the memory fragments ended there, and Sun Hang didn't know what happened after he fell into a coma, nor how he later turned into a "normal human" appearance.

Sun Hang remembered clearly that the bullet that hit him was fired from the gun of a Sheriff named "Wang Yu," and not only Wang Yu, but all six Sheriffs in that task group lost their lives in the attack.

Dead men tell no tales.

"Could it be that I killed them?" thought Sun Hang, "But I should have been in a coma after being shot... until those doctors extracted the bullet from my head before I woke up..."

"That's not right."

"Speaking of which, where did the backup team find me? This seems to be not clearly recorded in the files... If it wasn't at this location, it means someone or something else moved my body... Or perhaps, I wasn't really 'unconscious' at that time."

Sun Hang planned to have the mainframe check the mission record of the backup team at that time—the super biological computer located deep within the underground palace has the authority to access all data from the Xiazhou Federation. If it can't find it here, it definitely won't be found elsewhere.

Sun Hang pulled his consciousness away from the prophecy, only to find that Pei Zongjun's hologram had disappeared, and the electronic equipment embedded in the walls had a mass of flashing red lights, with the piercing sound of an alarm echoing throughout the room.

Sun Hang quickly looked at the mainframe's body soaking in the giant glass tank, only to see that the brain tissue cells were undergoing a process of apoptosis—regeneration—apoptosis again at an insane pace, and Sun Hang could distinctly feel that the brain in the tank had turned into a massive black hole, continuously devouring the vital energy he was infusing.

"Damn it, don't die!" Sun Hang panicked and immediately increased the infusion rate of vital energy.

With the massive injection of vital energy, the regeneration rate of the brain tissue cells gradually surpassed the rate of apoptosis... This intense tug-of-war lasted nearly half an hour before the mysterious forces causing the brain tissue cells to self-destruct completely vanished, and the red lights representing "malfunction" on the equipment turned back to green, representing "normal."

The alarm stopped, and in the large room, only the sound of liquid flowing within the tubes feeding nutrients to the mainframe could be heard.

"Hey, are you still alive?" Sun Hang retracted his hand from the glass tank and asked the brain inside.

Soon, several beams of dim blue laser descended from the ceiling, enveloping Sun Hang, scanning him from head to toe, as if recording various physical data about him.

The robot from earlier approached again, now holding a sharp needle—it walked up to Sun Hang, and a gentle female voice emerged from the speaker, unrecognizable as electronically synthesized: "Please relax your body as much as possible. I need to collect a small blood sample."

"Blood sample? Does Dubhe Tower still lack my blood sample?" Sun Hang mumbled—As a Mysterious Creature Hunter, blood draws were almost routine at the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute. To monitor each infectee's physical condition and infection progress, every infectee, even if not a Mysterious Creature Hunter, must regularly undergo comprehensive physical exams.

Blood draws, such a fundamental procedure, were familiar to every infectee.

Despite his grumbling, Sun Hang did not resist and obediently extended his arm, placing it on the armrest formed by two mechanical arms.

"Mainframe? Mr. Pei? What's the point of this blood draw? I just had a full exam two days ago, and the blood test report is already on the computer at the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute—oh right, they definitely sent you a copy... Why draw blood now?"

The robot inserted the needle into the crook of Sun Hang's arm, extracting several tens of milliliters of fresh blood, then directly placed the metal tube containing the blood into a slot on the base of the glass tank.

This slot seemed specifically designed for this metal tube, fitting perfectly.

"What the hell is this..."

"Biological individual information recorded... Consciousness subject code: Sun Hang." An emotionless voice echoed in the room, "Highest authority has been unlocked for you, you are now the second generation controller of the 'mainframe'."

"Highest authority? Second generation controller?" Sun Hang froze, "What does that mean? Where's Pei Zongjun? Pei Zongjun, are you trying to dump this mess on me? Where are you? Stop hiding, come out and talk!"

"The first generation controller of the 'mainframe,' Pei Zongjun's consciousness has completely perished. Based on his final instructions, you have been chosen as the new controller of the 'mainframe'." That emotionless voice continued.

"What? Dead?" Sun Hang opened his mouth in disbelief, "Mr. Pei, how could you just die like that?"

If he had known that reading the memory images would result in the demise of Pei Zongjun's consciousness, Sun Hang would never have made such a reckless decision.