Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 690 - 9: Egypt (Part 2)

After saying all this, the screen of the wristband went dark, reverting to its original state.

"Is this... the Mainframe?" Candle Dragon pointed at Sun Hang's wristband and asked.

"Uh... I suppose it is. Speaking of which, Mainframe, have you been monitoring my every move all along?" Sun Hang suddenly felt a bit uncomfortable.

Even though he had always known that the Hunter wristband was a tool used by Dubhe Tower and the Mysterious Creature Research Institutes across various city-states to monitor hunters under their command, the thought of everything he said and did being recorded by the Mainframe made him feel somewhat displeased.

This Mainframe surely can't be monitoring even his private life?

When he was having deep conversations with attractive ladies in the future, would this thing suddenly make suggestions like it was doing now?

Artificial intelligence might not have emotions, but Sun Hang certainly did.

He suddenly felt like throwing the wristband away—with his current authority, even if he didn't wear this lousy wristband, nobody would dare say anything.

"This protocol was announced when the previous controller transferred authority. If you feel disturbed, you can turn off this feature at any time and reactivate it when needed," the Mainframe said.

"When was it announced?" Sun Hang was taken aback, "I never heard about it."

"During the scan of your body data."

Sun Hang then recalled that during the laser scan of his body, a holographic projection screen had appeared before him, and many characters flashed across it—at the time, Sun Hang was focused on figuring out the situation with Pei Zongjun, so he paid no attention to the content of those characters.

He originally thought it was program text generated while the Mainframe was running, but unexpectedly, it was a "user manual" left behind after Pei Zongjun transferred control authority of the Mainframe to him.

Luckily, Sun Hang's words just triggered the Mainframe's response mechanism, or he wouldn't have known he was being monitored.

"Temporarily turn off the monitoring feature," Sun Hang said.

"Okay, the monitoring feature is now off. When you need to call me, simply touch the red button that appears in the lower left corner of the wristband screen three times to instantly communicate with me," the Mainframe said, and then its voice disappeared completely.

"Actually, I think it's better to keep the monitoring feature on," Candle Dragon advised, "Mr. Pei's consciousness has already dissipated, the current Mainframe is just a super artificial intelligence, it won't disclose your privacy... With it on, it's safer, should any unexpected situation arise, the Mainframe could also react promptly."

"I simply can't get used to being watched 24/7," Sun Hang shook his head, "whether it's a real person or artificial intelligence... By the way, are you still on vacation?"

"Oh, no more vacation," Candle Dragon flashed a wry smile, "I'm planning to go find Mr. Ouyang now; he will certainly be selected by the Mainframe for that project group... But I suggest you be mentally prepared, even though the Mainframe has elevated this project to top priority, the spacecraft you want won't be made in just a few months."

"It requires several months..."

Remembering what Pei Zongjun had told him, Sun Hang realized the other had requested him not to leave the Xiazhou Federation during this time—if this time referred to these months, then it exactly fulfilled Pei Zongjun's last wish.

"In fact, a few months of preparation time is very short for a Surrendered Area exploration mission," Candle Dragon shook his head helplessly, "normally, the preparation period for such missions is measured in years."

"Alright, go ahead." Sun Hang also stood up, moving towards the door.

"What are your plans next? Continue staying in Chunming City, or return to Tianfu City?" Candle Dragon inserted his key into the lock and asked Sun Hang as he turned his head.

"I might make a trip to Lake Baikal City, or rather, the Lake Baikal City ruins," Sun Hang said, "Pei Zongjun mentioned the Death Aurora to me, I wish to go over there and see."

"Lake Baikal City... indeed." Candle Dragon nodded, "After the issues of Eternal Night and Chimera 17 have been solved, the most pressing problem for the Xiazhou Federation now is Lake Baikal City... You should know that a mysterious city has inexplicably risen on the ruins of Lake Baikal City, right?"

"I've heard of it."

"Temporary number 790, 'Baikal Remains,' the military's exploratory mission in this mysterious city has reached the fourth round, with over three hundred soldiers dead or missing inside Baikal Remains..." Candle Dragon spoke halfway, then laughed self-deprecatingly, "Suddenly I feel there's no need to tell you so much, the Mainframe knows in more detail than I do, anything you want to know, just ask the Mainframe."

"Alright."

With the creaking sound from the rusty metal hinges, the scorching summer sunlight once again blanketed the two.

Candle Dragon raised the collar of his trench coat, tucked his hands into his pockets, and glanced back at Sun Hang: "You probably aren't heading to Lake Baikal City just yet, right? If you're returning to Dubhe Tower, I could take you along."

"No need, I'll just wander around Chunming City." Sun Hang politely declined Candle Dragon's offer.

"Alright, I'll head back then." Candle Dragon nodded, walking straight toward the parking area.

Sun Hang returned to the bustling commercial district—right now it's noon, and the chairs outside the street-side restaurants meant for queues were fully occupied, waiters holding PADs shouted numbers at the top of their lungs, but almost instantly, their voices were drowned out by the crowd.

Sun Hang had once seen the appearance of Tianfu City's most bustling commercial street before the arrival of Eternal Night, but compared to Chunming City, it was still somewhat inferior.

This is the "center" of existing human civilization, the center in every sense, without exception.

This is a three-dimensional city, with countless sky bridges, and floating tunnels dividing the sky into myriad cabinets of different sizes and shapes, and everywhere you look, the most abundant thing is people.

After the first Mysterious Creature War, humanity's population drastically decreased, and the remaining Xiazhou Federation started vigorously promoting childbirth. But even so, population numbers never seemed to recover, coupled with occasional mysterious creature attack incidents. Even with the influx of refugees from other countries surrendering to the Xiazhou Federation from other Surrendered Areas, Xiazhou Federation's population count still hasn't caught up with the total population before the Mysterious Creature War.

Yet from the current appearance of Chunming City, Sun Hang had a mistaken impression that the population of Xiazhou Federation was truly vast, almost bursting at the seams.

"Feeling a bit hungry," Sun Hang pressed his stomach as a kind of ravenous feeling invaded his mind... After being transformed by the Taishan Meme, Sun Hang logically wouldn't experience physical hunger. Although it seemed like hunger, it was more a mix of habit and craving for food—in reality, the hunger he felt was entirely simulated by his "wish fulfillment" ability.

Sun Hang opened his phone and began searching for nearby restaurants, but these luxury eateries charging four figures for a meal either showed reservations full, or queues extending from lunch to dinner...

"There are so many rich people, hundreds or thousands for a meal, and people are fighting to have it..." Sun Hang couldn't help but complain, having decided to splurge once and experience so-called high-end dining, but Chunming City seemed unwilling to grant him this opportunity.

"Speaking of which, it's not even the peak tourism season... Oh well, might have to find a small street stall," Sun Hang muttered, "If worse comes to worse, there's always Sichuan Grand Hotel or Golden Arches... This large Chunming City wouldn't possibly lack these two, right?"