Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 754 44: Impurities

"Mm." Sun Hang nodded.

A few strands of liquid metal quivered twice at his fingertips, and the resin wrapped around the medallion was cut into several pieces.

Sun Hang picked up the somewhat dirty-looking medallion, bringing it close to his nose and sniffed it forcefully.

"What does it smell like?" Wang Xiyi asked with a hint of amusement watching Sun Hang's actions.

"A scent of copper rust. This medallion should be made of copper alloy." Sun Hang said.

Just as Sun Hang had said, the silver coating on the surface of the medallion was severely worn away, exposing the golden brass underneath—the early National Hero Medals of the Former Siberian Federation were made of pure silver, but as the war progressed, silver mines particularly in the Ural Mountains fell, making silver extremely scarce as an industrial resource, especially in the electronics and chemical fields. The lack of raw materials rendered the rear factories unable to meet the frontline demands despite operating at full capacity.

Consequently, various silver products were collected and sent to smelting facilities—although the Federation Government wasn't desperate enough to recall the medals of the soldiers, to reduce silver consumption on this front, the materials for the National Hero Medals issued during the middle and late periods were generally replaced by relatively less scarce brass, with only a thin silver coating on the surface.

"This thing isn't an anomaly." Sun Hang continued, "I don't smell the scent of an anomaly."

"If you say it isn't, then it probably isn't." Wang Xiyi nodded, "In terms of sensing anomalies, even professional detection instruments cannot compare to your nose... I'm just curious, since this medallion isn't an anomaly, how has it been preserved?"

When the Death Aurora descended upon Lake Baikal City, the temperature inside the city reached tens of thousands of degrees Celsius at least; even tungsten alloy cores in armor-piercing rounds with melting points over three thousand degrees vaporized instantly, let alone a brass medallion whose melting point is less than a third of that.

Under such circumstances, nothing could possibly remain in Lake Baikal City... yet, this medallion emerges from within the anomaly city that rose from the Lake Baikal ruins.

This definitely cannot be explained by coincidence.

Everything in the Baikal Remains seems to be simulated by AI; the entire city is pervaded by an eerie, twisted, alien style, yet this medallion happens to be replicated perfectly one-to-one—or perhaps, it wasn't recreated by anomaly powers but was originally an old relic found in Lake Baikal City?

So when the Death Aurora descended, who protected this medallion?

Sun Hang felt as if something flashed through his mind; in that moment of inspiration, he immediately recalled the battle scene from his memory and "watched" it again.

"I reviewed the playback of the recent battle, and I discovered a very interesting phenomenon." Sun Hang said.

"What?"

"Although Mr. Yan killed the most anomaly soldiers, she actually experienced the weakest incoming fire." Sun Hang said, "The one facing the most fire was Mr. Wang, who never engaged, followed by the number one anomaly wreaking havoc on the rooftop."

"Really? I didn't notice..." Mr. Wang was taken aback, "I only felt the bullets hitting the scales, ringing annoyingly."

"I checked the battle records." Yan Yu'an nodded, "Indeed, it is as you said... Additionally, I discovered something else."

Sun Hang: "Tell us."

"The main control computer of the powered armor calculated the trajectories of those anomaly soldiers' bullets. Those aimed at Zhong Ling were actually targeting the anomaly obstructing her, and in fact, there wasn't a single trajectory aiming directly at Zhong Ling." Yan Yu'an said seriously.

"Looking at it this way, the targeting mechanism of these anomaly soldiers is quite clear." Sun Hang said, "Mr. Wang bears the most incoming fire because her Black Dragon meme is too strong. As for the number one anomaly, no need to say more. It has entirely anomalied; except for a few top-tier infectees, no one's anomaly meme can compare to it."

"What about you? In terms of strength, shouldn't you be the highest among us? Why don't these anomaly soldiers attack you much?" Wang Xiyi questioned.

"That's because I keep a low profile." Sun Hang said, "When I'm not using my abilities, my expressed meme strength is barely at the level of a registered Hunter. Any ordinary Hunter at that rank would test stronger than me, so naturally, in the eyes of these anomaly soldiers, I'm not a high-priority target."

Yan Yu'an continued: "The reason they don't attack me much is because the only thing on me with an anomaly meme is this powered armor?"

"Yes, your 'Willow Leaf Saber' is anomaly gear, but essentially only has a minimal part of anomaly tissue implanted in the artifice, with meme strength far lower than conventional anomalies and infectees, hence low hostility value... As for Zhong Ling, she is not an infectee, nor does she have any anomaly memes on her, so those anomaly soldiers naturally won't attack her."

"So... those anomaly soldiers only attack anomalies and infectees? Then why don't they attack the Baikal Remains?" Wang Xiyi picked up a severely deformed steel helmet from the ground, weighed it in her hand, then threw it far away.

"Your question is like asking why they don't kill each other... To them, the Baikal Remains is what they are protecting, and we are like anomalies invading the Baikal Remains." Sun Hang shrugged, "Moreover, none of the reconnaissance squads that entered Baikal Remains earlier were ever attacked by these anomaly soldiers, right?"