Trickster Hunter

Chapter 287 Action ahead of schedule

"Old Li? Is that you?" Liu Yu asked in a deep voice.

He took another step back, but something in the mud seemed to catch the foot of the power armor, causing him to lose his balance and fall on his back.

"Grass!"

Liu Yu cursed secretly, stretched out his hand to support the ground and climbed up, but neither his own arm nor the mechanical arm attached to the power armor backpack could find a point in the slippery mud that could bear the force. I tried several times but failed to lift my body up.

The powered armor with the names of Li Yimin and Peng Wei on it slowly walked up to Liu Yu and lowered his head to look at Liu Yu.

"Old Li? Peng Wei?" Liu Yu still held on to the last trace of fantasy in his heart - but he also knew in his heart that if the person in the power armor in front of him was really Li Yimin, the other party would have already reached out and pulled him up. , but just watched himself struggling in the mud.

The fear in Liu Yu's heart had swelled to the extreme. Faintly, he seemed to be able to see a pair of pale eyes behind the mask on the opposite side, staring directly at him.

No, more than one pair of eyes!

Liu Yu didn't know if he was hallucinating. When the other party was close to less than half a meter away, he finally saw the face hidden behind the shadow of the mask.

This face seemed to have been corroded by strong acid. The surface was covered with dense pits, and at the bottom of these pits, what looked like eyeballs were spinning.

But now, hundreds of eyes of all sizes on "Li Yimin's" face were focused on Liu Yu's face.

Liu Yu's mind suddenly went blank.

"Brother Liu? Brother Liu, are you okay?" Xiao Wang's voice came from the earphones, "Can you get up on your own? Do you need me to come over and help?"

Liu Yu watched helplessly as the monster wearing Li Yimin's armor pushed away its mask, opened its mouth, and a large cluster of sea anemone-like tentacles stretched out from its throat.

"Run! Run!" Liu Yu shouted with all his strength.

…

…

Tianfu City, the construction site of the comprehensive talent training base.

Although the entire Tianfu City has entered a state of martial law, the construction site has not stopped because of this. High-lumen headlights illuminate the entire construction site like daylight. A hundred-meter-high tower crane rises and falls, building modular structures like building blocks. The components are spliced ​​together, and then workers manually lock the locking devices at the joints and pour concrete into the hollow load-bearing steel columns.

The prototype of a building complex that is much larger than the Tianfu City Monster Research Institute has appeared. Even the "temporary research institute" built above the underground palace has been replaced with a solid fortress-like building.

Sun Hang parked the car at the designated location and just locked the door when the cell phone in his pocket rang again.

"It's Yang Qi." The familiar exclusive ringtone allowed Sun Hang to confirm the identity of the caller without even looking at the screen of his phone. He took out his phone and answered the call directly, "Hello? Is there anything else you haven't finished explaining just now? ”

"There is something abnormal happening over at Chimera No. 17!" Yang Qi spoke very quickly, "All observation posts from zero to six have lost contact, and the drone has detected that the memetic intensity of Chimera No. 17 has increased. The speed has accelerated suddenly, and now we have no longer 41 days left... According to the latest data, Chimera's 'cocoon breaking day' on the 17th may be one month ahead of schedule. "

"In other words, there are only eleven days left?"

"Yes."

"In eleven days, you can't even complete the meme reverse engineering, right?" Sun Hang asked, "I remember you said at the meeting that it would take a month to complete 70% of the meme reverse engineering?"

"I just communicated with the reverse engineering team. They told me that as long as the meme sample obtained is complete enough, 50% of the reverse engineering can be completed in ten days... Although 50% of the 'pesticide' The potion's efficacy will be greatly reduced, but it can still significantly weaken the strength of Chimera No. 17."

"Then you mean, you want us to leave now?"

"Yes, firstly, we are investigating the cause of the sudden mutation on Chimera No. 17; secondly, the collection of memetic samples must be started immediately... We really don't have time!"

"What if you accidentally stimulate Chimera No. 17 and its 'cocoon-breaking day' is advanced again?"

"Then let's all wait to die together!" Yang Qi said angrily, "According to the arrangements of the Disaster Countermeasures Committee, all hunters participating in the operation will gather at the north gate of Tianfu City, and there will be vehicles to send you there... By the way, except In addition to the body of Chimera No. 17, we have also detected some memetic fluctuations with independent frequencies, which means that there are other strange things near Chimera No. 17. "

"Is he that guy's younger brother?"

"From a purely memetic perspective, there is no connection between these monsters and Chimera No. 17." Yang Qi said, "But I think they will appear near Chimera No. 17 at this time. , no accident.”

…

…

An hour and a half later.

It is 40 kilometers away from Chimera No. 17.

"Bifang III" large military transport helicopter, with a height of 200 meters.

"This weather is too bad." Ye Jiu opened the door of the helicopter and looked out, "Shuzhou has never seen such heavy rain since the eternal night, right?"

Just as Ye Jiu said, the rain outside at this moment was like a huge basin pouring down from the sky... The helicopter they were riding on did not seem to be in the air at an altitude of 200 meters, but seemed to be under a huge waterfall. If Zhu Long had not used his ability to block the rain curtain, the cabin would have been filled with the radioactive rainwater.

"This rain is not a natural phenomenon." Ye Xuan, who was sitting at the innermost part of the cabin with a military laptop on her knees, said. She reached out to adjust the gas mask on her face and continued, "According to the observation results of the drone, there is a huge 'water absorption force field' directly above Chimera 17. This force field will gather all the water vapor around and form a large area of ​​cumulonimbus clouds..."

"I can't figure out one thing." Another hunter in the cabin who Sun Hang didn't know asked, "Isn't the average temperature in Shuzhou area below zero? Why is it raining instead of snow or hail?"

"The temperature of this rain is not low." Ye Xuan said in a deep voice, "The temperature of the water vapor condensed directly above Chimera 17 is more than 100 degrees Celsius. It's a little far here, but the temperature of the rain when it falls to the ground is also more than 30 degrees... If you stand in the rain without any protective equipment, you will feel that the rain falling on you is warm."

"When you say that, I suddenly feel that this process of gathering water vapor and then raining is very much like a huge cooling system." Sun Hang said.

"Not very similar, but yes." Ye Xuan said in a deep voice, "Since the military launched the first round of nuclear strikes on Chimera 17, the 'incubation mode' of Chimera 17 has undergone a dramatic change... From the data collected so far, Chimera 17 is now equivalent to a super-powerful nuclear fission reactor."

"Is this considered... learning?" Sun Hang muttered.

"What learning?" Ye Jiu looked back at him, puzzled.

"Because this guy was hit by a nuclear bomb, he learned to obtain energy through nuclear fission... If we use a hydrogen bomb to blow it up, if it doesn't die, it will probably turn into a fusion reactor." Sun Hang smacked his lips, "Tsk, there's a saying, 'Anything that doesn't kill me will make me stronger'... It's quite appropriate to use it on Chimera No. 17."

"What if the 'insecticide' doesn't work?" asked the strange hunter who spoke earlier, "If the weirdo masters the ability to reverse edit memes, wouldn't it be a disaster?"

"Don't worry about it. Even if Chimera learns how to make 'insecticide', it can only use this ability to deal with other weirdos. "Ye Xuan shook her head, "As for the hunters who are infected... Excuse me, if it wants to kill you, there is no need to go through so much trouble. "

"Little girl, I don't like what you said." The hunter said, "Although I don't understand the working principle of the anti-meme, I know that this thing can temporarily disable our abilities. In this way, aren't we hunters no different from ordinary people?"

"That is to say, the life-saving trump cards in my hand can only be used based on my own abilities. If I lose my abilities, my combat effectiveness will be worse than that of a soldier." Another hunter said-his body was skinny and his whole body was wrapped in a special bandage, with only a face that was paler than a dead person exposed.

A tailor-made frame exoskeleton was put on his body, and a heavy battery pack was fixed directly on his back-every joint of his body, even including his fingertips, needed the assistance of the exoskeleton to move. If there was no power exoskeleton, he would be no different from a talking mummy.

"If the 'insecticide plan' fails, all hunters will immediately receive an order to evacuate the battlefield." Ye Xuan said in a deep voice, "You don't need to worry about this."

Sun Hang glanced at Ye Xuan with the corner of his eye. In fact, the girl had not said the second half of the sentence.

"Once the 'insecticide plan' fails, all combat personnel will evacuate the battlefield as soon as possible. Ninety minutes later, a saturation nuclear strike will be carried out on Chimera 17."

This is the original words in the combat plan proposed by Yang Qi.

Other combat plans against Chimera 17 are also being accelerated, but after the remaining time is compressed to only a quarter, the only feasible plan is Yang Qi's "insecticide plan".

"The helicopter can only take you here at most. Below is the observation post No. 7, which is currently the closest to Chimera 17. After you are ready at the observation post No. 7, you will approach Chimera 17 from different directions according to the previous grouping. Pay attention to keeping communication open. Once you find other traces of strange things, report to the command center immediately." Ye Xuan said quickly.

"Do we have reinforcements?" asked the hunter wrapped like a mummy.

Ye Xuan glanced at the laptop and said, "There is a 200-man quick response team on standby at Observation Post No. 8, but they cannot approach Chimera 17 - according to the results of the previous explorations, if a group of more than 20 people approaches within 35 kilometers of Chimera 17, it will trigger an emergency response from Chimera 17."

"Long-range fire support can be achieved," Ye Xuan continued, "but in such harsh weather conditions, I suggest you not to have high expectations for the accuracy of long-range fire."

"Understood." The hunter said dullly, and then walked to the hatch with the help of a powered exoskeleton and jumped directly into the rain.

The moment he jumped out, the rain pouring down from the sky instantly distorted, forming a "vacuum belt" to wrap him in it. This visual effect was like a legendary creature called "evacuation". "Water Beads" is the same magic weapon.

The hunter did not continue to fall at the speed of free fall. Instead, he suddenly slowed down when he was still more than ten meters away. Then he stepped on the steps made of air and walked to the ground step by step, as if he was strolling. .

Some hunters who were not afraid of radiation rain also jumped out of the cabin one after another, using their abilities or landing on the ground with the help of the equipment they carried. Ye Jiu also wanted to imitate them and jump out, but was pulled back by Sun Hang.

"If you want to show off, there are plenty of opportunities later." Sun Hang said lightly.

The height of the helicopter has dropped to less than ten meters away, and the remaining hunters have also used rappels to descend to the ground. Only Sun Hang, Wang Xiyi, Ye Jiu, Zhong Ling, and Zhu are left in the huge cabin. Long and Ye Xuan, as well as the coffins containing the skeletons fixed to the cabin floor with anchor hooks.

"What's wrong?" Ye Jiu glanced at Sun Hang, "We are the only ones here now. If you have anything to say, you can say it now. The rain outside is so loud that those who jumped out will not be able to hear it. of."

"If you see three apes in action later, whether they are alive or dead, flat images or three-dimensional sculptures, turn around and run. Run as fast as possible. Don't look back." Sun Hang said seriously.

"You are talking about... the three apes?" Ye Jiu was slightly startled, "I remember you asked me about this before... Does this thing have any connection with Chimera No. 17?"

[P.S. I have to say that this autumn is indeed an eventful one. I fell ill after returning from a business trip during the National Day. I have finally gotten better in the past two days. My father had a sudden illness and was sent to the hospital last night. Fortunately, today's check-up revealed that it was not too serious. It was just some basic diseases in the past, plus a lung infection and pleural effusion. The doctor estimates that I will be hospitalized for more than a week. During this time, I will have to travel between home and the hospital. When I have time, I will also go to the store to help. The update time may be very unstable. But I will try my best to ensure an update volume of 4,000 words per day, so please bear with me. 】