CHAPTER 322: CHAPTER 5: THE CRIMINAL

Celestial City, Mysterious Creature Research Institute, Combat Meeting Room.

"So, according to Sun Hang’s last travel route, he is most likely heading southwest, passing through the Hengduan Mountain Range, and entering the Yun Dian Occupation Zone..." Yang Qi analyzed, frowning at the intermittent trajectory map on the screen.

"Get me a border exit permit." Wang Xiyi said without hesitation, "I’ll bring him back from the Occupation Zone!"

"Night Slayer, don’t rush. We’re not yet certain if Sun Hang has really entered the Occupation Zone," said Yang Lian. "Has there been any news from the border posts near the Hengduan Mountain Range?"

"Just received news, the Hengduan Mountain Range’s border posts 197 and 198 have lost contact. According to drone images, there are signs of battle near the posts, but it’s still unclear if Sun Hang was involved..." Song Yarong burst into the combat meeting room. "Moreover, posts 195, 196, and 199 were subjected to unidentified EMP attacks, disabling all communication equipment, which is why the messages haven’t come through."

"Do you think Sun Hang attacked those posts?" Wang Xiyi scanned the faces of others, asking with a hostile tone.

"We can’t say until we get on-site investigation results, and the search for survivors will proceed simultaneously," Ye Xuan stated seriously. "Without any evidence, he is just the prime suspect."

"I’m really curious, what madness drove Sun Hang... He didn’t leave even a single message, just dove straight into the Occupation Zone. Is he tired of living?" Yang Lian asked in confusion, her two fingers tapping a stylus against the edge of a tablet without noticing the several scratches appearing on the lacquer.

"Yang Qi, since you’re a researcher at the Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute, you must have heard of ’that phenomenon’, right?" Ye Xuan suddenly asked Yang Qi.

Her face was expressionless, but a complex look flickered in her eyes.

"You mean... ’that’?"

"Yes..." After exchanging a glance with Yang Qi, Ye Xuan nodded slowly, "A small number of infected individuals, as their infection progresses deeper, tend to develop an extremely strong sense of loneliness and alienation in human society... They end up desiring the ’meme origin’ that infected them or similar mysterious creatures, and this tendency leads most of them to try escaping the human world and entering the Occupation Zone... Besides these symptoms, they appear no different from sane Hunters."

Ye Xuan paused and continued, "This phenomenon is academically called ’Migration’."

"But until Sun Hang’s bracelet was dismantled, his infection had shown no changes!" Wang Xiyi retorted.

"We can’t always believe in equipment..."

Ye Xuan’s words were cut off by Wang Xiyi coldly, "If not the equipment, then am I supposed to believe you?"

"I’m not here to argue, arguing is pointless." Ye Xuan said calmly, "If you think arguing will solve the problem, go ahead."

Wang Xiyi hesitated, and after taking three deep breaths, she said to Yang Qi, "I need a border exit permit, now, immediately, at once!"

"We’re also in a rush... but..."

Before Yang Qi could finish, the meeting room door was opened again.

The old director entered the meeting room, seated in a motorized wheelchair. He glanced at Wang Xiyi, nodding with a smile, "A border exit permit will be arranged, but first, you need to pick someone up in Chunming City."

"Pick someone up? Who?" Wang Xiyi was taken aback, asking in confusion.

"A special prisoner detained in the Dubhe Tower, a former temporary investigator, Li Junwen," the old director said unhurriedly. "He is also the only person in the human world who stayed over seven days in the Occupation Zone and returned safely to civilization."

"Here is his file." The old director placed a folder on the table.

Yang Qi opened the folder.

...

Li Junwen, male, 46 years old.

Place of origin: Qiantang City Xia Sha District.

Was arrested in the year 4698 of the lunar calendar for intentional murder and sentenced to forty-five years of imprisonment.

In the second year of his sentence, he signed an agreement with the Qiantang City Management Committee and the Qiantang City Anomaly Investigation Bureau to serve as a temporary investigator for three years to offset the remaining prison term.

The deal seemed good, trading three years for forty-four years, but in reality, few last even a year in the profession of temporary investigator...

Places like Lake Baikal City, where mysterious creatures seldom appear, do not recruit temporary investigators from prisons... Conversely, places recruiting from prisons demand a lot from their temporary investigators.

But Li Junwen is an exception. He not only survived and completed all the tasks assigned over three years, but on the day his term ended, he declined the chance to become a regular investigator and chose retirement.

With the not-so-modest retirement compensation from the Anomaly Investigation Bureau, he opened a small supermarket in Qiantang City.

Yet it seemed fate played a cruel joke. Shortly after retirement, he often felt a slight pain in his abdomen—upon a hospital checkup, he was immediately diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer, with an expected survival time of less than two months.