Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 343 - 15: Nameplate_2

"Don’t talk nonsense." Candle Dragon glanced at Ye Jiu, "It’s just an external object. If you found a part of Sun Hang’s body inside the giant snake, that would be different, but this is just a nameplate. It’s too early to make a conclusion."

"It’s not just the nameplate! The key is the ability! Sun Hang’s ability has appeared on this mysterious creature!" Ye Jiu shouted, "How do you explain that?"

"It’s an infection." Wang Xiyi took Sun Hang’s nameplate back from Ye Jiu’s hand, "If inanimate objects can become mysterious objects, then logically, the infected can infect the living. Likewise, they can infect inanimate objects, can’t they?"

"What do you mean?" Ye Jiu held his breath and turned to look at Wang Xiyi.

"This nameplate, Sun Hang surely carried it with him every day. Over time, there’s a possibility it could be infected by him... Sun Hang can turn Song Yarong and Jiang Yu into infected. I think he can also turn this nameplate into an object-type mysterious object." Wang Xiyi analyzed.

"That’s impossible, right? If so, Sun Hang’s underwear, which is in close contact with him every day, should also become a mysterious object, shouldn’t it?" Ye Jiu said.

"Examples of inanimate objects infected by the infected becoming mysterious... I think they exist, very few, but definitely not none." Candle Dragon pondered, "But what I don’t understand is, if this nameplate was infected by Sun Hang, why is its ability stronger than Sun Hang, the ’progenitor’? Although I haven’t fought Sun Hang personally, from what I know, even if he pushes his metal manipulation ability to the limit, it’s impossible to create such a huge metal snake."

"The red crystal! Could it be because of that red crystal?!" Ye Jiu’s eyes suddenly lit up, and he said quickly, "Sun Hang told me that the red crystal found in the underground palace has the ability to massively create object-type mysterious objects. Could this nameplate have been transformed by him using the red crystal? Wouldn’t that make sense now?!"

"It still doesn’t make sense." Candle Dragon shook his head, "We’ve all seen the creations of the red crystal. Although it can indeed create mysterious objects out of thin air, the strength of these mysterious objects is generally not high... I don’t think it can create such a powerful mysterious object in such a short time."

"Then could it be because of the Surrendered Area?" Ye Jiu suggested, "Doesn’t Sun Hang have Taotie’s ability? What if this thing can also devour other mysterious objects, and then by a stroke of luck in the Surrendered Area, it swallowed a few powerful mysterious objects and became what it is now..."

"Theoretically possible... but to grow to this extent in such a short time." Candle Dragon sighed, "What do you think the odds are?"

"At least not zero!" Ye Jiu raised an eyebrow, "Alas, frankly speaking, discussing this is pointless. The priority is still to find Sun Hang—as long as we find him, these issues will naturally be resolved."

"No, it’s significant." Candle Dragon slowly shook his head, "Since this nameplate belongs to Sun Hang, it’s an important clue for us—at least we’re on the right track."

Just as Ye Jiu was about to say something, he suddenly noticed Wang Xiyi holding the nameplate with a strange expression, taking two steps in one direction, then returning to the starting point and taking two steps in another direction.

"Mr. Wang, what are you doing?" Ye Jiu couldn’t help but ask.

"This nameplate... seems to sense Sun Hang’s presence." Wang Xiyi murmured, "As I change position, its aura fluctuates... So, I’m wondering if this is determined by the distance between it and Sun Hang."

"Could it be that Sun Hang is nearby?" 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

"Not sure..." Wang Xiyi tried several directions again, finally pointing towards the eleven o’clock direction, "This direction, the aura’s increase is the most obvious!"

"Really?" Ye Jiu took the nameplate and also tried walking back and forth, extending the distance to over two hundred meters to ensure accuracy.

"Damn, it really is!" After a few attempts, Ye Jiu ran back to the starting point and said to the other two, "Indeed, when walking towards eleven o’clock, the aura’s increase is the most noticeable, and when moving the opposite direction, the aura visibly weakens... It seems Sun Hang should be in that direction!"

"Unfortunately, the aura’s intensity change is nonlinear; otherwise, we might be able to calculate the distance between us and Sun Hang." Candle Dragon sighed.

Even though Wang Xiyi and Ye Jiu spoke of "obvious changes," in reality, if described numerically, the change might require a long string of zeros after the decimal point—only elite Hunters and fit candidates like Wang Xiyi and Ye Jiu could sense such subtle aura changes. If a second or third-rate Hunter were holding the nameplate, they might walk several miles without detecting a change.

"Map," Wang Xiyi said in the communication channel.

Soon, a portable projector was set up, projecting a 3D holographic map of the surrounding terrain onto the hood of car number three.

"It’s in this direction." Candle Dragon marked a point on the holographic map with a sensing pen, immediately highlighting a conspicuous red mark on the blue-toned map.

"Following this direction, we need to cross two mountains over four thousand meters high. Even if calculated by relative altitude, they’re still over a thousand meters higher than our current position," Candle Dragon said, "There are no roads here, so the car definitely can’t drive through. At our pace, even without encountering any mysterious objects, it would take four to five days to cross these two mountains."

"I can fly straight over," Wang Xiyi said.

"Rushing in alone is inadvisable." Candle Dragon shook his head, "I don’t want the mission to change from searching for Sun Hang to searching for you and Sun Hang."

Hearing this, Wang Xiyi clicked her tongue impatiently but ultimately said nothing more.

"Plus, that assumes we encounter no mysterious objects... Following the original route, taking highway 4218 across the Hengduan Mountain Range should be the safest..."

"Is the road really safe?" Ye Jiu glanced at the injured around them, and at the agent with their face covered, "I feel that taking the mountain road and the highway... there’s actually no difference."

"Even if the danger level is the same, taking the highway allows us to cross the Hengduan Mountain Range faster. The less time we linger, the lower the probability we encounter danger," Candle Dragon said.

"But if we continue down highway 4218, we’ll get further from the sensed direction," Ye Jiu said.

"My idea is to first cross the Hengduan Mountain Range, then, once we reach the plains, use the nameplate to relocate," Candle Dragon said, "If Sun Hang’s position is on the plains, we’ll go in a straight line to find him. If his actual location is in the mountains, we can adjust our route to re-enter the mountains. What do you think?"

"No objections," Ye Jiu said, "Right now, I’m only worried about one thing, and that’s whether the direction indicated by the nameplate is truly Sun Hang’s position."

"This is the only clue we have, we have no other choice," Candle Dragon said, "As for how to handle the casualties and injured, Night Slayer, you decide."

"Give them car number three, let the lightly wounded take the severely injured and the body back to the border outpost. The rest of us will continue with car number four."

Car number four is a multifunctional engineering vehicle. Naturally, "multifunctional" includes "personnel transport"—its cargo compartment is identical to the Federation Army’s Land Turtle III Type, and its internal space can hold eight fully armed soldiers, making it more than sufficient for the remaining team members.