Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 539 - 118: Tier 5 Hunter (Part 2)
But that aura of danger vanished in an instant, as if it had been merely his illusion.
Wen Ya jerked his head, looking toward the direction from where the dangerous aura had emanated just moments before.
Over there were a dozen shelves, with seven or eight technicians in coveralls busy at work, and a researcher leaning sideways against a cart loaded with goods, absorbed in the tablet in his hand, and next to the researcher...
"Hmm?"
Wen Ya noticed a young man in casual clothes sprawled lazily on a folding chair, his head tilted back, with a gaming magazine covering his face, large over-ear noise-cancelling headphones on, and his legs rhythmically bouncing to the music playing through the headphones — looking every bit like someone idling away time.
Of course, Wen Ya wouldn’t mistake him for someone truly at leisure.
The PFDA testing ground was outdoors, where the temperature was a chilling minus twenty-five degrees Celsius, and this young man was wearing only thin clothes... Wen Ya had every reason to believe this guy was, like him, a Mysterious Creature Hunter.
Could it be that the dangerous aura he had just sensed came from this Hunter?
Wen Ya squinted his eyes, scrutinizing the other man closely.
"What’s up?" Yao Yu approached, asking softly, "The data shows that the internal pressure of your combat suit just ramped up to level five... surely that wasn’t a false alarm?"
Yao Yu glanced at the pressure release valve on Wen Ya’s combat suit, where the high-temperature steam that had just been ejected had now dissipated, leaving only a few inconspicuous droplets near the valve.
"Who is that guy? Is he a Hunter too?" Wen Ya asked, staring at the young man lying on the folding chair.
"That’s Sun Hang," Yao Yu replied, "I saw him at the combat meeting when we were collecting the Chimera 17 meme samples."
"So he’s that ’new star’ of Tianfu City that people have been talking about lately?" Wen Ya’s expression turned a bit odd, "What tier Hunter is he?"
"According to the information from the Dubhe Tower, he should be a Tier 5 Hunter."
"Only Tier 5?" Wen Ya was clearly surprised.
Even though becoming a tiered Hunter within less than a year of joining is quite an impressive feat, almost deserving of the title ’genius’... it’s essential to remember that in this world, geniuses are never in short supply.
A Tier 5 Hunter is the lowest level of the tiered Hunters, also known as "entry-level". Though there’s only a one-tier gap between Tier 5 and Tier 4, the disparity is almost as significant as that between Tier 2 and Tier 1 Hunters.
A chasm.
If we quantify the ’value’ of each tier, a Tier 5 Hunter’s worth would be 10, Tier 4 is 100, Tier 3 is 120, Tier 2 is 150... and as for the top-tier Tier 1 Hunters, their ’value’ can reach around 500-800.
This is a figure proposed by some Hunter research forums, not rigorous but with some scientific basis.
The hardest advancement for tiered Hunters is moving from Tier 2 to Tier 1, followed by going from Tier 5 to Tier 4.
Because among the Tier 5 Hunters, there’s a large number of non-combat capability Hunters, which lowers the average standard for that tier.
Their abilities are very useful but in combat or solo actions, they’re blank slates... Hunters like these naturally cannot pass the normal difficulty advancement trials.
For these Hunters, the Dubhe Tower will just give them a ’set sail’... even if they hand in a blank paper for the advancement trial, they end up getting the Tier 5 Hunter certificate.
The reason is simple: the treatment gap between tiered Hunters and ordinary registered Hunters is too significant... many times, being a Tier 5 Hunter is more like a welfare benefit than a hard strength certification.
As for the combative Hunters who pass the advancement tests on their strength, they quickly aim for Tier 4— for them, the start of being a tiered Hunter is from Tier 4.
Some Hunters who perform outstandingly in their advancement trials can attain Tier 4 or higher after their first trial, just like Wang Xiyi, who, after participating in only one advancement trial, became a Tier 4 Hunter.
This is a recognition of combat prowess.
"Isn’t it possible that this guy took the backdoor?"
"I don’t know, but from what I do know, the advancement trial he participated in took place on Nameless Island," Yao Yu replied solemnly.
"Nameless Island? Which Nameless Island?"
"I’m not too sure about the specifics, I only know that many who went for that trial didn’t come back."
"How many is ’many’?" Wen Ya looked dissatisfied at Yao Yu.
Deaths in advancement trials are normal — every batch has incidents, with casualties ranging from one or two to more than a dozen, and trials with everyone surviving are exceedingly rare in Federation history.
Not to mention, in the advancement trials that Wen Ya himself participated in, more than a handful of Hunters died right before his eyes.
"Those details are top-secret at the Dubhe Tower, I’m not authorized to access them," Yao Yu replied in a low voice that only the two of them could hear, "Some might know the inside story, but I don’t have contact with people like that."
He initially wanted to say "perhaps someone in the organization knows," but refraining from discussing anything related to the ’organization’ in the presence of outsiders is a rule every member must rigorously observe, even someone like Wen Ya, who holds the ’organization’ in disdain, never slipped up.
"But regardless, he is just a Tier 5 Hunter," Wen Ya pouted, "If he was so incredible, why wouldn’t the Dubhe Tower bump his ranking a little? For those big guys, that’s just a word’s work."
"Not sure, but I advise you not to underestimate this person," Yao Yu suggested.
"I’m not underestimating him," Wen Ya crossed his arms, "I just find him a bit... intriguing. By the way, are there any combat records of this guy?"
"I checked, not enough clearance."
"Clearance, clearance, clearance, again with the damn clearance!" Wen Ya’s temple pulsed twice, "You’re my direct supervisor, as a would-be Tier 1 Hunter’s supervisor, you can’t even check a Tier 5 Hunter’s combat records?"
"I’m your direct supervisor, not his," Yao Yu replied calmly.
"Hmph... I’ve heard people boast about how amazing this guy is all along, yet there isn’t even a combat record, so how do they know he’s that incredible?"
"The meme sample of Chimera 17, he was the one who acquired it. The 105 Factory incident before, he resolved that too," Yao Yu stated.
"As a tiered Hunter, aren’t those accomplishments just what’s expected?" Wen Ya replied.
Yet for some reason, even though he kept belittling Sun Hang, Wen Ya harbored a faint sense of unease about him.
Perhaps it was due to that faint dangerous aura he sensed earlier?
"By the way, didn’t you say he wouldn’t be participating in the PFDA testing? Then why is he here?" Wen Ya suddenly shifted the topic.
"I just asked the technicians over there, they said the final assembly of PFDA requires Sun Hang’s assistance."
"Assembly? Assistance?" Wen Ya’s confusion intensified, "Is his ability... a support type?"
"Perhaps."
...
Playing in the headphones was King Gnu’s latest single, with aggressive drumbeats accompanying the guitar chords, much like large raindrops falling in a well, each rhythmically striking Sun Hang’s temple. The continuously repeating muttering-like vocals had a strange magic power, as if under the rain-drenched well, there lay a bottomless abyss, enticing someone to step in and fall into its depths.
This song was recommended to Sun Hang by Mr. Wang, yet now Sun Hang’s mind was filled with the contents of the Scavenger’s Diary.
He kept pondering over every detail in the diary, meticulously scrutinizing even a punctuation mark to see if it held any special meaning... until someone gently patted Sun Hang on the shoulder.
Sun Hang opened his eyes, removing the magazine from his face.
The person patting his shoulder was an engineer from the PFDA project team.
Sun Hang took off the headphones and asked, "Is it my turn?"
"Yes, the assembly of PFDA live testing machine number one has reached 95%, and all other preparations are complete. Now we just need to attach the parts composed of Taisui mycelium, and the test can commence," the engineer responded.
...
Wen Ya’s temple pulsed twice.
When that Hunter named Sun Hang opened his eyes, he once again felt that dangerous aura.
Just like prey catching the scent of a predator.
Wen Ya really didn’t like this feeling.
However, this time he managed to control his body’s instinctive reaction.
"Yao Yu."
"What?"
"Keep an eye on that guy named Sun Hang."
