Hunter of Mysterious Creature-Chapter 603 - 151: Another Mutation (Part 2)

"Bunker One and Bunker Two have both lost communication?" Sun Hang from Bunker One knew about it; the last time they collected memetic samples, they embarked from Bunker One.

He clearly remembered that Bunker One was still quite far from Chimera 17, wasn't it?

"Yes... they haven't sent back any messages." Yang Qi said, "The last communication was seven minutes before the disconnection, a routine report on the observation results of Chimera 17."

"Was there anything unusual found in that routine report?"

"No, just as usual, Chimera 17's volume is expanding, but other than that, the report didn't mention any abnormal situations."

"Is this thing still getting bigger? By the way, how's the progress on memetic reverse engineering?"

"It's 14% faster than expected, meaning that before the deadline, the 'pesticide's completion will be higher than anticipated," Yang Qi said. "But the problem is, this deadline is just an estimate based on Chimera 17's initial data... once Chimera 17 undergoes mutation, this data will become completely worthless."

"Are you worried that Chimera 17 has already completed its incubation ahead of time?" Sun Hang asked, "Is that why Bunker One and Bunker Two lost communication?"

"That's the worst-case scenario."

"Alright, I get it. No choice then, I'll just head over." Sun Hang put on his boots and tightened the lace dial, "Remember to count my overtime pay!"

...

Celestial City Mysterious Creature Research Institute, Operations Command Center.

"Explosion! I've detected an explosive reaction within the restricted area! The explosion appears to have occurred very close to Chimera 17! It might even have happened right under Chimera 17!" A researcher exclaimed loudly, and on the screen in front of him, several dynamic curves, incomprehensible to outsiders, were fluctuating wildly.

"Explosion? How large an explosion?" The bickering crowd in the operations command center suddenly fell silent, and an officer immediately asked.

"Calculating... got it!" The researcher seemed taken aback himself, "The explosive yield is roughly between forty-five to fifty kilograms."

"That small?" The officer was stunned, "Fifty kilograms of explosives... that's not even one-tenth the power of a common aerial bomb? Could there be a mistake?"

"There can't be a mistake! This new instrument was delivered from Chunming City just last week, it's very precise, and we've set up over 2,400 signal receivers around Chimera 17. If one or two of them relay erroneous data, it's possible, but with all receivers returning the same data, the margin for error is very minimal," the researcher declared firmly.

"Could Chimera 17 have undergone another mutation?" another officer said with a worried look, "Could this mutation have triggered the explosion?"

"I'm more inclined to think it was a methane explosion," the officer who had earlier criticized the small explosion yield remarked.

"There simply are no conditions for methane accumulation in that area, your explanation isn't credible at all."

"Could it be survivors from Bunker One and Bunker Two? Did they launch an attack on Chimera 17?" a young staff officer suddenly suggested.

"Are you joking? Not to mention why they'd attack Chimera 17, how could they even get close to Chimera 17 is itself a problem! I'm very familiar with the equipment configuration of the forward observation post; they don't have anything capable of breaking through Chimera 17's reactive high-speed missiles, the only long-range strike they can conduct is with the few rocket launchers in Bunker Two, but those have an effective range of only six hundred meters. Do you really think they could break through to within six hundred meters of Chimera 17?"

The young staff officer was left speechless.

That idea had just popped into his head, and he had spoken it without much thought.

Looking back now... his assumption was indeed somewhat far-fetched.

If the hundred or so people at the forward observation post could break through to the vicinity of Chimera 17, then all the sacrifices made during the memetic sample collection would seem like a joke, wouldn't they?

...

...

"Restricted Area," twenty-six meters away from Chimera 17.

During the memetic collection operation, it was discovered that within a three hundred meter radius around Chimera 17, there was a "dry zone" without rain, but after the memetic collection was completed, this dry zone quickly shrank, eventually disappearing completely—torrential rain poured directly onto the giant cocoon formed by Chimera 17, then evaporated into steam, rising into the sky.

The surface temperature of Chimera 17 had reached an astonishing nine hundred degrees Celsius, the constant rainfall failing to cool it down, only managing to prevent the temperature from rising further.

Currently, Chimera 17 was entirely like a giant nuclear reactor—with its core completely exposed, hardly any defensive measures in place.

The rainwater polluted by radioactive substances evaporated into the sky, falling back down as dirty rain, picking up more contaminants, and evaporating again... In this ongoing cycle, the area of the radiation pollution zone around Chimera 17 kept expanding, and the radiation intensity within the pollution zone was continuously increasing.

Mr. Xu lay in the mud, letting the rain fall on him. He looked at the towering object reaching the clouds, a trace of doubt rising in his heart.

Why was he still alive?

He remembered very clearly, to ensure the success of the explosion, he had inserted six detonators into the combined explosives, then rode the motorcycle at full speed towards Chimera 17.

He remembered vividly; at the moment the motorcycle collided, inertia sent him flying, crashing heavily into the surface of Chimera 17.

His body had already lost the sensation of pain, so the high temperature of the giant cocoon's surface didn't bring agony, instead, it felt quite warm.

Then, the combined explosives on the motorcycle exploded with a loud bang, the massive shockwave flinging him away... He felt his flesh tearing apart, shreds of meat and blood splattering over his face, a severed arm still tightly clenching the detonator's remote.

He should have been blown to bits, why was he still alive?

Even if his luck was extraordinarily good... the man was blasted into pieces... why was he still alive?

Mr. Xu tried closing his eyes, scarlet eyelids immediately covering his eyeballs—the eyelids were transparent, like a blood-filled thin membrane, turning everything in his sight blood-red.

Mr. Xu's thoughts were still somewhat confused, feeling as if part of his memory had completely vanished, like experiencing a blackout.

The flames and smoke from the explosion had long been extinguished by the rain, and Mr. Xu had no idea how much time had passed since he'd been blown away.

He tried to feel his body, but was met instead with a somewhat uncomfortable sound in his ears, like the squirming of a fleshy creature.

Mr. Xu was afraid to look at his body.

He feared seeing a pile of dismembered flesh... He once had a colleague blown apart by a bomb right in front of him, and that guy's body was so fragmented, it was like it had been dumped out of a blender, ready for dumpling filling without further chopping.

Mr. Xu felt no pain, suspecting his pain center had completely failed... But the question remained, why was his consciousness still clear?

Could this be the legendary final burst of clarity before death?

Mr. Xu attempted to lift his right hand.

He saw a "tentacle" covered with mud and rain, made up of many pieces of flesh.