Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 873 - 108: Coughing Blood (2)

He Dawei inadvertently glanced at Cheng Ming again, noticing that Cheng Ming’s expression remained unchanged... He couldn’t help but become more cautious.

In such circumstances, even for seasoned Hunters, there would be some emotional changes. As for someone as calm as Cheng Ming, either he has enough confidence in his own abilities, or he is just emotionally devoid.

Though He Dawei believed it was probably the latter.

The female Hunter lying on the ground had already become motionless, but the instruments showed no signs of weakening in her internal mimetic frequency, indicating she was still alive.

Yet this wasn’t considered good news for the others.

Once an infected person dies, the mimetic frequency within quickly dissipates. Even if the infection process has entered the critical mutation stage, killing the infected at this time would end everything.

The half-dead infected are the ones that cause the most tension.

Cheng Ming remembered when he was receiving training, the supervisor told him that some infected at the brink of death would burst out with powerful energy, and could even counter-kill their enemies with this reversal effect. But the cost of doing so would either be a complete depletion of life force or a dramatic acceleration of their own infection process—apart from being completely burned out, the only remaining outcome for these infected is complete eerie transformation.

Moreover, the eerie creatures or eerie remnants formed in such complete transformations are stronger than those transformed under normal circumstances.

Although the reasons for this have not yet been thoroughly researched, there is a generally accepted academic explanation that when the mimetic frequency within perceives the "host" is about to die, out of a "survival instinct," it forcibly pushes the host into the critical mutation stage to greatly enhance their abilities.

The mimetic frequency of eerie creatures parasitizes within the infected body, gradually maturing as the infection process slowly progresses—this is a process akin to the natural growth of plants. For current human technology, the process can be observed and controlled; infected individuals can use inhibitors to suppress the progress of infection or employ "innocuous treatments" to nip any hazard in the bud when approaching the dangerous threshold.

But in emergencies, the mimetic frequency of eerie creatures can only rely on methods akin to "forcing growth" to ensure the survival of both itself and the host. In this kind of near "stress response" mutation, everything becomes uncontrollable.

The supervisor told Cheng Ming that often, investigators and soldiers working with Hunters have another mission apart from assisting Hunters in completing their task.

That is when a Hunter falls into what’s called a "stress mutation," to kill them to prevent them from transforming into eerie creatures or remnants.

"Should we... kill her?" Yu Duo murmured, audible only to the four of them.

Although she was a Free Hunter, she was aware of the concept of "stress mutation"—whether Free Hunter or Registered Hunter, mysterious creature research institutes everywhere trained them, teaching basic knowledge related to mimetic frequencies and infected individuals.

Training wasn’t the only aspect, regular exams ensured proficiency. Those who couldn’t pass would have their Hunter licenses frozen or even revoked.

The others in the carriage also knew that killing the female Hunter might be the best option, but no one wanted to take action.

Not even to get close to her.

"Could she suddenly stand up and rush at us?" Shen Rui muttered.

"Don’t say such nonsense," He Dawei reprimanded in a low voice, "Even if she rushed, she wouldn’t come for us. We’re far away from her, with so many people in between!"

"To be honest, it reminds me of a zombie film shot by Goryeo before," Yu Duo said, "Most of the scenes in the film took place on a train. The atmosphere feels a bit similar to now."

"Will that person turn into a zombie?" Shen Rui asked again.

"That’s a movie, fictional." He Dawei glared at him, "Remember, we don’t need to do anything, say anything... This isn’t our concern, nor do we need to worry about it... We just need to observe quietly."

Yu Duo felt like making a few snide remarks but had to admit internally that He Dawei’s approach was correct.

Finally, after nearly ten minutes of stalemate, a tall and thin man took down the safety hammer hanging by the train window and walked toward the female Hunter lying in the aisle.

Both Shen Rui and He Dawei instinctively held their breath, their eyes fixed on the man holding the safety hammer.

This safety hammer was meant for breaking windows in emergencies, unlike the larger fire hammer for breaking doors or walls, its head was only thumb-sized and was clearly not an ideal weapon for killing.

"Oh... using it?" Yu Duo muttered, "How many strikes would it take to smash her head... This scene is probably going to be disgusting."

"Why not just strangle her directly?" He Dawei also muttered.

"In her current state... she might not be suffocatable," Cheng Ming suddenly said, "She isn’t breathing anymore, yet her mimetic frequency hasn’t dissipated."

"Not breathing..." He Dawei’s pupils shrunk slightly, "Then isn’t she already considered an eerie remnant?"

Before the words finished, the man’s safety hammer had already struck downward on the female Hunter’s temple!

The sound was somewhat dull, blood splashed outward.

The female Hunter’s body twitched but showed no signs of resistance.

Her left temple was already a bloody mess from the hit; the farthest droplet of blood even splattered less than a meter away from He Dawei’s seat.

"Really had the heart to do it." Seeing someone willing to act, He Dawei immediately breathed a sigh of relief, "Gotta say, that woman was pretty attractive, had a good figure too, what a pity."

As the fear and tension faded, some vile thoughts suddenly emerged in He Dawei’s mind.

"Very attractive?" Yu Duo said, somewhat displeased, "Better than me?"

"Not the same type, not really comparable." He Dawei remarked, "Ugh, such a bloody scene really tingles the liver."

Though he mentioned the bloody scene tingling the liver, his eyes never moved away from the Hunter’s head. With the second and third hammer strikes landing, one side of the female Hunter’s head was a complete mess, blood starting to slowly ooze out from her eye sockets, ear canal, and nostrils.

"Any changes?" the hammer-wielding man turned to look at the Hunter who had taken out the mimetic detection equipment initially, pointing at the woman on the ground, "Her mimetic frequency."

"I... I can’t tell... seems more chaotic," the Hunter replied.

While the research institute had equipped these Hunters with portable mimetic detection devices, the Hunters, only having undergone basic training, could just ascertain if something was infected or if the infection had surpassed the danger threshold. As for more complex insights, that was out of the realm... firstly due to the portable device’s limited accuracy, and secondly, extracting valuable information from the complex data required expertise that only specialized researchers possessed.

"More chaotic?" The hammer-wielding man, covered in blood, froze for a moment before, the next second, the safety hammer fell from his hand, landing with a dull thud.

His face flushed as he clutched his throat.

Through the gaps between his fingers, it was visible that his Adam’s apple was continuously shifting up and down, as if something was trying to crawl out from his throat.