Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 861 - 99: The Exam Question

"The effective lethal radius of ’Sandstorm’ is one kilometer. For safety, please maintain a safe distance of at least twelve hundred meters from the target and position yourself behind cover whenever possible to avoid harm from shrapnel and blast shockwaves," the main brain continued.

"No, don’t fire the missile yet," Sun Hang suddenly said.

"Why?" The person asking wasn’t the main brain, but Candle Dragon, who was standing by, "If you plan to capture the meme of this mysterious creature, you can wait until the missile has blasted it to near death before taking action... If it’s really not doable, you can reduce the number of missiles fired."

"What do you think about using this big guy as a test in the hunter selection process?" Sun Hang asked.

"Are you intending to use this..." Candle Dragon hesitated, "Wouldn’t that be too risky?"

"What’s the risk? Don’t we have missiles to back us up?" Sun Hang said, "Anyway, I think any mysterious creature that can be dealt with using modern technological weapons is not much of a threat."

In other words, all fear comes from insufficient firepower.

Once the firepower is strong enough to tear apart even primordial mysterious creatures, they don’t seem as scary.

"Actually, most mysterious creatures that humans have encountered can be eliminated with modern technological weapons. However, these powerful weapons often cause enormous damage to the lives and property of Federation citizens while destroying the mysterious creatures, causing the Federation Government to hesitate—while the Hexi Corridor is a no-man’s land, so there’s no concern over weapon use here," Candle Dragon explained.

"Why don’t I see it that way?" Sun Hang questioned.

"That’s because after you became a hunter, the mysterious creatures you encountered were mostly those rare ones that can’t be eliminated by conventional means, like Temporal Phantoms, Eternal Night, Chimera 17, and Death Aurora... What you consider routine enemies are super bosses that many hunters may never encounter in their lifetimes," Candle Dragon sighed, "Currently, there are tens of thousands of mysterious creatures recorded in Dubhe Tower, although I’m not bold enough to list them all, over fifty percent can be dealt with using bullets, and over ninety percent would be annihilated with a nuclear missile... If the average quality of mysterious creatures facing human civilization matched the ones you’ve faced... Humanity would have vanished from this planet long ago."

"Got it, feels like I could write a novel titled ’Rebirth: My Hunting Career Starts at Hell Difficulty,’ where others spend their lives encountering the most challenging monsters, like pole-vaulting athlete zombies, while the first monster I face in the novice village is Dr. Zombie King in a giant mech... Tsk, do you feel like I’m a big sucker?"

"With great power comes great responsibility," Candle Dragon said with a bitter laugh, "Although I don’t like this phrase much, it fits well in your case."

"I’ve never thought about bearing any responsibility; I’m just refusing to let the city I live in become like the mess in the surrendered area," Sun Hang shrugged, "If there’s any interstellar escape... Oh, I mean, interstellar migration plan, I’d sign up immediately."

"If such a plan really exists, count me in," Candle Dragon said jokingly, "But before we build ships capable of interstellar migration, it seems like you’ll have to hold up the sky when it falls."

"Mr. Pei probably thinks the same way... He really dares to place his bet on me," Sun Hang sighed and then ordered the main brain, "In the name of Dubhe Tower, issue a hunt bounty for this mysterious creature. The task can be accepted by all registered hunters, free hunters, and mercenary organizations from Yumen to Dragon City. As for the reward for the task... What’s the usual reward for top-tier hunts like this one again?"

"No ceiling," the main brain answered.

"Isn’t there some reference value example?" Sun Hang asked.

"In June of Yellow Calendar 4710, Cliff Bay Biotechnology Company and Qilu Mysterious Creature Research Institute jointly issued a bounty mission, requiring participants to explore Hexi Corridor to hunt the mysterious creature ’C3H8O·Rock Throat’ and obtain its meme sample. This mysterious creature is a giant worm roaming the desert surface, capable of summoning small-scale death sandstorms and altering terrain within a limited range, utilizing terrain changes to evade missile remote attacks, with a danger rating of ’extremely high.’"

A string of letters quickly flashed across Sun Hang’s glasses lenses: "After a comprehensive assessment, this mission’s difficulty is similar to the task you’re about to issue. Every participant in this mission can receive a yearly quota of advanced inhibitors and fifty thousand in cash, provided free by Cliff Bay Biotechnology Company along with quality equipment, with an additional annual quota of advanced inhibitors and one hundred thousand cash awarded upon completion. In the event of a participant’s death, their family or designated heir can claim a condolence payment of six hundred fifty thousand."

"Just that? The reward doesn’t seem too high?" Sun Hang muttered.

This amount of money doesn’t even exceed the reward for that rescue mission taken by the gambling hunter—assuming that mediator Lei didn’t take a cut.

"This is merely basic guaranteed compensation, known as ’minimum wages’ by hunters," the main brain promptly explained, "This reward is available to anyone who participates in the mission."

"Does that mean slackers also get paid?" Sun Hang asked, "Then wouldn’t there be many freeloaders?"

"Cliff Bay Biotechnology Company has deep pockets and doesn’t care about that little money," Candle Dragon interjected, "Moreover, few have the capacity to freeload in such a mission... For many hunters and mercenaries participating, this money is merely a service fee for traveling to and from a no-man’s land."

"What about higher-level rewards?" Sun Hang asked.

"Judged based on the level of contribution during the mission," the main brain replied, "Cliff Bay Biotechnology Company and Qilu Mysterious Creature Research Institute also sent an elite team to join the mission, their primary task being to conduct detailed records of the mission process, which determines the final reward."

"What’s the highest level reward? And what are the conditions?"

"Solo kill of Rock Throat and obtain meme sample," the main brain answered, "Reward is two percent of Cliff Bay Biotechnology Company’s shares."

"Two percent shares? How much is that worth?"

"Equivalent to four hundred million in cash at that time," the main brain replied.

"It was four hundred million at that time, now it’s much more," Candle Dragon added, "In these years, Cliff Bay’s stock price has multiplied several times... Moreover, at that time, Cliff Bay Biotechnology Company offered an alternative choice beyond shares."

"What choice?"

"It’s said to be a deceitful equipment piece, but its specifics are unknown. Regardless of it’s stock or physical reward, no one ultimately claimed it... At least thirty hunters died during that mission, and the heavily injured Rock Throat fled to the border of the no-man’s land and the surrendered area, where six top hunters pursued it for three days and nights, offering three more lives before finally killing it. The three survivors chose to split the four hundred million reward equally," Candle Dragon explained, "As far as I know, this was the highest-reward mission in Hexi Corridor over the years."

"Aren’t many hunters after more than just money?"

"They are, so those missions’ rewards are hard to quantify... You asked the main brain to find a task as a reference, and this is the best it found," Candle Dragon said helplessly.