Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 841 - 88: Ascetic Monk (2)

"I think he resembles more like an ancient relic dug out from the Gobi Desert, exuding an aura of decay all over him," Sun Hang muttered, "By the way, does our Huaxia Civilization have records of making mummies?"

"He’s clearly a living person; life monitoring equipment can detect his heartbeat and pulse," Candle Dragon shook his head.

The "monk" slowly walked to the front of the car, leaned the wooden stick against his elbow, then clasped his hands together and bowed to Sun Hang and the others.

Then he said in very standard modern Chinese, "Gentlemen, I have been awaiting your arrival here for quite some time."

"Who are you?" Sun Hang rolled down the window and asked, sticking his head out.

"I am merely a wandering monk traveling between deserts and ruins; as for my name, I have long forgotten it," the self-proclaimed ascetic monk replied.

The opponent was not infected, so Sun Hang had no scruples about using his mind-reading ability. However, when he tried to read the monk’s thoughts, he found the monk’s mind was blank, and Sun Hang could only sense an infinite calmness... Vaguely, he seemed to also hear distant chanting and the sound of scriptures being recited.

The ascetic monk looked up at Sun Hang, with eyes devoid of joy or sorrow, while Sun Hang awkwardly scratched his head—For some reason, he felt as if the other had seen through his mind-reading technique.

No eerie meme within the body, cannot be read, yet can freely wander in such a crisis-ridden no-man’s land... if not an infected person, could he be an esper?

"Where are you from? Where are you heading?" Sun Hang threw out the remaining two questions of the ultimate philosophical inquiry.

"I come from there to here." The monk pointed behind him, where far off on the horizon, the silhouette of a town ruin could be seen.

"Nanhua Town?" Sun Hang asked him for confirmation.

The monk nodded.

"When did Nanhua Town get a monk?" Ya Qiaoxi muttered softly, "I’ve never heard anyone mention it..."

"You said you’ve been waiting for us here for a long time, what are you waiting for us for?" Sun Hang asked again.

"I know why you gentlemen have come, and I specially came here to guide the way," the monk replied, "But at the same time, I would also like to advise you gentlemen to give up searching for that object."

Sun Hang: "What exactly do you know?"

The monk clasped his hands together and remained silent.

"I’m a bit confused, since you’re advising us to give up finding that thing, then why still guide us?" Sun Hang asked again.

"Guiding is my mission; I will not stop you gentlemen from seeking the object." The monk sighed heavily, "Yet... the sea of suffering has no bounds, but turning back is the shore."

"Can you stop speaking in riddles?" Sun Hang said a bit speechlessly; he most disliked dealing with people who speak in riddles.

"Greed, anger, ignorance are the roots of all suffering in the world; only by eliminating the three poisons can one purify the mind and attain peace and happiness," the monk said.

Greed, anger, ignorance again?

Sun Hang immediately associated it with the conversation he had with Pei Zongjun after Chen Hongjuan’s transformation.

According to Pei Zongjun, greed, anger, and ignorance are among the most common of human negative emotions, and a series of events that followed repeatedly verified that when human negative emotions become intense enough, they produce a kind of "entity-like" energy out of thin air, generating eerie memes, transforming humans into eerie things.

That means, even without contact with any memes, humans possess the possibility of "being infected"—because those negative emotions hidden in human thought activities can be viewed as a type of "immature" meme.

Thinking along these lines... could the earliest eerie thing in this world have originated from human negative emotions?

Eerie things are born from humans?

Yet it seems wrong... In many prehistoric tales, there are already records of eerie things’ activities, and according to the descriptions in the stories, those eerie things have existed for aeons; before humans appeared, they had already come to this world... the human origin theory doesn’t hold at all.

While Sun Hang was still pondering over the information left by Pei Zongjun, Candle Dragon picked up the previous topic and continued asking, "What do you mean, if we find that object, we will be troubled by such negative emotions like greed, anger, and ignorance, fight amongst ourselves... even become eerie things?"

The monk nodded.

"If that’s the case, why don’t you just destroy that object, or simply hide it, so no one knows of its whereabouts?"

The monk did not speak.

Sun Hang seemed to remember something, he patted Ya Qiaoxi’s shoulder, "Pass me the radio."

The communication signal was poor; Sun Hang tried several times before managing to contact the main convoy detouring towards Nanhua Town.

"Nagano Souta, can you hear me?"

"Yes... hiss... the convoy can’t cross the Giant’s Mound... hiss... we’re currently... hiss..."

"I know you’re detouring, we’ve already reached Nanhua Town, but we’ve encountered a bit of a problem, I have something to ask you."

"Hiss... what is it..."

"Back then, in your father’s team, was there a monk?"

"Seems like... no... hiss... to obtain all the... hiss... pieces of the treasure map... hiss... I asked every... hiss... survivor... hiss... there... hiss... wasn’t a... monk..."

"What about outside of the survivors?" Sun Hang shifted his line of questioning, "I mean, among everyone, including those who didn’t return, was there a monk."

"I can’t... hiss... be sure," Nagano Souta replied, "I need to ask... hiss... those survivors from back then... hiss... but I can’t contact Yumen and Dragon City now... need... wait..."

"Alright, let me know as soon as you have news."

After saying that, Sun Hang hung up the communication and jumped down from the car.

"Candle Dragon, Xue Yue, the two of you come with me," Sun Hang said, "Mr. Ya, you stay in the car."

"Why should I stay behind?" Ya Qiaoxi asked a bit indignantly.

"No reason," Sun Hang patted the car, and the four car doors instantly locked, "The car lock will automatically unlock in two hours; I suggest you don’t do anything foolish."

"What do you mean?!" Ya Qiaoxi shouted angrily, slapping the car window, "You bastard, is this your way of burning bridges after crossing a river?"

"Sun Hang just doesn’t want you to take unnecessary risks," Candle Dragon said calmly, "My intuition tells me the upcoming journey will be dangerous."

"Dangerous? Then you’re taking this little girl with you?" Ya Qiaoxi looked at Xue Yue.

"She is a Hunter, an infected, while you are just a normal person," Sun Hang said, "Perhaps staying in Yumen is the best choice for you."

"Damn you!" Ya Qiaoxi cursed loudly.

...

The monk didn’t say much more; he glanced at the three of them and silently turned around, leading them toward Nanhua Town.

"You’ve lived here for how many years?" Sun Hang followed behind him, asking tentatively.

"Many years... how many exactly, I’ve forgotten too," the monk said in an extremely calm voice, "Occasionally, I also traverse a whole desert and go to other places, but no matter where I go, I always end up returning here."

"What did you go to other places for?" Sun Hang asked, "Adventure? Foraging?"

"Forgot." The monk leaned on his stick, sticking its bottom into the hard ground, making a dull "thud-thud" sound, "I’ve forgotten many things."

"Are you unable to leave this place like... like an Earth-bound Spirit?" Sun Hang squinted his eyes.

The "thud-thud" sound stopped, and the monk hesitated for a moment, then continued walking.

"Maybe." He said.

"Is it because of that thing?"