Hunter of Mysterious Creature

Chapter 869 - 106: Cheng Ming (2)

"You’re just a slacker!" the young woman laughed. "What a coincidence, I’m slacking off too... Who told me my ability is of the supportive type."

"Actually... most of the people joining this mission are thinking this way." The Hunter with a trace of weariness in his voice lowered it slightly. "I’ve reviewed all the information Dubhe Tower released about the target mysterious creature. For a large-scale creature of this level, it definitely requires a lot of Hunters to conduct a siege to eliminate it. By that time, aside from combat, there will be plenty of work left for slackers like us. But what’s puzzling to me is that the best way to deal with such a creature is to use missiles or heavy weapons for direct extermination. And Hexi Corridor is a no-man’s land, so there’s no worry of affecting civilians... But why did Dubhe Tower choose to issue a bounty? Could it be there’s some important facility in that area?"

"I don’t care about such things, as long as there’s money to be made." The young woman waved her hand dismissively. "If this task were issued by some other private organization, I might hesitate... But this time, it’s Dubhe Tower issuing it, so I doubt they’ll mess around like those unethical capitals do?"

"By the way, you seem to have been silent from the very beginning?" The young woman looked at Cheng Ming. "Are you mute?"

"No." Cheng Ming wasn’t angered by the slightly offensive remark from the other side, he casually retorted and then pulled out a bottle of water from his backpack, unscrewed the cap, and took a few sips.

The train began to move slowly, and the scenery outside the window accelerated in its retreat.

"Then why aren’t you talking?" The young woman asked again.

"Nothing worth saying." Cheng Ming set the water bottle on the fold-out table, watching the liquid inside ripple back and forth with the carriage’s vibrations.

"Buddy, if you got this bounty, what would you do?" The Hunter, looking like a high school student, asked. "It’s a full ten million... I’ve never seen so much money firsthand."

"Save it," Cheng Ming said.

"Save it?" The young woman and rookie Hunter looked at Cheng Ming in disbelief. Buying a house with the money was enough to seem boring, but it turned out there was someone even more conventional here.

"Saving money is hardly better than investing in some stable financial products; yields are much higher than bank interest." Even the weary Hunter couldn’t help but comment.

"Mm." Cheng Ming merely made a sound, voicing no intent to further this topic.

The other three, seeing his lack of interest, chose not to engage Cheng Ming further, engaging each other in conversation.

Cheng Ming lowered his head and glanced at his phone.

The chat app contained reassuring messages from his mother, informing Cheng Ming that today she seemed more energetic than yesterday, having eaten a bowl of thin porridge and half an apple in the morning. The department head acknowledged during rounds that her condition was improving, urging Cheng Ming to work well and not to worry.

Cheng Ming hadn’t told his mother his job involved hunting mysterious creatures—his mother had been hospitalized for two years, and Cheng Ming became a Mysterious Creature Hunter four months after her hospitalization due to meme infection.

His mother still thought Cheng Ming was doing his previous programming job.

Another truth Cheng Ming hadn’t shared with his mother was the status of her illness.

Lung cancer, diagnosed at an advanced stage, for two years maintained with targeted drugs and small-dose chemotherapy... Yet Cheng Ming had told his mother she had a tricky chronic pneumonia needing long-term hospitalization for control.

His mother truly believed Cheng Ming, never questioning her illness... Cheng Ming often wondered whether his mother had long since known her true diagnosis.

Two months ago, the doctors approached Cheng Ming, telling him the cancer cells had begun developing drug resistance to targeted treatment, which could sustain at most for another three months.

The doctor also mentioned Cheng Ming’s mother’s cancer cells were extraordinarily confined to the primary lung lesion, with no signs of metastatic spread. If a lung transplant could occur, the prognosis would be highly optimistic, promising great chances of recovery.

But if no lung transplant were undertaken, then three months later, conventional treatments would have negligible effects, and Cheng Ming’s mother’s condition would likely rapidly deteriorate, with a survival expectancy of less than half a year.

Yet finding suitable transplant organs was challenging, especially when time was critically short. The doctors recommended Cheng Ming contact an affiliate biological research institution under Dubhe Tower, capable of cloning and cultivating human organs.

Using Cheng Ming’s mother’s cells, they could immediately cultivate a pair of new lung organs. And because the patient’s own cells were used, the probability of rejection post-transplant was greatly reduced.

However, the only downside of this plan was its cost.

Excluding transplant surgery expenses, the fees for extracting sample cells and cultivating the organs alone were more than Cheng Ming could manage.

Cheng Ming, since becoming a Hunter, had spent virtually all his earnings on his mother’s treatment, leaving no savings. He even had advanced payments of six months’ salary and stipends from the Mysterious Creature Research Institute where he worked.

The institute knew of Cheng Ming’s situation, having helped as much as they could: applying for subsidies, colleague fundraising, various medical expense waivers... Yet the cost of cultivating organs still had a significant shortfall.

Cheng Ming exhausted all his social connections, and the biological research institute had already collected Mrs Cheng’s living cells. Once the remaining fees were covered, they would commence organ cultivation immediately.

Just when Cheng Ming was distressed over the final few million shortfall, the astronomical bounty ignited the Hunters’ circle—Cheng Ming felt like he had grabbed a lifeline, accepting the task without hesitation.

His ability wasn’t strong; among the Mysterious Creature Hunters, he was one of the most inconspicuous, bottom-tier hunters—it’s also for this reason he rarely received resource favoritism from Dubhe Tower.

If a mother of a skilled Hunter got cancer, the Hunter wouldn’t even need to handle it personally, as many professionals would promptly take the Hunter’s mother to top medical institutions for treatment.

Simply activating a deep submergence medical chamber costing two hundred thousand, top drugs ordinary folk hadn’t heard of, consultations from the best medical teams... Simply being an elite Hunter would ensure those opportunities came to Cheng Ming without him moving a finger.

Unfortunately, Cheng Ming wasn’t.

The director at the institute relayed words to Cheng Ming after conducting meme testing—a recollection Cheng Ming could still vividly recall—

"There’s news, one bad and one good." The director noted, "The good news is your memes and infection progress are very stable; with regular inhibitor injections, you can essentially live like a normal person for decades, rather than turn into a mysterious creature or corpse. Arguably, greater vigilance towards your health issues is warranted. As for the bad news, it is linked to this good news... Your meme reaction is weak, meaning your ability will similarly be affected... I personally don’t advise you to pursue a career as a Mysterious Creature Hunter; living a standard life as an Observer is preferable. We’ll regularly supply you with inhibitors and living subsidies."

Yet Cheng Ming steadfastly declined the director’s proposition, choosing to join the ranks of Mysterious Creature Hunters.

The reason was simple; after contracting an affliction from the mysterious creature, he lost his initial job, and at that time, his mother was already diagnosed. Subsisting solely on living subsidies couldn’t remotely cover his mother’s medical costs.