Trickster Hunter.

Chapter 569 G09's Problem

"Am I going to die here?" Cheng Ming wondered.

Just as he felt his spine was about to be snapped, something hard suddenly grew out from under his skin. This thing quickly pierced Cheng Ming's skin from the inside out and then stabbed into G09's palm.

In that instant, Cheng Ming felt G09's grip on him suddenly weaken, and a very human-like fear was revealed in those scarlet eyes.

Cheng Ming then noticed that what was growing from under his skin were actually red, sharp thorns.

Just like that strange cactus on his table back then.

Cheng Ming's eyes widened in disbelief—if the accelerated reaction and physical enhancement he had experienced earlier were abilities given to him by that mysterious girl, then these red spikes... could they be his own meme abilities?
But why have I never used it myself?

"This is of course your ability," the mysterious girl's voice rang in my ears, "but you may never be able to use this ability in your entire life."

"Why?" Cheng Ming asked in his mind.

“Your meme is too stable, so stable that even if your lifespan as a human were exhausted, the infection process wouldn’t progress to this point… So, I added a little ‘catalyst’ for you…”

"So the price of using this ability is the aggravation of the infection process?" Although he had mentally prepared himself for not returning before setting off, Cheng Ming still felt somewhat uncomfortable after hearing what the other party said.

He didn't want to become a ghost or a monster, and he didn't want to die... If his mother knew about this, she would be very sad, wouldn't she?

"Don't worry, it's just that the abilities within the meme have been activated ahead of time. Your infection process hasn't changed at all." As soon as the mysterious girl finished speaking, all the red spikes retracted into Cheng Ming's body, as if they had never appeared at all.

G09 released his grip, and Cheng Ming, covered in injuries, slid to the ground. But before he could even get up, G09 also collapsed to the ground.

Its skin turned bright red, just like the colleague who had touched Cheng Ming before.

However, no blood beads seeped from G09's skin—there was no blood in its body. Instead, its tissues began to dissolve and evaporate rapidly. In just a few minutes, G09 was reduced to a mechanical skeleton covered in burn marks.

The door to the testing room opened, and a group of people in protective suits rushed in. They quickly lifted Cheng Ming onto a stretcher.

Cheng Ming felt a needle pierce his arm, and the cold liquid flowed into his body through his veins.

The pain was gradually subsiding when someone shone a flashlight into his pupils and then shouted something.

Cheng Ming couldn't hear what he was shouting, so he could only blink to indicate that he was still conscious.

……

"How is the situation?" Meng Yunfeng asked his attendant, arms crossed, looking at the group of medical personnel who were giving Cheng Ming emergency treatment.

“He has multiple fractures and cracks, as well as muscle contusions and subcutaneous bleeding, but no life-threatening injuries have been found. All his internal organs are intact, and the infection is progressing steadily… With our current medical capabilities, he can recover in just two days,” the attendant replied.

"That's good." Meng Yunfeng nodded, then put on a cold face and looked at Tao Ge, who was slumped in front of the control panel muttering to himself. "Chief Engineer Tao Ge, I think the technical department needs to provide an explanation."

“I will,” Taug nodded.

“Let me make this clear beforehand: this explanation is not for me, nor for the Bai Group… but for the Longcheng City Defense Army,” Meng Yunfeng said. “If I remember correctly, the City Defense Army just placed an order last month for a batch of equipment, including twenty G09 units. This order was originally scheduled for delivery at the end of this month, but now that this has happened, do you think the City Defense Army will still want these things?”

“Conservatively speaking, our losses are at least 400 million.” Security Director Bai Yaozong touched the few remaining hairs on his head. “I just said that you should never think you can completely control these strange creatures… It’s a quagmire that you can only sink deeper into. Tao Ge, I’m old now. The future belongs to you young people. You have many opportunities. I hope you can learn from this lesson… It might not be too late to change your research direction now.”

“Director, now is probably not the time to bring this up.” Meng Yunfeng shook his head. “Although this matter is not under my jurisdiction, the problems exposed by G09 are far too far-reaching. Even if we wanted to protect them, we might not be able to protect Tao Ge and the entire R&D team.”

"You mean... the whole project will be canceled?" Upon hearing this, Tao Ge suddenly raised his head, his bloodshot eyes fixed on Meng Yunfeng. "This is the culmination of eight years of hard work from our entire R&D team... even the entire technical department. It can't have gone out of control! There must have been a mistake somewhere. I need time to thoroughly inspect all the wreckage of this G09. I'm sure I can find the problem!"

"It's impossible for it to get out of control?" Meng Yunfeng sneered. "Then how do you explain what just happened? You should be thankful that G09 didn't crush Number 116 to death after it went out of control. If this kind of 'accident' had happened during the city defense army's training, the entire Bai Group would have been finished, you know that!"

Meng Yunfeng practically shouted the second half of his sentence, spitting all over Tao Ge's face.

“I’ll give you a week.” The expressionless girl walked over. “I’ll handle Father and the city defense forces. Tao Ge, your task is to find out why G09 went out of control within a week.”

"In addition," the expressionless girl looked at Tao Ge, who was surrounded by a group of medical personnel, "Number 116 is quite strong. We must recruit him into the hunting party. If he has any additional conditions, as long as they are not too unreasonable, we should fulfill them all."

"The responsibility for today's accident lies entirely with us." The middle-aged woman glanced at Cheng Ming. "Regarding the issue of compensation, I'd like to..."

“You guys handle it,” the expressionless girl said. “Also, while it’s difficult to completely block the news, we can at least prevent rumors that are detrimental to the Bai family from spreading. Everyone here today must sign a confidentiality agreement. As compensation, everyone will receive an extra six months’ salary, including the technical department.”

"I understand." The middle-aged woman nodded.

They call it compensation, but it's really just hush money—they all know that.

"Today's selection is over for now," Meng Yunfeng said. "Tell the other hunters that the recruitment point in the south of the city will be closed for the next three days due to damage to the testing equipment that requires repair. They can choose to wait or go to other recruitment points to participate in the selection."

……

……

Bai's Military Industry, Laboratory No. 4. On the experimental table in front of Tao Ge is a huge sealed box. Inside the sealed box, a dozen test tubes are inserted on a support. Each test tube contains a part that was taken from the G09 mechanical skeleton and is soaking in it.

Most of the solvents in the test tubes were a deep, jade-green color, while at least a few tubes contained a pale, yellowish-green solvent.

With two huge dark circles under his eyes, Tao glanced at the dense data on the computer screen next to him, rubbed his greasy, messy hair in annoyance, then took out a slightly deformed chocolate from his pocket, tore open the wrapper in a few seconds, and stuffed it into his mouth.

According to laboratory regulations, operators are strictly prohibited from eating in the laboratory, especially in a laboratory that specializes in studying strange objects—whether it is food contamination of experimental samples or experimental samples infecting operators through food, it would be a catastrophic experimental accident.

Anyone who violates this rule will have their entire year's salary and bonus deducted, be banned from entering all laboratories for three months, and be required to submit a written self-criticism to the laboratory director.

But Tauger is an exception, because he is the head of that laboratory.

The female assistant next to him, who had only recently obtained her master's degree and hadn't been out of the ivory tower for long, glanced at Tao Ge's violation of the rules, her lips moved, but in the end she didn't dare to point it out directly.

Since yesterday afternoon, Taug has not left the laboratory and has not eaten anything other than these chocolates. His vital signs are being maintained entirely by the calories provided by these chocolates... If he doesn't even eat chocolates, his assistant is really worried that Taug will collapse on the lab table due to low blood sugar.

Tagore once told her that chocolate is a perfect food for researchers. It has enough calories, caffeine to boost energy, and sugar to improve brain function and promote dopamine secretion. In particular, the chocolate that Tagore specially made for himself has more than ten times the caffeine content of ordinary dark chocolate, and the sugar content is so high that it completely neutralizes the bitterness of dark chocolate. In fact, his assistant thought that these chocolates were so sweet that they were almost cloying.

“This shouldn’t be… These data… There are absolutely no errors…” Tao pulled out a handful of hair, and with his other hand, he gently scrolled the mouse wheel.

The experimental data, almost completely repeated more than a dozen times, scrolled on the screen. The constantly flashing fluorescence projected onto the lenses of Taug's glasses, making the bloodshot eyes behind the lenses appear slightly crazy.

The female assistant came to take over the shift at eight o'clock this morning. Her colleagues who worked the night shift yesterday told her that they had accompanied Taug to do the same experiment nine times in a row, and this morning, Taug dragged her to do the same experiment four more times.

At 1:30 p.m., after completing the thirteenth experiment, the female assistant finally had time to go to the dining room outside to eat a boxed lunch that had already gone cold, and then returned to the laboratory to conduct the fourteenth experiment with Taug.

The experiment was simple: the parts with residual monster tissue cells on the G09 mechanical skeleton were disassembled, soaked in "stabilizers" of different concentrations, and then the frequency of the monster memes precipitated from them was measured and compared with the original frequency of the G09's initial memes.

The mechanical skeleton, covered in scorch marks, had been dismantled into pieces and piled on the workbench in the corner. At least one-third of the skeleton's parts had been tested and compared, but even after the fourteenth experiment, no abnormalities were found in the comparison results.

"Xiao Li, sort through that pile of parts that haven't been tested yet, and select two groups with relatively strong memetic residue reactions..." Tao Ge's tone revealed his exhaustion, "to prepare for the fifteenth experiment."

"Potter...why don't you take a break?" The female assistant, nicknamed Little Li, finally couldn't help but advise, "We've conducted the exact same experiment fourteen times, and the results are the same every time. Perhaps the problem isn't with G09..."

“Of course I know the problem isn’t with G09!” Tao Ge said somewhat irritably, “but can I say that to Bai Xiangsong verbatim? Do you think Bai Xiangsong would believe me?”

The Bai Xiangsong that Tao Ge mentioned is the current head of the Bai family and the chairman of the board of directors of the Bai Group.

"As for rest... heh." Tao Ge sneered, "Do you think I'll even have a chance to rest?"

“But…” Xiao Li wanted to say something more, but her expression suddenly changed.

Her lips parted slightly, and she pointed at the sealed box with a look of astonishment.

"Pottery, potter..." Xiao Li said, "Look at that test tube!"

Tao Ge suddenly turned his head and saw that one of the dozen or so vials contained a solvent that had turned blood red!

"How many minutes has this test tube been in?" Tao asked, and before his assistant Xiao Li could answer, he started searching on the computer. "Experiment fourteen, sample number nine, the soaking time started at 2:03:17, and it's currently 2:34:05... Under normal circumstances, the residual memetic of G09 should be completely precipitated within ten minutes..."

Tao slammed his hand on the table: "Quick! Perform a second test on this test tube!"

Assistant Xiao Li then seemed to wake up from a dream and ran to the control panel, carefully manipulating the robotic arm to remove the test tube and place it into an instrument that looked like a microwave oven.

A few minutes later.

"Potter! We've detected a meme frequency completely different from G09! There's no connection between this meme and G09 itself, so we can basically rule out the possibility of G09 meme mutation!" Xiao Li said quickly. "It's contamination from an external meme!"

"I knew it! This is the key to G09 going out of control!" Taug took a deep breath. "Could this meme have come from applicant number 116?"

“If only we could get his meme sample… but this guy is a registered hunter, not a free hunter, which makes things more complicated,” Tao muttered cautiously. “Bai’s Military Industry is just a private company; it doesn’t have the authority to test registered hunter memes… unless we can get him to volunteer…”

"Wait a minute!" Taug suddenly remembered something.

He took out his phone and started playing a video that he had already watched many times.

That was a video recording of Cheng Ming's fight against G09.

Tao Ge dragged the video progress bar to the end and then changed the playback speed to 0.25x.

At this speed, he could see the details of the battle clearly, almost without any obstruction.

"No... G09 went out of control first, and then the red spikes that emerged from No. 116's body pierced G09's body, after which G09's monster tissue collapsed... Even if this foreign meme came from No. 116, G09 went out of control first. And before that, No. 116 was using weapons provided by us, so theoretically he had no opportunity to make G09 go out of control through meme contamination..."

(End of this chapter)