No Angsa hunters among the group were willing to give up the chance to enter underground ruins, but no matter how fiercely they argued, they maintained a tacit understanding—never mentioning a word about what's underground at the research institute ruins.

Even when their argument involved that thing, they would opt for using vague references, such as "that thing," "target," "relic," and so on.

Sun Hang wanted to extract related information from the female hunter's memory, but unfortunately, the memory left in the mimesis was limited to the period before the female hunter's death; beyond that was a blank.

Amidst the Angsa hunters fighting over whether to draw lots for quotas, a male hunter with a sullen expression suddenly said:

"I have a way to let most of us enter the underground ruins."

"What way?" The others quickly asked.

"However, a sacrifice is needed."

"Sacrifice? What do you mean?"

"My ability can highly activate the mimesis within the infected... Although the duration is only twelve hours, it can enhance the mimesis properties several times. As a price, the mimesis carrier will suffer extreme backlash."

"Backlash? How severe?"

"Death, or directly turning into a ghoul," the sullen man said, "The principle is simple: let the infection process break through the safe threshold in a short time, in exchange for a more formidable power."

"I disagree!" The hunter with the "Shield Curse" ability immediately opposed, "If not for me, you wouldn't even be preparing this plan! I am the most critical person here, why should I sacrifice myself?! If you decide to proceed like this, I'd rather die directly; I won't let you succeed! Think it over yourselves!"

"Actually...whether you die or not makes little difference," the sullen man added, "After the infected dies, the mimesis inside will still exist for a time, enough for me to activate it and solidify it into your body."

"Fuck!"

The hunter cursed, directly drawing his pistol, but before he raised it, the memory holder in the first-person view—the crazy female hunter—had already slashed his throat open with a small sickle.

Sun Hang noticed that the memory owner's mental state was already unstable, and the act of killing a companion was the straw that broke the camel's back—she directly lunged at the dying hunter, gulping down the blood gushing from his throat.

Scenes within the memories began to appear distorted and insane, with a meaningless babble and roar—these sounds were actually those of other Angsa hunters discussing subsequent handling methods. To the crazy female hunter, it turned into something akin to the whispers of an ancient god.

The Angsa hunters acted fast, cutting off a part of the corpse, leading the crazy female hunter downstairs like a dog... though the following scene wasn't visible from her perspective, Sun Hang could guess the events the hunters orchestrated on the floor above.

The group of Angsa hunters dissected their companion's corpse, then solidified his abilities into those body parts taken away... those missing eyeballs, fingers, and hearts had transformed into their "Protective Talismans" to avoid the curse.

"Tsk... Just as I thought, selfish and cold-blooded," Sun Hang retreated from the memory scene, mumbling softly.

"Selfish and cold-blooded?" The fisherman carefully observed Sun Hang's facial expression and asked quietly.

"I meant that group of Angsa hunters... I already know why that hunter was killed." Sun Hang replied.

"Why?" asked the fisherman.

"I can tell you, but don't ask how I know," said Sun Hang, glancing at the fisherman and another glance at Shino Seiichi standing beside Huangfu Sha, who lay on the ground.

"Go ahead, I won't ask," the fisherman nodded repeatedly, "Everyone has their secrets, those who know, know!"

"The deceased hunter's ability was to shield curses, but his ability was limited, able to shield at most two people. In a dispute, one female hunter already cursed, that is her," Sun Hang pointed at the corpse beside him with fingers covered in blood, "killed him."

"Then they killed him for that? Wouldn't this prevent anyone from being guided? Crazy!" The fisherman looked with disbelief.

"No, among them, one person's ability can amplify and solidify mimesis properties, the price being the death of the mimesis carrier or transformation into a ghoul." Sun Hang said, "Those missing body parts from the corpse I found earlier were taken away as mimesis carriers."

"My gosh... This is truly... insane, isn't it?" The fisherman's eyes twitched relentlessly, "They can kill a companion for trial points?"

"They were not after the trial points," Sun Hang said, "Your previous assumption was correct, they did acquire some exclusive intelligence unknown to us. This group of Angsa hunters participated in the trial for a certain object hidden underground at the research institute ruins, not to become ranked hunters... I even suspect that this intelligence is unknown to the Dubhe Tower insiders."

"What object? Can it be more important than ascending trials?" The fisherman marveled.

"Unknown," Sun Hang shook his head decisively, "Furthermore, how they obtained this intelligence is beyond me."

"Uh, I was about to ask that, but you guessed it," the fisherman muttered, "Does the appearance of Yamata Orochi have anything to do with them?"

"I don't know," Sun Hang replied, "All I know is they killed a companion for this matter, abandoned this crazy female hunter... That's all the information this corpse provided me."

"Speaking of which, the curse is the biggest issue we face now," Shino said worriedly, "Since this female hunter went insane due to the curse, it seems the curse affects not only those entering underground ruins but takes effect in the ruins' vicinity... possibly even when we first set foot on this island."

"Hiss... Saying this makes my back tingle," the fisherman rubbed his arm, "Damn it, I fear visible touchable monsters a lot less, but invisible untouchable things trap me completely."

"One of us might suddenly go insane, becoming like her," Sun Hang said, "Especially after entering underground... According to those Angsa hunters, the curse's influence underground will far exceed above-ground levels... above, only a few would go insane due to the curse. But underground, without the Shield Curse's shelter, it is impossible to proceed."

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