The fisherman instantly turned around, but at the same time, a gunshot rang out from a distance!

It was coming from the direction where Sergei was being dragged away by the soldiers.

"Sukabuli!"

......

Tianfu City, Comprehensive Talent Training Base construction site, Underground Palace.

Sun Hang led Ling Xiao through the tunnel already equipped with various modern lighting devices, the latter occasionally raising his head to scrutinize the surroundings—every now and then, clusters of three to five researchers and fully armed investigators could be seen, although the master of the underground palace had been resolved by Sun Hang, there remained a large batch of enigmatic apparatus made from red crystals within the palace.

No one was certain whether these objects would pose a threat, so the researchers could only cautiously test each one, categorize them, record them, and finally contain them in specialized containers before transporting them out of the underground palace.

Due to a shortage of manpower, the progress of this work was quite slow... two days had already passed, and only less than a third of the objects had been sorted.

"Aren't you curious?" Sun Hang glanced back at Ling Xiao, who had been silent all the way, "I brought you to this place."

"Curious." Ling Xiao replied.

Sun Hang was slightly taken aback; isn't curiosity an emotion? At the very least, the desire for knowledge is a kind of lust, yet Ling Xiao, whose seven emotions and six desires were devoured by Anna, still felt curiosity?

"Are you genuinely curious, or are you just saying that to answer my question?"

"..." Ling Xiao fell silent once more, clearly unable to grasp Sun Hang's question.

"Could you smile?" Sun Hang asked again.

Ling Xiao's face twitched a few times, and finally, with the assistance of his fingers, he forced a "smile" that looked extremely unnatural.

"Forget it, let's switch topics..." Sun Hang pondered for a moment, then asked, "Can you think of anything that could make you feel happy?"

A hint of confusion crossed Ling Xiao's brow, and his pace slowed down, seeming to fall into deep thought.

After a full dozen seconds, he replied, "I'm... not sure."

"It's okay to be unsure."

"...Deicide."

If Sun Hang were drinking water now, he would definitely spit out the water with a "puh" sound.

Such a cliched response, yet uttered by Ling Xiao with such seriousness... It's hard to describe what kind of scene this presented.

Sun Hang's toes curled twice inside his shoes, then he asked, trying to maintain a calm tone, "You mean... deicide could make you happy? Or, make your mood better?"

"I'm not sure... I just feel like I don't like those god and Buddha statues my mother used to worship," Ling Xiao said.

"Not like?" Sun Hang instantly caught another key phrase.

Not liking, in other words, is dislike... which is also part of human emotion.

Did Anna fail to completely devour Ling Xiao, leaving him with some remnants of the seven emotions and six desires... or have they slowly "grown" back over this period?

Sun Hang felt the latter scenario might be more probable.

If human emotions can regenerate after being consumed, then wouldn't it be possible to sustain an endless cycle of exploitation?

"..." Ling Xiao fell silent again.

The two finally reached the entrance to the underground palace, which had been cordoned off with yellow and black police lines, and two heavily armed field agents stepped forward, taking out a device resembling a temperature gun.

Sun Hang halted, allowing them to aim the "temperature gun" at his eyes.

"Iris comparison complete." The field agent nodded to Sun Hang, "You can go in... but who is this person?"

"With my authority, is it not possible to bring an extra person inside?"

"Of course it is."

"Then stop asking." Sun Hang pulled apart the police line, slipping inside, with Ling Xiao following closely behind.

Compared to the tunnel filled with personnel and equipment, the scene in the underground palace hadn't changed much; those terracotta soldiers still guarded around the bone throne, and the red crystal, similar in size and shape to a Rubik's Cube, lay quietly on the bone throne.

"These are all enigmatic objects." Sun Hang said to Ling Xiao, "These terracotta soldiers, the throne made of bones, and that thing on the throne, all of them are."

Ling Xiao nodded, waiting for Sun Hang to continue.

"The enemies you will face in the future are also enigmatic objects." Sun Hang walked over, pulling out a long sword from one of the terracotta soldiers and throwing it to Ling Xiao, "Give it a try."

This terracotta soldier had no shield, and its only weapon was pulled away by Sun Hang. Upon receiving Sun Hang's instruction, it took a big step toward Ling Xiao, raising its remaining weapon—a fist—and swung it at Ling Xiao.

Ling Xiao immediately leapt back a step, the iron-made long sword dragging on the ground with a piercing sound—this long sword, nearly ten pounds heavy, was somewhat too weighty for an adolescent.

Before Ling Xiao could stabilize himself, he swung the long sword in his hand, slashing at the terracotta soldier.

"Too rushed." Watching from the side with arms crossed, Sun Hang sighed and shook his head.

As long as the terracotta soldier dodged this strike, the significant inertia would cause Ling Xiao's body to momentarily lose balance and lunge forward... Sun Hang was already prepared to stop the terracotta soldier at any moment.

But what Sun Hang didn't expect was, the terracotta soldier was rigid as well; it didn't intend to dodge at all, instead, it raised an arm to block the incoming sword.

"Clang!"

A clear sound resonated, and the terracotta soldier's arm had a one-centimeter deep notch, while the long sword was shaken from Ling Xiao's hand and fell to the ground; Ling Xiao immediately tried to retrieve it, but the terracotta soldier stepped forward, directly stepping on the long sword.

The terracotta soldier's other foot immediately kicked toward Ling Xiao in front, forcing Ling Xiao to roll on the ground in a rather ungraceful posture, narrowly avoiding the kick.

The terracotta soldier bent over and picked up the long sword.

"Stop." Sun Hang said.

Ling Xiao climbed up from the ground, brushing off the dust clinging to him.

His tiger's mouth had a slight tear, with blood droplets sliding down his fingertip—he had swung that sword with all his might, without any reservation.

This was a life or death strategy; failing meant exposing a vulnerability to the opponent.

But for Ling Xiao, this was indeed the only chance to deal with the terracotta soldier.

He hadn't learned combat, much less swordsmanship, swinging this heavy sword consumed an immense amount of stamina, while his opponent was an unyielding enigmatic terracotta soldier... even if Ling Xiao adopted a maneuvering strategy, it would be meaningless.

The longer it dragged on, the bigger his disadvantage.

"Do you know why you lost?" Sun Hang asked.

If someone else were there, they might provide answers based on skills, mindset, or other aspects, but Ling Xiao truthfully said, "It's too tough, I can't break it."

"Exactly... if you can't even break its defense, any skills or strategies are useless." Sun Hang nodded in satisfaction, "Do you know how humans counter those ridiculously strong enigmatic objects?"

"By the Hunters?" Ling Xiao lifted his head, meeting Sun Hang's gaze.

"That's partly correct... but the standard answer should be 'relying on the strength of enigmatic objects'." Sun Hang said, "There's an old saying, 'Use barbarians' skills to control them', and the Hunters' abilities also stem from enigmatic objects... based on current circumstances, only the strength of enigmatic objects can counter them."

"Can I become a Hunter?" Ling Xiao asked.

"You can, but it's unnecessary." Sun Hang said, "I brought you here to bestow you the strength of enigmatic objects... but in another way."

"Another way?"

"Have you heard of enigmatic apparatus gear and Adapters?" Sun Hang couldn't help but recall the scene of his first meeting with Ye Jiu when asking this question.