Chapter 9: Newcomers Should Learn More_1

"Hey, actually, every time I receive a commission like this, I think the process at the research institutes is too cumbersome," Jamie said cheerfully to his roommates one night in the dorm, although today had been uneventful, albeit there were still two weeks to go, overall it wasn't that bad.

"Right, just give us the reward, and we'll join the tests; we can get paid on the same day," agreed another military veteran, like Lewis, who felt this whole process created by the research institutes was just a pointless complication...

"You think the people at these research institutes are stupid?" Lewis said, gnawing on beef jerky, looking content, "They do this for a reason, of course. Guess why?"

"Isn't it unfair to make people guess?" Jamie lifted an eyebrow slightly.

"Haha, the reason is related to the characteristics of Hazy City; it's surprising you don't know this, being a local," Lewis chuckled and revealed what he knew.

"We all know that the heavy fog in Hazy City makes anomalies more likely to occur, and it's hard to completely isolate these anomalies. Some research institutes have had experimental subjects undergo additional changes due to the heavy fog conditions."

"Fuck, isn't that more dangerous?" Jamie's tongue clicked in surprise; he had never encountered such a situation and was completely unaware of these matters.

Zheng Yichen continued to listen seriously to these discussions like a newbie.

"Indeed, but for the research institutes, it also means more test information, although when that happens, it's not us freelance testers who take the stage; the research institutes' security forces will be deployed," Lewis said, his expression growing somewhat melancholy.

"I've encountered such incidents twice; there's more compensation after resolving them, but each time there have been casualties among the testers."

Jamie's tongue clicked again: "Twice? Including this time, I've been involved in twenty-two research security commissions, and I've never encountered it once."

"Then you're really lucky."

At that moment, Zheng Yichen spoke, "A severe dense fog just happened a few days ago; we probably won't get any heavy fog soon."

Lewis nodded slightly, "Hope so."

There's not much to say about Hazy City's crappy weather; it's more or less the same as the weather outside the city, except the fog is really characteristic.

The meteorological bureau can issue fairly accurate fog predictions, but obviously, it's not up to the meteorological bureau to decide when the fog appears. There might not be fog in the near future, but consecutive occurrences of severe dense fog aren't impossible either.

On the third day, Zheng Yichen, just after getting up, looked at his phone and checked the weather forecast: "The heavy fog is coming..."

"Huh?" Jamie heard Zheng Yichen's words, rubbed his eyes, and after his vision cleared, he muttered to himself. He never cut back on his daily exercises, but when it came to comparing physiques with Zheng Yichen, he still seemed a bit lacking.

Of course, in terms of muscle, Lewis was still the strongest; the guy was nine feet tall with a large frame, which was a natural advantage.

Putting aside those innate advantages and just talking about physique, one could say that their temporary dormitory was brimming with vitality.

"Let the fog come; Hazy City has fog everywhere, it doesn't necessarily mean it will affect us here," Jamie dressed leisurely, "I've been in heavy fog at other research institutes before, and I never encountered any anomalies."

"Compared to that, I'm more eager to get in contact with the experimental subjects."

His visit to the research institute this time was not for the sake of earning money, his primary objective was to join this research institution. He had already sensed his own limits and knew that continuing to improve would be difficult, and as for some of the special enhancement methods, those were definitely money burners.

So the best method was as he previously mentioned, joining certain research institutes, and the Nephita Research Institute was one of those he was targeting. This institute mainly focused on biological research and had numerous results in human enhancement technologies.

He aimed to perform exceptionally well in this commission, starting by applying to join the institute's security force, although this would mean he would no longer be able to freely choose commissions to earn money as before. However, in this place, he could encounter far more possibilities.

If things didn't work out here, he had other options. There were plenty of opportunities, and many research institutes' security forces were recruiting Hunters.

"When the time comes, I'll be relying on you guys to give me plenty of opportunities to showcase myself," he said.

"I have no problems with that," Lewis said succinctly. The institute provided meals, but extra meals cost extra, and Jamie took care of those all by himself. Lewis understood Jamie's thoughts; he had no interest in joining the institute.

As there was no conflict of interest, he was more than willing to let Jamie perform well, which could also mean saving on some ammunition expenses on his end.

"I'm the newbie here and need to learn a lot," Zheng Yichen followed, having only recently joined their circle. Many things were still murky for him, and he certainly didn't share Jamie's ambitions. Moreover, he himself possessed a particular anomaly, which he had learned about through extensive online research.

This world had no shortage of individuals with anomalies. Unless one encountered evil organizations, the likelihood of being dissected was in fact quite slim. There were even those with anomalies who considered selling their blood as a means to make a living. He had even seen such individuals brag about their 'paychecks' online.

Whether those were real or faked, he couldn't tell.

Even so, he maintained a respectful but distant attitude towards places like research institutes, especially after finding out that Nephita conducted biological studies. He would consider involving himself only after he had learned enough about the subject in the future.

For now, his plan was to be a bit of a slacker until the real fighting started, when he would take the opportunity to swipe some specimens—not too many, just enough to get by. Currently, his role was a close-combat unit, so getting some blood on himself after an up-close encounter with a specimen would not be out of the ordinary, would it?

While on patrol, Zheng Yichen glanced at the CCTV camera. The frequency of the unknown wild beast's roars had increased since yesterday. These roars had enabled some experienced Hunters to estimate the approximate size of the specimens.

The size of these specimens presumably wouldn't be smaller than that of male lions. Lewis had also said to prepare for a confrontation with the specimens as if they were going to fight a bear head-on, which made this commission rather unsuitable for a close-combat 'unit' like Zheng Yichen.

Close combat was too risky, as one could be taken down instantly; unless Zheng Yichen could deliver a fatal blow that would paralyze the specimens in an instant. Otherwise, given the specimens' life force, they would still have a brief moment to retaliate, even if they were hit in vital spots.

Using a gun was different; at long range, one could shoot them dead without worrying about a dying specimen's counterattack.

Moreover, the roaring from those specimens had sparked the curiosity of veteran Hunters, but the glass at experimentation sites was opaque, making it hard to gather specific intel. The institute wanted to collect real combat data.

They might give some warnings, but clearly, they weren't going to reveal too much information to the Hunters in advance.

"Everyone, be alert. 'Accidents' are likely to occur today," Lewis whispered to Zheng Yichen and the others. "There will be dense fog after some time, and to the research institute, that's just an additional variable."

"Is that not against the rules?" Zheng Yichen exclaimed.

"The weather isn't something the institute can change," Lewis shrugged, not delving into this too much.

Jamie nodded in understanding, "No wonder I always encountered 'accidents' on foggy days at other research institutes."