Neighbor

"I see."

"What? You're interested in her? I can introduce you." Yang Qi's eyes crinkled as she smiled. "Don't let my sister's perpetually stern face fool you, making her seem unapproachable. She's actually the type who's cold on the outside but warm on the inside."

"Uh? You seem in a hurry to push your sister off onto someone..." Sun Hang glanced at the camera in the corner of the ceiling, unsure if Yang Qi's words were casual chatter or part of a "test."

"Can I not be in a hurry? She's already twenty-nine and has never dated. Every blind date ends quickly with no follow-up. As her older sister, how can I not be anxious?"

"Your sister is twenty-nine, so you must be approaching..."

"Okay, that's enough. It's getting a bit rude," Yang Qi quickly cut off the topic. "How about this, I'll take you to get familiar with your new place first, and then I'll slowly go over some things you need to pay attention to in your daily life and work as a Hunter."

Yang Qi walked over to a nearby cabinet, took out an outfit, and handed it to Sun Hang.

It was a black and white casual outfit from a common brand found on the streets. On top of the clothes lay a finely crafted metal bracelet.

"Although the Investigation Bureau and Hunters are closely intertwined, Hunters are not subordinate to the Investigation Bureau, so you won't need to wear this Temporary Investigator uniform anymore." Yang Qi finished speaking and picked up the bracelet. "This is a tracker. If necessary, you can choose to remove it yourself... but I advise you not to, unless it's absolutely unavoidable."

"Do Hunters get housing assignments too?" Sun Hang fastened the bracelet onto his left wrist. With a click, the bracelet closed seamlessly, showing no sign of its two-part structure. He tried moving his wrist... He had to admit, the tracker bracelet was very comfortable to wear, almost unnoticeable.

"Of course. Are you planning on moving back into the Temporary Investigator dorms?"

Sun Hang recalled the cell-like interior of the dorms and blurted out the honest truth: "That place is like a prison."

"Although this might offend some of my colleagues at the Investigation Bureau, I have to say... you're right."

Tianfu City Anomaly Research Institute, Basement Level 1, Garage.

To Sun Hang's surprise, Yang Qi, who appeared to be a gentle and refined intellectual, drove an extremely rugged-looking armored SUV. The front bumper and the sides of the vehicle bore obvious signs of collisions and scrapes. The surface of the dark green modular armor was covered in countless bullet impacts, making it look as if it had just been pulled from a battlefield.

"Is this really your car?" Sun Hang couldn't help but ask.

"It used to be a military vehicle. I picked it up after it was decommissioned and renovated it inside and out." Yang Qi patted the hood with considerable pride. "This car is great in every way, except for its fuel consumption. But since the institute reimburses fuel costs, that's not really a drawback anymore."

Just as Sun Hang was about to open the passenger door, Yang Qi stopped him. "Wait, can you drive?"

"...I don't remember."

"Get in and try." Yang Qi tossed the key to Sun Hang. "Maybe touching the steering wheel will help you recover some memories."

"But I don't have a driver's license... If I drive out like this, won't the traffic control department stop me?"

"Your Hunter's license is your universal pass. Also, although this car was decommissioned, its license plate hasn't been canceled, so the traffic control department wouldn't dare stop a military vehicle," Yang Qi said.

"Alright, I'll try. I won't have to pay if I crash, right?"

"No, you can drive with peace of mind... Uh, you do know which one is the accelerator and which is the brake, right?"

"I know." Sun Hang thought for a moment and realized he still had the relevant knowledge in his head. He then proactively sat in the driver's seat.

As soon as Sun Hang's hands gripped the steering wheel, a familiar feeling washed over him—he was almost certain that he knew how to drive before he lost his memory.

He inserted the key, turned it, pressed the clutch, shifted gears, released the handbrake, and lightly pressed the accelerator... The sequence of actions was smooth and practiced. Even Yang Qi, sitting in the passenger seat, nodded in approval.

"Not bad. You must have been quite the driver back then," Yang Qi praised. "There aren't many young people who can drive a manual transmission these days."

With the widespread adoption of new energy vehicles, people now only take tests for the simpler automatic transmission when getting their licenses. Military vehicles, in pursuit of higher power, easier maintenance, and reliability, exclusively use manual transmissions.

Many veteran drivers with over a decade of experience have never even touched a clutch pedal.

"Where to?"

Sun Hang slowly drove the car out of the garage and asked.

"Just follow the navigation." Yang Qi entered an address on the screen, and a detailed navigation route was projected onto the windshield directly in front of the driver's seat.

The armored SUV with military plates drove through three streets and turned directly into a high-end villa complex.

"It's the one on the far left," Yang Qi directed.

The SUV slowly stopped in front of a villa. Sun Hang noticed a pile of old furniture and household items next to the trash can by the villa's entrance.

A pink bedsheet with lace trim was crumpled and hanging on the edge of the trash can. Beside it, more than a dozen black garbage bags were stacked as high as a person.

"Are you sure it's this one?" Sun Hang asked, glancing suspiciously at the women's clothing peeking out from the torn garbage bags.

"Tsk, it's been so many days, and they're still not done?" Yang Qi's expression was a little awkward. "This complex was actually built by Tianfu City specifically for Hunters... Um, the previous Hunter who lived here sacrificed herself a while ago. Her house became vacant, so it's perfect for you."

"Did she die in the attack by the Taotie's clone?" Sun Hang asked. "The one when I lost my memory?"

"Yes." Yang Qi nodded. "But it looks like they've cleaned up most of it. Want to take a look inside?"

"Sure." As Sun Hang stepped out of the car, he happened to see a familiar figure emerge from the second-floor balcony of the villa next door.

Wang Lizard... No, she should be Wang Xiyi.

She was wearing a black sports bra, her long black hair tied back with a headband. Eight well-defined, solid abdominal muscles were exposed, glistening with sweat in the sunlight.

She glanced at Sun Hang and Yang Qi, gave a very slight nod, acknowledging their presence.

She seemed to have just finished exercising, and crystal beads of sweat trickled down from her temples along her hairline, dripping onto her smooth collarbones.

Logically, at this distance, Sun Hang shouldn't be able to smell anything, including her sweat. Yet, Sun Hang could smell her unique scent from nearly twenty meters away.

That scent that made Sun Hang's appetite flare.

This time, the disgusting feeling of nausea didn't appear—until Wang Xiyi took a syringe from her sports shorts pocket and injected it into her arm.

Sun Hang suddenly understood where the cilantro sprinkled on a peerless delicacy came from.

"What is that injection she just took?" Sun Hang asked Yang Qi.

"Beast Transformation Inhibitor. It helps her maintain her human form," Yang Qi replied. "This is the fruit of our institute's technological achievements."