Hearing Sun Hang's unabashed footsteps, the young woman simply started running, while Sun Hang took large strides upward, covering three or four steps at a time, moving even faster than she did step by step.
Soon, the young woman entered Sun Hang's line of sight. She glanced back at him and pushed against the clutter piled up in the stairwell.
A shabby wardrobe and a discarded mattress toppled down, instantly blocking the stairwell completely.
The stairwell in the old building was very narrow, and whether Sun Hang wanted to squeeze through the gaps or clear the debris, it would take considerable time. The woman looked back, a hint of smugness flashing in her eyes above her mask.
But what she didn't expect was that Sun Hang didn't squeeze through the gaps; instead, the hand holding the gun shot straight through—
"Bang!"
The gunshot echoed in the hallway, and the woman screamed, immediately collapsing to the ground.
Sun Hang didn't aim for her vital parts; instead, he shot her in the calf.
The bullet pierced through the fabric of her tight jeans, and crimson blood slowly seeped from the bullet hole, dyeing the dark blue fabric a purplish-red.
The smugness in her eyes instantly transformed into resentment and fear. She struggled to her feet, glanced at Sun Hang, and limped her way upward.
Sun Hang didn't fire a second shot. Instead, he removed the debris blocking the hallway, forcefully kicked down the mattress acting as a wall in front of him, and walked upward unhurriedly.
His steps were steady, his hand with the gun slightly extended, causing the metal slide on the gun to continually knock against the metal handrails, producing a "ding, ding, ding" sound... To the pursued person, this crisp knocking might as well be the death bell.
With the young woman dragging an injured leg, Sun Hang catching up was just a matter of time.
Sun Hang wasn't in a hurry, nor was he worried about any ambushes from the woman's accomplices within the building—besides her, he didn't detect any "scent," nor did his subconscious sense any threats.
Even if there were an ambush, it wouldn't be a threat to him.
Finally, the woman stopped on the ninth floor, leaning against the doorframe of room 901, gasping for breath.
Room 901 was completely empty, a thick layer of dust accumulating in the entrance, devoid of any footprints... Clearly, this was not her residence.
"Who... who are you?" The woman glared at Sun Hang with frightened eyes, "You have a gun... are you a Sheriff? Or someone from the Anomaly Investigation Bureau?!"
"Neither." Sun Hang shook his head, "But you're close to the answer."
"You... you..." Despair suddenly crept into the woman's eyes, "Are you... a Hunter?"
"Since you know about the Hunter, then you should know why I'm after you, right?" Sun Hang pushed back the slide of his handgun to check the bullets and sized her up, "Take off the mask and hat."
She hesitated for a moment but eventually complied.
She appeared to be only eighteen or nineteen, her face sallow and scrawny, seemingly suffering from severe malnutrition, her chest under the hoodie as flat as a male's, and her limbs as thin as sticks.
Sun Hang raised the gun, pointing directly at the girl's forehead.
"W-wait! Aren't you going to ask anything?" Seeing the dark muzzle, the girl visibly panicked.
"There's no need for that," Sun Hang said softly, the finger on the trigger beginning to apply pressure.
"Don't... don't kill me! I'll show you what you want!" The girl hastily raised her right arm, pulling down the sleeve with her other hand.
On her emaciated forearm was a considerable area of ulceration, but upon closer inspection, it wasn't just a simple skin ulcer. Beneath the festering dermal tissue, many tiny granules wiggled slightly, resembling the tendrils of some creature.
Staring at it for too long was enough to make one's scalp tingle with anxiety.
Sun Hang could already confirm that the scent he detected was emanating from here.
"Look! You see, I am infected!" the girl spoke urgently, "I know your rules! I am infected, and I still retain clear consciousness! According to your rules, you shouldn't kill me; instead, you should take me back... to do your tests..."
"You know quite a bit... Who told you this?" Sun Hang didn't move the gun from her.
"I... I found it online..." the girl mumbled softly, "After being infected... I've been wanting to find you, but I was also scared..."
"How did you get infected?" Sun Hang asked again.
"I... I don't know..."
"What about your family?"
"I don't have family... I'm an orphan." The girl lowered her head, "My parents died when I was very young, and I've been living alone, supporting myself with odd jobs..."
"Here's a suggestion: when you make up stories, pay attention to logic, so it doesn't contradict reality." Sun Hang said faintly.
"I'm not lying! Everything I said is true!" The girl argued.
"You live alone, so why would you buy so much food?" Sun Hang gestured with his chin toward the bags on the ground, filled with buns and fried dough sticks, enough to feed over ten people.
"Th-these... are all for myself..." The girl pointed at the ulcerated spot on her arm, "Since being infected... I've been ravenous, no matter how much I eat, I can't fill up..."
"This claim coupled with your malnourished appearance is indeed somewhat convincing. After all, the specific traits of anomalies are unknown; perhaps the anomaly infecting you excessively consumes the host's nutrients, but..." Sun Hang took out the brown sugar glutinous rice cake he got from the old man, popping half into his mouth, chewed as he spoke, "You don't need to buy over ten packets of soy milk, do you?"
"I... I... like it..."
"You mentioned earlier you live on odd jobs, and your clothing is indeed cheap stall goods... Assuming your appetite is as alarming as you claim, your living expenses would be quite tight." Sun Hang slightly slowed his speech, patiently analyzing, "Fried dough sticks cost one yuan each, vegetable buns are eighty cents each, and meat buns are a bit pricier at one yuan fifty... Comparatively, six yuan a packet of soy milk seems a bit extravagant, doesn't it? I believe drinking plain water would be more cost-effective?"
"What do you really want to ask?!" The girl's face flushed with agitation, her breathing becoming more intense.
"You have accomplices, don't you? I mean... other infected individuals." Sun Hang said, "Take me to them."
He hadn't eaten in many days...
He was ravenous.
A bowl of one-and-a-half taels of wanton soup couldn't satiate his hunger.