After Wenwen had shown the few items, Gu Daoqing let out a long sigh and said, "Just to retrieve these items, the Association lost seven demon hunters, two of whom were at the Assimilation realm..."
With these seven demon hunters, coupled with the complete annihilation of the Xihong City branch, the Hunter Association had lost over a dozen demon hunters here. Yet, their only gains were a pile of un-destroyable components.
All deceased demon hunters and their assistants would receive aid from the Association, but this aid could not bring their loved ones back to life.
In fact, many of the sacrifices had no family at all.
All Wenwen could do was offer a few moments of silence, and then try his best to find the mastermind.
The very job of a demon hunter was to wage war against all threats to humanity, and war was never without casualties.
After a dozen seconds of silence, Wenwen pointed at the massive vat that resembled a meat grinder and asked, "Through this, can these components be contained?"
Gu Daoqing shrugged his shoulders and said, "The container needs to be changed every eight hours, and this time keeps shortening. Before long, these flesh and blood will not be able to be contained by this vat, and a new method will be needed."
"Let's look at what you brought back first," he said, walking over to Wenwen and opening the two boxes Wenwen had brought.
Inside the metal box containing hair, it had become riddled with holes. That single strand of hair was destroying the box, attempting to escape from here.
In the box containing the stomach, all the soil inside had disappeared, and the metal box had also thinned by a layer. Inside, there was only a stomach wrapped in an outer layer of soil.
As soon as the box was opened, with Wenwen's suppressive power gone, both items moved almost simultaneously, attempting to merge together.
Gu Daoqing extended his hand and touched both the hair and the stomach.
An elegant aura was released from his hand, causing the foul stench on these two items to dissipate rapidly. They lay quietly in the containers, as clean as if they had been washed with bleach.
"This is my ability. It's not very useful, but it can purify anything it touches, removing all filth. Now, these two items can be quieted for a while."
Looking at the stomach that seemed to have been enhanced by a beauty filter, Wenwen even felt that its cleanliness was enough to eat sashimi raw.
Perhaps... should he try slicing a piece?
However, Wenwen only thought about it. He had several dangerous thoughts every minute, but only a few were ever implemented.
But what puzzled him was why Gu Daoqing, who was so elegant and refined, would wear clothes the color of excrement?
Gu Daoqing was unaware of Wenwen's impolite thoughts and continued, "The two items you brought can be temporarily placed here."
"But if you find any more components, don't send them here again. I will order the establishment of several more containment sites to hold similar items."
Wenwen frowned slightly and asked, "Why go through all this trouble? Other places can't compare to the security level here."
Gu Daoqing shook his head and said, "Once these things gather in large numbers, no matter how strict the measures, they will automatically aggregate and form an undead, powerful monster. If that happens, this base might be wiped out once more."
"How do you know that?" Wenwen asked, confused.
Gu Daoqing led Wenwen to a computer and showed him the recorded footage.
Surveillance equipment was not common in the Federation, and it was even completely prohibited for civilian use. However, the Hunter Association did not have to abide by this rule.
Key locations in every branch had several specialized cameras for monitoring important targets.
The screen showed several sealed rooms clad in steel plates, each containing some white debris sealed by similar devices, which appeared to be bones.
A demon hunter with a crew cut carefully picked up a small piece of bone and walked into the room, preparing to place the fractured bone into a new room for containment.
At that moment, all the components present became restless, slamming against the containment measures and then easily breaking through them, rushing out, and aggregating together.
Finally, they formed a white bone monster the size of an Akita, with no head.
Where its head should have been, a cluster of green flames ignited. The flames, like eyes, stared coldly at the bewildered, crew-cut demon hunter.
The next second, sharp bone spurs pierced the demon hunter's neck!
Its speed was so great that the Association's surveillance equipment could not capture its direction of movement at all.
Afterward, the mass of white bones began to extract the demon hunter's bones, assembling them onto its own body. The scene was unbearable to watch...
A moment later, what stood up was a deformed skeleton, one meter tall, with green flames flickering in its eye sockets.
The withered figure vanished instantly. Then, all that could be heard from the recording was despairing wails...
After repeatedly watching that short segment of footage, Wenwen asked in a deep voice, "Is this how the demon hunter team in Xihong City was completely wiped out?"
This skeleton monster was very powerful!
Gu Daoqing nodded and replied, "That's why I learned my lesson. I won't place too many of these parts in the same location, otherwise, disaster will strike again."
Afterward, Wenwen and Gu Daoqing exchanged their views on the matter and then set their action plan for the next few days.
Gu Daoqing would continue to be stationed at this base, and he would begin establishing new containment sites and testing how to destroy these things.
As for Wenwen, he would search for new clues within the city, maintain order, and try to find more components.
Before leaving, Wenwen asked Gu Daoqing for several sacks, and then he and Tao Qingqing walked out from the underground passage of the cucumber garden.
As soon as they emerged, Wenwen threw two sacks to Tao Qingqing.
"As the saying goes, demon hunters don't leave empty-handed. Pick more fresh vegetables. These are the Association's property, they won't mind how much you take."
Tao Qingqing rolled her eyes. Why did she have to do something so embarrassing?
However, in the end, they each carried two large sacks, leaving the botanical garden under the dumbfounded gazes of the patrolling assistants.
After coming out, Wenwen put all the fruits and vegetables he had picked into the containment facility, thus saving the foundation several sacks of vegetable money.
Given Wenwen's current wealth, there was really no need for him to take such small advantages. This could only be considered his peculiar habit.
No one noticed that at the sewer outlet at the entrance of the botanical garden, a few strands of hair were propping up a single eye that had poked out.
This eye hovered between Wenwen and the botanical garden, looking somewhat confused.
"Where is my stomach..."
After a long hesitation, the mass of hair once again dived into the sewer, tracking Wenwen through the underground pipes.
Every demon hunter branch was protected by a powerful barrier, and it could not determine where its stomach was, so it could only choose to follow Wenwen.
At least it had personally seen Wenwen holding its stomach.