Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 277 (Patreon)

Chapter 277: Dangerous Situation

In order to secure a critical 'sample', nearly five hundred elite soldiers were dispatched from Ambo City, along with Sanbica and about a dozen hunters from the association, including a medical logistics team of about twenty people.

The team, close to five hundred strong, did not consider it an easy task before heading to Devil Island. They prepared themselves mentally for the challenges ahead.

However, despite their psychological preparedness, the events that unfolded still overwhelmed some of the team members.

One night, during a temporary rest, a magical beast attacked their camp.

That night, forty-five people died, including ten guides from the Devil Island prison who were accompanying the team.

Ironically, the well-trained, fully armed army of nearly five hundred couldn't even retain the beast or make out its appearance clearly.

The bodies of those killed in the attack were taken by the beast under the cover of night, an obvious fate of becoming beast fodder.

Perhaps thinking it had enough food, the beast withdrew after the forty-fifth victim.

The team leader led the entire group away from the temporary campsite in the middle of the night. By dawn, feeling they had moved to a safer location, they immediately contacted the staff at Devil Island prison via a specially equipped radio.

After informing the prison about the situation and receiving a response that help would come, several days passed without any sign from the designated personnel, and for some unknown reason, the radios failed to work.

The situation worsened, and the team leader decided they couldn't delay any longer and chose to continue the mission.

Though without the guidance of the locals, they had a detailed map. Following the map's directions, they could locate the general area of the sample but couldn't identify many potential threats.

In the following three days, without the "guides," the team didn't move as smoothly as before, suffering heavy losses, with over a hundred people dying.

If time could be reversed, the team leader would definitely choose a temporary retreat until personnel from Devil Island prison could arrive, but that was only an if.

Three days of risky advances brought the team closer to their target, but the dangers they encountered became increasingly bizarre.

Various large beasts, cunning magical beasts, and unexpected venomous insects and snakes rapidly decreased the team's numbers to just two hundred thirty-five.

With this rate of casualties, even if they reached the target area, they wouldn't have enough manpower to conduct the search.

Caught in a dilemma of advancing or retreating, continuing forward might result in very few survivors and not necessarily finding the sample. Retreating, although the mission would fail, would allow more people to survive.

Considering the situation, retreating seemed the correct choice, but the military order was to retrieve the item at all costs.

The thought of not letting the mission fail was ingrained in the minds of the team leader and many soldiers. Thus, amidst difficult circumstances, the team leader chose to continue forward.

Then, just this evening, the team leader was on his last breath after being bitten by a mosquito the size of a palm, which caused rapid organ failure within three minutes.

They encountered a swarm of insects at dusk.

It was an incredible scene, as if they had become the entire island's enemy. Countless types of insects, unprovoked, swarmed them.

Is a single ant scary? Is a single mosquito scary?

Here, the answer is: Yes!

Even a tiny insect, when carrying deadly toxins or viruses and having the intent to attack, can become terrifying, especially in swarms that blot out the sky.

After the insect swarm descended like dark clouds, the entire team initially resisted, but once they ran out of bullets, they quickly fell apart, disintegrating until the team leader died and people scattered in a frantic escape.

Faced with the insect swarm and venomous creatures from all directions, while also collapsing, their only thought was to survive.

Sanbica, a member of the team, saw the swarming insects and decisively dove into the mud with two fellow association members to avoid the terrifying swarm, while others frantically tried to escape.

This phenomenon was unexplained to them because the accompanying Devil Island personnel were the first casualties, and subsequent reinforcements were delayed without communication, the worst-case scenario being radio malfunction.

These radios, capable of communication within the island, were specially equipped by Devil Island prison to replace personal communication devices.

Like the others, before landing on the island, each person was not allowed to carry personal communication devices but used radios provided by Devil Island prison.

However, in such a perilous situation, the radios ceased to function.

Why did the radios malfunction after the first successful contact with Devil Island prison?

Due to the attack that killed ten prison workers, the remaining team members did not suspect Devil Island. In fact, everyone who landed knew how terrifying this human-uninfluenced island was.

At the center of Devil Island, there's a vast lake connected to the sea outside. In the

 middle of this lake stands an island with a large prison painted mainly in black. That is Devil Island prison.

The prison staff uses submarines as their primary mode of transport between the inside and outside, and the port is merely a facade.

In a room filled with equipment within the towering black prison, several people in lab coats bustled about.

A large screen displayed a map of the entire island with nearly a hundred flashing red dots and over four hundred green dots.

A scholarly man with glasses, holding a piece of pizza with a few bites taken out, sat in front of the screen.

Standing next to him was a short-haired woman who looked like a high school student, dressed in a black uniform with armed pockets containing daggers and unnamed hidden weapons.

The short-haired woman, with sharp eyes, a tiny nose adorned with two iron rings, and slightly parted lips revealing small, sharp white teeth, said, "There are 26 baits near the F115 coordinates, prepare to lead a team to retrieve them."

The scholarly man swallowed the remaining pizza in a few bites, then wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and wiped the grease on his white coat.

"If there are still survivors near that coordinate..." the short-haired woman grinned.

"Do I need to teach you?" the scholarly man glanced at her.

"No, I just wanted to confirm... after all, I don't want to be scolded by you for killing the wrong person again," the short-haired woman's face showed a cold and cruel smile.

"Aside from Nen users, you can play with the others however you like, anyway, they're barely considered quality food," the scholarly man said, staring at the red and green dots on the screen, his tone indifferent.

"Understood."

The short-haired woman whistled strangely, then quickly turned and headed towards the door.

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