"A few months ago, I went to Meteor City and made a private agreement with the three elders currently in charge—Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda."
Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda had become the three elders of Meteor City, while Sheila acted as the messenger and bridge between them and Greed Island.
"In the mafia world, and even throughout the entire underworld, there are tons of people from Meteor City scattered around. They can help us gather a lot of intel."
"We plan to secretly fund the reconstruction of Meteor City. In return, they'll provide us with valuable information."
"Only by using each other can cooperation work smoothly," Mizaistom said in closing.
In fact, Greed Island had always worked with Meteor City this way.
Not long after, Germain approached Pyon to check on the latest progress with decoding the West Fragment.
The "bunny girl" Pyon didn't have the energy or spark you'd expect from a cute girl. She was sprawled on a cushion, looking miserable, phone in hand, watching videos.
When Germain asked, she glanced up at him, then immediately rolled over to face the other way, continuing to scroll through her videos as she grumbled.
"So annoying… seriously annoying… you think stuff like that can be decoded just like that? What do you think I am, Sherlock Holmes?"
"And at least 'The Dancing Men' was encrypted in English, right? What I'm dealing with isn't even a language I recognize."
"Everyone keeps rushing over to ask me, ask, ask, ask your mother, it's so annoying."
Germain said to the somewhat irritable Pyon, "You know I can hear you, right?"
Pyon had no choice but to turn over again, lying on her side, but she didn't put down her phone or stop swiping through videos with her fingers.
"The work of deciphering the Western Scrolls has stalled, but I've started another project—I've recreated the 'enchanted script' you brought back last time."
"'Enchanted script'?" Germain paused for a moment, then realized she was referring to the 'enchanted script' left by Don Freecss on the Centaur warriors.
Pyon's eyes were still glued to the brightly lit phone screen.
"I realized that you don't need to understand the meaning of these characters. As long as you meet certain conditions, you can replicate their effects. Of course, the effect is much weaker."
"In other words, we can also use alchemical plants like Metallion to imprint their elemental power onto our tools."
"However, the material loss and time spent will be huge, and it's nowhere near as effective as the original from the Moose Centaur tribe."
Germain handed over a large collection of languages and texts from various subhuman species that Ging and Knuckle had gathered to Pyon.
It was only then that she showed a noticeable change in her expression and actions.
Pyon took just a quick glance at what Germain was holding, then immediately dropped her phone. Like a real rabbit, she jumped up.
"Ohhh—Germain, you should've given these to me earlier! Come, sit down! There's space here. Let me take a look at these first."
From that moment on, Pyon's attitude toward Germain completely changed. It was like a 180-degree turn.
Inside the newly built plant cultivation lab at the Limeiro Castle, Germain saw the figure of Cluck.
The botanical hunter was sitting on a retractable high bar stool, resting her head on the violin body she held in one hand, slowly playing a tune.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Germain entering. She placed the violin into its case beside her and then, pointing at the plants in the cultivation cabinet, she explained:
"There are many research theories that prove music can have a positive impact on plant growth."
Germain nodded, bending over as if he were inspecting a workplace, peering through the special glass to look at the medicinal herbs growing in clumps of blood and flesh.
Cluck adjusted the ornament on her head and spoke, her tone always carrying an air of arrogance, even if it wasn't her intention.
"This is the first successful batch I've grown after simulating a flesh environment and extracting part of the medicinal herb's tissue."
"But after testing by Cheadle's team, the medicinal value of these plants is nothing like the original Herb for All-illnesses."
"I'm working on improving them. Hopefully, after a few generations of screening and cultivation, we can get a plant close to the original Herb for All-illnesses's medicinal value."
Germain pointed at the blood and flesh inside the cabinet and asked, "What are these?"
"Originally, it was blood and meat from poultry and livestock." Cluck crossed her arms, looking like someone not to be messed with.
"Later, I tried different wild beasts, but eventually, I found that the monster corpses you brought from the Dark Continent were more useful."
She then uncrossed her arms and said, "I'll leave the follow-up cultivation work to reliable botanical hunters and experts."
"In the upcoming Dark Continent expedition, I need to participate and use my Nen ability to help us establish communication through letters."
Cluck can use birds to deliver letters, documents, and other items to designated recipients.
During the original storyline's Election Arc, she used this Nen ability to deliver ballots to nearly every professional Hunter.
You should know that at that time, most professional Hunters were spread across the six continents.
For those who had left accurate addresses, it was fine. But for those who hadn't left an address or whose address had become outdated or unclear, it was much harder, making the task even more difficult.
However, Cluck still managed to accomplish this nearly impossible task. Only the dead didn't receive a ballot.
From the six continents to the Dark Continent, and all the way from the coast of the Dark Continent to the Ancient Labyrinth Outpost, communication will undoubtedly rely on Nen users like Cluck.
Electronic devices are no longer reliable on the Dark Continent, and instead, the more primitive methods have become surprisingly effective.
Cluck's role is critical. In fact, none of the twelve members of the Zodiac will be without an important responsibility during the Dark Continent exploration.
Germain finally finished his morning meeting with the members and had lunch with Shizuku at noon.
Shizuku picked at his food for a moment before suddenly saying, "I plan to go back to Meteor City tomorrow. Sheila said it's being rebuilt. I want to go see how I can help."
"Alright." Germain nodded after hearing this and then asked, "Are you planning to rebuild a cathedral?"
The original cathedral had collapsed and turned into ruins. The old priest was transformed into a monster by Zazan, and in the end, Shizuku personally killed her benefactor.
Germain thought that the cathedral might hold significant meaning for Shizuku, but to his surprise, she shook her head.
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