The gold rush fever to the Dark Continent has swept across the world.
Amidst the bombardment of positive news, people are filled with hope and longing for this new world teeming with endless resources and opportunities.
Across the globe, as well as on high-traffic online forums, discussions about this topic are everywhere.
It is foreseeable that-
The topic and hype surrounding the Dark Continent will persist for three years, five years, ten years, or even longer.
The sheer scale of its influence speaks for itself.
It's precisely because of this that V5, who were forcibly dragged into the 'arena', were so furious.
Their urgent order to the Hunter Association to kill Beyond is largely just an attempt to save their reputation.
What really needs to be solved is the fanatical wave of exploring the Dark Continent that was brought about by the Kakin Empire.
"Within the non-interference treaty waters near the Far Ocean Boundary, there are many uninhabited islands capable of accommodating large-scale immigration. By defining these islands as the 'New Continent', we can temporarily resolve the issue of mass migration settlement."
In a spacious conference room, V5's higher-ups gathered.
The long meeting table was filled with sixteen people, and right in front of the table was a huge projection screen.
A blond young man in a pinstriped suit and glasses proposed a solution to the mass migration problem.
This suggestion was met with approval from the V5's higher-ups.
According to existing records, humanity has never successfully landed on the Dark Continent by its own power.
Every voyage requires the guidance of the [Gatekeeper].
Given the massive immigration boom, not to mention the possibility of angering the Gatekeepers, but the survival rate upon landing on the Dark Continent would undoubtedly be zero.
This would trigger a chain reaction of disastrous consequences.
In order to nip these possibilities in the bud, using the uninhabited islands near the Far Ocean Boundary to deceive the ignorant public is undoubtedly the best solution.
However, the bigger problem lies with the Kakin Empire.
After all, while they can clearly resolve the immigration settlement issue, there's no surefire way to stop Kakin Empire from setting its sights on the Dark Continent.
V5 isn't entirely afraid of Kakin Empire beating them to the punch. What they fear is that the voyage and exploration could bring even dangerous Calamities to the human world.
The fact that they've managed to control these disasters so far is, in a way, sheer luck.
So no one can guarantee what kind of unforeseen events tomorrow might bring.
All they can do is prepare countermeasures in advance.
"Since things have come to this point, negotiation alone won't be enough to make Kakin back down."
"That's right, and right now, the conventional means to curb the situation are extremely limited."
"If conventional methods don't work, then military action is the only option."
"Kakin Empire isn't some pushover. We'd better be mentally prepared."
Around the meeting table, the discussions about Kakin Empire gradually shifted from 'forcing them to retreat' to 'using force to suppress them'.
But if military action is taken, the cost would undoubtedly be enormous.
Therefore, in in the eyes of V5's higher-ups, if there's a better way, no one wants to resort to war.
That would lead to catastrophic 'expenditures'.
The blond young man could see that while V5's higher-ups were leaning toward military action, they also hoped to resolve the issue at the lowest cost.
"Taking military action is the currently the fastest way to settle this. That said..."
The blond young man faced the V5's higher-ups present and said in a steady tone, "There is another method that doesn't require paying too high a price, but relatively speaking, it comes with some potential risks."
"What method?"
"Incorporate Kakin into V5 and rebuild an international organization called V6. And we must not show an attitude of absorbing them only because we have no choice, but show that we are fully prepared and composed."
The blond young man elaborated eloquently:
"At the same time, if we allow the Kakin's King to be recorded in history as a pioneer of the New World, then in exchange, Kakin must sign an agreement with the other five nations to split all the acquired profits equally."
In the face of an unstoppable trend, charging forward is still an option.
But it would inevitably come with losses.
The blond young man's suggestion could be considered a peaceful solution.
The title of 'Pioneer of the New World' is, after all, just an empty title.
As long as Kakin Empire can agree to the 'profit-sharing', then what harm is there in letting their king have this illusory fame?
To those in high positions, profit is what truly matters.
"The concessions we can offer are extremely limited. Kakin might not agree to these terms..."
Someone voiced a preemptive concern.
The blond young man didn't refute this statement.
His job was to make suggestions, but the decision lay with the V5's higher-ups in the room.
However, in his view, the Kakin Empire is an ancient superpower that lacks no resources.
Then, the motive of the Kakin Empire's King for being the one to stick his neck out was most likely for the fame that would go down in history.
…
The Hunter Association knows nothing about V5's high-level meeting.
If the Hunter Association knew that V5 was leaning toward a peaceful resolution...
Then the task of 'hunting down Beyond' will definitely be put on hold temporarily.
Sitting in a black car heading to the Swardani City's airport, Moses picked up his phone to check the messages.
There were three in total.
One was from Ging, saying that he had already solved the problem of the bounty order in the underworld for him. In terms of efficiency, it can be called lightning-fast.
Another was from Ickshonpe. In addition to daily greetings, the content of the message also contained information about the location of the Scarlet Eyes.
The last message was from Hisoka, and the content was roughly about how he'd followed Kurapika to investigate leads related to the Scarlet Eyes, and as the investigation deepened, several unavoidable clashes had occurred.
The reason Moses was rushing to the airport was primarily to deal with Kurapika's pursuit of the Scarlet Eyes leads.
Now that he had obtained the exact location intel from Ickshonpe, there was no need for Kurapika to take risks by digging deeper. Otherwise, there is a high possibility that he will provoke some force or organization hidden in Kakin's underworld.
After all, Kakin Empire even has a 'Curse Assassination Unit', so it wouldn't be surprising if they also had a specialized 'Special Attack Unit'.
The likelihood of this was quite high.
Because even the International Permit Agencies had an unofficial secret force.
It must be known that, the International Permit Agencies' mission was to collect vast amounts of data and information on voyage risks, and even various Calamities that can directly threaten humanity.
Then, these data and information are compiled into a clear and organized report, which can correctly describe the conclusion of 'how dangerous this is'.
And after reaching those conclusions, they provided relatively suitable countermeasures to the authorities.
So strictly speaking, the International Permit Agencies, as an international organization, was not supposed to have any military attributes on the surface.
However, even within this International Permit Agencies, there is an unofficial secret force with overall capabilities that is stronger than that of the Hunter Association's.
That's right.
The overall capabilities of this secret force are stronger than those of the Hunter Association's.
At least, that's what the International Permit Agencies' director believed.
However, unless absolutely necessary, the International Permit Agencies would never casually deploy this unit.
For the International Permit Agencies, the estimated cost of mobilizing their secret force far exceeded simply hiring the Hunter Association.
After all, training an elite operative required not just vast amounts of money but also the most precious resource of all: Time.
Meanwhile, mobilizing the power of the Hunter Association only requires money.
In simple terms-
In the eyes of the International Permit Agencies, the Hunter Association, a non-governmental organization, is equivalent to a tool with extremely high overall cost-effectiveness.
But in the eyes of the Hunter Association, the International Permit Agencies is also a one-of-a-kind, high-paying client.