Another month passed. After a long absence, Xiang Nan finally returned to the military district outside Kotaki City.
He no longer even cared about his status as a Hunter or V5's wariness—he walked straight back into the army in broad daylight.
As for the Zatobi family's covert experimental project, it had been proceeding methodically all along.
Meanwhile, Mia, as one of the Ten Dons, had gone with the other underworld bosses who'd won their territories—in other words, the other Ten Dons—to meet senior V5 officials. Xiang Nan didn't go. V5 has always cooperated with the underworld; V5 needs organizations to handle things that can't see the light of day. The Hunter Association and the underworld can both be regarded as its "black gloves." As the rulers of the human world, in this world it's almost impossible to sever ties with V5.
On top of that, the underworld's contest to select the next Ten Dons had, over this long stretch, clashed with the official forces of many nations, disrupting social balance and causing serious fallout. V5 would have to step in and knock heads.
It was also a chance to remind the new Ten Dons that even if the board had been reshuffled, they still had to submit to V5's "management."
That is order.
Xiang Nan had already looked through the roster and dossiers of the new Ten Dons.
Just as he suspected, there were indeed puppets from Meteor City among them, and there were player-backed factions as well.
What surprised him was that the Ten Don with a player identity could practically be called a V5 plant—the two sides looked like partners; you could also say this Ten Don was a V5-bred loyalist, given that humanity urgently needs players' help to uncover the secrets of the myriad worlds.
Xiang Nan wasn't sure how many of this crop of Ten Dons were players. The one in the open was just a single case, but there might be a second.
Mia would report back after her contact with the V5 top brass, so Xiang Nan didn't dwell on it.
He had returned to the base because he hadn't inspected the Pandora's Box unit under his command in a long time—so he came back to take a look.
"Yo."
At the gate, the people who personally came to meet him were led by Owl and Manman, with Garo and the others in tow.
Owl waved at Xiang Nan as he stepped out of the car, still wearing that lazy, devil-may-care expression… but after some time apart, Manman had changed more noticeably. She used to be cute, shy, and reserved, fond of white dresses… her eyes pure. Now, with just a glance, he could tell her aura had shifted—she seemed a touch more mature. Her outfit showed it too—no more girlish puff skirts. Beside her stood a younger blond "boy."
In truth, it was a "girl"… and not a living body, but Omokage's little sister—a doll he had made.
It possessed a soul and an independent mind.
"Sir!"
Garo and the others saluted the man who had once been their captain.
Xiang Nan now held real rank and clout; his identity was no longer the same, so they naturally couldn't keep calling him "captain."
"Mm."
He nodded to them.
He could see that after this long baptism of fire, Garo, Sigma, and the other ace soldiers of the unit—the earliest members of Pandora's Box—had all matured into capable Nen users. Even though he hadn't seen them in person, Xiang Nan had outlined the designs of their Nen abilities over the phone, so their development was largely complete.
But… he also noticed that beyond the new scars on Garo and the others, their temperaments seemed different—like Manman's. There was a trace of ferocity and wickedness in their eyes. Even so, the looks they gave him still held respect.
"Let's go."
Xiang Nan didn't say much more. He beckoned, leading the group deeper into the base.
This time he also had another task: to pull Pandora's Box out of the military district, carve out a separate zone within the Republic of Padokea, and build a military base there—turning Pandora's Box into an independent institution rather than something blurred together with the army.
After all, Pandora's Box members are Nen users—the future true trump card of the Republic of Padokea. The military still maintains contact and exchanges with the Kakin Empire, and if Xiang Nan had guessed right, in a few years Kakin would have mapped out the Padokean military's structure and personnel files; they probably already had a decent read on Pandora's Box's intel too. Xiang Nan would never allow his unit to be "infiltrated."
Fortunately, Pandora's Box as it stands isn't yet its future, complete form. So even if Kakin knows a bit, Xiang Nan isn't overly worried.
But he has to prepare for what's coming.
"How is it?"
As they walked, Xiang Nan glanced at Owl beside him and smiled slightly.
The two of them walked in front, deliberately keeping some distance from the others.
With Xiang Nan present, Owl was the head of Pandora's Box and his deputy; when Xiang Nan was away, Owl was the person in charge.
"You saw it yourself—the situation isn't great."
In his slippers, Owl cast a furtive look back at the soldiers. "The Nen users the Zatobi family sent over are from the underworld like me, and they only just arrived. They're old acquaintances and generally supportive of me… but the members who came up through the army are different. Even with your endorsement, they don't seem to accept me."
"Omokage?" Xiang Nan guessed.
"Yeah."
Hands in his pockets, Owl said quietly, "Even with your prior warning, that guy's tougher than I expected. I'm a late arrival and don't have much of a record. He's earned the trust of other military brass. My 'person-in-charge' title is basically nominal now—I don't have much real authority. Most people in the unit take orders from him."
The subtext was that Owl had been sidelined.
"He really is… dangerous. If you hadn't come back, this unit wouldn't just fail to become the Republic of Padokea's military trump card—its eventual trajectory might actually be… a bomb," Owl hinted.
"Heh."
Xiang Nan chuckled.
He understood what Owl meant.
Previously, Pariston had stoked friction between the Padokean military and the small neighboring states. Pandora's Box showed a degree of dominance on the battlefield—despite heavy losses, they won and averted a true state-level war. Garo and the others had fought shoulder to shoulder with Omokage; as soldiers, of course they'd form a special bond. On top of that, Omokage entered Pandora's Box much earlier. Much of their Nen training—even Manman's—had been personally taught by that former Phantom Troupe member…
Under those conditions, a later arrival like Owl—who also came out of the mafia—naturally had no advantage and became the target of calculated "exclusion."
But the danger Owl meant wasn't just that.
Because of prolonged exposure, Garo and the other soldiers had plainly picked up some of Omokage's influence; their nature and thinking were turning darker.
For a military unit like Pandora's Box, that shift is fundamentally wrong.
It would make the members steadily harder to control… and once a military organization loses order and starts acting lawlessly, it's finished.
Omokage is a former Phantom Troupe member—in simple terms, once a ruthless bandit. If his ideas and mindset spread, Pandora's Box could easily become a supersized Phantom Troupe—not in raw power, but in its way of doing things.
Xiang Nan had anticipated this; that's why he brought Owl into Pandora's Box.
"You came back, and he didn't even show up in person to greet you… In the underworld, if we were talking about the Ten Dons, he'd already be dead for that," Owl added blandly.
"His Nen is soul-oriented—he's got a real knack for reading people. Former Troupe or not, he's strong. I'm not at all surprised he can sway so many. If he likes to make a scene, let him… he won't be around much longer anyway," Xiang Nan said with a slight curl of his lip, voice soft as a mosquito's buzz.
"Mm… If he thinks he can outplay you, I don't see it either. So I haven't bothered to clamp down or pick a fight," Owl nodded in agreement.