Choosing to board this airship in the first place was for the sake of its direct route and time efficiency.
If I disembarked midway, I'd have to account for the delays caused by switching transports, usually measured in days.
In other words, it might set me back several days, potentially affecting my purpose for going to the Kukan'yu Kingdom.
After some consideration, Morrow still decided to alter his travel plans.
After all, this trip to the Kukan'yu Kingdom wasn't really about accomplishing anything concrete, at most it was just to scout the terrain.
If he could, as an outsider, seize an opportunity to act, then from the periphery, he could assess whether it was worth stepping in to take advantage of the situation.
But the likelihood of that was extremely low.
Simply witnessing a battle between experts from afar was already a rare occurrence.
Ultimately, without sufficient strength, there were times when progress truly became impossible.
Given this premise, all choices and decisions had to be compromised accordingly.
Morrow stood up and walked over to the table where the phone was placed, picking up the itinerary notice beside it.
He flipped it open, skimming past the listed stops along the flight path and focusing directly on the special notice about the midway supply station.
It stated that the airship would arrive at the first supply station around noon tomorrow.
Tomorrow at noon...
Closing the itinerary notice, Morrow turned his gaze back to the night sky outside the window.
If he missed Silva and the Phantom Troupe's chase-and-hunt spectacle, he could at least rely on Argo's intelligence network to do something, however minor.
The prerequisite, however, was whether he could contact Silva, and whether Silva would even accept intel assistance from an outsider.
Moreover, given the Zoldyck Family's resources, they likely had their own specialized target-tracking intelligence channels.
It was even possible Silva had already engaged the Phantom Troupe.
Staring at the night sky, Morrow silently abandoned his usual nightly training and returned to the sofa, closing his eyes to meditate.
During idle moments when he wasn't training, Morrow would habitually meditate, continuously constructing potential extensions for his Deceptive Shooting Star ability in his mind.
This had become second nature to him.
He vaguely sensed that, after his Death Rewind, the emergence of Deceptive Shooting Star had been unnaturally simple: so simple that he took it for granted, as if the ability hadn't occupied any Nen capacity at all.
This implied that even if he developed additional effects for Deceptive Shooting Star later, he likely wouldn't face difficulties or blockages due to hidden factors like Nen capacity consumption.
For the sake of that possibility, and to ensure the development of even rarer ability effects, Morrow meditated frequently.
At the same time, the process of meditation further stabilized his Ten.
Time passed minute by minute.
Hm?
At some point, Morrow suddenly opened his eyes and sharply turned his gaze toward the door.
Just then, he had sensed an aura fluctuation, completely unconcealed.
—--
Lower deck of the airship.
Late at night, most passengers were already asleep, with only a few lingering in the bars on the upper and lower decks.
For Luyuan, the dead of night was the perfect time to infiltrate shadows.
Because when targets were asleep, the time required to invade their shadows was drastically reduced.
Based on this mechanism, Luyuan planned to pull an all-nighter on the first day, seizing control of as many people as possible. Once he gained control over all the passengers in the lower decks, he could infiltrate the upper levels and wait for the right moment to strike.
Patience is key... to ensure the mission's success.
Like a maggot, Luyuan burrowed into the slanting shadow of a passenger, repeating the same process over and over.
By now, he had already taken control of nearly 50 passengers.
Just as he was about to target the 51st passenger, he suddenly sensed a surge of aura emanating from the upper decks.
A Nen aura... so blatant. Who could it be...?
From within the dark, slanting shadow, Luyuan's body emerged, his eyes filled with surprise as he stared at the cabin ceiling above.
—--
Inside Kanzai's cabin.
"Safira, wake up."
Taliya roused the silver-haired woman.
Safira was not the silver-haired woman's real name.
As the Third Princess of the Kukan'yu Kingdom, under the kingdom's stringent royal laws, Taliya should not have addressed her by her true name, doing so would be punishable by death.
However, priorities shifted in dire circumstances, and the silver-haired woman was no mindless noble.
Using a pseudonym in critical moments was not something she found unacceptable.
"What's happening?"
Awakened by Taliya, Safira sat up calmly and inquired.
Standing rigid as a spear by the door, Kanzai answered in Taliya's stead: "Someone is making a show of force toward us."
"A show of force?"
A flicker of confusion passed through Safira's azure-blue eyes as she replied composedly, "Isn't that unnecessary?"
"Yeah, normally, it would be. But..."
Kanzai glanced at the door, then hesitated, unsure how to explain it to Safira.
Once Nen was involved, conventional thinking no longer applied.
The unknown opponent releasing their aura clearly carried killing intent, yet they still went out of their way to make a display...
From a Nen perspective, it was possible the opponent possessed a Counter-type ability.
If they acted recklessly, their already precarious situation could worsen.
In that case, their forced boarding today might have been exactly what the enemy wanted, to corner them into a position where they had no choice but to react.
Frowning at the thought, Kanzai felt the weight of their predicament.
On one hand, he had to ensure the safety of his client; on the other, the unfolding situation was stripping away their options, leaving them utterly passive.
Now, they didn't even have room to probe the enemy's intentions...
Still, they couldn't just do nothing.
Right...
He still had to explain the situation to Safira. Ugh, what a headache.
In just a few seconds, a storm of thoughts raged in Kanzai's mind.
Though Safira knew of Nen, her understanding was superficial at best.
To Kanzai, explaining it properly would take far more than a few words.
And he was never good at explaining things in the first place...
Safira didn't take offense when Kanzai fell silent mid-sentence.
Beside her, Taliya seemed to sense his struggle and stepped in to clarify in her own words: "The show of force is just a trigger. They want to force us to choose between 'countering' or 'observing.'"
"I see." Safira nodded lightly and said calmly, "But since the other side came prepared, no matter what choice we make, it would be the result they want to see, right?"
"That's exactly the problem..." Taliya's gaze turned grave.
Both she and Kanzai knew one thing, although the opponent's targeted actions still maintained a shred of restraint, the interwoven Limitations had kept them on the defensive all along.
"So, is there no third option? For example... not caring whether I live or die."
Safira's expression remained placid, as if she were merely discussing something trivial.
"!!!" Taliya.
"..." Kanzai.