In an inconspicuous three-story clinic.
On the hospital bed, Kalluto remained unconscious.
On one side of the bed stood an IV drip stand, while on the other, a machine monitored his vital signs.
The clinic was professional, but it didn't accept just any "guest."
According to the information Argo had uncovered, this clinic was notorious for its exorbitant fees, but in return, the doctors' skills were exceptionally high.
If a "guest" sought treatment but couldn't afford the steep price, the clinic owner would simply remove one of the guest's valuable body parts as compensation.
For Morrow at this moment, anything that could be resolved with money was no issue at all.
By the bedside.
Only after confirming Kalluto's condition had fully stabilized did Morrow finally have the time to examine the parchment and black envelope retrieved from the safe.
Untying the string around the parchment, he slowly unfurled the aged yellow paper in his hands, revealing a map depicting mountains and rivers.
A map?
Morrow glanced at the simplified sketches of forests, rivers, and peaks on the paper, raising an eyebrow.
But soon he noticed a small area near the center of the map, circled in red ink.
The edge of the red circle connected to a thin red line that meandered through the mountains, leading beyond the dense forests to a cluster of sketched houses, a human settlement.
It seemed to be a deliberately marked route.
Yet, apart from the drawn path, there were no accompanying written explanations.
A treasure map?
Morrow was utterly baffled.
With no text on the map, his knowledge wasn't enough to identify the location it represented.
Even a professional geographer well versed in world geography would struggle to pinpoint the exact place, given the lack of coordinates or other identifying information.
The red circle on the map inevitably led Morrow to suspect it was some kind of treasure map.
The drawing style of the parchment and its texture gave off an unmistakably "ancient" vibe.
Moreover, since Nolan, the founder of the Menu Organization, had stored it carefully in a hidden safe, its origins had to be significant.
After studying it for a while without making sense of it, Morrow rolled the parchment back up and retied the string.
He decided that once he had time, he would retrieve the Poultry Scarlet Knife from the Tree Hollow and store this mysterious parchment there as well.
Setting the rolled parchment aside, Morrow picked up the black envelope. Running his fingers over its surface, he could tell it contained only one stiff, card-like object, similar in texture to a credit card.
No recipient's name, no sender's name.
Morrow flipped the envelope over, examining it briefly. He truly had no idea where Nolan had gotten such an odd item.
Of course, the strangest part was that Nolan had stored it in a highly concealed safe, and there were no signs the envelope had ever been opened.
The only clue it offered was the peculiar eye-shaped wax seal.
Instead of breaking the seal, Morrow tore open one side of the envelope.
Inside was indeed a card.
The card was entirely black, dotted with irregular silver specks.
At its center, within a square frame, was the same eye symbol as the wax seal. In the bottom right corner of the card was the number "61".
The envelope contained only this single card.
Morrow examined the eye pattern before flipping it over.
Hmm?
On the back of the card, under the slanting light, a series of obscure silver characters resembling tadpole-like script shimmered in and out of view as the card tilted.
Divine Script.
Morrow instantly recognized the origin of these characters.
He had seen similar Divine Script before, or rather, he had personally destroyed some on an airship.
Wait, not all of it is Divine Script.
Upon closer inspection, he noticed that amidst the densely packed, tadpole-like script, there were a few characters with a distinctly different style.
However, Morrow didn't recognize these more conventional-looking characters either.
After all, throughout the history of the Hunter world, countless civilizations had flourished.
Even the various languages in circulation today, let alone the numerous ancient scripts on record, could keep a professional linguist occupied for lifetimes.
Morrow didn't recognize these characters, but he could look them up.
Of course, Divine Script was something he wouldn't expect to find online.
He isolated the unfamiliar characters mixed in with the Divine Script, pieced them together, and used the most efficient search engine available. Soon he had his answer.
The obscure-looking script was called Krakauer Script, a highly niche language.
Worldwide, only one region in the Kukan'yu Kingdom still included this language in its educational curriculum.
When translated into the common tongue, the string of Krakauer Script yielded a single term:
"Eye of Truth."
Glancing at the search results, Morrow shifted his gaze to the eye pattern at the center of the card, wondering what this so-called "Eye of Truth" could be.
Some unknown organization?
Or perhaps a cult?
Morrow shook his head slightly, uninterested.
Even though he knew that channeling aura into the card might activate the Divine Script structure on the back, he had no intention of trying it.
This world was full of bizarre and fantastical things that could deeply satisfy humanity's innate curiosity and thirst for exploration.
But right now, Morrow only cared about destroying the Death Threshold. Even if he felt curiosity, he wouldn't waste time indulging it.
For example, when he had absorbed the Post-Mortem Nen from the corpses in the tomb, the memory fragments had included a strange plant closely tied to Shooting Star · Essence Siphon. That had piqued his interest too, but nothing more.
There simply wasn't time to dissect or investigate it.
Since Nolan had stored this card in the safe with care, Morrow decided to keep it for now and toss it into the Tree Hollow later.
After reviewing the contents of the parchment and envelope, Morrow sat on the edge of the bed and began his daily training.
—--
Late at night.
Morrow opened his eyes and glanced habitually at Kalluto.
Still asleep?
A full day and night had passed since Kalluto received treatment.
Though his vital signs were stable, there was no sign of him waking anytime soon.
Morrow withdrew his gaze and stood, stretching slightly.
Hmm?
Suddenly, his eyes narrowed.
One of the Star Marks he had set earlier had just vanished.
—--
A few seconds ago.
On the first floor of the clinic, two women in black uniforms arrived at the entrance. The two women were quite a contrast, one was older, with a robust build, two thick braids, and a somewhat stern expression.
The other was much younger, with long hair, sparse eyebrows, but sharp, piercing eyes.
Clunk.
The older woman slid the door open politely, all the way to the end, but her gaze sharpened as she noticed something in the corner of the door track.
There lay the tiny, crushed corpse of an inconspicuous mosquito.
"Tch. Good instincts."
The braided woman muttered an unexpected compliment.
The younger woman behind her tilted her head in confusion.
"Amane, use Gyo."
The braided woman glanced back at her with a calm expression.
Amane quickly focused her aura into her eyes, and suddenly she saw a faint wisp of Nen dissipating from the corner of the door track.
"What is that...?"
Following the fading aura, Amane spotted the mosquito's body, stuck in place with a piece of transparent tape. Her eyes narrowed slightly.
The braided woman reached out and patted Amane's shoulder.
"You still have a lot to learn."
"..."
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Ty for the new review.