Chapter 7: Goodbye (Part 1)
In the night, the sea shimmered with moonlight. "Arthur Wolf" hid behind the window of the small yacht, its eerie green eyes quietly observing the movements on the shore.
Suddenly, "Arthur Wolf" perked its ears forward, twitching slightly. From the dim, deathly silent shore came the faint sound of footsteps.
Through its night-vision wolf eyes, it spotted a dark figure with somewhat heavy footsteps approaching the shore. Inside the cabin, Arthur, who was currently brooding over his heart and its related issues, immediately reacted. There was no time to worry about future concerns; the immediate priority was the current situation.
The visitor was not friendly!
"Arthur Wolf" dashed back to its main body. Arthur, along with the Wild Wolf, moved a box large enough to serve as cover, then had the Wild Wolf hide in a room diagonally across the corridor, leaving only a narrow gap for the wolf's line of sight.
Next, Arthur looked at the striped tiger, "Lumin, for better cooperation, I have to offend you."
With no fresh blood available, he had to make do by pulling out a strand of hair. Arthur pinched the hair and reached towards the tiger's belly, the tiger just tilted its head, watching him with big, watery eyes, showing no resistance. Arthur felt touched, then quickly left a small rose-gold Pentagram mark on the tiger's belly before hiding behind the box, while controlling the tiger to lie in ambush and himself listening intently for any movement at the cabin entrance.
Soon, there was a soft "thud." The wolf and tiger ears twitched.
Tap, tap...
The visitor's footsteps were light... Did they stop?
They started again, but this time more cautiously... Did they confirm someone was on the boat?
Damn, it must be because I forgot to clean up the leftover snacks...
"Who's there? Come out."
The visitor stepped into the corridor, threatening as they cautiously approached.
Tap, tap, tap...
Arthur leaned against the box, breathing calmly with his eyes closed. As Musse passed by the door gap, a wolf's eye quietly appeared. In the shadows, the striped tiger crouched low, ready to pounce...
****
Late at night, Arthur leaned against the tiger, reviewing everything that had happened in such a short time, admitting that his first real battle was won by sheer luck.
If the person who came had just a bit more energy, he might have lost...
For a Nen Ability user, neither Lumin the tiger nor the Wild Wolf posed much of a threat. A Nen Ability user's defense could withstand close-range bullets, let alone the claws and teeth of two wild animals.
While his Manipulation Type ability was powerful and could be lethal in one hit, it required hitting the target.
"From now on, I must focus on training the basic abilities. The four major practices of Nen Ability, Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Hatsu, I can barely count as knowing half of Hatsu, with almost no basic skills. More importantly, my Nen amount is not impressive, and I can't use 'Star Mark' more than twice without being drained. This won't do..."
"And then there's the issue with my heart... That strange aura, let's call it 'Death Aura' for now, is still unclear..."
Lumin's body vibrated slightly with its breathing, like a low rumble of thunder.
Arthur lay in the warm, soft "tiger's den," planning for tomorrow.
"Also, I need to figure out how to kill that guy on the ship to silence him..."
Unknowingly, he had curled up and fallen into a deep sleep.
...
'Rear Window Bird' activation failed!
Musse sat in the closed room, dazed for a long time before lowering his hand weakly.
How could this be?
Could it be that the kid... also had the habit of applying Manipulation Type abilities before a fight, just like him?
Musse couldn't comprehend it. That kid, barely a meter tall, looked at most five years old!
A five-year-old mastering a mature Manipulation Type Nen Ability was already beyond Musse's understanding. Now, he discovered that the kid was as cautious as a seasoned Nen Ability veteran! It was as if he had witnessed countless Nen Ability battles... But how could that be? Who taught that kid Nen Ability?
It's laughable!
From the beginning, that kid was invincible...
As for Musse's "guess" to Arthur earlier, Musse himself didn't quite believe it.
If it were true, if that woman left behind a stronger Nen before her death, which then parasitized her son, accelerating his growth to his current five-year-old form... But how did this kid learn to speak? Where did his basic logical thinking come from?
That woman gave birth to the child, and it hadn't even been a week!
A child truly less than seven days old, even if physically matured, could naturally use Nen Ability so well, with such experience, rationality, and normal behavior... At first glance, it seems absurd, and upon closer thought, it truly is absurd.
"Regardless, my mission failed... Defeated by a five-year-old..."
Musse muttered to himself in the sealed room, despondent.
He wanted to open the door and rush out, but every time he reached for the doorknob, his body froze, unable to move, unable to turn the handle.
The "directive control" the boy applied before leaving was still in effect.
Cold sweat beaded on Musse's forehead.
He fully realized that his fate was entirely in the hands of that kid...
With this thought, Musse's expression gradually calmed. He sat down, retrieved several mechanical parts from the lining of his shoe, and assembled them into a mini handgun with deft hands.
One bullet.
Enough.
After tidying his clothes, Musse stood up straight, facing north towards Kakin, then raised the gun to his temple and released the safety.
"Goodbye, Prince Benjamin. You will surely become the king of Kakin! I'll go ahead..."
He pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
...
"Bang!"
The muffled gunshot echoed throughout the ship.
The Canyue Tiger Lumin, resting at the cabin entrance, immediately opened its eyes alertly, looking towards the source of the gunshot, then raised a paw to nudge the human child sleeping on it.
"Don't bother..."
Arthur pushed away the tiger's paw, turned over, and instinctively inhaled the "cat."
The tiger lowered its head, licked the top of Arthur's head, and nudged him again, urging gently.
Arthur, already half-awake, opened his eyes. Was there a noise just now?
He frowned, sitting up, looking towards the corridor.
After a "Star Mark" was successfully applied to a target, there were basically two states, active and dormant.
When the mark was active, Arthur could clearly sense its direction and switch control modes over the marked individual at any time.
When Arthur disconnected all control but didn't touch the mark to remove it, the mark would enter a dormant state, and Arthur couldn't sense its position or direction. Perhaps there was a subtle connection, but with Arthur's current level of precision, he couldn't feel it...
For instance, the mark on the Wild Wolf, which was tasked with monitoring Musse, Arthur could still sense. But the mark on Musse, who was instructed to stay in the room, was completely undetectable to Arthur.
"Did I sleepwalk?"
"Or did I talk in my sleep, accidentally switching to the first control mode? Then immediately released control, causing the mark to enter a dormant state?"
With this thought, Arthur's mind shifted, switching to the first-person control of the Wild Wolf, projecting his consciousness over.
"Arthur Wolf" blinked, adjusting to the dim room with its night vision.
At this moment, the view was directly opposite the room where the captive was held, and the door was still closed, yet, there was a gunshot just now, and this dumb wolf just stood there?
Alright, the command given before sleeping was indeed just one: to kill the guy if he left the room without permission... It didn't include other unexpected situations...
"Arthur Wolf" dashed out of the room, leaping upright, and hugged the doorknob with its paws, gently turning it to open the door.
A strong scent of blood hit them.
"Arthur Wolf" saw Musse lying in a pool of blood.
Glancing at the mini handgun tightly gripped in Musse's hand, "Arthur Wolf" couldn't be bothered to ponder where Musse had hidden the gun, but was curious about how he managed to successfully commit suicide.
Perhaps he could use it as a reference.
"Arthur Wolf" turned Musse's head over, and upon seeing the bullet hole in Musse's left temple, he immediately understood.