The figure emerging from the foliage was a woman in a black, form-fitting dress. Her skin was dark, her build slender and lithe, though her upper body was curvaceous and alluring, exuding a seductive air.
Traversing a remote, seldom-visited mountain forest in such attire was unusual in itself. But as a Nen user, it made more sense.
Moro tensed, his aura surging and fluctuating as he eyed the sudden arrival. However, upon seeing her outfit and her face—marked by a broad forehead and large, vertical-pupiled eyes—his tension eased slightly.
He recognized her identity: Geru, the Snake of the Hunter Association's Zodiac Twelve.
Moro guessed she'd been drawn by the gunshots. Geru stood on the hillside, arms crossed, calmly assessing him. Their gazes met in midair—one scrutinizing, the other a mix of surprise and wariness.
It seemed… Moro's naked state was, in this context, an unremarkable detail.
Geru's gaze lightly swept over the aura cloaking Moro's body. Compared to before, it had relaxed noticeably. The shift from tension to ease was too quick—somewhat unnatural.
Her eyes shifted to the open cargo truck and the two corpses on the ground. Only then did she look back at Moro, saying flatly, "Do you think I'm less of a threat than the one on the ground?"
She extended her index finger, meaningfully pointing at Zazan's lifeless form.
"Quite the opposite," Moro replied, still vigilant but with his sense of danger fading. He'd initially thought she'd been attracted by the shots, but now it seemed she'd arrived earlier. The noise upon her appearance was deliberate.
"If you meant me harm, you wouldn't have made a sound to alert me," Moro said, looking up at Geru on the hillside with a calm gaze. Despite his words, he prepared for attack or defense, knowing resistance against a Zodiac was futile. He wouldn't surrender easily—even if it meant dying, he'd make a splash.
Hearing Moro's response, Geru subtly glanced at his aura-wreathed right hand, her expression unchanging. Without further comment, she lightly leaped down the hillside, landing on the road. She walked silently toward the truck, inevitably closing the distance between them.
Moro, already positioning himself as the underdog, felt mounting pressure as she approached. As a transmigrator, his view of the Hunter Association wasn't idealized as heroic problem-solvers… but aside from certain individuals, he didn't see the Zodiacs as the type to disregard human life.
Yet—
Not everyone was as straightforward as Gon. The pressure from Geru was unsurprising.
Sensing Moro's emotional shift, Geru slowed, no longer encroaching on his psychological space. She'd only applied light pressure to test his insincerity. Treating a likely innocent novice this way felt excessive.
Geru shook her head slightly and turned toward the truck. From her vantage, she could clearly see the rows of cages inside, holding naked children.
Naked—that detail… Her gaze involuntarily swept over Moro's body, confirming his role in this ordeal.
Moro didn't react to her scrutiny. It wasn't due to any exhibitionist tendencies; he simply deemed such a minor thing unworthy of emotional fluctuation. Yet Geru's impassive glance stirred memories.
When Melena bought him and he awoke on the ship, she'd scanned his body similarly. "You're lucky to survive that chaos intact, without missing limbs, so I bought you," she'd said. Her expression mirrored Geru's now.
But Melena had done something unsettling: she casually grabbed his groin, her tone emotionless. "If you were a girl, I might've been more satisfied."
That tone and action felt like she could twist it off at any moment. That was Moro's first encounter with Melena.
In his view, the woman never hid the scars crisscrossing half her face. Perhaps because of that, she often voiced strange thoughts openly around him and Doggo. Yet after nearly a year, Moro still didn't truly understand her.
Perhaps because… from the start, he'd unilaterally labeled her as having an antisocial personality.
"You seem awfully trusting of me," Geru's flat voice pulled him back. Moro tensed, his expression shifting as he reflected on his careless lapse.
Seeing the annoyance flash in Moro's eyes, Geru felt a spark of interest. In their brief interaction, she saw he was someone with high self-expectations. Such people, once past the Nen threshold, often excelled.
If not for her low ambition for a "Two-Star Hunter" title, she might invest time in him.
"Geru, Professional Hunter," she said, meeting his gaze directly.
"Nice to meet you. Call me Moro," he replied.
Geru nodded slightly. "Tell me what happened. I might be able to help."
"…"
Moro paused briefly but soon recounted the events, omitting the truck's destination—the mental hospital. As a mere "livestock" not yet delivered to the "slaughterhouse," saying and doing less was wisest.
After hearing him out, Geru classified it as human trafficking. She showed no curiosity about his Nen knowledge or concern over the middle-aged man's killing. She was in the area to collect venom from a newly cataloged snake species—a trivial detour.
If she could do a good deed along the way, she would. But getting entangled? No thanks.
Geru's detached attitude was what Moro wanted.
"Geru, thanks for handling them," he said, relieved she'd agreed to relocate the captives. With his changes, these kids… might live properly now.
Geru nodded; it was just a phone call for her. Moro smiled, then, under her watch, stripped suitable clothes from the corpses. He rifled through Zazan's and the driver's wallets, taking the cash, and pocketed the handgun.
Throughout, Geru watched silently. Moro holstered the gun, ready to leave.
"Thanks," he said sincerely. Without her, he'd be stuck figuring out the captives' fate.
Geru inclined her head. Moro turned and departed. As he did, he glanced toward the truck's original route. At this time, had Melena and Doggo already reached the hospital? He didn't know.
Standing at fate's crossroads with future memories, he had no intention of retracing old paths. Though they hadn't crossed yet, this parting… Melena.
With that thought, he unhesitatingly headed the opposite way.
Behind him, Geru watched until Moro vanished. She then pulled out her phone, arranging the captives' relocation.
After hanging up, she stood by the truck and noticed the open cab's monitors. Bored waiting, she entered, replayed the footage.
Moments later, viewing the cargo hold recording, Geru's snake-like vertical pupils contracted slowly, gleaming with disbelief.