Perhaps within Ironwood Mountain, the V5 too had its share of profit.
They were also a link in the chain of interests.
When the time came that their benefits were fully extracted, only then would they spare a hand to clean up the Ironwood Mountain.
Then they could seize this opportunity to expose Ironwood Mountain's crimes to the public and act on behalf of justice.
Once again, they could gain positive publicity through Ironwood Mountain and extract the last of its surplus value.
Everything was, in a sense, perfect.
If Mizaistom Nana wanted to take action against Ironwood Mountain at this moment... Perhaps, besides the resistance from within Ironwood Mountain itself…
"You might even face pressure from within the Hunter Association."
Luke kindly reminded him.
"How is that possible?!"
Mizaistom Nana frowned, still somewhat unconvinced.
"You have to understand, this world isn't just black and white..."
Luke looked at Mizaistom Nana's clothing and smiled. "Perhaps it's just a delicate gray."
"A delicate... Gray?"
Mizaistom Nana pondered Luke's words. The more he pondered them, the more... It seemed to make sense!
"I think the final curtain call of this sinister farce..."
Luke turned and left Mizaistom Nana with one final word: "It will end in a violent assassination, a mafia-on-mafia assassination."
"Sometimes, the power of justice is ultimately inferior to the forces of the dark world. It's far more effective…"
Mizaistom Nana's brows were nearly twisted into knots.
He didn't quite agree with this argument.
He wanted to open his mouth again to refute, but suddenly realized that Luke had already walked away.
"Who are you?!"
Mizaistom Nana demanded loudly.
"My name is Luke, and I'm an inventor."
A faint voice came from the distance.
Luke… An inventor?
Mizaistom Nana repeated the name several times in his mind, but nothing came to mind.
He was certain he had never heard of this person before.
"And... He calls himself an inventor, what does that mean..."
Mizaistom Nana had just finished thinking this when he heard a soft voice from afar: "If you're in danger, take those pills immediately."
"They might save your life at a crucial moment."
The voice faded to inaudible levels before vanishing completely.
"Pills?"
Only then did Mizaistom Nana notice that where Luke had stood earlier, at some point, a pink blister pack of pills had been placed.
Also, surrounding the two blister packs was a scripture that Mizaistom Nana couldn't decipher.
"Is this the language of some ancient kingdom?"
Mizaistom Nana pondered for a moment.
After all, this wasn't his strong suit, so he simply put it away before trying to figure it out.
Since the inventor named Luke knew his current situation and had given him something like this, if he was trustworthy, then this supposedly life-saving pill he had given him, perhaps it would actually work at a crucial moment.
As for the man named Luke, Mizaistom Nana had discovered through this conversation and brief observation, he should be trustworthy for the time being.
And this so-called life-saving pill offered by the other party certainly shouldn't be so easily believed.
He would only try it as a last resort, when there was no other way out.
Thinking this, Mizaistom Nana looked up at the ore from Ironwood Mountain not far away.
In his eyes, the gleaming ore was filled with sin, blood, and tears.
Luke deeply admired Mizaistom Nana's character, his unwavering ideals and principles.
So, although he wasn't interested in the affairs of Ironwood Mountain and didn't want to get involved, if a reckless pioneer like Mizaistom Nana was willing to go, Luke wouldn't stop him, much less attack him.
When others strive for justice and fairness in this world, even if he couldn't offer help or support them from behind, he should at least keep his mouth shut and refrain from hindering them.
So, given Luke's ability, he wouldn't mind offering a little help to pioneers like Mizaistom Nana.
For example… The Animal Type Tablet he left for Mizaistom Nana.
Invention: Animal Type Tablet
Origin: Doraemon World — Future Tech Company
Function: A set of four pills. After consumption, one would gain the survival ability of certain animals: Chameleon (Protective coloration, body and clothing change color), Lizard (tail-shedding survival, clothes tear apart), Turtle (Hard shell, head and limbs retract into clothing, clothing hardens), and Skunk (emits foul odor).
In essence, it's using the animals' protective traits to buy space and opportunities for escape.
Initially, there were only four types of these Animal Type Tablets.
But later, four additional pills were added, bringing the total to eight.
These four newly added pills grant the survival ability of the Opossum (Playing dead, fainting, and body stiffening temporarily), Octopus (Ink spray, squirts ink from the mouth), Porcupine (Back spikes, quills sprout from the back), and Electric eel (Electric shock, discharges when touched).
Well, the only thing Luke regrets is that they don't contain any Ox life-saving abilities. Otherwise, it would be quite fitting for Mizaistom Nana's future image and codename.
"But as for Ox, they're not small in size, and they're quite powerful. Nature really doesn't need to give them any extra abilities."
These thoughts flashed through Luke's mind as he walked away from the Ironwood Mountain.
Of course, none of this mattered anymore.
He had done everything he needed to do and provided adequate assistance to Mizaistom Nana.
What happened next depended on Mizaistom Nana's own abilities and methods.
As for Luke himself…
"So, I've already bought a cell phone."
He randomly found an electronics store and spent a considerable sum on one of the most advanced communications devices of the era... A brick-shaped pager phone comparable to a mobile phone.
Well, in the 1980s, what more could one ask for?
This was also why he hadn't liked using phones from this world until now.
Then he pulled out the business card Ging Freecss had given him and dialed the number on it.
The contact on the other end of the line was none other than the Ickshonpe that Ging Freecss had mentioned earlier.
A man who, after obtaining his hunter's license, vanished from the world, leaving virtually no trace.
A legendary figure that is impossible to find.
And if Luke remembered correctly, this guy's professional hunter classification seemed to be…
"Hacker Hunter…"
Luke looked at the screen of his brick-shaped phone, where a sudden invitation message appeared, and couldn't help but laugh.
The words "hacker" and "cracker" both derive from the root word "hack."
Originally, a hacker referred to someone deeply passionate about computer technology, highly skilled, and regarded by ordinary programmers as an expert capable of almost anything.
With the rise of the internet, however, a new term, cracker, was coined to describe those who break into systems or crack software protections.
At first, it specifically referred to those who broke codes and cracked software.
Crack literally meant to open or smash, since brute force cracking was often easier than technical cracking, these people jokingly said they smashed open a program requiring verification, thus calling themselves crackers.
In its original sense, Hackers were basically good people and geniuses.
Crackers weren't necessarily evil either; many did it just for research or showing off.
But a large number of computer criminals also appeared: planting trojans, stealing bank accounts, game accounts, and more.
Whether these individuals develop their own techniques or obtain them from crackers or hackers, these activities are considered relatively bad within this community.
However, in the eyes of the general media and the public, crackers, hackers, and computer criminals are often viewed as relatively mysterious figures.
And indeed, there are many computer criminals. Getting technology from crackers or hackers, or calling oneself a cracker or hacker.
So the blame was first placed on the word hacker, and then, after the hackers had justified themselves, the blame was placed on the crackers again.
Thus, the word Hacker often carries a negative connotation.
Even in this era, where it wasn't yet fully tied to crime, the fact that Ickshonpe had chosen Hacker as his hunter classification showed something about him.
This man was one of those obsessive, deranged types.
"But it's precisely because of this that he was able to create the network world, isn't it?"
Luke smiled and pressed the button to receive the invitation.
Instantly, he felt a blinding, dazzling light flash before his eyes!
He didn't know how long it took; it seemed like a moment, or perhaps an hour.
As Luke gradually adjusted to the brightness, or rather, as the light gradually dimmed, he slowly opened his eyes.
What he saw was a vast expanse of white. The entire surrounding space was practically blanketed in white.
Even the ground beneath his feet was a blanket of white.
It was as if, in this special space, there was no other color besides white.
"This should be the network space that Ickshonpe had just begun to create, right?"
Luke surveyed the surroundings, not overly worried.
"It really is a bit simple."
The earliest networks had yet to develop into the complex, dazzling landscapes of the future, filled with endless streams of information.
In other words, this was the most primitive, pure form of cyberspace.
As Luke surveyed his surroundings, suddenly, a faint red light flickered in front of him.
When Luke looked over, he saw a thin figure standing before him.
He had no idea when he had arrived, nor how he had appeared.
Just like that, the figure stared back at Luke.
"Sure enough, he's still the same, unchanged from the future."
Looking at that familiar graffiti face, Luke also felt dumbfounded.
Ickshonpe Katocha, a Hacker Hunter.
He first appeared in the Chairman election arc following the Chimera Ant incident.
At that time, some hunters voted for him in their ballots for the new Hunter Association's Chairman.
This resulted in him being on the list and even being invited by the Hunter Association to give a speech.
But this guy never even showed up in person, not even once.
He was dressed in a graffiti face, making it impossible to see his true appearance.
Only the letters Pe were printed on the forehead of that graffiti face.
During the election, in the conference room's live feed, he held up pieces of cardboard, flipping them one after another.
Everything he wanted to say appeared on the cardboard.
What was most impressive was his disdain for the real world.
"You and I are from completely different worlds."
"I have no interest in what happens there."
By that time, he was already living in the network world.
Naturally, he expressed such an opinion.
Luke guessed that as soon as the internet was born, Ickshonpe had immediately set his eyes on it, decisively using some ability or vow to enter this world.
Perhaps through Vows and Limitations, he sacrifices something to fully enter the network world, constructing this realm, and living here permanently.
"Fortunately, it hasn't come to the point where he can only use paper slips to communicate..."
Luke observed the chat boxes floating above Ickshonpe's head, roughly understanding his situation.
"Who are you?"
This was the question that appeared in the chat box above Ickshonpe's head.
"So, his way of expressing himself and his ability are both completely tied to the network?"
Luke pondered: "That's why communication takes this form."
"As the network world develops, his own way of expression and abilities will evolve, and even become exceptionally powerful."
"He might even reach the level of producing and transmitting information instantly in the future."
In other words, Ickshonpe's own abilities are almost inextricably linked to the internet.
At present, he only uses this most basic form of information to convey his ideas.
But in the future, it's very likely that these media will no longer be necessary, and information can be exchanged directly through a single thought.
Ickshonpe is evolving alongside the internet.
This means that he has almost completely tied everything, including his life, to the internet.
This is practically a gamble, a bet on the internet's rise, a bet that it will dominate the next era.
The next one, the 21st century, will become an information society.
Well, only someone this paranoid and radical could become a Hacker Hunter right now.
He staked his entire fortune and life on it, and without a doubt, Ickshonpe won.
The future prosperity of the internet needs no further elaboration.
This is also why he has a certain confidence to look down on the real world.
As for using cardboard to convey messages, there must have been some restrictions involved.
Perhaps he was unable to converse with the outside world directly.
After immersing himself entirely in the network, naturally, his existence had to align with it.