Kisho slowly walked back.
He didn't walk fast. As he walked, he thought about the person who had just died by his own hands, and about what he should do next.
When he finally saw the garbage mountain where he used to live, he realized that he had already arrived.
But looking at the devastation before him, Kisho let out a heavy sigh.
His garbage nest had been wrecked beyond recognition. There was no need to repair it—it could be torn down and rebuilt from scratch.
But he was truly exhausted, and too lazy to think about rebuilding a place to live. He casually lay down on the pile of trash, raised his head, and gazed at the night sky with neither stars nor moon.
Right now, he just wanted to be trash that didn't need to think.
Come to think of it, he didn't even know the name of the man who had just died at his hands. They had only met for the first time, and already one of them was dead.
And come to think of it, just a few days ago he had sworn that he would absolutely never kill anyone—yet now he had begun to take other people's lives in order to protect his own.
These people with "Nen" could no longer be counted as ordinary humans. Once awakened to Nen, they could possess several times, even dozens of times, the strength of normal people. And in a place called Meteor City, how could people with such power be willing to submit to others?
If you didn't want to die, you had to make yourself stronger—or attach yourself to the strong. Trade freedom and dignity for the right to live.
Not only in Meteor City. The outside world was the same. For example, the owner of Whale Manor likewise treated other people's lives as worthless, killing and sparing at will.
Kisho wondered whether Chrollo's wager with him had been based on the premise that he had already lost his Nen ability.
If that were the case, if he had neither Nen nor Noah Barton's help, he probably would never have woken up after collapsing on the first night.
Kisho gave a bitter smile.
"So what exactly am I hoping for… They're thieves, after all. Was I really expecting them to show me mercy?"
He sat down, reined in his Nen, and maintained that state as he entered a brief rest.
"If I keep this state up, even if Nen users come looking for me, they won't discover me that quickly, right?" Kisho thought.
"This ability is actually pretty good for concealment. If nothing unexpected happens, I'll try to keep it going for more than an hour over the next period of time."
Fortunately, nothing else happened that night.
The night passed, and the sun slowly, weakly crawled out again.
Kisho climbed to the top of the garbage mountain together with the sun and looked toward the center of Meteor City.
He didn't really want to keep playing this game of "survive in Meteor City for half a year." After his next transaction with Amos, he would try to find a way into the higher-numbered zones and look for a way to leave Meteor City.
...
"Ah, you didn't die after all. That's really unexpected." Amos looked at Kisho walking over at an unhurried pace and said, "Looks like the one who died was some unlucky guy."
Kisho smiled.
"Judging by your expression, you weren't really 'unexpected' either."
He tossed a bottle of water to Amos, then described the appearance of the man from that night and asked,
"Do you know this person?"
After hearing the description, Amos's eyes widened, his pupils shrinking as he stared at Kisho in shock.
"It was him who went after you? I'm really curious how you managed to survive under his hands."
"A little bit of luck, plus a little bit of knowledge. Mainly because he was willing to cooperate with my performance. Ha~"
Kisho cracked a harmless joke, then asked seriously,
"What's wrong? Is there something special about this person?"
Amos looked at Kisho with schadenfreude.
"It's a huge problem."
"The dead man was named Kleri. He was the superior directly above Coren, the hall master of the White Eagle Association, and his strength ranked second within their group. But his real identity was one of the 'inspectors' sent by the Elders' Council to monitor the smaller gangs below. If he dies, the chairman of the White Eagle Association will find out very soon. Once the chairman knows, the Elders will know soon after."
Kisho: "…"
Kisho: "So my only option is to keep running?"
Amos nodded enthusiastically, clearly enjoying the chaos.
"It's a good choice, as long as you can make it out of Meteor City before you're caught. After all, something as trivial as hunting down a kid—elders from other zones will only watch it as a joke and won't interfere. They might even open a betting pool on how many days you can last."
Kisho: "…"
"Or you could go kill the chairman of the White Eagle Association." Amos shrugged, dark emotions congealed in his ink-black eyes.
"Only the chairman, Solzt, knew Kleri's movements, and Kleri only took orders from him. If you kill the chairman, no one will know how Kleri died, and the incident can be defined as an assassination during gang conflict."
"But you just said Kleri's strength was only ranked second." Kisho frowned. "Then the one ranked first wouldn't happen to be that chairman you're talking about, would it?"
Amos replied lightly,
"Ah, congratulations, you got it right. But there's no prize."
"You really think highly of me!" Kisho laughed in exasperation. He stared at Amos, and only after confirming that he wasn't joking did he lower his voice and ask,
"You want me to go kill that chairman, right? I'm not wrong, am I? Can I ask why you think I'd be able to kill him?"
"Because you have an ability that ordinary people don't," Amos said, meeting Kisho's gaze. "If you're willing to do it, I can offer you some help—or rather, intelligence support."
He spoke calmly, but bit down hard on the last few words.
"But as payment, you have to help me learn how to use that kind of ability of yours."
"Hey, hey, that's going a bit too far!" Kisho said irritably. "You already want me to go kill someone. I don't even know what you'd gain from it, but not only do I have to do the killing, I also have to teach you my ability? I'd be getting the short end of the stick."
"Ah, suit yourself." Amos said indifferently. "I'm not the one being hunted. Do it or don't."
Kisho fell silent.
How interesting. Just a couple of days ago, he had sworn that he would rather die himself than kill anyone. And now, only days later, he could already think that "killing the person who keeps sending people to kill me and solving the problem at its source" was a good idea.
If he wanted to live, then the person who wanted him dead had to die.
Two choices. No room for compromise.
"Do I want to die? After having already done so much just to survive, can I still say without hesitation, 'I'd rather die than kill someone'?"
He couldn't anymore.
Because… his own life was the one that mattered.
"…Fine. I'll do it."
Kisho spoke softly, but those two words felt as heavy as a thousand pounds as they left his mouth.
"However, I'll only teach you after I've dealt with the matter. And I can't guarantee I'll succeed—after all, I'm only half-baked myself. If you can't agree to that, then there's nothing to talk about."
"Alright." Amos nodded casually. "Then it's settled. I wish you success."
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Pls Drop some Power Stones
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