A few days later.
It was mid-March of 1996 in the Hunter Calendar.
The heavy mahogany door to the luxury hotel suite had been left slightly ajar. The moment Menchi stepped across the threshold, a heavy, oppressive sensation washed over her. It felt exactly like being watched by an invisible predator hovering near the ceiling.
She walked past the entryway, looking for the other two. When she entered the spacious living room, she found Shizuku sitting cross-legged in the center of the plush carpet, her eyes closed in deep concentration. Liam was standing much further away, near the massive floor-to-ceiling window, his back turned to the room as he stared out at the city skyline.
Menchi stopped abruptly. Standing within the invisible boundary of Shizuku's aura, she could clearly feel a second, far more massive layer of En sweeping constantly across her body.
Menchi looked at the distance between herself and Shizuku, slightly surprised. Shizuku's En covers a radius of about five meters now? she thought. I suppose it makes sense. If you are constantly following a training freak like Liam, you would naturally feel a sense of urgency to keep up.
As for the second, massive sphere of En that effortlessly blanketed the entire luxury suite and spilled out into the hallway—there was no doubt that it belonged to Liam.
Shizuku slowly opened her eyes and looked up at Menchi.
Menchi shook her head, offering a tired sigh. "Cheadle just contacted Chairman Netero again to ask if Biscuit had responded to the dove's letter. It seems Cheadle's ability has a blind spot. Even she cannot confirm whether the person she sent the letter to actually received the message or not."
Shizuku maintained her steady Ken, offering no reaction as she continued to look at Menchi.
Menchi leaned against the back of a sofa. "Chairman Netero has officially issued a high-level Association mission to track down Biscuit's whereabouts. He is putting professional Tracking and Crime Hunters on the case. For now, we literally cannot do anything but wait patiently for news."
"Who exactly are you calling a training freak?"
Liam, still standing in front of the floor-to-ceiling window, slowly turned his head to glare at her.
Menchi rolled her eyes. "Is your reflex arc really that slow? I said that five minutes ago."
"Catch!" Liam suddenly barked, tossing a small object through the air.
Menchi's hand snapped up, catching the object effortlessly. She opened her palm and looked down. It was a heavy, silver ring. She looked up at Liam, surprised and slightly suspicious. "Isn't this a little inappropriate?"
"What the hell are you thinking about?" Liam sneered, shaking his head. "Look at the engraving. You know how to read, don't you?"
Menchi squinted at the silver band. Engraved deeply into the metal was a single, stylized letter: D. When she checked the inner wall of the ring, she found a small, intricate crescent moon mark.
She remembered that Shizuku wore a very similar ring, though Shizuku's was engraved with the words Heavenly Path.
Ah. So this is a code name and a designated rank, Menchi realized.
"Does this mean you are officially inviting me to join your little The Ten organization?" Menchi asked, idly tossing the D-ring into the air and catching it. She arched an eyebrow. "Wait, if I am 'D', does that mean someone else has already taken the 'C' ring?"
"Yes," Liam confirmed. "The rings are connected. Once you put it on and channel your aura into it, you will be able to vaguely sense the presence of the other ring bearers."
"That sounds like a massive security risk," Menchi noted critically. "If an enemy manages to steal one of these rings, it would be far too easy for them to track down and expose the rest of our people."
"Which is exactly why you have to take very good care of it," Liam said flatly. "Just think of a code name you like and engrave it on the outside."
Menchi sighed dramatically. With a flick of her wrist, she threw the D-ring back toward Liam.
Before the ring could cross the room, Shizuku raised her hand, snatching it out of the air.
"Do not misunderstand me. I am not completely rejecting your invitation," Menchi clarified, holding up her hands. "But I cannot officially join you right now. I have prior commitments and a few things I need to calculate." She smiled playfully, holding up ten fingers. "Check back with me in ten months. You can invite me again then!"
Liam rolled his eyes. He grabbed a jacket off the back of a chair and pulled it on. He relaxed his focus, and the massive, suffocating sphere of En that filled the suite instantly collapsed, the aura rushing back into his body. "Whatever. Let's go shopping. We can grab lunch on the way." He headed for the door.
Shizuku also reigned in her En, formally ending her morning practice session. She stood up and summoned Blinky. "Pack our things," she ordered.
The vacuum cleaner whirred to life. Regardless of where they had been left in the massive suite, all of Liam and Shizuku's personal belongings—clothes, bags, weapons—flew through the air and were swallowed whole by the vacuum in a matter of seconds.
"That really is incredibly convenient," Menchi clicked her tongue in jealousy as she watched them head for the door.
Liam paused at the threshold and looked back at her, his expression genuinely confused. "What are you doing? Are you coming or not?"
"Me?" Menchi pointed at herself, surprised. "You want me to come too?"
Shizuku blinked at her. "Of course."
Menchi broke into a bright smile and hurried out of the hotel room with them.
After wandering the city streets for a while, Liam finally spotted a café that advertised high-speed internet access. He walked in, swiped his Black Hunter's License at a public terminal, and began surfing the web. While Menchi sat at a nearby table, loudly critiquing the café's subpar culinary skills to a very quiet Shizuku, Liam scoured the Hunter databases.
Where do I even start looking for Bisky? he thought. Where do I start tracking the Phantom Troupe? Without any solid leads, he was essentially flying blind. He spent hours just browsing recent news reports and incident logs from various continents, hoping to catch a localized anomaly.
By the time they returned to the hotel that evening, Liam collapsed into a plush armchair, closing his eyes as if he were simply resting.
In reality, he was intently studying the Death Energy panel in his mind.
Although he had not engaged in any actual combat over the past month, simply walking through the densely populated city had allowed his Star Mark to passively absorb nine stray wisps of Death Energy from nearby, unseen tragedies.
Even though it felt slightly wasteful to not save the energy for a critical emergency, Liam decided to invest all his newly acquired points directly into his Transmutation qualification.
As the final point locked into place, the entire hexagonal diagram of the Death Energy panel was finally complete. Every single category was now at 100% qualification.
Conjuration: [2]
Specialization: [5]
Manipulation: [4]
Emission: [3]
Enhancement: [2]
The moment his Transmutation qualification reached 100%, the text shattered and disappeared. The system refreshed, and a new line of text appeared, finally revealing Liam's actual, current level of mastery in the category.
Transmutation: [2]
Level 2? Just like Enhancement? Liam thought, opening his eyes. It was slightly unexpected, but also entirely reasonable.
Because he possessed Jaku—a Nen beast whose core nature was pure Transmutation—he had been able to successfully develop and utilize the Riding the Wind technique. Even though his base physical qualification for Transmutation hadn't been fully unlocked until today, he had technically been practicing and utilizing high-level Transmutation principles for months through the bird.
He had essentially been playing the game on an advanced save file before he even unlocked the necessary stats.
A hand suddenly waved back and forth in front of his face.
Liam blinked, looking up at Menchi with a helpless expression.
Menchi was holding up her cell phone, displaying a brightly colored advertisement. "A brand-new, massive theme park just opened up on the edge of the city! Let's go check it out! What are you spacing out for? Shizuku has been calling your name for a solid minute."
"An amusement park?" Liam asked, raising an eyebrow. He shrugged and stood up. "Sure, why not. With a crowd that large, there is bound to be a fatal accident or a murder eventually. Let's go see if we can farm some Death Energy."
Menchi stared at him, utterly bewildered by his morbid logic.
An hour later, they arrived at the theme park. It was absolutely packed with people. There were families with screaming children, groups of teenagers laughing and eating junk food, and people like Liam, Shizuku, and Menchi who were just wandering around killing time. Because Liam had never really paid attention to the pop culture or entertainment media of the Hunter world, everything in the park looked incredibly bizarre to him. For Shizuku, who had been born and raised in the desolate ruins of Meteor City, the sensory overload of the park was entirely alien.
"Statistically speaking, in a crowd this size, at least one person has to die today," Liam muttered, scanning the bustling tourists.
"If you keep saying things like that out loud, the first person to die today is going to be you, when an angry mob beats you to death," Menchi scolded him, resting her hands on her hips. Despite her tough talk, she was currently wearing a brightly colored, themed character headband, looking incredibly childish. She turned around to check on Shizuku, only to find the quiet girl standing completely still on the sidewalk, staring intently at a massive video screen mounted above a souvenir shop.
A parade of large, brightly decorated floats carrying actors in bizarre costumes slowly rolled down the main street. The dense crowd parted to let them through, packing the sidewalks even tighter.
"Oh, look! It's the 'Sweeping Team: Sweepers'!" Menchi cheered, squeezing through the crowd to get a better look at the floats. She sighed nostalgically. "This is an old tokusatsu show. It was incredibly popular when I was a kid! Everyone in my neighborhood used to fight over who got to play which character. The Sweepers all had different cleaning roles. Shizuku, did you ever watch this?"
"Wait, this was actually popular? Are you completely sure?" Liam asked, standing on Shizuku's other side and staring at the old, grainy footage playing on the shop's screen. "These names are ridiculous. Their superpowers make no sense. Detergent? Broom? Washing Powder? What even is this? Are you absolutely certain this wasn't just a massive, multi-million-Jenny advertising campaign funded by a housekeeping corporation?"
I will never understand the entertainment aesthetics of this world, Liam thought, shaking his head. Thank God I did not try to make a living as a screenwriter here.
"Yes," Shizuku said softly, her large eyes fixed on the screen. "There used to be live stage performances of this exact theme in Meteor City. It was incredibly popular with everyone there."
Liam and Menchi exchanged a heavy, complicated look. The cheerful atmosphere suddenly felt incredibly awkward. Neither of them were stupid. It only took a second of critical thought to understand exactly why a show with this specific theme resonated so deeply with the residents of Meteor City.
Meteor City was globally recognized as the ultimate dumping ground of the human race—a literal, endless mountain of garbage and discarded people. The fact that the outcasts living there worshipped a show focused entirely on "cleaning up" and "removing dirt" was a suffocatingly dark, tragic irony.
The unspoken, horrifying question hung in the air: In the minds of the people of Meteor City, who were the monsters that brought the "dirt" to the world? And who were the heroic "Sweepers" meant to eradicate them?
Shizuku did not seem to be analyzing the sociological implications. She just watched the screen for a few more minutes before quietly turning away and continuing to walk through the park with them.
When they finally returned to the hotel that evening, Liam checked his panel. His Death Energy had increased by exactly +1. Someone in that massive crowd had indeed died.
And still, there was absolutely no news regarding Biscuit.
April came and went in a blur of training and waiting. May arrived, and June was fast approaching. The weather grew steadily hotter as summer began to set in.
Back at the Hunter Association Headquarters building.
Standing on the sun-baked concrete of the massive rooftop helipad, a scorching gust of midday wind whipped past them.
Netero stood with his hands clasped behind his back, listening intently as Liam once again recounted the exact sequence of events that had scattered him, Shizuku, and Biscuit across the globe. Because Netero had personally survived expeditions to the Dark Continent in his youth, Liam felt no need to censor the bizarre nature of the DICE program on Greed Island. He explained the mechanics of the trap in detail, though he strategically glossed over the highly sensitive specifics regarding Alluka's wish-granting rules and Shizuku's infiltration of the Special Voyage Bureau.
Netero slowly twirled the ends of his mustache. "I have officially mobilized the best Tracking Hunters in the Association. None of them have found a single trace of Biscuit. Given the circumstances, there is only one logical conclusion. The trap sent her to a place that technically does not exist on any official map of this world."
Menchi blinked rapidly, waiting for the Chairman to elaborate. When Netero remained silent, she practically shouted, "Okay! And where exactly is that?!"
Netero offered a slight, knowing smile. "Is it really that difficult to guess?"
"Meteor City," Shizuku said, her voice perfectly calm and devoid of emotion. "Even top-tier professional Hunters refuse to step foot inside Meteor City to conduct investigations. It is a complete black hole for information."
Liam frowned, his mind racing. "Wait. Are you implying that there is something physically located inside Meteor City that is directly linked to the Dark Continent?"
Netero did not answer the question.
Menchi looked around the empty rooftop. Since Netero wasn't offering any more cryptic clues, she asked the obvious question. "So, Chairman... what are you going to do?"
Netero silently pointed a finger straight up at the sky.
A massive, terrifying shadow suddenly fell over the four people on the rooftop, blocking out the midday sun. Liam looked up just in time to see an absolutely colossal, bizarrely shaped bird folding its massive wings. The beast hit the edge of the building with a heavy thud, its talons scraping against the concrete as it awkwardly stabilized itself right behind Netero.
"I borrowed a pet from an old friend to give me a ride," Netero explained casually. He hopped lightly onto the broad back of the giant bird.
He looked down and watched as Liam approached the beast. Liam reached out, placing his hand gently against the bird's thick feathers, stroking its neck. The giant bird, initially tense and wary of the stranger, immediately calmed down under Liam's touch, letting out a soft, docile trill.
"Take this with you," Liam said, giving the bird a final pat before looking up at Netero. "It might be useful down there."
Netero's sharp eyes instantly caught the faint, glowing outline of a rose-gold, five-pointed Star Mark etched into the bird's feathers right where Liam's hand had been.
Netero offered a firm nod. He tapped his heel against the bird's flank. The massive beast let out a deafening, piercing shriek, launching itself off the edge of the skyscraper and soaring rapidly toward the distant horizon.
"Meteor City," Menchi sighed, watching the bird shrink into a speck against the clouds. "The situation is so bad that Chairman Netero actually has to go there in person. There must be some incredibly powerful, hidden masters living in that dump! Shizuku, you are from there. Have you ever heard of anyone like that?"
Shizuku shook her head. "There are definitely skilled Nen users in Meteor City. But there is absolutely no one currently living there who exists on the same level as Chairman Netero. At least, I have never seen or heard of anyone like that."
"Not even the Phantom Troupe?" Menchi asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Not even the Phantom Troupe," Shizuku stated factually.
The Phantom Troupe. The Dark Continent. Unfathomable, non-human entities.
Liam stared at the empty sky, his thoughts racing as the puzzle pieces refused to fit together. Before he could fall too deep into his own paranoia, the cell phone in his pocket began to vibrate violently.
He pulled it out and unlocked the screen. It was a single, encrypted text message from Silva Zoldyck.
Target located. Arriving in one week. City of Vijarath.