What exactly happened to Morrow?
Kalluto had no idea.
Although the changes in the living paper doll suggested Morrow's body was recovering, it still couldn't eliminate the worry in his heart.
To confirm this matter, family responsibilities, obedience, and compromise... Were all directly cast aside by Kalluto.
Kikyo stared blankly at Kalluto, vaguely seeing Killua's shadow in him.
Why?
Even though she had learned her lesson, even though she had changed her teaching methods.
But why... why had it come to this?
"Kalluto, how dare you speak to your mother like this!?"
Kikyo's red electronic eye rapidly contracted and expanded as she suddenly raised her voice, sharp and piercing.
Simultaneously, due to her intense emotional fluctuations, aura involuntarily surged from her body, radiating that parental authoritative pressure and dictatorial aura.
Yet Kalluto merely slightly lifted his eyelids and walked past his mother without the slightest hesitation in his steps.
Kikyo stared in disbelief, her mouth agape, as Kalluto walked right past her.
"Kalluto!!!"
She screamed, her palm adorned with bright red nails slicing through the air with a fierce gust as she grabbed toward Kalluto's shoulder.
Her nearly uncontrollable emotions left no restraint in her hand's strength.
Kalluto suddenly tilted his head. With just one glance, he could assess the force behind Kikyo's reaching hand, yet he neither dodged nor avoided it. Instead, his gaze took on a cold, icy sheen.
Seeing Kalluto's eyes, Kikyo's spirit seemed to violently tremble in an instant.
Too similar.
This defiant look...
Kikyo's electronic eye contracted to a pinpoint size, abruptly halting the forward momentum of her hand.
That slender palm with crimson nails froze right in front of Kalluto's face, then hung limply as if all strength had drained away, swaying back and forth at her side.
Watching Kikyo's devastated reaction, a flicker of compassion flashed in Kalluto's eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination as he sprinted toward the mansion's main gate.
In the candlelit corridor, only Kikyo's lonely figure remained.
—--
One day later.
Above the clouds, an airship advanced steadily.
Inside the VIP cabin.
Kalluto looked down, observing the living paper doll in his hand.
The originally fierce wrinkles had shown noticeable improvement.
However, the smoothing of the wrinkles wasn't particularly fast, and periodically, it would suddenly stop making progress.
Only after four or five hours would the wrinkle-smoothing phenomenon, indicative of treatment, resume.
It must be Kurapika treating Morrow...
After a full day of observation, this was the only possibility Kalluto could think of.
Kurapika's healing ability, his identity as a member of the Kurta Clan, and the mental and physical burden of using his ability.
Kalluto was among those privy to this information.
Thus, when he noticed the wrinkle-smoothing phenomenon didn't last long, Kurapika's figure immediately came to mind.
Still can't get through.
Kalluto tried contacting Kurapika, but it still showed the phone was off.
The same went for Morrow's number.
Why are they turning off their phones?
Kalluto gripped his phone tightly, completely unable to understand.
If Morrow could already receive stable treatment, that meant the environment was at least safe. In that case, there was no need to turn it off at all.
Could it be to evade pursuit?
Lacking basic information, Kalluto couldn't deduce the specific reason. He could only use the communication software developed by the Hunter Association to leave encrypted messages for Morrow and Kurapika's numbers.
Since he couldn't get through, he could only pin his hopes on them seeing the messages and replying as soon as possible.
—--
The next day.
The airship continued flying steadily in the direction guided by the living paper doll.
Inside the cabin, Kalluto remained highly attentive to the changes in the living paper doll.
As with the first day's observations, the smoothing of wrinkles occurred at intervals.
The good news was that the wrinkles on the torso of the living paper doll had been completely smoothed out, indicating that Morrow's vital signs had fully stabilized.
Additionally, although the healing phenomenon occurred intermittently, it progressed steadily.
This allowed Kalluto to finally set his mind at ease.
However, even now, he still couldn't reach Morrow or Kurapika, and the messages he sent remained unanswered, as if they had sunk into the sea.
The third day, the fourth day...
The smoothing of the living paper doll's wrinkles seemed to suddenly concentrate on the left arm.
Kalluto noticed that in just over an hour, the wrinkles on the entire left arm had been smoothed out.
But after this, it took more than ten hours before the healing phenomenon, represented by the smoothing of wrinkles, reappeared.
—--
By the fifth day.
Kalluto disembarked from the airship.
The smoothing of the living paper doll's wrinkles had changed noticeably again.
The frequency of healing had clearly increased.
Or rather, the rest intervals had shortened to less than an hour.
Almost every hour or so, he could see the wrinkles gradually smoothing out.
This meant that Kurapika, who was using his healing ability on Morrow, was resting for only an hour each time before resuming treatment.
Kalluto couldn't determine what had changed on Morrow's end, but seeing the living paper doll's condition rapidly improving was undoubtedly good news.
Still no reply.
The messages he sent days ago remained unanswered.
Left with no choice, Kalluto temporarily gave up on contacting Morrow via phone. He turned off his phone and stored it in a nearby bank.
He did this mainly to guard against his family's subsequent tracking and location methods.
After all, he had the living paper doll to guide him...
In terms of utility, it was far more useful than a phone.
After storing his phone, Kalluto immediately followed the guidance to Morrow's location.
He traveled late into the night.
Suddenly, the living paper doll's guidance ability failed, as if the signal had been cut off.
This usually meant the target the living paper doll was pointing to had lost their vitality.
When Kalluto noticed this, his first instinct was a reflexive shock, but he quickly understood what was happening.
Apart from the target's death, the living paper doll's effect could be blocked by Nen ability spatial confinement or the target entering a place like an Unexplored Land.
Back when he first went to an Unexplored Land with Morrow, they had specifically tested how such places could block the living paper doll's connection.
So Kalluto immediately considered the possibility that Morrow had entered an Unexplored Land.
Having reached this conclusion, even without the living paper doll's guidance, Kalluto could still determine the direction.
The entrance to the Unexplored Land is at the Petrus' Eye of Death sinkhole, located in the Evil Enclave in the southern part of Yorbian continent. Yes... the direction is correct.
Kalluto's spirits lifted, and he quickened his pace.
—--
When Morrow regained consciousness, what met his eyes was an endless expanse of pure white.
He could feel himself floating in this vast white space, unable to distinguish up from down or left from right.
No matter which direction he looked, his vision was filled with an infinite white void stretching endlessly.
He had been here before.
This was his consciousness space.
Morrow instinctively looked down but couldn't see his hands or torso.
Coming to his senses, he realized he couldn't even feel his body's presence, as if only a pair of observing eyes remained.
It seems I'm still alive. This place... feels somewhat different from before, like something is missing, but I can't recall what.
Morrow remained quite calm about his current situation.
Considering the earlier confrontation with Beyond and Marione...
One around Lv.85, the other around Lv.95, and both came prepared...
Not dying at their hands was already the best possible outcome.
If a Death Threshold had formed on them, even if he could record one ability after regression, it would be difficult to break such a high-level Death Threshold within limited time.
One could say the probability of failure was very high.
And the consequence of failure was equally death.
However, Beyond's unknown ability...
Morrow still coveted it quite a bit.
If Tree Rings could record it and he could improve it, it would likely become his most powerful ability currently.
There was even a high probability it could be directly integrated into the Shooting Star system.
But compared to the subsequent risks, Morrow chose rationality.
As long as I don't die at Beyond's hands, losing my left arm and both legs means nothing. I can simply find a regression target to solve this problem. Preferably a Nen user, like Owl from the Shadow Beasts; that way I could at least record another highly practical ability.
Morrow contemplated suitable regression targets.
Precisely because he possessed one regression opportunity, Morrow had focused entirely on disengaging during Beyond and Marione's relentless pursuit, completely disregarding what consequences his injuries might bring.
Even so...
Beyond's rich combat experience and precise timing in coordinated attacks could be described as accurate and ruthless.
Superficially, he used Marione's close-range assaults to create sneak attack opportunities, but subtly, he seemed to treat Marione more as bait.
Thus when the golden chain manifested on Marione, he could deliberately use her to block sensory perception, then seamlessly follow up with a sneak attack.
In that instant, his speed in withdrawing Starlight Convergence wasn't slow, but still couldn't outpace Beyond's premeditated ambush speed.
Consequently, he failed to construct complete Nen defense in time, resulting in narrowly escaping death even after Astral Step's cooldown ended.
However, from Beyond's tactical decisions, one could glimpse certain traits of his character.
Cold, cruel...
And a relentless determination to achieve his goals by any means necessary.
Of course, Morrow did not rule out the possibility that Beyond had already gathered intelligence on his abilities while pursuing him, which was why he wasn't the least bit concerned about the second stage of Starlight Convergence.
In any case, given his current strength, it was difficult to contend with an opponent of this caliber.
If Morrow remembered correctly, Beyond had challenged the Dark Continent as early as fifty years ago.
Although he failed...
To be able to challenge the Dark Continent once more, Morrow dared not imagine how much effort and energy Beyond had poured into strengthening himself over these fifty years.
If nothing else, the scale of his aura output had already surpassed Netero's.
This was an unavoidable reality.
After all, fifty years ago, Netero was truly at his peak.
Now, fifty years later, he was already an 'old man.'
Even so, Morrow still believed Netero could crush Beyond in a direct confrontation.
After all, Netero's skill was undoubtedly the pinnacle of human achievement.
At least within the framework of humanity, it was an ability that could be called invincible.
This also meant...
If Morrow wanted to defeat Beyond in a head-on clash, he would either need to reach Netero's level of skill or level up another 20 times...
That was difficult.
Morrow reined in his wandering thoughts and shifted his focus back to the target of his retrospection.
After much consideration, the ability he currently favored was still Owl's Conjuration ability, Fun Fun Cloth, which contained the power of rules.
If he were to name an ability with even greater practicality and value, it would undoubtedly be Knov's Hide and Seek.
However, he was not Beyond, so he naturally would not target Knov.
Moreover, he needed Kurapika's assistance, and Nen users of Owl's caliber would be easier to handle.
"For now, I'll target Owl from the Shadow Beasts."
Morrow stopped thinking about this and turned his attention once more to observing this vast, white consciousness space.
What exactly was missing...?
It was as if he had lost certain memories; he could only carefully ponder the differences he felt now, hoping to uncover some key information.
"Hmm?"
Suddenly, Morrow thought of those negative memory entities he had suppressed deep within his consciousness.
There were the Conjuration memory entities left by Orion of the Mind Illusion Style, designed to induce schizophrenia, as well as the memory entities related to Skill Hunter left by Chrollo...
Morrow could absorb Post-Mortem Nen, but he could not completely purify these double-edged memory entities.
All he could do was suppress them deep within his consciousness.
Most of the time, as long as his mental state was stable, there was no need to worry about these memory entities causing any impact.
But now... They seemed to have disappeared?
Morrow finally remembered and looked downward again.
His vision was still filled with an endless expanse of white.
"The black water surface is gone..."
Morrow recalled that this consciousness space originally had an endless black water surface.
And the negative energy and memory entities attached to the Post-Mortem Nen he absorbed were usually suppressed beneath that black water surface.
But now, that black water surface had vanished, and along with it, the negative memory entities of Orion and Chrollo had also disappeared into thin air.
Realizing this, Morrow suddenly noticed that the faint, lingering sense of weight from stepping on the black water surface was gone, replaced by a feeling of lightness.
"Strange, how did they suddenly disappear?"
Morrow was somewhat puzzled.
But this was, after all, a good thing. After all, he would need to absorb more Post-Mortem Will in the future, and there was no guarantee of an upper limit for containing negative memories.
Clearing them now brought only benefits without drawbacks.
—--
Inside the Unexplored Land.
Within the stone hut atop the peak.
Morrow lay on the stone bed with his eyes tightly shut.
Beside him, Kurapika's eyes flickered with a faint red glow as chains extended from his fingertips, wrapping around Morrow's left thigh and emitting a dense green Nen aura.
By the stone hut's entrance, Biscuit leaned against the doorframe, glancing at Morrow, whose left leg was the only part yet to regenerate, and then at Kurapika, whose body was utterly exhausted but whose Nen remained unshakably resolute.
Her expression was somewhat complicated.
---------
Bonus chapter @400powerstones