District Five.
A white-haired, blue-eyed child sat cross-legged on a rock not far from the residential area.
The child tilted his head slightly upward, as if looking at the moon. But if someone met his gaze, they would see that his eyes reflected nothing at all—his stare was so empty that not even a trace of light could be found.
Only when the sun rose did the child slowly begin to move his limbs. Starting with his fingers, then his wrists, then his elbows, and finally his entire upper body.
Then, like someone just learning how to walk, he tried to slowly stand up.
"Noah." The child murmured a name. Like someone who had just woken from sleep, he muttered in a dazed and helpless voice, "This body is clearly yours—so why do you keep hiding?"
"You were the one who brought me... no, brought us out of that house, right? Why, in that situation, were you still able to move?"
Kisho looked within his consciousness, at that white-haired, blue-eyed child standing in a field of white light, expressionless, and asked in a low voice,
"What exactly have you been through..."
The pale white lights reflected on Noah's skin, coalesced into a terrifying arc of light behind him, making him look like an angel whose wings had been torn off, tortured until numb.
When Noah used the body, Kisho's consciousness would fall asleep. And after Noah left, he would wake up naturally, as if from an ordinary sleep.
At the same time, everything Noah did while he was "asleep" would appear to him in the form of a "dream".
In the "dream", he saw Noah calmly and effortlessly controlling that body that had clearly been submerged in pain, yet still nimbly avoiding everyone on the streets, using the shadows formed by buildings and moonlight to evade pursuit, quietly returning to District Five and jumping onto this rock.
He watched the moon, waiting for the excruciating pain to subside, and then left without any warning.
Then, Kisho "woke up".
Within his consciousness, Noah was still staring wide-eyed at him, silently, calmly, without saying a word.
...
Kisho raised one of his arms. On it, a red line extended from the tip of his middle finger all the way up his arm, stopping two inches below his wrist.
The "Nen ability" that Solzt mentioned before his death had formed a kind of "poison" that existed between the tangible and the intangible. It ignored his clothes and ignored his Nen flames, invading his body as if entering an uninhabited land.
Kisho knew far too little about "Nen" and "Nen abilities". Only now did he realize that besides being used to assist in combat, Nen could also form all kinds of Nen abilities—strange beyond measure, impossible to guard against.
He understood this now, and had paid a heavy price—if Noah hadn't brought him out, he probably would have died again.
"Nen" and "Nen abilities" were like a tree trunk and its crown. Anyone capable of using Nen, once they cultivated it to a certain level, would gain their own Nen ability.
And his "tree crown" had already been taken by Chrollo—thinking about it now, just how terrifying was the Phantom Troupe's leader, who could take other people's abilities?
When Kisho recalled the thickness of Chrollo's book, "Bandit's Secret", a chill ran through him.
Back then, how had he managed to remain completely unmoved when facing that book of Chrollo's?
Perhaps it really was ignorance that bred fearlessness.
Tsk—Solzt's Nen alone had nearly killed him without leaving even a corpse behind, and who knew how many terrifying Nen abilities were stored in that book of Chrollo's.
"So in the end, can I only obediently fulfill the wager?"
The moment he thought of that book, Kisho couldn't summon even the slightest desire to run.
He rubbed the red line on his arm with one finger. At the moment, he was still in the interval between poison flare-ups, so he could move freely—but who knew when the next episode would come?
Kisho let out a bitter smile.
In this way, wanting to complete the wager and survive half a year smoothly once again became an extremely difficult task.
"Do I regret going to assassinate Solzt? If I hadn't gone, then I wouldn't—"
Hmm, no. After all, it was the White Eagle Association who made the first move, and if he hadn't killed him first, he would have ended up dying by Solzt's hand sooner or later anyway.
Besides, entering the bedroom to check whether the person was really dead and whether a finishing blow was needed was also something that had to be done.
"Then there's nothing to regret. What needs to be considered now is how to remove the poison."
The "poison" that entered his body was the same as the "poison" smell he had sensed earlier in the bar mixing room, which meant it was very likely the same substance.
And that bartender's words—"three million jenny can only buy one hundred milliliters"—indicated that this thing definitely had a source. But going back to Solzt's residence to investigate was obviously unrealistic now.
So he could only place his hopes on Amos.
For some reason, Kisho inexplicably felt that "Amos knows everything".
At noon.
Kisho waited at the agreed location, and saw Amos slowly walking toward the small hill where he stood.
When Amos reached the foot of the hill, Kisho jumped down and stood in front of him.
"I'm glad to see you made it back alive. Congratulations—you're safe." Seeing him, Amos raised an eyebrow slightly. But when his gaze shifted downward and noticed the red line on the back of Kisho's hand, his expression darkened. "You—"
Seeing Amos's reaction, Kisho asked, "Judging by your expression, you know what this is?"
Amos didn't answer. Instead, he tensed up and slowly took a step back.
"...I need to confirm something first."
Kisho said, "...Go ahead."
Amos lowered his voice and asked word by word,
"Solzt—is he dead?"
Kisho nodded.
Even after receiving the affirmative answer, Amos showed no sign of relaxing. He frowned and said coldly,
"Stretch out your arm."
Kisho slowly raised his arm. Amos carefully examined the blood-red line on it.
"Why did you come into contact with the 'raw liquid'?"
"So he really does know." Kisho stared at the boy in front of him.
But why did he know? For a child who could only pick through trash in District Nine, Amos knew far too much—so much it was frightening.
Kisho said slowly,
"Can you first tell me what 'raw liquid' is?"
"It's a kind of poison." Amos replied without hesitation. "Do you know why the Elders' Council of the Eastern Region sent the inspection squad to the White Eagle Association? This is why."
"This thing called 'raw liquid' is addictive the moment you touch it. Solzt used it to amass wealth and buy people's loyalty. That's also why the White Eagle Association clearly isn't a major organization, yet its chairman could still live in the front four districts."
Kisho spoke,
"...So just now, were you worried that I'd been turned?"
Amos didn't answer that question, and after asking it, Kisho himself felt that it hadn't really been necessary.
"Through unknown means, Solzt was able to greatly increase the stimulation people felt after consuming this stuff, without strengthening the side effects. That's why so many people would 'stock up' from Solzt."
"Everyone who has long-term exposure to the modified 'raw liquid' will have this kind of mark on their arm." Amos looked at the blood-red line on Kisho's arm. "But the premise is 'long-term'. And what you have..."
Kisho asked,
"Does this mark have any effect?"
"...I'm not too sure." Amos shook his head, then after a moment of silence added, "But I've never seen anyone whose mark extended to the forearm and was still alive."
Kisho:
"..."
He mulled over Amos's words.
"You mentioned 'modification' just now, which means that 'raw liquid' wasn't originally created by Solzt. He also got it from somewhere else, and only sold it after secondary processing."
Amos: "Mm."
"Can you tell me the source of the 'raw liquid'?"
"Then that would be another deal." Amos said softly. "Our previous deal hasn't been completed yet, has it?"
Kisho fell silent.
That was true. After all, the last deal had indeed already reached the stage where it was his turn to fulfill his part of the agreement. Even though he was currently in a situation where he could die at any moment... what did that have to do with Amos?
From the look in Amos's eyes, Kisho could tell that he didn't care whether he lived or died—only whether he could complete the deal.
Because this was Meteor City, and here, even a child understood the principle that "only your own life counts as a life."
----------------
Pls Drop some Power Stones
+100 chapters and support me on Patreon(.)com/Jixo