In the camp near the forest entrance and exit, Kevin was wearing a dark green camouflage T-shirt and sitting leisurely drinking tea.
White Tree, beside him, looked at him with admiration and couldn't help exclaiming, "Big Brother! You're absolutely amazing! How did you do that punch?!" At this moment, White Tree had already started calling Kevin "Big Brother." As for Begetto? Who's that small fry? White Tree didn't know him at all in his heart.
Kevin just raised his fist and swung it. "Just like this—swing it hard."
Meanwhile, Begetto stood beside the Assault Armor carcass, silently smoking a cigarette and carefully observing its condition. The Assault Armor before them looked the same as usual, lying on the ground, but completely still. Anyone who didn't know better would think it was resting. But after the recent attack, it was clearly dead.
There were no obvious severe injuries on its body, only a regular hexagonal indentation where the shell connected to the front top corner. It looked as if it had been forcefully pressed down by a stamp. Other than that, there was nothing else unusual at first glance. Below this monster, there was also an indented pit, and the Assault Armor's body was perfectly embedded in it. At this time, soldiers were digging a slope along the outer edge so the crane could lift it out—after all, the Assault Armor was stuck inside.
As an experienced Hunter, Begetto naturally understood what this strike meant. It indicated that Kevin's Nen was condensed—belonging to the condensed impact type. To achieve this, one must possess extremely strong Nen control to deliver such an attack in the "Ko" state. Otherwise, the result would have been an explosive crater, and the Assault Armor shell that was hit should have shattered. Training "Ko" wasn't difficult; the real challenge lay in how much Nen could be gathered and controlled. From this point alone, Kevin's Nen control was far stronger than his—something Begetto hadn't anticipated.
"Alright, it's loose! We can start lifting!" The soldier beside him shouted.
Hearing this, Begetto threw the cigarette in his mouth onto the ground and stepped on it to extinguish it. The crane began operating, slowly lifting the Assault Armor.
Accompanied by a gurgling sound like flowing water, a large amount of blood flowed out from under the lifted Assault Armor, mixed with various crushed internal organs and pieces of flesh. Such a scene already indicated that the horrific state inside was self-evident. Its legs had become part of this pile of blood and rotten flesh, scattered all over the ground. The smell of blood and foul odor quickly spread. Surrounding soldiers quickly covered their noses and stepped back several steps—it was too pungent. They were not unfamiliar with this smell; it was the odor that appeared after the Assault Armor's interior was severely dismembered.
As the shell was lifted, some curious soldiers peeked inside, wanting to see what the situation had become. Immediately, they all showed expressions of disgust. They saw that it was already empty inside, with only some limb skin still attached to the shell hanging there. The other parts had all turned into minced meat and bloody foam, accumulating in a puddle in the pit.
"Hiss~" Begetto couldn't help sucking in a breath of cold air. Kevin had actually directly struck Nen into the opponent's body; otherwise, such a horrific situation wouldn't have occurred. This was truly too violent—a pure aesthetic of violence.
Now, all the soldiers involuntarily felt a sense of awe toward Kevin. These soldiers who had worked here for half a year clearly understood how troublesome these large beetles were. Before, when they were not skilled, several armored vehicles were directly flipped over by them. As a result, Kevin solved it with one punch.
Begetto left that spot and came to Kevin's side. He couldn't help asking, "You guy, you're not really an Enhancement type, are you?"
Kevin just smiled slightly without much response. He could only say it was and it wasn't. That punch just now, he had thrown with great satisfaction.
Seeing the other party didn't answer, Begetto changed the question. "How did you strike Nen into the Assault Armor's body?" This technique greatly interested him.
Hearing this, Kevin smiled and explained, "This move is only effective against creatures that don't understand Nen. Though its body is tough, it's essentially an insect with little intelligence—let alone expecting it to control its own life Nen." Simply put, though the Assault Armor had a thick shell, it wasn't an obstacle for Nen. Especially for someone like Kevin with extremely strong Nen control, a powerful punch coupled with deliberately applied "malice" could naturally strike Nen into the opponent's body.
The reason this type of insect had such a hard shell was precisely because its internal limbs were very fragile. The Nen struck into the body could mess up the opponent's body without much effort. However, this move's effectiveness would be greatly reduced against those who could control Nen ability. Because unless the opponent completely gave up resistance, even Nen carrying "malice" would be difficult to easily inject into their body. The Nen used by the opponent for defense during combat could easily block it—using [Ko] or [Flow] could effectively prevent Nen from entering the body. This Nen would become a solid shell, blocking external damage while also blocking outside Nen from entering.
Therefore, this was essentially a manifestation of Nen control ability, not a truly penetrating attack. Kevin actually wished to possess a penetrating ability, but he hadn't found matching materials yet. If combined with a punch that had penetrating ability, his power would increase once again. That scene was wonderful to think about.
"That's still very impressive." An expert like Begetto naturally understood the trick behind it. Under normal circumstances, even facing creatures that couldn't control Nen, striking Nen into their bodies wasn't easy. Ordinary Nen users often focused more on utilizing their Nen ability itself. If such operation existed, it was more due to their Nen ability's mechanism rather than Nen technique. Thinking now, it seemed only Enhancement types focused more on fundamental Nen application. Influenced by Jin, Begetto had a deeper understanding of this aspect.
"By the way, this should be the material you need, right? The Assault Armor is empty inside—only this organ remained intact." Begetto said, taking out a small round ball from the previous spot and handing it to Kevin. Some flesh tissue and fascia were still attached, and it emitted a faint peculiar smell. "A normal Assault Armor doesn't have this structure," Begetto, a Conservation Hunter quite knowledgeable about various creatures and insects, added.
Kevin nodded, took the small ball, and instantly felt a sense of craving. This was probably a top-tier C-grade material. It was indeed not for show that it could grow so large. Now Kevin was even more motivated to hunt these big guys.
Begetto continued explaining from the side. "According to the mutated Assault Armors I've dissected, this part should be the source of their modification. They were able to grow to such enormous size precisely because of this foreign organ. The hormones it releases can make the Assault Armor grow rapidly to a size far exceeding normal. However, it's unclear what kind of creature this organ comes from."
Kevin held the spherical organ, not minding the dirt, carefully examining it, turning it over and over. He fell into thought. Could this be the "treasure orb" that Begetto mentioned? Sometimes prophecies had multiple meanings like this.
A certain city. At night, the top floor of the city's landmark building. A huge room occupying two or three floors was the residence of a mafia boss. The entire room was lavishly decorated, with various collectibles hard to find elsewhere placed casually, and expensive tapestries from various places laid on the floor. A dedicated wine cellar, a must-have for such rooms, was densely packed with top-tier wines of various kinds. Beside the living room, various sculptures were neatly arranged—cats, dogs, eagles, chickens, snakes, cows, etc.—all made of pure gold, with various gems inlaid. All of this clearly highlighted the wealth and status of the room's owner.
In the reception room, a middle-aged man, about fifty years old, lazily sat on a soft single sofa, attended by two beautiful maids. Several bodyguards who looked exceptionally skilled stood vigilantly beside him. Two mafia members in black suits stood respectfully before him, heads bowed, reporting some information.
This person was Clava Tedolka, the head of the Tedolka Family, and also one of the Ten Old Men—one of the top power holders in the underground world. He sat back comfortably, listening to the reports. After they finished speaking, he slowly took a puff of his cigar, then casually placed it on the small stand held by the maid beside him.
"Are you saying that Red Stone Pharmaceuticals is an industry belonging to one of your subordinates?"
The head of the Liz Family was so nervous he broke out in a cold sweat, quickly nodding. "Yes, the person in charge of this company is Light."
"This new company does have some potential. I've used their medicine before, and the effect is decent, but the price is quite cheap." In Krava's view, while Red Stone Pharmaceuticals had potential, that was all it was.
"That's just their first medicine. It's said that several more medicines are being submitted for approval, and each one is very good."
The young man standing next to the head of the Liz Family quickly added.
Krava nodded, picked up the cigar again and took another puff, thinking unhurriedly. "For this kind of thing, you can just invest some money and take a portion of the shares. Or, have you encountered a problem that requires my intervention to solve?"
The head of the Liz Family quickly informed him of Light's various actions over the past few months.
"Hehehe, so they want to go legitimate—it's not that easy." Krava couldn't help but let out a light chuckle. He was like someone who had found a new toy. He had seen many people like this: they rely on the mafia in their youth, grow strong through mafia methods, and then disdain their mafia identity and try to break free. Putting aside whether they agreed or not, the true power holders wouldn't be happy to see this situation either. Rats in the gutter should have the self-awareness of rats and not always think about standing under the sun.
But since the other party dared to do this and founded such a company, they must have some confidence. Presumably, they had established some connections. After all, there were quite a few people who wanted to go legitimate, and there were also some successful examples. If it were just a pharmaceutical company with potential, it would not be enough to make him bother. But in Light's hands, there might be some 'magic weapons' that could build extensive connections. Now that was interesting.
Thinking this, he said with a calm tone, "I don't like someone hiding things from me. You understand what I mean, right?"
The two nodded quickly, then revealed the true controller of the company—a professional Hunter.
"Just a professional Hunter?" The Hunter Association was indeed powerful and not something they could easily provoke. But the Hunter Association was one thing; an ordinary Hunter was another—the two should not be confused. Furthermore, if it was just an ordinary professional Hunter, they wouldn't even be worth their notice. They were one of the ten families that controlled the world's mafia.
Krava suddenly thought of something and asked with a chuckle, "Saro, this Hunter wouldn't happen to be the one who made you run back in embarrassment before, would he?"
Hearing his father ask this, Saro lowered his head even more, nodding slightly. After he ran back, his father hadn't asked him anything nor paid him any attention. But now his father knew everything.
"Then I'll give you a chance this time. Don't disappoint me."
Hearing this, Saro's face broke into a smile—this meant he could mobilize the family's Shadow Beasts members. The Shadow Beasts were the Ten Old Men's direct Nen ability team. Each mafia force controlled by a family must select a powerful fighter and train them to be a Nen user. To a certain extent, it was also one of the sources of the Ten Old Men's power. That is to say, there were a total of ten Shadow Beasts.
In Saro's eyes, these ten Shadow Beasts were so powerful they were almost invincible, and they had never failed to complete a mission so far. They were the epitome of strength. Destroying a certain gang or force was easy for them. Though this was an internal family matter and they couldn't mobilize all Shadow Beasts members, at least the one trained by their family was definitely available. Plus, with their relationships with other families, they should be able to mobilize one more—likely the other party wouldn't refuse. And there was only one enemy.
Two powerful Nen users dealing with one person was a clear advantage, much stronger than the few idiots they had hired at great expense before. Kevin's face appeared in Saro's mind, and he couldn't help gritting his teeth. He would definitely torture that guy brutally—of course, before that, he would first get his hands on that company. The humiliation of running back in embarrassment must be repaid doubly.
Nostra Estate. Pairo looked at the message Kevin sent him on his phone. The message said he would be staying outside for a while recently, and the shop matters would be temporarily left to them to manage.
In the small conference room, Pairo informed the others of this news. Hearing this, the three Kurta had no particular expression, but a hint of nervousness was unavoidable on Light's face. He had personally experienced Kevin's powerful strength, so he had unwavering faith in Kevin's power. Though Kevin said to leave things to Pairo and the others to handle, as long as Kevin was there—even if he didn't take action—it was a reassurance for Light. Now that Kevin had left and wouldn't be back for a short time, how could he not be nervous?
The three Kurta naturally noticed Light's nervousness, but at the moment, they indeed had no better way. Only by showing their own strength could they alleviate Light's concerns.
"Now let's discuss the matters for next month. The Tedolka Family should have received the news by now, and they might be preparing." Pairo said.
At the beginning of the month when they saw the prophecy letter, they couldn't determine which family was secretly observing them. After a period of observation, as the end of the month approached, through various clues and deliberate investigation, they had confirmed it was the Tedolka Family.
"First of all, we must prepare for the worst-case scenario, which is that there might be an attack on us by the Shadow Beasts." Kurapika said directly. The Shadow Beasts were the mafia's trump card unit.
Hearing this, Light added slightly, "Mobilizing the Shadow Beasts requires a unanimous decision by the Ten Old Men. A single family like Tedolka probably cannot command all members—maybe not even half." He wasn't sure exactly how many Shadow Beasts members could be mobilized. After all, given his status within the mafia, knowing this much was already sufficient. More was just the legend of the Shadow Beasts.
"Then let's make three to four Shadow Beasts members our hypothetical enemy and formulate a response plan." Pairo suggested. This was a relatively reasonable hypothetical standard.
At this time, Rosana reminded, "Though we're treating them as hypothetical enemies, they might not yet see us as enemies. Their goal is just to seize this industry, so instead of direct violent seizure, they might use underhanded methods more often." Saying this, she looked at Neon.
Light's doting father attribute was well-known; it could be found with a little information gathering. According to the mafia's usual methods, kidnapping Neon to threaten them was the most convenient method.
Kurapika also nodded in agreement. "Uncle Light himself is also a member of the mafia. They might not go too far with you; more likely they will discuss first, and only resort to threats if they can't reach an agreement."
Pairo, however, shook his head. "You've forgotten about Uncle Kevin. He has a conflict with a descendant of the other family. Perhaps the enemy never intended to resolve the problem peacefully from the start. In their eyes, Uncle Light, who is cooperating with Uncle Kevin, may already be seen as a traitor. How to deal with a traitor—"
These words made cold sweat break out on Light's forehead. He almost forgot about this matter.
"So we cannot rely on luck. We must be fully prepared. They certainly didn't expect that we have already sensed their intentions. According to the prophecy, the other party might only just have this idea now, and perhaps haven't started specific actions yet. It's already the end of the month."
Hearing this, everyone understood the meaning. The beginning of the month was coming soon, and the next prophecy could be made. Moreover, Neon had also given Kurapika a prophecy before—though for less than a week, the content was very ordinary, meaning nothing had happened recently. So the focus was on the next month.
"Then, who should we prophesize this time?" Pairo asked. Or should we prophesize for everyone?
"I'll prophesize for each of you, hoping everyone can be safe and sound." Neon also sensed the danger everyone might face and proactively said.