The female bodyguard gradually woke from unconsciousness. The first thing she felt was someone sitting next to her.
The memory of fighting before she passed out flooded back. She jerked upright, supporting her body with both hands, and then froze.
Isn't this arm supposed to be...
Wearing only a white sports tank top, she stared in disbelief at her arm, the one that should have been severed by that strange chainsaw vacuum cleaner wielded by the female Nen user.
Not only was the arm intact, there wasn't even a scar.
If she'd undergone surgery to reattach the arm while unconscious, there would have been stitched wounds at minimum.
What's more, judging from her experience as a bodyguard, it was nearly impossible to surgically repair an arm severed by a powered chainsaw.
So she could only look at the person sitting beside the bed.
This appeared to be a guest room on the second floor. Besides herself, just waking up in bed, there were only two other people in the room. The black-haired girl with glasses sat at the table not far away, reading quietly. The one who'd injured her. Or should have injured her. The other was the powerful young Nen user who could suppress Pa Wa in close combat. He sat beside her bed, seemingly staring at the ground in a daze, his left hand unconsciously stroking an ordinary ring on his right index finger.
What kind of kid wears a ring like that?
The female bodyguard named Abo glanced at Shizuku, who was reading, and couldn't help cursing internally. She was so quiet and gentle while reading. Who would've thought such a gentle-looking young girl could be so ruthless in a fight?
Wait. This girl also had the same style of ring on her hand?
Today's young people, starting so early...
While Abo was thinking random thoughts, Shizuku turned her head and made a quiet gesture toward her.
Abo didn't know why, but her physical condition was surprisingly good at the moment. Forget about injuries that she'd thought would leave her disabled for life if she didn't die outright. She wasn't even tired after the battle. In a good mood, she shut up obediently and lay back down. She guessed either Shizuku wanted to continue reading her book, or the boy was thinking about something and couldn't be disturbed.
The sky was dark outside the window. Liam was communicating with Kurapika through the Moon Mark on the ring.
So to sum up, Liam said via mental transmission, Shizuku and I have tracked down three pairs of Scarlet Eyes on this trip. One pair from the cram school lecturer. One pair from the wealthy man Marko Met. And a certain gangster also has at least one pair of Scarlet Eyes.
The cram school lecturer's pair had already been obtained, sucked into Blinky and secured.
The gangster heir was holding a wedding and sending out invitations. Honestly, when Liam heard what Marko Met said, he'd thought the gangster was holding some kind of retirement ceremony. Turned out he was just making way for a certain retired old man to ascend to the position. Before leaving, he was holding a wedding for his own young master, which served as his final display of power and handover.
Marko Met has agreed to get three more wedding invitations for us, Liam said. The condition is that the pair of Scarlet Eyes in his hands aren't touched until after the wedding. He doesn't have the energy to prepare another suitable gift. I've already agreed on your behalf.
On the other side of the connection, Kurapika's voice came quickly: Thank you. If the wedding is in November... isn't your Floor Master challenge scheduled for October?
After a pause, Kurapika continued: I can go to this wedding by myself.
Liam smiled and interrupted: What's this? Trying to ditch the boss and go solo?
My Nen ability is very comprehensive. It should be enough to handle emergencies, Kurapika argued reasonably.
Or do you think I'll hold you back after finishing the Floor Master challenge?
The boss had already put it like that. What else could Kurapika say? He sighed with a smile and replied: Okay. Thank you.
After turning off the "telepathy" function, Liam twisted the ring and withdrew his attention.
"Did you help get my arm back?" came the female bodyguard's voice from behind.
"What if that's not the case?" Liam crossed his legs. "Do you know anyone with such miraculous medical skills?"
Like hell she believed that.
The female bodyguard cursed internally. Being able to restore a severed arm to such a perfect state wasn't the result of Nen? Who would believe that?
There were only this young man and his little girlfriend in the guest room where she was resting. It was probably when they were treating her with Nen that they'd asked the others to leave to keep it secret.
But why would they want to treat her?
"Someone paid," Liam said nonchalantly. "It's 1.5 billion Jenny. Money on the table, who wouldn't take it?"
To treat her arm, Mr. Marko Met had paid this young man 1.5 billion Jenny?
The female bodyguard was secretly shocked. Of course, she was even more surprised that Mr. Marko Met seemed to have reached some kind of peaceful coexistence with the young man and was no longer hostile. Otherwise, even if the young man collected money to treat her, he wouldn't continue staying here inside Mr. Marko Met's villa.
Which meant the 1.5 billion Jenny was likely not only the treatment fee for her arm, but also the price of the truce.
Although Nen users were valuable, Abo didn't think her severed arm was worth that much money. What's more, as a bodyguard paid to do a job, it was her duty to sacrifice for her employer in unexpected dangerous situations.
1.5 billion Jenny, which was equivalent to tens of millions approaching 100 million dollars in his previous life. Liam was quite satisfied with this.
That was some good shakedown money.
Actually, Liam hadn't opened his mouth to directly extort anyone. After Marko Met asked if Liam could heal the female bodyguard's severed arm, he'd directly offered this much money.
Liam didn't know whether it was because he'd consulted Melody and confirmed she wasn't confident in defeating himself and Shizuku, then made a wise move to protect himself. Or whether Marko Met was used to spending money to buy peace when dealing with gangsters and was being straightforward about it. In any case, Liam felt comfortable and agreed to keep the pair of Scarlet Eyes in Marko Met's hands there temporarily until after the wedding in November, then take them along with the gang boss's Scarlet Eyes.
Maybe at the wedding a few months later, there'd be other guests who'd also received Scarlet Eyes as gifts.
For collectors, there was no such thing as too many Scarlet Eyes. They didn't have to worry about duplicate collections.
After all, it was known that the Kurta Clan was extinct.
There was only a limited number of eyeballs left in the world burning with one of the Seven Beauties. They would only become fewer and never more. If you could collect a whole wall of Scarlet Eyes and display them, you'd stand tall among fellow collectors. You'd definitely be the envy of them all.
Liam muttered to himself. He and Shizuku, who closed her book, quickly left the guest room, letting the female bodyguard continue to rest.
Naturally, her injuries had healed on their own after being given a Star Mark by Liam when she was unconscious.
The severed arm had automatically flown back to reconnect, wrapped in aura.
It was also the first time Liam had the opportunity to carefully observe with his own eyes how the Star Mark healed an injury like a severed arm. The result was very simple, not much different from what he'd expected: if there were materials left over, it would reuse them. If not, it consumed aura to create them from nothing.
After the severed arm docked, the missing muscle, flesh, and nerves grew, spread, continued, and gradually healed in the strong aura. Brand new skin grew visibly to the naked eye. Soon it was no different from other parts of the arm. When the blood vessels in the arm reconnected, the pale arm became rosy, color returning to normal. The color difference between the new skin, the skin of the severed arm, and the skin of the body no longer existed, as if it had never been broken.
After the arm was connected, Liam casually poked the Star Mark on the female bodyguard's skin with his fingernail, scratching the skin and causing the Star Mark to dissipate.
Now that the female bodyguard had woken up, Shizuku picked up the landline phone in the guest room, said a few words, then hung up.
Soon, the door was pushed open. Another female bodyguard walked in, the one who'd originally tried to control "Jack's" aura with her Manipulation ability. When she saw Liam, she didn't react at all. She and the others still didn't know "Jack" was Liam. Melody also came in.
The other two male bodyguards were probably still guarding Marko Met.
Melody pointed to the door. "Ross is waiting for you."
Ross was the nonsense pseudonym of "Jack." Of course Liam knew he was out there. He was the one controlling that body.
Melody looked at Liam. His heartbeat, as well as the heartbeat of "Jack" outside the door, seemed very close to her, clearly audible in her ears.
She hesitated, as if to speak, but in the end didn't ask.
In the world of Nen abilities, some information was private. If you asked about it, you might make enemies.
After all, some Nen abilities were only powerful when the enemy didn't know such abilities existed and was unprepared, giving the ability room to work.
Melody's own Nen ability was like this.
If someone knew your Nen ability in advance, the other person only needed to block their ears with a pair of earplugs, and your ability would have almost no effect on them.
"Don't be so cautious," Liam said, amused by Melody's demeanor. "I'm a good person."
When the two female bodyguards talking next to the bed heard this, metaphorical sweat drops appeared on their heads simultaneously.
Melody remained silent.
Liam turned around. "Shizuku, am I a good person?"
"Of course," Shizuku said calmly.
"See?" Liam said to Melody with a smile. The second half of his sentence was only lip-synced but not spoken: Since I'm a good person and you're also a good person, how about making friends?
Melody looked surprised. She watched Liam's moving lips and clearly heard Ross's voice coming from outside the door, saying exactly the same words, as if Ross was speaking for Liam.
Were they the same person?
Was Ross Liam's... Nen clone?
Liam wasn't so selfless as to reveal everything about his Nen ability to Melody. Sending out this signal of goodwill was enough.
Liam and Shizuku left the guest room. "Jack," waiting at the door, had already left.
He wasn't a "living person" in the first place, so naturally he didn't need to meet face to face for pretend communication.
Liam was already planning to leave and directly controlled "Jack" to get out first. He and Shizuku walked slowly through the villa, heading toward the door.
At the same time, several bodyguards in the villa, whether Nen users or ordinary bodyguards, as well as the butler and butler's assistant, were possessed by Liam's consciousness projection in an instant. They scratched the roughly similar rose-gold pentagram marks in their palms. Once the Star Mark was broken, Liam's consciousness no longer possessed them, and control was naturally released.
For these people, it was just a matter of being in a trance for a moment. Without prior suspicion, they wouldn't think too much about it.
After all, the reward of 1.5 billion Jenny had been paid. Liam no longer left any backdoors at the home of this kind and wealthy gentleman.
Even if Marko Met went back on his word and didn't prepare wedding invitations for them, it didn't matter. Liam had already memorized the time and place of the wedding, and the names and identities of the newlyweds. Worst case scenario, he'd go to more trouble and sneak into the wedding without invitations.
Speaking of which, Kurapika could continue his work and take on a mission as a Professional Hunter to infiltrate the wedding. Someone should be hiring bodyguards by then, right?
Liam and Shizuku walked out the gate and looked at the night sky overhead.
Thinking of Professional Hunters, Liam couldn't help touching his heart.
If he wasn't worried that Hunter missions might cause casualties and trigger him to absorb death energy, Liam would actually like to become a Professional Hunter himself.
Unfortunately, the risk was too high. Better not mess around without solving his heart's hidden dangers.
As for whether to participate in the Hunter Exam at the end of this year or early next year, and how to deal with the high casualty rate of the Hunter Exam, that could only be addressed when the time came. Worst case, he'd control all the candidates with Star Marks, making it difficult for them to die. Then it would be over.
The candidates who took the Hunter Exam were basically ordinary people. When Hisoka participated in the story, he could pass the test with a single playing card. With Liam's current strength, he could also crush them with one finger.
Someone nearby sighed.
Liam turned around and saw the bounty hunter had arrived.
Professional bounty hunter Seaquant leaned against the wall at the side of the gate, looked up at the starry sky overhead, sighed and said, "After seeing you fighting with those bodyguards, I realized the gap between people is really huge. Like the gap between a person and... well, something much weaker. That man among the two bodyguards, I definitely can't beat him in close combat. The woman, I can't see the thousands of weapons she can transform her aura into clearly. I guess I can't even defend against her sneak attack."
"Hey, you're still here?" Liam said in surprise.
"What do you mean I'm still here?" Seaquant said. "Didn't we come together? Don't tell me you completely forgot about me!"
Liam said, "Actually..."
Seaquant was speechless. He took out a cigarette and lit it in annoyance.
Liam asked curiously, "After passing the Hunter Exam, doesn't the Association arrange for a master to teach you about Nen? As long as you practice seriously according to the guidance and build up your strength, you shouldn't find it difficult to handle those two Professional Hunter bodyguards, right?"
He was especially thinking of this tall, serious bounty hunter from the manga. A Professional Hunter. He'd taken a hundred or so guys to Kukuroo Mountain, only to be swept away by a 10-year-old girl, a trainee butler, who'd demolished them all. Seaquant himself had realized how big the world was and become disheartened. Later, he'd stayed to guard the gate for the Zoldycks.
What had he been doing all that time? Weren't the masters at the Hunter Association way more powerful than a 10-year-old trainee butler like Canary?
Liam thought about it and realized it wasn't that unexpected. The Hunter Association was a completely loose organization. Its members were basically free-range. The Hunter License was even considered by the public to be a legal killing license. This showed how lawless the guys who'd obtained Professional Hunter qualifications could be. The Association had little binding power over its members and was probably unwilling to interfere anyway.
And this kind of hands-off approach also meant that only the real elites and geniuses had the opportunity to come into contact with the Hunter Association's elite and true masters.
If your qualifications were mediocre, like the bounty hunter in front of him, Seaquant, you'd be reduced to the situation where you'd obviously obtained a Hunter License, but your vision was still limited, like an ordinary person's.
As soon as Gon and Killua passed the exam, Wing, the acting master of Shingen-ryu, came to teach them about Nen. Later, Bisky rushed over to train them personally, opening their potential and fundamentally transforming their abilities. This kind of opportunity was something a low-level Professional Hunter like Seaquant wouldn't even dare dream about.
"As long as you practice seriously and build up strength according to the instructions..." Seaquant became more and more speechless, even helpless. "How can practice be as easy as you say?"