Even though the bounty hunter spoke with such sadness and sincerity, Liam still couldn't understand his feelings.
Shizuku couldn't understand it either.
In particular, it was after she'd met Liam that she began practicing daily with him, accumulating her aura and exercising her Nen. Before that, when she was alone, the increase and accumulation of her aura had actually happened unconsciously through using various Nen techniques, bit by bit, without specifically consuming it through Ken the way she did now. The total amount of her aura had improved slightly and constantly over time.
After persisting in practicing with Liam, the efficiency of her total aura increase over this half year had far exceeded her previous years combined.
Probably, people like Seaquant belonged to the type of Nen user that Bisky had mentioned: "It takes about a month of hard work to extend Ken for 10 minutes."
Liam finally got it.
And if you weren't that "hard-working," it might take more than a month—two or three months—to extend Ken for 10 minutes, which was 600 aura.
Liam could complete this growth benchmark in less than two days on average before. The efficiency of practice was just different.
Liam patted his broad shoulder and said earnestly, "Let's think of something happy. For example, I've already captured Shadow Killer Jack, and now you can exchange him for the bounty, right? How much is he worth? Money coming in?"
In the night, "Jack," who'd been controlled by Liam to leave in advance, was walking outside the villa wall when a melody suddenly came from the high wall. "Liam."
"Jack" turned around. "You have a problem with me?"
Melody said in the night, "So it really is you."
"Jack" smiled. "Little girl, you want to expose other people's secrets without permission. Aren't you afraid I'll silence you?"
"If you really wanted to kill us, you would have done it already. There's no way I could have stopped you."
"Don't be too modest. That piece of music of yours is really good. I was indeed affected and mesmerized."
"But what about the gray-feathered bird that flew into the room?" Melody said softly. "It's also controlled by you, right? My music may disturb you, but it's difficult to say it can really disturb it. Abo attacked it actively, but it was only weakened a little. Its life wasn't hurt."
"Jack" said thoughtfully, "You talk about me as if I'm a good person. This makes me want to really kill you just to see if I can."
Melody was speechless, then finally whispered, "There's no malice in you."
After a pause, she asked, "Do you really know me? Or where did you learn about my past?"
"Why do you ask?"
"You're not surprised at all that I've guessed your psychology several times. My judgment that you're not surprised is also a guess. Obviously, you're very clear about my abilities," Melody said. "Besides, it seems a person as ugly and weird as me can only receive kindness from you out of sympathy."
Are all Hunters this good at guessing? You'll hit it right eventually.
It was indeed because he knew Melody's backstory that he didn't have any ill will toward her. After all, this woman was quite unlucky. She wasn't a bad person and had good abilities. Except for her appearance, she could be regarded as a half-tragic, powerful character. It wasn't a loss to build a good relationship.
"Jack" commented, "It really is a bit ugly."
Melody didn't know what to say.
"Have you never thought about healing yourself?" "Jack" asked with a smile. "Restore your youthful appearance."
Melody was stunned, shook her head and said sadly, "Stop making fun of me."
Her disfigurement was due to the Dark Sonata, which was said to have been composed by the Devil. It was a curse from the Devil himself. How could this be solved?
"It's just listening to the Devil's curse. At worst, if you're indecisive, classify it as a Specialist Nen ability," "Jack" said. "Since it's the result of Nen, there's a way to restore it with Nen."
Melody held her hair on both sides with her two chubby hands and continued to shake her head. "I don't have any foreign aura worth expelling."
Since there was no aura that could be expelled, how could it be erased or restored?
Melody had encountered a major disaster, and as a Nen user, she'd of course tried to find a way to resolve it. But she'd ultimately been disappointed.
"Maybe," "Jack" said nonchalantly. "If—I mean if—if there's such an opportunity in the future, someone can help you restore your appearance and heal your body, how much are you willing to spend?"
Melody said seriously, "I'm willing to give everything."
"Leave a phone number."
"Jack" was talking here. Liam also took out his phone and recorded the phone number Melody reported in his address book. At the same time, he controlled "Jack" to reply, "Oh, don't get me wrong. This is to collect on a debt. Three wedding invitations. You don't want to default, do you?"
Waving his hand, "Jack" walked away under Melody's gaze in the night.
Liam put away his phone. "Let's go. Let's take a trip to Kukuroo Mountain."
However, before going to Kukuroo Mountain, Liam still dealt with Shadow Killer Jack.
The bounty of more than 72 million Jenny was cleared with a Hunter License. A series of procedures went very smoothly, and there weren't many intermediary deductions. Combined with the 30 million from the other male and female assassins who'd been dealt with before, just these three small fish and shrimp that had walked into Liam's doorstep earned him over 100 million Jenny. Converted into dollars from his previous life, it was almost one-twentieth of hitting it big.
Seaquant, a veteran bounty hunter, came forward to help with these matters. Liam wanted to share part of his commission, but Seaquant waved his hand and refused. After all, he wasn't the one who'd captured these three people.
"But it's not that I don't have requests," Seaquant said, chewing his cigarette seriously. "When you go to Kukuroo Mountain to visit the Zoldyck family, can you take me with you?"
Liam also said seriously, "Although we're indeed going to Kukuroo Mountain, we're really not going to visit the Zoldycks."
"Ah?" Seaquant was stunned.
"I'm really unfamiliar with them," Liam said sincerely. "We'll be kicked out."
Then you said with such certainty you were going to Kukuroo Mountain. Your tone was as natural as if you were going shopping.
Shizuku explained for Liam, "There's a Testing Gate at Kukuroo Mountain. He and I made an appointment to try it together when we had the chance."
Are you two really planning to visit a tourist attraction?
Seaquant was even more speechless.
"Then let's go."
Liam reached out to Shizuku, and they headed to the airport together to embark on the journey to the Republic of Padokea.
What was 1.5 billion plus 100 million?
Sure enough, this kind of business without capital made money fast. Just by chance, he'd gotten so much fresh income from just two simple jobs.
Combined with the rewards for himself and Shizuku for clearing the 200th floor in Heavens Arena, the amount was about a billion.
His and Shizuku's current net worth had exceeded 2.5 billion Jenny without him even realizing it.
Even if it was exchanged for dollars from his previous life, he and Shizuku would be considered small-time multi-millionaires. They deserved to be happy for a while.
The airship took off, left the airport, and moved quickly through the blue sky.
Republic of Padokea, Dentora region.
Kukuroo Mountain.
Most of the deep mountains and forests belonged to the territory of the Zoldyck family.
It was still the territory that looked like a towering city wall. Still that heavy door with smart pressure sensors that looked like a matryoshka doll. And the small door next to it, dedicated to delivering food to the beast behind it, Mike, was still the same.
In the pavilion in front of the small gate, guard Zebro was flipping through old newspapers when he suddenly noticed a few people walking on the mountain road ahead.
"The tour bus stopped a while ago..."
Zebro poked his head out of the window. There were two men, a woman, and a little gray bird flying around, flapping its wings.
"Is that you?" The bald guard suddenly recognized Liam.
"It's me." Liam raised his hand in greeting and complained, "Why is there no tour bus this time? Is your tourist attraction out of service?"
Zebro looked at the other two people. "Because Mike got extra food last month. Every time someone loses their life, tourists always calm down, and I can be much calmer too."
These two are also Nen users.
I'm afraid they're both better than me...
Zebro was secretly dumbfounded. The young man who could open four Testing Gates in one go was still fresh in his mind. How could he not be impressed?
Liam moved his arms with a smile. "Last time I came alone. This time I brought a friend to try. Anyway, your Testing Gate doesn't charge a fee, right?"
Zebro smiled. "Of course. Those who can push open the Testing Gate and enter the mountain are guests of the Zoldyck family."
As everyone knew, the Zoldyck family was a family of professional assassins.
They only charged money from clients.
Seaquant walked to the Testing Gate and looked up at this extremely shocking giant door. On the way here, he'd already heard Liam explain this so-called Testing Gate.
The first left and right doors each weighed 2 tons. The second left and right doors each weighed 4 tons. The third left and right doors each weighed 8 tons. The fourth left and right doors each weighed 16 tons...
He rubbed his hands nervously. "Let me try first."
As he spoke, Seaquant released his aura all over his body, especially tightening his arms. He shouted low and pushed the heavy door with his palms.
The force exerted on the door would open different sequences of doors through intelligent sensing.
The huge door roared. The third door swayed and was finally pushed open with difficulty.
Veins covered his thin forehead, and his face flushed red. He pushed open the three Testing Gates and rolled behind the door, panting tiredly.
Turning his head, he saw a huge black shadow standing up in the shadow of the grass not far away. The cold eyes of a wolf-like hill stared at him from a distance.
Cold sweat broke out all over Seaquant's body.
The Testing Gate slowly opened again. Shizuku pushed open the fourth Testing Gate step by step.
Seaquant was stunned. What kind of strength does this girl have?
He'd tried his best to push open the third Testing Gate. The two doors on the left and right only weighed 16 tons total, but the fourth door the girl pushed open weighed 32 tons total!
And she looked far more relaxed than him!
To push open the third gate, he'd had to give it everything he had...
The Testing Gate that closed behind Shizuku was quickly pushed open again, and the area that opened became even larger.
The fifth Testing Gate was opened by Liam's hands.
This door was taller and larger, so Liam pushed it in step by step. It only opened a small angle, which was enough for him to step into the grass behind the door and into the Zoldyck family's territory.
The fifth Testing Gate totaled 64 tons!
Liam clapped his hands. The Testing Gate behind him slowly closed again amid Zebro's disbelieving expression outside the door.
Shizuku said, "Sure enough, you're stronger than me now."
"You're kidding. I was stronger before too, okay?" Liam snorted and glared at the Zoldyck guard dog named Mike over there. What are you looking at?
Shizuku didn't refute.
The Testing Gate behind them slowly opened again.
This time, Zebro, whose muscles were tense and veins pulsing, only pushed open the first gate.
"Ashamed, ashamed..." Zebro said repeatedly after coming in.
Seaquant calmed down and turned back to look at the mountains further away. "That's where the Zoldyck family lives, right?"
"Yes," Zebro said.
"The Zoldycks. The assassin family Zoldycks?"
"Yes, that's the Zoldycks."
Seaquant took a deep breath and said solemnly, "I'm a bounty hunter."
"Oh..." Zebro nodded. "Then what?"
"So a lot of bounty money lives there!" Liam said with a smile. "As a bounty hunter, how can he be willing to turn away after seeing such prey?"
Zebro didn't know what to say. He could only wish this young bounty hunter good luck and hope he'd have a peaceful death whenever he encountered anyone from the Zoldyck family.
But the greater possibility was that this bounty hunter would never meet any Zoldyck masters.
After all, Kukuroo Mountain was huge.
There were only a few members of the Zoldyck family. How could he meet them casually? Before he stepped deep into the mountains, he'd meet the butlers and be intercepted.
Seaquant couldn't help confirming, "You just said that anyone who enters through the Testing Gate will be regarded as a guest of the Zoldyck family, right?"
"There is such a thing," Zebro reminded. "But I don't know if the butlers will think you're a threat that needs to be eradicated. I'm just a gatekeeper who looks after the door. I don't see those butlers very often and don't know how they handle things."
Seaquant was a little nervous and a little scared, but he didn't flinch.
Before leaving, he asked Liam, "What about you? You're also guests. It's a rare visit. Why don't you go in and sit down?"
You can't even see the owner's face. At most, you'll see a butler with a dead expression. What's there to sit for?
Moreover, he'd read the manga and had some understanding of what it was like to visit the Zoldyck family, so he wasn't that curious.
Liam said, "You go ahead. We're here to cheer you on."
Shizuku was actually very curious about what was going on in Kukuroo Mountain, but since Liam didn't say anything, she didn't either.
The wind rustles, the water grows cold. Once Seaquant goes in, who knows when he'll return.
Looking at the guy's back, the bald guard Zebro's face filled with emotion.
Liam was also very emotional. He'd brought Shizuku on this trip for several reasons. One was traveling. Another was letting Shizuku try the Testing Gate as promised. And the third was that Liam had been thinking about a question on the way here. A question about Alluka Zoldyck, the "Wishing Girl."
Suddenly, he raised his head and saw two people flying high in the sky like two black dots.
Looking closer, there was actually a white dragon-shaped aura at the feet of the two people. It flew them from outside the mountain, past the towering city wall of the Zoldyck estate, and through the sky into the depths of Kukuroo Mountain.
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