Two more days passed.
At Colton Manor, in the distant sky, a cyan figure was weaving through the clouds, appearing and disappearing intermittently, occasionally letting out a cheerful low growl.
Xiao Qing had been having a lot of fun these past few days.
It left early and returned late, appearing only when it was time to eat.
Every time it finished its meal after returning, it would quickly vanish again. With a flap of its Wings, it would soar high into the sky until even its shadow was gone.
Leo didn't bother it.
It was still young, an age where it needed to explore and play.
Moreover, the fellow was very smart; it knew when it should return and when it could wander far.
Leo could sense its location at any time, so he wasn't afraid of it getting lost.
In the second-floor meeting room, Hisoka sat quietly in a chair.
He sat with his legs crossed, playing with a playing card in his hand. The card flipped and jumped between his fingers, moving faster and faster, yet it never fell.
His expression was very relaxed, but within those golden pupils, a trace of hard-to-detect anticipation was hidden.
The door was pushed open, and Leo walked in.
Hisoka tilted his head back, watching Leo enter, his eyes narrowing slightly.
His gaze swept from Leo's face to his shoulders, from shoulders to arms, and from arms to fingers—not missing a single detail.
"It's been a while since we met, and you seem to have become even stronger."
There was a complex emotion in his voice, sounding almost like a sigh of admiration.
Leo walked to the head seat and sat down, glancing at him with a flat tone.
"It's that you've become weaker."
Hisoka was momentarily speechless.
He opened his mouth, wanting to retort, only to find that he really had nothing to argue with.
The gap between the two had not only failed to narrow but had instead grown wider and wider.
Leo didn't dwell on the topic and cut straight to the point.
"Long story short, the game we're going to play is called 'Greed Island'. This is a game only a Nen User can play. It contains many interesting things, and the world inside actually exists."
Hisoka's eyes lit up.
He tucked the playing card between his fingers and leaned forward slightly.
"Hmm—sounds quite interesting."
The end of his sentence trailed upward, carrying an irrepressible excitement.
"Then I'd like to ask, will you be entering the game to play as well?"
Leo nodded.
"I will. By the way, there's a Game Master inside whose strength is greater than yours; he'll probably give you an explosive thrill."
Hisoka's breathing hitched slightly.
His pupils contracted and then dilated, like a star exploding in the depths of his eyes.
The corners of his mouth slowly spread wide, forming a nearly crazed arc.
"OK."
His voice was more excited than before.
"So how do I get in?"
Leo pointed to the game console on the table, took out a memory card and a ring, and pushed them toward Hisoka.
"Put on the ring, insert the memory card, and release your Nen toward the console."
Hisoka picked up the ring, twirled it between his fingers, and then put it on his hand.
He picked up the memory card and inserted it into the console's slot.
He turned his head to look at Leo, the smile on his lips deepening.
"Then I'll take the first step. See you in the game!"
He activated his Nen.
In the next instant, he vanished from before Leo.
Leo walked over to the console and looked down at the screen.
The "NOW PLAYING" indicator light on the screen lit up, and below it was a line of small text—"Logged-in Players: 4".
Leo walked out the door and found Dean in the hallway.
"If anything comes up, find Sophia. Also, speed up the collection of biological organisms."
Dean nodded.
"Understood."
After giving his instructions, Leo returned to the second-floor meeting room.
He walked to the console, put on his ring, inserted the memory card, and activated his Nen.
Light enveloped him.
The feeling was strange—like being wrapped and pulled by something, transferring from one space to another.
The weightlessness lasted only a moment, and then his feet touched solid ground.
Greed Island, the starting point.
Leo opened his eyes and looked at the surrounding space, which shimmered with a faint light and was filled with a high-tech feel.
The walls were covered in countless rectangular patterns of varying sizes arranged in an orderly fashion, like some kind of sophisticated circuit board.
The light from above was soft and even; there was no visible light source, yet the entire space was illuminated.
He looked down at his feet.
A massive circular pattern, composed of ring after ring, covered the entire floor.
The lines of the pattern were extremely complex, with layers of concentric circles interwoven together.
Leo crouched down, his fingers lightly brushing the floor. It wasn't an ordinary floor texture, but a giant, dizzyingly complex circular magic array.
Countless fine lines formed the layered circular patterns, which would look like mere exquisite decoration to an ordinary person.
He narrowed his eyes, carefully examining those lines.
"Interesting, these should be Divine Letters, right?"
He wasn't entirely sure, but they were very similar to the patterns on the floor of the coffin room where the princes were buried on the Black Whale from the Kakin Empire.
Divine Letters were rarely shown in the original work; they were a very complex and difficult thing to learn, requiring a great deal of study to master proficiently.
But even if mastered, they weren't as convenient as directly using Nen, so Divine Letters gradually disappeared, with only a few people still learning to use them.
He remembered that Wing also knew a bit about Divine Letters.
In Leo's view, Divine Letters should be like a circuit board—Nen provides the power supply to the Divine Letters, and the combination of the two can form a precisely operating machine capable of unleashing even greater power.
This massive array-like thing beneath his feet was likely composed of countless Divine Letters combined together.
Its function might be teleportation, positioning, or perhaps maintaining the operation of the entire game world.
He stood up and cast his gaze toward the surrounding walls.
The wall surfaces were covered with countless rectangular patterns of varying sizes and orderly arrangements, each piece looking like an independent rune yet also part of the whole.
There must be a Master of Divine Letters in Ging's team, or perhaps Ging himself is one, proficient in various applications of Divine Letters.
Greed Island, an entire island.
To construct such a vast and intelligent NPC world covering an entire island, it would be absolutely impossible to achieve using Nen alone.
Leo withdrew his gaze and walked toward the only door at the end of the space.
The passage was narrow, and the walls on both sides were similarly covered with runic patterns.
There was another door at the end of the passage.
Pushing the door open, he entered a relatively small room.
In the center of the room, a woman wearing a strange, streamlined helmet levitated before a shimmering control console.
Her features were delicate and soft, with a professional smile hanging on her lips.
She seemed about to speak.
"Welcome to the wor— of G·I..."
"Your name is Eta, right?"
Leo directly interrupted her formulaic opening statement.
Eta was instantly startled.
Her mouth remained in the position for speaking, but the sound was stuck in her throat.
Her eyes widened slightly, and the face under the helmet clearly froze.
Leo continued on his own.
"I'm very clear on the rules of the game, so there's no need for these opening remarks."
His gaze swept across the walls and floor of the room, finally landing on Eta's levitation platform.
"I know you are Ging's partner, one of the Twelve Administrators. I am very interested in this 'Greed Island' of yours, and even more interested in you 'creators'."
Leo deliberately emphasized the last word.
Eta's lips moved as if she wanted to say something, but Leo didn't give her the chance.
"The game was released in 1987. Adding development time, you've been here for at least sixteen years? But this is an island in the real world. With only twelve Nen Users, even with 'Vows and Restrictions', to construct such a vast and intelligent NPC world covering an entire island..."
He paused, the corners of his mouth turning up slightly.
"It's an almost impossible achievement. How did you do it? I'm quite curious!"
Eta's face under the helmet completely froze.
The programmed smile solidified on her lips, replaced by deep astonishment and a trace of wariness.
Her fingers tightened slightly on the control console, and her body unconsciously leaned back a bit.
This man... actually knew the number of administrators!
He knew her name!
He even directly questioned the core structural principles of the game world!
This was completely beyond her imagination.
She had received hundreds of players here, and no one had ever asked these questions.
Most people didn't even know what 'Divine Letters' were, let alone see through the underlying architecture of the game world.
"Uh... Sir..."
Eta tried to change the subject, her voice carrying a hint of wariness.
"I suggest you first understand the basic rules of the game; this will be of great help to your progress—"
"I understand."
Leo interrupted her again.
"These questions are beyond your scope to answer. Your duty is merely to explain the game rules."
He walked to Eta's levitation platform, reached out, and touched the edge of the control console.
The material was cold, smooth, and carried a slight vibration.
He then felt the underside of the platform, his fingers tracing over those intricate patterns.
Eta was completely speechless.
She levitated there, watching helplessly as this man touched her control console all over, yet she could do nothing.
The game regulations didn't seem to say players couldn't touch her console.
She could only watch.
After a good while, Leo finally smiled with satisfaction.
"Alright, thank you for your cooperation. I'm leaving."
Eta took a deep breath, trying hard to maintain her professional composure, but her voice still betrayed a hint of helplessness.
"...Hm, you may begin the game. Good luck. Please go down those stairs over there."
Leo waved his hand casually.
"Goodbye!"
Leo turned and stepped down the stairs leading to the game world without hesitation.
"By the way, tell Razor for me that I'll be looking for him soon."
Eta's smile became even more rigid.
He stepped down the stairs leading to the game world.
At the bottom of the stairs, the view suddenly opened up.
A vast, boundless plain with swaying green grass unfolded beneath his feet.
Posted June 18 at 6:55 PM
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