Chapter 268: Hisoka Appears in Meteor City x Father-Son Confrontation, A Great Battle Looms
The panel was put away.
[Prompt: One minute remaining until the end of the game, countdown...]
[59... 58... 57...]
Receiving the notification and knowing his remaining time was insufficient, Roy waved his hand, gesturing for Ribéry Garcia to take the several young boys and girls, who were still in a deep sleep, and leave.
These poor youths, treated as "playthings" by Edmond, definitely couldn't return to Bandle City. Fortunately... during Ribéry Garcia's years on the run, he had made some friends and had ways to settle them. Roy let him make the arrangements. Looking up, he gazed deeply in the direction of Bandle City. Then, his consciousness detached as the game counted down to "zero."
The boy gradually faded, vanishing out of thin air from the Uzuki Forest. When he opened his eyes again, he had detached from [Game of the Dead] and the Dark Continent. Guided gently by a tentacle extending from the [Demon Eye], he exited the airtight chamber and returned to the familiar Hunter world.
Regrettably, Roy could no longer detect a single human figure in the massive pupil of the Demon Eye, nor could he hear any sound. It was as if... the sleep-talk he heard and the figure suspected to be Grandpa Zzigg he saw upon entering were nothing but illusions. Yet... Roy knew clearly that it was all real!
Bang~ The airtight door closed heavily.
The yellow chrysanthemums blooming beside the door emitted a fragrant scent that rushed to his nose.
Roy stood silently facing the closed door for a moment. He crouched down, plucked a petal, put it in his mouth, and chewed it, savoring the astringency mixed with bitterness as it slid down his throat.
The boy gradually regained a sense of reality of returning to the "real world." He straightened up, took a deep breath, turned, stepped out of the tunnel, and left the basement.
"Four hours, fifty-three minutes, and twenty-seven seconds. Master, the Young Master has broken his own record again."
At the entrance of the tunnel, the iron gate slowly opened, respectfully seeing Roy out of the basement before he turned and disappeared from sight. Scarface and One-Eye, as usual, reported Roy's completed [Game Duration] to Silva exactly as it was.
Beep
The phone hung up.
With his beautiful silver hair cascading down to his waist, Silva had coaxed Killua to sleep after dinner—a rare occurrence—and fed Kikyo. He came alone to the training room to warm up. Upon hearing the report, he faintly said, "I know."
With a wave of his hand, a sudden straight punch hit the sandbag, emitting a soft puff sizzle~ sound...
The man's fist pierced straight through the sandbag, causing the sand, now free from its restraint, to spill all over the floor with a whoosh.
"You're looking for me?" Silva said with his back to the training room door, not turning his head.
Creak~ The ajar door was pushed open from the outside, revealing the boy's true appearance. He also had beautiful silver hair draped behind his head, shining even brighter than Silva's under the moonlight at this moment. He leaned against the doorframe, quietly looking at Silva without speaking a word.
Silence filled the training room at this moment. Occasionally, a lost bird would let out a chirp~, seeming to search for the direction of its flock or calling for its mother, flapping its wings and dropping a feather...
Silva raised an eyebrow, retracted his fist, and turned around. Looking calmly at the boy, he said, "Or should I say, you're ready?"
As the man spoke, he stepped forward with his right foot. The Nen aura surging on his body was ready to burst forth.
Even without using [En], Roy could intuitively feel that it was... the brief calm before the storm!
The boy cast his gaze, meeting Silva's midway. He didn't answer, but abruptly mentioned a name: "Edmond Sander, do you know him?"
Silva was startled: "Of course."
It really was you... Roy's eyes suddenly narrowed: "Father, have you committed evil deeds in the game?"
"Didn't you read the walkthrough I gave you?"
"I read it, it's incomplete."
Silva gave a noncommittal nod. With another glance, looking deeply at Roy, he smiled: "And so?"
"Are you interrogating me?"
"Boom!" [Ren] erupted!
A tyrannical, overbearing, unrivaled Nen aura crashed toward Roy like a stormy sea. In an instant, the boy felt as if he were tossed about in an ocean of power. It seemed like a single wave could capsize his small boat!
"Hmm?"
"Silva..." His white hair swaying, Zeno, strolling with his hands behind his back in the garden adjacent to the ancient castle, suddenly paused and looked sharply towards the training room. The words "One Kill a Day, Active for Life" printed on his chest fluttered and snapped in the wind.
Separated from him by a wall, in the westernmost bedroom on the first floor of the ancient castle, a certain foolish little brother was grooming himself in front of the mirror. Reflected in the mirror was also a head of beautiful silver hair—a fresh item he had just bought from a wig shop down the mountain. Just as he was carefully arranging it, his hand suddenly trembled, messing up the strands of hair without caring... The boy flashed out of the bedroom and disappeared, leaving only the door to be blown by the wind, hitting the adjacent wall with a bang clatter.
"Stubborn son, aggrieved father, a pair of sworn enemies, a bitter father and son... Hehe, Betty, there's a show to watch..." The wind rustled the curtains... In a certain dim little room, a leisurely, old, teasing wicked laugh drifted out. It was unknown whether he was attracted by a TV show called "My Aggrieved Father" currently playing, or if his mind was drawn by something else... Accompanied by a hazy mist appearing, a certain shriveled old man was unexpectedly slapped, shaking the rocking chair slightly more honestly on its own...
In the training room,
It had already turned into an ocean of "Nen Aura"!
As time intensified, the windows trembled, and with a crackle~, they began to show "cobweb-like" cracking scars...
Silva looked quietly at Roy,
Roy looked quietly at Silva.
Father and son faced each other in silence across a door, with thunder faintly exploding between them!
"I just want an answer," Roy's feet seemed to have taken root, nailed to the floor. Letting the [Ren] blow his beautiful silver hair back to fly in the air, his face tightening, he said without changing his expression: "Father, just answer, yes... or no."
"Hehehe..." The corners of Silva's mouth pulled diagonally upwards, suppressing a laugh in his throat.
He crossed his thick arms, muscular like rolling earth dragons, over his chest. Slightly lifting his chin, he looked down at Roy from high above and said: "Want to know the answer?"
"Defeat me first!"
"Boom!" As the word "say" fell, [Ren] was like a hurricane, the wind force suddenly intensifying!
Visibly to the naked eye, the floor began to crack starting from Silva, spreading towards Roy's feet with lightning speed, threatening to swallow him and drag him to hell!
"Fine." Roy took a deep look at Silva, treating the cracks as if they were nothing. At the exact moment they were about to spread under his feet... The boy's body emitted glowing spots. In an instant, he [Photified], merged into the moonlight, floated towards his bedroom with the moonbeams, and left the training room in the blink of an eye.
Swoosh~ [Ren] retracted.
Silva noticed this scene and slightly narrowed his eyes. In that instant just now, he actually had a hazy illusion of not being able to grasp a physical entity. With another glance, looking deeply at Roy flying far away with the moonlight... he let his arms hang naturally, put them in his pockets, and pondered quietly amidst the mess, remaining silent.
"This kid, he's really becoming harder and harder to see through." At this time, a hunched figure emerged from the shadows. Zeno had exited the garden, re-entered the ancient castle, arrived on his back foot, and accompanied Silva to watch the direction Roy left, saying: "Why didn't you tell him?"
With his white hair swaying in the wind, Zeno glanced at Silva: "What are you worried about again?"
Silva... fell silent. After a long while, he cast a gloomy look out the window at Kukuroo Mountain, where the evening dew was gradually deepening. Blowing the cool mountain breeze coming through the window, he said: "I don't know either. Perhaps... it's fear..."
"Fear?!" Zeno's eyes bulged, looking at Silva in astonishment as if he had seen a ghost: "You committed evil deeds in the game?"
"No."
"Then what are you afraid of?"
"Not afraid of that," Silva narrowed his eyes and said: "I'm afraid those people we are familiar with... are committing evil deeds!"
"It's just a game, what does it matter?"
"Father, when you say that, do you believe it yourself?"
Zeno: "..."
Speechless.
Silva ignored him. His profound gaze looked through the night towards the basement, saying deeply: "I don't know what happened to Grandpa back then, but I know, a game couldn't possibly be made that realistic."
"So what?" Zeno stroked his silver-white beard, casting a sidelong glance: "How do you explain returning from the dead?"
"After the resurrection coins Grandpa gave were used up, Father was immediately kicked out of the game, that is the explanation." Silva said calmly: "Besides, one can be resurrected in reality too."
Zeno, fell silent.
After a moment, leaving Zeno behind and walking towards the door: "You can't hide from it. Sooner or later... you have to answer."
"Then it depends on his ability!" As Silva's gaze flickered, he grinned silently: "In any case, I won't lose!"
"Is that so?" Zeno chuckled lowly, stepping with "Shadow Steps" to swagger away, instantly merging into the shadows.
Dong~ At 9:00 PM, the grandfather clock struck the hour.
Having left the training room, Roy stepped out from the moonlight and landed lightly in the mottled corridor of the ancient castle, dense with the aura of time. Looking up, he saw Illumi leaning against the wall, his entire face buried in the shadows.
"I thought you two would start fighting." The boy crossed his arms, staring straight at Roy with those hollow eyes: "If you got hurt, I could take care of you,"
"While Gotoh is still sleeping."
"No need." Roy put his hands in his pockets and casually opened Gotoh's panel for a look...
[Believer: Gotoh (Note: Overflowing Loyalty)]
[Current Status: Evolving ing...]
[Physique +1+1+1+1...]
[Current: 435 compared to before evolution has increased by a hundred points -> 924 (Note: Continuing to increase)]
[Manifested Aura Volume: C(37,415/100,000) -> C+ (14,210/100,000) (Note: Continuing to increase)]
[Potential Aura Volume: C+ (14,578/100,000) -> C+ (87,412/100,000) (Note: Continuing to increase)]
[Nen Category: Emitter]
[Initial Nen Ability: Coin Guessing]
[First Embrace Nen Ability: Currently awakening...]
[Awakening Progress: 27%]
[Evaluation: C+]
[Note: Referencing Chimera Ants, your believer "Gotoh" already possesses the level of a top-tier Chimera Ant Squadron Leader, and is advancing towards the B- rank]
A red light flashed at the bottom of Roy's eyes. Without leaving a trace, he deployed the [True Eye] and took a simple look at Illumi...
[Illumi (Note: Overflowing Loyalty)]
[Physique: 873]
[Manifested Aura Volume: C(45,781/100,000) (Note: Continuing to increase)]
[Potential Aura Volume: B (980,000/1,000,000)]
Just discussing "stats,"
He had already been surpassed by Gotoh...
Roy reached out and grabbed his foolish little brother in the palm of his hand, rubbing his head fiercely. Then he let him go and said: "You need to work hard..."
He brushed past the boy's shoulder and walked towards his own bedroom.
Tap... tap... Footsteps echoed in this silent, slightly restless night...
Illumi reached out and touched his forehead, trying to retain the lingering warmth left on his head. Only after a long while did he realize something and shouted at Roy's back: "What do you mean?"
"Are you blaming me for not being able to help you defeat Father?"
Roy paused his steps, sneered, put his fingers together and waved behind him. Lifting his legs, he rounded the corner and disappeared into the darkness. "What nonsense are you talking about. Wait until you can beat Gotoh, then we'll talk..."
Illumi: "..."
Stunned, as if he heard some enormous joke. He stayed frozen in place, like he had suffered Medusa's gaze, instantly petrified.
Tap... tap... The footsteps faded away, growing fainter and fainter... Roy strolled slowly, pretending not to see his stinky brother's awkward state. Arriving in front of his bedroom, he saw two pink pigtails draped behind her head, swaying in the wind... It was Tsubone.
Roy nodded slightly at her. Taking off the slightly tight training clothes, wearing only a pair of shorts, he sat down at the dining table.
"Young Master, I have already ordered new clothes to be made, they will be delivered first thing tomorrow morning." The old butler pushed the dining cart in with a rumble. Uncovering the food, she laid out the dinner on the table and served Roy his meal while speaking. Expertly taking over Gotoh's position, she served people meticulously, her skills unreduced by age.
"Got it." Roy cut a piece of steak and popped it into his mouth, chewing with a crunch~ crunch~: "Speak, any news these past few days?"
"There really is." Tsubone's burly figure was on par with Silva's. She immediately pushed up the glasses on her nose, took a small notebook from her pocket, and reported: "I looked at the intelligence Gotoh organized, plus some situations Hall sent over these past few days, and made a brief summary. There are two items related to you, Young Master, that you might need to review."
"Speak."
Tsubone opened the notebook and said respectfully: "First is that guy named Hisoka Morow. According to the spy Hall planted in Meteor City, someone has already witnessed him appearing in Meteor City. His direction..."
The old butler carefully glanced at Roy and said: "Seems... he's heading straight for the block where the Young Master is located."
"Has he arrived already?" Roy calmly drank a mouthful of milk and swallowed the steak. The first thing he did was share the news with [Taiyi] through the "Soul Corridor".
Meteor City, Pale Church.
The young priest held a scripture in his hand, his back facing Kastro, who was earnestly practicing punches and deepening his "Flame Breathing" in the courtyard behind him. At a certain moment, he said lazily: "Kastro, step back to my side."
The white-haired boy, who could casually bring up a streak of flame with a smack of his Tiger Bite Fist, froze slightly.
Before he could make a move,
He abruptly looked towards the street...
A head of short, combed-back crimson hair slowly strolled into his view...
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