"The Butcher," Monica said.
Her face turned slightly pale, as if merely speaking the name brought back fear.
It was the second time Ivan had heard that title.
"You've seen him?" Ivan asked.
Monica nodded.
Then she suddenly pulled open her jacket, exposing her abdomen directly to Ivan.
From her navel to the side of her stomach stretched a horrifying wound.
It looked as though the flesh had once been torn completely away and then crudely grown back.
The regenerated flesh was a sickly pale color.
And it gave off a rotting stench.
Even through the scent she had tried to mask, the smell resembled the odor lingering inside the truck.
Ivan had actually noticed it the moment Monica got into the vehicle.
But he hadn't exposed it.
At the time, he wanted to observe first.
He had even briefly suspected Monica might be under the control of a Manipulator ability.
But after watching her for so long, he hadn't seen the slightest abnormal behavior.
"The Butcher did that?" Ivan asked, studying the grotesque wound.
"Yes," Monica replied grimly.
"On the first day I received the assignment, I drove straight to Kojima Foods to investigate."
"The factory itself looked normal."
"That was until I approached the slaughterhouse located in a remote corner of the facility."
"That place…"
She paused.
"…might as well be called hell."
"Corpses everywhere. Rotting flesh. Pus."
"The people who were still alive were locked in cages."
"And most of them had already lost their minds."
As she spoke, Monica's body began trembling uncontrollably.
Ivan, however, noticed something strange.
The flesh around her wound moved slightly.
As if something was crawling beneath her skin.
Monica clenched her teeth and looked down at the wound.
Then suddenly—
before Ivan could react—
she thrust two slender fingers directly into the wound like blades.
A painful groan escaped her throat.
Moments later, she pulled out a hideous flesh worm from inside the wound.
Without hesitation, she flicked her wrist and threw the creature out the window.
At that exact moment, a large truck passed in the opposite lane.
Through the rearview mirror, Ivan saw the worm land on the road and get crushed under the truck's tires, bursting apart.
Monica forced a bitter smile toward Ivan.
Ivan, meanwhile, noticed something else.
The torn flesh around her wound was rapidly closing again.
"That's the third one," Monica said quietly.
"About every twelve hours, another one grows inside my body."
"I don't know how much longer I can last."
She pulled her jacket down again.
Blood quickly soaked into the black inner shirt she wore.
"This is the Butcher's ability?" Ivan asked seriously.
"Yes."
Monica took another drag of her cigarette, as if it helped dull the pain.
"He's a massive man. Built like a tower."
"He wears a metal mask."
"And his entire body reeks of decay."
"His skin crawls with those disgusting flesh worms."
"I only looked at him once, and I felt sick to my stomach."
"I don't know the exact nature of his ability."
"He threw a metal hook that tore open my abdomen."
"I barely managed to escape."
"But after that, my wound turned into this."
"And now these worms keep crawling out of it."
Ivan listened quietly.
But in his mind, a certain person surfaced.
Leech.
In the manga, one of the Shadow Beasts working under the Ten Dons of the mafia.
Leech's ability involved injecting leeches into an opponent's body to produce various effects.
He was a Manipulator-type Nen user.
Judging from Monica's condition, the Butcher might also be a Manipulator.
"Did you find any eggs?" Ivan asked.
He remembered how Uvogin had dealt with Leech's ability in the manga—by drinking beer and forcing the leech eggs out of his body.
If the Butcher's ability worked similarly, removing the eggs would break the ability.
After all, without eggs—
how could new worms keep appearing?
But Ivan knew Monica would have thought of that already.
Monica shook her head with a bitter smile.
"That's the worst part."
"When I pulled out the first worm, I had the exact same idea."
"But when I cut open the wound, I couldn't find any eggs."
"Even when I dug out the rotten flesh completely, it regenerated within minutes."
"And then the worms appeared again."
Ivan's brow furrowed deeply.
"This ability is… strange," he said.
"What are you planning to do?"
He looked at her seriously.
"You're not planning to warn me away from Kojima Foods and then go there alone, are you?"
If Monica had already been cursed by that ability and couldn't find a way to remove it—
then she only had one option left.
Find the Butcher.
And kill him.
Monica nodded.
"If I succeed, I'll share the information with you."
"If I fail…"
"…then I'll die at Kojima Foods."
"But I'll arrange for my investigation files to be mailed to you regularly."
"That way, if you want to avenge me—or continue the investigation—you'll at least have a starting point."
Ivan frowned slightly.
"You knew from the beginning you couldn't stop me."
"Then why didn't you ask me to go with you?"
"Do you think I'm too weak?"
Monica shook her head.
"No."
"That's not it."
"I actually have backup."
"But it's not exactly… legitimate."
"If you get involved, even if we succeed, it'll create a lot of trouble for you."
"As for strength…"
"If it were the old you, I would definitely say you're too weak."
"But now?"
She glanced at him.
"I'm not so sure."
"That dead Nen surrounding you…"
"I can't figure out what it is."
"And judging by how confident you are, it must be something unusual."
"Backup?" Ivan asked, surprised.
"Besides you and me, someone else wants to target Kojima Foods?"
As for the question of strength, Ivan didn't bother explaining.
Dead Nen was difficult enough to explain even if he tried.
"They're not targeting Kojima Foods," Monica said.
"They're targeting the Ai-Ai Family."
She looked directly at Ivan.
"If you insist on going to Kojima Foods, I can give you two options."
"First—come with me."
"I can introduce you to them."
"But whether they accept you is another matter."
"And once you're accepted as one of them, leaving later won't be easy."
"The second option—"
"You act alone."
"We keep in contact."
"I'll share some information with you."
"But there will also be things I can't tell you."
"You understand."
"My situation doesn't leave me many choices anymore."
"But you still have options."
Part of what she said was still an attempt to persuade Ivan not to get involved so quickly.
"When are you planning to act?" Ivan asked.
In truth, he already had a good idea who Monica's mysterious ally might be.
It wasn't difficult to guess.
At this point in time—
the only person likely to be preparing an attack against the Ai-Ai Family was Morena Prudo.
And as far as Ivan was concerned—
avoiding Morena entirely would be the best option.
So the question he asked already revealed his choice.
The second option.
He would act alone.
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