Most of the fires on the wreck of BW1 had already died out.
There was nothing left to burn in most of the ship's cabins.
Only a few scattered sections still crackled with lingering flames.
A broken door creaked loudly as it was pried loose, then crashed onto the water-covered corridor floor with a wet slap.
Knuckle bent down as he entered the room, one hand carefully shielding his precious pompadour from brushing against anything.
The inside was scorched black and filled with debris.
A charred, lifeless corpse lay on the floor—its stiff arm reaching outward as if frozen in a final plea.
Knuckle frowned deeply at the sight.
Half an hour earlier, Germain and Shizuku had returned to the Ancient Labyrinth outpost.
There, they explained everything—about the Hypothetical Continent and what had happened aboard BW1.
Knuckle and the others were shaken to the core.
But there was no time to dwell on shock.
They immediately got to work, gathering any usable supplies from the castle.
Shizuku's Blinky swallowed up everything of value.
After that, Germain brought Shizuku, Knuckle, and Menchi to the top deck of BW1 first.
He then made another trip back to the outpost, bringing along Sanbica and Buhara.
Once everyone was assembled, Germain left them behind and used three spare lanterns to teleport—along with Shizuku—back to Greed Island.
While waiting for their return, Knuckle, Menchi, Sanbica, and Buhara moved around the wreckage of BW1, hoping to salvage anything that might have survived.
But once they saw the devastation with their own eyes,
a heavy silence fell over them.
Knuckle's heart was especially burdened with worry.
He still had no idea where Morel, Shoot, Knov, or Palm were.
They hadn't shown up—and that silence was deafening.
He stepped out of the room and shouted across the corridor,
"Nothing left in this one. Burned down to ash."
"Same here," Buhara replied, poking his head out of another room.
With great effort, the large man squeezed his massive body through the narrow doorway— like a meatball being pressed through a clenched fist.
Menchi and Sanbica also came out from other rooms, shaking their heads—they hadn't found anything useful either.
With that, the first and second floors were basically searched through.
They hadn't found much in terms of supplies, so they decided to head to the third floor.
Boom—
At that moment, an explosion sounded from outside BW1.
Everyone exchanged looks and quickly moved out onto the deck.
They chased away the strange birds that were tearing at the corpses, then looked down toward the coastline below.
On the beach near the rocky shore, a battle was unfolding.
One side of the fight was clearly a group of humans—people Knuckle and the others recognized well.
It seemed that Germain's group wasn't the only one trying to return to BW1 to scavenge supplies.
On the beach along the coastline—
Teradein, a fairly famous Hunter known for breaking away from the Chairman's faction and recruiting Hunters, was sweating heavily as he retreated.
His silver hair stuck damply to his forehead.
In front of him stood a group of Hunters armed with special firearms.
They infused their aura into the guns, then fired "Nen bullets" at their enemies.
These Nen bullets were far more powerful than regular bullets.
Even Hunters whose Nen types were far from "Emission," such as Transmutation, Conjuration, or Specialization users, could use these guns.
For Nen users, these firearms were very convenient.
Teradein had gotten them through a secret deal aboard BW1 with Beyond, Pariston, and the others.
He still remembered Pariston smiling as he told him—
You oppose Chairman Netero, and I also oppose Chairman Netero.
Then that makes us friends, doesn't it?
Friends should help each other, right?
On the surface, Teradein does seem like a fairly honest man.
He and his companions strongly opposed the Hunter Association making deals with the mafia on BW1.
They insisted that evil must be eradicated completely, even if it risked igniting the tense situation on BW1.
But if he were truly consistent inside and out, he wouldn't have so few friends among both the old and new members of the Zodiacs.
The ones he had better relationships with were only Pariston and Mizaistom.
However, as Mizaistom and Cheadle became the Vice Chairmen of the Hunter Association, Teradein and Mizaistom gradually grew apart.
This was because many Zodiac members saw through his true nature.
Even the slow-witted "Tiger" Kanzai had a wild intuition about him.
As for Mizaistom, his sense of justice made him less distant from the new Pure Paladin Squad.
Teradein's true nature is that of a politician.
He knows well how politicians maneuver and survive.
To oppose those in power, you must oppose them completely and shape your image as their opposite.
Netero is known for being frivolous, warlike, careless, and autocratic.
So Teradein presents himself as mature, steady, caring more for the lower ranks of the Hunter Association, and listening to many people's opinions.
This genuinely earned him a lot of support.
But this core dissenter from the Chairman's faction never managed to shake Netero's position.
The reason is that Netero's reputation is just too high — almost worshipped by most professional Hunters.
Netero isn't just a reckless fighter with strength.
He takes responsibility for everything he should, never shirking duty, and rarely disappointing others.
Some professional Hunters, even if dissatisfied with how Netero handled the high casualty rate during Hunter Exams or the frequent disappearances of Hunters...
They couldn't deny that Chairman Netero's contributions to the Hunter Association far outweighed his mistakes.
In fact, as long as Netero lived, Teradein couldn't find anyone to replace him.
Pariston, who had always been on good terms with Teradein, was cunning and sharp—like a demon tempting a saint to fall.
Maybe it was a moment of weakness, or maybe it was Pariston's urging, but Teradein accepted the batch of weapons in the trade.
Since they had "broken away from the Chairman's faction," they truly needed stronger arms if they wanted to gain more influence against the "Chairman's faction."
So, Pariston received some internal information about the Hunter Association from them.
Still, Teradein thought this intelligence wasn't all that important.
After all, they were all on the same ship—what could the Beyond faction really do?
If they made a wrong move, the whole BW1 could sink while sailing, and then everyone would be finished.
This was why Teradein's faction opposed the Hunter Association's tacit peace with the mafia. He didn't believe those scoundrels would dare make a big mess on the lonely ship in the vast sea.
What Teradein's faction wanted was to apply maximum pressure, slowly eroding the mafia's territory on BW1 and replacing them with their own people.
After that, the Beyond faction indeed stayed quiet and did nothing—until midnight yesterday...
That was when Teradein realized he could no longer be lucky.
After the massive riot broke out, Teradein's faction rushed to the dock, only to find that the Beyond faction had already taken control and destroyed the ships there.
It was then Teradein realized that among the many pieces of information he had given, one included the dock's shift schedule.
In other words, he had unknowingly helped the enemy.
Because of this, his entire team was forced to fight monsters in the darkness and flames.
After hours of fleeing, he and his team planned to return to BW1 to scavenge supplies.
They hadn't had much time to catch their breath when, not long ago, they were suddenly hunted by the massive creature before them.
It was a huge sphere, almost as big as the yacht on the first floor of BW1, radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure.
The sphere's surface was covered with crater-like marks, like those left by meteor impacts. Besides that, several large mouths were cracked open across its body.
From these mouths, strange white smoke would occasionally be expelled. Any living being that inhaled this white smoke would unknowingly come under the sphere's control.
Beneath the sphere were the creatures it controlled — a group of Chimera Ant hybrids and several humans.
Among the humans, Teradein recognized two faces well. They were his comrades and, like him, core members who had "left the Chairman's faction" — Bushidora and Loupe.
Bushidora was a skilled Nen user and served as the "symbol of strength" for their "Pure Paladin Squad."
Loupe was a clever strategist, known as the "symbol of wisdom" for their group.
But both of them had already become puppets controlled by the giant sphere.
Once a person inhaled the white smoke before death, even if their body was riddled with Nen bullets and long dead, they could still move—and even become more agile.
The puppets launched an attack on everyone.
Pop! Pop! Pop!
Watching several of his subordinates, armed with guns, being taken down by the puppets controlled by the giant sphere, and hearing their screams as they died, Teradein's face went pale.
He anxiously turned his head and looked toward the two professional Hunters nearby. Although they weren't part of his faction, at least they had formed a temporary alliance.
Now, Teradein could only rely on them.
*******
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