On his way back to the camp, Xiang Nan ran into Owl.
After hearing from Beishi that Xiang Nan had "died and come back," Owl couldn't believe it, but he didn't question it. He didn't dare go to the test facility again—he knew Omokage had people tailing him from the shadows. So if Xiang Nan was alive, he would definitely return.
"You—"
At the very first glance, Owl felt something was off. Xiang Nan's whole presence… had changed. Judging by his Nen aura, it seemed the same as usual, but Owl couldn't say what the change was—only that Xiang Nan had changed. If he had to name it, the "light" in Xiang Nan's eyes was different.
"Sigh…"
Owl couldn't help sighing. His instincts said this change meant Xiang Nan's strength had risen again. He couldn't understand why "shedding the skin" came so easily to Xiang Nan. The higher your Nen mastery and power, the harder each later breakthrough becomes; your spirit and body both hit a personal bottleneck. Without a change in environment, opportunity, or training method, progress is brutally difficult. For people like them, all you can do is let time pile up achievements grain by grain.
"Yo."
Xiang Nan raised a hand in greeting and smiled. From his expression, you'd never guess what he'd just been through. Even now, when Owl recalled those scenes and that pain, his heart fluttered with fear. He admitted he could never do what Xiang Nan had done… Still, the fact that Xiang Nan had walked out meant the virus antibody had been "obtained."
"No problems?" Owl asked.
"Mm… my cells have assimilated it. Unless I come into contact with the virus's source, you don't need to worry about me being contagious," Xiang Nan said.
The two walked on side by side.
When he reached the camp, Manman rushed over the moment she got the news—and of course Omokage showed up too. The girl's eyes were red; she clutched the hem of Xiang Nan's coat tightly, but didn't cry like before. In the past she would've thrown herself into his arms and held him tight.
Now, she was clearly suppressing her feelings on purpose, not wanting to show the little-girl side of herself. Under Omokage's influence, she had indeed changed—you could call it "growing up." After all, it had been a long time since she first met Xiang Nan. With age comes understanding.
"I thought you'd left the military district…" Omokage smiled as he watched Xiang Nan stroke Manman's hair to comfort her, his gaze flicking to Xiang Nan's windbreaker, caked with dried blood. He had deliberately "retrieved" his eyes from Retz with Nen.
"No… I was just running a few small experiments," Xiang Nan answered perfunctorily.
"Experiments? Anything to do with our Pandora's Box?" Omokage asked.
"Personal business," Xiang Nan said, and walked off.
Those two words were a plain message to Omokage: you're not being told.
…
A while later, in his office.
Xiang Nan sat back in the leather chair, eyes thoughtful. The virus problem was solved. Next—according to the plan—he needed to figure out how to slot into the V5's targeted operation once the Chimera Ants surfaced, in order to alter "Netero vs. the Ant King."
The key was not letting Netero unleash the ultimate secret of the "100-Type Guanyin," pouring out all his life force—his "aura"—to blast the King like a beam of light. Once he used that finisher, there'd be no chance to "bring him back." He'd be reduced to a skin-and-bones husk strung up by sheer will—and by the greatest "evil" born of humankind.
Thinking back to the original story's battle: when the King severed his leg, Meruem had already felt the "value" in humans and the praiseworthy "spirit" of self-sacrifice in the old man. And with Komugi's appearance, the King's view of humans had begun to shift….
"So… as long as we stop things in time after the old man loses his leg, that's enough.
"But the 'malice' humans can erupt with—despite being so weak in the King's eyes—he still needs to recognize it.
"Only then will Meruem understand that, from the start, the Chimera Ants never had a chance against humanity."
"Looks like this time… I'll have to step out myself," Xiang Nan murmured.
What he meant was taking the initiative to reach out to the V5. Up to now, they hadn't engaged with him at all. If they wouldn't show themselves, he'd have to make the first move. The talks probably wouldn't be pleasant, and there was no guarantee he could change their arrangements for Netero.
"But before that… I should clear Round Eight of the Reincarnation Game first…"
Xiang Nan snapped back to the present and opened his system screen. Sure enough, Round Eight of the Reincarnation Game was about to begin. The system had already pinged him; new players were flooding in… everything felt familiar.
What world they'd drop into this time—he had no clue and no plan. Because of the First-Kill Armband's special properties, the situations facing their ad-hoc squad couldn't be predicted. You couldn't judge by the usual Multiverse Battlefield rules—neither the missions nor the battleground.
"We could return to the Gintama world to harvest more Altana… but on a second entry the system will probably play tricks and hide bigger dangers. Besides, I haven't bound to the Hunter x Hunter world or become its representative player yet. Clearing the whole Reincarnation Match first and then going back to Gintama is definitely safer…"
Raven's death had left them one member short—they needed reinforcement. But story characters can only accompany you through a single Multiverse Battlefield, so Xiang Nan didn't plan to invite one.
As for Omokage, that expendable pawn was best saved for Round Nine, when the difficulty spikes—Xiang Nan planned to build a full story-character squad then. He'd settled on that approach long ago.
"The team only allows players and characters—there's no third option. In other words, natives who aren't 'characters' can't travel to other worlds with us. Otherwise I could just pick someone from Pandora's Box. Given that, I still need a player.
"After all this time, the players have probably been divvied up by various countries, and newbies who just landed in the Hunter world won't be much help…"
"Looks like I'll have to borrow someone from Kakin—give them a small taste of the benefits first."