Inside the inn, a young man was dozing off while wiping tables. Hearing the sound of customers coming in, he immediately woke up: "Welcome! Are you here to stay or to eat?"
This time, Alluka asked first: "Hello, I'd like to ask how to make money!"
Finally, this NPC answered the question like a normal guide NPC.
"You can make money by working like me. Don't you have any money?"
Alluka: "Yes! We want money."
"You can hunt outside the city, take the monster cards you get from defeating them to the shop to exchange for money, or do some bounty quests."
Defeating monsters is fine, but we can't get the cards. They won't turn into cards in our hands.
Chrollo obviously knew that fighting monsters wouldn't work, so he asked, "Besides that, is there any other way?"
NPC: "During the day, at the gate..."
Before he could finish speaking, Chrollo interrupted him: "Can we exchange for some labor that can be done now?"
NPC: "If you are very strong, you can help carry goods, at..."
Chrollo interrupted again: "Is there anything else?"
NPC: "Every spring..."
"I want something I can do now, right here in this tavern."
"In that case, the horse yard in the back needs cleaning, but the boss only offers a small salary, only 800 Jenny per job."
"Well, I see you're wiping tables. Do you need help?"
"Of course! I've been wanting to..."
"What is the reward?"
"I can only offer some herbs that I pick."
"Then never mind. Does this place need cleaning?"
"I remember, the warehouse..."
"What is the reward?"
"I heard it's a special card, and you can also eat our employee meals."
"Can the card be exchanged for Jenny cards for us?"
"You want to exchange the card for money? In the east..."
"Okay, please tell us how to clean the horse yard in the back."
Chrollo Lucilfer finished talking.
He was quite efficient, politely interrupting the NPC's talk countless times.
After Chrollo finished talking, he noticed that both people were staring at him, looking slightly puzzled.
"What's wrong?"
Nothing much, but since the NPC has such a realistic human appearance, don't you have any sense of immersion?
"Mr. Chrollo, you ask so fast, the other person hasn't finished speaking," Alluka said.
"But the other person doesn't seem unhappy with my behavior, so I can do that, right?" Chrollo's eyes were clear, as if this was his genuine doubt.
Alluka's eyes widened, and she couldn't think of a rebuttal: [It seems like that's true, but something seems wrong...]
When Alluka's eyes looked at Saiki Kusuo, Kurapika's reminder, "He will corrupt Alluka," appeared in her mind.
Saiki Kusuo explained.
[The game is already very realistic, don't ruin the immersive experience.]
[Alluka, the purpose of this game is to let people feel another world as if they were there. Don't learn from this guy, you're here to play and enjoy yourself.]
Accused Chrollo: "Did you sneak in to play? Your identity is not exactly that of a carefree tourist, is it?"
[...] It's not like there isn't a Greed Island game console at home, but the condition for Alluka's wish was outside, so she can't go home.
"Is there anything I can help you with?" After a while, the NPC greeted them as if he had suddenly noticed them.
[We want to help clean the horse yard.] So said Saiki Kusuo.
The young man led the three of them to the backyard: "You need to clean the horse stalls, change the hay and water, and clean the horse path... Who will complete this task?"
[Sounds like heavy labor. Very good, invincible Chrollo, go for it.]
And Chrollo looked at his crutches, then at Saiki Kusuo.
[You're the one who asked for the task, I believe you can do it...]
Suddenly, Alluka took a step forward and volunteered, raising her hand.
Saiki Kusuo whisked the NPC away, directly into the backyard.
He left a message: [I'll do it, but you two stay inside.]
Saiki Kusuo walked into the backyard. Before long, the NPC came out first, but Saiki Kusuo followed closely behind.
Chrollo, who had just managed to sit down, his seat not even warmed up: ?
Alluka, who had only swung her legs twice, jumped up: "So fast!"
Chrollo: [No, normally it shouldn't be possible to be this fast...]
Ability?
Saiki Kusuo got the reward card, a card worth 800 Jenny.
The card will also turn back to its original state after being held in the hand for a while. Saiki Kusuo didn't want to try to figure out how long that time was.
Holding the only money he could use, Saiki Kusuo asked the NPC: [How long can this money let us stay in a room?]
"You can stay for two days! Do you only need one room?"
If it was a little cheaper, he might consider two.
He didn't know if he could find a new way to make money tomorrow, but for now, getting a room and blending into the game was the best thing to do.
Saiki Kusuo used the card to buy two days' use of the room.
"Welcome! Here's your key. The room is at the very end of the second floor, number 205."
...
The inn was a wooden building, so the rooms were naturally made of wood as well. There was a low wooden bed, a table in the center of the room, and a separate bathroom on the other side.
"Is it safer now?"
[It seems to be fine for now.] Saiki Kusuo's clairvoyance saw that the person had already reached their landing point, but hadn't found anything unusual.
The suspicious GM was looking for clues everywhere, but with Saiki Kusuo's hidden powers, the GM couldn't find any traces of them coming to the bounty city.
[Let's exchange information next,] Saiki Kusuo said, [To complete the mission smoothly, we must hide ourselves well. The reason the GM found an anomaly is most likely teleportation. Therefore, teleportation can't be used for now, and the progress of finding the specialist may be slowed down.]
"It doesn't matter, I'm not in a hurry."
[The horse stalls in the backyard don't need to be cleaned every day.]
In other words, in two days, the person who isn't worried about money will be kicked out of this city.
"But we can't steal from the players either, because those cards must be kept in the book," Chrollo said.
Don't think about stealing, you.
"Well... I still think we can leave these things for tomorrow. This location is good, right on the street. The windows can be used to observe outside. When the day comes and people and NPCs become active, clues about how money flows will naturally appear."
Chrollo looked confident.
He hadn't worried about money much in his life. For him, no matter what environment he was in, it was always the easiest thing to solve.
Even if he was now in a game filled with NPCs and Nen users.
Very arrogant.
Chrollo seemed to see some of Saiki Kusuo's distaste: "There's really nothing to worry about. Don't overestimate Nen users too much. Remember I said that Nen is the basic condition for entering the game? Have you ever thought that many people who enter this game only know how to use Nen? Without systematic training, many people only know how to use Hatsu among the basic uses of Nen. The ways to make money here must be something that ordinary people can do."
[Whatever, then.]
Out of things to say.
Everything suddenly fell into a brief silence. Alluka asked, "What should we do next?"
"Isn't it sleeping?" Chrollo said, "I'm quite sleepy. Patients and ordinary people need rest."
So it turned out that Chrollo needed to sleep.
Saiki Kusuo took out the suitcase and helped Alluka get his pajamas.
"Brother, we slept in the afternoon..." Alluka was clearly more curious about this world. He leaned by the window, staring at the roofs across the street.
"Why are so many of the roofs flat?"
Saiki Kusuo: [I don't know, they like them flat, I guess.]
Chrollo: "Don't the residents here like to grow flowers? There are flowers on the roofs, the walls, and the windowsills. Look over there, the vines of the plants are coming down along the wall, with flowers all over the wall. Then there must be a flower trellis built above for the flowers to grow."
Wasn't this guy supposed to be sleeping?
"Oh! So that's how it is!" Alluka said in surprise. The reasoned analysis satisfied the small questions in Alluka's mind. He closed the window.
Saiki Kusuo unfolded the clothes and handed them to him.
[Go to sleep. Kids who are growing need rest, or they'll be very prone to fractures.]
Chrollo, who was lying down with his leg in a splint and a bandage: ?
The bed was given to the only patient and big money earner. Alluka slept on a makeshift bed on the floor, and Saiki Kusuo sat in a chair, standing guard.
Teleportation couldn't be used for now.
Otherwise, he would definitely go home and sleep in his big bed.
The next morning, Chrollo sat by the window, watching the people gradually coming and going on the street.
Chrollo: "If we have to guess, both those with large and small amounts of Nen can remove Nen."
Alluka was fully dressed in a set of plain clothes similar to those worn by people on the street.
"Why? To remove the Nen from someone as powerful as Mr. Chrollo, wouldn't it require even stronger Nen?" Alluka asked, turning her gaze to her omnipotent brother.
Saiki Kusuo: Don't look at me, I don't know much about your Nen.
Chrollo explained: "There are many ways to make Nen remove Nen. It can be a natural ability characteristic, the attribute of Nen having an advantage in removing Nen. It can also be some worshipers. For example, I once met a well-known priest specialist. He used his own power on everyone who came to beg for God's forgiveness. Those powers didn't distinguish between good and evil. Those of us who could see Nen could see the priest taking Nen from others, storing Nen, and ultimately using these others' Nen to help those who really needed to have Nen removed."
"In that game, the priest's own Nen only served as a bridge, very weak, so the specialist couldn't filter by Nen level."
[Then, how do we find him?] Saiki Kusuo asked. If that was the case, the only way he could think of was to identify the abilities of each Nen user and then use the elimination method to find that specialist.
"That's why you have to come," Chrollo meant Saiki Kusuo's ability to hear thoughts, "I don't think the specialist would deliberately emphasize their identity in their mind. We have to use the elimination method, but the number of game players is limited. The number of game consoles is fixed, and doesn't fluctuate much. In the larger environment, the players should tend to be long-term and stable..."
He said a lot, but the method seemed to be the same. [Can you get to the conclusion?]
Chrollo paused, clapping his hands together: "Well, in short, first look for power."
He jumped too fast.
"A specialist has to have Nen to remove Nen. That's a threshold. It's different from those ordinary Nen users who only know Nen. You have to use Nen actively to enter the game. If you can enter the game and you're also a specialist, we can rule out pure talent types like Neon."
"If that's the case, it'll be easier to find. The specialist I'm looking for came here for another purpose. Because they're a specialist, the possibility of them working alone is extremely small. The rewards in this game system are limited, and the number of cards has an upper limit. To clear the game, people must act in groups, so we have to find the forces that collect cards and distinguish the Nen of each person among them."
Saying it that way, the target is much smaller.
"If we can't find anyone in those forces, then the specialist might really be a strange person living in seclusion. Then we'll have to look for them one by one."
So in the end, it's still very likely that we'll have to eliminate the entire player base, is that right?
With Chrollo's explanation, Saiki Kusuo recalled some of the plot.
The specialist, it seems...
Saiki Kusuo took Alluka and the two went out.
Chrollo's bandages on his leg were too distinctive. They were still hiding themselves, so it's best not to enter various places with a special appearance.
Bounty City, as the name suggests, has a lot of bounty quests. It is also one of the main ways for players to make money.
"Brother, what's our mission today?"
[I'll complete the mission. Alluka can relax, just think of it as traveling, even though we don't have any money to spend.]
Saiki Kusuo was the one executing the mission. At this moment, he was listening to countless thoughts.
[Nothing to do, I'll just squat by the port today.]
Oh? What force is waiting for someone?
[--Squat for people to grab cards! That pink-haired one looks good, looks easy to bully.]
So they were scum. Next.
"Have you heard? There's another bomber on the loose recently, be careful."
The voice wasn't far away. Saiki Kusuo looked back and saw a man in white, at least six feet tall, patting someone else on the shoulder.
[Hehe, actually I'm the bomber. That completes another contract.]
Bomber, a devil who directly blows people up, a player with malicious competition. During conversation, touching someone and saying the three words "bomber" can place a bomb on someone else.
Saiki Kusuo looked at the bomber, lost in thought.
He just remembered, why did the specialist use his removal ability in the manga? It was because the bomber activated the bombs on everyone in their team.
The specialist is indeed in the team, following the bomber would find the specialist!
He didn't expect to make such great progress on the first day.
Seeing the bomber about to leave his position, Saiki Kusuo was about to catch up.
"Ah--!" The voice came from Alluka.
Saiki Kusuo sped around, the wind he created nearly flipped over the table in front of him.
What happened to Alluka?
Alluka was shaking hands with a little boy in a kimono.
"Long time no see, Killua!"
"Alluka, brother..."
Well, well, if it isn't Killua.
What, Killua?!
Killua appearing on Greed Island = the Troupe can't find the specialist and find partners who can find the specialist on their own = Killua is joining the Troupe!
Saiki Kusuo immediately used his x-ray vision to look at Killua's body from top to bottom.
Where's the spider tattoo?
Honestly, Killua is a very well-behaved and quiet child. Seeing Killua walking out of the Troupe shocked everyone back then.
If the well-behaved child Killua were to join the Troupe again before his eyes.
Saiki Kusuo would definitely.
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