The kids had a carefree day.
The next day, when the first rays of morning sunlight shone into the windows of the two-story inn in Bounty City, the sounds of the early-rising children arguing downstairs already urged people to get up.
"My brother dares to go to a faraway city alone!" from an NPC little girl.
"My brother can walk from Kukuroo Mountain to here in ten minutes alone!"
"My brother dares to challenge the bandits on the mountain!" from an NPC little boy waving a sword.
"Hmph, my brother dares to fight thirteen thieves single-handed!" Another little boy put his hands on his hips and raised his head proudly.
"My brother earns tons of money! Lots and lots of gold coins!" The NPC little girl chimed in.
At that moment, all four kids turned to Kort, who hadn't refuted anything yet, and based on some idea of fairness, they waited for him to respond.
Kort thought hard: "...My brother often carries gems and gold with him, and he even dares to owe billions in debt..."
Don't lead Kort astray.
It felt like if they kept comparing, something bad would happen. Saiki Kusuo opened his eyes, rolled over, and used telekinesis to get dressed in an instant, then jumped downstairs to stop this silly dispute.
"Look, this is our big brother!" Alluka showed Saiki Kusuo to the NPC kids like he was displaying a treasure.
"Your brother is really amazing. We give up," one of the two NPC kids said.
After that, three cards appeared in the air out of nowhere, given to each of the three.
Noisy Friendship E-77.
An ordinary card, probably used to exchange for Jenny in shops.
Saiki Kusuo couldn't help but sigh that in this place, you could get cards for doing anything.
Alluka touched the card and held it up. In the morning light, the card's surface showed colorful patterns, and it made his eyes sparkle.
But he didn't dare keep it on him too long and quickly stored it with Milluki.
After breakfast, the kids' super energetic day started again. The difference from before was that one child needed an adult's company, but three kids could play happily on their own, especially the Zoldyck kids who were mature, knew Nen, and could protect themselves.
They could be left to play freely.
Saiki Kusuo took the packed breakfast for Chrollo upstairs to feed him.
Chrollo was already awake. When Saiki Kusuo entered, Chrollo wasn't reading or sitting by the window watching people. He was rubbing the upper part of his bandaged and splinted leg, fiddling with the edge of the bandage, while his eyes scanned the room.
He seemed to be looking for something: [Is there anything that can...]
[What's wrong? Finally thinking about amputation?]
The voice brought Chrollo back. He sighed: "Yesterday afternoon, the group members saw my leg. I wonder if anyone is worried."
[Some are, but only Machi.]
"...I see."
Disappointed? The leader and spiritual guide of the group only had one person worried about your leg.
"Still, I want to ask for that favor." Chrollo patted his leg. "Saiki, I hope you can help me take it off."
[The leg isn't fully healed yet.]
"It's about ready. This leg has rested for a week."
What does resting for a week mean? Just a week... Right, for a non-human trained with twisted Nen abilities, healing a broken leg in a week isn't a big deal.
"No problem. Just be careful with moving around. I also want to walk around the city and hope some Nen ability can speed up progress a bit," Chrollo said.
Fine, it's his own leg.
Strong fighters like him always know their limits.
Saiki Kusuo raised his hand and made a gesture like he was about to knock on a table toward the splint.
Chrollo looked puzzled.
Saiki Kusuo thought for a moment, then changed to a gesture like pinching an eggshell, that careful OK-like sign.
He looked extremely cautious and careful.
"Saiki, it's best to use tools to remove the splint..."
Chrollo wanted to remind him. Though Nen users can easily break bandages, the splint is tough and bulky. The safest way is to use tools to fully unwrap the bandages.
But Saiki Kusuo gently pinched the splint, and the material where his fingers touched turned to powder.
Chrollo: ...
Saiki Kusuo reached out and crushed the entire splint like crumbling a powder brick, and the bandages fell off on their own.
He handled it at the fastest speed, but in return got Chrollo's silence.
So rough.
[Scared?] Saiki Kusuo asked.
"No, people from Meteor City handle wounds and remove bandages just as roughly."
The leader of the Phantom Troupe, born in Meteor City, probably... should... maybe... facing this level of power...
No, no one can do that. That's the splint supporting his leg straight – he knows how tough it is!
It must be that Saiki's control over Nen is incredibly precise.
Saiki Kusuo walked away casually. Chrollo sat on the bed edge, shook his leg, and tried stepping on the floor a few times. It went smoothly, no pain as expected.
Today was the third day they'd safely spent in the game. The game admins were still looking for them, but the chances were getting smaller.
Chrollo's house arrest was finally lifted.
The two exchanged a glance, and Chrollo picked up his breakfast.
"Let's head out straight to the busiest part of the city."
But Chrollo wasn't quite used to his free leg yet and almost tripped over nothing on the way out.
Does anyone know the feeling of tripping on flat ground? Pretty much like that.
This kind of accident where the body moves faster than the brain, even Saiki Kusuo couldn't react in advance. He just watched as Chrollo steadied himself.
Not reliable at all.
[Still going out?] Saiki Kusuo asked.
"It's nothing. I'll get used to it," Chrollo said, relying on instinct to balance, completely ignoring this "warning."
A small incident no one cared about.
...
In the center of Bounty City, there was always a huge bulletin board. It listed large events that happened every month. That's why it drew people to stay here – the rewards were rare cards or specific ones needed to clear the game.
So on days when events were about to start, people aiming to clear the game would definitely come here.
For this month's event, it was held in the last few days of the month.
"Everyone, welcome to Andoni Bako's traditional 99-style sudoku game! Today, we'll witness experts compete. They'll complete sudoku puzzles of various difficulty levels in the time limit. The current highest difficulty has reached level 3! The higher the level pushed, the rarer the cards in the reward pool!"
The rules were also posted on a big sign, with many people gathered around.
Saiki Kusuo took a look. Nine grids, numbers 1-9 – isn't this just sudoku?
"Anyone else want to join?" At that moment, a middle-aged man with a beard stood on a rock, holding a few cards. "Join now and get an E-grade card from us. Please!"
Saiki Kusuo felt the man looked familiar, until he heard the name from the thoughts of his companion nearby.
Tsezguerra , who in the manga teamed up with Gon and others to beat Razor.
He was hired by the rich Battera to clear the game. Back then, all the Greed Island in Yorknew City was bought by Battera. Later, the Phantom Troupe got it by robbing, and Milluki bought it elsewhere.
With a reliable outside hired player, their group's clearing intent was more stable than any small team.
But not organizations with Nen users.
On stage, Tsezguerra thought: [There are two ways to raise the difficulty: increase the base number of participants, or solve enough high-difficulty puzzles. One day until the final draw – wonder if we can push it to level 1 this time.]
That makes sense. No wonder they're giving away cards here like charity.
Saiki Kusuo watched from afar, doing the math from their thoughts, when he suddenly realized most people here were Tsezguerra 's men.
Time to switch spots.
Next to him, Chrollo suddenly stepped forward and raised his hand toward Tsezguerra : "Give me one, please."
[What's gotten into you? What caught your eye? We can't even use cards we get.]
"The draw is tomorrow. The kids can come pick them up then."
You're planning to work for the kids now?
"What caught me is the game itself."
You're so free.
One of Tsezguerra 's underlings quickly came over: "Play a bit! It's fun!" [I've been doing this for days and I'm sick of it. Play more, cover my share! Whoever wants to play this junk game can have it!]
Your thoughts say otherwise.
The minimum to join is to complete an easy sudoku correctly. The underling hurried ahead, waving wildly at Chrollo, wishing he'd run to keep up.
But he didn't know this was a guy whose foot had just healed. He walked as slow as possible, steady and safe.
"This is my first time joining December's game. You're using E-grade cards to pull people in? Does that raise the difficulty level? Won't higher levels make puzzles unsolvable?" Chrollo asked.
Some people can guess from thoughts without hearing them.
"You know a lot! That's right!" The underling didn't hide it. This seemed like a public rule: "The final winners are ranked. The top 10% get rewards, higher rank means rarer rewards. See, that's the scoreboard. More people means a bigger pool, so more get cards. If you want, after qualifying, try climbing up. Puzzles have difficulty – level 1 is hardest, 9 easiest."
"I'll say it upfront: level 6 is a turning point. It wastes tons of time to finish, so people prefer grabbing lots of level 7 and 8 to rack up points. The fastest can do one in under a minute!"
The underling demonstrated while talking, got a level 9 sudoku from an NPC, and filled it on paper, inviting them: "Did you get the rules? I can explain if not."
Chrollo followed and reached out to the NPC.
They're not gamers. Though they've practiced skills with NPCs before, can they join a game where names go on the wall?
"Fill out this entry form," the NPC said, handing Chrollo paper.
Chrollo wrote "Hisoka Morow" in the name spot.
The NPC took the form and recorded it normally, no check if they were players.
"What difficulty for your first challenge? From 3 to 9, hardest to easiest," the NPC said.
The underling added: "Pick 9! Just fill numbers 1-9 so each row, column, and nine-grid has them all. Easy. Then we give you a card..."
Chrollo thought a bit: "Give me a 5."
"Okay." The NPC handed over the paper without question.
"5?!" The underling was shocked. "First entry can't be swapped! Can you even do a 5?"
Too late. The level 5 puzzle was already in Chrollo's hands.
"Too easy would be boring," Chrollo said, ignoring the underling's sadness over his quota. He took a pen, leaned aside, and started filling it.
The underling held back tears and stared at Saiki Kusuo.
"...Big bro, don't mess around. Pick 9 for sure!"
[When did I say I was joining?]
The underling and Saiki Kusuo stared at each other.
The underling used his secret move! "We really need participants, please..."
No way out.
"You came out to travel, right?" Chrollo said. "The kids are playing. Since we're in the game, why not join in and enjoy the moment?"
You remember we're not players?
The underling, once a sales rep, grabbed Saiki Kusuo's clothes and explained with reason and emotion, talking nonstop.
He even moved himself to tears, almost wiping snot on Saiki Kusuo.
Saiki Kusuo sighed. Oh man, what a hassle.
He directly took a harder level 3 to stop the pleading.
Turning the underling's voice into a full wail.
"Hey, I can't watch this. You're bullying him too much."
The area was lively. Saiki Kusuo hadn't noticed someone approaching before.
Who is this busybody... Wait, this guy?!
Saiki Kusuo looked up at the tall frame. This skeleton... so familiar! It's Genthru, the bomb devil he's been watching these days.
Genthru kept up a friendly image outside, so he could touch many people to meet his bomb conditions.
[Turn this guy into a bomb too.] That's what Genthru thought looking at Chrollo.
Chrollo was focused on the game and ignored him. Saiki Kusuo quietly pushed his shoulder to move away from Genthru a bit.
Keep distance; if he gets too close, it feels off.
Genthru felt regret in his heart.
Saiki Kusuo: Oh man, didn't expect Genthru's targets aren't just group members. Sometimes he plants bombs on others too.
Makes sense. His ability activates by touching someone and saying "bomb devil" to them. Can't just say it out of nowhere; the bomb devil has to exist for real. Occasionally he bombs randomly.
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