Chapter 40: Nen Must Not Be Made Public
On the wall of monitors, the various surveillance feeds displayed a scene of quiet panic.
Babimaina, the Kakin soldier, was a pillar of discipline. He stood perfectly still, hands clasped behind his back, his posture a textbook military at-attention. He was staring, with cold, analytical eyes, directly into the camera lens in his cabin.
Dako and his team, on the other hand, had completely lost their composure. One man was slumped on the floor, his head in his hands. Another was furiously kicking the cabin wall, his boot thudding uselessly against the glowing God Script.
Alan'tr'iel leaned forward and pressed the intercom button. His calm, amplified voice filled all the cabins simultaneously. "I wouldn't do that. You break it, you buy it."
"It's you!"
"What the hell is going on? Let us out of here!"
"What did you do to us?!"
"Why... why can't I use my Nen?! Why am I in Zetsu?!"
That last shout was the most terrified of all. It wasn't just that they were trapped; they were powerless. To a Nen user, being forced into Zetsu is a unique and profound horror. It's a state of absolute vulnerability, a feeling of being stripped naked and exposed. It was, as the text had noted, even worse than being a normal person. A "Muggle" at least had a thin, natural, leaking film of Aura for protection.
A Nen user in forced Zetsu had... nothing.
Babimaina just continued to stare, his expression unchanging, as his peripheral vision noted the camera's location.
Alan'tr'iel released the button, letting their "silent", on-screen shouts and curses play out. He ignored them and continued, "I'm sure you're all aware of the recent... rumors... about King Zhenwu's treasure. They've been attracting a lot of the wrong sort of attention. People hear a half-baked story and come sniffing around. As you have now seen for yourselves, there is no treasure. And I, for one, am tired of being disturbed. You are all Nen users. You understand, better than anyone, that what is in that tomb cannot be made public."
He pressed the intercom button again. "Therefore, in three seconds, all storage-capable devices in your possession—phones, cameras, anything—will be remotely formatted."
He released the button. The group on the screens collectively froze in disbelief, which then immediately erupted into a new, even more "colorful" (and still silent) explosion of rage.
Alan'tr'iel turned his chair to face Kai, Menchi, and Shizuku. "I suggest you three do the same with your own data."
"No problem," Menchi said, already tapping her phone.
"Alternatively," Alan said, "we can provide you with a pre-approved media package. It contains photos of the tomb's exterior and some of the... non-sensitive... carvings. It should be more than enough for you to deliver on your contract."
"That works. I'll take a copy," Kai said. "But there's one problem."
"What's that?"
"I don't have a phone."
Alan'tr'iel actually laughed, a short, genuine bark. "That's an easy fix. My company has a rather successful mobile division. Since fate brought you here—and 'Bai' seems to like you so much—consider it a gift. I'll have my assistant send up our latest models for all three of you."
A free, top-of-the-line smartphone? Menchi, who was already wealthy, still beamed. A gift was a gift.
She then noticed Shizuku's gaze, which had drifted away from the monitors. The girl was staring at Alan'tr'iel with her trademark, placid curiosity.
"What," Shizuku asked, "is 'King Zhenwu's Treasure'?"
Alan'tr'iel leaned back in his plush office chair, steepling his fingers. "King Zhenwu... Veyrgo=Hui Guo Rou. Active about four hundred years ago. The official, mainstream history books will tell you he was a 'Legendary King' who almost succeeded in uniting the entire Azian continent."
He paused, a slight smile playing on his lips. "However... based on the research my teacher and I conducted, Veyrgo's actual plan... was to conquer all six known continents. The entire world."
This was, by any measure, a history-shattering revelation. But Kai, whose mind was already full of images of the Dark Continent, didn't even blink. Shizuku's expression remained perfectly, placidly blank.
Only Menchi had a "normal" reaction. Her jaw dropped. "The entire world?"
Alan'tr'iel gave a slight nod. "To be precise, he not only had the ambition, he had created a detailed, step-by-step plan. He had the resources, the power, and the will to see it through. Ging... my teacher... was convinced that if Veyrgo had actually launched his campaign, he would have succeeded. It would have been inevitable. In other words... we would all be citizens of the Kakin Empire right now."
"That's..." Menchi tried to process it. "That's just... too long ago. It doesn't even feel real. It just sounds like a crazy story."
"Then why didn't he do it?" Shizuku asked, her voice cutting straight to the core of the mystery.
Alan'tr'iel's smile faded. "We don't know. That's the one part we could never find. The records just... stop. At the very peak of his power, on the literal eve of his invasion, he suddenly abandoned the entire plan."
Kai, who had been listening intently, finally spoke. "And that's why he locked himself in that tomb? To spend the rest of his life scribbling on the walls like a madman?"
"Perhaps," Alan said softly.
Did he go crazy? Kai wondered. A king on the verge of total victory... what could make him just... quit?
He glanced back at the monitors. The freelance Hunters were being let out of their cabins, one by one. They looked furious, humiliated, and utterly defeated.
...
"Was that really necessary?!" Dako was fuming, his face red. "All our personal data! Wiped! Just like that!"
Kai, Menchi, and Shizuku met them at the Ferris wheel's exit.
"He should have sent you the 'clean' media files by now," Menchi said, trying to be helpful. "We got them, too. It's plenty of proof for the job."
"This isn't about the job!" another Hunter snapped. "I had contacts, bank info... years of data on that phone! It's all gone!"
Kai almost laughed. He watched them rant and rave, but quietly, their voices barely above a whisper. They were furious, but they were also terrified. They were just small-time freelancers, trying to make a living. And they had just been steamrolled by Alan'tr'iel=Blanchett—a One-Star Ruin Hunter, a personal student of Ging Freecss, and, most importantly, one of the richest and most powerful capitalists on the planet. Against a monster like that, they didn't even have the courage to yell.
In stark contrast, Babimaina emerged from his cabin looking as calm and unruffled as when he'd entered. He completely ignored Dako's team and fixed his gaze on Kai. "Where did you three go?"
He knew they hadn't been on the Ferris wheel. The tomb had another exit.
Kai just gave him a slick, politician's smile. "Oh, you know. Mr. Alan'tr'iel insisted we stay. He was such a gracious host. We just chatted for a bit. Talked about old times at the Hunter Association, reminisced... you know how it is."
He's not technically lying, Menchi thought, but he's definitely spinning it...
"Anyway, stop complaining," Kai said loudly to Dako's team. "Let's go find our employer and get our 'reward'!"
"It's a 'fee,' not a 'reward'!"
"The disrespect..."
Grumbling, the defeated freelancers, along with Kai's group, trudged out of the amusement park. Babimaina watched them all go, then paused, his head turning for one last look up at the tower.
High above, in the penthouse window, Alan'tr'iel raised his glass in a silent, mocking toast.
Babimaina turned, his face like stone, and walked away.
...
Alan'tr'iel swirled the expensive liquor in his glass. He thought back to that conversation, years ago.
Why had Ging been so sure? How could Veyrgo have conquered the world? The plan, when they'd finally uncovered it, was as simple as it was terrifying.
Veyrgo had intended to use the entire, vast resources of the Kakin Kingdom to do one thing: to popularize Nen. To teach it to his soldiers, his citizens... to everyone. To forge an entire nation of Nen users.
Three hundred years ago, against a world that still fought with muskets and cannons, an army like that would have been an unstoppable, supernatural force of nature.
And yet, he had stopped. He had destroyed the research, burned the records, and descended into a strange, frantic madness.
It was the one part of the mystery Alan had never been able to solve.
...
"But what's so hard to understand?"
Ging, in his early twenties, had said it with that infuriating, carefree shrug. "He gave up... because you can't popularize Nen like that."
"Just... 'can't'?" Alan had pressed. "That's it?"
"That's it!"
"But why? Why can't you teach it to everyone?"
Ging had just stared at him with those dead, fish-like eyes. "If you can't figure it out, don't think about it. The answer is simple. And boring. So I'm not telling you."
He'd turned to look at the ocean, his headscarf fluttering in the breeze. "Alan... anyone with the same perspective as us... would find the answer obvious."
...
King Zhenwu... a man even Ging admitted could have conquered the world...
As Kai walked down the street, all the pieces finally clicked into place.
That was his 'grand preparation'. He wasn't just going to build a Nen army...
He was going to teach Nen to the masses.
And in that instant, Kai understood exactly why that was the one thing you could never, ever do.
(End of Chapter)