Pekotero quickly arrived at an answer.
He could die.
There was one major reason for that: the Scarlet Eyes in his backpack.
Ever since Beyond discovered how special Ronin was, he had begun investigating Ronin in depth. Naturally, that investigation had also uncovered why Ronin was collecting Scarlet Eyes.
Not only was Ronin himself a member of the Kurta Clan, but the Scarlet Eyes were also directly tied to his strength.
Pekotero wasn't sure how many pairs of Scarlet Eyes would drop after his death, but he had thirteen pairs in his backpack. Even if only half of them failed to drop, that would still place some limit on Ronin's strength increase.
The power Ronin had displayed earlier against Beyond was still vivid in Pekotero's mind.
Ronin was very strong. Pekotero knew Beyond hadn't used his full strength, but he also knew Ronin hadn't been in peak condition either.
Beyond might not care about the issue of Ronin's strength, but Pekotero had taken it upon himself to think of ways to restrict Ronin.
Also, the Scarlet Eyes he brought back could become leverage they could use against Ronin.
No matter how he looked at it, dying would bring greater benefits than surviving.
After all, the only information he could bring back alive was one thing: Ronin could instantly cross thousands of kilometers.
But he figured Beyond could probably learn at least some of that through the Nen planted on him.
So Pekotero hardened his attitude.
"You're a little impressive, sure, but that's all."
Seeing him acting like he was begging to die, Ronin laughed.
His hand, already finished forming seals, pressed straight down toward Pekotero's head.
He didn't know exactly what Pekotero was relying on, but he did know that he could directly read Pekotero's memories.
That's right.
What Ronin used was the ninjutsu Mind Reading Technique.
But before that, the first thing he had to do was knock Pekotero unconscious.
So the hand that landed on Pekotero's head directly erupted with force, making Pekotero let out a muffled groan before collapsing unconscious.
The gap in strength between the two sides was not on the same level at all.
In Ronin's view, Pekotero's strength was at most around Shizuku's level.
His true uniqueness lay in his ability. Perhaps the backpack ability was only one of his many abilities.
Chakra flowed directly into Pekotero's mind. What Ronin needed to explore was the memory related to Pekotero's ability.
That wasn't difficult. At least, it was much easier than probing Beyond's secrets.
Because after Ronin finished reading the details of Pekotero's ability, the moment he tried to investigate Beyond and saw Beyond's face in Pekotero's memories, the cursed eye appeared directly inside Pekotero's memory.
The next second, Ronin sucked in a sharp breath, instantly waking up.
Pekotero woke up at the same time.
He looked at Ronin as if he were staring at a monster, his mouth open but unable to say anything for a moment.
Ronin, meanwhile, raised his hand and shot out chakra threads.
He had already figured out Pekotero's ability.
Twenty-Four-Hour Game Experience.
That was the name of Pekotero's ability. It was a purely supportive Nen ability, and a completely Specialist-type Nen ability.
Its effect was that from the moment Pekotero activated it, for the next twenty-four hours, he became a fully datafied game character.
Death, to him, merely meant losing one life. In the game, he could obtain multiple lives through items, or find save points to gain the chance to revive after death.
Every time the ability was activated, it would enter a full week-long downtime afterward. During that period, Pekotero would fall completely into a state of Zetsu.
But during the twenty-four hours the game was active, he could obtain items and use them to do many things that normal people, and even Nen users, could never accomplish.
The backpack on Pekotero's body was one of those game items.
Also, before taking action, he had already obtained a save opportunity. If Ronin killed him now, Pekotero would simply revive at his save point.
And since this would count as being killed in the wild, Pekotero would only drop a portion of the items he carried.
But now that Ronin understood Pekotero's ability, he had also found a way to get all the Scarlet Eyes from him.
The Puppet Technique.
As long as Ronin controlled Pekotero the same way he controlled Owl, he could make Pekotero obediently take every pair of Scarlet Eyes out of his backpack.
As for how to get rid of Pekotero for good, Ronin had no idea.
Because in the current situation, whether he killed Pekotero or not, once Pekotero's ability duration ended, Pekotero would revive at his save point.
In other words, even if Ronin controlled Pekotero, Pekotero would still disappear after a dozen or so hours.
He had to admit, Pekotero's ability was one of the strangest abilities Ronin had ever seen.
But it was precisely because of that uniqueness that someone with such weak combat ability could become one of Beyond's team members.
His ability was even completely irreplaceable. After all, with an ability that let him disregard death like this, he should be extremely useful when exploring the Dark Continent.
Pekotero consciously watched as his own hand, controlled by Ronin's Nen threads, reached into his backpack and took out the Scarlet Eyes.
After seeing this, he had a new thought.
Perhaps bringing the information back alive was the real priority. If that was the case, then he couldn't let Ronin kill him before his ability's duration ended.
But the moment that thought appeared, Ronin—who had already taken every pair of Scarlet Eyes from his backpack—threw a punch straight into his head.
Bang!
With a bursting sound, Pekotero's head exploded like a watermelon.
This bloody scene happened right in front of Kortopi and Pakunoda, who had just regained consciousness.
The sudden event made both of them, each harboring different thoughts from the moment they woke, instantly turn pale.
They looked as if they were afraid Ronin's next punch would land directly on their own heads.
That fear was especially obvious on Kortopi.
On Pakunoda's face, however, it lingered for less than two seconds before vanishing.
Then, on Pakunoda's mature, elegant face, there appeared an expression of utter despair, as if she had already become indifferent to life and death.
And at that moment, the scattered fragments of Pekotero's corpse on the ground, along with his headless body, suddenly changed.
The flesh and blood began to collapse, forming a mosaic-like shape, then quickly shattered and disappeared from that mosaic state.
In just a few short seconds, Pekotero's corpse completely vanished from the Great Serpent Cave.
Ronin shifted his gaze from where Pekotero's corpse had disappeared to Kortopi.
Kurapika, meanwhile, had already stepped forward and gathered the Scarlet Eyes together with Pairo's head. With a complicated expression full of grief and apology, he looked at Ronin.
"Ronin-nii."
"Leave it to me," Ronin replied solemnly.
Then he stepped toward Pakunoda.