Risk

He had forcibly opened Nen in the burly man, then killed him to see if that would let him level up quickly.

That was why Moro had deliberately kept one man alive.

Moro had never tried forcibly opening Nen before, and he probably could not force open the burly man's aura nodes with a peaceful state of mind.

The slightest taint of malice would likely make the burly man suffer both mentally and physically during the forced opening of Nen.

But why would Moro care about the burly man's human rights?

He stuffed a towel into the burly man's mouth, then reached out and mobilized his aura, pouring it into the man's body.

In an instant, his violent aura rampaged through the burly man's body.

As it brutally forced open his aura nodes, it also brought the burly man unbearable pain.

"Mmph...!"

The burly man's face twisted, and his body curled and writhed like a shrimp.

Moro watched without expression. Once the burly man's manifested aura reached its limit, he reached out and snapped the man's neck.

The room immediately fell silent.

Moro stood and looked first at the level displayed on the back of his hand.

There had really been no need to look.

The instant he killed the burly man, Moro's manifested aura level had remained completely unchanged.

"Looks like it won't work."

His level had not risen. Moro sighed softly, though he was not overly disappointed.

If he could level up rapidly through such a method, he probably would not receive any feedback.

It was simply a very realistic outcome.

Moro lowered his hand, a thoughtful look appearing in his eyes.

Killing a target after opening their Nen did not meet the conditions for leveling up.

In other words, targets that met the conditions for leveling up had to be Nen users with roughly comparable cultivation?

Or perhaps Nen users who had already developed an ability?

If that was truly the case—

Would killing powerful Nen users let him gain many levels at once?

But correspondingly, the further he progressed, the harsher the requirements for leveling up would probably become.

"Once the time is right, I'll make a trip to Heaven's Arena."

Moro gathered his thoughts and glanced at the two corpses in the room.

He had expected the Shinra transaction to draw the covetous eyes of some hounds.

But he had not expected them to come so quickly, or to be so blatant.

Thinking about it carefully now...

Before his rebirth, the reason he had managed to seize a slice of the pie in Yorknew City so quickly had largely been due to Molena backing him.

Now that he had entered Yorknew City alone, he was naturally a piece of meat that could be easily devoured in the eyes of some hounds.

Moro put away his pistol, then manually broke the limbs of both corpses, doing his best to create a gruesome scene.

Once he was done, Moro called a number and spent some money to summon two cleaners.

That was another distinctive feature of Yorknew City.

As long as one could afford the price, someone could be hired to dispose of corpses.

After paying, Moro left the room with Shinra, leaving the two cleaners to handle the scene.

It was foreseeable that once the cleaners took away the two corpses, they would also spread word of the outcome.

And the horrific state of the corpses would invisibly add to the intimidation.

That was what Moro wanted to see. At the very least, it would curb the thoughts of some petty opportunists and save him some trouble.

Still, the two burly men's decision to come straight to his door only intensified Moro's desire to sell Shinra as soon as possible.

After all, the profit margin was over a billion...

Enough to blind a crowd of overconfident fools.

Moro did not want to deal with this sort of thing every day. It would interfere with his cultivation during his free time.

Night fell.

Yorknew City's prosperous side lay openly on display.

Skyscrapers stood in rows, their lights intertwining like dragons.

Traffic flowed endlessly along the roads, like an inverted Milky Way cascading from above.

Avoiding the lights, Moro stepped into the shadows and moved through the maze-like alleys.

The gangs in Yorknew City differed from the norm. Whether it was crime or their many gray-market industries, everything was openly displayed in broad daylight.

Dressed in suits and leather shoes, they did not fear the spotlight falling upon them.

This city was the absolute home ground of the gangs.

But there were also people who preferred to conduct business in the underground darkness.

Naturally, Moro could not simply throw Shinra into one of the major auction houses, so he found a broker who specialized in underground dealings.

"1.25 billion? No problem... I can find you a buyer and guarantee there won't be any complications, but I take fifteen percent."

In a basement, the pipe-smoking broker laid out his terms. He then removed the pipe and lightly tapped it against the table, his eyes fixed on Moro's reaction the entire time.

This Shinra collectible was connected to a wealthy collector with quite an impressive background.

About a month ago, the wealthy collector had been found dead in his home, and even the top-tier security personnel he had hired had not survived.

Not a single one of the precious collectibles the wealthy man had amassed had remained behind.

It had been a typical home-invasion robbery and murder case, and the Senra Meito was one of the wealthy man's collectibles.

Yet for some reason, it had ended up in Yorknew City recently.

More astonishingly, the seller was merely an unknown petty thief, while the buyer was an outsider boy.

Even though the broker had personally confirmed this information, he still found it somewhat absurd.

But it did not matter. Since the business had come to his door, he would certainly take a bite out of it.

Moro readily agreed to the broker's demand. "Fine, but I have one condition."

"Oh?"

The broker raised his brows, surprised by Moro's decisiveness. "Let's hear it."

"Advance me 800 million."

Moro looked the broker directly in the eyes.

The broker laughed at that, thinking Moro was being far too wishful.

But he soon could not laugh anymore.

Moro continued, "On that condition, no matter what price you negotiate, I only want 200 million as the remaining payment."

"..."

The broker's smile faded, and his expression turned solemn. Meeting Moro's calm, steady gaze, he slowly said, "You're making a billion at reduced risk with twenty million. You've hit the jackpot."

"Your information network is quite efficient."

Unmoved by the broker's mention of twenty million, Moro pressed, "So, what's your answer?"

"I'm in business. Why would I turn down greater profits?"

The broker narrowed his eyes.

If he had not known that Moro was not as harmless as he appeared, he definitely would not have accepted such terms.

After all, as the broker, he had plenty of room to maneuver between buyer and seller.

Still, this was good. He was confident he could sell Shinra for an even higher price, and the additional difference would all be his profit from this deal.

The transaction was completed quickly.

Moro received 800 million on the spot, while he had never intended to collect the remaining 200 million they had just discussed.

The broker had handled too many shady deals not to see through Moro's intentions, which was why he had agreed so readily.

"By the way, if you don't mind me asking, where does all your information come from?"

As he was leaving, Moro became somewhat curious about the broker's information channels.

The broker smiled and directly handed Moro a business card. "I heard that as long as you have a Hunter License, you can buy any intelligence from the Hunter Website. Naturally, we don't have licenses, but we have some pretty decent information channels of our own."

"Thanks."

Moro took the business card and turned to leave.

The broker did not watch Moro's retreating figure. Instead, he lovingly stroked Shinra, his eyes gleaming.

He would make at least 600 million from this deal.

As for the risks of selling it...

If he lacked that capability, he would not have taken on this business.

One week later.

The broker brought a group of subordinates to meet a client willing to buy Shinra for 1.5 billion.

The other party was a man whose face was scarred from burns on one side. Before the broker and his people arrived, several briefcases had already been placed on the table.

The broker glanced at the briefcases and naturally assumed they contained money.

He raised a hand, and one of his subordinates came forward and handed Shinra to the man.

The man accepted Shinra, and his brows immediately furrowed.

The aura on the blade...

Was gone.

Across the table.

The broker opened a briefcase and looked down, only to find it completely empty.

"Hm?"

In an instant, the broker's expression changed. He immediately drew his pistol.

Splat—

Suddenly, a sharp blade pierced through the broker's chest.

"Urgh..."

The broker's body jolted. He stared wide-eyed at the bloodstained blade protruding from his chest, then turned around with difficulty, trying to see where the sword had come from.

Then he saw a bizarre sight he could not comprehend.

From his shadow—

A person wrapped in a headscarf and face covering emerged. What was terrifying was that only the person's upper body was exposed, while the rest seemed to have merged with the shadow.

The katana that had pierced his chest was held in that person's hand.

That attire...

The broker realized something, and then darkness swallowed his consciousness.