Death Node

The cold sensation beneath him, along with the jolting as the vehicle traveled over rough roads,

constantly reminded Moro—

This was reality.

He had clearly touched death, yet when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to a year ago.

Moro was somewhat dazed, unable to suppress the memories surging up from the depths of his mind.

A year ago, he had awakened inside this cage-like truck compartment.

Back then, the unfamiliar surroundings and suffocating cage had naturally blended with the cold jolting into utter terror, taking control of all his emotions.

Now that his thoughts had returned to the present, Moro naturally would not scream and shout in extreme panic as he had at first.

He quickly calmed down and once again swept his gaze across his surroundings.

By the light streaming through the small holes in the truck compartment, he could see two rows of iron cages inside the long compartment, each holding a naked person.

Moro was among them, equally bare.

His gaze passed over the people in the cages one by one. There were both boys and girls, around his age—roughly fourteen to sixteen.

As he looked at the people imprisoned in the cages, images from Moro's memories gradually overlapped with their faces.

Moro was observing the others in the cages, while the others, drawn by the disturbance when he woke up, all turned to look at him.

Most of their gazes were dull and indifferent.

Only two or three wore puzzled expressions.

Moro ignored them and lowered his head, avoiding the many eyes fixed on him.

What exactly was... going on?

Among the fragments of his memories, Feitan's gloomy eyes, laced with fury, could almost reappear before him.

The sensation of a cold blade cutting open his face and extinguishing his life still lingered as well.

The feeling was like a venomous snake coiled around his heart, carrying a chill that seeped into his bones.

But—

He placed a hand over his chest and could still feel his heart pounding violently.

He was alive!

After confirming that fact, Moro closed his eyes and calmed himself as much as possible.

This bizarre means of escaping death made him realize how precious it was simply to be able to breathe.

A moment later.

Moro slowly opened his eyes. As he lowered his gaze, he looked toward the back of his right hand.

The Growth Rings tattoo was still there!

His spirits immediately lifted.

He remembered clearly that the Growth Rings tattoo had only slowly formed an outline on the second day after he had transmigrated here, then taken shape over the following few days.

Yet at this point in time, the Growth Rings tattoo had already appeared—and it was complete.

That was the difference.

Moro focused his gaze and moved his right hand into the light to see it more clearly.

Under the faint illumination, Moro quickly discovered the change in the Growth Rings tattoo.

The White Growth Rings that had originally been filled in had now turned pitch-black.

And the infinity symbol within the inner ring had vanished, replaced by—

Lv.1.

Moro's expression shifted. Judging from the blackened Growth Rings, he realized that this sudden turn of events was very likely the doing of the Growth Rings tattoo.

As for why the infinity symbol had turned into Lv.1, he had no idea.

Was it Love's Practice Session...?

For no apparent reason, Molena's figure flashed through Moro's mind.

Lv was a level indicator, and the level system was the most distinctive aspect of Molena's Nen ability.

So Moro could not help associating it with that.

But could there really be some connection between the two?

If the effect of the Growth Rings was to send him back one year upon death, then what role did the level indicator replacing the infinity symbol play?

Moro lowered his eyes, sorting through the information he knew.

As he thought, he unconsciously raised his left hand and lightly brushed the Growth Rings tattoo on the back of his right hand.

"Hmm?"

At that moment, Moro noticed an additional red "X" symbol on the back of his left hand.

The edges of the symbol were black as ink, emanating an ominous aura.

"What is this...?"

Moro's pupils contracted slightly, and his attention instantly fixed on the newly appeared "X" symbol.

In an instant—

His consciousness was like a small boat swallowed by a whirlpool, briefly shaking and blurring.

It lasted no more than a breath.

Feitan's face appeared before Moro once again.

This time, it was so clear that he could see the icy Killing Intent hidden beneath Feitan's rage.

Slash!

The sensation of the blade cutting across his face, along with the suffocating feeling of death closing around his throat, came rushing back with multiplied intensity.

The next moment, endless darkness descended.

Moro experienced an incomparably realistic Death Replay.

Immediately afterward, his consciousness shook and blurred once more.

The image before him faded away like weathered stone, replaced by a heart clenched in a pair of pitch-black hands.

Moro stared at that heart, and an answer suddenly surfaced in his mind.

The heart clenched by those hands was his.

This baseless knowledge was like data transmission, forcibly stuffed into his head.

Along with it came information called "Death Node."

"Hmm?"

Abruptly, his consciousness returned to reality.

Moro froze for a moment, realizing that he was still maintaining his previous posture.

"Death Node?"

Muttering in disbelief, Moro slowly raised his head and stared fixedly at the rusted iron bars before him. Then he sighed, leaned backward, and slumped weakly against the bars on the other side.

Death Node—

It could also be called the time of his death: June 23, 1997.

He had died at Feitan's hands on that day.

Then he had been reborn at the point when he had first transmigrated here—June 7, 1996.

Without question, he had been given another chance.

But the Death Node branded onto him would not disappear just because he had been reborn.

If he could not destroy the "Death Node" before June 22, 1997, his heart would instantly shatter into pulp, and he would once again return to Death's embrace.

And the way to destroy the Death Node was to personally kill the person who had created it before the original time of death arrived, thereby canceling out the "X" symbol on the back of his left hand.

In other words, he had to personally kill the utterly unaware Feitan within a year.

Only then could he resolve the curse of the Death Node.

"One year..."

Moro let out a long breath. Thinking of those black hands tightly clutching a heart, he could not help feeling as if Kurapika's Oath Sword had been stabbed through his heart.

Death Node or not, so be it.

Whether he could destroy it was another matter. It was still better than dying outright.

Besides...

Moro glanced at the level indicator at the center of the Growth Rings tattoo.

Though he still could not determine its exact function, it probably was not a bad thing.

As long as he found a way to turn Lv.1 into Lv.2, he could test its effects.

In any case, he should deal with the immediate problem first.

Moro gathered his thoughts and glanced at the rusted iron bars.

The truck carrying them would arrive a few hours later at a psychiatric hospital built on a mountain.

On the surface, it was a psychiatric hospital, but in secret, it trafficked people and organs.

That was right.

From the moment they had been locked in these cages, Moro and the others had already been brutally labeled as livestock.