Star Mark Evolution

The place Jing Yang had landed was the East Coast area of Ghost Island, known locally as East Town. The northern shoreline was where small cruise ships were abandoned, while most of the peninsula's interior had been designated as a Fanged Moon Tiger reserve under the management of Blanche Company. To the east lay the inland territory of the Ochima Federation... The western coastal area was known as West Town, where Slooe and the other official representatives from Ochima had chosen to settle.

Other than East Town and West Town, there were no proper roads on the island. After a bone-rattling ride, the two off-road vehicles finally entered West Town.

Compared to East Town, which resembled a small tourist city, West Town had no amusement parks. Once night fell, its streets became exceptionally quiet, with hardly any neon lights in sight, as though it belonged to a different era from the East Coast. The two cars pulled up one after another in front of a small hotel.

Slooe stepped out of the lead car, rubbed his thinning hair, and tightened the collar of his trench coat. Kang Jae, in the passenger seat, got out as well. He was not very tall, and his build was nothing special. His spiky, wild hair was dyed yellow with black tiger-stripe patterns. Combined with his not-so-bright mannerisms, he looked exactly like a feral tiger wearing human skin.

Shizuku and the others got out of the second car in succession and followed the two men into the small hotel where they would be staying. They were all dressed in suits, looking especially formal and professional.

However, before entering, Kang Jae, who was following behind Slooe, suddenly turned around and glanced at a bird flapping away from the roof of the second car.

Naturally curious by nature, Shizuku turned to look as well and asked in confusion, "Is there something there?"

"It's a bird," Kang Jae said. "One that was already on that ship. When we got in the cars and left, it seemed to land on the roof of your car. It stayed there until now."

"Really?" Shizuku asked.

"There really were two birds perched on the rocks beside the ship," the others said, inwardly embarrassed.

Like Shizuku, they were amateur Hunters from the civilian world. They had accepted the job after hearing about Slooe's recruitment two days ago. Though they had only known one another for around two days, the black-haired girl's peculiar memory had already left a deep impression on everyone. The most infuriating part was that they remembered her forgetfulness so clearly, while she would forget them the instant she turned around, then look utterly puzzled over why they were all staring at her so strangely...

"But we didn't notice that one of those birds had landed on the roof of the second car."

"It was probably just a coincidence. No need to worry about it."

"Didn't the other one disappear? This one flew away too."

Whispering among themselves, they followed Slooe upstairs. Before going to their respective rooms to rest, they first gathered in Slooe's room.

Slooe swept his gaze over Shizuku and the other temporarily recruited amateur Hunters, then said earnestly, "I estimate that Blanche Company won't readily agree to let us investigate anywhere within the reserve for the first few days. They'll probably only relent after the Kakin authorities show no sign of protest. Babimayna and his people began their investigation the moment they arrived. I'm afraid they want to finish some sort of task as quickly as possible and end this cooperation soon. They may not even wait until the twenty-day period is up..."

After a pause, he loosened his tie and continued, "Starting tomorrow, I will negotiate with Blanche Company as an official representative. Let them delay for as long as they're willing. As for the real investigation, I'll have to rely on you skilled people from the civilian side."

Shizuku raised her hand and asked curiously, "You keep saying investigation, but what exactly are we investigating?"

"The Fanged Moon Tigers?" the other amateur Hunters discussed. "When it comes to this island, it has to be the Fanged Moon Tigers, right? Those precious, endangered protected animals used to exist only within the Kakin Kingdom..."

"Are we going to catch some Fanged Moon Tigers?" Shizuku continued curiously. "I heard those tigers are very beautiful. I really want to see one."

"That is precisely because we know nothing about this place that we need to investigate," Slooe said. "If I had to name a reason, it would be that we want to understand why, for twenty-four years, Kakin's Royal Family has remained so evasive and secretive about this island."

Naturally, Jing Yang had no idea what that group discussed after entering the hotel. Before anyone noticed him, he had already controlled the green bird that had hitched a ride to fly away. After circling around, it landed on the eaves on the other side of the small hotel, choosing a spot where it could watch people entering and leaving through the main entrance.

Possessing this green bird, he and the other green bird near the cruise ship on the North Coast were troubled by the same problem.

If he now canceled the first-person control method, the two green birds would continue carrying out the command he had given before possessing them: whenever they saw a human, they would peck through the person's body with their beaks, activating the self-healing function of the Star Mark to alert him, far away on the East Coast.

It was easy to imagine that the moment he logged off from those two green birds, they would immediately lower their heads and start pecking...

My consciousness has to stay connected first!

Jing Yang controlled both green birds. One kept watch outside the small hotel in West Town, while the other hid in the woods in the wilderness of the North Coast, secretly observing what Babimayna and his group could uncover.

Even Nefipito, one of the Chimera Ant Royal Guards, could not use that absurdly expansive En to monitor beneath the ground. Babimayna, with his cauliflower-like hair and soldierly demeanor, probably would not find the corpses Jing Yang had thrown into the sea or the two bodies he had buried so easily...

Back in the East Coast town, Jing Yang thought from his room in the small inn, Just what I feared. This pursuit arranged by my adoptive mother has actually drawn people who seem to be from the Kakin Kingdom authorities.

With his current puny strength, he could not deal with such a colossal force.

Still, there was plenty of time ahead. Who knew what the future might bring? Jing Yang quietly committed the matter to memory and decided to watch how things developed.

Little Rock Sparrow had long since tilted its head to one side and fallen asleep on the bedsheet as if it were dead.

Jing Yang carried it over to the bedside table, then soon went to rest himself.

Since, even while his main body slept, Jing Yang continued controlling the two scattered green birds from a first-person perspective, it was only natural that he did not sleep very well that night.

The next day, in the room's bathroom, the running faucet was shut off. Jing Yang raised his head, wiped the cold water from his face, and shook it all over Little Rock Sparrow, which was wrestling with its toothbrush and immediately began chirping nonstop.

"Let's go out for breakfast."

Little Rock Sparrow instantly stopped chirping. It eagerly flew onto Jing Yang's shoulder and affectionately rubbed against his cheek.

After breakfast, and after feeding the noisily chirping Little Rock Sparrow, Jing Yang carried a large pile of meat. He sensed the location of the two white birds beside Wu Er, then headed over.

Roar!

In the woods outside East Town, the Fanged Moon Tiger resting beneath a tree suddenly raised its head. Seeing Jing Yang approaching with bags in both hands, it immediately sprang up in delight, leaped forward, and pounced—Jing Yang fell over.

"Haha, quit fooling around."

After playing around for a while, Jing Yang sprang nimbly to his feet. "Wu Er, do you actually want to eat something good? Attention! At ease!"

Wu Er sat down obediently in front of him.

Jing Yang spread out the bags of meat. Under his urging, Wu Er finally could not resist leaning over and tearing into them.

As Jing Yang stroked the fur on the back of the tiger's neck while it ate, he pondered his Manipulator-type Nen Ability.

His current control method was rather rigid and inflexible. It would be great if, after controlling something from a first-person perspective, he could alter the control commands he had already imposed...

With that thought, Jing Yang decided to give it a try.

According to Jing Yang's own guess, his Manipulator-type Nen Ability, Song of the Earth, had formed subconsciously when he faced the wolves' stares and felt a suffocating threat of death. In his desperation to escape that fatal situation by any means possible, he had formed the optimal solution available under those circumstances... Even a series of hidden restrictions had taken shape spontaneously in order to increase its power.

For instance, there had to be a complete Pentagram symbol; the mark had to be imprinted on the target's body surface; his Aura had to come into contact with the Pentagram symbol...

So now, this was his first attempt to actively develop—or rather, optimize—this Manipulator-type ability.

"Brother Tiger, I still have to count on you." Jing Yang stroked the tiger's fur. "These birds are too dumb, and A Lang is dead. Only you can help me develop this. I'll count one, two—"

Wu Er chewed the cooked meat and looked up at the human cub in confusion. The instant the other party counted to two, its consciousness seemed as if a "movie screen" had suddenly gone dark. It was completely obscured, suppressed, and pushed into the deepest recesses of its mind by another consciousness...

At the very bottom of that subconscious layer, everything was almost motionless and fragmented. It could not sense the passage of Ryu.

No one knew how long passed before Wu Er, within its subconscious layer, suddenly gained a vague perception.

It raised its head. In the pitch-black world, a crack tore open, spilling a faint silver light, like the full moon most beloved by Biyue Tigers...

The "movie screen" suddenly lit up again.

Wu Er's consciousness rose through that moonlight within the crack, surfacing from the subconscious layer. Its eyes once again saw the forest scenery, and it could smell the scents around it, but its body no longer belonged to itself. Like a stone, it would not obey its commands.

From far away to near, the delighted voice of that human cub rang out in its mind. "Ha! Just as I thought, my Nen Ability is still developing. It's highly malleable! Wu Er, can you hear me? If you can hear me, answer. If you can hear me, answer..."