He Really Got to Show Off

Ging was your teacher?

Jing Yang did some mental calculations. It was January 1995. There were still four years until twelve-year-old Gon took the Hunter Exam, which meant Ging was only in his twenties now, not yet thirty.

What about this guy in front of them?

Judging by his face, he had to be pushing forty, right?

"What? Is there a problem?" Allantrail looked at Jing Yang.

"No problem," Jing Yang said. "I just think you seem older than Ging Freecss."

Allantrail looked surprised. He studied Jing Yang and asked, "You know Ging?"

"I know him. He doesn't know me," Jing Yang answered honestly.

Allantrail nodded.

Menchi felt like she had heard Jing Yang say something like that somewhere before.

"Let's talk as we walk." Allantrail turned around. "Oh, and since we're all Association members, just call me Allan."

Shizuku reached out to press the Divine Characters at the exit, only to discover that Allantrail was heading in another direction.

The Doll White Fox leaped out and followed Allantrail into a side burial chamber. It stood upright before a stone wall, raised a paw, and smacked it against the surface. The wall immediately began to tremble, then slowly opened to reveal a deep passage more than two meters tall. Allantrail said, "Only Shiro can open this passage."

"Where does it lead?" Shizuku asked curiously.

"Where else?" Jing Yang said. "The amusement park. It might even lead straight to an office."

Menchi said in surprise, "But the person in charge of your company was so adamant before that they had no idea there was some ancient tomb here..."

"They really don't know," Allantrail said.

Jing Yang understood. "The people responsible for the protected area, the amusement park, and managing this secret tomb all work for the same company, but they're not from the same department. Is that it?"

Allantrail smiled. "Let's go."

Jing Yang, Menchi, and Shizuku followed him into the passage. Behind them came the rumbling sound of the stone wall closing. When Jing Yang looked back, a white figure sprang after them. It was Shiro, the so-called remnant Nen inhabiting the Doll White Fox, left behind by Nastie Hui Guo Rou after his soul and consciousness had dissipated...

Shiro swished his tail and padded along on all fours beside Jing Yang like a living white fox. Shizuku watched him with great curiosity.

Nastie Hui Guo Rou... Judging by the name, it was very similar to Nasubi Hui Guo Rou, the current King of Cascadia.

Jing Yang was just over a meter tall now, and with the white fox walking beside him, he could conveniently pet it whenever he wanted. He stroked its fur while sorting through his thoughts.

If he had guessed correctly, this little Nastie had been an unlucky prince who lost the previous Kakin Royal Family succession war over twenty years ago.

Driven by resentment, his Nen had miraculously fused with the Parasitic Nen Beast granted by the succession war ritual and undergone a mutation, haunting the place where this island had originally been... As for why the island had been transferred from Kakin to here out of thin air, one possibility was that the fused and mutated lingering Nen had done it itself. Another was that the lingering Nen, filled with resentment, had become too terrifying, so the Kakin Royal Family had taken action themselves. Whether they performed some ritual or used Nen, they had sent this little lord of vengeance away.

Space Manipulation Nen Abilities were rare, but they were not actually all that uncommon.

Not to mention Nobu's shameless, title-worthy skill, Fourth Dimensional Apartment. For many Emitter Nen Users, instantly switching places with a Nen bullet, Nen beast, or Nen Doll they had released—something like Flying Thunder God or Heavenly Hand Power—was a fairly common application.

But teleporting an entire island out of thin air was genuinely terrifying.

Then again, if it had been done by those freaks from the Hui Guo Rou family, it did not seem all that strange.

What Jing Yang cared about was not that, but himself.

He had always had a suspicion. His dead adoptive mother had drawn the First Prince of Kakin into hunting her down. Maybe she had been some prince's consort, or even a Princess Consort. The body he had inherited and artificially matured might even carry Hui Guo Rou Royal Family blood... But judging by how Shiro showed no hostility toward him at all, perhaps he had been overthinking it.

Halfway through being petted, the Doll White Fox had pale ghostly Aura rise from its head. It stared blankly at Jing Yang with hollow eyes.

"What are you looking at?" Jing Yang asked with a grin.

Of course, there was another possibility.

The adoptive mother he had buried truly had been a Princess Consort or a prince's consort, while the body he had inherited truly did not have Hui Guo Rou blood.

Who said those two things had to contradict each other?

If that's the case, then my adoptive mother really got around! That would explain why she drew so many people into chasing her down...

In any case, no matter whose bloodline this body had inherited, Jing Yang did not think it had anything to do with him. He had transmigrated here; he had not truly been born in this world. He had no ties to anything.

With matters on this island more or less settled, Jing Yang was already planning to head for the three continents on the left side of the world map, where the plot was most densely packed. Kakin was on the right side of the map. At worst, he could simply never return to the Aizen Continent in this lifetime. What did leftover Hui Guo Rou meat have to do with him?

"Strictly speaking, I should have been Ging's teacher."

Allantrail's sudden words from up ahead nearly made Menchi stumble, and Jing Yang's attention was pulled back as well.

Even Shizuku, as adorably vacant as she was, frowned.

Allantrail smiled. "Menchi, Jing Yang, in the year you received your Hunter Licenses, the Association sent experienced Professional Hunter seniors to teach you how to use Nen Abilities, right?"

The passage came to an end, and there was actually an elevator there.

Allantrail pressed the button and stepped inside.

"Yeah," Menchi said. "I got my license last year. Not long after, a Professional Hunter came to find me. What about you, Jing Yang?"

Jing Yang gave a chuckle. "I'm naturally gifted. Why would I need someone to teach me Nen Abilities?"

Menchi bared her teeth at him, but Jing Yang could not be bothered to argue with her.

The elevator started up and rose swiftly.

Allantrail said calmly, "1979... That was about sixteen years ago now. It was the 267th Hunter Exam. Twelve-year-old Ging Freecss was the only examinee to pass and receive a Hunter License. And after that, I was assigned to teach him Nen Abilities."

"Twelve?" Menchi was a little surprised.

What Jing Yang was thinking about, however, was whether Tonpa, the guy who liked giving newcomers laxative drinks, had already been active when Ging took the Hunter Exam. He wondered how Ging had dealt with him.

Shizuku asked curiously, "Did he learn so quickly that you ended up taking him as your teacher instead?"

"What kind of teacher takes a student as his teacher just because the student learns too fast?" Allantrail said.

"Then there's only one possibility," Jing Yang said. "When you met Ging, he was already a Nen User—and stronger than you!"

Allantrail sighed. "That's right..."

With a ding, the elevator reached the top, and the doors slowly opened.

"Far stronger than me." Allantrail slipped one hand into his suit pocket and stepped out of the elevator.

Outside was a spacious room. Half of it was used as an office, while the other half contained a sofa, bookshelves, a small kitchen, and other living amenities.

Jing Yang and Shizuku looked around. Three walls were made of enormous glass windows. This was the top of that tower-like building in the amusement park.

It was already early morning. There were practically no visitors in the amusement park, only a few early-rising cleaners and scattered security guards moving about in the distance.

The moment the Doll White Fox left the elevator, it ran straight for the sofa. Toys were scattered over the carpet, so it seemed he often came here to play.

"Wait, that's not right."

After gazing at the scenery for a while, Menchi suddenly thought of something. She turned back and asked in confusion, "If Ging was already a Nen User when he took the Hunter Exam, why would the Association send a senior Hunter like you to teach him how to awaken his Nen Abilities?"

"Because he never used Nen Abilities during the Hunter Exam," Shizuku said.

Jing Yang sighed. "Damn, he really got to show off!"

Shizuku looked at him with question marks practically floating over her head. She probably did not understand what he meant.

Allantrail recalled, "Even Chairman Netero said that anyone who could fool his eye was truly extraordinary. Ging was something else."

Jing Yang smiled. "Of course he was. At twelve, he made an expert like you willingly acknowledge him."

"I wasn't much of an expert back then," Allantrail said modestly.

Menchi scratched her head and asked, "Oh, right. What about those people who left earlier? Where were they sent when they left through the Divine Characters?"

"Almost forgot."

Allantrail walked behind the desk and pressed some unknown button. Numerous screens descended from the wall, and one after another, they lit up. They were surveillance feeds.

The cameras appeared to be monitoring the insides of Ferris wheel cabins. Babimayna, Dago, and the others were all visible...

Jing Yang and Shizuku exchanged a glance, then looked out the window at the Ferris wheel with the Divine Characters that they had ridden the night before.