Farewell, Departure

"Okay." Shizuku sat down across from him and held out her left arm.

Jing Yang smiled as he watched her position her left hand. "Is your dominant hand your left? Then why did you use your right hand at the amusement park last time?"

"Because you held out your right hand, so I just went with it..."

"Then we'll use the left this time." Jing Yang looked around. "Do you have any lipstick?"

"I don't use lipstick. How about lip balm?"

"No. It has to be something that leaves a clear mark."

Jing Yang looked around Shizuku's room and eventually found a marker.

He took out the ink cartridge, flicked it with a finger, and snapped it in half. Using the oily ink, he drew a Pentagram on his own left palm.

Under Shizuku's curious gaze, Jing Yang leisurely returned to the table and firmly clasped her left hand with his own.

"We can start whenever you're ready," Jing Yang said with a smile.

"..." Shizuku's glasses slid halfway down her nose as she stared in surprise at her utterly motionless left hand. At that moment, she could not control her body at all. It was as though she had become a prisoner trapped within her own flesh, able only to peer at the outside world through her eyes.

Jing Yang suddenly said, "Lose to me."

As his words fell, Shizuku found that she could sense her body again, as though she had surfaced from the sea and seen daylight once more.

But her body did not fully obey her commands.

The back of her left hand slowly, involuntarily descended toward the table on the left...

Jing Yang won with ease.

Once she had lost, Shizuku regained her freedom.

She raised her left hand in surprise and looked at the Pentagram ink mark transferred from Jing Yang's palm onto hers, as well as the Rose Gold Five-Pointed Star Mark that had somehow appeared over the drawing.

Shizuku suddenly understood. "No matter which hand I'd used that day, I could never have beaten you."

Jing Yang slapped the Star Mark on her left palm. It burst apart and vanished.

"My ability isn't any worse than your Blobfish, is it?" Jing Yang asked with a grin.

At the same time, several birds flew in through the open window. Among them, the gray Rock Sparrow shot toward Jing Yang with a whoosh, still chirping endlessly, as energetic as ever.

Yet Shizuku still did not remember ever having seen these birds.

"I'm a Manipulator. The mark on your hand just now was the mark that enabled manipulation." Jing Yang manipulated the Rock Sparrow, making it fly onto Shizuku's shoulder. "I think you've already experienced what it feels like when I manipulate you. So, at certain times, you can treat these birds as if they were me."

"Oh..." Shizuku nodded thoughtfully. Then she spread open her left hand and said to the Rock Sparrow on her shoulder, "Come onto my hand."

The Rock Sparrow spread its wings, hopped down, and landed in Shizuku's palm.

"Do a somersault," Shizuku said.

Like he was controlling a game character, Jing Yang watched the Rock Sparrow and made it do a somersault in Shizuku's palm.

"Fly around my hand once," Shizuku said again.

Flutter, flutter... The Rock Sparrow flapped its wings and nimbly circled Shizuku's hand before landing back in her palm.

"Shizuku, you smiled again." Jing Yang looked at her face.

"Did I?" Shizuku asked, somewhat puzzled. She raised a hand to touch the corner of her mouth, then looked at the little gray bird in her palm. "Maybe I just thought it was interesting."

"Let's try your Blobfish again and explore its limits." Jing Yang was eager to get started. "It'd be much more convenient if you could take things out whenever you sucked them in, like a four-dimensional pocket. The fact that it can't suck up living creatures is a little inconvenient, though. That's probably the Blobfish's core restriction, part of its underlying logic. It probably won't be easy to change..."

"Okay." Shizuku waved a hand once more and materialized the vacuum cleaner with its gaping grin.

The morning passed quickly as the two tested and discussed their abilities.

It was not until Menchi called that they realized lunchtime had long passed. They were supposed to be training with Menchi in the outskirts by now.

"Shizuku, I've been waiting for you two forever! Where are you?" Menchi complained over the phone.

Jing Yang weighed his new phone in his hand, thinking that he still needed to get a SIM card.

"Jing Yang is with you?" Menchi asked suspiciously. "Shizuku, you space out all day long. Don't let that guy Jing Yang, with all those bad thoughts in his head, trick you."

"No," Shizuku said, looking at Jing Yang.

Jing Yang spoke toward her phone. "Watch your mouth when you talk behind someone's back, or your cooking might not taste good! We're coming."

After hanging up, Jing Yang took Shizuku straight to the outskirts...

It was another plain, unadorned afternoon of training.

First, they went through the fundamentals together—Ten, Zetsu, Ren, Gyo, and so on. Then they took turns activating Ken, stubbornly enduring Aura's constant depletion and recovery to extend their total duration and increase their Nen quantity...

With Menchi's green seasoning providing godlike Aura and health recovery, the three repeatedly pushed themselves until dusk. Jing Yang successfully extended his Ken to just over 105 minutes, Shizuku to 122 minutes, and Menchi to just over 7 minutes.

Jing Yang had 6,329 Aura, Shizuku had 7,349 Aura, and Menchi had 455 Aura.

The satisfaction of gains accumulated bit by bit, visible to the naked eye, was something only those who had experienced it could understand.

Jing Yang let out a long breath of stale air.

With his current overall strength, opponents at Galo's level would be easy to handle even if he gave them one hand.

On the ground nearby, Menchi and Shizuku were both so exhausted that they silently ate the remaining biscuits with green seasoning to recover their strength.

Night fell. Lying on the bed in the little inn, Jing Yang gazed at the moonlight outside the window.

With the privileges granted by a Hunter License, even if Fanged Moon Tigers were endangered protected animals, adopting one probably would not be impossible.

But his Hunter License was a Black License he had picked up.

Civilian businesses like roadside internet cafés and small inns naturally could not access the Hunter Association's system to verify his identity. But if he wanted to adopt a Fanged Moon Tiger, he would likely need to deal with all sorts of official organizations, and those organizations could probably obtain the true identity of the Professional Hunter tied to his Hunter License from the Hunter Association...

Blanchette Company was responsible for the preserve on this island, but that did not mean it owned all these Fanged Moon Tigers. To adopt one, he might have to negotiate with the authorities of Kakin or Ochima, perhaps even haggle among all three parties, including Blanchette.

Although he had gotten along quite well with Allantrail Blanchette, they were not close enough for Jing Yang to ask him for such a major favor. Menchi had a legitimate Hunter License and did not fear scrutiny, but she was also just a newcomer with ambitions of becoming a Gourmet Hunter. Asking her to adopt Wu Er, the Fanged Moon Tiger, for him felt too embarrassing.

Besides, with how little strength he had now, was it not a bit too flashy to parade around with an endangered tiger?

It would be nice if Shizuku's Blobfish could suck up living creatures...

Jing Yang rubbed his hair and went to sleep.

The next day, at six in the morning.

The sky was just beginning to brighten when Jing Yang came alone to the woods. Under his manipulation and guidance, Wu Er emerged from deep within the forest and affectionately rubbed against him.

Jing Yang suddenly shouted into the silent woods, "Shiro! Shiro, are you there?"

"Chirp, chirp!" The Rock Sparrow flew in from behind and landed on Jing Yang's head.

"Not you. You're Little Gray." Jing Yang caught the little gray bird, then turned around to see Shizuku following him. "Did I wake you? I'll be done soon. We still have to catch a ship from West Town port at eight."

"Be done?" Shizuku looked curious.

Just as Jing Yang was about to call "Shiro" again, he and Shizuku noticed a pale, boyish ghost emerge like drifting smoke from the ground, like a little earth deity. He stared blankly at Jing Yang.

Jing Yang stroked Wu Er's tiger head. "Shiro, since we've hit it off, I'll leave Brother Tiger in your care for now."

Wu Er rubbed against him. Shiro was pale all over, and it was impossible to tell whether his expression had changed. He even seemed less lively than when he had inhabited the Doll White Fox.

Jing Yang smiled and held out his hand. "If you agree, let's high-five."

Shiro froze for a moment. Under Wu Er's watchful gaze, he extended his pale little hand and silently slapped Jing Yang's palm.

At 7:30 in the morning, the ship at West Town port was ready to depart. Some tourists were already boarding one after another, chatting and laughing as they stood on the deck at the bow, enjoying the sea breeze.

"Over here!" Dago and the others waved from beside the ship.

Jing Yang, Shizuku, and Menchi boarded in turn. A gust of sea wind swept over them, and Jing Yang turned back to look at Ghost Island. His thoughts were turbulent. In just over half a month, he had gone from nearly ending up in a wolf's belly to achieving something at last. His current strength might not let him swagger through Hunter World, but at least he could walk through it upright, right?

In the distance, at the edge of the woods, he saw Fanged Moon Tiger Wu Er with a pale ghost perched atop its head, looking in his direction.

"Chirp, chirp!" The Rock Sparrow circled above the ship with two crows.

"Jing Yang, let's go!" Menchi urged from behind. "The ship's leaving."

"Coming." Jing Yang waved to Wu Er and Shiro from afar. The next time he came back, he should have enough ability to lead a tiger around the world on a leash.

He smiled, turned around, and entered the crowd on the deck, heading into the cabin with Shizuku and the others.

Riding the waves in the sea breeze, the ship slowly departed the ghostly little island and sailed toward Geleburg, the nearest Ochima port city...