See You Again (Part 2)

There were no truly unsolvable Nen Abilities.

Looking at the Rose Gold Star Mark on Muser's left temple, shattered by the bullet, Jing Yang immediately thought of those words.

He examined Muser's mangled gunshot wound.

The Rose Gold Star Mark that had originally been on his left temple had vanished completely. There was no trace of a Pentagram around the torn edges of the wound either. It seemed that the moment the Star Mark was destroyed, it dissipated entirely, probably just like how it automatically vanished when he touched a mark with his hand.

Moreover, the wound showed no signs of healing, and his body temperature had already fallen below that of a living person. Everything pointed to the fact that Muser was dead.

Jing Yang vaguely remembered that before waking up, when he heard the gunshot, he had hazily felt a familiar "Death Qi" burrow into his heart.

He had no idea how many more bursts of Death Qi his poor little heart could take before it gave out again...

Nor did he know how many years his body would inexplicably grow the next time it gave out...

For the moment, Jing Yang put aside such self-inflicted worries and muttered to himself, "When a Star Mark bearer is injured, the mark automatically activates, drawing upon the bearer's own Aura, or some deeper life energy, to heal them... This triggered healing ability is powerful, but if the Star Mark itself is destroyed, then I lose an operable Star Mark, and the bearer loses the healing effect granted by it..."

In other words, if he wanted to kill someone controlled by his Star Mark, all he had to do was target the mark?

Not quite...

There was a prerequisite: he had to place the Star Mark on a vital spot beforehand.

Otherwise, if he put the Star Mark on someone's palm, then even if he smashed that person's hand to pulp, it would not guarantee an instant kill. The healing ability granted by the Star Mark would indeed be erased, but the other person would also break free from the Star Mark's control. That momentary gap might very well give the enemy an opening to kill him instead...

As Jing Yang pondered his Nen Abilities, he gestured for Wu Er, who was peeking in from the doorway, to help.

Although Wu Er still bore Jing Yang's Rose Gold Star Mark on his abdomen, so long as the mark remained dormant and Jing Yang did not actively activate it, its manipulation mechanism would not be triggered.

In other words, it was not because he was affected by the Star Mark's control or had received Jing Yang's command. Wu Er simply wanted to help. Hearing him, he immediately strolled into the room, picked up Muser's corpse in his jaws, and followed Jing Yang out.

"Jing Wolf," meanwhile, dealt with the bloodstains along the way.

After leaving the cabin and stepping onto the deck, where the sea breeze blew softly, they found the distant horizon already tinged white.

Just as Wu Er was about to shove Muser's corpse into the sea, Jing Yang suddenly said, "Wait."

Tiger stopped, flicked his tail, and looked back at him.

"Jing Wolf" came running out as well, dragging a heavy object behind him. Jing Yang tied the weight to Muser's corpse with rope, and Wu Er pushed both into the sea. With a splash, the corpse sank along with the weight. The waves rose and fell, and everything seemed normal. Leaning against the railing, Jing Yang watched the sea. Perhaps he had suffered too many shocks in succession since crossing over, but he could actually dispose of a corpse so calmly. That was honestly rather impressive.

There was not much sleepiness left in him anyway. Seeing that it was already the middle of the night, Jing Yang did not intend to go back to sleep. He turned and headed into the cabin to make preparations before leaving.

Ordinarily, this frail five-year-old body of his should have been physically and mentally exhausted after fighting the wolf pack and Muser one after another from yesterday evening until late at night. And based on Jing Yang's experience from his previous life, after suddenly engaging in strenuous activity and then sleeping deeply, he should definitely wake up the next day aching all over, perhaps too sore even to crawl out of bed...

Jing Yang touched the Star Mark on the back of his neck. Thanks to this thing's healing ability, after sleeping for a night, he did not feel sore anywhere at all. He was not merely refreshed—he was absurdly refreshed.

If he used it for training...

Jing Yang could not help smiling. Wasn't this basically like carrying around a budget version of Biscuit's "Massage Lady"?

Fortunately, he still remembered that this was no place to linger. Otherwise, he would have loved to begin systematic Nen Ability training right here on the spot.

"Let's see what I need to prepare... A bundle of rope. One bottle of fuel should do. Take a few extra lighters. And a roll of coarse cloth. A cleaver—right, Brother Tiger, come help me reach it... Mm, one cleaver. Is there a shovel? There is, great. And... fresh water. There are only some compressed biscuits left for food. That will have to do."

Jing Yang split up with Wu Er and "Jing Wolf," searching every inch of the cabin, inside and out, top to bottom. There were plenty of useful supplies, but they were too inconvenient to carry, so he could only give them up. In the end, he selected just a few necessities. The bottles and bags, along with the bundle of rope, were all hung on the big tiger, making Wu Er stare at Jing Yang with an innocent expression.

"The capable ones do more work." Jing Yang patted the tiger's head, then took a moment to visit the ship's bathroom. Sitting on the wolf's back, he brushed his teeth and washed his face. Looking at his brand-new appearance in the mirror, he said, "Let's go!"

One tiger and one wolf darted ashore.

Standing on the bow, Jing Yang checked that he had the Hunter License and cash on him.

He looked toward the shore. "I hope we find a town soon... Wu Er, can you stop staring around on shore? Get back here and carry me up."

The sky was faintly bright. The patterns on the Fanged Moon Tiger's body no longer carried that jade-green glow, so it seemed they only appeared at night. Hearing him, it leaped back down. Only after Jing Yang climbed onto its back did it lightly bound back onto shore. Jing Yang recalled the direction from which the first gunshot had come last night and gestured for Wu Er to run that way.

With the wolf's nose to help him, Jing Yang quickly followed the scent of blood to his target—the person Muser had likely shot dead.

A flock of black crows had gathered around the body. Noticing the approach of Jing Yang, the wolf, and the tiger, they all spread their wings and flew away.

"Birds? Birds are useful..."

Jing Yang watched the flock of crows fly off and muttered to himself. Then he rode Tiger closer to the corpse and examined it carefully for a while, but he still could not tell whether this long-dead fellow had been the owner of the Hunter License he had seized. One thing, however, was certain: since Muser had been the villain hunting down their side, then this man killed by Muser must have been a fallen ally.

Jing Yang had Wu Er help move the man's remains onto the Wild Wolf's back. Then, using the small cruise ship by the shore to get his bearings, he headed toward the place where he had awakened yesterday.

Upon arriving, Jing Yang picked up the cleaver and began cutting grass, hacking down the bizarre, conspicuous clump of grass taller than a person. "Jing Wolf" dragged the corpses out of the grass one by one, then worked with Wu Er to bind them together in loops. The two beasts combined their strength to drag away the large mass of bodies and dump it into the sea not far away.

On their way back, "Jing Wolf" and Wu Er used the coarse cloth brought from the ship to roughly wipe away the obvious bloodstains along the route. They also deliberately scuffed up many other places.

Jing Yang did not know whether it would help, or whether he was merely outsmarting the air. In any case, he would do what he could and leave the rest to fate.

After cutting away more than half the grass, Jing Yang was already panting from exhaustion. Wu Er used his claws to handle the rest.

Sitting on the ground and watching Wu Er busy himself cutting grass, Jing Yang suddenly said, "Say, Brother Tiger, when this patch of grass grew wildly because I absorbed Death Qi, you were nearby, weren't you?"

After finishing the weeds, Wu Er walked over with a low growl and rubbed his big head against him.

"No, that can't be it. If you merely witnessed something like that, there's no reason for you, king of beasts, to treat me so well, right?" Jing Yang stroked Tiger's head, then suddenly scrutinized him. "Were you injured yesterday? And did your injuries heal because of the energy that leaked out after I absorbed Death Qi and fell unconscious?"

"Roar~" Wu Er naturally could not speak. He only continued nuzzling Jing Yang affectionately.

Jing Yang thought about it for a while, then shrugged. Whatever.

He controlled the Wild Wolf to gather all the weeds into one pile, then poured fuel over them.

Jing Yang took out a lighter, but suddenly had an idea. He thought of a question he had overlooked.

His Nen Ability clearly let him manipulate targets after placing a Star Mark on them, but why... could he manipulate hair and blood with Nen?

Neither strands of hair nor blood had Star Marks on them.

"Of the Four Great Principles of Nen training—'Ten,' 'Zetsu,' 'Ren,' and 'Hatsu'—everything I've used from beginning to end has actually fallen within the scope of 'Hatsu'..." Jing Yang turned the lighter over in his hand as he weighed the thought. "I can't use 'Zetsu,' much less 'Ren.' Even my perception of Aura is fuzzy and unreliable. Yet I'm quite good at 'Hatsu,' the actual application of Nen Abilities..."

What was this? Was he naturally gifted—unable to walk, yet somehow teaching himself how to fly?

If that was the case, then manipulating hair and blood... was, in essence, also part of his "Hatsu." In other words, it was likewise an extension of his Manipulator Nen Ability!

Like two sides of a coin.

On one side was the Rose Gold Pentagram, using marks to manipulate; on the other was pure Nen aura, manipulating things by enveloping them in Nen aura...

Jing Yang tried to recall the sensation of manipulating hair with Nen aura. He wrapped the warm, invisible, formless, liquid-like Aura in his hand around the lighter. Soon, the lighter floated up from his hand, but before it could wobble forward even a few inches, it fell to the ground with a clatter. Jing Yang felt as if he had been drained dry in an instant, and his arm dropped limply.

He rubbed his hand, picked up the fallen lighter, and thoughtfully began to understand the difference between the two forms of manipulation.

① Star Mark manipulation. It consumed Nen aura only once, at the moment he placed the mark on a target. All subsequent manipulation consumed the target's own energy instead.

② Nen aura enveloping manipulation. The amount of Nen aura he needed to output depended on the volume and mass of the object being manipulated. He had not noticed it when manipulating hair strands and droplets of blood, but manipulating a single lighter just now had instantly left him feeling drained... This type of manipulation seemed to continuously consume energy. However, after he canceled the manipulation, some of the Nen aura that had not been fully consumed returned to him, allowing Jing Yang to recover a little strength.

In that case, calling his Manipulator Nen Ability Star Mark was no longer quite accurate... He should give it another name...

Jing Yang manually lit the pile of grass with the lighter. Watching the flames roar as they caught the fuel, he considered a new name for his Nen Ability. He thought of Golden Spirit or Black Will, but then reconsidered and gave up on both. In the end, he settled on a name for his Manipulator ability—"Song of the Earth."

After putting away the lighter and tossing the coarse cloth into the fire, Jing Yang turned around and had the Wild Wolf once more carry the remains of the suspected Professional Hunter, as well as...

Jing Yang looked at the final remaining corpse—the woman who was likely this body's birth mother.

"I do feel bad about leaving you all exposed in the wilderness like this," he said. "You should at least be laid to rest."

Jing Yang had Wu Er carry the woman's body while the Wild Wolf carried the other corpse, and they left together as the fire continued burning behind them.

After moving a little farther from the "crime scene," Jing Yang remotely controlled the Wild Wolf to swing the shovel and dig a pit. It was not like it would tire him out... When the Wild Wolf got tired, Wu Er came to help. To be honest, making two beasts use shovels was quite difficult even with Jing Yang's assistance, but it was still far more efficient than doing it himself.

It took nearly an hour of struggle to dig a pit. They placed the suspected Professional Hunter's remains inside, pushed the earth back over him, and leveled the ground. Jing Yang tried his best to pack down and smooth the top layer of soil.

Then, carrying the shovel—the Wild Wolf carried it—they chose another direction at random and traveled some distance. The boy, tiger, and wolf repeated the process, spending nearly another hour digging a deeper pit.

They placed the woman's body at the bottom. They filled in the pit and smoothed the ground. Jing Yang was drenched in sweat, covered in dirt and ash, and utterly exhausted.

He patted the ground and muttered, "Asking me to treat you as my real mother is honestly a bit much."

"But... recognizing you as my godmother is no problem!"

Jing Yang knelt down and knocked his head against the ground three times. He was so tired that his legs nearly gave out when he tried to stand, and he had to lean against Wu Er's tiger back to catch his breath.

He looked up at the sun, which was probably already around seven or eight o'clock. The morning breeze mingled with the sea wind, bringing wave after wave of coolness. Behind him was the sea, ahead was the forest. Seagulls and early-rising birds called out one after another, their cries seeming alternately near and far... Jing Yang took a deep breath and smiled. "Goodbye. I'm leaving!"

With that, he swung himself onto Tiger's back and rode off, with a Wild Wolf close behind.