Speculations Within X Village

The hotel rooms were quite nice.

In addition to the bedroom, there is also a large kitchen and a small living room.

Besides Bianluoke, the only other people in the building were Kevin and the other three Hunter x Hunter who knew each other.

After going upstairs, they did not rest immediately.

After a quick wash, they gathered again in the small living room.

At this moment, everyone's eyes turned to Gowen.

Just now downstairs, Gowen had inquired about information regarding his sister.

Everyone initially thought that the relevant information would be kept from them to some extent, but to everyone's surprise, Bianluoke was very straightforward and revealed all the information he knew without reservation.

"A Hunter x Hunter, nineteen years ago—I think I know who you're talking about."

"But I was young then and didn't know much. I only knew that it was the last Festival, Festival is held every nineteen to twenty years. So that one left a particularly deep impression on me."

"The Hunter x Hunter did clash with us, but she didn't die at our hands; she perished during the Festival."

"As for the specifics of how he died, I can't say more, since it involves Festival. I'll give you this information for free as a thank you for your generosity."

Kevin didn't hesitate to spend money when asking for information; he paid whatever the other party asked for, which made Bianluoke quite fond of them.

Since then, Gowen's mood has clearly been low.

"Now that you know some things about your sister, I suggest you leave after a while. Their Festival may involve human sacrifice, and judging from your expression, you probably can't accept that."

Men Qi said bluntly.

Although they had only spent a few days together, Gowen's character was easy to see through.

His character is clear to everyone. For Gawain, who possesses Gowen sense of Knight, the act of human sacrifice is absolutely unforgivable.

A conflict is almost certain to occur.

Kevin glanced at Gowen and also felt that he definitely couldn't accept it.

Judging from Gowen's personality and Nen ability, his Nen ability are mostly related to this.

Once Nen ability are involved, things like human sacrifice that cross his bottom line will inevitably lead to conflict.

This is precisely why Gowen's expression was solemn and he remained silent at this moment.

He had long since accepted his sister's passing and never imagined he would see her alive here.

He just wanted to know how his sister died, and whether she was framed or persecuted.

Now it seems that this factor exists, but it also seems to be related to the older sister's own behavior.

They came from a family of Knight, and judging from Gowen's words and actions, even if his sister wasn't as exaggerated as him, she must have been a righteous person.

"Impossible. I must find out exactly what kind of Festival my sister died at. Since I happened to be here during this Festival, this is my only chance."

The next Festival wouldn't be until nineteen or twenty years later, which was simply beyond his ability to wait.

"Moreover, if there are truly cases of innocent sacrifice, I will stop it even if it costs me my life."

Gowen's expression was serious and earnest; he was clearly not joking.

Although the three of them had expected this, Men Qi still couldn't help but show annoyance when Gowen made it clear.

"This is troublesome. What about us? Are we going to attend that Festival that sounds so repulsive?"

After learning that it wasn't Harvest Festival but a Festival, Men Qi became very reluctant to leave at the end of the year.

She loathed this kind of thing from the bottom of her heart, but she had no motivation to stop it, after all, she didn't have that strong a sense of justice.

Out of sight, out of mind. As for Gowen going on his adventure, let him be.

Men Qi had only known him for a few days; offering a few words of advice was already more than enough.

Buhaci shrugged, spread his hands, indicating that he didn't care and was fine with anything.

Having traveled the world for many years, he had witnessed many abhorrent acts of evil, but human sacrifice paled in comparison.

Then, both of them turned their gazes to Kevin, their eyes showing a hint of seriousness.

They had known Kevin for a year, which wasn't a long time, but their friendship had developed rapidly, and they even had business collaborations.

Based on their understanding of Kevin, it's hard to imagine that he would stand idly by if Kevin witnessed a human sacrifice.

"There are still three months, aren't there? I can leave anytime, so there's no rush. Besides, we've only just arrived."

"It hasn't even been a night, and we've only gathered some basic information. It's not appropriate to start making wild guesses right now," Kevin said.

The three of them snapped out of their daze upon hearing Kevin's words.

"You're right, I was too impulsive and not composed enough." Gowen realized his mistake and began to reflect on himself.

"Besides, my goal isn't in the Village, so we can discuss these issues Village in a month or two."

He came here to capture Phantom Beast and find materials; he'll deal with these troublesome matters in the Village after completing his main mission.

After a brief chat, everyone went back to their rooms to rest.

Hunter Association Headquarters.

Inside a training room.

The door opened, and Netero, the Hunter x Hunter Chairman, walked out in a simple vest with a towel around his neck, looking refreshed.

Also emerging from the training room were [Tiger)] and [Wei Yang), both belonging to the Twelve Zodiacs.

[Tiger] is short in stature but has a fierce face, and has tiger-like elements in its body.

[Wei Yang] has a large head, a fat body, fluffy hair like a sheep, and horns decorating its forehead.

"Oh, today was really interesting, thank you all." Netero waved with a smile.

"I am deeply moved, but not overly so," Tiger uttered a strange remark.

"I'm very grateful, but you've used it in the wrong place," Wei Yang remarked from the side.

"Hahaha." Netero laughed a few times without any restraint.

"Alright, you two go and rest first. I have things to do." Netero said, walking away with a relaxed yet slightly helpless expression.

He walked into his office.

There were still some documents piled up on the desk.

The president's Chairman, Green Bean Person, dressed in a suit, hurriedly came forward to greet him.

"There are still so many? Why don't we let Qiduo them?"

"No, Chairman, you have to sign all of these yourself. There are also some important data files that you must review and confirm in person."

The Green Bean Person quickly tried to dissuade him.

He then added, "Besides, Qiduo herself has a lot to do. The legal issues surrounding the [Spiral] organization were at a critical stage. You shouldn't bother others unnecessarily. Moreover, Qiduo is only a member of the Twelve Zodiacs; she doesn't have that much power."

It's unclear whether Netero listened to the Green Bean Person's words, but he suddenly said, "If she doesn't have enough power, then let's make her the Vice Chairman."

He looked smug, clearly pleased with his idea.

Even though the Green Bean Person was used to Netero's way of doing things, he was still quite helpless at this moment and could only raise his voice and say, "You just finalized the Vice Chairman's selection a while ago, you can't change positions so quickly! Chairman, you can't be so capricious, it's time to get to work."

Actually, this is already a streamlined workload; the Twelve Zodiacs will help handle some of the tedious tasks.

The reason there's still such a pile of documents is simply because Netero always procrastinates and only starts working on them when it's almost time to get started.

"Then there's nothing we can do."

Netero sighed, walked listlessly to his desk, and began to work on the documents without much enthusiasm.

Although his attitude was somewhat perfunctory, he read each document very carefully, signing what needed to be signed, returning what needed to be returned, and offering comments where appropriate.

It must be said that he truly lives up to his title as the Chairman of the Hunter Association; besides his exceptional martial arts skills, he is also quite adept at paperwork.

When he got to one of the documents, he slowed down, staring at the information in the document and thinking carefully.

Seeing Netero's unusual behavior, the Green Bean Person curiously approached.

Is there a problem with the entry and exit records for the Secret Realm?

This was just a regular list of information that required the Hunter x Hunter Chairman; Netero could process it with a single glance.

Netero looked at the entry and exit records and a smile appeared on his face.

Netero serves as the chief examiner for the final round of the Hunter Exam every year, so he knows every Hunter x Hunter in the Association.

He knew perfectly well which were promising talents and which were just ordinary Hunter x Hunter. As for the promising newcomers...

He will always pay attention to and remember the other person.

This time, an entry and exit record for the Secret Realm shows that four people entered the Secret Realm at the same time.

He paid attention to three of them and remembered their names; he also had an impression of Xiahara.

If that were all, it wouldn't have made him examine it so closely.

The key point is that the Secret Realm these four entered is the [Food Village] where this year's Festival is being held.

As the Chairman of the Hunter Association, Netero has the right to access important information and related speculations about certain Secret Realm.

"Is this the Festival day of [Food Village]?" Netero suddenly asked.

The Green Bean Person, who was still curiously looking at the files, nodded immediately upon hearing this and seemingly without hesitation organized and searched for the relevant information.

"If nothing unexpected happens, it should be this year, but there's also a chance it will be next year."

Netero nodded, a smile of interest appearing on his face.

"What a coincidence! So, can you bring me a surprise?"

Netero was aware of the problems with this Secret Realm; in his youth, he had even accompanied his companions there.

He originally planned to directly resolve the hidden dangers in that Secret Realm, but unfortunately, they were unlucky; they went there in the year following the Festival.

Netero doesn't have that much time to make agreements that are ten or even twenty years in the future and deal with it then.

Early morning.

It was just dawn, and there weren't many villagers out early to work on the streets of the Small Town.

More villagers didn't emerge from their homes until the sun had fully risen.

At this point, Kevin and the others began to wander around the Village.

The Village reacted in various ways to Kevin and his unfamiliar faces.

Some people glanced at them and then ignored them, while others looked on curiously, and still others came closer, wanting to chat with them.

Kevin and the others did not object to this, chatting with the villagers while strolling through the Village.

They discovered that, apart from younger children, almost all the villagers, starting from teenagers, possessed Nen ability.

After walking around, they discovered that there was only one shop in the entire Village.

The villagers can buy almost all kinds of daily necessities at this shop.

As they passed by the villagers' homes, they saw some villagers preparing various ingredients in their yards.

The villagers used their Nen ability to process the ingredients, and many of the ingredients and processing methods were things that Men Qi and his companions had never seen or even heard of before.

Seeing this, Men Qi and Xiahara were almost unable to move their feet.

They strolled leisurely to the Village Chief's House and exchanged some of the Village's goods.

It's called currency, but it looks like Bone Coin made from the bones of some kind of creature.

Given the size of this Village's population, bartering is actually a fairly common practice, but they are indeed using this kind of Bone Coin now.

When Kevin took the Bone Coin, he sensed a faint longing emanating from it.

Sure enough, it was some kind of biological material, but the quality wasn't very high, probably around the average level of C-Rank.

Then they went to the Village square.

The square is circular and covers a considerable area. In the center of the square is a platform built of raw stone, with a slender, gray-black pillar of unknown material standing in the middle of the platform.

"They can't stray too far from the Village, so where did they get this food? Judging from Village surrounding area, the Hunter Association doesn't seem to be transporting any food, meaning they obtained it themselves."

Xiahara asked in confusion.

He and Men Qi had already planned to use the money they earned to learn cooking from the Village chef.

But before that, they were curious about where these villagers got their food, since they were confined here.

The scope of the activity is limited.

"Why worry about this? Just go back and spend some money to have Bianluoke answer our questions."

Men Qi said indifferently.

They were wandering Village early this morning, just trying to find out what was going on in this locked-down Village.

"So how about we split up for now?" Kevin suggested, looking at the group.

Everyone has their own things to do. Now that we've taken a walk Village and have a general understanding of the situation, there's really no need to keep gathering together.

Upon hearing Kevin's suggestion, the group nodded in agreement and then dispersed.

Men Qi and Xiahara naturally went to find the Village cook; Gowen went to chat with the villagers he had just met, trying to learn more about the situation from the sidelines; Kevin went straight to the Village Library.

Strangely enough, there was a Library in this Village. Kevin also very curious about why there was such a building.

The Library is not large; it's a two-story building. Inside, rows and rows of bookshelves line the walls, filled with all sorts of books.

An elderly woman is cleaning.

"Oh dear, what a rare guest! I don't think I've seen you before?" the old woman said to Kevin, her broom disappearing instantly.

Seeing this, Kevin couldn't help but complain. The materialized item was a broom. The way the Nen user here used their abilities seemed too close to everyday life.

"I'm Kevin, Hunter x Hunter just arrived here last night."

"Oh, so you're a guest. Feel free to read if you want, but please don't damage the books."

"If you see any damaged books, you can give them to me. I'm not in good health, so I can only trouble outsiders with these things."

The old woman finished speaking with a smile and then gestured for Kevin to feel free to look around.

Kevin wandered around the Library, browsing through the books.

He discovered that about half of the books came from outside the village, and were published after the Village was sealed off, indicating that they were brought in by the Hunter Association or past Hunter x Hunter.

The other half consisted of the Village's existing collection of books, which were what Kevin was truly interested in.