Peaceful and Tranquil X Imaginary Continent

"It's so peaceful."

The Exploration Team's ship sailed on the calm sea.

On deck.

Morel lay on the deck chair, basking in the sunlight.

Life is so pleasant.

This was the first time in so many years that Morel had felt so relaxed; it had been a long time since he had felt this way.

"Yes, no matter what, it's impossible to relax like this on the Dark Continent."

Zaharut sat there on the deck, leaning against the railing, a roasted leg in her hand.

"Puff!"

The sound of splashing water came from not far away.

Morel tilted his head to take a look.

Qi jumped directly off the deck.

Gon followed closely behind.

The two of them darted away in the water like swordfish, leaving long trails in their wake.

The Three-Tails sat at the front and clapped its hands incessantly.

"Go! Go!"

The two people below are clearly having a swimming competition.

Suddenly, the water turned pitch black.

What's Saiyu towards us from underwater?

Because of the commotion the two made on the sea, the enormous sea monster suddenly burst out of the water.

"Ha ha!"

Laughing in Kiy, he leaped from the sea the instant the monster broke through the water, landing steadily on the tip of its nose.

This is a huge fish shaped like a whale, with a pointed head and a dorsal fin.

"Scissors!"

Gon shouted from the side, brought his two fingers together, and unleashed a slash of light.

With a flash of light, the blade slashed.

Blood spurted out, and the Unicorn Horn was chopped off.

The ethereal buzzing sound indicated that the Unicorn Horn had suffered a painful cry as it fell into the water, leaving bloodstains on the surface before its body sank and escaped.

Qi didn't care, grabbed the Unicorn Horn and jumped onto the deck, with Gon following closely behind.

So it wasn't a swimming competition after all.

The three of them then ran off to the side, holding the Unicorn Horn, to examine it.

Laughing and joking, you really can't see such a scene in the Dark Continent.

Above the bridge.

The top of the control tower.

Melusina was holding a camera and had just taken a picture of what had just happened.

She's taken a lot of photos these past few days.

Of course, each one contains the joyful laughter of her daughter.

Kevin chuckled beside him, neither stopping him nor interfering, but simply asked, "Where did you get the camera?"

He took the camera from Melusina and examined it carefully, turning it over and over.

"I don't recall any of the goods we brought being like this?"

The cameras they brought were specifically designed for photographing various objects; they were used for scientific research.

This is clearly a civilian-use camera.

"This is what I asked Bellolight to do."

"Oh, right, there's this convenient option too."

Kevin slapped his forehead, remembering this incident.

"But without the materials, we can't print the film. We have to leave the negatives in the machine and get them developed later."

Melusina said with a sigh.

He put the machine away and turned to look at Kevin beside him.

Kevin then spaced out again, staring at the sea ahead, but his attention was clearly elsewhere.

Melusina poked his cheek.

"Still thinking about the Undying disease?"

"Um."

Kevin nodded, without giving a perfunctory answer.

"There's no use thinking about it so much; you'll find out when you get back."

Kevin said helplessly, "I'm not going to think about these things anymore."

I calculated the time.

"Are we about to reach Imaginary New Continent?"

"I don't know, I didn't notice."

The rare moment of peace allowed everyone on board to relax considerably.

Perhaps this sea area is still dangerous, unlike human society.

But for them, it was already a very safe environment.

Furthermore, being back in the human sphere, the feeling of letting go of all the pressure in one's heart is truly relaxing.

Kevin smiled, shook his head, and jumped down.

Distance to the Imaginary New Continent.

There are less than three days left.

These three days passed in the blink of an eye.

In the distance, a coastline came into view at the edge of the horizon.

We're almost there! We're almost there!

Men Qi gazed into the distance and said excitedly.

They are about to return to human society, even if it's just Imaginary New Continent.

In just half a day, they gradually drew closer.

The ship sped up and circled around for a while before spotting other ships.

Soon we saw the port where we had left.

At this time, the B.W. Liner was docked at the port.

The enormous whale-shaped ships occupied almost half of the harbor.

"After being away for several years, the ports on the mainland have only seen a small expansion."

After observing for a moment, Bellolight said, "I thought there would be some earth-shattering changes."

The ship slowly approached the harbor.

A patrol speedboat approached.

"Why is there no code? And no signal? Who are you?"

On the yacht, three soldiers pointed their guns at the vessel.

Morel walked to the bow of the ship and looked at the three soldiers on the yacht.

The moment they saw Morel, the three soldiers' eyes widened, and they even held their breath.

He clenched his teeth, but his body couldn't help but lean forward.

"Who... who are you? Tell me now!"

Seeing the situation of the three, Morel was a little puzzled, but he still tossed the Hunter License he had kept all this time from his pocket.

One of them almost dropped his gun, but quickly caught it.

Take a look.

Hunter License.

And he's Star Rank Hunter x Hunter.

I scanned the card on the card reader next to me and received confirmation of the information.

The Hunter License possesses such extraordinary abilities.

Any card reader can read the relevant information.

"I'm sorry, please come with us, we'll guide you into the port."

Holding his Hunter License, he tried to get closer, but couldn't get past him at all.

Let's talk about it once we're ashore.

"Yes, yes."

The soldier nodded.

The yacht immediately started moving away from them.

Morel frowned slightly as he watched this scene.

He turned and went onto the deck, looking at the waiting crowd.

The ship started moving again and slowly approached the shore.

"Do I look that scary? Those three soldiers were almost scared to death," Morel said helplessly.

Kevin has experience in this area.

He glanced at Morel, then at the others.

"We just returned from the Dark Continent, and we're still full of wildness. We can't even recognize this aura ourselves because we've long been accustomed to it. Even if we try to restrain ourselves, we're still like wild beasts."

A similar situation occurred when he returned last time, and this time it will only be worse.

The group looked at each other, and to be honest, they didn't feel anything.

The ship slowly approached the shore.

Several soldiers and staff stood at the riverbank.

The moment Kevin and the others disembarked and stepped onto land.

The staff members held their breath and instinctively took a step back.

"It's land."

Qi was the first to jump, followed closely by Gon.

"You two! You're not children anymore, be more mature!"

Biscuit followed behind and scolded him a couple of times.

Keep in mind that both of them are now seventeen years old, and they already look like young adults.

He was no longer the boy he was when he was about to step into the Dark Continent.

Hearing the reprimand, Qi coughed and became serious.

The staff members didn't dare to move forward, as if they had seen a monster.

But there were clearly people in front of me.

They felt as if they were facing some kind of ferocious murderer, and were terrified.

But then I thought that maybe the other person was Professional Hunter, and that's just how it should be.

They hesitated for a while, unable to move forward.

Suddenly, they felt a tap on the shoulder. A bespectacled man, who looked like a sharp, white-collar professional, walked past them.

Leave this to me.

The group nodded immediately upon seeing him, handed him the Hunter License, and ran off.

"Nobu!"

Morel exclaimed in surprise. He never expected that Nobu would be waiting for them here. He rushed over and hugged Nobu.

Haha, isn't that a pleasant surprise?

Nobu asked with a smile.

"Of course, I never expected you to be waiting for us here. Was it arranged by the Chairman?"

Nobu adjusted his Golden Thread glasses and nodded.

"Six months ago, the Chairman approached me and said that you might be coming back soon, so he asked me to come here and wait for you."

As he spoke, he tilted his head and looked at the boat moored on the shore.

"To be honest, the reason I didn't pick you up immediately is because your ship has changed appearance. Do you even have time to modify a ship before heading to the Dark Continent?"

Nobu was somewhat curious.

He knew about Morel's ships, so he had been paying attention to their appearance, never expecting they would change ships.

"Some minor mishaps."

After he finished speaking, Kevin and the others came over.

Nobu looked at them, scanning them one by one, actually counting their numbers. Sure enough, a few people were missing.

"To be honest, it's much more complete than I expected. I thought I'd only see a few people returning."

"Crow."

Koto, of course, recognized Nobu. She rolled her eyes and muttered a curse.

"Wow, you guys have quite the presence. This isn't the place to talk. Come with me."

As he spoke, he led them into the city.

Everyone looked around.

It's been so long since I've seen human-built architecture, and so long since I've entered a human city; a sense of familiarity arises spontaneously.

Everything in this city is brand new, but it's also clear that there aren't many tall buildings; there are mostly three- or four-story buildings, with the most being seven or eight stories, and there are only a few of them.

Further out, you can see many temporary campsite tents.

However, with so many people coming and going, this Small Town- like city does indeed have a large population.

Kevin and his group walked forward, and many people, like startled rabbits, kept their distance.

Some people don't even dare to look at it.

"Can't you sense the aura emanating from yourselves?"

Nobu walked ahead and couldn't help but ask.

Because it seems they have no intention of backing down.

Morel walked beside him and shook his head.

"To be honest, I didn't feel anything at first, but now I seem to realize that something's wrong with us."

They had no points of reference to each other, so their auras seemed pretty much the same.

Now that they've landed and are compared to the ordinary people around them, they realize how arrogant and wild they are, as if they've just returned from the wilderness.

Of course, that is indeed the case.

Nobu chuckled twice and said, "If I didn't know your personalities, I probably would have run away by now."

They arrived at a six-story building and led them inside.

Some staff members could be seen.

This is clearly the Hunter Association's branch office in the Imaginary New Continent.

After all, this place is too far from the human world.

And the staff working here obviously knew some of them.

Their eyes widened in surprise as they watched them return.

"It seems we can't keep this a secret any longer."

Pairo looked at it and couldn't help but say something.

Biscuit was standing next to him, rolled her eyes at him when she heard this.

"How could we possibly keep it a secret? You're overthinking it. Once we start interacting with people, our information will get out very quickly."

Unless they Imaginary New Continent without ever setting foot on it.

But such concealment is pointless.

Upon arriving at the top floor, we found it to be a large Meeting Room.

Everyone casually took their seats.

Nobu then turned around and carefully observed the crowd.

There were no missing limbs or broken legs, no listlessness, only a shortage of personnel.

To be honest, Nobu didn't expect that Kim would also be gone.

"Jin—he."

Just as he was about to say something, Biscuit waved her hand to interrupt him.

"Idiot, we didn't lose any people; they were just left behind on the Dark Continent."

These words stunned Nobu.

Even in death, they remain on the Dark Continent.

But I suspect that's not what Biscuit meant.

What does it mean to have remained on the Dark Continent?

I couldn't help but ask.

"It means exactly what it says, you idiot. I don't remember you ever being this stupid before."

Morel quickly chimed in, "We've built a Forward Base on the Dark Continent. The people you see who haven't returned are the personnel who stayed behind at the base."

Upon hearing this, Nobu couldn't help but take a step back; he was genuinely frightened.

They stared at them in disbelief.

"You mean—you stayed on the Dark Continent for three years, without losing a single person, and even built a Forward Base?"

Dreaming, right here.

Reason told him it was impossible, but reason also told him that these people in front of him couldn't possibly be lying to him.

Is that correct?

Nobu sat in his chair, scratching his head in disbelief.

It took me a while to calm down before I finally looked up.

How did you do that?

As he spoke, he glanced at Morel, then at Biscuit, and then swept his gaze over the other Twelve Zodiacs.

The message conveyed in their eyes was self-evident.

I won't go into the others, but do you think I don't know you guys?

Hey! What's with that look you're giving me?

Koto was immediately annoyed and glared at him, asking a question.

After speaking, he unleashed his imposing aura without hesitation.

Nobu was instantly provoked, jumped back two steps, and assumed a defensive stance.

After the procedure was completed, he finally realized what had happened and stood there stunned.

"You... you're so amazing?"

He spoke with a hint of disbelief.

For a brief moment, he felt like he was facing the Chairman.

His wildness and aggressive nature even make him more dangerous than the Chairman.

He finally calmed down.

He glanced at Koto, then at everyone else present.

In a team like this, Koto is definitely positioned as a support staff member. If even Koto's abilities have grown to this level, then everyone else must be even more capable.

He made a point of looking at Kevin.

Before entering the Dark Continent, Kevin's strength was already at the level of a young Chairman.

Now?

Unthinkable.

What kind of monsters were standing in front of him now?

He now understood that what he had just seen as a slightly wild aura was perhaps actually a result of these people toning down their behavior.

He finally understood why the Chairman had sent him here so early to meet him.