Aftermath X March

What was that just now?

Standing on the rooftop, Nobu asked, looking bewildered.

He felt a disconnect in his senses.

He only saw the punch that Kevin unleashed from behind his Mental Image, and then all he saw was Kevin finishing the fight and standing there dusting off his clothes. The whole thing seemed to vanish in an instant.

Nobu couldn't believe that such subtle changes were caused by Kevin's excessive speed; it must have meant that Kevin was experiencing some degree of memory loss.

Or perhaps the service was interrupted.

Did you see it? What happened?

Nobu couldn't help but look at the others around him and ask. He knew that Biscuit and the others who had returned from the Dark Continent were much stronger than he was before.

Biscuit remained seated and nodded solemnly.

"I think I saw it, although I was also affected a little."

What Biscuit saw was Kevin punching his foot, and some force instantly erased the shadows, as if they had been wiped away.

They also heard screams, which came from Pariston.

Then Kevin suddenly stops moving and starts patting his clothes.

See more than others.

It was only slightly impacted in the final, explosive moment.

"Given the characteristics of shadows, purely physical attacks shouldn't be effective, so that punch just now must have been some kind of mental attack."

"So we must have been affected by a psychological attack, which caused a momentary lapse in our thinking."

Men Qi seemed to have thought of something and said...

"Have you experienced this?" Morel turned around and couldn't help but ask.

He hadn't experienced it before, so he was a little confused as to why this situation occurred.

After all, he was in the Dark Continent, and although he had participated in several hunts, he hadn't spent much time hunting with Kevin.

"It's not that I've experienced it before, but I've had similar feelings before, just not such an exaggerated gap."

"And didn't Kevin say before that Mental Image is an aggregation of thought and spirit, leaning more towards the spiritual aspect, so the attacks it produces will naturally lean more towards spiritual attacks as well."

Men Qi, however, thought it was normal.

She knew perfectly well that after Kevin broke through the million-point mark, he had been trying to adapt to a new phase of his life.

They had reached the Lord Level, a level extremely rare even in the Dark Continent, and they were human.

What kind of attacks and characteristics Kevin can develop is something he can only figure out by himself.

However, due to the characteristics of the Dark Continent, it has been continuously strengthening its mental attacks and defenses.

This is something that is truly impossible to guard against.

The body possesses Cocoon of Rebirth, capable of resolving the vast majority, almost Ninety-Nine %, of problems.

The spirit lacks this kind of capacity as a safety net.

Judging from that attack just now, Kevin has clearly figured out some of its characteristics.

Anyway.

The battle is over.

Then things entered a certain final stage.

Without Pariston's influence, these Parasite People, now exposed, could easily do something drastic and be discovered. The task of identifying these high-risk targets fell to the Three-Tails.

While on the ship, the Three-Tails had already developed its Nen ability.

She inherited her racial abilities from when she was still Beasts.

Its ability is Emission Type.

Like her former ability, she can track certain targets at extremely long distances. After becoming human, this ability has become more flexible, allowing her to track targets set by others.

After Kevin shares a certain characteristic of the Parasite People with the Three-Tails, she is also able to track the Parasite People.

But if she wants to track a target, she can sense its direction from afar. To find out its exact location, she has to follow that direction all the way.

Extremely inefficient.

We can only search for them one by one.

Therefore, the task of identifying important targets was assigned to the Three-Tails.

Kevin, on the other hand, conducted extensive explorations, searching in one or even several cities at a time.

And while searching, they will also eliminate these parasitized individuals.

In addition, there's the bait of Beyond.

Three arrows fired simultaneously.

The search for and elimination of Parasite People has begun to stabilize.

The entire process took three months.

A total of 1.36 million Parasite People were found and eliminated.

Of these, 500,000 were people who were reinfected during these three months.

The additional casualties caused by Parasite People are countless.

But the estimated number is over five million.

These include those caused by war, famine, and various acts of terrorism.

But in essence, its far-reaching impact far exceeds the casualties it caused.

Ultimately, this world is in the hands of a small group of people, and this small group has suffered tremendous losses in this incident.

Because of the entire process, nearly 20% of the middle and upper-level officials were directly parasitized.

This is an extremely exaggerated number.

Especially high-ranking officials, those few people who stand at the pinnacle of power in human society, truly feel this deadly threat.

As records were collected, all countries gained a general understanding of the overall picture of the event.

The entire development process of the Parasite People took about two years.

It began to spread from the initial groups of survivors who were exploring.

Initial development was extremely slow.

Because of their grudges, their development has always focused on members of the Exploration Team.

The members of the Exploration Team at that time were a valuable asset, so each member was closely watched.

This process is progressing extremely slowly.

Various factors have given humanity a considerable amount of breathing space.

The entire process took nearly a year to finally infect the Exploration Team members and some external personnel. In other words, due to Resentment, it took more than a year, during this most precious early stage, for the Undying disease to infect more than 10,000 people.

Until Pariston is parasitized.

Pariston's parasitism was a huge turning point.

After all, Pariston is an anomaly, and his inhuman personality and beliefs coincidentally align with the Undying disease.

It was as if they had broken free of their shackles; in the time that followed, the Parasite People grew exponentially.

If it weren't for the presence of a target Beyond, who effectively restrained their actions, this exponential growth would have been even more outrageous, potentially increasing casualties tenfold.

This also gave me a better understanding of the Undying disease.

Inside a Meeting Room.

This is the International Voyage Bureau.

Representatives from various countries gathered here once again, and this time the caliber of the representatives was noticeably higher.

"The latest report submitted by the Capture Squad, after multiple verifications, confirms that all those infected with the Undying disease have been eliminated."

After one of the representatives finished speaking.

Another representative asked, "Why is the report so simple? Who conducted the verification process, and what were the results? Why are there no details about the verification process?"

Upon hearing the representative's words, most of the people in the meeting turned to look at him.

The person who initiated this discussion sighed, "Couldn't you have taken a good look at the data before the meeting? The Capture Squad is composed of Mr. Kevin and other returnees from the Dark Continent."

"They have the highest authority, the highest decision-making power, and the highest autonomy. The fact that this report was submitted already shows their willingness to cooperate."

Instead of calling to tell you the matter was resolved, they submitted a report with basic information. That's already showing goodwill; what more could you ask for?

Do you really think the other person is your subordinate?

I can't stand it.

"A team like this is possible?"

Clearly, the person attending the meeting was unaware of the current situation, and scratched his head.

Is this kind of permission allowed?

Only someone within this system would know the extent of these privileges.

However, this situation is actually quite normal.

After all, government departments in various countries have been extremely busy these past few months, coupled with the closed facilities.

It's normal not to know the specifics of the search team, but since you're attending a meeting, it's best to get this information as soon as possible.

At this moment, another member of the meeting coughed, drawing everyone's attention, and then spoke.

"It's said, just said, that the final verification personnel was Mr. Kevin's daughter... his nominal daughter, who wasn't part of the original team that went to the Dark Continent, but a new member he brought back."

"There's a lot of information, but it's all eyewitness and contact data. This Demonic Beast- like individual named Three-Tails is very likely a creature from the Dark Continent."

Hearing this, the crowd felt both fear and relief.

What I fear is that the other party is a creature from the Dark Continent, but what reassures me is that since it's a creature from the Dark Continent that performed the final verification, there shouldn't be any problems, right? Truly, skill and daring go hand in hand.

Someone muttered something under their breath.

Everyone nodded in agreement.

Is it even possible for a human to adopt a creature from the Dark Continent as their daughter?

Fortunately, most of the people present knew Kevin's background; he was essentially a monster in human skin and couldn't be judged by common sense.

Essentially, the risk assessment systems developed by various countries have already designated Kevin himself as one of the human-shaped disasters.

"Our meeting will now focus on discussing the members of the Capture Squad."

"The first issue is how to formulate the rules and regulations for exploring the Dark Continent. The suggestion is that it's best to discuss this with the Hunter Association and the Capture Squad."

"How to strike a balance, which pre-set conditions are non-negotiable, and which conditions are negotiable—we can all discuss this. This topic wasn't discussed immediately; we were just clarifying the basics."

"The second task is to transfer information to Kevin and the other returning personnel from the Dark Continent."

"According to the initial exploration contract, we have a clear right to share exploration information about the Dark Continent, and their team is an elite squad composed entirely of elite Hunter x Hunter, with a clear record of their exploration experience across the entire Dark Continent and meticulous record-keeping practices."

"This information will likely be the most abundant, complete, and detailed data we've gathered on the exploration of the Dark Continent. It's extremely valuable. The handover Succession Ceremony, security arrangements, and handling of various matters need to be discussed in detail."

He then turned to another page.

"The third item, which is also the one we'll need to focus on later, is the return of Kevin and his Exploration Team. They must have brought back many specialties from the Dark Continent."

"Based on our assessment of their capabilities, they have absolutely brought back hope, and possibly more than one, and according to the exploration contract, we have priority in the deal—remember, V6 as a whole, not just one country."

The meeting's organizers emphasized the need to prevent any further unauthorized contact in the name of the state.

Although such emphasis is ultimately pointless.

"The key issue is how we can convince Kevin and his team to trade a portion of their spoils to us."

As for the price of the transaction, it was not even within the scope of discussion. Obviously, these things cannot be judged using the current level of human wealth.

As long as one is willing to trade, then there is the intention to trade.

The price of the transaction lies within the range that can be negotiated and compromised.

They will definitely get it.

What I'm worried about is that Kevin and his teammates won't be willing to trade, and based on their performance over the past few months, when Kevin and his teammates are unwilling to trade...

The International Voyage Bureau has absolutely no way to deal with them.

"Regarding the third point, we don't have much autonomy over the first and second points at all; we can only be led by the nose by the Hunter Association."

One member complained after hearing it.

"There's nothing we can do about it. After all, we need their help, and violence is useless at this point."

"Speaking of which, is it really possible for humans to reach this level of strength? It's unbelievable. Shouldn't we raise the potential level of humans?"

"Isn't that obvious? The previous potential level was set with Chairman Netero as the target. Now there's obviously a new target, but perhaps only in the Dark Continent can one grow to this level."

"The Dark Continent, ah, it truly is a place that is both dangerous and boundless; it even makes me yearn for it."

"Then you can apply for resignation. I believe there are plenty of people who would like to take over your position so you can properly pursue your dreams."

"Heh heh, never mind then. After all, I'm getting old; I'm just reminiscing about my days as Hunter x Hunter."

Bang bang bang.

"We're in a meeting right now, this isn't the place for casual chatting."

Seeing that the topic had veered off course so quickly, the person chairing the meeting slammed their hand on the table in frustration.

This brought the conversation back to the present.

"Based on the current information and various assessments, this Mr. Kevin is at least a rare normal person even among the Hunter x Hunter community." Don't underestimate the significance of judging him as a normal person.

Among Hunter x Hunter, normal human judgment is extremely rare.

Hunter x Hunter are a group whose Nen ability.

A Hunter x Hunter's achievements are a concept that cannot be separated from Nen ability.

Although ability does not equal achievement.

However, highly accomplished Hunter x Hunter must possess powerful Nen ability, which leads to their personalities being somewhat different from ordinary people.

This is both a Hunter x Hunter and an advantage for the Hunter x Hunter.

This makes Hunter x Hunter highly contractual and professional in their work.

Industries around the world are willing to trust their expertise.

Outside of their profession, Hunter x Hunter are all free spirits and mavericks.

Therefore, it's difficult to evaluate it using the standards of a normal person.

"Moreover, Chairman Netero was undoubtedly the one who led the entire negotiation."

These words silenced everyone.

Because Chairman Netero is indeed a rather troublesome figure.

His reputation, strength, status, and political acumen are all top-notch.

It's just that the other party isn't a purely political entity.

If it's Kevin, then their personality profile of Kevin will allow them to break through in a better way.

But Netero is different.

This old man had dealt with the International Voyage Bureau and V5 for too long, suffered many losses, and had long since figured out their actions and behavior. He knew their character and had even been one of them at one time.

"There's no other way but to combine all the issues into one for discussion. Only in this way can we achieve a result that satisfies everyone."