Ghost Catching?

"Boring. I'm starting to regret this." Su Wu walked along the paths of District 13. He did not even use Cang to move at high speed, instead planting his feet firmly on the ground and slowly measuring every inch of District 13 step by step.

Pampas had named this game Ghost Catching Game. Catch the ghost, and you won.

Since most of the missing people were children from District 13, Su Wu had made District 13 his primary area of investigation.

He had even dressed himself up specifically. To conceal the tattoos on his body, he wore a long-sleeved top that only girls wore, while the tattoo on his face was hidden by other means.

He looked like an ordinary, pretty child, one who could become someone else's prey at any moment.

To that end, like the other children of District 13, he had even searched through garbage heaps for things that could still be reused, then taken them to the area near the church to exchange for supplies.

The adult residents of District 13 and the priests did not interfere with such behavior. There was simply too much garbage in Meteor City. New trash appeared every day, and the Church members could never finish processing it all on their own.

Thus, scavengers were an indispensable part of Meteor City.

Su Wu diligently played the role of a child scavenger for three days. During those three days, aside from vultures, he had not encountered a single suspicious person.

Not one!!!

He regretted putting aside his training and coming here to waste time.

"Trash game..." As he said this and took his next step, he realized there was nothing beneath his foot. His entire body instantly lost weight and plummeted downward.

"Wow, the game is finally starting for real." He spread his arms and let himself fall toward an unknown destination, a smile rising on his face within the bottomless dark passage.

With a thud, his feet hit the ground, and he struck a cool pose.

The moment he landed, Six Eyes had already surveyed most of his surroundings.

It was an empty room with only one exit. The passage that had brought him here had already disappeared.

Before he could analyze much more, a wave of heavy drowsiness flooded his mind.

"The smell of... ether?" His sluggish thoughts made one last assessment. He immediately gave up struggling and fell to the floor with a thump, slipping into unconsciousness.

The exit was opened, and a figure holding chains appeared in the room, dragging him out.

When Su Wu woke up again, he found himself locked in a cage. All around him were identical cages and identical sleeping children.

Everyone had their limbs shackled with iron chains, collars around their necks, and tape sealing their mouths.

They could neither struggle nor call for help.

Even after Su Wu woke up, those children had yet to open their eyes.

The same dose of medicine had different effects on different people. The ether Su Wu had inhaled could only make him lose consciousness for a dozen or so minutes, but it could keep other children asleep for an entire night.

"That makes things easier for me." Su Wu raised his hands and snapped the iron chains with a slight exertion of force. He then broke the collar around his neck with his bare hands before tearing off the tape over his mouth.

He touched the lingering sticky sensation around his mouth, his expression turning somewhat displeased.

He grabbed two bars of the iron cage and bent the rigid bars apart with a little force, twisting open a gap large enough for him to pass through.

He looked up at the blue-glowing lights, then turned toward the exit.

The stone door was tightly shut and seemed extremely difficult to open. He pressed a hand against it and easily pushed it open just enough to slip through. After leaving the room, he closed the door behind him.

"Now... the real Ghost Catching Game begins."

"Who is human? Who is the ghost?"

He murmured softly and laughed.

The faint laughter echoed through the empty corridor, adding a touch of eerie atmosphere.

Two armed men stood at the entrance to a passageway. At their feet were plastic bags full of garbage and empty liquor bottles.

"What do you think? How much can we get this time?" One of the men was clearly a little drunk, his face flushed and his eyes gleaming with greed.

"More than last time, at least. You know, we got quite a few more this time than we did before." The other man spoke with a trace of smug satisfaction, seeming very pleased with himself.

"Yeah, we'll be able to have fun in Warbler Alley for quite a while..." The first man's smile took on a suggestive edge.

"You spend all your money on booze and women..." the other man teased with a laugh.

Crackle— The overhead lights flickered on and off, then gave out completely after flashing a few times.

"What's going on?!" Both men instantly raised their guns, as if facing a great enemy.

They waited for a long time, but no other sounds came. The two of them relaxed and let out a sigh of relief.

"I told you these lights needed fixing ages ago. They're falling apart. Now they'll have to fix them, right?" the man grumbled.

But after he finished complaining, he realized that his companion had not said a word since the lights went out.

"Hey? Why aren't you saying anything?" The man raised his gun again.

In the darkness, he saw a white figure flash past before his eyes like a ghost.

Then his cheek felt something icy. His body grew heavy, and white threads hung down before his eyes.

The next moment, he heard the sound of bones breaking in the silence.

He lost control of his body, and his head fell to the ground.

Bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the headless body still standing.

That was his body, but his head was gone.

The moment he realized it, the headless body crashed to the floor.

He sank into the deepest darkness, the last thing he heard in his memories being footsteps approaching from beside him.

"The eighth."

Su Wu stepped over the man's head, which lay on the ground with its eyes still wide open, and began searching for his next target.

He had destroyed the building's power system, allowing darkness to swallow the place whole.

Yet his Six Eyes allowed him to move freely through the darkness, even with ease.

Now, the entire building had become his playground, and he began to enjoy the game.

"Matt? Matt? Are you there? Respond." A man held a Wireless Communicator and contacted his companions guarding different areas one by one.

There were a full two hundred security personnel stationed throughout the building.

"Another one has gone missing."

"That's the fifty-seventh person to lose contact since the power went out."

The people around him spoke in grave voices, their words laced with worry.

There were two hundred guards in total. The captain of practically every squad was a Nen user, and every member was equipped with a firearm.

Yet so many had vanished without a sound.

Most importantly... from beginning to end, they had not heard the slightest other disturbance.

Not gunshots. Not cries for help.

It was as though every sound they made had been swallowed by the darkness and silence.

"Bzz... bzz..."

A faint sound came from the Wireless Communicator. Someone was trying to contact them.

"This is Fan Squad!" someone said eagerly into the communicator.

"Bzz... run... bzz..." An indistinct voice came from the other side.

"What did you say?" Fan, holding the communicator, pressed.

"Bzz... Run!! Aah—!!"

Accompanied by a scream, no further sound came from the other end.