The Sandstorm

The distant magical beasts' corpses were slowly dragged beneath the desert, as if the sands were swallowing them whole.

By the time the sky began to brighten, the three corpses had vanished from sight.

Once the caravan had regrouped, they hurried on while the temperature was still low. The injured sat silently atop their horses or camels, not making a sound. They were remarkably tough.

The caravan crossed the area where the magical beasts had died, leaving a trail of footprints behind. A gust of wind swept over the yellow sand, revealing the white bones beneath. Soon, the sand covered them again, leaving no trace.

Su Wu lay limp across the camel's hump with his eyes closed, blood still streaming from his nose.

The human brain was the most mysterious part of the body. Ordinary people used only a tiny fraction of it. As the Six Eyes continuously flooded him with information, his brain was being attacked again and again, forcibly expanding the areas it had originally used.

Or rather... the amount of his brain he could use had expanded. In a sense, it was a kind of evolution. But if this evolution stopped, his brain might be overwhelmed by the massive flow of information.

He couldn't even empty his mind and rest for a while.

That meant that for every day the Six Eyes remained with him, he would have to endure another day of torment. Still, it was much better than at first. When he'd just gained the Six Eyes, his nose bled every hour or two. Now it only happened three or four times a day. That was considerable progress.

If he gained Limitless later, the burden would be even greater. Gojo Satoru had to keep using Reverse Cursed Technique to heal his brain because of it.

So it would be best to gain Reverse Cursed Technique along with Limitless—or get Reverse Cursed Technique first, then Limitless.

Su Wu sat up, expressionless as he wiped away the blood and stuffed some tissue up his nose.

The caravan leader rode over beside the camel Su Wu was sitting on and struck up a conversation with a hearty laugh.

"How are you holding up? It must be boring out here in the desert."

Su Wu raised his eyelids slightly and glanced at him. His lack of energy made his manner seem even colder.

"You really don't know how to read the room." With two wads of tissue still plugging his nose, his voice sounded muffled.

"Ah, you're really hard to approach, kid..." The leader rubbed the black ring he wore on his head to hold down his hat, still grinning cheerfully.

"By the way, once you leave the Gordo Desert, where are you planning to go? What will you do?" he continued.

Ah, here it came.

It was like one of those inevitable interview questions: "Why did you choose our company?" or "What are your career goals?"

To pass, you had to come up with some wildly inspirational answer that reeked of motivational drivel.

Su Wu complained inwardly, then answered with an expressionless face. "I'm going to take the Hunter Exam. I don't know where it's being held yet."

The leader immediately looked shocked. "You're going to take the Hunter Exam? That's incredible!"

"But I've heard the death rate is high. Aren't you worried?" After his initial shock, he looked concerned, though he was quietly watching to see how the boy would answer.

Under his gaze, the White-haired boy's gloomy expression gave way to a faint smile.

"What's there to worry about? That the death rate might not be as high as people say?" His lips curled up, and the black markings on his face shifted with the movement of his muscles.

He leaned toward the man, eyes half-lidded as he studied him, then spoke with a bright smile. "You seem to know something. Tell me about it—all of it."

His coloring was cool and sacred, his tattoos evil and demonic. The boy seemed both god and demon.

The blue in his eyes held a disorienting allure, yet... somehow inspired inexplicable fear.

The leader fell silent for a moment. When he came to, he hurriedly laughed it off and asked, "Then why do you want to become a Hunter?"

"Why? Because a Hunter License is really useful," Su Wu replied matter-of-factly.

"It lets you enter ninety percent of countries without a visa, and you can use all kinds of public facilities for free. It's obviously a must-have for traveling." The blue-eyed, White-haired boy spoke at length.

He clearly regarded the so-called Hunter License as nothing more than a convenient tool.

But what he said was true.

"I'm planning to travel all over the world," he concluded.

"I see..." The leader fell into thought.

Pass or fail?

There was no reason to fail him.

"By the way, how often does your caravan cross the desert?" Su Wu asked in turn.

"For goods like the ones we're carrying, once a year is enough." The leader glanced back at the caravan's cargo, sounding satisfied.

"Once a year..." Su Wu nodded.

The Hunter Exam was held once a year, and so was this caravan's trip. You could call it a coincidence, but he didn't believe it.

"How many days does one trip take?" Su Wu continued.

"Usually a week." The leader answered every question without hesitation.

"By the way, sir..." Su Wu nodded and looked at him again.

"You're a Hunter, aren't you?" His tone was calm and certain.

He'd noticed from the very beginning. The leader's life energy wasn't as strong as that of the blonde woman from before, but it was stronger than that of the guards.

That was why he'd agreed when the man first invited him to work as a guard.

"Ah, you figured it out. How?" The leader looked puzzled and couldn't help glancing at the boy's intensely blue eyes.

From the certainty in the boy's voice, he understood that lying would be pointless.

"You can tell just by looking." The White-haired boy yawned lazily.

"What's the next test? Hurry up and give me the question," he urged the leader.

"The next test is..." The leader was about to speak when he abruptly turned around.

The sky suddenly darkened. A raging mass of yellow sand surged toward them from behind, and the wall of sand swirling through the air blocked their view, leaving them unable to see the road ahead.

The wind howled, making their clothes rustle. The camels and horses staggered, unsteady on their feet.

"A sandstorm! Listen up! Protect the cargo! Pick up the pace!" The leader shouted his orders.

But the sandstorm moved faster than they could flee.

In an instant, the yellow sand swept over the caravan and swallowed them whole.

Su Wu watched without changing expression as everyone, himself included, was swept away by a vortex that rose from the desert. He made no attempt to resist.

He'd noticed that the leader wasn't resisting either. As a Hunter, the man could have avoided the disaster if he wanted to.

Could this be another test?

Even as the world spun around him, Su Wu kept thinking, analyzing and speculating.