Cheadle and Hawk

Every Hunter had something they pursued.

Dreams, status, fame, money, power...

Light was a highly ambitious Bounty Hunter. In his pursuit of greater status and fame, he had never considered stopping to rest along the way.

Press on, striding forward without pause—

That was what he had always done.

And personally capturing the notorious Phantom Troupe was an extremely important milestone on his way to the finish line.

For that reason, he had placed a long-term request through his "intelligence network" to investigate the Phantom Troupe's whereabouts.

Now, there was finally news!

"I understand. Send the 'intelligence' to my email. Once I've confirmed it, I'll transfer the corresponding payment."

With that, Light hung up.

Moyu swallowed a piece of meat and looked up at Light.

Hearing the words "intelligence" and "payment," he had realized what was going on.

Light raised his phone and grinned. "Hey, work's calling."

"Is it urgent?"

Moyu set down his bowl and chopsticks and asked the question he cared about most.

"Every second counts," Light replied.

Intelligence was usually time-sensitive, especially intelligence about someone's "whereabouts." He had to act on it immediately.

In other words, he had to set off as soon as possible.

Moyu nodded to show he understood, then pointed at the table. "But there's too much meat here for me to finish by myself."

"Haha, don't worry. I'll finish eating before I go."

Light laughed heartily and fished a large pork leg out of the basin.

Moyu said nothing more and picked up his bowl and chopsticks again.

The two of them dug in.

Before long, Moyu noticed that Light was eating more than twice as fast as before. It seemed he had deliberately slowed down during their earlier meal. The reason went without saying.

Watching Light wolf down the meat, Moyu could clearly feel how much he valued this "work."

I've gained plenty during this time. That's enough.

Although there was still one day left in their "training partner" arrangement, Moyu couldn't possibly ask Light to honor their "contract" under the circumstances.

A little while later, Light finished his share of the meat.

"Sorry about this."

Light stood up after eating and apologized to Moyu. "Something came up unexpectedly, so I'll have to owe you the last day of training."

"No problem. Make it up to me once you're done with work."

Moyu stood up as well.

Over this period, he had experienced firsthand Light's Enhancer "stubbornness," so he wisely kept the thought that they could just forget about the last day of training to himself.

Bringing it up would only waste time anyway.

"Then I'm off. I'll be in touch."

Light left without hesitation.

"Mm. Safe travels."

Moyu nodded slightly.

Light waved at Moyu over his shoulder and strode away.

Their farewell was brief and efficient.

After leaving the Temple, Light headed down the mountain path and took out his phone to check the flight schedule.

"It's 8:35 p.m., and the soonest flight is... 8:50 p.m."

Looking down at his phone screen, Light muttered, "That's cutting it close."

As he spoke, he put his phone away and did a few stretches where he stood.

"I was planning to come clean to Moyu tonight, but plans never keep up with changes..."

Before he had finished speaking, Light pushed off the ground and shot away like an arrow loosed from a bow. In the blink of an eye, he disappeared into the night.

The Temple was as quiet as ever.

Moyu polished off the remaining meat, then quickly tidied up the table.

Afterward, he walked into the battered courtyard, opened his Aura Nodes, and released as much aura as he could.

There were basically no shortcuts to increasing his total Latent Aura and extending the time he could maintain Ren.

He had to release his aura until it was completely depleted, then release it again after it recovered—

Repeating the process over and over, increasing his total Latent Aura bit by bit.

Two minutes passed.

Moyu lay on the ground, utterly exhausted, breathing with his eyes closed.

It took quite a while before he managed to recover a little strength.

I'm suddenly not used to this...

Moyu slowly opened his eyes and casually picked up a small fragment of broken blue brick beside him, suspending it in front of his eyes.

The night deepened.

Atop the mountain, an old Temple stood alone.

The next day.

Dawn broke.

Moyu woke early, ate a simple meal, and began his daily training.

Without Light as his training partner, all he could do now was build a solid foundation in the Four Major Principles.

Release, recover, release, recover—

Training was tedious and monotonous, and the morning passed just like that.

At noon, the sun blazed overhead.

Moyu finished eating and was about to begin another round of training when a commotion outside the Temple interrupted him.

A group of workers carrying all kinds of tools and materials arrived outside the Temple and shouted loudly as they knocked on the door.

Hearing them, Moyu crossed the courtyard and opened the old wooden door.

Seeing a group of workers "armed to the teeth" outside, Moyu was surprised, but quickly realized that Light must have called them.

"Hello. Mr. Light hired us to come here. He said there's a courtyard that needs repairs."

The foreman greeted Moyu respectfully.

"That's right. Come on in."

Already guessing what was going on, Moyu opened the gate wider and motioned for the workers to enter.

The workers immediately picked up their tools and materials and filed into the battered courtyard.

The foreman confirmed the work requirements with Moyu.

Once Moyu approved, they got started immediately.

Thanks to their remarkable efficiency, the entire crew finished the work Moyu had requested in just an hour.

He had no idea where they'd found weathered stone that had been exposed to the elements, but after the repairs, the courtyard looked much as it had before.

After seeing the crew off, Moyu closed the Temple gate and returned to the courtyard, once again marveling at how considerate Light was.

"Come to think of it... Hawk should be back soon, shouldn't he?"

Looking at the restored courtyard, Moyu suddenly thought of his cheap old dad.

Hawk had said he'd be back in ten days to half a month. By Moyu's count, eleven days had already passed, so perhaps he'd return in another couple of days.

He had considered calling Hawk to ask how things were going.

But remembering Hawk's parting instruction—"Call me only if it's something important"—Moyu decided against it.

Time passed slowly.

The sun sank in the west, and night fell.

In a small town just a hundred kilometers from the Temple.

Hawk sat leaning against the wall of a secluded culvert, his right hand pressed tightly against his abdomen as he tilted his head back and gasped for breath.

Sweat trickled down his cheek and dripped into a pool of blood, sending ripples across its surface.

Tap, tap—

Amid the sound of the stream, footsteps suddenly approached.

Hearing them, Hawk's gaze sharpened, then softened again the next second.

"Looks like you're badly hurt, Hawk."

Beneath the culvert, the stream burbled gently.

Moonlight slanted over the water, shimmering brightly.

A frog suddenly leapt into the stream, and the light rippling across the surface blurred.

When the water settled, a green figure had appeared abruptly among the shimmering reflections.

The figure stood on the bank, calmly watching Hawk where he sat beneath the culvert.

"Just a minor injury."

Hawk turned his head toward the figure.

She wore a long green dress and was petite and attractive, with delicate-framed glasses and a calm, composed gaze.

What caught the eye was the pair of dog ears growing from her green hair.

But on closer inspection, one could just about tell they were accessories.

The newcomer was Cheadle Yorkshire, one of the Hunter Association's Twelve Zodiacs. She was also a Two-Star Professional Hunter specializing in rare diseases, with credentials as both a physician and a legal scholar. (Click to expand image)

"A minor injury?"

Cheadle walked into the culvert and said calmly,

"You couldn't wait to release your killing intent the moment you heard my footsteps. That deliberate reaction makes you look like a beast caught in a trap, capable of doing nothing but growling out meaningless threats."

"..."

Hawk fell silent for a moment, then teased her in a helpless tone. "Your Honor, the legal scholar, how many years would someone get for saving face and putting on a brave front?"

"That isn't covered by the law. Besides, I'm merely stating the facts."

Cheadle came to stand in front of Hawk. Her gaze fell on his bleeding abdomen, and she frowned.

"You never showed up, so I guessed something had happened. But... I didn't expect you to be this badly hurt. With your abilities, if you were focused on escaping, even multiple Nen users wouldn't be able to stop you, would they?"

"That's right."

Hawk gave a bitter smile. He was about to ask Cheadle to stop the bleeding first, but she cut him off:

"But you were seriously injured. Was it because the enemy had a 'targeting-type' Nen Ability? No, if that were the case, you'd most likely be dead by now. This is strange. Hmm? Could it be..."

Cheadle thought of something, and her expression suddenly grew grave. She asked in a low voice,

"Has the Post-Mortem Entity at the Temple grown so powerful that you had no choice but to leave Rat Treasure there?"

"Yeah, yeah, that's right. If my left hand weren't useless right now, I'd definitely applaud you. But what's more important is, could you please help me first..."

Hawk looked utterly drained.

Cheadle's expression changed. She had no intention of listening to the rest of what he was saying. Lowering her head, she clenched her teeth and muttered to herself,

"Damn it, has it really gotten this serious...? I can contact one Nen Exorcist right now, and there's another at the Association, so that makes two. But neither of them is good at removing Post-Mortem Nen."

"Um..."

Hawk watched Cheadle muttering to herself with her head lowered and said weakly, "If it's not too much trouble, could you stop the bleeding first?"

Cheadle still didn't react. She continued muttering under her breath, "Although a bounty has already been posted among the public, the reward is inevitably going to be a problem."

"..."

Hawk stared blankly.

He looked down at the appalling amount of blood beneath him and felt anxious, as if his health bar were nearly empty.

"Hey, Cheadle, I'm dying here. Could you look up at me?"

"@#@..."

Someone continued muttering softly, without pause.

"..."

Hawk's eyelids twitched several times. After hesitating, he tentatively spoke up at this life-or-death moment. "Cheadle, you're a spinster."

"Hm?"

Cheadle abruptly raised her head and fixed Hawk with a sharp stare.

Ah, this two-in-one chapter seems to be getting shorter and shorter... Also, I changed the chapter titles to numbers because I'm aiming to write 1,000 chapters, and I think "Chapter 1000" will look even better. Finally, thanks to the following generous readers for their tips: 5,000 coins from "Canberra's Blacklist," 1,500 coins from "Dream Chaser," 1,500 coins from "Ten Thousand Miles of Mountains and Rivers," and 100 coins from "Hardworking Hammer." Thank you!