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Cheadle stared coldly at Hawk, her gaze seeming ready to cut him into a thousand pieces.

Her reaction was not only because Hawk had poked at a sore spot, but also because he had made a joke out of her "Zodiac title."

That was something she could not tolerate.

Seeing that Cheadle had finally looked over, Hawk let out a breath of relief.

Compared to staying alive, what did a few death glares from Cheadle matter?

"Um..."

Hawk forced a smile at Cheadle, intending to seriously bring up the importance of stopping the bleeding first.

But the moment he opened his mouth, Cheadle cut him off in an icy voice. "Take your hand away. I'll stop the bleeding first."

"Okay!"

Hawk promptly moved his right hand aside, exposing the bloody, gruesome wound on his abdomen.

Cheadle crouched halfway down, then removed the white glove from her right hand and gently placed her palm over Hawk's wound.

"Hatsu."

A soft, hazy emerald-green glow of Nen suddenly radiated from her pale, slender palm, swirling continuously over Hawk's wound at a visible speed.

Under the effect of that Nen, the bleeding from Hawk's wound was visibly suppressed. After a while, it stopped bleeding altogether.

This was a property of an Enhancer ability. Using aura as a medium, it entered the target's body and temporarily strengthened the target's blood-clotting function.

That was how Cheadle helped Hawk stop the bleeding so quickly.

Of course, if one could strengthen blood clotting, one could naturally strengthen Self-Healing as well.

If she had applied her ability with Self-Healing as the goal, Hawk's wound would not only have stopped bleeding, but would also have healed faster.

Cheadle had not done that because she was not an Enhancer.

Developing an ability from a non-affiliated Nen Type that strengthened another person's blood-clotting function required time and effort, but it was still within what she could bear.

As for an ability that strengthened another person's Self-Healing, even if she wanted to develop it, she lacked the ability to do so.

Leaving aside whether her current Nen Capacity and innate talent could support such a feat, the greatest risk was—

A non-affiliated ability developed through immense effort, time, and energy might not necessarily achieve results she found satisfactory.

That was the real problem.

Simply put, the investment would not be proportional to the return.

"I feel alive again..."

After the bleeding was stopped, Hawk visibly relaxed.

Cheadle ignored him, took out the trauma ointment she carried with her, and forcefully smeared it over Hawk's wound.

"Hiss—"

Hawk immediately sucked in a sharp breath.

This was definitely revenge!

He wanted to remind Cheadle to be gentler when applying the medicine, but he ultimately held back.

Hawk knew that if he said anything, Cheadle would most likely only become more excessive.

A moment later, the emergency treatment was complete.

Cheadle walked to the stream and washed the blood from her hands.

Having recovered somewhat, Hawk looked up at Cheadle's back.

"Cheadle, even if the path you chose is that of a Hunter specializing in difficult and rare illnesses, there's no need to waste your talent on other Nen Types. If I'm not mistaken, you've already developed more than one ability outside your own category, haven't you...?"

Hearing Hawk's words, Cheadle abruptly stopped rubbing her hands in the stream. She then turned around and shot him a sharp look.

"What right does a petty thief like you, who uses his Nen Ability talent for grave robbing, have to lecture me?"

"..."

Hawk opened his mouth, but eventually lowered his head in silence.

Where the moonlight could not reach, a trace of gloom flashed through his eyes.

The sudden silence made the space beneath the bridge much quieter, and the sound of Cheadle vigorously washing her hands became especially pronounced.

After washing away the final trace of blood, Cheadle slowly stood up and asked expressionlessly, "Who injured you?"

"Who else could it have been?"

Hawk suddenly raised his head, his eyes gleaming with chilling killing intent.

Seeing Hawk's reaction, Cheadle immediately got her answer. Her brows furrowed as she said in a low voice, "Those people who call themselves inheritors of the Old Qinglin Squad's will again? So they found you?"

The Qinglin Squad was a legendary Hunter team established long ago in accordance with the will of the former Hunter Association chairman.

But with the passage of time, Netero was now the Hunter Association chairman. Although some remnants of the Old Qinglin Squad's influence still lingered within the Association, they could no longer make any waves.

"No."

Hawk shook his head, narrowing his eyes. "More accurately, I went looking for them."

"!!!"

Cheadle's pupils contracted as her voice involuntarily rose. "Have you lost your mind?! You still dared to seek them out in that condition?! If you exposed your whereabouts, Moyu would be the first one in danger!!!"

"Don't worry. I'm not reckless enough to act without making any preparations, and I would never gamble with Moyu's safety."

Hawk slightly reined in his killing intent and heavily leaned back against the wall.

Cheadle took two steps forward and looked at him coldly. "You're always so self-righteous. Have you forgotten what happened to me back then... Hmph. Why did you go looking for those people? Do you know how much effort I put into clearing away your tail back then? Even after Moyu was born, I could only ignore him..."

"If circumstances hadn't forced me to, do you think—"

Meeting Cheadle's furious gaze, Hawk said word by word, "Would I, someone capable of developing a Nen Ability like Rat's Way, go looking for trouble on my own?"

"..."

Cheadle immediately fell silent.

Indeed...

If circumstances had not forced his hand, Hawk—whose creed had always been to avoid fighting whenever possible—would never have taken the initiative to attack or seek trouble after successfully going into hiding.

Realizing this, Cheadle quickly calmed down and asked, "What was the reason?"

"Because... there isn't much time left. I need a new Post-Mortem Entity to suppress the Price. If necessary, it doesn't matter if I use my lifespan as fuel."

Hawk tipped his head back. When speaking of serious matters, none of his usual frivolity remained.

"Hawk, you..."

Cheadle seemed to understand something and slowly widened her eyes.

The corner of Hawk's mouth twitched as he said softly, "You can guess it even if I don't tell you, right? I took action because I wanted to steal one of the scores of the Dark Sonata from those bastards, but I failed... Ha. Without Rat Treasure to help me, I really am a useless good-for-nothing."

"..."

Cheadle pressed her lips together and remained silent.

She knew matters had become serious enough that Hawk had needed to leave Rat Treasure at the Temple to help suppress that Post-Mortem Entity.

But Hawk's willingness to take such a risk just to steal a new Post-Mortem Entity made her realize that the situation was even more severe than she had imagined.

Hawk slowly straightened his gaze and turned to look at the deep night beyond the bridge.

"The thing I've been proudest of in my life is being able to move freely through any ruin or tomb. But it is also the thing I regret most..."

The man's eyes were filled with resolve, leaving no room for anything else.

"Cheadle, I don't want to repeat the same mistake again..."

"If you truly thought that way, you shouldn't have acted on your own, Hawk... Your actions have once again placed your family in danger."

Cheadle put on her white glove and said coldly, "In any case, I don't trust your ability to clean up after yourself. I'm going to find Moyu right now, before anything unexpected happens."

"No, you have to wait until I recover... Two days—no, one day will be enough!"

Hawk pressed his back against the wall and struggled to stand.

Cheadle glanced at him and snorted. "In your current state, you aren't capable of using Zetsu. Even if I gave you three days, forget about recovering from your injuries—you wouldn't even regain normal mobility."

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned and left the space beneath the bridge without caring how Hawk reacted.

In the deep night, ripples seemed to be rising.

The mountaintop Temple.

The surroundings were as quiet as ever, without even the chirping of insects.

Moyu sat before the computer, the white light from the screen reflected in his eyes.

"This search engine is way too outdated."

Moving the mouse and clicking around, Moyu sighed faintly. His peripheral vision drifted toward the date and time in the lower-right corner of the desktop—

April 25, 1993, 23:22.

If Moyu remembered correctly, the original storyline began in 1999.

Although it was still several years before the original storyline, electronic devices such as computers and mobile phones had already become widespread.

The development of mobile phones in particular had flourished in every direction.

There were phones with flashy, complicated features but little practicality, as well as practical phones focused on functionality.

The most representative feature was their ability to receive signals in most places around the world.

For that reason, practical phones were deeply loved by Hunters.

But for some reason, compared to mobile phones, computer technology seemed rather underdeveloped.

Maybe it was because Hunters relied more heavily on phones than computers...

"Still can't find it."

Moyu released the mouse.

He had been looking up the mailing address of the famous actress Eritin Nako, but due to the outdated search engine, he had found nothing.

"Forget it. I'll deal with it later."

Moyu shut down the computer, picked up a photograph beside the keyboard that was entwined with strands of black aura, then stood and left the room for the main hall.

Arriving before the offering table in the main hall, Moyu casually returned the photograph carrying Grudge to its original place before turning to leave.

Over this period of time—

Moyu's Nen Ability had gradually grown stronger through training.

Perhaps because of that, he had become increasingly sensitive to the existence of Grudge.

Previously, as long as he did not enter the main hall, he would basically unconsciously ignore the pile of relics on the offering table.

Now, even when he was merely training in the courtyard, his senses would constantly remind him of the Grudge inside the main hall.

So he had considered taking some time to fulfill the "final wishes" connected to the objects on the offering table, thereby elevating the Grudge attached to them.

Of course, he could also deal with the objects carrying Grudge by discarding or destroying them, but something in his subconscious told Moyu not to do that.

Returning to his room, Moyu turned off the light and went to bed.

The next morning.

Moyu woke up on schedule and began his daily training.

"Knock, knock knock—"

Just as he had started, knocking came from the front door.

Moyu was slightly startled. His first thought was that Hawk had returned, but he dismissed it the next second.

If it were Hawk, he would not merely knock on the door. He would be shouting as well.

"At this hour... could it be Monica?"

Moyu crossed the courtyard, came to the front entrance, and called toward the old wooden door, "Who is it?"

If it was a worshipper or tourist, he would send them away on the grounds that the Temple was temporarily closed to visitors.

"I'm Hawk's friend."

A woman's voice immediately came from outside.

Hawk's friend?

Moyu was somewhat surprised. He removed the bolt and slowly opened the rickety-looking wooden door.

Before the door.

Cheadle stood there.

As she watched the face gradually emerge from behind the opened wooden door, she was briefly lost in a daze.