A roadside food stall.
Grease-stained tables and chairs were scattered about haphazardly. Trash littered the ground, and a foul-smelling ditch lay nearby, where fat rats scurried back and forth.
The owner stood behind a wheel-less food cart, wielding a wok spatula as he cooked up clouds of fragrant smoke.
Amid the fumes sucked away by the cart's exhaust fan was an enticing aroma that whetted the appetite, completely at odds with the terrible dining environment.
At the center of the disorderly tables stood an old-fashioned television set atop a battered cabinet. Perhaps because of its age, it emitted a constant crackling sound whenever it displayed an image.
At that moment, the television was broadcasting a live match from Heavens Arena.
A group of scruffy diners sat or squatted around the old television, watching with great interest.
Some held handfuls of sunflower seeds, others gripped bottles of beer, and a few were even gnawing on chicken feet.
Among them was the renowned Two-Star Ruins Hunter, Ging Freecss.
Just as unkempt as the surrounding diners, he squatted among them and looked entirely at home.
"Testing the risks, huh..."
Ging watched Moyu on the television with interest. He casually reached over and took a few sunflower seeds from a middle-aged man beside him. He did not mind that the man's hand was grimy enough to rub dirt into little balls, simply popping the seeds into his mouth.
The diners watching the broadcast would never have imagined that the younger, stubble-faced man beside them was such an important figure.
"Where did those three go?"
A red-nosed middle-aged man stared at the television screen and asked curiously.
He was referring to Chrollo, Uvogin, and Leve, who had entered the Nen Space of Exile Land.
Seeing living people vanish into thin air was already rather shocking,