Zeno: It Had to Be My Grandson × Netero Who Paid the Bill in Silence

Not the Meruem, still at the Squadron Leader level!

Above Leol, below Shaiapouf...

"Splash!" The waves crashed against the rocks, shattering them into tiny droplets.

In Roy's Cognitive World.

The specks of light coalesced into a human shape, disconnecting for the fourth time and exiting [re: The Game of the Dead]. Roy was "reborn" in his own "Cognitive World," carefully savoring the hammer blow that [Pig-headed General] had just hurled; it already had the flavor of his father's full-force strike.

In the original story, Silva descended from the sky and instantly killed the leopard Cheetu, demonstrating extraordinary speed and strength. In terms of physique, he was probably a cut above the "Pig-headed Commander General," who had already been promoted to "Pig-headed General."

Twenty-two minutes.

The test venue is located in an underground passageway.

Gell counted the time, maintaining the operation of the "God Script" character, fine beads of sweat began to appear on her smooth forehead.

"Nen" is the only way to support the operation of the "illusion" character. Once "Nen" is consumed more rapidly, it means that... a huge change has occurred in the illusion.

"The Sun-Earring Boy encountered that mutated Pig-headed Monster."

Without the [Monster Compendium] to "identify" it, Gell can only describe the Pig-headed General as a "mutation".

Shamefully, although she possesses considerable strength and will one day be recognized as one of the Zodiacs as "Snake," her greatest strength is not actually combat.

He could deal with Sargin Gondan and others, but he couldn't defeat [General Pighead], whose neck was snapped on the spot. This led to the scene of him entering the illusion for the first time and finally escaping in a sorry state.

"Captain Yuke, go help her." Even a straightforward person can have a sensitive side.

Botobai glanced over and noticed that Gell had been maintaining her "Nen" output and was starting to show signs of strain... As the examiner for this round, he took the initiative to take on the task, spreading out his right hand and creating a stream of "Nen" that landed on the ground and instantly formed a "soldier" with face paint, wearing a military uniform and a beret.

As soon as he appeared, he stood with his legs together, straight, raised his right hand, and gave a military salute to Botobai.

He shouted, "Captain Yuke reporting for duty!"

"Go."

"Yes!"

Turn right and march in step.

The soldier, disciplined and well-trained, approached Gell, raised his right hand, and saluted.

Gell was indeed struggling, so he immediately stopped insisting and handed over the pharmacology manual bearing the characters "God" and "Illusion" to Captain Yuke.

Having shed his burden, he stole a glance at Botobai, vaguely guessing. "' One-Man Army '... Is this the opponent's ' Nen Beast ' or ' Nen Ability '?"

In the illusion.

After a brief rest, Roy returned to the [Dead Man's Game] for the fifth time through the "Gate of the Dark Continent"...

This time, he immediately unleashed the [Eyes of Truth], anticipating the [Pig-headed General's ] impending hammer blow. Wielding his twin swords, he slashed at the pig's chest, skimming the chains!

"Sizzle~" The Bright Red Nichirin Sword scraped against the air and caught fire... Two "Flying Slash" formed an X shape, spanning a distance of nearly thirty meters, and struck the [Pig-headed General]'s chest.

The latter neither dodged nor evaded, relying solely on its protective Nen Qi to withstand the attack!

Ripples of Nen Qi spread across his chest.

"It's [hard]!" Roy's pupils contracted, clearly sensing the "hardness".

It's a level of defense that ordinary [Entanglement] can't even achieve. You should know that the [Entanglement] wrapped around the Bright Red Nichirin Sword by Roy can even penetrate the flesh and armor of "Barbarian" like Sajin and Gordan, so there's no way it wouldn't leave a mark.

Only [Firmness], which is even more advanced than [Entanglement], can achieve this level!

[Firmness] and [Entanglement] are combined to form an advanced applied technique. It is a skill that uses more qi than usual to envelop the body in order to enhance one's offensive and defensive capabilities.

If [Entangle] is a "Nen membrane," simply spreading Nen Qi evenly on the body surface, then [Solid] is a "Nen armor," condensing more Nen Qi to form a "hard" suit of armor to wear on the body. Not only is its attack power a level higher than [Entangle], but its defense is also much stronger than [Entangle].

Therefore... battles between elite Nen user are often a clash of sheer strength against sheer strength, excluding intelligence.

Aside from this factor... the ability to break through the opponent's [firmness] or deplete their "Nen Qi," preventing them from maintaining their [firmness], becomes the key to determining the outcome of the battle.

"Bang!" Two blows failed to break through the defense... [Pig-headed General] seized the opening in Roy's attack, swinging the Chain with a "clatter"...

A powerful and heavy blow!

He swung the axe and instantly cleaved his chest open.

Fifth attempt to reload, failed.

At 23 minutes and 42 seconds, "Memory" is "Setting its Release Date"...

The real world.

Inside the barbecue restaurant near the entrance.

The two old men drank their tea in silence for a full fifteen minutes.

A heavy atmosphere was spreading... The Beans held his breath, almost suffocating, before finally hearing the Guild Master speak, "Zeno, tell that child to stop."

Netero put down his teacup and said quietly, "A score of twenty-something is already a remarkable achievement."

"You and I both know what that child is facing..."

With his white hair swaying wildly, Zeno rubbed his teacup, not even glancing at Netero, and said to himself, "The old man called this morning, very angry."

1

"You're the one who asked me to bring the film, if... Roy doesn't pass the test,"

Zeno paused, glancing sideways at Netero: "You'll never see your father again in this lifetime."

Netero's lips twitched, and he chuckled, "I only set the timeout to ten seconds; your boss could have cleared it long ago."

"What does his refusal to come out have to do with me?"

Zeno in deep agreement. "Indeed, it's my grandson's fault for being too strong."

Netero:

She pointed at him, unable to utter a single word of rebuttal... This seemed to be the truth!

"Tick-tock... tick-tock..." The time displayed in the lower right corner of the surveillance screen ticked away, second by second.

Roy quit the Game, undeterred. He returned to the Cognitive World, rested briefly, and reconnected. For the sixth time, he entered the illusion through the "Gate of the Dark Continent." This time, he fought [Pig-headed General] for two more moves, managing to hold out until the third before his head was smashed and he was forced to exit...

Next, the seventh time, four moves... the eighth time, five moves... the ninth time... Roy sacrificed an arm, [Total Concentration and Breathe], and used "Phantom Sword," paralyzing the opponent for a moment before finally slicing through its protective aura, leaving a shallow white mark on its chest.

This brings the total to nine times.

Roy was enraged when [Pig-headed General] smashed his chest with a hammer, and then woke up again...

The person was directly detached from their "Cognitive World" and fell back into reality. This time, due to a depletion of Divine Power, they were unable to re-enter their Cognitive World.

Feeling dizzy and lightheaded, as if his body had been hollowed out, the Sun-Earring Boy staggered, grabbing onto the arm that the Gotoh was brushing against to steady himself.

"Thirty minutes and six seconds, you pass!"

"Pop~" The illusion shattered... "Captain Yuke" returned the "God Script.

Gell gave Roy a deep look and announced the result directly.

Illumi, lurking in the corner, and Kite, leaning against the corridor, watched silently as Ichi, having climbed out of the ditch, walked towards the elevator with his hands in his pockets... Ichi, without a word, adjusted his baseball cap and followed...

In an instant, the huge venue was left with only the two examiners, Botobai and Gell, the two candidates who had passed the test, Kang Kanzai Roy, and Gotoh Kurajing.

"Gah"

We've been waiting for you!

Golden Crow broke free from Kurajing's embrace, flew to Roy's head, and continued to lie there.

Kanzai was sleeping peacefully to the side...

"Cuckoo..." The cuckoo clock strikes three o'clock.

The pendulum strikes the reed, producing a soft "..." sound...

As if by telepathy, Roy took a breath and looked up, just as Botobai glanced over... their eyes met, and a flash of electricity seemed to fly between them...

The future Chen Long of the Zodiacs stared intently at the Sun-Earring Boy for a long while before saying in a deep voice, "I'll be waiting for you here at this time tomorrow."

The Sun-Earring Boy remained silent, Golden Crow atop his head, and decisively departed with Gotoh Kurajing.

Kurajing followed behind, replacing Roy. She nodded to Botobai and Gell, then lifted her foot to catch up.

"Tap... tap..."

The sound of footsteps faded into the distance.

"Clang~" The elevator doors closed.

After watching the group disappear, Gell turned her head and asked, "What do you plan to do?"

Botobai released his arm, beckoned "Captain Yuke," straightened the soldier's posture, and said without turning his head, "Didn't the chairman already give the instructions?"

"No need to hold back."

"Tsk." Gell stuck out her tongue, the tip forked like a snake's tongue, and one could already faintly feel it...

Beneath Botobai's face, obscured by an exaggerated Peking Opera mask, a fierce fighting spirit seemed to be burning!

But to make this "roughneck" take things seriously... Gell recalled the Sun-Earring Boy's strong jawline... The Zoldyck Sun-Earring Boy was indeed worthy of the title.

"Clang~"

The elevator doors opened again, leading upwards.

It faces the corridor of the barbecue restaurant.

On the bar counter next to the corridor, two cups of tea were still steaming, but the people drinking the tea had long since left.

"Here's your grilled meat rice, sir."

Just then, the kitchen curtain was lifted, and the owner came out carrying several plates of roast meat rice. Upon seeing Roy, he hurriedly invited the group to sit down.

Seeing this, Gotoh frowned and asked, "We didn't order anything."

The owner chuckled and said, "Someone ordered for you."

"Who?"

"I've seen this customer before." The boss winked mysteriously at Roy.

Roy paused for a moment, recalling Netero whom he had met that morning, then without flinching, pulled out a chair and sat down...

Roll up your sleeves and dig in!

Gotoh Kurajing exchanged a glance, then wisely kept quiet.

They sat down next to Roy on either side, along with a Fat Crow, and started showing off like crazy.

A moment later, everyone had a stack of empty plates beside them. Even Kurajing had unusually eaten three plates... Fat Crow went even further, boasting ten plates by himself, almost making the owner faint with heartache...

Fortunately, after they had eaten and drunk their fill, they turned and left without mentioning the Da'er again, which was a stroke of luck amidst misfortune...

"Young Master, I'll go and extend my stay." He hadn't expected to be able to leave the venue after entering; Gotoh had checked out at noon and now he had to go to the front desk to extend his stay for another day.

"You go with her." Roy pointed at Kurajing.

Before the girl could react, he walked alone to the riverbank.

The afternoon sun shone brightly, casting shimmering light on the river's surface... Occasionally, fish and birds would skim the water, snatching a fish and flying away...

The Sun-Earring Boy walked silently, and soon came to an old man. He leaned against the railing, gazing at the scenery, trying to recover the Divine Power he had depleted in the illusion...

"If someone invites you to dinner, just accept it. Don't be shy; your grandfather did the work."

With his spiky hair swaying wildly, Zeno spoke with his hands behind his back... Roy stood beside him, gave a soft "hmm," and suddenly asked, "Grandpa, is Great-Grandpa still alive?"

Zeno's body stiffened instantly.