"Mmm..." Hisoka stretched languidly, drawing his pink Nen aura back into his body. The wound in his side had healed completely. "The scent's gone."
He sniffed the air, looking as disgruntled as a child whose toy had been snatched away.
"All I can smell is burning. Those adorable, hungry little fruits have all gone into hiding."
Bai Zhu ignored his muttering and looked at Milluki.
Milluki's plump face looked deathly pale in the terminal screen's dim glow. Sweat kept beading on his forehead.
"Quite the opposite." Milluki's voice was a little dry. "The signals coming back from the ants show at least three times as many anomalous heat signatures and vibration sources as before."
He projected the map into the air.
Dense clusters of red dots covered the entire city, like some horrifying skin disease on the pitch-black map.
"They've just... stopped making noise." Milluki swallowed. "They've all suppressed their presence and hidden themselves."
In the city center, the financial tower stood more than seventy stories tall, utterly dark. Yet the giant advertising screen on its outer wall lit up every ten seconds or so, always displaying the same image—an empty white dinner plate.
Milluki's fingers flew over the controls. "That building is a local branch of Maca International Finance. A building like that shouldn't lose its network connection. It would cost them a fortune. Given the situation, the place has probably been occupied by these Poop Monsters."
"Just blow it up," Camilla said decisively. "Bury it along with the test subject. That's the simplest option."
Bai Zhu glanced at her. "What if it escapes through the underground utility network? An explosion that big would give it the perfect cover, wouldn't it?"
Camilla's expression instantly soured. This was her first attempt to establish some cooperation with Bai Zhu over their