Going Home?
The next day, the sun rose over Meteor City as usual.
September morning light filtered through the mold-speckled wooden lattice window, breaking into flecks of gold on Carl's eyelashes.
On the wooden bed, the youth with white gauze wrapped around her abdomen slowly opened her eyes.
"Another unfamiliar ceiling."
Staring at the grain of the ceiling, Carl took a few deep breaths and managed to prop herself up against the bed.
"Sss~"
Carl grimaced.
Though it was a simple movement, a slight stabbing pain still came from the wound on her abdomen.
He lowered his gaze and caught sight of the pristine white bandages, vaguely recalling the treatment Lianke had given him before he passed out the day before.
She really is a corpse stitcher. She certainly lives up to her reputation...
After waiting about a quarter of an hour, until she had mostly adjusted to the stinging pain, Carl slowly got out of bed and walked toward the door.
"Creak~"
The hinges scraped as Carl pushed the door open.
A face painted with a teardrop and a star appeared before him.
Apart from some redness and swelling around the jaw, the face was no different from Hisoka's...
"Is something the matter?"
The corners of Carl's eyes twitched twice, but she spoke with a casual expression.
From what he knew of this pervert, if the guy hadn't acted up on the spot, he probably wouldn't retaliate afterward!
"Master told me to go back with you."
Opening his mouth, which let out a slight whistle when he spoke, Hisoka enunciated each word.
"To look after you along the way, so you don't die on the road before you've paid your tuition."
Hisoka glanced at the gauze on Carl's abdomen, and his smile grew even brighter.
In fact, after learning from Lianke that Carl was returning to Meteor City, he had volunteered to accompany his junior disciple brother.
Over the past month, Carl's performance had left him very satisfied.
If such a promising seedling left and never came back, wouldn't he lose the pleasure of trading blows that landed on flesh in the future?
"Let's go."
Carl opened her mouth, then spoke glumly.
According to the Phantom Troupe's plan, they were to return to Meteor City once a month.
Partly to get out of the manor for some fresh air.
And partly to go back and check whether anything had happened to the church and their foster mothers.
So the day before yesterday, Carl had mentioned returning to Meteor City to Lianke...
She just hadn't expected Hisoka, that pervert with the thin eyebrows and little eyes, to insist on going back with her.
"Not having breakfast?"
Hisoka studied Carl's complexion and asked cheerfully:
"Your senior disciple brother prepared breakfast especially for you, you know?"
"Not interested."
Carl rolled her eyes and draped the black robe hanging behind the door over herself.
He wanted to eat, but Hisoka had beaten his abdomen into such a state that it hurt to take even a couple of steps. Eating now would just be putting himself through more suffering!
Hisoka had nothing good in mind when he asked that!
"Hehe~"
Having failed to get what he wanted, Hisoka wasn't angry. He simply followed Carl.
The two passed through the corridor and slowly made their way toward the courtyard gate.
As they passed the low wall made of corpses, Hisoka dug two tickets out of some corner.
"Free lifetime tickets."
After handing one to Carl, he explained in a calm voice.
"How do you have these?"
Carl took the ticket and casually turned it over a couple of times, then looked at Hisoka strangely. Did this guy often go wandering around Meteor City?
No, that wasn't right. She hadn't seen Hisoka go out at all this past month!
"Teacher Lianke's."
Hisoka held the ticket to the tip of his nose and took a deep sniff, then said with an enraptured expression:
"The smell of formalin is always so captivating~"
"..."
After a long silence, Carl tucked the ticket into her clothes and slowly headed for the bus stop three kilometers away.
Sometimes it really is hard to communicate with a pervert...
Hisoka said nothing, simply following behind Carl.
The sun rose high in the east, and even the rust on the bus stop sign gleamed in its light.
The rusted metal body of bus number 16 slowly approached in the golden light to pick up the passengers for its second run of the day.
"Please show your tickets when you board. If you don't have one, please buy one."
The ticket inspector on bus number 16 looked at the figures in black robes before him and spoke in a deep voice.
This time, however, what met his eyes were two tickets bearing the words "free lifetime ticket."
"Honored sirs, please board!"
After briefly checking the tickets, the young inspector bowed ninety degrees and held them above his head.
"Hehe."
Carl took her ticket and casually tucked it into her clothes.
Hisoka followed him, surveying the interior of the bus with interest.
A mixture of formalin and rotting plants hung in the air.
No sooner had Carl sat down than she noticed half a bloodstained fingernail lodged in a crack in the leather seat.
Hisoka sat by the window, carving the bulletproof glass with a playing card. Before long, a lifelike smiling clown face was complete.
"Hiss~"
With a mechanical electronic sound, the bus slowly started up.
"Where's the previous ticket inspector?"
Carl glanced at the man before her, her gaze finally settling on the dark stubble above his lip.
If he remembered correctly, the ticket seller from a month ago had been a world-weary middle-aged man.
How had he been replaced in just a month?
"He, he..."
The young man opened his mouth and glanced nervously toward the driver.
He had only been on the job for a few days. He could handle ordinary passengers well enough, but dealing with special passengers who could produce free tickets was a bit much for him.
"If you're asked a question, answer honestly!"
The driver gave the inspector a cold look. The latter jolted and hurriedly spoke:
"At the end of last month, someone stabbed him eighteen times in the back. He died in an alley in the north district."
"I heard that by the time the guard found him, there was nothing left of him but an empty shell..."
"An empty shell?"
Hearing the unfamiliar term, Carl asked again in a hoarse voice.
"Sir, it means all his internal organs had been dug out."
At this point, the young man couldn't help shuddering.
"What did the Elders' Guard say?"
"They took the body away and cremated it that same day."
Perhaps realizing that Carl meant no harm and was simply asking questions, the young man spoke much more clearly.
"The same day?"
Carl mulled over those words, and a strange feeling suddenly arose in his heart.
As Meteor City's only law enforcement agency, the Elders' Guard hadn't thought about solving the case, but had dealt with the body first instead.
That's... not right, is it?
"Has anything major happened in Meteor City recently? Like some important figure dying, or some law being passed?"
After thinking for a moment, Carl suddenly asked.
The Elders' Guard answered to the Council of Elders. For them to do something like that, they must have received orders from above!
"Yes!"
"Hasn't the food supply been cut recently..."
The young man continued, but the driver suddenly cut him off:
"That's enough. Don't discuss the food!"
"Passengers, these aren't matters that small fry like us can talk about. Please don't make things difficult for us!"
Hearing that, Carl couldn't press the matter any further and could only turn her gaze out the window.
"Food supply cuts? Organs dug out? It's all..."
As she pondered the information she had gotten from the young man, Carl felt a little numb.
It had only been a little over a month. How had Meteor City fallen into such chaos?
No wonder...
Carl glanced at Hisoka beside her, thoughtful.
Teacher Lianke must know something. That's why she specifically sent Hisoka along!