Fyodor

September's blazing sun scorched the cracked asphalt roads of the north district. Bus exhaust swept over them, carrying the stench of rotting garbage heaps.

"Let's go."

Raising a hand to shield her eyes from the midday sun, Carl checked the road and walked straight ahead.

"The streets in your Meteor City are pretty clean."

Hisoka trailed five paces behind her, looking around at his surroundings.

"You've never been here?"

Carl froze at his words and glanced at Hisoka in surprise.

Hadn't this guy spent a long time in the Mist Forest?

And now he was saying he'd never been to Meteor City?

But the expression on Hisoka's face didn't look fake, and Carl grew even more puzzled.

"Should I have been?"

Hisoka shuffled the playing cards in his hand and looked at Carl. She shrugged. "I thought you were from Meteor City too."

"Nope~"

A trace of remembrance flashed in Hisoka's eyes. He shook his head. "I was just studying under Teacher Lianke."

"So..."

Carl raised an eyebrow and ventured a question:

"You've been studying under Teacher Lianke for a long time?"

"One year."

Hisoka held up one finger:

"You know how high Teacher's tuition is. I stayed because I couldn't afford the Jenny, so I'm working off my debt~~~"

"Oh."

Carl blinked. Recalling the hundred million Jenny debt she owed, he suddenly felt like he could understand how Hisoka felt...

"Clack, clack!"

Just as Carl was about to answer, the brick and stone walls on both sides of the street suddenly trembled. The sound of metal boot heels striking the ground rolled toward them like a black tide.

A squad of Elders' Guard members in matching black uniforms, pistols holstered at their waists, approached slowly from across the street.

The badge on the chest of the bearded man leading them had a coppery patina-it was the insignia of the guards directly under the Council of Elders.

"So these are your Elders' Guard?"

Hisoka gave the guards a quick glance, then let Carl pull him over to the wall.

"Don't cause trouble." Carl frowned and watched Hisoka warily.

Stereotype or not, a pervert could go crazy anywhere!

At that, Hisoka tilted his chin toward the space behind Carl and said in an odd tone, "Hehe, they're coming over~"

As he spoke, he held eight playing cards between his fingertips, slowly enveloping them in pale purple Nen Aura.

"..."

Carl's face stiffened, and she slowly turned around.

Well, what do you know? An old acquaintance!

"There have been a lot of thugs lurking in Meteor City lately. We need to conduct a routine check."

At the front of the squad, the black-haired youth Fak spoke in the sharp voice of someone going through puberty. Sunlight reflected off his nickel-plated holster and swept over the cards at Hisoka's fingertips.

As the distance between them closed, Hisoka's playing cards suddenly spun between his fingers, leaving afterimages, while pale purple Nen Aura spread like a poisonous miasma.

Just as the tip of a guard's boot was about to touch the edge of Carl's shadow, Fyodor vaguely sensed something, and his pupils shrank sharply.

"Smack!"

A hand like an iron vise clamped down on Fak's shoulder blade and yanked him back!

"Fak, don't go over there."

Fyodor stared fixedly at Hisoka's narrowed eyes, his Adam's apple bobbing as overwhelming fear surrounded him.

He had served in Meteor City's guard for over a decade, rising from an ordinary member to a squad leader, all thanks to that caution!

He'd stake all his years of patrol experience on it-he was certain that if Fak took one more step, there would be a fresh corpse on the ground!!!

"Brother-in-law..."

Seeing Fyodor act as though he were facing a formidable enemy, Fak froze for a moment, then hurriedly reached for his waist.

Don't panic when something happens. Just do what your brother-in-law does!

His sister's instructions echoed in his mind, making his hand tremble uncontrollably.

Behind them, eight guards stepped back in perfect unison, their tense gazes fixed on Carl.

It couldn't be helped. Compared to Hisoka, whose figure was already exposed, Carl, completely shrouded in a black robe, was clearly more dangerous!

"We..."

"We mean no harm. We're leaving right now!"

Before Carl could continue, Fyodor hurriedly spoke up.

He was still young, only thirty-five this year, with plenty of time left to live!

Did they expect him to risk his life fighting thugs just because he wore a guard's uniform?

Only a fool would do that!!!

Wait...

Shouldn't that be my line?

Carl blinked beneath her hood, momentarily dumbfounded.

"Flap!"

A strong wind carrying the stench of rot blew through, making Carl's black robe snap and flap.

Across from him, Fyodor and his men backed away step by step, never daring to take their eyes off them.

My instincts can't be wrong!

Sweat ran down Fyodor's forehead, along his neck and down to his chest, gradually soaking his entire undershirt.

That familiar, bone-chilling sensation throughout his body reminded him of the night five years ago when he had hidden in a cesspit.

That year, a thug had broken into the Elders' Guard headquarters, slaughtered hundreds of guards, and walked straight out!

And while the thug was killing them, that same chill had enveloped them.

Afterward, apart from the few people hiding in the cesspit, not a single guard at headquarters that day had survived...

That chill had become a memory Fyodor could never forget.

The more Fyodor thought about it, the faster his heart beat. He wanted to turn and run, but he didn't dare, afraid of startling the thugs across from him.

"A job that pays a hundred thousand Jenny a month... and you want me to risk my life against thugs like these?!!"

As he drew closer and closer to the end of the street, Fyodor's nerves grew increasingly taut, and he cursed the Council of Elders in his heart.

There was no other reason: ever since those elders cut the food supply, Meteor City had become more and more dangerous!

The reason was simple-they were hungry!

People had nothing to eat. What wouldn't they do to stay alive?

Even those who weren't thugs had been driven to become thugs!

Now even dangerous people like these had appeared. How were ordinary guards like them supposed to keep patrolling?

"Fuck the Council of Elders!" As his heel hit the last paving stone at the end of the street, Fyodor suddenly grabbed Fak and barged into an abandoned slaughterhouse by the road.

In an instant, the eight guards' formation broke apart, leaving only the sound of scattering footsteps receding into the distance.

"So these are Meteor City's Elders' Guard?" Hisoka asked teasingly.

Carl rolled her eyes. Did he really think he hadn't seen the Nen Aura in the air?

The guards just now were all ordinary people. After Hisoka suddenly used Ren to pressure them like that, the fact that they hadn't pissed and shit themselves on the spot was already a sign of strong willpower!

"Let's go."

Carl glanced at the deserted street, tightened her hood, and trudged forward with her head down.

Thick smoke billowed into the sky from the incineration plant three hundred meters away, shrouding the street in the shadow of ash.