Trigger X Intelligence

"His face is bruised and swollen, and he seems out of it..."

"Kurapika, is it serious?"

"Not really, they're all external injuries..."

"Hisoka held ba..."

"I... I'm fine, stop shaking me... If you keep shaking me, I'll thro-ugh..."

Roused by Kurapika's forceful shaking, Leorio couldn't help lowering his head and dry heaving.

"Eek!!" x2

Kurapika was right next to him. Even though he wasn't particularly fastidious, he couldn't help frowning as he quickly stood and dodged backward.

"Kurapika! Watch out behind you..." Gon, who had also backed away, saw a figure passing behind Kurapika and hurriedly called out a warning.

"Hm?" Clack!

Although Kurapika reacted instinctively, he still couldn't quite stop himself from stumbling back toward Baishi, who had deliberately passed behind him.

"Are you all right...?"

Looking at the three of them as if surprised, Baishi calmly extended his right hand and caught the back of Kurapika's shoulder just in time, helping him steady himself.

"Sorry..."

Kurapika steadied himself and turned around. Though his expression was calm and tense, he immediately offered Baishi a very earnest apology.

"It's fine, it's fine." Baishi waved a hand, turned his gaze to Leorio, then glanced at Hisoka among the crowd in the distance and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm a little surprised you ran into that guy and didn't die."

He had chosen the topic casually, but his real aim was to test whether the weighting in Temporary Weighting Tasks had anything to do with the main characters in the original story. If it did, perhaps he could trigger a task.

According to the information the roulette had provided earlier, the number of times he could obtain an Advent Emulation Talisman seemed closely connected to weighting tasks.

And if characters really were directly linked to weighting, the original group of four protagonists would surely be the best test subjects.

In any case, it beat dealing with monstrous killers like Hisoka and Illumi!

"I don't know what you're talking about?!"

Wariness quickly appeared on Kurapika's face. He too glanced at Hisoka, then looked at the calm-faced Baishi. After a moment's hesitation, he asked quietly,

"Do you know much about number 44?"

"I know a bit..." Without deliberately hiding anything, Baishi stepped forward and bent over, holding open the eyelids of the still somewhat dazed Leorio. His expression unchanged, he made up an explanation. "From the looks of it, the dizziness and vomiting came after a blow to the head. It's a very mild concussion. I reckon he'll recover after a little rest..."

Slowly straightening up, Baishi looked at Kurapika and the others and raised an eyebrow slightly. "What? Are you interested in that dangerous guy?"

"I wouldn't call it interest." Kurapika shook his head and stared at Baishi as he asked quietly, "That guy was terrifyingly strong in the wetlands. We want to learn more about him..."

Ding!

[Temporary Weighting Task triggered]

[Temporary Weighting Task: Answer Kurapika's requests for information three times. Different levels of weighting rewards can be obtained depending on the level of information disclosed...]

[Restriction - Forced Equivalence: Unknown, to be determined]

Whoosh!

A flicker of surprise flashed through Baishi's eyes.

The weighting was definitely connected to the main characters!

His thoughts raced.

After connecting everything, Baishi maintained his expression and glanced at Kurapika, who was staring fixedly at him. Then he suddenly smiled mysteriously and spoke slowly in an equally quiet voice.

"I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Baishi... You can also call me a future intelligence hunter and a current information broker."

"You're an information broker?" Kurapika looked surprised, as though he were looking at a swindler.

"That's right." Baishi's expression remained unchanged as he chuckled quietly. "I have pretty much all the information you want!"

"As everyone knows, demand is relative! Information that someone else might dismiss could be practically priceless to someone who values it!"

"I believe in equivalent exchange. The information you want is divided into different levels, and the price varies accordingly..."

"As a gift for our first meeting, I can give you three pieces of information for free. The difficulty depends on the level of the information! So, are you sure you want to know about Hisoka?"

The so-called information broker was naturally the result of Baishi's momentary whim. Since he was generally familiar with the broad plot of the original story, he knew very well what information Kurapika wanted. Approaching the protagonist group as an information broker was enough to cover for the oddness of his taking the initiative.

"..."

After hearing all that and taking another look at Baishi's "mysterious" formal attire and gentlemanly cane, Kurapika exchanged a glance with Gon. He turned back and stared intently at Baishi, then calmly asked a probing question. "First question: why did Hisoka spare us? What did he mean when he said we'd passed in the wetlands?"

"Strictly speaking, those are two pieces of information..."

With that, Baishi glanced at Hisoka, who wasn't paying attention to them, and said quietly, "The reason he spared you is simple: he's already marked you as qualified prey to save for later..."

"Qualified... prey to save for later?"

"That's right! If you don't understand, you can think of it in terms of fruit..." As he spoke, Baishi pointed at the three of them, each wearing a different expression, and chuckled. "Take apples, for example. You often see that fruit on the market, right?"

"Yeah!" x3

Seeing the three nod along, Baishi couldn't help breathing a quiet sigh of relief. Knowing that apples existed in this world too eased his sense of unfamiliarity with it somewhat. Then he continued:

"Hisoka is the fickle, deceitful type. He loves bloody battles, his goal is to find prey that can match him, and his interest is nurturing unripe apples that have value in battle!"

"The three of you survived him, which proves that in his eyes, all three of you have enough value in battle to satisfy him. He's known as the Fruit Grower on the black market. Everyone he deems qualified is a fruit he intends to nurture and save. Once the apples go from unripe to ripe..."

At that, Baishi looked at the three, whose expressions were growing increasingly grave, and the corners of his mouth curled up slightly. "I don't need to tell you what happens to them then, do I?"

"Is there a way to deal with it?" Kurapika asked calmly.