Nen X Discovery X Bad News

There were so many people around that even in the thirteen-hectare sea of flowers, they could be seen everywhere.

A stroll through a place like this was enough to lift anyone's spirits.

But Qi Zhou had no heart to admire the scenery. Instead, he was wondering whether he could escape here. With so many people around, even if he ran away, surely that group wouldn't be able to spot him.

But...

What Chrollo had told him that day still felt like an inviolable command. Whenever the thought crossed his mind, he seemed to hear that terrifyingly calm voice: if he dared to escape, Chrollo would take his ability, break his arms and legs, and lock him in a box.

Qi Zhou pressed his lips together slightly and put the thought aside.

As he walked, he came to a place where the red and orange seas of flowers met. A large crowd had gathered there, as if some event were taking place.

Qi Zhou walked over and pushed through the crowd. He found plenty of stalls and shops in the area, as well as arcade games and a large inflatable castle for children to play in.

But Qi Zhou's attention was drawn to a young pianist playing at a piano.

Not many people were willing to stop and listen, so Qi Zhou easily made his way through the crowd and stood beside the pianist.

The music echoed in Qi Zhou's ears like a murmuring stream. Suddenly, he felt as though something had brushed across his heart. The profoundly mysterious sensation made him raise his hand and summon the Imaginary Musician without thinking, then open it.

To his surprise, a new movement had appeared on the blank page after the Song of the Four Seasons.

The movement had no name, and many measures were missing from it.

Qi Zhou finished looking over the score and looked up at the pianist again.

Not many people were listening to him play, and none of those who had stopped could hum along. While it was possible that everyone there simply disliked humming along, it was more likely that he was playing a piece none of them had heard before.

"If that's the case..."

Then an amateur would have a hard time noticing the movement was incomplete just by listening. Not only were they unfamiliar with the melody, but the pianist also glossed over the missing sections with ease. Looking directly at the score, however, made it easy to spot. This counted as cheating with a Nen Ability, didn't it?

If this was what Shalnark meant by "the secret to entering the manor," then he needed to find the passages that might have been deliberately removed.

Qi Zhou listened to the young man play once more, then closed the Imaginary Musician.

Suddenly, he seemed to hear someone talking about him. It was a couple standing about three meters behind him.

"That kid... where did he suddenly get a book from?!"

"The book, it's gone again...!"

"Is he a magician? Doesn't look like it. We haven't seen a ghost in broad daylight, have we?!"

Qi Zhou: "..."

Something suddenly occurred to him, and his expression changed slightly.

These people could see his book, but they didn't know how it had appeared and disappeared. Could it be because they were actually ordinary people?!

Wasn't everyone in this world a Nen user?!

Qi Zhou's face abruptly darkened.

He had taken too much for granted. Because everyone he had met since waking up could use Nen, he had naturally assumed everyone in this world could use it.

To check, Qi Zhou used Gyo to look at the crowd.

Sure enough, everyone had a very thin layer of aura around them, uncontrolled and constantly leaking away. But when he had used Gyo to look at Chrollo and the others, their Ten had clung tightly to their bodies without the slightest bit escaping.

Qi Zhou slowly turned around and frowned as he reached into his pocket. His book appeared in his hand, and he drew it out, making it look as though he had taken it from his pocket.

He rolled the book up in his hand and put it back in his pocket, as if he had taken it out to reposition it because it had been poking him.

"That scared me to death! I thought we'd really seen a ghost!"

"Look how scared you are, jumping at everything!"

"You were just as scared!"

Qi Zhou: "..."

Ignoring the young couple bickering behind him, he slowly retreated into the crowd.

He had been too careless. If not everyone had a Nen Ability, then "Nen" was effectively a "secret weapon" to the few who knew about it. If he casually revealed that he had Nen, he would face greater surveillance and suspicion.

Among Chrollo and the others, for instance, he only knew about Chrollo's and Machi's Nen. Chrollo's was a book, while Machi's was her Nen Threads, which she could use as she pleased.

Chrollo had shown it to him when taking his ability, and doing so was also a necessary condition for taking it.

Machi had used her Nen to stitch up his arms and legs many times, which was how he knew.

But the others seemed never to have willingly shown him their Nen.

Wait!

Qi Zhou suddenly recalled that when he had first arrived, Chrollo had questioned him and, upon discovering they didn't speak the same language, had called Pakunoda over. After that, no matter how he responded to the questions, Chrollo had always looked at Pakunoda first.

At the time, what she had said... had meant "he's not lying."

Under what circumstances could someone tell whether a person was lying?

First, they could know the correct answer. Second, they could monitor changes in the person's heartbeat or emotions.

Qi Zhou knitted his brows and carefully recalled the details he hadn't paid attention to.

Pakunoda had not only said "he's not lying," but had also laughed after he said certain things. Yet unlike Chrollo, who was using his ability, she shouldn't have been able to understand him.

No, to be precise, after he had spoken about "transferring abilities," he had imagined "tearing up the book and fighting." From that, Pakunoda's ability was already quite clear.

As Qi Zhou worked to recall the details, this new discovery sent an even deeper chill through him. Pakunoda could read "memories" or see "images that appeared in a person's mind."

Qi Zhou rubbed the space between his brows, his heart heavier than ever.

He knew nothing about the others, while they understood his Nen even better than he did.

Qi Zhou could only be thankful he hadn't rashly planned and attempted an escape. To make a very pessimistic guess, perhaps the people over there had a way to monitor his situation and could see everything he saw through his eyes. Going even further, perhaps they could remotely control his body or obtain the information they wanted from his mind.

After all, they hadn't said how he was supposed to pass on the information he uncovered.

Qi Zhou briefly closed his eyes. The information he had just learned had struck him like a blow to the head, leaving him almost dizzy.

Acting rashly was the same as courting death. He understood perfectly well that Chrollo's words that day had been no joke.

For now, he could only take things one step at a time. Besides, if he failed this mission, he wouldn't be qualified to join them. As far as they knew, he had learned two of their abilities, so there was no chance they would let him leave alive-or at least with his limbs intact.

Still, he hadn't come away empty-handed. As a small mercy amid the misfortune, he had learned that not everyone had Nen. The quickest way to pick out the special visitors from the ordinary ones should therefore be through Nen.

The missing parts of the "score" were probably hidden somewhere in a form that only people with Nen could see.