Escape X and X "Stock Solution"

District Five.

A white-haired, blue-eyed child sat cross-legged on a rock not far from the residential area.

The child tilted his head up slightly, as if looking at the moon. But anyone who met his gaze would see that his eyes reflected nothing, and that there was not a glimmer of light in their emptiness.

Only when the sun rose did the child slowly begin to move, starting with his fingers, then his wrists, his elbows, and finally his entire upper body.

Then he tried to stand up slowly, like someone learning to walk for the first time.

"Noah." The child spoke a name. Like someone who had just woken up, he murmured helplessly, "This body is clearly yours-why are you hiding again?"

"You were the one who got me... no, got us out of that house, right? How could you still move in that state?"

In his mind, Qi Zhou looked at the expressionless, white-haired, blue-eyed child standing amid a sea of white light. He asked softly, "What on earth have you been through...?"

Pale light shone on Noah's skin and formed an arc of the same pallor behind him. It made him look like an angel whose wings had been torn off, tortured until he was numb.

Whenever Noah used the body, Qi Zhou's consciousness would fall asleep. After Noah left, he would wake naturally, as though from sleep.

At the same time, everything Noah did while he was "asleep" appeared to him in the form of a "dream."

In the "dream," he saw Noah casually control the body that had clearly been overwhelmed by pain. Even so, Noah nimbly avoided everyone in the streets, used the shadows cast by buildings in the moonlight to evade pursuit, calmly returned to District Five, and jumped onto this rock.

He watched the moon, waited for the agonizing pain to fade, and then left without warning.

Then Qi Zhou "woke up."

In his mind, Noah still stared quietly at him, his eyes wide, his expression calm and his lips silent.

Qi Zhou raised one arm. A red line ran from the tip of his middle finger up his arm, stopping two inches below his wrist.

The "Nen Ability" Suoerzite had mentioned before dying had formed a "poison" somewhere between tangible and intangible. It had ignored his clothes and his Nen flames, invading his body as if nothing stood in its way.

Qi Zhou knew too little about "Nen" and "Nen Abilities." Only now did he realize that besides aiding in combat, Nen could also form all kinds of "Nen Abilities," each more bizarre than the last and impossible to guard against.

He had learned that lesson at a terrible price-if Noah hadn't brought him out, he probably would have died again.

"Nen" and "Nen Abilities" were like a tree's trunk and crown. Anyone who could use "Nen" could acquire a Nen Ability of their own once they had trained to a certain level.

But his "crown" had already been taken by Chrollo. Thinking about it now, just how terrifying was the leader of the Phantom Troupe, who could take other people's abilities?

Qi Zhou remembered how thick Chrollo's Skill Hunter was, and a chill ran through him.

How had he managed to remain so indifferent in front of Chrollo's book back then?

It was probably a case of ignorance being bliss.

Tch. Suoerzite's Nen alone had nearly left him dead without a burial place, and who knew how many terrifying Nen Abilities were stored in Chrollo's book?

"So I still have no choice but to obediently fulfill the wager?"

At the thought of Chrollo's book, Qi Zhou couldn't even bring himself to consider running away.

He rubbed the red line on his arm with a finger. The poison was between flare-ups at the moment, so he could still move freely, but who knew when it would strike again?

Qi Zhou smiled bitterly.

Now, fulfilling the wager and surviving the next six months had become an extremely difficult task again.

"Do I regret going to assassinate Suoerzite? If I hadn't gone, then I wouldn't have-"

No, not really. After all, the White Eagle Society had made the first move. And if he hadn't killed Suoerzite first, sooner or later he would have died at his hands.

Besides, going into the bedroom to check whether the man was dead and whether he needed another blow had been necessary too.

"Then there's nothing to regret. First, I need to figure out how to get rid of the poison."

The "poison" that had entered his body smelled the same as the "poison" he had smelled in the mixing room earlier, so there was a good chance they were the same thing.

And the bartender had said that "three million Jenny can only buy a hundred milliliters," which meant it had to come from somewhere. But going back to investigate Suoerzite's residence now was obviously out of the question.

That left him hoping A-Wu could help.

For some reason, Qi Zhou had an inexplicable feeling that "A-Wu knows everything."

At noon.

Qi Zhou waited at the appointed place. He saw A-Wu slowly walking toward the small hill where he stood.

When A-Wu reached the foot of the hill, Qi Zhou jumped down and stood in front of him.

"I'm glad to see you made it back alive. Congratulations, you're safe." A-Wu raised an eyebrow slightly when he saw him. But when his gaze dropped and he noticed the red line on the back of Qi Zhou's hand, his face darkened. "You-"

Seeing A-Wu's reaction, Qi Zhou asked, "Judging by that look, you know what this is?"

A-Wu didn't answer. Instead, his body tensed, and he slowly took a step back. "...There's something I need to confirm first."

Qi Zhou said, "...Go ahead."

A-Wu lowered his voice and asked, emphasizing every word, "Is Suoerzite dead?"

Qi Zhou nodded.

Despite receiving an affirmative answer, A-Wu showed no sign of relaxing. He knitted his brows and said coldly, "Hold out your arm."

Qi Zhou slowly raised his arm, and A-Wu carefully examined the blood-red line on it. "Why were you exposed to the Stock Solution?"

He really does know, Qi Zhou thought, gazing at the boy in front of him.

But why did he know? For a child who could only scavenge trash in District Nine, A-Wu knew a frightening amount.

Qi Zhou said slowly, "Can you tell me what the Stock Solution is first?"

"It's a kind of poison," A-Wu said without hesitation. "Do you know why the elders of the eastern area sent the patrol team to the White Eagle Society? This is why."

"This stuff called the Stock Solution is addictive after a single dose. Suoerzite used it to amass wealth and win people over. That's also why the leader of the White Eagle Society could live in the first four districts, even though it wasn't a major gang."

Qi Zhou said, "...So, were you just worried that I'd been turned?"

A-Wu didn't answer. After asking, Qi Zhou also felt there had been no need for the question.

"Through unknown means, Suoerzite could greatly increase the rush people got from drinking this stuff, without making the side effects any stronger. That's why a lot of people 'stocked up' from him."

"Everyone who drank the modified Stock Solution over a long period had a mark like this on their arm." A-Wu looked at the blood-red line on Qi Zhou's arm. "But the condition was that they drank it 'over a long period.' The one on your arm, though..."

Qi Zhou asked, "What effect does this mark have?"

"...I'm not sure." A-Wu shook his head. After a moment's silence, he added, "But I've never seen anyone still alive with a mark that extended as far as the forearm."

Qi Zhou said, "..."

He thought over A-Wu's words. "You just said 'modified.' So the Stock Solution wasn't made by Suoerzite. He got it from somewhere else and only sold it after processing it further."

A-Wu said, "Yeah."

"Can you tell me where the Stock Solution comes from?"

"Then that would be another deal." A-Wu spoke softly. "We haven't finished our previous deal yet, have we?"

Qi Zhou fell silent.

True enough. Their last deal had indeed reached the point where he needed to hold up his end. Even if he was now in a situation where he could die at any moment... what did that have to do with A-Wu?

One look at A-Wu told him that the boy didn't care whether he lived or died, only whether he could complete the deal.

Because this was Meteor City, even a child here understood that "only your own life counts as a life."