Troupe X Activity X Target

Two months later.

It was hard to imagine that Qi Zhou, who had mastered a foreign language inside and out in two months, squatted behind Shalnark and Feitan, watching the two of them play video games with a console connected to a computer.

Shalnark: "No, we should bypass the mechanism first."

Feitan: "Who cares about any mechanism? If the destructive power is greater than 10, you can just destroy the gate directly."

Qi Zhou: "But isn't there a small hole on the side you can crawl through?"

Shalnark and Feitan said with disdain: "Who's going to crawl through a small hole to get past the gate!"

Then, the little pixel person in the video game got GAME OVER because it took the wrong route and hit a fire-breathing mechanism.

Looking at the blood-red word "DEATH" on the screen, Qi Zhou sneered: "Tch."

Shalnark turned around, grabbed Qi Zhou, and pinched his face, pulling it to both sides: "You're still teching, you're still teching!"

Feitan was so angry he threw his controller: "Look at what kind of ghost game you brought back?"

Shalnark smiled awkwardly: "It's fine, I also brought back a lot of other games, we can play them one by one."

Qi Zhou whispered: "I don't think we can clear the level; it might not be the game's fault."

Veins bulged on Feitan's forehead: "Have you finished your homework? Get lost and do your homework! What kind of games are kids playing!"

Shalnark smiled maliciously: "Yeah, otherwise you'll be in for it when the boss gets back."

Qi Zhou: "...?"

So annoying, he couldn't get his hands on the controller at all. The rule of "if you die once, you switch players" didn't apply to him at all-leave aside that, and he still had to be hit by a dimensional reduction strike from "homework"!

He snorted, stood up, and walked out toward Shalnark's room.

It was hard to describe his current situation.

He seemed free, but it was limited to inside this strange, abandoned building.

It seemed the others had accepted his existence, but he knew he hadn't integrated into this strange place at all.

He still didn't know what these people actually did. Although he had asked questions, he hadn't gotten an answer at all.

He also found it hard to describe the feeling in his heart-air filled with the atmospheric pressure of "storms gathering over the mountains", even though everything was no different from what had happened yesterday.

Oh, there was still a slight difference: Teacher Ku, who would kill you without a second word, had left on a certain day a week ago, leaving behind a mountain of homework.

"Well, the boss? It's totally normal for him to disappear. On the contrary, it would be abnormal if the time he spent staying at the base exceeded two months."

This was the answer he got when he played games with Shalnark and asked him with a feigned casual air. And at that time, Shalnark turned his head to look at him, but the smile on his cheerful face somehow made Qi Zhou feel a chill: "You'd better not harbor any ghost ideas, or I'll get chewed out too if the boss finds out."

He had no choice but to drop the thought of playing truant while Teacher Ku was away.

In the week Teacher Ku was away, every day for him was spent reading books and doing homework.

He discovered that his Teacher Ku was also a miraculous person. The bookshelf in his room held books including but not limited to "The Fantasy Journey of a Hot-Blooded Youth", "Taming Manual for Dragon-Building Ridge-Spine Beasts", "Religion and Theology", "Mastering the Architect Examination in One Hundred Days", "How to Be a Good Teacher Students Love", and so on. From academic papers down to manga, covering astronomy, geography, mathematics, and religion, it seemed that no matter what kind of book one discovered on Teacher Ku's bookshelf, there was no need to feel strange.

He had flipped through Teacher Ku's books before, and since Teacher Ku hadn't forbidden it, his boldness grew, and he specifically picked manga and novels to read. Unfortunately, the manga creators in this world still had pit-diggers and pigeon-fliers. A novel he particularly liked called "Hunter X Hunter" had been pigeon-holed for a long time. According to Shalnark, it was because the author felt playing poker was more fun than writing novels, so he turned around and immersed himself in a chess and card room, making it an unknown when he would ever fill in the pit.

Homework and such were not problems at all. Qi Zhou planned to go read the manga he hadn't finished yet before considering the matter of homework, but as he walked out of his room into the first-floor lobby and prepared to go up to the second floor, he saw his Teacher Ku sitting on the sofa in the first-floor lobby.

"Grass (a plant)!" Qi Zhou let out a national curse in fright, and after cursing, he thanked the heavens in his heart that the two worlds didn't share a language.

Chrollo turned his head to look at him and smiled: "Come over."

Qi Zhou walked up to him and stood there obediently.

Chrollo looked at him seriously: "Can you pronounce my name now?"

Qi Zhou looked back earnestly: "Chrollo Lucici."

Chrollo stared at his earnest expression, watched for a long time, and said nothing. It was as though he had resigned himself to his fate and no longer pursued the topic, instead saying: "Release your Ren at full power for me to see."

Qi Zhou closed his eyes, and intense Qi erupted from within his body.

"Not bad-get ready."

Hearing the words "get ready," the expression on Qi Zhou's face abruptly turned grave.

Terrifying Nen pressure crushed toward him once again. Even though this test had been conducted countless times, while being tested he still felt terror toward Chrollo's strength.

Each "test" happened to hit right at his limit, and try as he might with all his might, he couldn't see the end of the Nen pressure. Like wild grass resisting a hurricane, he could only endure and keep the hurricane from uprooting him, but no matter what he did, he couldn't affect the hurricane by even a single shred.

Time was dragged out to be extremely long yet extremely short. When the Nen pressure vanished, Qi Zhou's clothes all over his body were soaked through with sweat.

Yet after the Nen pressure withdrew, his Nen seemed to have made a faint improvement once again, and at this moment, he actually had a fleeting sensation of his body becoming light-then, as if a divine flash of inspiration struck him, he suddenly thought that Feitan and Shalnark had been talking about homework the whole time just now; they actually knew Teacher Ku was back, didn't they!

Dammit! Even though they knew, they deliberately spoke in an ambiguous way, plainly wanting to watch a good show!

Then, the evaluation Chrollo gave made Qi Zhou stamp his feet with anger.

"Barely passing."

He ignored Qi Zhou, who had puffed out his cheeks like a steamed bun, and spoke calmly: "Gather."

His voice wasn't loud, but after he finished speaking, everyone still remaining at the base arrived at the lobby one after the other.

"The destination for this activity is Whale Manor, located within the White Light Mountains in the Golden Province of the Republic of Padokea." Chrollo's calm voice reached into everyone's ears, yet Qi Zhou saw an expression named excitement on the faces of those who heard his voice.

To say excitement might be taking it a bit lightly; their gazes were more like beasts that had discovered their target-bloodthirsty, thrilled, yet forcefully suppressing themselves to remain calm, waiting only for a single word of command to leap forward and bite through the target's throat.

Chrollo's gaze swept across everyone's faces. "However, participation in this activity is voluntary. Members with personal matters can sit it out-has Number 4 still not returned?"

Machi said, "Yes. He said he would need a little more time."

"Good." Chrollo looked at Bonolenov. "Bonolenov and Franklin will stay behind."

The two nodded.

Chrollo looked at the others again. "Does anyone need to ask for leave?"

No one spoke.

Actually, in that moment, Qi Zhou wanted a little to ask for leave, but Chrollo's gaze made him abandon the idea.

"Good. Machi and Pakunoda, go gather the necessary information."-"Okay." "Mm."

"Shalnark, you're in charge of transportation."-"Got it~"

"The activity is tentatively scheduled for a week from now. We'll make the specific arrangements when the time comes." Chrollo stood up. "Those in the Special Attack Group can start resting up."

Uvogin's booming voice was full of excitement. "Great! I can finally stretch my muscles."

Nobunaga said, "Want to see who's better when the time comes?"

"Sure. Feitan, you should join in too." Uvogin looked over at Feitan as he spoke. Feitan curled his lips into a smile. "Sure. Want to bet on something?"

Shalnark came over. "Hey, are you opening a betting pool? I'm in, I'm in."

Ignoring the few who were making a racket and getting overly excited, Chrollo stood up. "Qi Zhou."

Qi Zhou followed Chrollo upstairs and back to their room. There were clearly empty rooms, but his request to have a room of his own had been mercilessly rejected, on the grounds that strict Teacher Ku needed to supervise his studies.

So he was still miserably squeezed into the corner.

Chrollo asked him, "How many times can you use your ability in a row now?"

Qi Zhou's thoughts stirred, and badges appeared in his hand one after another. Ten appeared in total, and then he could no longer create any more.

Chrollo asked him, "Have you reached your limit?"

Qi Zhou replied, "Mm... It seems ten is the limit of my ability. It has nothing to do with my Nen. I still have Nen."

Chrollo picked up a badge and pinned it on himself. A few seconds later, he took it off, and the badge vanished from his palm.

The improvement was slightly greater than last time-this showed that Qi Zhou really could make his Nen Ability badges more and more useful through training.

Chrollo said calmly, "This activity will serve as your entrance test. If you pass, you can officially join."

"I..." Qi Zhou hesitated a little. He really wanted to know what had brought these people together, and what kind of activities this "group" was involved in. He looked at Chrollo and asked softly, "What... exactly do you do?"

Chrollo did not answer. Instead, he looked at him calmly. "You'll find out after this activity."

"But-" The words he had not managed to say were swallowed up in Chrollo's eyes.

"Have you forgotten? The rules you need to follow."

Chrollo spoke softly. His voice was still calm, but it was the kind of calm that made one feel despair.

"You only need to carry out my orders. If necessary, I will explain things to you. But that doesn't mean you have the right to ask questions."

He turned away, leaving the boy, shrouded in killing intent, standing rigidly where he was.

"Remember, this is the last time I'll repeat myself."