Chapter 105: Occupation, Endurance, Chrysanthemum

Kuroda, handcuffed to the wall, was covered in tears. Not far from him, Yano, whose hands and feet were similarly bound, wore an unnaturally wide smile. However, the way his face twitched from time to time and the two-finger-wide hollow at the base of his neck made it clear that he was no longer the Yano he once was.

Saya's Nen beast—that horrific blob of tentacles—had burrowed into the shriveled skin of Yano, occupying his body. Even more unsettling, the signal on the wristband indicated that Yano was still alive.

This...

In the series of multiple-choice trials that followed, the remaining six participants all kept a significant distance from that seemingly pure and delicate girl, both physically and mentally.

Musashi, who had claimed to be Yano’s best friend, looked like he had lost his soul. Whether his battered blade would be effective against a monster-like Nen beast remained to be seen, but his "fighting spirit" had certainly vanished entirely.

Musashi’s desperate gaze swept across the faces of the other five, but everyone, including Hao Ren, wore the exact same expression: "If you're so capable, you do it."

Damn it, we don't want to have anything to do with that monster anymore.

Relatively speaking, Hao Ren felt quite at ease. His "Nen-cleansing" ability was an instant kill against Nen beasts of other categories. If that fleshy, tentacled slime dared to push him, he would just poke its rear end until it exploded.

Indeed, since Saya-chan’s Nen beast seemed preoccupied, these companions, who had been scared out of their wits in more ways than one, were barely able to maintain their composure.

During the next leg of the journey, Hao Ren deeply understood the authenticity of the book he had swiped from the airship, "On the Endurance of Nen Users."

Because there were outsiders present, Hao Ren couldn't conveniently pull food out of his storage space. However, simply by using Nen to nourish and support his body, he found that over 60 consecutive hours of travel and testing had not left him overly lethargic. Sensing his state, Hao Ren estimated he could easily hold out for at least twice that long.

Nen really is incredibly powerful.

After much hardship, the group descended to the bottom of the tower. Many had arrived before them, most notably the shining Hanzo.

Hao Ren looked back at the other bald man in his group and sighed; they were truly brothers in spirit.

"Yo! Black Flame Dragon, you Michelin three-star chef, you haven't been poisoned to death yet? If I can't eat my sister's bento because of that fish stew, I'll definitely be killed! If I get killed, Yukina will be sad! How are you going to compensate me?"

"Tch! Good riddance! You ugly-faced, red-haired snow-woman stalker, go be reincarnated already! You want Yukina to be sad? She only cares about you out of concern for an ugly, mangy dog; don't flatter yourself, you idiot! Be careful or I'll go complain to her brother!"

"Wait! Black Flame Dragon, how did you know about that?"

"Tch! I know plenty of things. Regardless, I am, after all, a semi-disciple of Master Genkai."

"Wait! Yukina has a brother? You know, Urameshi? Why didn't you tell me?"

"I just didn't want to get stabbed, that's all." (Whispered)

"What did you say? Do you have the guts to say that louder like a real man? Where did all that bluster go when you were bickering with Keiko?"

"Kuwabara, you bastard! Who are you calling a couple? Do you want to taste my iron fist of justice?"

"Hmph! Since I started training, we haven't sparred, have we? Good. Let's decide right here who is the number one delinquent of Sarayashiki Junior High! Come on, Urameshi!"

"Perfect! I've been wanting to punch your ugly face in for a long time!"

"Two idiots."

"What did you say?!" x2

Naturally, the three of them began to argue. Because there were too many onlookers, the three of them bickered with an intensity as if they were going to kill each other, yet their feet remained rooted to the spot as if glued down.

"You dare touch a finger on me first?"

"You dare pluck out a single hair of mine?"

"Do you dare go pull one of Gittarackur's needles?"

"Do you dare lick Hisoka-sama's leather shoes?"

It was all meaningless banter, best ignored. The three young Nen users cursed at each other for a full three hours until they seemed to run out of words, collapsing into a corner to close their eyes and rest.

"Mmm... how wonderful. Youth." Hisoka, playing with his infinite deck of cards, looked at Hao Ren with a strange glint in his eyes.

It seemed this Number 214 had become a sweet fruit, not inferior to Killua.

But to go from unripe to mature in just 60-odd hours—wasn't the growth cycle of this fruit a bit too fast?

And that aura faintly radiating from him—it didn't seem much worse than his own.

Should he eat him?

Hisoka narrowed his eyes, the corners of his mouth curling upward.

Hao Ren, eyes closed in meditation, felt a sudden chill and jolted awake. Flustered, he reflexively activated [En].

"Hehehehe..." the signature, perverted laugh of Hisoka-sama echoed.

Gittarackur, with his face full of needles, tapped his palm. He remembered now.

The Nen of that bespectacled cook seemed very similar to that short old woman who had once fought his father. It was that kind of Nen that seemed to encompass everything.

Back then, Killua’s grandfather, Zeno Zoldyck, had released a massive Nen dragon—"Dragon Head,"—only for that Chinese-style old woman to absorb it entirely with some unknown method, then return it in fragments, leaving the old man in a sorry state. It had left a deep impression on the young Illumi.

So, even his powerful grandfather had opponents he couldn't defeat.

Should he try to extract some information from him?

Hao Ren, who had just settled down after his fright, felt another chill and jolted awake.

What now?

It had been 60 hours without food or water; could those of you whispering about me in the shadows please consider the feelings of my kidneys and stomach? My intestines are about to go on strike!

Exhausted from the constant fright, Hao Ren gave up on resting. He stared at the pitch-black ceiling with dry, vacant eyes, saying nothing.

It was enough to drive him mad just from the paranoia. Should one credit the powerful minds of top-tier Nen users, or Hao Ren’s overly heightened perception?

In any case, after surviving the final hours, the time was finally up, and the gate to leave the tower opened.

The protagonists were protagonists for a reason. Even without Tonpa's interference, Gon, Kurapika, Killua, and Leorio, along with the bee-tamer Ponzu, appeared in everyone's sight in the final seconds.

Though the team seemed harmonious, they looked as if they had been through quite an ordeal.

"Warden, do we really not need to send someone to tail that girl with the special Nen beast? It feels dangerous." The tall, thin man, whose left eye was swollen shut and who seemed to have lost a front tooth, stared at the screen as Yano completely melted, revealing the tentacle slime inside, which then disintegrated and vanished on its own.

"Yeah. Why are there so many dangerous figures this year?" The green-haired man’s gluteal muscles twitched, though his expression wasn't overly sorrowful. Had his attributes awakened?

The "guy" attribute.

Lippo did not answer. He stood up silently and walked out of the monitoring room.

"I must replace those two gay guys! My eyes are burning!" the fury of the five-foot-tall Lippo.