Chapter 38: A Choice Between Two

Choosing to board this airship in the first place was due to the time efficiency brought by a direct flight.

If one were to disembark midway, the time lost in transferring connections would have to be factored in.

This usually translated to a delay measured in days.

In other words, it might waste several days, thereby jeopardizing the primary objective of heading to the Great Nation of Kukanyu.

After some deliberation, Moro still decided to alter his travel plans.

Anyway, this trip to the Great Nation of Kukanyu held no guaranteed expectations of accomplishing anything substantial; at best, it was merely a scouting run.

If he could manage to secure an opening to strike while maintaining the status of a bystander, then, situated right on the edge of the board, he could weigh his options and decide whether to step into the fray to seize the opportunity.

However, that probability was exceedingly slim.

To even witness a clash between masters from afar was already an immensely difficult feat.

When all was said and forth, lacking sufficient strength truly made every step agonizingly difficult at times.

Based on this premise, all choices and decisions had to be compromised accordingly.

Moro stood up and walked over to the desk holding the telephone, picking up the itinerary briefing sheet lying beside it.

He flipped it open, letting his gaze sweep past the designated locations along the flight path, and looked straight at the special reminders for the halfway supply station.

It was written there that the airship’s arrival at the first supply station would be around twelve o'clock tomorrow.

"Tomorrow noon, huh..."

Closing the itinerary briefing sheet, Moro looked out the window at the night sky once more.

If he couldn't catch up with the game of pursuit and hunting between Silva and the Phantom Troupe, he could at least rely on Argo's intelligence network to accomplish something, to a greater or lesser degree.

The premise was—

Whether he could contact Silva, and whether Silva would accept intelligence assistance from an outsider.

Moreover, given the deep foundations of the Zoldyck family, they most likely possessed exclusive channels for tracking targets.

It was even possible that Silva had already engaged the Phantom Troupe in combat.

Gazing at the night sky, Moro silently abandoned his routine evening cultivation, returned to the sofa, closed his eyes, and began to meditate.

Whenever he had free time and was not cultivating, Moro would use meditation to continuously construct the subsequent extension routes of "Deceitful Shooting Star" in his mind.

This had already become a habit of his.

He could vaguely sense that, following his death and rebirth, the emergence of the ability "Deceitful Shooting Star" had been far too natural and simple.

So simple that it made him naturally assume the birth of "Deceitful Shooting Star" had seemingly not consumed any of his Nen capacity.

This meant that even if he were to develop other capability effects of "Deceitful Shooting Star" later on, he likely wouldn't encounter difficulties or bottlenecks due to underlying factors like Nen capacity occupancy rates.

For the sake of this possibility, and to concretely develop even rarer capability effects...

Moro frequently engaged in meditation.

At the same time, during the process of meditation, he could further enhance the stability of "Ten".

Time ticked away, second by second.

"Hmm?"

Not knowing how much time had passed, Moro suddenly opened his eyes and sharply turned his gaze toward the room door.

Just a moment ago—

He had sensed an unmasked, blatant fluctuation of aura.

.......

The lower deck of the airship.

It was the dead of night, and most passengers had already fallen asleep, with only a handful lingering in the bars on the upper and lower levels.

For Luyuan, the dead of night was the prime moment to infiltrate shadows.

Because as long as the target was in a sleeping state, the time required to infiltrate their shadow would be drastically reduced.

Based on this mechanism, Luyuan intended to pull an all-nighter on the first day to gain control over as many people as possible.

Once he secured control over all the passengers on the lower deck, he could infiltrate upward and wait for the right moment to make his move.

"Be patient... ensure the success of the mission."

Luyuan burrowed into a passenger's slanted shadow like a maggot, repeatedly executing the exact same operation.

Up to now, he had already gained control over nearly fifty passengers.

And just as he was about to make his move on the fifty-first passenger, he abruptly sensed a fluctuation of aura emanating from the upper deck.

"Nen aura, being this flagrant... Who could it be...?"

Within the pitch-black shadow, Luyuan's body surfaced, a look of astonishment flashing in his eyes as he stared at the cabin ceiling.

Meanwhile.

Inside the cabin where Cheadle and her group were stationed.

"Safu, wake up."

Thalia gently roused the silver-haired woman.

Safu was not the silver-haired woman's actual name.

Furthermore, given that the silver-haired woman was the Third Princess of the Great Nation of Kukanyu, by the standards of their harsh royal laws, Thalia shouldn't have addressed her by her given name either; doing so would be a capital offense punishable by death.

However, desperate times called for desperate measures, and the silver-haired woman was no brainless royal elitist.

Bearing a false name during times of crisis was not something she found difficult to accept.

"What happened?"

Roused by Thalia, Safu sat up from the bed and asked with calm composure.

By the room door, Cheadle stood tall and straight like a javelin. Hearing Safu's question, he answered on behalf of Thalia: "Someone is making a demonstration of force against us."

"A demonstration?"

A flicker of puzzlement crossed Safu's azure eyes, and she asked placidly: "Isn't that rather redundant?"

"Ah, under normal circumstances, yes, it's quite redundant, but..."

Cheadle stared at the door, his words trailing off midway as he suddenly found himself at a loss for how to explain it to Safu.

No matter what situation one encountered, once the variable of Nen abilities entered the picture, one could no longer adhere to conventional ways of thinking.

The unknown opponent releasing their aura had clearly arrived cloaked in killing intent, yet went out of their way to perform a redundant display of intimidation...

Thinking from the perspective of Nen abilities, one could not rule out the possibility that the opponent possessed a counter-type ability.

If they rashly made a move, it might turn an already unfavorable situation even worse.

Viewed in this light...

The reluctant choice to board the ship today was precisely the outcome the enemy had painstakingly schemed to bring about, all to trap them in an environment where they had no choice but to accept the challenge.

Thinking of this, Cheadle frowned.

On one hand, he had to ensure the client's safety; on the other hand, the shifting currents of the situation robbed them of various options, leaving them in an utterly passive state.

So much so that they currently lacked even the room to probe...

That being said, they couldn't just do nothing either.

Right...

He also had to explain the current state of affairs to Safu. Ah, what a headache.

In the span of just a few seconds, Cheadle's mind was churning like a violent storm.

Although Safu was aware of the existence of Nen abilities, her understanding was at best superficial.

In Cheadle's view, actually explaining it was truly impossible in just a few words.

Besides, he was never good at "explaining" things in the first place...

Seeing Cheadle trail off and fall into a sudden silence midway, Safu didn't show any sign of anger.

Beside them, Thalia seemed to have sensed Cheadle's dilemma and spoke up to help clarify things for Safu based on her own understanding: "The act of intimidation is merely a catalyst; the opponent wants to force us to choose between 'countering' and 'standing by'."

"I understand."

Safu nodded gently, her voice calm: "Since the enemy came prepared, then regardless of which choice we make, it's the outcome they wanted to see, isn't it?"

"That is precisely the problem..."

Thalia's gaze turned solemn.

Both she and Cheadle were well aware of one thing: although the opponent's targeted actions still retained a shred of restraint, the various intertwining restrictions kept them trapped in a state of passivity.

"So, is there no third choice? For instance... paying no mind to whether I live or die."

Safu maintained a calm expression, as if she were merely discussing some trivial matter of no consequence.

"!!!" Thalia.