Chapter 48: Chance Encounter

Humans controlled by puppet manipulation arts lose their shadows, but they can use Nen to increase their physical strength.

Before the airship exploded, Luhara hid inside the shadow of an ordinary person, and then used a dozen puppet humans to wrap around that ordinary person, ultimately plunging straight down from high altitude into the lake.

Faced with the impact of hitting the water, the puppet humans, despite being reinforced by Nen, still suffered severe damage to several of their units.

As for the ordinary person wrapped in the middle, he died on the spot.

Luhara emerged from the shadow space and swam toward the shore.

The puppet humans obeying his commands followed him back to the bank.

Upon reaching the shore, Luhara slumped onto the ground, his face etched with extreme exhaustion.

The ability type of Shadowless Return could be called complex; while it possessed versatile application methods, the trade-off was an excessively high consumption of Nen.

After going through so much turmoil, Luhara's physical stamina and Nen reserves were basically bottomed out.

"Dammit... I only managed to save seven."

Looking up at the seven puppet humans that were barely intact, Luhara gritted his teeth.

Given the situation back then, the time he had to operate was far too scarce.

Had he delayed for even a few more seconds, he could well have died in the explosion.

To be able to save seven puppet humans under such a critical moment was already a decent outcome.

He was merely angered that these trivial matters had interfered with his mission.

Right now, it was completely impossible to determine Moro's whereabouts, let alone continue pursuing him.

Luhara labored to calm the emotions within his heart, exhaled deeply, and closed his eyes to rest.

Losing an excellent opportunity to strike did not mean the mission had failed.

Once he recovered, he would naturally be able to seek another opportunity.

Under the moonlight, Luhara leaned against a tree, surrounded by seven motionless, zombie-like puppets that guarded him in the center.

Compared to Luhara's profound exhaustion, Moro's physical condition and potential aura reserves were in a fairly good state.

This was thanks to the leveling gains brought by that head on the airship.

Nen surged around Moro's body as he walked straight along the shoreline toward the three people who had just finished hunting the giant-horned white deer.

He hoped to get some information from these three people and perhaps borrow a mobile phone by the way.

"Pardon me, excuse me."

To prevent the other party from overreacting, Moro kept his distance, raised a hand, and greeted them first.

At this moment.

The three men were excitedly cutting the giant horns when they suddenly heard Moro's greeting. Their expressions instantly shifted, and without a moment's hesitation, they grabbed their hunting rifles, pointing the barrels directly at the direction from which the voice came.

When they clearly saw that the person who spoke was a boy looking rather filthy, they involuntarily exchanged glances.

"It's a kid."
"So what, we've been seen."
"Kill him?"
"Obviously... what did you think we were doing?"

Among the three, the bearded man of oldest age made the final decision with the fastest speed.

Poaching giant-horned white deer was a grave felony, and the penalty standards were calculated by weight. The coral-like horns of a single adult white deer basically started with a twenty-year sentence.

Murderous intent flashed in the bearded man's eyes. What they were doing was not meant to see the light of day, and at this moment, he couldn't be bothered to ask Moro's intentions; he simply aimed and pulled the trigger.

Bang!

The muffled gunshot still echoed across the surface of the lake.

The bullet tore through the air, heading straight for Moro.

When the bearded man's murderous intent arose, Moro had already sensed it and immediately dodged out of the bullet's trajectory.

The bullet flew past his side and vanished into the night.

Seeing Moro dodge the gunfire, the bearded man was stunned for a moment, then hurriedly pulled the bolt to eject the still-warm casing.

"What are you standing around for? Shoot!"

While urging his companions, the bearded man raised his gun to aim at Moro once again.

But this time, Moro did not give him another chance to fire.

Swish, swish, swish—

A few Nen bullets crossed the distance between life and death, blowing the heads of the three people holding guns.

Amidst splashing blood, the three men fell to the ground alongside their hunting rifles with dull thuds.

Moro walked up to the three corpses, then glanced at the nearby carcass of the horned deer.

"Poachers, huh..."

Withdrawing his gaze, Moro's expression remained cold.

He did not recognize the giant-horned white deer, but judging from the decisive gunfire of these three men, they were most likely criminals engaged in poaching.

Perhaps they didn't care at all why a boy appeared in the deep forest; they only cared about how to cover up their criminal acts.

Moro squatted down halfway, searched one of the corpses for a mobile phone, opened it, and dialed Kancho's contact number.

Beep, beep...

After a minute of blind tones.

There was no response from Kancho's end, and the call automatically hung up.

Moro dialed a few more times, yet there was still no response.

"Could his phone have been crushed too? Unlikely... As a combat-type Zodiac, advanced techniques like 'Shu' should certainly be well-mastered by him."

Moro put down the phone and glanced at the faint mist drifting around like light smoke.

Surely Kancho wouldn't be so unlucky as to fall into a swamp...?

The humidity in this area was quite heavy, and swamps were most likely present, so probabilistically, it was possible.

At this thought, the image of Kancho driving straight into a swamp like a javelin popped into Moro's mind, and he instantly shuddered.

That sight was too tragic...

Moro shook his head, opted instead to send a text message to Argo, and without waiting for a reply, put away his phone and continued searching the corpses.

Handgun, cigarettes, lighter, compass...

Placing useful items like the searched handgun to the side, Moro checked the backpacks of these corpses and rummaged through them for some dry rations, clean water, and poached goods.

Claws of unknown creatures, sharp beaks mixed with several colors, and even emerald-green beast pupils sealed in bottles...

Having unearthed these items taken from certain animals, the identities of these people were basically certain.

"No wonder they were so vicious."

Moro glanced at the corpses nearby.

His original intention was just to ask for directions, never expecting these people to bring about their own demise.

Moro pulled a backpack over, picked up a canned meat from inside, pried it open, and began to eat.

After briefly filling his stomach, Moro cleared out a backpack and loaded it with usable items and food.

As for the claws, sharp beaks, and the deer antlers cut from the ground, bringing them along was obviously out of the question.

Based on the regional map found in the backpack, he had already determined that his current location belonged to a forest within the Mingbo Republic.

In terms of identity, he could barely be considered an illegal entrant.

If he were to also carry these suspected high-value poached goods, that would simply be a double debuff.

Moro packed his backpack, suddenly feeling a sense of alert. He picked up the handgun, pointed it toward the low-visibility woods ahead, and naturally gathered Nen in his other hand.

Ever since eliminating the poachers until now, he had never lowered his guard.

Hearing faint noises now, he naturally made defensive preparations immediately.

Rustle.

A man pushed aside the densely growing bushes and swaggered right out before Moro's eyes.

As if he hadn't seen the gun in Moro's hand, the man's gaze swept past the corpses on the ground and the half-cut deer antlers, his eyes shifting slightly before scanning the poachers' goods casually scattered on the ground nearby.

Subsequently, the man's gaze returned to Moro, and he calmly said, "Let's get acquainted. My name is Benjamin, a Professional Gourmet Hunter."