"Just that little gambling addiction of your Senju clan..."
"It's nothing to be ashamed of if people find out." Sean put his hands in his pockets and winked playfully at Hashirama. That punchable expression almost made Hashirama faint from anger.
His glorious and righteous image was ruined just like that.
"Fine, fine. Do whatever you want, kid. No one is perfect, and I believe the masses have sharp eyes."
Hashirama hugged a large bowl and slurped a mouthful of noodles fiercely. In his current phantom state, he really couldn't do anything to Sean.
"That's the spirit." Sean patted Hashirama on the shoulder. His hand went straight through Hashirama's body, and his fingertips accidentally grazed Hashirama's crotch.
Hashirama: "..."
Sean: "..."
He coughed awkwardly twice. "Ahem. I'm off to take the exam."
Then, he greased the soles of his feet and slipped away in a flash.
"Hey, Uncle, why are you talking to yourself? Strange." Gon scratched his head, swung the fishing rod over his shoulder, and chased after Sean. "Wait for me."
"That idiot, he can't do anything without me." Leorio clutched his briefcase and followed closely behind.
To the side, Kurapika glanced at Killua. "Shall we go?"
Killua curled his lip, too lazy to acknowledge Kurapika. Someone associated with that big brother who always pierced his heart couldn't be a good person either. He simply dropped his skateboard, stepped on it, and skated away.
Kurapika watched him hide far away. There seemed to be a familiar guy next to him, someone named Tonpa. Shaking his head, he chased after Leorio and Gon, following Sean to Menchi's side.
At this moment, the dignified One-Star Gourmet Hunter was no longer as imposing as before. Her head was lowered as she was being reprimanded by Netero.
"Little Menchi, being too stubborn isn't a good thing."
"I admire your attitude in pursuing gourmet food, but regarding the second half of the second test..."
"wanting to see if they had the spirit to challenge the unknown, didn't you go a bit too far?"
Did she go too far?
"My goal, in fact, was also focused on a test of both internal and external qualities," Menchi defended herself in a whisper. "That's why I thought of setting an extremely difficult dish to distinguish the high from the low."
The girl still dared to talk back? Netero glared at her. "What was the original intention?"
Menchi looked up and met Netero's calm, waveless eyes. Her breath hitsched. She heard Netero speak faintly, "The conclusion you reached in the end was..."
"That everyone's ability to challenge was problematic, so you judged that the entire group failed. Is that right?"
Cold sweat broke out on Menchi's forehead. She hemmed and hawed, but eventually, defeated by Netero's piercing words, she had to announce that the previous test results were invalid.
"Yeah!" Excited shouts rank out. The examiners had suffered under Menchi for too long. Seeing her bow her head was more refreshing than chugging a bottle of ice water in the dog days of summer.
"Hehe. I didn't expect this little girl to have decent strength, but she isn't very popular."
Hashirama, eating his melon, walked up to Sean and offered a rare comment. Sean gave a blank 'heh' in response. "Small chest, big temper. That's how it is."
Uh. You better be talking about her temper being fierce. Hashirama paused his hand holding the chopsticks and couldn't help but look down.
"In that case, let's do this." As long as she bowed her head, it would be easy to handle. He was just afraid the girl wouldn't change her ways and would stubbornly hold on.
Netero breathed a sigh of relief, held up one finger, and looked at Menchi seriously. "We will conduct a cooking test again."
"I hope that this time you can be fair, just, and selfless. More importantly..."
"The new topic must be something you participate in as an examiner, using a demonstration method to join the examiners' test."
"What do you think of this proposal?"
"Chairman, thank you." Menchi seemed to truly realize her mistake and bowed deeply to Netero.
As the young girl bent over, Hashirama raised an eyebrow. "Isn't there a valley there?"
Sean's mouth twitched. He glanced at Hashirama. "You are a married man. Don't look at what you shouldn't look at."
Hashirama: "..."
Woohoho. You're only bullying me because my real body isn't here. Otherwise, sooner or later, I'd make you eat a Deep Forest Emergence, you brat.
veins popped out on the hand Hashirama used to hold the large bowl, but unfortunately, apart from Sean, no one could notice him.
"Hohoho. I knew you were an honest, good child." Netero personally helped Menchi up and said with gratification, "Then, Examiner, please state the topic."
Menchi took a deep breath, thought for a moment, and had an idea. She announced loudly, "This time, the topic for the re-test is—'Boiled Egg'!"
"Yoshi! This topic is simple!"
"Awesome!"
"Finally, something normal. That bullshit Sushi almost made me cry."
Gon, Kurapika, Leorio, Hanzo, Todo, and the others all breathed a sigh of relief. However, unknown to them, in a place they couldn't see, an old young man stared at the young man, looking at him in disbelief. "Sean, you don't really have 'foresight', do you?"
Boiled eggs? Hashirama didn't think Sean's earlier remark about "treating you to boiled eggs" was said casually.
Sean looked at him with a half-smile and said, "Guess?"
Hashirama's eyelids twitched. His Daoist heart was about to collapse.
Hmph. I won't guess.
"It's just a little boiled egg. I've even sucked on a pizzle before, would I care about this?"
Damn, you're badass. Sean gave Hashirama a thumbs up, admiring him greatly. Immediately after, he followed Menchi and Netero along with the crowd of examinees and boarded the airship.
Destination: The habitat of the Spider Eagles—Mount Matora.
The propellers shredded the air, emitting waves of humming sounds.
Not long after, the airship carried the examined to the sky above a river valley.
The hatch opened. Netero glanced at Sean. "Kid, want to take a walk?"
Walk. Walk where? The Chairman didn't mean jumping down, did he?
The scene of Netero leaping down from a height of one hundred meters just now was still vivid in their minds.
Sean's heroic figure standing in the sky like a Demon God was also still washing over everyone's hearts. The examiners looked at the two with envy.
Sean nodded to Netero, tapped his toes, and exited the cabin first. Using "Moonwalk", he was ten meters away in the blink of an eye.
"That move is so cool. I really want to learn it." Gon looked at Sean with sparkling eyes. In the next blink, Netero, with his hands behind his back, flashed past, stepping on the air and chasing after him.
"You'll definitely have to pay to learn it." Leorio bit his fingernail, thinking to himself. Who doesn't envy that? Based on our friendship with Sean, surely he wouldn't charge us, right?
Please remove the 'right'. Kurapika glanced at Killua nearby. He doesn't even spare his own little brother, do you expect him to take special care of us?
Kurapika didn't think so. He still remembered what Sean had said to him on the huge ship. To reach him, you must first be strong enough to stand before him.
At this moment, looking around... Of the whole ship of people, excluding the examiners, perhaps only that pervert Hisoka was qualified to stand before Teacher Ben An. And that was only a 'perhaps'.
"Oh hohoho. My favorite apple, don't leave me alone in the trash heap."
The familiar perverted laughter was hair-raising. Just as everyone was secretly cursing about what madness this pervert was up to again...
Hisoka spread his arms and leaped, jumping directly out of the airship. The so-called "Leap of Faith" was nothing compared to this!
"Do young people in your world always take the unusual path?" Hashirama followed beside Sean and glanced at Hisoka. The clown-like attractor, the mouth grinning in a deep V shape—it was weird and creepy. "He reminds me a bit of a certain guy I know who was particularly good at fox-tiger might."
"Which one?" Sean didn't have much of an impression. "He was probably somewhat normal."
"But the one in your eyes is a certified pervert."
"Oh?" Hashirama was interested, but unfortunately, Sean was too lazy to say more. He slowed his pace, giving Netero a chance to walk side by side with him.
"Hohoho. Sean, this 'Moonwalk' you invented is really nice. It's a bit lacking for long-distance travel, but for short distances, I'm afraid even airships can't compare."
"Old man, spare me the flattery."
"If you have something to say, just say it directly."
One doesn't visit the temple without a cause. Sean didn't believe Netero would be kind enough to invite him for a "walk" for no reason.
"Mmm. It concerns the Dark Continent. I wonder if you are interested?" Netero looked at Sean meaningfully.
Sean frowned and looked at Netero calmly. Ging was the same, and so was Netero. They didn't allow others to go, yet they themselves were very "devoted" to the Dark Continent.
The Grand Chairman laughed, "Don't look at me like that. I can be certain that you will definitely go there in the future, right?"
"How are you so sure?" Sean raised an eyebrow.
"Intuition." His smile faded, and Netero looked at Sean seriously. "I have already promised your great-grandfather that once you break the third limit, I will tell you about some events from back then. I believe you will definitely be interested."
Zigg? "Old man, you don't need to beat around the bush here." Sean said lightly, "Even if you don't tell me, I will ask myself."
Sean knew very well that in the original work, it was Netero who accompanied Zigg to explore the Dark Continent. It was just a twist of fate—one returned to become the universally admired Chairman of the Association, while the other brought disaster to the family and eventually died miserably at home.
Now Kalluto had grown up. Calculating the time, Zigg's death wasn't far off. It was almost time to use "Impure World Reincarnation". Sean pricked up his ears to listen.
"To Human!" Netero didn't seem to intend to hide it from him either. He uttered astonishing words: "I saw a 'Human' on the Dark Continent!"
"A person who severely injured both me and Zigg in a single strike!"
A human? One strike?! Sean opened his mouth slightly, his heart rippling, and fell into a long silence.
As far as he knew, whether it was Gon's ancestor, Don Freecss, who set foot on the Dark Continent three hundred years ago and left behind the monumental book Journey to the New World , or the magical beasts guarding the gate to the Dark Continent, he had never heard the word "Human" from their mouths regarding the Dark Continent!
What was mentioned more often were the countless dangerous monsters and the disasters that made one's scalp tingle just by hearing their names—
For example, the "Human-rearing Beast" Pap. For example, the Twin-tailed Snake Hellbell. For example, the Zobae Disease of immortality. For example, the Botanical Weapon Brion. For example, the Gaseous Lifeform Ai.
So, what the hell was a human? If what Netero said was true, then how did the person—or group of people—who injured him survive in the Dark Continent, where magical beasts roamed wild and disasters were rampant? With their strength and wisdom, could they not have discovered that there was another human world within Lake Mobius?
Or could it be said that... humanity, whether it be the V5, the Republic of Padokea, or even the Kakin Empire... were all just "pigs" raised by that group of people on the Dark Continent?!
In this moment, thoughts grew wildly in Sean's mind like weeds.
The young man felt cold all over and couldn't help but shiver. He met Netero's distinct black and white pupils and saw this survivor, who was known to have explored the Dark Continent and returned alive, speak faintly: "It is also possible that I expressed it incorrectly."
"That was not a human, but a 'God'!"