Hunter: I became stronger even after I died.

Chapter 350 Why?
Seraphim.

This is a celebration held by the Kakin royal family every few years.

The royal entourage traveled incognito to a randomly selected village to hold a banquet.

All villagers in the selected villages were immediately divided into "hosts" and "others".

Melina's mother was assigned to be a waitress at a celebration.

In just a few days, she tirelessly "entered" the royal family, eventually becoming a vegetable.

And so, Melina was born to her vegetative mother.

Children like her, born during royal celebrations, are collectively known as celebration orphans and are taken in underground hospitals that handle or sell human tissue.

There, the person in charge used scientific methods (genetic testing) to distinguish between the celebration orphans as "second-line" and "meat".

The so-called second-line members are royal bloodlines who have no right to inherit the throne.

They are born to be disfigured by razor blades in exchange for the right to survive.

Currently, the heads of the two major families of the Kakin gang, Xiuwu and Jiaxia, are both second-tier figures.

The so-called "meat" is something that has been institutionalized and objectified.

In layman's terms,

Meat is nothing more than an item for human use.

Therefore, compared to the "meat" (referring to top-tier players), those in the second tier are much luckier.

If the festival orphans, who are classified as "meat," want to survive, they must take on the mission of being "meat."

Like those chosen as "hosts" at the celebration, Melena fulfilled this role as "flesh" for twenty years.

"You gave birth to me without my consent..."

"Gurgle, gurgle..." The sound of blood splattering out as flesh is squeezed.

"They hurt me, doubted me, feared me... and yet they want me to forgive everything..."

"Crunch, crunch..." The sound of slender finger bones being chewed.

"Why... should Kakin... be destroyed!"

"Glug, glug..." The sound of a moist lump of flesh sliding into the throat.

"This world is full of garbage... I hate you, I curse you...!"

Morina's eyes slowly widened, and the roar in her heart, however intense, could only turn into hoarse gasps like a broken bellows.

Flesh and blood were being gnawed away inch by inch—

She doesn't feel pain.

She had long since grown accustomed to torment that was far more profound than this pain.

She was just unwilling to accept it.

I also found it laughable.

She once thought that hatred and curses were nothing more than the lamentations of the weak and powerless.

She didn't want to just wail meaninglessly, so she was able to discover this power called "thought" in her wounds without any instruction.

This is an opportunity!

The opportunity to destroy Kakin, the opportunity to destroy this cesspool of a world.

But in the end...

Is all we can do just hate and curse?

The light in Melena's pupils gradually dimmed. No matter how unwilling she was, the aura of death, like darkness, gradually obscured the light in her eyes.

Failed.

The last glimmer of light in Melena's eyes gradually faded.

Before her consciousness completely faded, she could still hear the sound of her flesh being devoured.

"What delicious food, and so nutritious..."

"That's great, now I can recover..."

"I can... survive..."

The queen ant grinned, revealing her blood-stained mandibles and teeth that were no different from those of a human, and greedily devoured the nutrient-rich body.

The death of one species gives rise to the birth of another.

The liquid inside the nutrient tank was quickly stained red.

Outside the cabin, several figures watched this scene silently.

"Once chimeric ants have identified the taste of a certain food, they find it difficult to accept other substitutes, hence the name 'food ants'."

"It doesn't matter, anyway, 'Manipulation' can manipulate its cognition, Nen abilities... that's how convenient they are, isn't it?"

"really."

In the crimson liquid, Melena's remains had been almost completely devoured.

The group stared at the blood chamber, as if they could still see the mangled body.

Melina died without ever understanding what went wrong.

After all, she didn't have the intelligence advantage that Moro had from a higher dimension, known as the "reader's perspective."

So how could she have imagined that behind the descendants of the Kakin royal family stood a world-class powerhouse who valued these beings even more than the current Kakin king?

This world-class powerhouse possesses immense strength and a formidable team.

Yet they were willing to lie low for so many years, and so patiently chose a long-term plan that was frighteningly safe and never revealed any signs or clues.

In reality, Morro only had one advantage over Melina: intelligence.

That is, he knew that Byand attached great importance to the upcoming War of the Succession, because one of the princes with the right to inherit the throne was very likely to be Byand's son...

Based on this, even if the risk is extremely small, Moro will give it high priority.

This is also the fundamental reason why he tries to avoid direct conflict as much as possible.

Facts have proved that his decision was correct.

The "unknown" nature of Nen abilities is too strong. At certain specific moments, you can never imagine where it will appear or what value and effect it will have.

Take, for example, Shahua's "Twin Flower Crossing," a trait-based ability with a complex mechanism.

"boom--"

As the night deepened, the roar of a high-revving engine echoed through the darkness.

Moro practically floored the accelerator.

In the back seat, Kurapika leaned forward slightly, noticing something amiss, and couldn't help but look at Moro in the driver's seat.

Moro stared intently at the road ahead, illuminated by the car headlights, and frowned slightly when he sensed Kurapika's gaze upon him.

"Melena is dead."

"Ok?"

Kurapika's expression changed upon hearing this.

They simply stole some collectibles, including Scarlet Eyes, without bloodshed, and did nothing else.

As the intelligence provider, Melina has always adhered to the principle of preferring to spend more time rather than rushing to investigate thoroughly.

That's why, after taking the position of head of the Ai family, he spent so much time investigating the location of Celidonich's collection room.

All of this is to minimize the risk as much as possible.

Even if Melena had been discovered by Celidonich, she wouldn't have died in such a short time.

Kurapika had doubts.

Moro looked ahead and said, "It's possible that Melena had a Nen exorcist remove the 'star mark.' She's very ambitious and well-versed in the Nen system, so it's not surprising that there would be a Nen exorcist in her team."

"There is indeed such a possibility, but it is very low."

Kurapika looked at Moro's profile and speculated, "If Melena wants to remove the star mark, she wouldn't use an exorcist, who is somewhat of a secret weapon, unless absolutely necessary, for a star mark that can be removed by simply saying a few words to you."

"That makes sense."

Moro looked up abruptly, glancing at Kurapika through the rearview mirror. His tone grew serious: "So it's more likely that Morena is dead, in such a short time..."

"Hmm, that's what I'm most puzzled about." Kurapika lowered his head slightly, his eyes showing a thoughtful expression.

He had worked with Melina for quite some time, so he was familiar with the woman's methods.

In his view, even if Melena were exposed because of this incident and thus broke with Celidonich, she could not have died so easily.

Lacking crucial information, Kurapika naturally couldn't come up with a concrete direction no matter how hard he thought.

But Moro had a vague idea in his mind.

Melena's death is very likely related to Byron.

That's why his tone suddenly became serious.

"She...may have done something unnecessary."

Moro's brows relaxed slightly, but the seriousness in his eyes did not diminish at all.

Kurapika was taken aback by what he heard.

Is it unnecessary...?

He knew nothing about what Melina was planning and couldn't understand what outrageous thing she would do in this operation that would lead to her death.

Although the reason is unknown, but—

Kurapika, alert, quickly warned, "If Melena really dies because of this, then her connection with us may have been exposed."

"Yes."

Moro gripped the steering wheel and sighed softly, "If it's just torture, no matter how cruel the methods, Morina probably won't yield, but..."

"Intelligence-type operational capabilities..."

Kurapika reacted quickly and immediately considered this possibility.

Moro glanced at him and nodded, saying, "Yes, this is the most troublesome situation. However, we acted quickly. As long as we can successfully rendezvous with the Chimera, we can leave Kakin immediately."

Kurapika nodded.

Even if Melina did manage to extract information about them from the intelligence-based ability user.

Given their speed and efficiency, coupled with the fact that Melina herself knew nothing about their specific route, it was a formidable combination.

Even if the person who killed Melena knew their identities, it would be impossible to pinpoint their location and movements in such a short time.

"squeak--"

The sound of wheels screeching to a halt could be heard in the darkness.

Moro stopped the car.

Immediately afterwards, Moro and Kurapika got out of the car one after the other.

"Use 'thought' to protect the eyes of your people."

While giving the reminder, Moro gathered flying stars in his hand.

Melena's sudden death was a dangerous sign for him.

In order to get to the Chimera's side as quickly as possible, the only option is to rely on the guess that one's identity may have been exposed, and then directly use the Flying Star, which is easy to expose one's identity and presence.

Furthermore, it's uncertain where the chimera is currently at. If it's flying in a straight line, it's hard to guarantee that it won't encounter many obstacles along the way.

However, given the current situation, let's take action first!

………………

In a quiet, deserted area, all was still.

On a flat area, numerous red petals, resembling tentacles, dissipated with the night breeze.

As the petals manifested by his spiritual energy gradually faded and disappeared, Bi Yangde said, "Shahua's 'event coordinates' are limited in number and cannot be used continuously at a high capacity. Just helping us shorten the distance and send that woman away has already brought us close to our limit."

"clear."

Alita's golden twin tails swayed gently in the wind.

She looked up at the tall figure of Bi Yangde, whose large, dark eyes were so empty they seemed not to belong to a living person, but rather to a meticulously crafted glass bead.

"Give me a little more time, and I'll be able to locate it soon."

Her voice was even more eerie, devoid of any human quality, as if it had been digitally synthesized.

Bi Yangde did not speak again.

Alita's psychic power surged, and as she slowly raised her right hand, a data stream suddenly appeared in her dark eyes, with dense lines sweeping across like a blizzard.

The world she sees at this moment—

Thin beams of light shot densely from the ground into the sky, almost completely covering Alita's field of vision.

These rays of light are like a rainbow, possessing a variety of colors.

They come from anything that Alita can see.

Some sprouted from a small stone by the roadside, some from the lush canopy of a tree or even a tender green shoot, and some from a small insect flying in the night.

They come from different sources and have different colors.

The light on the stone is gray, the color of the plant is green, and the color of the insect is black...

Closer up, her and By Yangde's two thin rays of light were deep red.

It emerged from overhead, like the beam of a flashlight shining into the night sky, straight yet with a fixed end.

Alita scanned the thin, colorful rays of light that met her eyes, her glass-bead eyes reflecting a storm of data.

Countless colorful, thin rays of light filled her field of vision, so dense that they almost obscured her normal visual function.

Due to limitations in her abilities, she was unable to temporarily block out irrelevant light through color filtering.

But it's okay.

Because red light represents humans, and a deeper color indicates a person with special abilities.

In such wild areas, humans are already scarce, let alone those with special abilities.

Therefore, as long as we find the presence of red within the infinitely extending dense light—

That means you've probably found your target.

Alita's outstretched right hand kept waving, trying to bring the light from further away.

From the time she used her manipulation abilities to extract intelligence data from Melena, to instructing Saka to use her abilities to send Melena to the secret research facility where the Queen Ant was located, quite some time has passed.

During that time, she had already searched for an unknown number of rays of light.

The only good news is that the area radiating outwards from the "search starting point" is getting closer and closer to areas with few or no people.

This also means that the red light representing a person with special abilities will be more easily visible.

finally--

Alita found two moving red rays amidst countless green, gray, black, and orange lights.

This perfectly matches the information extracted from Melena's head that "there are two people."

Just ...

Further away, there is a very deep black line.

Black represents life forms other than humans.

Lighter colors may indicate insects, while darker colors may indicate ferocious beasts listed as endangered species that pose a threat to human life.

But this was the first time Alita had ever seen such a deep black color.

Even magical beasts with intelligence and special abilities don't possess such depth.

the most important is--

The two red lines suddenly moved at an extremely fast speed, and judging from their direction, they were actually moving closer to the extremely deep black light.

Alita relayed the situation to Bynd in her fastest speech.

"Did you realize that? Amazing."

By Yangde grinned, then changed the subject: "Share the location with Shahua so she can confirm the nearest coordinates."

“It’s already been shared.”

Alita said calmly.

(End of this chapter)