Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

slap... slap...

The footsteps, so light they were almost inaudible, were squeezed out little by little from the top of the spiral staircase, reaching Kuroro's ears.

Whose footsteps were those?

Kuroro frowned slightly, still looking up as he ascended the stairs.

It was a deep, dark place, with nothing to see except the cold stone steps. But in that depth and shadow, it seemed as if a pair of bloodthirsty and cruel eyes were throbbing, watching them with cold and cruel gaze.

"Miss Morina, have all your companions entered the secret realm?"

Kuroro asked calmly without moving his head.

Melina, of course, also heard the unnatural footsteps. She shook her head thoughtfully and said:

"When I came in, there were three companions outside. Could that be Sodom or Ruyini?"

Whether they were comrades, enemies who had infiltrated later, or cautious soldiers of the royal army, no one could say for sure.

But one thing is certain: if this drags on, the situation will only become more and more unfavorable for them.

News of their attack on the King's army must have already spread. Conservatively speaking, tens of thousands of regular troops will be guarding the exit of the secret realm, making escape virtually impossible...

time is limited.

"..."

Kuroro rubbed his knuckles, pondered for a moment, and then decisively suggested:

“Miss Morina, your purpose in coming here is probably not just to exchange a few words of greeting. We don’t have much time, so let’s get straight to the point.”

"Since the fiftieth floor is the exit of the secret realm, it would be best to send someone to guard it. There are already people lying in ambush there. The rest of us can form a special task force and search downwards for the whereabouts of the Three Divine Artifacts."

Melina naturally did not refuse.

She approached Kuroro because she was attracted by the Phantom Troupe's formidable strength and wanted them to be her weapons.

Thus, through two drastically different methods—democratic lottery and dictatorial appointment—Melena's group and the Phantom Troupe each selected those to guard the fiftieth floor and those to explore downwards.

Without saying much, the two groups tacitly separated, one going upwards and the other downwards.

"I never expected it to be you."

Torrebellum spoke listlessly to Feitan, who was walking directly in front of him, surrounded by an aura of indifference.

"..."

Feitan kept his eyes straight ahead, completely ignoring him.

Ruby and Notor exchanged glances, then simultaneously patted Torrebelum on the shoulder, signaling him to stop talking.

These two had a conflict not long ago; if they start fighting again here, wouldn't that turn into internal strife?

It doesn't matter if they die.

But if it prevents others from getting out, then that would be a huge sin.

Torrebellum was a man who knew what was important and didn't waste any more words.

As they climbed to the fiftieth floor, Feitan and his group of four did not see the source of the footsteps they had heard earlier.

No one knows who that person is or where they went.

The structure of a 50-story building is not much different from that of a 65-story building, but upon closer inspection, subtle differences can be found in the ventilation ducts or the orientation of the rooms.

The four corner rooms were empty, with nothing but dust and weeds.

"Do you think we can really get out of here? But to me, this is just an ordinary little floor, and there's no way to find an exit."

Notor scratched his head and wandered around the floor hesitantly.

He was a middle-aged man with a round face and a full beard, short and stocky. His original job was a pipe fitter, but now he was a body dismemberer, level 75.

From his perspective, this place was completely ordinary, with nothing mysterious about it.

Click.

Just as he was speaking, Torrebellum ripped off the ventilation duct from the wall, peered inside, and said:

"Don't you remember how we fell from the 41st floor to the 75th floor in one go? The entrances to the passageways were all in inconspicuous places, like here..."

He groped around for a while, winking and looking, but withdrew his hand in disappointment, having found nothing.

Notor also pretended to check a trash can at his feet, but saw nothing there either.

The two of them were busy for a while, but it was a complete waste of time.

'You don't even know how to use the character for "circle"...?'

Feitan sat on a discarded metal air conditioner unit, silently watching them waste their time.

Then, bored, he closed his eyes and began to rest and recover his strength.

The exit was inside the air conditioner unit beneath him.

Once you lift the outer metal casing, you'll see that this so-called "air conditioner outdoor unit" is completely integrated with the wall, forming a deep, mysterious passageway behind it.

Feitan's "Circle" isn't great, but it's sufficient for this moment.

The fact that he, a [Change] type, can have such a [perfect] form is thanks to his penchant for slaughter.

In order to kill his entire clan without missing anyone, Feitan deliberately trained in the "En" technique, just to find those hiding in the gaps.

Soon, Notor and Torrebellum, having worked in vain, gave up and obediently began their posting duties.

All they need to do is ensure that this place is not occupied by the King's army or anyone else; this could take anywhere from a few minutes to several hours.

Someone suggested:

"To prevent being ambushed, let's each occupy a corner of the room, and then send one person to guard the middle staircase. If anyone gets close, everyone can attack at the same time."

"The people guarding the stairs rotate every five minutes, following the order of east, west, south, and north. The person who takes off exchanges positions with the next person, so that everyone can rest for fifteen minutes."

The suggestion was approved by everyone, even the aloof Feitan responded with a snort.

So Feitan, Ruby, Torrebellum, and Notor sat down at the four corners of the floor.

The person on the middle staircase smiled.

Shift work begins...

Chapter 438 One Thousand and One Floors × [Kiseki Maru]

"Sherlock, are you sure you remember the way you came?"

"Stop talking nonsense! You don't have the right to question my memory!"

“I don’t mean to question you, but if you don’t have the memory talent of Qiduo, we would be trapped here to die one hundred percent.”

"...Compared to her, I'm still a bit lacking."

Wearing the raven mask, Sherlock guiltily shifted his gaze, saying with a mixture of embarrassment and pride:

"However, with only 400 forks in the road and a little bit of micro-feature memory, it doesn't require my daughter's level of memory ability at all."

As he spoke, he scratched the beak on the crow's headgear, raised the powerful flashlight in his hand, and shone it overhead.

A clear beam of light pierced straight through the darkness, weaving through the corridors before finally dissipating into a hazy mist.

Sherlock's powerful flashlight swayed, and the beam of light swayed nimbly in response.

"We can't see anything. Have we passed by, or haven't we arrived yet...?"

Saqiu, hands on her hips, asked somewhat helplessly:

"If we consider the rooftop as the first level, we should have already descended to the top in one go through secret passages and all sorts of strange shortcuts..."

"...1001st floor?"

His tone carried a hint of uncertainty.

Because many secret passages connect multiple floors in one go. For example, sometimes when they enter a secret passage on the 109th floor, they may come out on the 123rd floor.

However, the approximate order of magnitude should be correct.

"Conservatively speaking, we have descended nearly 3000 meters, but we still can't see the bottom of this building at all."

Saqiu sighed:

"It's practically like the legendary 'bottomless hell.' If we want to go back now, just climbing the steps is an outrageous number, roughly equivalent to climbing the Jungfrau..."

"In any case, those royal soldiers who are just ordinary people couldn't possibly have hidden something so deep inside, could they?"

Sherlock paused upon hearing this, glanced at Satchul, and spoke:

Why is it impossible?

"There's no time. In the end, even if those royal soldiers have undergone rigorous physical training and may even have had medical modifications, they still can't escape the physical limits of ordinary people. This is a 3,000-meter staircase. Judging from the time they first entered the secret realm, they should have met us halfway up, but in fact, they didn't..."

Satchul paused mid-sentence, then glanced thoughtfully at Sherlock:

"Are you saying that none of the soldiers responsible for hiding the treasures from the national treasury intended to leave alive?"

That's not impossible.

Just like how ancient emperors would summon craftsmen to build royal tombs, they would usually seal the craftsmen inside the nearly completed tomb at the last minute to prevent the secrets of the tomb's interior from being leaked.

This can be compared to the present situation.

To prevent the exact number of layers in the royal treasury from being revealed, it's not impossible that the Kakin royal family ordered the soldiers who transported the treasure to commit suicide after settling in.

'Furthermore, the method of suicide is very simple: just jump out of the window.'

Saqiu leaned out the window and looked out; the endless night and rain filled the entire world.

Because they were in such a low position, the moonlight could not reach the window at all, and the rain further weakened the light.

The environment they were in at that moment was the perfect embodiment of the phrase "dark and gloomy".

If you jump from here.

They'll probably be stuck falling until they starve to death, or they might just crash to their death on the ground, if this secret realm really does have a surface...

"Waaah—"