The arrival of Germain lit a fire in Hanzo and Pokkle, filling them with renewed passion and drive.
After that, the small team of Killua, Gon, Milluki, Alluka, Hanzo, and Pokkle began to rise within Greed Island.
They became a formidable force, nearly capable of clearing the game, competing directly with teams like Tsezguerra—though that's a story for another time.
Germain had only come to check on the condition of Killua, Gon, and Alluka.
He also gave Milluki a glance, just to confirm that everything was fine with them.
Once he was satisfied, he left quietly.
Afterward, on Greed Island, Germain went on to discuss the selection process with various people—Granny Linne, Ickshonpe, Dwun, Abengane, Razor, Eta, and Elena.
Once everything was handled and instructions were given out, the affairs of Greed Island were mostly wrapped up.
Then, on August 15th, Shizuku finally returned to Greed Island.
"There aren't any big problems with rebuilding Meteor City," she said, adjusting her chunky but cute black-rimmed glasses.
"Sheila went with me for a few rounds of inspection. All the funds we provided have been properly allocated."
"While the V6's attention is elsewhere for now, the Hunter Association also helped out a bit...
And according to Sheila, the Zoldyck family even sent a large amount of money over too."
Germain recalled that woman with the mechanical eye.
She might've sounded cold, but in the end, she still gave a subtle yet meaningful push to help Meteor City rise from the rubble.
Shizuku continued, "Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda are currently reorganizing Meteor City's leadership and military structure.
They want to make sure the city can stand on its own and at least protect itself in the future."
"Um… and… and there's also…"
She had been speaking seriously this whole time, but now she started to hesitate, and it finally became clear—
"These are all things Sheila told you, aren't they?"
"Yeah." Shizuku nodded honestly. "She said too much at once, so I forgot most of it...
Ah, but they did ask me to bring back a stack of rebuilding plans for Meteor City."
She conjured the "Blinky," which spit out all the documents and handed them to Germain.
Germain flipped through them briefly, then nodded. It was clear that Shalnark and the others had sharply picked up on the future trends from the major event of colonial exploration.
Meteor City wanted to change its fate—to stop being the dump of the Six Continents. For that, it needed a massive, once-in-centuries upheaval.
Now was clearly the time. If they missed this chance, who knew how many more years they'd have to wait for another opportunity?
They could've just handed this proposal directly to Germain, but there was always a layer of distrust between them and him.
They were willing to use each other, to work together, but pretending to "like" one another? Totally unnecessary.
That's why people like Shizuku and Sheila, who acted as intermediaries, became really important. Especially Shizuku—she could talk to Germain directly.
To be honest, people like Shizuku, Shalnark, Machi, Pakunoda, and Sheila didn't need to waste their time on the hopeless situation of Meteor City.
With their abilities, they could've gone anywhere in the Six Continents and lived like elites.
But they still chose to do this—for the sake of their own beliefs and goals. And Germain would lend a helping hand where it made sense.
After wrapping up their matters in the Six Continents, Germain and Shizuku finally decided to teleport back to the ancient labyrinth in the Dark Continent on August 17.
Germain's teleport lantern now had a cooldown of 320 days—which was way too long to wait.
Thankfully, he had eight unused teleport lanterns. Using the "Hunter Badge: Silver Triangle," he could burn three of them to activate a teleport immediately.
After Shizuku used "Blinky" to swallow all the tools, materials, and supplies that Bisky and the others had asked to bring, she stood quietly beside Germain.
This time, the teleportation involved only Germain and Shizuku. Granny Linne, Ickshonpe, Dwun, Abengane, and Razor were all just observers.
Since Ickshonpe was going to settle in Greed Island, there was no way to hide the "Stagecoach Group" operation from someone as elusive and unpredictable as him.
In the end, Dwun simply came clean and told him everything.
Though surprised at first, Ickshonpe quickly skimmed through the digital archives of the Dark Continent.
"You guys are seriously gutsy."
That seemed to be the default reaction from anyone learning what Germain and his team had been up to.
But then Ickshonpe added, "From what I see, the network security of your archives is only at Grade A. That's far from enough. Watch me upgrade it to SS!"
Everyone was caught off guard by what he focused on—and the fact that his "You're gutsy" comment was aimed at their network defenses, not their reckless actions.
Having the ability to dive into networks and process massive volumes of global information daily, Ickshonpe had long since built up a strong resistance to anything odd or shocking.
The internet is filled with strange people and even stranger things.
Compared to that, Germain, Ging, and Bisky were still weird, sure—but not the weirdest.
Their actions weren't the most outrageous either—just one of many.
As he said this, Ickshonpe really did upgrade the firewalls of the Dark Continent Archives, the research labs, and other key systems to what he called "SS level."
In truth, the entire network infrastructure of Greed Island got a major upgrade because of his return—it became practically impenetrable.
At that moment, on the other side of an electronic screen, he was watching the teleportation process unfold.
Germain didn't add any more members to the Stagecoach Group this time.
After the dangerous journey through the Steep Mountain Range, he'd come to realize that blindly expanding the team was unwise.
A well-trained group of four to six people was already more than enough.
This was the first time Ickshonpe had ever "seen" a teleportation happen with his own eyes.
He watched as the lanterns appeared, and the little messenger demons crawled out.
Then, Germain and Shizuku held hands with the messenger ghosts and disappeared into the light and swirling vortex.
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