Coo's sudden statement left Kuro utterly confused.
Watching her fall silent, Kuro pressed, "What did you mean by that?"
Coo kept her head down, a look of struggle on her face.
Given her position, she should have decisively aborted the fetus and faced death fearlessly.
But she just couldn't bring herself to do it.
Even though the fetus was unwanted, half its bloodline came from her.
As for the statement 'A long time ago, I was just like you', it was a sign of her loosening resolve.
Even now, she still felt a bit frantic.
She only needed to wait another day or two to have the strength to kill herself, yet she ended up carrying Kuro's offspring.
She fought the urge to blow the energy she had accumulated into Kuro's face, slowly lifting her head and answering his question with an irrelevant remark. "You are nothing but a beast."
"Uh?"
Kuro was taken aback, not angered, but instead gave a silly laugh.
His reaction nearly made Coo slap him across the face.
"Thank you... for not laying a hand on them." Kuro looked silently at Coo's abdomen.
"..."
Coo was stunned.
'So this bastard had noticed my intent earlier.'
She fell silent, and Kuro said nothing, just looking at her slightly swollen belly.
After a long time, Coo finally turned the conversation back to Kuro's earlier question.
"In the past, I was just like you. I was also a Nen Beast."
"Huh?"
Kuro was shocked.
Coo ignored Kuro's reaction and said coldly, "You are an entity derived from that human's life force. My essence was the same, but more precisely, I was created by humans."
"No emotion was invested. I was created like a simple, easy-to-use tool."
"And for the humans of that era, such a thing was not difficult."
"By integrating imagination into life force, the humans of that era could create anything, from a tiny grain of sand to the intricate blood vessels within a living being."
"Perhaps this is the reason that led to..."
Coo looked down at her slightly swelling abdomen, her expression complex.
Kuro, however, was stunned. What Coo described was essentially a Nen User's ability to conjure various objects, but not nearly as effortlessly as she made it sound.
Typically, it is not easy for a Nen User to create an object from nothing, let alone multiple objects.
In simpler terms, it's like having insufficient memory in one's mind, like a hard drive with limited storage space from the start.
Stunned, Kuro also keenly grasped several key points in Coo's words, but didn't realize that the information she was providing was precisely what Law and his team had been searching for… the truth about the Dark Continent.
"You said 'in the past'. Are you... still a Nen Beast now?"
Coo was silent for a moment, then asked in return, "Do you think a creature molded from clay is a complete life form?"
Kuro shook his head.
"Life force is just that clay," Coo said in a cold tone.
Kuro's body trembled slightly, grasping the meaning behind her words.
He, at present, was equivalent to a creature molded from clay, not a complete life form.
Coo watched the stunned, silent Kuro and said, "But I have long since broken free from that layer of binding and become a true life form."
Her words and tone established an invisible barrier, like a wall, between creatures molded from clay and true, complete life forms, standing before Kuro.
Kuro instinctively took a step back, lowering his head, lost in thought.
Seeing the step he had taken back, the coldness in Coo's eyes softened slightly. Then she gently stroked her abdomen and sighed inwardly.
'How had this budding life inside me managed to penetrate that wall...'
'But what was the point of dwelling on it now?'
Coo raised her gaze, landing on Kuro, and said solemnly, "I know exactly what that human wants. I will give it to him. But in exchange... I want to give birth to this child."
She then looked at her abdomen.
She was neither an ordinary Magical Beast nor a human with duller senses.
Even through her belly, she seemed to clearly see the life growing inside.
Hearing Coo's words, Kuro looked up sharply and stepped forward, as if to make up for his earlier retreat.
"I promise you, I will never let anything happen to either of you!"
Coo, however, did not respond.
She believed in Kuro's resolute attitude regarding this matter, but she didn't think he could defy Law.
After all, Law was Kuro's master.
That relationship meant the decision-making power was never in Kuro's hands.
But with Kuro there, there was a possibility of saving the child.
"Giving birth will take about a month."
"That soon?"
"Yes."
"One month, one month..."
Kuro murmured, unsure if his feelings were more of excitement or fear.
Just then, Coo looked towards a specific direction in the room.
The moment she looked, a door materialized and was opened.
Law stepped through the door.
Coo wasn't surprised at all. "Agree or not?"
Law closed the door behind him, sat directly on the floor, and said calmly, "Let me think about it."
Coo snorted coldly and said no more. Kuro, however, looked at Law warily, as if guarding against a thief.
Their conversation in the room couldn't be heard in Law's room, but he could read their lips.
Thanks to his years with Kuro, Law could apply lip-reading skills to Coo.
And Coo seemed mentally prepared for this, so half of what she told Kuro was actually meant for Law, a kind of bait.
The life in her womb had brought about a fundamental change in her.
After a moment, Law looked at Coo and asked, "Before I give you my answer, can you tell me if the humans who created you have any descendants left?"
"Descendants?"
Coo suddenly sneered, slowly raising her hand and pointing at Law. "Aren't you one?"
"..."
Law's pupils contracted slightly. He said calmly, "You know that's not what I meant. Alright, let me rephrase. Do the humans who created you have any descendants still living on this Dark Continent?"
"Yes."
"Is that so..."
A sharp light gleamed in Law's eyes.
Coo watched the intense thirst for knowledge emanating from this human before her. For a moment, she saw another shadow of Don Freecss.
"The Dark Continent has many dangerous and terrifying things. But in my view, the truly terrifying things are hidden here, in you humans." Coo raised her hand and tapped her own head.
Law silently looked at Coo.
'Truly terrifying... things?'
What Coo said was an opinion formed from her own standpoint.
The truly terrifying thing resides in the imagination of humans.
Applying this view to the Nen Ability system would not be inappropriate.
It could be said that imagination is the source of human innovation, but for Nen Users, it is the source of creation.
Fully materializing an imagined entity into reality is the strongest argument in itself.
However, it's unknown how much time and effort Nen Users must invest to turn imagination into reality.
But Coo described ancient humans as able to do this with ease.
Law looked at Coo, was silent for a moment, then said, "I will give you one month. In exchange, you must answer any question I ask."
Coo nodded silently. For the sake of her child's birth, she chose to compromise.
"I'll come back tomorrow."
Without rushing, Law turned and left.
He made a subtle gesture, and Knov in the other room opened the door.
Passing through the door that materialized, Law disappeared from sight, and the door vanished with him.
Only Coo and Kuro remained in the smaller room.
Coo looked at the spot where the door had disappeared for a moment, then began to eat the food in the bowl.
Watching silently from the side, Kuro broke into a smile.
…
On the other side, Law returned to the main room.
Everyone else was there. Seeing him return, they gathered around.
"Deal?"
Ging asked first.
This was his most pressing concern, shared by most of the team.
"Yes, we start tomorrow." Law looked at Ging and smiled. "If you have questions, you can write them down and give them to me."
"Of course."
Even though he sensed the joking tone in Law's words, Ging readily agreed.
He had too many questions about the Dark Continent and about Don Freecss.
"Law, could all the Calamities on the Dark Continent have been conjured by humans?" Tonpa asked curiously.
"Perhaps yes, perhaps no."
Law shook his head, thoughtful. "But without a doubt, a small number of them were indeed conjured by humans."
Only on this point was Law so certain.
The arguments Coo had made in the confinement room had a certain impact on the team.
Interested teammates were naturally hard-pressed to contain their curiosity, while those like Uvogin, who weren't interested, were more indifferent.
There were two feeds projected on the wall: one of the ruins outside, and one of Coo's room.
Before tomorrow came, Law needed to rest well and think about the next day's conversation.
And now, he finally had some energy to focus on the disc hovering above the ruins.
Law stood before the wall, quietly examining the disc in the feed.
He wasn't worried about the Hunter Association's side. At the very least, the page for Netero in his book hadn't blackened yet.
As long as Netero was alive, he would find a way to lead the surviving members away from the Dark Continent.
Presumably, after so many failures and their current understanding of their situation, Netero would decisively abandon the mission and leave with the survivors.
The Hunter Association's journey could be considered a failure, but not without gains.
They only needed to compile their recent experiences into a report to have a stepping stone to knock on the V6's door and re-establish cooperation.
"Who knows how long that thing will stay here." Knov stared at the disc in the feed.
"It doesn't matter how long it stays. We can afford to wait," Law said calmly.
"So we just hide until it leaves?" Shiro asked.
"Of course. Unnecessary fighting should be avoided as much as possible."
"Makes sense."
Everyone could probably guess the disc's purpose: to retrieve the Masked Humanoid Law had killed.
But the Masked Humanoid's body wouldn't be found in the ruins, and they had the Core Energy. Who knew how long it would take for the disc to run out of patience?
Anyway, they could just wait.
For the next day's conversation, Law didn't focus on the disc for long. He went straight to rest.
Ging and the others, meanwhile, began to think of questions to ask Coo.
…
Early the next morning, Law quickly finished the breakfast Buhara prepared and went to Coo's room.
Unsurprisingly, Kuro was there too.
Under the watchful eyes of Coo and Kuro, Law sat down cross-legged before them.
No pleasantries, no small talk. Law went straight to the point. "I thought of many questions, but I felt like I might miss something. So, instead of that, why don't you start by summarizing... your life experience."
Coo looked at Law and said coldly, "I thought you'd ask about Don Freecss first."
Law smiled and said seriously, "No rush. We have time."
Coo was silent for a moment, then simply complied with Law's request and began to recount her life.
Kuro, meanwhile, perked up considerably.
"In the era when I was created by humans..."
Coo began to narrate her experiences from her birth until the present, while Law and Kuro listened quietly.
It was an incredibly long life, and to describe it verbally would be an extremely lengthy monologue.
But Law didn't mind.
Through Coo's narration, Law finally got a general picture of ancient humans.
In that era, humans were exceptionally powerful, reigning at the top of the Dark Continent's food chain.
The foundation of their strength was Conjuration-type Nen Abilities.
Seemingly unbound by any restrictions, they allowed their imaginations to run wild, creating things from nothing.
Coo was one of the Nen Beasts created at that time. The number of Nen Beasts created alongside her was not small.
When the humans who created the Nen Beasts died, some Nen Beasts would vanish with them, while others would survive and break free from being controlled.
Yet, in that harsh environment, even if they survived, they would be re-captured and controlled by living humans.
Coo was one such example. Even after surviving, she remained under constant control, like a tool, tirelessly generating profit for humans.
Until a turning point arrived, changing her fate and bringing about an earth-shaking purge of the Dark Continent's situation.
Coo's narration was simplified, focusing on the main lines, omitting details.
"You humans have a saying: 'He who plays with fire gets burned.'"
A cold glint appeared in Coo's eyes. Ironically, she had learned this saying from Don Freecss.
Law said nothing, waiting for her to continue.
"That ability to transform life force into anything made humans powerful, but it was also that powerful ability that led to their decline."
Coo suddenly glanced at Kuro, then silently looked away.
"By using their abilities without restraint, they created more and more objects and Nen Beasts. In the end, they created a book that 'can give birth to all things'!"
"And also... a book that 'can contain all things'."
"It was these books that led to the backlash against humanity."