The next morning.
After a simple tidy-up, the team set off on their journey home.
Although they had taken turns standing guard in pairs throughout the night, with Biscuit's "Miss Cookie," restoring everyone's energy was not an issue at all.
In just half an hour, everyone could get ample rest and maintain their basic stamina.
This was also a crucial guarantee that allowed the entire team to remain in good condition to deal with various potential threats at any moment.
—--
On the second day after Morrow's team left the coastline of the Dark Continent.
The Land of Walls.
The 20th District.
Having waited a long time without receiving a signal-fire message from the 19th District, the Gatekeeper in charge of the 20th District immediately dispatched a small team of Guides to investigate the situation.
Normally, to balance area coverage and operational efficiency, Gatekeepers would have their Guides carry out missions individually, even though they could conjure multiple Guides.
Only when a situation was judged to require extra attention would they have the Guides form a small team to act.
A standard team usually consisted of 3 to 5 Guides.
And the one sent to the 19th District this time was precisely a five-member team.
After all, "losing contact" was an extremely rare occurrence in the Land of Walls.
Therefore, the neighboring 20th District's Gatekeeper paid special attention to this incident and was faintly worried about it.
When the team of Guides he dispatched arrived at the 19th District of the Land of Walls, his worries became reality.
There were no signs of a battle at the scene.
But the 19th District's Gatekeeper, Golden Eyes, who had been stationed here, had been turned into a single, complete sheet of skin. He couldn't be more dead.
"It was 'Bookmark'..."
The moment the investigating Guides saw the state of Gatekeeper Golden Eyes's death, they immediately deduced the identity of the killer.
It was a calamity known as "Bookmark."
"Judging from the state of death, it was indeed caused by Bookmark's ability, but..."
Another Guide knelt down, observing the complete, sheet-like corpse up close, and asked in confusion, "Why didn't Bookmark take half of the spoils?"
After attacking another creature, Bookmark would strictly follow a certain obsessive-compulsive principle, dividing the corpse into two equal-area portions.
Not a bit more, not a bit less.
But the corpse of Golden Eyes before them was completely intact, with no signs of being cut.
So when this question was raised, the other four Guides were momentarily plunged into confusion.
"There's another thing. Although Bookmark is a wandering-type calamity, its range of activity has always been very regular. How could it suddenly cross the boundary and even take the initiative to attack Golden Eyes?"
"Exactly..."
A Guide, his face full of doubt, said, "You have to understand, the incantations on the walls implant a kind of judgment of 'risk' into the consciousness of calamities. Unless their desire to attack is extremely strong, they will subconsciously stay away from here."
"The problem is, Bookmark isn't the type with strong aggression."
The Guides at the scene looked at each other, seeing the confusion in each other's eyes.
But no matter what the truth was, their duty was to report everything they saw truthfully to the Gatekeeper.
So, the few of them quickly suppressed their doubts and began to "record" all the information at the scene, striving not to miss any detail.
A moment later.
The Guides carefully recorded all the traces and found Gatekeeper Golden Eyes's supervision log.
After completing these necessary tasks, the team left one Guide to be stationed there, while the others returned to the 20th District with the supervision log.
As for the scene they had "recorded" with their eyes, it had already been transmitted back to the 20th District's Gatekeeper from a distance before they began their return journey.
"Golden Eyes was taken out by 'Bookmark'?"
Upon receiving the scene record transmitted back by the Guides, the Gatekeeper of the 20th District was both shocked and suspicious.
It was precisely because he understood the laws of how things worked too well that when an unexpected situation arose, his reaction became even stronger.
However, unlike the Guides who often went outside the walls to investigate, the Gatekeeper possessed more information about the Land of Walls.
For example, the matter of Gatekeeper Golden Eyes reporting the use of the "Entropy Bird" not long ago.
"If it's that ability of the Entropy Bird, then nothing is impossible."
The 20th District's Gatekeeper quickly thought of this possibility.
But what followed was another question.
As mentioned before, the Gatekeepers understood the things under their control too well, so they didn't believe there was a possibility of the Entropy Bird backfiring.
There must be some other influencing factor involved.
Is it humans...
The only external variable the 20th District's Gatekeeper could think of was the group of humans that Golden Eyes had intended to warn earlier.
It was precisely to warn them that Golden Eyes had deployed the Entropy Bird.
At the thought that humans might be behind this incident, the face of the 20th District's Gatekeeper, which was mostly covered by exposed bones, couldn't help but emit soft clicking sounds.
This was a physical expression of extreme displeasure.
But this reaction did not stem entirely from the incident of Golden Eyes's death.
Rather, before this, the Gatekeepers of two other regions had transmitted information through their Guides that human traces had appeared at multiple "portals."
"They were quiet for a while, and now they're getting restless again..."
In the eyes of the Gatekeepers, humans were like an active volcano. After a period of dormancy, they would always enter a phase of activity.
Only after having a basin of cold water poured over them would they quiet down obediently again.
If it weren't for the fact that the world order required the existence of Lake Mobius and humans, with humanity's greedy nature, which the Gatekeepers found utterly disgusting, they should have been completely wiped out by the sweep of calamities long ago.
The 20th District Gatekeeper's opinion on the current human activities was to strike with heavy, merciless fists.
And the death of Golden Eyes only deepened this attitude.
It was just that he couldn't act rashly on his own.
Because whether to raise the warning level was a matter that required the joint deliberation of all Gatekeepers.
What he could do was to present his views at the next assembly.
Being too conservative will only make humans more reckless.
The gray eyes of the 20th District's Gatekeeper, revealed through the gaps in his bones, were filled with an icy glint.
—--
There were also factions among the Gatekeepers.
There was the conservative faction, which placed more importance on order and stability, and the radical faction, which sought to change the status quo.
The deceased Golden Eyes had been a member of the radical faction.
Now, his death might become the fuse for another dispute between the two factions.
—--
At the same time.
In a vast forest on the western continent of the Dark Continent, a group of humans was moving through it with vigilant expressions.
To say they were human was perhaps not entirely accurate.
They were generally tall, with the shortest being two and a half meters and the tallest exceeding four meters.
Their physical features all showed considerable signs of modification.
Their skeletons, in particular, were enlarged as if inflated, pushing their muscles out into pillar-like contours.
If not for the fact that they still retained relatively complete human faces, wore human clothing, and carried various modern devices, it would probably be difficult to determine their human identity.
This team of humans with an unusual physique was none other than Morena's subordinates.
And the team's current form was closely related to Gyro, who currently controlled Meteor City.
Both of them were humans who had survived Chimera Ant incident, retaining their memories and individual consciousness.
And because they had similar experiences, goals, and the shared ideology of destroying the world, they eventually established a cooperative relationship.
Gyro's plan was to use the characteristics of Meteor City to gradually strengthen his armed forces while turning it into a more effective Poison Nest than NGL.
When the time was right, he would use the same method as before his reincarnation, gradually eroding the order of the human world with drugs.
Morena's original idea, on the other hand, was still to use the murderous, contagious nature of "Etude of Love" to plunge the entire world into a vortex of mutual slaughter until it met complete destruction.
However, after she discovered more detailed records about the "Dark Continent" and "calamities" in the Kukan'yu Kingdom, her thinking changed.
She realized that perhaps only the natural disasters recorded in ancient texts truly possessed the potential to annihilate all of humanity.
So she decisively abandoned her original plan, instead using the ability of Etude of Love to expand the scale of her forces, and began to investigate everything related to the Dark Continent with all her might.
This included information about the "portals," which were only mentioned sporadically in ancient records.
At the same time, she also found Gyro.
Compared to the plan of guiding natural disasters to attack the human world, Gyro's Poison Nest operation seemed far too naive.
Even Morena's own previously held plan of action was not much better.
Thus, under the shared ideology of completely destroying the human world, Gyro and Morena finally reached a consensus.
As a result, when Morena's Etude of Love and the Manipulation-type modification ability of Gyro's subordinate, the scorpion woman Zarzan, were combined, a team with comprehensive strength no less than that of Chimera Ants was born.
This elite team of monster-level individuals was enough to crush the conventional army of any of the V5 major powers.
However, pure military force was not enough to confront the V5, not even a single one of its major nations.
Morena and Gyro were all too aware of this.
Therefore, the core value of this team was not to launch a slaughter against the human world, but to serve as the key to unleashing calamities.
—--
By conventional means of travel, a round trip from the six continents to the Dark Continent's coastline would usually take at least a two-month voyage.
But for Chimera, as long as no unexpected situations were encountered, crossing the two places wouldn't even take half a month.
September 2, 2000.
After four months, Morrow's team successfully concluded their trip to the Dark Continent, arriving today at a deserted island within the seas of the human world's map.
The reason they didn't immediately return to human society was that Chimera had not rested once during the return journey.
Considering this, Morrow randomly chose an uninhabited island in the ocean to let Chimera rest for a bit first.
Moreover, the oceans in the human world were a buffet paradise for Chimera. It had been a long time since it had been able to hunt and eat so freely in one place.
So after delivering Morrow and the others to land, it didn't even think about sleeping. Instead, it plunged headfirst into the ocean and began a long-awaited feast.
Morrow was helpless about this, but seeing Chimera so excited, he let it be.
However, although Chimera was very excited, it had no intention of eating alone.
Not long after it dived into the sea, it first brought back piles of seafood for everyone.
After doing this, it plunged back into the sea and began to enjoy its long-awaited buffet feast to its heart's content.
"Chimera is really getting more and more considerate."
Menchi looked at the pile of seafood Chimera had caught, then thought about how it never would have bothered with such things when it was hunting on the six continents, and couldn't help but sigh with emotion.
Perhaps the experience in the Dark Continent had gradually made it develop this habit.
Morrow squatted down and picked up a crab that was about the size of an adult, looking like a large millstone.
This sea area was very close to the boundary line.
The so-called boundary line sea area was the buffer zone between the oceans of the six continents' world map and the Dark Waters.
Perhaps because it was close to the boundary, the marine creatures Chimera caught were generally huge in size and had somewhat strange features in their appearance.
"It's been a while since I've had seafood."
Morrow said, then put the crab in his hand back down.
On this return journey, even with the blessing of the Entropy Bird's Luck, he had always made Chimera stay as far away from the sea as possible, consciously avoiding any potential risks.
This caution, born from a sense of awe, was perhaps the fundamental reason they were able to complete their trip to the Dark Continent smoothly.
As soon as Morrow's voice fell, Menchi's face moved close to his, asking with a hint of excitement, "So, Morrow, how do you want it cooked? Or should I make one of every style?"
"Whatever's convenient."
Morrow said casually.
Menchi automatically translated, her face serious, "Understood. That means one of every style."
"Huh?"
Morrow was about to correct her, but Menchi had already turned around with vigorous efficiency to start preparations.
Not far away.
Kalluto wanted to make a sarcastic comment, but in the end, he just silently mouthed something at Menchi's back.
Ever since Gel called him childish last time, Kalluto had been consciously reining in some of his behaviors.
After all, in Kalluto's view, the evaluation of being childish was always tied to being a child.
It was just that Kalluto didn't realize that the more one cared about such things, the more it revealed a childlike disposition.
Morrow noticed Kalluto's small action and couldn't help but let out a laugh, asking, "Kalluto, should I send you back to Kukuroo Mountain first?"
"No need to trouble yourself."
Kalluto shook his head slightly, his tone solemn. "You should deliver the Nitro Rice to Kurapika as soon as possible. That's more important."
"That works too."
Morrow smiled.
Kalluto also smiled and continued, "I won't stay at home for too long, two days at most. After that, I'll come find you and Kurapika."
Hearing this, Morrow sincerely suggested, "You've been away from home for so long this time, it's better to stay a few more days."
"No."
Kalluto answered without hesitation.
If it weren't for delivering the Nitro Rice to his family, he probably wouldn't have planned on going back at all.
Seeing Kalluto so resolute, Morrow didn't know what to say for a moment.
However, he didn't try to persuade him further.
He then began to consider his subsequent itinerary.
The first thing was to deliver the Nitro Rice to Kurapika, and after that was to meet with Ging and Netero.
And... Tree Rings energy.
After I get back, I need to quickly replenish my Tree Rings energy.
Morrow glanced at the back of his hand.
To ensure the safety of the return journey, he had not been stingy with the use of his Tree Rings energy.
This led to the available Tree Rings energy being basically bottomed out, with only one complete ring of Tree Rings energy purposefully left.
In other words, one chance for a death rewind.
—--
Earth Curtain (Calamity · Manifested Life Form)
Ferocity: A+ (The ecological behavior of this existence poses a fatal danger to humans.)
Quantity: D (Below ten)
Reproductive Ability: ?
Destructive Power: A+ (Very high fatality rate, extremely difficult to evade)
Overall: A+ (If encountered, run away quickly)
Ability: Devours everything. It is said that the "inside" of the earth curtain is the land of the underworld.
Weakness: Lacks anti-air capabilities.
This brief information is excerpted from the first list of the "Calamity Compendium."
—--
Bookmark (Calamity · Manifested Life Form)
Ferocity: D+ (Does not actively attack humans, but may attack upon sudden encounter with humans)
Quantity: D (Below ten)
Reproductive Ability: ?
Destructive Power: A+ (For the selected attack target, the fatality rate is one hundred percent)
Overall: B (In an uncontrollable situation, it must be annihilated as soon as possible, but the risk is extremely high.)
Ability: Flattens the attack target into a sheet, ignoring all defensive measures.
Weakness: The ability only works on living beings. It cannot defend against long-range attacks such as bows and arrows from beyond a certain distance.
This brief information is excerpted from the first list of the "Calamity Compendium."