Kurapika ate the two stalks of Nitro Rice.
The vast amount of lifespan he had previously expended to heal Morrow began to rapidly return the moment the Nitro Rice took effect.
And his weakened aura not only refilled his entire body but also became more powerful than ever before. This was another effect of Nitro Rice.
While extending one's lifespan, the immense aura it contained could also significantly enhance a Nen user's aura output.
Therefore, to human Nen users, Nitro Rice was practically a dream-like substance.
"My aura, it's gotten stronger."
Kurapika looked down at his hands, which were enveloped in a bright aura.
After feeling the changes in his body, he gained a deeper appreciation for how precious Nitro Rice was.
Morrow, observing the continuous surge of aura output from him, explained, "The foundation of Nen is, after all, aura. Nitro Rice contains such a vast amount of life force, so it naturally boosts the intensity of one's aura significantly."
"But this increase is too significant."
Feeling his aura intensity jump by at least a full tier, Kurapika's voice held a trace of hesitation. "Something so precious, and I just..."
"The value of an item often depends on how it is used."
Morrow gently interrupted him with a smile. "In my eyes, the greatest value of these two stalks of Nitro Rice is that they were eaten by you."
Hearing this, Kurapika fell into a brief silence.
The moment he realized the value of the Nitro Rice, his first thought was that he must find a similar repayment for Morrow and Kalluto in the future.
But this almost reflexive desire for equivalent repayment was quickly suppressed.
He understood that everything Morrow and Kalluto had done for him was never for the sake of any reward.
If he insisted on hastily repaying them, he would instead be betraying this profound friendship.
Kurapika no longer dwelt on this feeling of indebtedness; he chose to accept the gift with an open heart.
For the next few days, he remained in the resting place where his clansmen's eyes and Pairo's head were kept, offering his final farewell prayers before his departure.
Morrow only quietly entered the stone chamber to offer a bouquet of flowers to the deceased Kurta Clan members, then waited silently in the simple wooden hut outside.
—--
On the morning of the third day.
The resting place was surrounded by flowers.
Kurapika finished the last line of his prayer and slowly opened his eyes.
Three consecutive days of quiet prayer had not left him feeling tired; instead, it brought a settled clarity.
He tilted his head up slightly, his gaze falling upon Pairo in the niche.
"Pairo, I'm leaving now."
An imperceptible flicker of gloom crossed his eyes, but it was immediately replaced by a determined light as a faint smile touched his lips.
"Wait for me to come back."
It was just like their first, and also their last, farewell.
He had said the same words now.
But this time, he would properly fulfill his promise.
He would go see the world with joy, to experience and feel it, and finally, to walk his own journey freely and authentically to its end.
Kurapika gently placed the flowers in his hand before the niche, then turned and walked out of the resting place.
Outside, the daylight was clear and bright. He immediately saw Morrow sitting on a wooden stump, meditating with his eyes closed.
Hearing Kurapika's footsteps, Morrow opened his eyes and looked over, asking, "Did you say a proper goodbye?"
"Yes," Kurapika replied softly.
Morrow smiled and said no more.
The two did not linger, but before leaving, Morrow carefully reinforced the protective Divine Script around the resting place.
"If you have time, you should start learning Divine Script as well," Morrow suggested to Kurapika after finishing the reinforcement.
Kurapika nodded. "I had that intention before, it's just..."
He paused, not continuing, and instead said, "But now, I have enough time to master this skill."
"But let me be clear," Morrow said, looking at him with a hint of a smile in his eyes, "I don't have time to teach you."
"Huh?"
Kurapika was slightly taken aback, a look of surprise and bewilderment on his face.
His reaction seemed to say: A technique as profound as Divine Script is basically impossible to learn without a guide, right?
Morrow was already walking ahead, his voice drifting back with the wind.
"Ging has a Divine Script Codex. I taught myself using that book. I happen to be going to see him in a few days, so I'll get it for you. Oh, right, Kalluto wants to learn too. You two can study it together."
"Alright."
Kurapika watched Morrow's back, an unconscious smile appearing on his face.
It didn't take them long to walk out of the Spiral Forest.
Morrow planned to meet up with Kalluto first, then find Ging to share the gains and intelligence from his trip to the Dark Continent.
He would then take the opportunity to ask for the Divine Script Codex and give it to Kurapika and Kalluto to study.
After that was settled, it wouldn't be too late to meet with Chairman Netero.
But before that, he had to solve the phone problem.
On their way here, they had taken routes rarely traveled by people and reached the Spiral Forest as quickly as possible.
As a result, he still hadn't gotten a new phone.
Morrow thought that if Ging knew he was back, he would probably be bombarded with a storm of messages and calls.
And that was indeed the case.
Ever since Gel returned to the Hunter Association headquarters, Ging had known the team was back.
After that, his phone never stopped ringing as he continuously tried to contact Morrow.
Who would have thought that after landing on the Yorbian Continent, Morrow wouldn't have prioritized getting a new phone?
This caused all of Ging's attempts to contact him to vanish without a trace, leaving him to try again and again in vain.
When Gel learned of this, she mercilessly mocked Ging.
After all, it was usually this maverick who would go missing, making it impossible for others to contact him no matter how hard they tried.
Now the tables had turned, and it was finally his turn to get a taste of his own medicine.
To deepen Ging's experience, Gel only told him that everyone had returned safely, not mentioning a single detail about the Dark Continent expedition.
She left him with a single sentence: "If you want to know, go find Morrow."
Ging was helpless.
What could have been resolved with a single phone call was now dragged out to the point where he had to use his intelligence network to track Morrow's whereabouts.
What made him not know whether to laugh or cry was, the moment he gave up on calling and activated his intelligence resources, he found Morrow's airship flight information with almost no effort.
You have time to take an airship, but no time to get a phone?
Ging stared at the flight record to the Republic of Padokea displayed on his phone, momentarily at a loss for words.
The call still wouldn't go through.
But any decent-sized airport would normally have phones for sale.
It couldn't be that he was in such a rush to catch the flight that he didn't even have time to buy a phone, could it?
—--
"Glad we made it."
Morrow stood in the window-lined corridor of the airship cabin, watching the ground recede below. "There's only one flight a day to where Kalluto is. If we missed it, we'd have to wait another day."
"Morrow, I've been meaning to ask," Kurapika said, standing beside him and watching the clouds rush past the window. "Why isn't Chimera with you?"
"I gave it a vacation."
Morrow withdrew his gaze and smiled at Kurapika. "It was the one who worked the hardest during these past few months on the Dark Continent. Now that we're finally back in an environment where we don't have to worry about our safety, it's time to let it move about freely for a while."
"The Dark Continent, is it really that dangerous?"
Kurapika already knew that the place Morrow and Kalluto had gone to for the past few months was the outside world known as the Dark Continent.
And from Morrow's brief descriptions, it was enough for him to recall the adventure biography of D. Hunter that had once captivated him.
"Yes, extremely dangerous."
Morrow's expression grew more serious. Just as he was about to continue, he suddenly stopped and turned his head to look at the other end of the corridor.
A middle-aged man in a suit and tie stood there, holding a phone in the middle of a call, looking hesitantly in Morrow and Kurapika's direction.
After a moment's hesitation, he walked over.
"Excuse me, which of you is Morrow?" he asked, stopping a few steps away, his voice uncertain. "There's someone named Ging who said he's looking for you."
Just as he finished speaking, a voice, clearly amplified, came from the phone: "Just give the phone to the older one!"
"O-Okay."
The middle-aged man hurriedly handed the phone to Morrow.
The moment Morrow heard Ging's voice, his expression became a bit strange.
He took the phone, and before he could speak, Ging's voice beat him to it. "Tsk, tsk, Morrow, you're a hard man to reach. Pick a place, there are some things we should talk about in person."
"Alright, let's meet in the Dentora Region of the Republic of Padokea. I'm heading there now."
Morrow was a little surprised that Ging could resist asking about the Dark Continent over the phone, but he quickly settled on a meeting place.
"The Dentora Region, I remember there's a famous family of assassins there, right?" Ging's voice came from the other end of the phone.
"That's Kalluto's family."
"Oh, right, the Zoldyck Family, wasn't it? Then let's meet in Dentora. I'll head over as soon as I can."
Reminded by Morrow, Ging finally remembered that Kalluto came from a family of assassins.
Morrow said, "Sounds good. I'll buy a phone as soon as I land and contact you then."
"Okay."
Ging quickly agreed, then his tone shifted slightly. "But before that, there are two things I need to tell you first."
"Hm?"
"While I was tracking you just now, I found that several groups of people are investigating you."
Ging paused, his voice carrying a rare hint of gravity. "The other thing is, Chairman Netero has passed away."
"What?"
Morrow was shocked to hear this, and Beyond's image instantly flashed through his mind.
Before he could ask for more details, Ging's voice continued from the phone: "The Chairman was murdered by his son, Beyond. After the Chairman passed away, Beans produced two DVDs, which could be considered the Chairman's last words. The general content is a request for the Zodiac Twelve to hunt down Beyond."
Morrow's brow slowly furrowed as he fell silent.
He hadn't expected Chairman Netero to die at Beyond's hands after all.
But before he left for the Dark Continent, he had personally witnessed Netero's physical condition recovering quite well under Linne's care.
In that state, Beyond should have been no match for the 100-Type Guanyin Bodhisattva.
Moreover, after their confrontation by the lake house, Netero should have been aware of Beyond's determination and thus should have been on guard against any underhanded tactics.
After all, as a father, Netero knew his son's methods better than anyone.
"I see," Morrow sighed softly.
He had considered that something like this might happen, which was why he had tried to persuade Netero to change his mind.
However, an Enhancer was not someone who could be easily persuaded.
Now that Netero had met such an end, perhaps he himself had long been mentally prepared for it.
"Is there any movement from the Kakin Empire?"
Morrow quickly composed himself, thinking that with Netero's death, the restrictions on Beyond should have been lifted.
Ging sounded a little surprised. "Didn't you just get back? How do you know already?"
He didn't wait for Morrow's response and continued, "The Kakin Empire recently announced a plan to explore the New Continent, with Beyond as the leader. Although it's not an official statement yet, more like a teaser. At this rate, it probably won't be long before it's officially announced."
"Is that so..."
Morrow's eyelids drooped slightly. He didn't press for more details, only saying briefly, "We'll talk more when we meet."
"Alright," Ging agreed, then changed the subject again. "As for those groups investigating you, do you need me to look into their backgrounds?"
"No need."
Morrow's voice was flat. "They will come to me on their own. Knowing who they are beforehand makes no difference."
"Fine, that's all for now then."
From Morrow's calm tone, Ging detected a sliver of cold bloodlust.
—--
Three days later.
The airship landed at the airport in the Dentora Region.
It was still a car ride to the town at the foot of Kukuroo Mountain, but Morrow chose not to take a car, instead walking with Kurapika.
The reason was simple.
He wanted to give those who were secretly investigating him a chance to show themselves.
And they did not disappoint him.
Just as the two reached the midpoint of the mountain road, figures flickered among the surrounding trees, and in an instant, over a hundred people emerged, swiftly forming an encirclement.
The leader was a man at least three meters tall, with a build as massive as a mountain.
The people behind him were also all burly and imposing.
The level of aura output emanating from them was faintly approaching that of first-rate Nen users.
Morrow's gaze swept over them, and he caught glimpses of inhuman features beneath their loose robes.
Modified humans?
He made a judgment in his mind.
The burly leader looked at the completely unguarded Morrow and Kurapika and said expressionlessly, "You don't seem surprised at all. Well, you're about to die anyway. Remember, we don't refuse any– huh?"
His words came to an abrupt halt.
On the ground, specks of starlight suddenly bloomed.
Right under the feet of the hundred-plus people surrounding them.
Morrow gestured lightly to Kurapika, signaling him to keep walking.
The next second, the blooming starlight transformed into a surging Nen wave.
"This is–!?"
It erupted from the ground like a geyser, instantly engulfing everyone around them.
Although this group's aura output was not weak, they couldn't withstand Morrow's attack, even when it was dispersed, and were instantly deprived of their lives.
People from Meteor City?
Morrow's expression was calm.