149 - When I Am Free, I Will Come Play With You Again!

If zombies, necromancy, and death energy are combined... Ronnel mused, given enough time, he could probably destroy the world.

As he wandered through the streets, Ronnel's thoughts lingered on how to further develop the corpse poison and dead breath. Unconsciously, he found himself visiting several famous cemeteries, accumulating an astonishing amount of death energy along the way.

Meanwhile, the world was abuzz, though not because of conflicts in the Republic of Padokea or the terrorist attack in Mimbo Republic, a V5 nation. The chaos wasn't political this time.

Instead, the uproar began when Ronnel made a phone call to the Hunter Association, casually reporting his activities.

In less than a month, Ronnel had cleared seven notorious cemeteries, stripping them of lingering resentment and malevolent energy. After filing his report, the entire Hunter Association went wild.

Even Chairman Netero was left speechless.

"This guy's efficiency is insane," Netero murmured, twirling his mustache thoughtfully.

Surely, such high-intensity cleanups come with hidden dangers?

But Netero decided not to pry too deeply—everyone has their own secrets, after all. As long as it benefitted the Hunter Association and the world at large, that was all that mattered.

When the Hunter Association passed the news along to the V5 and made the results public, it created a frenzy. Scholars and experts were ecstatic, and opportunistic treasure hunters scrambled to act before others could beat them to the spoils.

Forget international disputes and the turmoil in Mimbo Republic—those issues were worlds away. What mattered now was that there were treasures to be found, and people intended to claim their share.

V5 had preemptively sealed off these graveyards, but whispers of Ronnel's activities still reached certain influential desks.

In the Hall, an official in uniform tapped his desk thoughtfully.

"Ronnel, huh?"

He shuffled through reports. "During previous expeditions to the Dark Continent, the explorers struggled not only with harsh conditions but also with the overwhelming number of dead creatures."

"If this guy can clean up corpses that efficiently, maybe we should bring him on board."

Elsewhere, in a virtual world similar to Greed Island...

"K.O.!"

A Hunter-styled banner flashed across the sky, declaring the winner.

"Haha! I won again! You fell for the same trick, you idiot!"

The victorious man, unshaven and wearing a worn-out turban, gave a loud, boisterous laugh. He looked scruffy, like someone perpetually on the road. This was Ging Freecss—Gon's unreliable and carefree father.

The loser was a bizarre-looking man with an oddly shaped face, like a child's scribble brought to life. 

"Don't get cocky, Ging. Let's go again!"

Ging waved lazily. "Nah, I've played enough. Time to head back."

The man—Razor—narrowed his eyes as Ging stood to leave.

"There's been a lot of interesting stuff going on back in my world. I want to check it out."

Razor crossed his arms but didn't protest. "Whatever. This isn't the real world, so have your fun."

As Ging prepared to leave, Razor pulled out a card slowly, as if reluctant.

"When you're free, come back and play again."

Ging gave a mischievous grin. "Sure thing, Razor!"

As Ging left, his mind drifted to something he'd recently heard.

Ronnel... the so-called Ruins Hunter had cleared the lingering resentment from eight cemeteries, including the Cruz Cemetery, in record time.

Ging had visited those same places in the past, but the oppressive dead energy had always made him uncomfortable. After a few attempts, he gave up, deeming the effort not worth the poor returns.

"Guess that guy Ronnel is something else," Ging murmured, intrigued. "I wouldn't mind meeting him one day..."

Meanwhile, back in the game, Razor sat silently in the now-empty space, letting out a sigh.

"I wonder what kind of guy could be interesting enough to catch Ging's attention..."

Unaware of the growing interest surrounding him, Ronnel had temporarily paused his graveyard expeditions.

His focus now was on the upcoming fight between Hisoka and Kastro at Heavens Arena. Kastro was a controversial fighter—strong enough to sever Hisoka's hands, but ultimately killed by him. Ronnel couldn't afford to let Kastro's corpse go to waste.

He also remembered that Wing and Zushi were at Heavens Arena. It had been nearly a year since Ronnel last saw them, and he found himself missing their company.

Gon and Killua were probably still training under Wing. In the original timeline, Gon had been badly injured by Gido's spinning tops, which led to Wing forbidding him from using Nen for two months.

But since Gido had already been killed by Ronnel, he wondered if Wing's punishment would change this time.

As for Bisky and Shizuku... after exactly one month, Ronnel had contacted them to share news about the Ice Pearl, an artifact he'd recently uncovered.

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