Hunter: I became stronger even after I died.

Chapter 261 Absorption
The country of Kakin has three major criminal gangs: the Ai family, the Xiu family, and the Jiaxia family.

These gangs hold a certain position in Kakin.

However, compared to the Ten Elders whose influence spans six continents and ten regions, they are still considerably inferior overall.

Melena belongs to the Ai family, and the Ai family's backer is none other than the fourth prince of the Kingdom of Kakin, Cheridonishi.

One of Celidonich's hobbies was his obsession with collecting human organs.

Among his many collections, his favorite was undoubtedly the red-eyed creature of the Kuruta tribe.

However, his fondness for red eyes is not due to the rarity of red eyes.

It is because these eyes only turn their most vibrant crimson color when the owner is extremely angry.

Therefore, for him, the true value of red eyes lies in their ability to perfectly capture the most intense moments of life.

Rage, despair, struggle.

And the ensuing decline.

By simply gazing into those bright red pupils, Celidonich could directly glimpse the last emotions of his master before his death, and then look down upon their pain and helplessness.

He was deeply fascinated by this art of permanently preserving intense emotions.

For example, he enjoys skinning women alive...

But this woman must possess outstanding insight and inner qualities.

Otherwise, it would be no different from skinning pigs and monkeys.

This is Celidonich's pursuit of comprehensive art, and also his sole criterion for collecting human organs.

Therefore, in order to obtain the two pairs of red-eyed creatures that would appear at the Yorknew auction, he directly dispatched Mo Liana, a capable assistant of the Ai family.

"Just for two pairs of worthless eyes, really..."

Melina's hands were clasped together naturally, resting on her thighs, her dark, deep eyes reflecting the cell phone on her desk.

"Boring as hell."

He whispered softly.

Melina stretched out her right hand and casually flipped through the auction catalog next to her phone.

She had absolutely no interest in such hobbies that arose solely from the desires and needs of a cesspool-like world.

However, in order to carry out the final plan, she needed to wait patiently.

Before that, she needed to gain Celidonich's favor.

"Soon……"

Melina's slender fingers paused abruptly as she ran her fingertips over the photograph of the fiery red eyes.

The moment she is appointed as the head of the Ai family group by Celidonich...

She will issue the order to "kill each other" during the succession ceremony.

This is the most important step in her "screening" process.

In order to take this step, she is willing to wait and be patient.

All of this is to destroy this cesspool-like world.
-
It was nearing noon.

Batra's convoy entered Yorkshire and stopped on the road near the free market.

This was Moro's request.

In order to raise the funds needed for the fierce bidding war more quickly, the first thing Morrow did upon arriving in Yorknew City was to head straight to the free market to see if he could snag a bargain.

As the car pulled up, Moro, Menchi, and Kurapika got out one after another.

at this time,

In the middle of the convoy, in a black luxury car, Batra and Juezijara also opened the door and got out.

Batra came before Moro, with Zezzeira following closely behind.

Security personnel in other vehicles also quickly disembarked, forming a protective circle around Batra in a highly alert posture.

“Mr. Morrow, although I know very well that you are not interested in clearing Greed Island, I would still like to express my sincerity once again.”

Batra said solemnly, "If one day you change your mind and become interested in this game, please be sure to contact me immediately."

"it is good."

Moro looked at the unpretentious, top-tier tycoon in front of him and nodded.

That day will never come.

Even if there were prey on Greed Island that met his requirements...

He immediately lost interest whenever he thought about the various card mechanics that could directly affect the course of a battle.

As for the reward of 50 billion for breaking through the barrier...

If you don't have a genuine love for the game and are just playing for the reward, you'll not only waste a lot of time, but you might also fail to collect all the required cards.

It might even lead to failure.

Thinking about it this way, the temptation of 50 billion doesn't seem so strong anymore.

After a while.

Batra's convoy headed towards the city center.

Moro watched the convoy disappear into the distance before turning his gaze away.

Menqi withdrew her gaze and sighed softly:

"On my way here, I looked up Batra's information on my phone. I didn't expect that he was not only incredibly wealthy, but also spent money without hesitation. He bid for a Greed Island game qualification worth hundreds of billions without even blinking an eye."

As she spoke, she shook her head slightly, revealing an expression of incomprehension.

In fact, those hunters who were attracted by the astronomical reward of 50 billion also could not understand Batra's approach, that he was willing to invest such an astonishing amount of money to complete a game.

But most people don't care about Batra's motives.

In their view, the tempting 50 billion yuan reward is the only thing worth paying attention to.

Hearing Menchi's sigh, Moro remained silent, only glancing at Kurapika almost imperceptibly.

He knew that Batra had invested such a huge sum of money simply to obtain the card "Breath of the Archangel on Greed Island" and then use it to heal his lover, who had been in a coma due to an accident.

In theory, Kurapika's healing chain might also be able to awaken Battra's lover.

If successful, it means receiving the 500 billion reward directly, or even more.

With this huge sum of money, not only can the two pairs of Red-Eyed Swords appear at the auction be recovered, but even those Red-Eyed Swords scattered among private collectors can be bought back through monetary transactions.

however……

The constraint of the Healing Chain is that lifespan is paid according to the strength of the healing.

A top-tier tycoon like Batra must have tried various methods before noticing Greed Island, but all ended in failure.

It's even possible that Batra is still employing a two-pronged approach, pouring huge sums of money into Greed Island while simultaneously searching for other cures.

But so many years have passed, and there has been no progress.

This fully demonstrates that curing Batra's lover is no easy feat.

So, if Kurapika's Healing Chains can successfully awaken Battra's lover, it means...

Kurapika requires paying a lot of lifespan.

But Moro knew that in this decision, Kurapika would not hesitate to sacrifice his own lifespan in order to find the eyes of his people as quickly as possible.

Based on this judgment, Moro would never proactively tell Kurapika about this.

"Alright, let's start shopping."

Moro turned his gaze toward the entrance to the free market.

From his vantage point, he could already see some street stalls.

Upon returning to the familiar city of Yorknew City, the first thing I did was, surprisingly, to make money...

With a touch of melancholy, Moro exchanged a few words with Kurapika and the others, then chose a direction and confidently headed towards the stalls displaying various antiques and miscellaneous items. With his skill level, he was capable of appraising even genuine artifacts without Nen imprints.

However, in terms of efficiency, it is far less efficient than using "凝" (Ning) to directly purchase goods.

the most important is……

He wanted to take this opportunity to test the difficulty of absorbing the energy of the third ring of the tree.

after an hour.

Moro searched through all the stalls in the area and finally found only one item imbued with Nen.

It is a small stone statue resembling a monkey wearing a crown, with a faint aura of spiritual energy swirling around its surface.

As it is a modern sculpture, this stone statue has almost no collectible value.

Moro easily bought it from the stall owner for only 200,000 jenny.

"Young man, take another look at this bird statue!"

Seeing that Moro readily bought the cheap stone statue, the stall owner immediately began enthusiastically promoting it, "This is an authentic work by the 12th-century sculptor Dias. Someone offered me 200 million before, but I didn't sell it. If you like it, take it for 180 million!"

Moro didn't even glance at it, and turned to leave with the crested monkey statue in his hand.

The stall owner, undeterred, kept calling out to persuade them to stay.

Moro ignored him and found a secluded spot to draw the spiritual energy from the crested monkey statue into the tree rings.

Throughout the brief process, Moro kept his eyes fixed on the energy bar of the third ring.

The result was only a slight increase, less than 1%.

"The difficulty of charging has indeed increased a lot. It's only the third cycle, and ordinary items are already struggling. They can only accumulate little by little."

Morrow was prepared for this outcome.

However, with the mindset that something is better than nothing, he will not easily miss out on anything he cherishes.

Moro glanced in the direction they had come from, wondering how much Menchi and Kurapika had gained.

With that thought, Moro exerted force with his fingers, breaking off the head of the crested monkey statue, and then casually threw the other half of the statue's body into a pile of stones in the green belt.

Moro looked at the crested monkey head in his hand, carefully crushing the crest on the monkey's head by controlling his strength.

As the stone chips fell away little by little, only half of the monkey's head remained, revealing a sliver of orange-yellow luster.

It was a piece of jade, only the size of a thumb, that had become one with the stone statue.

More carefully, Moro rubbed away the stone next to the orange-yellow jade.

It took several minutes to remove the jade stone, which was only the size of a thumbnail.

"It's a bit small, but it should be worth around ten million."

Moro put away the orange-yellow jade.

The value of this little thing lies not in its collectability, but in its calming effect.

Moro wasn't sure at first what was inside the crested monkey statue. It was when he was absorbing the energy that he sensed the source inside the statue.

Upon seeing the appearance of this orange-yellow jade, he immediately recognized its origin.

This item is quite popular in the jade collecting circle. He had come into contact with it before, and although he didn't make a profit at the time, he did gain some knowledge.

I originally only went there to absorb spiritual energy, but I didn't expect to have such a pleasant surprise.

As expected, any object that relies on spiritual energy, even if it appears plain on the surface, is likely to contain hidden secrets.

Two hours later.

Moro waited for Kurapika and Menchi to arrive at another entrance to the free market.

After a while.

Kurapika and Menchi appeared one after the other.

The two had a pretty good haul, finding a total of six antique items imbued with Nen energy.

On the contrary, Moro's luck was not so good. Apart from the damaged crested monkey statue, he only found one other item.

He absorbed the spiritual energy from the artifact, and the energy bar of the third ring remained fixed at 42%.

"How much are these worth?"

Menqi glanced at the seven antique items gathered together and asked curiously.

Moro glanced at the coffee shop across the street and said, "Let's sit there for a while, I'll calculate slowly."

"it is good."

Menqi nodded.

The three of them crossed the street, entered the coffee shop, and found a seat in a corner.

Placed the seven antique items on the table, Morrow, in front of Menchi and Kurapika, assessed their value while absorbing their Nen.

After absorbing the energy of the fourth item, the energy of the third circle, which had been stagnant, finally rose to 43%.

"It takes about five items to convert 1% of the energy..."

Moro was confident and continued to absorb the spiritual energy of other spiritual objects.

Menchi and Kurapika watched Moro's actions, feeling puzzled but not asking any further questions, waiting for the results.

"This is a fake, it's worthless."

Moreau picked out a lifelike porcelain doll from among them.

Collectibles imbued with Nen (energy) are not necessarily authentic.

Because some forgers are indeed incredibly skilled, and once they reach a high level of mastery, they can even leave behind a trace of spiritual energy while in a state of enlightenment.

The porcelain doll that Morrow picked out was a 17th-century artifact, but he couldn't absorb the Nen surrounding it.

This means that the person who created the porcelain doll is still alive.

This alone is enough to determine whether the porcelain doll is real or fake.

Morrow then looked at the remaining six antique items and estimated a rough price based on his experience.

"The total value is approximately 9000 million kyats."

As Moro spoke, he placed the small calming jade stone on the table as well. "With this, we can make about 1 million. This is a conservative estimate. If we want to sell quickly, it's normal to offer a discount of several hundred million or even tens of millions."

"()"

Menqi's eyes lit up, and she said excitedly, "I've earned nearly 100 million in just two or three hours. It seems like raising 5 billion isn't that difficult!"

"Don't be happy too soon."

Moro shook his head calmly, a stark contrast to Menchi's excitement.

“There are only a few decent free markets. With our method of buying up goods, we can squeeze out almost all the value in one round. It’s hard to have a second wave of gains in the short term, not to mention... there may be other competitors.”

"what……"

Upon hearing this, Menqi deflated like a punctured balloon and slumped onto the table.

She rested her head on her arm, tilted her head to look at Moro, and exclaimed sincerely, "But to be honest, I didn't expect you to know these things. You're really amazing."

"I just come to Youkexin often, and I don't actually know that much."

Moro shook his head again and glanced at Kurapika, who was deep in thought.

"I'll earn as much as I can these few days. If it really doesn't work out... I'll just borrow money from someone else."

"..."

Kurapika and Menchi each nodded.

The streets near the free market.

A man was holding a phone, looking down at the picture of Kurapika on the screen, then glancing around.

His eyes were cold, making no attempt to conceal his murderous intent.

(End of this chapter)