Hunter: I became stronger even after I died.

Chapter 390 Departure and New Members
The selection process is a brutal and systematic ritual for awakening Nen abilities.

The ant king needs an army.

So, under Neferpitou and Shayapuf's manipulation, the entire population of East Godot will be caught in a whirlpool called "Selection".

Of the approximately five million people in the country, including infants, only about 1% will ultimately be selected and transformed into Nen soldiers loyal only to the Ant King.

This selection program is very suitable for countries like East Godot.

Because both the NGL Autonomous Republic and the East Godot Republic share a common point.

That is, the lack of modern communication methods such as mobile phones severely restricts the flow of information.

This delayed information dissemination environment greatly slowed down public awareness of the chimeric ant threat and made it impossible to learn about the changes in the capital city of Peijing in a timely manner.

Taking advantage of this information gap, Donggodo is practically the perfect breeding ground for the "selection program".

"Infants and the sick are also welcome to participate in this gathering... Public transportation such as trains and buses will be free..."

The radio continued broadcasting announcements.

The ten-day selection process is about to begin, which means that the citizens of the capital, Peijing, may have already become the victims of this "selection."

From this moment on, the entire population of East Godot will begin migrating to the capital, Peijing, like ants.

But Neferpitou and Shayapouf are not going to wait patiently for all the citizens to assemble.

They will definitely use their manipulation abilities to secretly begin the selection process by employing a large number of puppets.

Because information travels slowly within East Godot, and because of the pretense of a nationwide mobilization, even if they secretly evacuate residents from a certain area, it will not arouse suspicion or confusion.

Under this cover, the selection process for five million citizens will proceed with extreme efficiency.

For the expeditionary force, with the Chimera Ants having already revealed their hand, they certainly couldn't allow the enemy to advance their plans.

After all, with each additional casualty, Chairman Netero's responsibility afterward would increase.

Moreover, preventing the selection process itself weakens the fighting force reserves under the command of the Ant King.

Moro put away the radio, his gaze becoming serious.

He understood the motive of the expeditionary force: they were worried that the direct guards would use their manipulation abilities to control an astonishingly large army of ability users.

But only he knew that the real crisis hidden behind the selection ceremony was far more than that.

and also--

The Ant King's racial talent of "getting stronger the more he eats".

At least for now, with the Chimera Ant King disdaining to delve into the Nen system, this racial talent is what makes him most terrifying.

Once the direct guards can stably produce food for the ability users, the Ant King's manifested energy will experience an explosive increase.

The only saving grace is that the Chimera Ant King has absolutely no interest in developing Nen abilities; otherwise, the situation would have been much more dire.

On the other hand, Neferpitou and Shayapuv, in their insistence on "military quality," would certainly raise the standards during the selection process in order to select humans whose mental and physical abilities were above average.

Such stringent quality requirements naturally reduce production efficiency significantly, thus slowing down the process by which the queen ant rapidly grows stronger through eating.

At least in the short term, we don't need to face an ant king whose strength has rapidly expanded due to its voracious eating.

Based on the intelligence he had, Morrow silently deduced the next decision-making direction of Neferpitou and Oyapov.

But such thinking is actually not very meaningful.

He ultimately failed to persuade Netero to simply throw the poor man's roses directly into the capital palace.

Given this, the chairman's fate will most likely follow the original storyline, dragging the Ant King down to hell by corrupting the heart of martial arts.

So what we really need to think about now is when Netero will launch his final assault on the palace.

And as members of the extermination team, how should they create an environment for the chairman to have a one-on-one fight with the Ant King?

Currently, only Neferpitou and Oyapuv remain as direct bodyguards.

Even so, it is already extremely difficult to restrain a monster of this level, let alone completely divide the battlefield.

In theory, it would be almost impossible to lure the King Ant away from the area of ​​the Rose Explosion unless he himself was willing to leave.

And if this cannot be done...

Netero's self-destructive escape route will likely result in the entire expeditionary force being wiped out.

"Relatively speaking, Neferbitt is the most troublesome."

Moro muttered to himself as he walked toward the rising smoke in the distance.

Given the current combat strength of the human camp, there is almost no other way to reliably restrain Neferpitou, who has mastered a mature Nen system, except by relying on Netero's Hundred Style Kannon.

In contrast, although Xiao Yapuf also showed a high level of charisma, he preferred to use strategy rather than brute force, making him the easiest of the three guards to restrain.

Fortunately, long before the King Ant was born, he had already done everything in his power to eliminate Youpi...

"No matter how the next action plan is formulated, I must make some preparations in advance."

In the blink of an eye, Moro unleashed his Nen energy from his feet, shooting towards the distant human settlement like a streak of light.

His infiltration of East Godot this time was not only to harvest stars to heal his injuries, but also to make some preparations in advance regarding the girl named "Wheat".

Ideally, one can only hope that the Ant King will, like in the original story, start engaging in various board games to pass the time.

Only by developing in this direction can we prevent the possibility that the King of the Ants might, on a whim, turn to in-depth research into the Nen system.

otherwise--

Once the King Ant truly develops an interest in "Nen," everything will be truly beyond repair.

........................

The members of the expedition team were also closely watching the nation-building celebration initiated by President Digo of East Godot.

The requirement of 100% attendance speaks volumes.

Their reaction was almost exactly as Morrow had predicted.

However, before Chairman Netero officially issues the order, even if everyone has the idea of ​​interfering, they cannot act on their own.

Netero seemed to have anticipated their reaction, and on the same day that East Godot announced the convening of the National Day celebration, he sent a message containing specific instructions to the punitive expedition.

The information specified that the operation would take place at midnight on the eve of the conference, and instructed the expeditionary force to split into two groups to lure the direct guards away from the Ant King.

There are no other restrictions.

This means that Netero has completely handed over decision-making autonomy to the expeditionary force.

Therefore, upon receiving this instruction from the guild leader, the expedition team immediately launched a disruption operation.

only……

Killua chose to withdraw from the expedition.

He wants to go home.

Upon hearing this reason, Mo Laowu and the others did not press for further details, nor did they try to persuade them to stay.

They simply expressed their sincere gratitude to Killua for everything he had done for the expedition during their farewell.

In fact, Xiao Jie also had the idea of ​​withdrawing from the operation.

His idea was simple: to continue searching for Kim and to pin Kate's hopes for regaining her arm on Kim.

Clearly, he still blamed himself for Kate losing her arm.

But Kate didn't agree with Jack's idea and never considered withdrawing from the operation.

As a professional creature hunter, having become involved in the biological disaster caused by the chimera ants, I have a responsibility to fight to the very end.

That's why Gon ultimately chose to stay and face the upcoming battle alongside Kite.

Before leaving, Killua privately inquired about Kalluto's wishes.

"Want to come home with me?" "..."

When asked by his brother, Kurt remained silent for a moment before finally shaking his head.

"I want to stay with Moro."

Killua smiled, not surprised by the answer.

"Actually, I also wanted to stay with Xiao Jie and the teacher, but..."

He looked up at the starry sky, said nothing more, and just sighed softly.

"Don't be too reckless, okay?"

After leaving those words, Killua turned and left.

He had reasons to go back, and he could no longer choose to run away.

Kurt silently watched Killua's retreating figure, a pang of guilt crossing his heart.

Kalluto was actually quite clear about why Killua was so determined to go home.

It was simply that after her memories returned, she finally remembered Alluka, who had been imprisoned by her family as a monster.

As a result, his mind and body were overwhelmed by an overwhelming sense of guilt.

The reason why they have been able to hold on until now is because there are also important people here in Killua's heart.

But as time went by, the guilt he felt towards Alluka could no longer be suppressed.

Kaldor understands the reasons behind this, which is why he always feels that people like Killua are truly out of place in the family.

"Brother, I'm sorry..."

Kurt muttered to himself.

To the Zoldyck family members, Alluka could no longer be considered family, but rather a monster posing a potential threat.

Kurt thought so too.

Therefore, it's impossible for her to have the idea of ​​helping Killua because of this.

Furthermore, in Kalluka's view, rescuing Moro was far less important.

Despite Killua's departure, the morale of the expeditionary force remained unaffected.

The day after Donggoth issued the decree, the members of the expeditionary force quickly entered Donggoth territory and began to carry out the interference plan.

However, they soon discovered that while the Chimera Ants were ostensibly mobilizing the entire nation to go to the capital under the guise of a national founding celebration, they had actually been secretly conducting a selection ceremony.

Mo Laowu and others were not surprised by this discovery.

After all, the population of East Godot is about five million.

Even if the Ant King's personal guards possessed the most powerful manipulation abilities, it would be difficult for them to complete the entire selection ceremony for five million people in just three days.

Moreover, considering the potential chaos that might occur during the selection process, it is reasonable for the direct guards to choose to conduct the selection in secret.

"As expected, it demonstrates a powerful operational capability that achieves efficient screening through a large number of puppets..."

After inspecting an empty village, Mo Laowu became even more convinced that the Ant King's direct guards were using a large number of puppets to advance the selection process.

Judging from its scale and scope, the strength of this operating system's capabilities has already exceeded their initial expectations.

This undoubtedly brought them invisible pressure.

Before the day of the final assault arrived, no one could predict whether they would be facing Neferpitou and Shayapuv, their two direct bodyguards.

On top of that, add a formidable army of ability users.

However, this pressure did not shake the determination of the expedition team to resolve this biological disaster.

until the fourth day.

The expedition team welcomed two new members.

One of them is Grachan, Morel's brother, who is the Nen user that Morel had met before and who has the ability to materialize skateboards.

After confirming that the soldier ants contained genes from crocodiles, freshwater fish, and other organisms, Mo Laowu immediately recommended Ge Laqiang to the review department.

However, the recommendation was rejected.

In a fit of anger, Mo Laowu, with Nitero's consent, had Grachan bypass the review department and come directly to meet him.

But Mo Laowu was unaware that before he sought Netero's consent, Netero had already received a death order from V5:

We will resolve this incident at all costs, but the Hunter Association will bear all consequences and responsibilities.

This may also be one of the reasons why Netero agreed to Moreno's illegal actions when he was obstructed by "someone".

Another new member is the Snake (巳) of the Twelve Earthly Branches, represented by the character "盖璐".

Her joining also bypassed the censorship process, which was somewhat coincidental.

Gail had previously noted the long-term biological survey commission issued by the Kaking State.

However, she was only interested in venomous snakes, so she only selected a small number of related commissions and did not establish a long-term cooperation with the Kingdom of Kakin.

Due to her profession, she got to know quite a few creature hunters while carrying out commissions.

Among the creature hunters listed as "missing" in this incident, there happened to be someone she knew.

This is one of the reasons why she continued to pay attention to this biological disaster.

Although Gai Lu has always maintained her own opinions and apolitical style in the association, she originally had no intention of forcibly participating in violation of regulations after the review department rejected her action application.

The reason they are now bypassing the censorship department to join the expedition is because they received an invitation from Netero.

but……

Nitro invited Galo not because she had applied on her own initiative, but because Moreau offered a substantial suggestion after learning about the situation.

He believed that Gal's poison abilities might be one of the keys to breaking through the direct guards.

Nitero holds the same view.

And so, we have this result.

With the addition of two new members, the expeditionary force has more resources to devise a containment plan.

But in reality, there is another new member.

........................

In the bustling train station, Xiaomai, leaning on a cane, with a runny nose and her eyes tightly closed, was repeatedly bowing and thanking a tall, thin man in front of her.
"Thank you so much for bringing me all the way here, Mr. Hisoka."

This tall, thin man is actually Moro, who used the "Biomutation" ability to change his appearance and body shape.

With an unfamiliar face, he smiled at Xiaomai, who was almost bowing deeply, and said gently, "It was nothing. But you, even if someone is there to meet you when you arrive, please be extra careful."

"Okay, I'm getting in the car now!"

As Xiaomai responded, she was about to bow again when she accidentally bumped her head on the car door frame and cried out in pain.

She didn't even have time to rub her forehead. She gripped her cane tightly with one hand and frantically waved the other in Moro's direction, saying, "I'm fine, I'm fine!"

Just then, the train whistle sounded, drowning out Moro's farewell.

The train slowly started moving and headed into the distance along the tracks.

Moro stared silently in the direction the train had disappeared, saying nothing.

In the past two days, he made a point of contacting Xiaomai in advance, and after gaining her trust, he successfully implanted a star mark into her.

You're still the same as always~

Just then, a familiar voice came from behind.

(End of this chapter)