Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

Those bureaucrats cannot simply ignore such a threat.

Upon hearing Kang Zai's words, Ci Yutuo sighed and continued:

"This brings us to the so-called 'Phantom City'..."

Upon hearing this, even the erudite Qi Duo, whose knowledge rivaled that of a search engine, began to have doubts:

"This is also an urban legend? When I was a visiting scholar in the Ochima Federation, I never heard of this term, and I've been a little confused about it since just now..."

"【Stevilla】...Does the Ochima Federation have this city?"

If she remembered correctly, Dalatland was a famous single-core city, known as the City of Angels because of its extremely high location, and there were no other cities nearby!

Upon hearing this, a look of astonishment flashed across Diya's eyes.

He absolutely trusted Qiduo's memory; if she said no, then it definitely wasn't true. (He was basically using her as an external brain.)

What about what Ciyutuo just said?

Or is this a disaster similar to a mass meme infection?

"Yes, miss, yes."

Just as Diya was lost in thought, Ciyutuo emphasized firmly, saying:

“Miss hunter, you shouldn’t be older than 25, right? That city of Steverla was built before you were born—”

"It has transformed into the so-called 'Phantom City'!"

The winter of 1972 was unusually cold.

That year, Qiduo was 1 year old, and Dia (the original owner) was 4 years old.

The city of St. Vera is thrown into chaos by a hotel that has appeared out of nowhere.

A large number of mysterious people dressed in the same uniform poured into the small town that was overshadowed by the light of Dalatlan City, and silenced and blocked all those who knew about it.

According to confidential official documents of the Ochima Federation—

“1972年12月1日上午9点21分，【秘调科】对代号【旅馆】的实体进行第一次突破……”

"...Three hours later, the investigation was forced to terminate, and all members of the Secret Investigation Department who conducted the investigation were wiped out."

This is the only description of exploring the [Stone Carry] Inn in the official documents; the rest is almost completely blacked out, with no information visible.

Ciyutuo tried to use his ministerial rank to retrieve the original, unencrypted documents, but was told that the originals had been destroyed.

Due to the passage of time, he could only find that the order to destroy the items came from the then-President, Foreign Minister, and Defense Minister of the Ochima Federation.

This means that the destroyed documents contained top-secret information related to national defense and diplomacy, which could not be disclosed, so they were destroyed directly.

Then, skipping over large swaths of black, the following account is extremely bizarre—

“1972年12月3日14点10分至15点10分区间，史特委城中余下驻守的【秘调科】成员单方面断开了通信，无法判断断开的具体时间。”

"At 9:06 AM on December 5, 1972, an A-class special operations detachment under the 12st Special Operations Command of the National Defense Forces successfully parachuted near the former city of Stovella. Seven minutes later, the detachment leader reported to headquarters that he had 'not found' the city of Stovella..."

"...An investigation revealed that the original site of St. Vera City was reduced to a massive crater with a maximum depth exceeding 173 meters; the main body of the city has completely disappeared..."

Ciyutuo shook his head and said:

"Since then, the authorities have completely erased information about the city. Fortunately, the internet technology was not advanced at the time, and communication was relatively blocked. Under the authorities' relentless suppression, this matter miraculously disappeared from historical records."

"Now only a few people, who remember the city for various reasons, remain and are still waiting for the official investigation results..."

Chapter 190 Return to the Human World × Terrifying Consequences

The rooftop was completely silent.

After listening to Ciyutuo's report, everyone had different reactions.

The well-informed Chairman Netero continued to stroke his beard nonchalantly.

Pariston wore a mysterious smile, as if he were watching a good show.

"Like a phantom in the memories of only a few, a city that once existed..."

Dia stroked her chin and summarized briefly:

"It's as if it never happened."

"No, it's not that simple. In fact, the impact of a city disappearing into thin air is extremely devastating."

Ci Yutuo swallowed hard and continued:

"The most direct impact is the direct economic loss, as well as the administrative pressure brought about by various urban resource allocation and replanning. However, the most painful loss comes from the disappearance of the city itself."

"Having lost its satellite city, Dalatland continued to decline over the next decade, until the entire Fulla region lost its original single-core city, resulting in population loss and 25 consecutive years of economic regression. The [Killer] mechanism completely failed..."

"A series of chain reactions caused the federal government's projected GDP to evaporate by a full 5% over the next twenty years."

At this point, Ciyutuo's eyes seemed to bleed.

With such a heavy price to pay, it's no wonder that this matter was suppressed so tightly.

If it were to be exposed, the overwhelming public opinion could potentially sway the situation to who knows where.

Dia let out a breath, having roughly grasped the logic behind it.

Let's take his hometown from his previous life as an example.

It's like a city in Sichuan province disappearing, causing Chengdu's GDP, which accounts for the vast majority of the province's resources, to plummet to the level of a roadside street. The future of a province vanishes, millions of compatriots weep blood, and the future of a country suffers a huge blow in an instant.

but.

What does this have to do with what they're doing now?

"No matter how devastating the losses were back then, 25 years have passed. Even if we were to investigate, we probably wouldn't find anything, would we?"

Mitchellston, who had been listening quietly, spoke calmly.

He didn't care what losses the Federation had suffered, even though he himself was born in the Ochima Federation. Those economic indicators were just political byproducts; as long as the country didn't collapse, those numbers would remain the same no matter how they changed.

"What we really need to entrust is not to investigate the incident from 25 years ago, but the strange thing that happened again just a few days ago at the original site of that city."

Ci Yutuo pulled a stack of documents from his briefcase, distributed them to everyone one by one, and then continued:

"Because the Fura region of the Ochima Federation has a typical temperate maritime climate with heavy rainfall and is close to the sea."

"After the city of St. Vera disappeared, the huge pit was left unattended. Over the next twenty-five years, water continuously filled the pit, eventually turning it into a large lake!"

"People call it Lake Rusty, and not long ago, fishermen fishing on the lake reported that bricks were falling from the sky."

"It's the third image in the stack of documents you all have."

Dia turned to the third page and saw a broken brick.

The bricks themselves were unremarkable; apart from their whitish color, they didn't look special at all.

"This brick, after being authenticated by experts, comes from a building in the city of St. Vera that disappeared 25 years ago!"

Ciyutuo proposed a conjecture regarding this result:

"Although the reason is unknown, it is very possible that 25 years from now, that lost [Phantom City] may very well return to the world!"

"Isn't that great? We can finally find out what happened 25 years ago."

Diya couldn't quite understand Ciyutuo's behavior, as if it were a very serious matter.

"This is not a good thing; on the contrary, it is a complete disaster, worse than the situation 25 years ago!"

Ci Yutuo's words were startling, attracting everyone's attention. He then began to explain:

"Lake Rusti is now completely filled with rainwater, which means that it is now a huge reservoir."

"If, under these circumstances, the city of St. Vera were to reappear, the water that once filled Lake Rusty would be like the raven in the fable who filled the jar with pebbles—"

"The water will overflow, and then, following the terrain, it will become a torrent flowing south and joining the downstream rivers that are currently in a period of flooding."

"Based on our assessment and investigation of the overall quality of the downstream levee over the following days, the sudden change in the river's flow could cause it to collapse in an instant..."

As he spoke, Ciyutuo felt a sense of oppression and could not suppress the tension in his heart.

He didn't say the rest explicitly, but most of the people present were professional hunters, and they quickly guessed the seriousness of the situation.

If a dam collapses, what happens to the water it held back?

Of course it's rampant!

If this continues, another terrifying disaster, like "the Yellow River's waters flowing down from the sky," is likely to occur.

If a lake of that size were to breach its banks, the entire downstream villages could be submerged, countless residents would be displaced, and a huge factor of social instability would be created.

Most importantly, we don't know how many people will die!

For the first time, a look of tension appeared in the eyes of Qiduo and the others.

So their mission is...

"Therefore I implore you all, if possible, let that city never appear again, and at the very least, it must never return to its original place!"

thump!

With a crisp sound, Ciyutuo suddenly knelt down without warning, then slammed his head against the cement ground.

A trickle of blood flowed down his forehead and into his eye, making him look extremely disheveled.

He looked pleading and said in a pained tone:

"Everyone, I beg you, please save those people..."

His actions moved everyone present.

Even a ministerial-level official from a V5 country, working in a very obscure department, would not need to adopt such a humble attitude when facing them.

Therefore, the only purpose of Ciyutuo doing this was to make the hunters pay more attention to this matter so that the people downstream could escape a disaster!

'It's really rare to see officials like this...'

Diya thought to herself, then stepped forward and decisively stopped Ciyutuo from kowtowing a second time.

Diya was much stronger than Ciyutuo. With a single lift, he straightened Ciyutuo from his kneeling position.

Then, Diya used ripples to stabilize the opponent's muscles, preventing Ciyutuo from kneeling down again.