Hunter x Hunter: From Obtaining the World to Beyond Heaven

Association Building.

The gray sky pressed down heavily, as if brewing something, and the north wind whipped up a cold front, hissing softly.

Diya chewed her gum, slowly stepped across the marble tiles, and entered the elevator that was about to go up.

There was another person waiting in the elevator.

"Doo-doo-doo~"

Diya hummed a little tune and pressed the elevator button for the seventh floor.

The seventh floor is an uninhabited fireproof floor, with nothing but hard cement walls and load-bearing columns.

"Mr. Dia, what are you going to do on the seventh floor?"

The person in the elevator smiled and asked.

"To meet someone."

"Oh? I guess that person isn't Miss Kita."

"Why do you ask when you already know the answer, Pariston?"

Standing behind Dia, Pariston chuckled twice, his eyes, devoid of luster, curved into crescent shapes, and his bangs cast a shadow, covering the upper half of his face.

He was wearing a light blue plaid suit today, and I wonder how long he had been waiting for Dia in the elevator.

Ding~

The elevator doors slowly opened, revealing a dark, empty space.

The fireproof layer is completely sealed, and all the windows are sealed with specially hardened cement, leaving only a few small ventilation openings, so the lighting conditions are quite poor.

The door was open, but Pariston did not move.

Diya kept pressing the open button but didn't move.

The two remained frozen in front of the open elevator doors until the atmosphere was colder than the north wind in December.

"Let me go first, that way Mr. Dia will feel more at ease."

Pariston broke the deadlock first, showing no surprise, and stepped out of the elevator ahead of everyone else, slowly walking into the darkness.

Diya thought for a moment, spat out the chewing gum from her mouth, stuck it on the elevator door open button, keeping it pressed, and then stepped out of the elevator.

Seeing that Pariston was clearly waiting for him, Dia thought it best to be careful.

Although he chose to go to the fireproof floor, it's hard to say whether Pariston might have prepared something there beforehand.

Diya stepped into the darkness, his enhanced vision from his spiritual energy allowing him to barely see his surroundings even in extremely dark conditions.

pat.

An old-fashioned table lamp suddenly lit up, casting a warm circle of light in the corner of the room. Pariston sat quietly, a cryptic smile on his face.

He was sitting on a pile of books, which looked very new.

Dia frowned slightly, wondering what he was up to.

“Mr. Dia, you came to see me, probably because of what I said before I ‘committed suicide’.”

Pariston mentioned the word 'suicide' quite naturally, as if he didn't care at all about revealing the details of his abilities:

"To make a long story short, I'm the kind of person who doesn't like to lose, but I don't care about winning either."

"I am running for vice president simply because once I become vice president, I can openly do some of the more difficult tasks."

"So I have a suggestion..."

Pariston's eyes were as calm as a stagnant pool.

"Three hours later, the president will announce you as the new vice president of the Hunter Association in the hall below us."

"Despite the prestige of the chairman, most people will acknowledge your position, but the anti-chairman faction will definitely do everything in their power to impeach you, since your lack of seniority is a fatal flaw."

"At that time, I will use all my connections to suppress any voices that are unfavorable to you."

Dia's eyes narrowed slightly; this reason wasn't enough to make him nervous, so he said:

“Pariston, you must know that the Hunter Association is essentially a one-man show by Chairman Netero. He has confirmed my identity, so whatever others say is meaningless.”

"It's pointless, but it's very annoying, especially since they'll spare no effort to attack and suppress anyone connected to you..."

Pariston seemed to be alluding to something.

"..."

Dia knew who Pariston was talking about, and although he was indeed a little annoyed, this reason still wasn't enough:

"You mean the anti-chairman faction will take the opportunity to attack Kido or Mizeston, right? To be honest, that's not much of a threat, is it? Compared to those good-for-nothings."

"If we include Xiyou and Krok, those radical reformers among the [Twelve Zodiacs]."

If that's the case, it would indeed be quite tricky, since killing the Twelve Branches is rather difficult.

Dia frowned. If it were just a useless anti-chairman faction like Tieladin from the original story, then it would be easy to kill them at any time. But something like Journey to the West is a little more troublesome.

"You're probably not a philanthropist, so tell me your terms first."

Seeing that Dia had changed the subject but hadn't outright refused, Pariston knew that Dia had at least taken his words to heart, so he pressed his advantage and said:

"My condition is very simple: during Mr. Dia's tenure as vice president, he can freely delegate all his work to me..."

Dia laughed:

"You've got a good plan, no wonder you don't care about winning or losing, Pariston."

If you win, you can rightfully become the vice president; if you lose, you can use this proposal to take over the vice president's job and become an invisible vice president.

Regardless of winning or losing, he will eventually get what he wants.

Dia shook her head, about to dismiss Pariston's pipe dream, when he suddenly asked a question:

"Mr. Dia, do you know what these books are under me?"

Dia subconsciously glanced at the pile of books he had ignored.

每本书都是A4大小，没有书名，封面只有一串奇怪的数字编号，分别是从1997-1-1到1997-12-31。

This is... a date?

Dia suddenly looked at him strangely, realizing what Pariston wanted to say.

"Mr. Diaz must have guessed it..."

Pariston picked up a book, opened it, handed it to Dia, and said:

"That's right. These are the documents that the vice president of the Hunter Association has to process every day. After the work is completed each day, they are all packaged into a book and recorded. None of these books are less than 300 pages long."

Diya opened the book; each page corresponded to a specific matter: some concerned the distribution of commissions, some concerned the association's funds, some concerned the reform of hunter privileges, and some concerned urgent matters reported by the association's branches in various regions.

Civilian, official, individual, organized, design-based reward distribution, star rating, commissioned rating...

All the matters, big and small, were bound together into a book, one page for each item.

"Most of these matters, which involve professional hunters, cannot be handled by ordinary staff. Mr. Bean only handles matters related to the chairman."

"Therefore, this mountain of documents can only be handled by the vice president. The previous vice president, Mr. Carallo, retired early at the age of only 40. Mr. Dia should be able to guess the reason."

Is it due to overwork...?

"Isn't there a think tank?"

Diya clearly remembered that the Hunter's Ten Rules explicitly mentioned that the Association had a think tank.

“Those people are actually officials sent by V5. The president has never liked to let them interfere in association affairs.”

Pariston looked at Dia with a detached gaze and said casually.

Having discussed the matter to this point, he felt that he was almost certain of success.

'Mr. Dia's biggest problem is that he lacks administrative experience. If he has to learn from scratch, it will take a huge amount of time and slow down efficiency. In addition, if I stir things up a little, the pressure inside and outside the association will be enormous...'

Pariston knew very well that with Dia's domineering personality, she would never tolerate being insulted by those with ulterior motives.

At that point, escalating the conflict would be incredibly easy...

Of course, this is not without solutions; at least Pariston himself could come up with more than one way to break the deadlock.

For example, if you delegate tasks to Qiduo, given her administrative abilities, it won't take her much time each day to handle these matters.

But would Dia do that?

Pariston was certain that he wouldn't do that.

He had foreseen this scene from the moment Dia entered the game herself.

'His sense of responsibility towards those close to him is just too strong...' (The influence of his Sadong lineage is kicking in.)

They give to others without asking for anything in return, and they don't care whether the person they're helping is willing or not...

That's just so stubborn!

Given this personality, it's highly unlikely that Dia would let Qiduo shoulder unnecessary responsibilities for him, while he himself would comfortably enjoy the various privileges that come with the position of vice president.

But if it meant transferring the dirty and hard work to Pariston while she could enjoy herself, then Dia might be able to accept it...

"Your conditions are very good, it seems I have no reason to say no..."

Dia said slowly with her head down, while Pariston smiled and extended his hand, ready to reach an agreement.

Suddenly, Dia raised her head, staring intently at Pariston, and said decisively:

"But I refuse!"

"What I, Diya, love to do most is say no to arrogant guys like you!"

Pariston's smile froze on his face.

Diya uttered all the lines she wanted to say in one breath, and instantly felt as refreshed as if she were wearing new underwear to welcome the New Year's morning!

Chapter 246 Farewell × You Forgetful Idiot (Construction complete, one more chapter tonight)

"Hello everyone, I am Diya, and I will be serving as the vice president of the association from now on. I hope that in the future, I can do my best to contribute to the development of the association..."