Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The pair of black eyes that suddenly emerged from the sludge were strikingly beautiful, looking bright and full of life. Once someone saw them, they would remember them completely.

Some people could be recognized instantly just by their eyes, even if the rest of their face was completely covered. Sanbica's eyes were like that.

If Law had been here, he would have recognized Sanbica just by those eyes.

'Twenty-one people... the most dangerous one is that woman with the bow.'

Sanbica slowly rose from the muddy ground. Her entire body, except for her eyes, was covered in a layer of foul-smelling black sludge.

Her expression was calm, and she paid no attention to the filth covering her. After making sure that there was nothing around that could threaten her for the time being, she stared in the direction where the group had gone, deep in thought.

'They are all Nen Users, but they don't seem particularly strong... except for that woman.'

"Are these people from Clort Prison?"

"And those radios!"

Sanbica instinctively reached for her waist, only to find it empty. Originally, her radio was hanging on her waist, but it had been lost during the chaos earlier.

The group had not only accurately located the hiding spot of the five soldiers, but had also retrieved their radios.

From this, it seemed highly likely that they were from Clort Prison, as the radios had been provided by the prison.

Moreover... the radios might have had tracking devices installed, which would explain how the group had found the five soldiers.

If that were the case, anyone still carrying a radio would likely be targeted by this group.

After all, the radio was their only means of communication. Under normal circumstances, no one would willingly discard it, even if it wasn't working or the signal was weak.

If this line of thinking was correct, the number of survivors might eventually be reduced to single digits.

While it couldn't be confirmed with absolute certainty that everything happening on the island was connected to Clort Prison, the possibility was high.

At this thought, Sanbica's mood grew heavy.

Their team of five hundred had come to the island to retrieve a 'sample' that would help treat the mysterious disease spreading in Amber City. From the start, they had been prepared to face various dangerous creatures.

However, before the events unfolded, no one could have imagined that they would be facing something even more dangerous than venomous creatures… their own kind.

'I need to find a way to contact the Association as soon as possible.'

Sanbica frowned slightly. As this thought crossed her mind, she suddenly thought of Law.

'Assuming that Clort Prison harbored malicious intentions, then the only way to contact the outside world would be to infiltrate the prison and use its communication equipment to reach the Association.'

'The port was definitely not an option. The prison was the only path to survival.'

Sanbica's thoughts were clear. Though she didn't have concrete evidence that Clort Prison was the enemy, she was almost certain. This certainty guided her next steps.

'I wonder how Yaga and Lopi are doing... Their radios are still intact...'

Sanbica pondered silently, identified the direction, and moved forward carefully.

Sanbica had a good memory and she had the entire map of the island etched in her mind. As long as she could determine her location, she could figure out how to reach the prison.

This was a situation with no way out. Since she's isolated and without support, she could only rely on herself to carve a path to survival.

Sanbica headed toward Clort Prison, while many other survivors, nearly a hundred, remained scattered.

Though they had escaped the venomous creatures, they now had to face the threat of another group.

The team responsible for cleaning up and retrieving the 'bait' consisted of only twenty-one people. They were systematically hunting down targets hidden in various locations across the island.

This team always managed to find well-hidden targets, all thanks to the tracking function embedded in the radios.

Sanbica's guess was correct. Those fortunate enough to escape the initial danger now had to face the threat of being hunted down by their own kind in an environment where escape was nearly impossible, so the number of survivors would undoubtedly be few.

Shark, the woman with the bow, led her team of twenty with ruthless efficiency as they carried out their cold-blooded mission.

Each member of the team wore the same black uniform, with a black-and-red flower emblem on their right arm. The overall blackness of the uniform made the emblem less noticeable.

The emblem was a four-petaled flower, black with blood-red veins running through it. From a distance, it resembled the wings of a swallowtail butterfly.

The flower's scientific name is [Ghost Lady], and it is also known as the Flower of Death. It symbolized fearlessness in the face of death and carried an ominous meaning.

Using this flower as their emblem seemed to signify something, but this team insignia did not belong to Clort Prison, even though the team itself was from there.

This emblem might have revealed the team's identity, but Sanbica didn't recognize it.

In fact, this Ghost Lady emblem had disappeared from public knowledge over a decade ago, and very few people knew about it. Netero was one of those few.

If Sanbica had known that this emblem had a hidden connection to the Hunter Association, she might have been thrown into confusion, especially given the limited information she had.

Fortunately, she was unaware of the significance of the Ghost Lady flower and continued to make her way toward Clort Prison alone.

The team carrying out the retrieval and elimination mission had no idea that a lone survivor was heading toward their base.

In Clort Prison, there is a bright, snow-white laboratory with walls on three sides and a huge transparent glass on one side.

From the inside, one couldn't see outside, but from the outside, the interior was clearly visible… similar to the one-way glass used in interrogation rooms.

There was a workbench in the middle of the laboratory, on which lay a young man. He was fully conscious and screaming in a voice filled with fear, but his limbs, which were struggling violently, were tightly bound by belts.

Next to the workbench, there were two 'fully armed' individuals, and their attire was no less protective than that of Sanbica.

"Do you know who my father is?"

"If you don't want your entire family to suffer, you'd better let me go right now!"

The young man tied to the workbench had a distorted and hideous expression.

This young man was the same person who had once gone to Spice City to steal the G2 virus.

Outside the glass was a control console resembling a recording system. Three people were seated at the console, while one man stood. He was the bespectacled, scholarly man from earlier.

He held a wireless microphone that looked like a pocket watch. He slowly raised it to his mouth, and said in a cold voice: "Of course I know. Modeno of the Ten Dons. Well then, my dear Master Desser, I wish you a pleasant life."

After saying this, he cut off the connection. At the same time, the young man known as Desser had his eyes in rage. He's about to speak when one of the two people beside him suddenly struck his throat with a chop, crushing his windpipe.

"Urgh urgh…!"

Desser's face twisted in terror.

Another person, holding a syringe in his hand, stabbed it into Desser's heart and injected all the unknown liquid inside into him.

Desser's body convulsed violently, his face flushing with blood. The veins on his exposed limbs bulged like worms, and within moments, his previously underdeveloped limbs swelled to more than twice their size.

In the control room outside the glass, the bespectacled man raised his thumb to his mouth and bit down hard. In a short while, traces of blood flowed out from his fingers, but he didn't care at all and a cold expression appeared on his face.