HunterxHunter: I Became Stronger After Death

Choosing to board this airship in the first place was a matter of prioritizing the time efficiency of a direct route.

Getting off midway would mean accounting for delays from transfers, typically measured in days.

In other words, it might result in losing several days, which could affect Moro's plans in the Ancient Gan Jade Kingdom.

After some consideration, Moro decided to revise his itinerary.

After all, this trip to the Gan Jade Kingdom wasn't tied to any critical mission—it was merely a reconnaissance effort.

If he happened to observe an opportunity to act as a bystander, he could consider whether or not to involve himself.

However, such opportunities were rare.

Even getting to witness a clash between top-tier combatants from afar was already a near-impossible feat.

At the end of the day, without sufficient strength, progress could truly feel impossible at times.

With this in mind, every choice and decision he made had to compromise with that reality.

Moro got up and walked to the table where the flight itinerary was placed. Picking it up, he flipped through the pages, his eyes scanning the listed locations marked along the flight route until he found the note about the mid-flight refueling stop.

The schedule indicated that the airship would reach its first refueling station around noon the next day.

"Tomorrow at noon, huh..."

Closing the itinerary, Moro once again gazed out at the night sky.

If he couldn't catch the chase-and-hunt spectacle between Zeno Zoldyck and the Phantom Troupe, at least he could rely on Argos's intelligence network to do something productive.

That is, provided he could establish contact with Zeno and that Zeno would even accept intelligence support from an outsider.

Given the resources of the Zoldyck family, it was highly likely they already had their own specialized tracking and intelligence channels.

It was even possible that Zeno had already engaged the Phantom Troupe.

Staring into the night sky, Moro decided to forgo his usual nightly training session. Instead, he returned to the couch, closed his eyes, and began meditating.

When Moro had idle time and wasn't training, he often used meditation to mentally map out the potential future developments of his Deceptive Flying Star ability.

It had become a habit.

He could faintly sense that the appearance of Deceptive Flying Star after his death and rebirth had been so natural and effortless.

It was so simple that he instinctively believed its creation hadn't consumed any of his nen capacity.

This implied that even if he developed additional effects for Deceptive Flying Star, he likely wouldn't face significant difficulty or obstruction from nen capacity limitations.

Driven by this potential, and by the desire to refine rarer ability effects, Moro frequently meditated.

Moreover, through meditation, he further stabilized his Ten technique.

Time passed, second by second.

"Huh?"

Moro abruptly opened his eyes, sharply turning his gaze toward the door.

Just now—

He had sensed a blatant fluctuation of aura.

Lower Deck of the Airship

It was late at night. Most passengers were already asleep, with only a few lingering in the bars on both the upper and lower decks.

For Deerfield, nighttime was the ideal time to infiltrate shadows.

When a target was asleep, the time required for shadow infiltration could be significantly reduced.

Using this mechanism, Deerfield planned to pull an all-nighter on the first day, securing control over as many passengers as possible.

Once he had taken control of all the passengers on the lower deck, he could gradually extend his influence to the upper deck and await the right moment to act.

"Patience… Ensure the mission's success."

Deerfield wormed his way into the shadow of a sleeping passenger, repeating the same procedure over and over.

So far, he had gained control over nearly 50 passengers.

Just as he was about to target his 51st passenger, he suddenly sensed an aura fluctuation coming from the upper deck.

"A nen aura… so bold. Who could it be…?"

Emerging partially from the dark shadow, Deerfield's figure became visible, his face showing a hint of surprise as he looked toward the cabin ceiling.

Kanzai's Cabin

"Saph, wake up."

Talia called to the silver-haired woman.

"Saph" wasn't the silver-haired woman's real name. As the third princess of the Ancient Gan Jade Kingdom, royal law dictated that Talia shouldn't address her directly by name. Doing so could be grounds for execution under the kingdom's draconian rules.

However, under urgent circumstances, using an alias wasn't something the pragmatic princess found unacceptable.

"What's happened?"

Awakened by Talia, Saph sat up on the bed, calm and composed as she inquired.

Standing like a sentry by the door, Kanzai straightened and answered in Talia's stead: "Someone's trying to intimidate us."

"Intimidate us?"

A flicker of confusion crossed Saph's serene blue eyes. She replied evenly, "Seems unnecessary."

"Yeah, under normal circumstances, it would be unnecessary. But…"

Kanzai looked toward the door, hesitating midway through his explanation.

Once nen abilities were involved, one could no longer rely on conventional logic to assess a situation.

The unknown adversary currently releasing their aura was clearly emitting killing intent, yet still chose to make an overt display of power…

From a nen perspective, it wasn't unreasonable to assume the opponent had a counter-offensive ability.

Recklessly making the first move might worsen an already disadvantageous situation.

It seemed, in retrospect, that their decision to board the airship today—though born of necessity—was precisely what the enemy had worked to engineer, trapping them in a scenario where they had no choice but to engage.

This thought made Kanzai frown.

On one hand, he had to ensure the safety of the client. On the other, the constraining circumstances left them with no room to maneuver. It was frustratingly passive, to the point that even probing for information felt out of reach…

Still, they couldn't simply do nothing.

He also needed to explain the current situation to Saph. Ugh, what a headache.

Within just a few seconds, Kanzai's thoughts swirled like a storm.

Although Saph had some knowledge of nen abilities, it was superficial at best. Explaining everything in detail felt like an impossible task, especially for Kanzai, who wasn't skilled at explanations.

Saph, however, wasn't angered by Kanzai's sudden silence.

Beside her, Talia seemed to pick up on his difficulty and attempted to clarify based on her understanding: "The intimidation tactic is just a trigger. They want to force us into choosing between 'countering' or 'waiting.'"

"I see."

Saph nodded lightly and said calmly, "But since they've come prepared, any choice we make would be exactly what they want, wouldn't it?"

"That's precisely the problem…"

Talia's expression grew grim.

She and Kanzai both understood that while the enemy's actions still left a sliver of leeway, the layers of restrictions imposed on them kept forcing them into a reactive state.

"So, there's no third option? Like… not caring whether I live or die."

Saph's voice remained serene, as if discussing something entirely unrelated to herself.

"!!!" Talia.

"…" Kanzai.

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