Kaizen closed his eyes once more.
The area where the first token was found had beco chaotic. Not long after, soone discovered a second token—this ti in the old garbage district. Cold and indifferent, the chanical classes ignored the token, focused only on food or their own kin. Everything else, even death, barely caught their attention.
The token lay on the cold ground amid rotting, putrid garbage. At last, a small hand reached down to pick it up. It was a child. How old? Hard to say. Children in the old garbage area are instinctively taken in by those around them, but when they’re a few years old, they’re driven out to fend for themselves in the more promising "new garbage" area. This child was of that age, already cast out by the one called "One Zero," but he had chosen to return on his own.
As he held the token, confusion flickered in his eyes. Yet soon after, he looked toward Elder district, specifically toward Kaizen, who held the token matrix. The child tucked the token into his clothes and headed in that direction.
"Most of the tokens are scattered in the confusion zone," Kaizen mused. "A few have landed in the new garbage area, and only a rare handful are in the old garbage area."
Kaizen understood the Elder’s plan. In the old garbage district, most inhabitants could hardly be considered "people." In the new garbage area, anyone with even moderate strength and potential would gravitate toward the chaos zone. As the saying goes, water flows downward, and man strives upward.
teor City is like a pyramid: at the very top is Elder district, below it the chaotic zone, then the new garbage area, and finally, at the very bottom, the old garbage area.
More tokens were being discovered, and clashes broke out over them. The battles in the chaotic zone were especially fierce, as the competitors there were stronger. So even ford temporary alliances to grab tokens. These makeshift groups weren’t entirely united, giving others a small chance to act. But pre-ford teams, which shared stronger bonds, posed a much greater challenge. No matter how strong an individual might be, these groups could easily overpower them.
At that mont, a figure caught Kaizen’s attention: a young man with short blond hair, dressed in simple white, almost like a martial arts uniform. He wore a fierce expression and a necklace around his neck, giving off a powerful, intimidating aura. He reached out and grabbed a token from a rooftop. Kaizen squinted slightly—he knew this man.
"Phinks," he murmured to himself. "Phantom Troupe mber. Number 5. An Enhancer."
Kaizen recalled the notable technique related to Phinks. One was a rotation technique he’d seen before, but in the world of Naruto—a high-speed chakra-based defense move. But the Ripper Cyclotron he rembered from Phinks was sothing else. Phinks would rotate his arm before striking, the more he turned, the more power he gathered in his punch. However, each rotation added stress to his arm.
Kaizen rembered that Phinks had once used this move against a Chira Ant squad captain, obliterating him with a single, devastating blow. This display of power had clearly marked Phinks as a formidable force. By comparison, Shizuku had struggled, sustaining injuries, while Kalluto fared even worse. So mbers, like Shalnark, had been forced to use abilities with significant drawbacks to survive the fight.
The battle made their strengths evident. Among them, Feitan was the strongest, followed by Phinks, then Shizuku and Shalnark, with Kalluto being the youngest and least experienced. Despite Kalluto’s Zoldyck lineage and talent, his youth held him back compared to others.
Kaizen wondered, "Has Phinks already joined the Phantom Troupe?" After securing the token, Phinks smirked with disdain and tossed it aside, uninterested.
"Judging by that reaction, he’s probably already a Troupe mber," Kaizen thought. "Otherwise, every resident of teor City would likely yearn for an Elder district invitation."
Nearby, a young man quickly picked up the discarded token, looking around to ensure he wasn’t being watched. Relieved, he hid the token and set off toward Elder City.
As Kaizen observed, he realized nearly half of the hundred tokens had already been claid. But the real challenge lay in getting to Elder district. teor City was vast, and with so few tokens spread out, many people had resorted to ambushing others on the journey.
Kaizen wasn’t particularly interested in participating in the so-called servant selection process. He found the whole setup a bit ridiculous. After all, he was even younger than Milluki, his cousin. If Milluki discovered that Kaizen was involved in picking his servant, he might be irked.
Instead, Kaizen’s focus remained on the Phantom Troupe.
"If my timing is right, the Phantom Troupe has been around for about six years," he thought. "It was founded a year before Killua and Gon were born. The original mbers included Chrollo, Uvogin, Nobunaga, Machi, Feitan, Franklin, and Pakunoda. Later, the group expanded to thirteen."
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