Haze left the city aboard a spaceship shaped like a fishbone,
headed toward a mountainous city in the Republic of Bartokia the designated preliminary site for this year's Hunter Exam.
Information about it could easily be found online.
The Hunter Exam was held once every year, unless special circumstances prevented it.
While ordinary people might not know much about Nen, the concept of becoming a Hunter was deeply ingrained in the world a mark of strength and prestige.
Do not underestimate Hunters. Becoming one opened countless doors and career paths.
Many mbers of the Hunter Association worked for organizations or private groups, or even ran their own businesses.
For example, Mizston one of the Twelve Earthly Branches was a lawyer who managed a private security firm.
Hunters touched nearly every aspect of life.
Of course, so fields were more specialized like ruin hunters such as Jin Fulisi, or biological researchers like Kite.
While mastering Nen undoubtedly enhanced one's power, a Hunter's professional skill could not be dismissed either.
Each one had a field of expertise.
Their levels of strength, however, varied greatly.
The main reason the Hunter Exam kept all information about Nen secret was because a person's true nature couldn't be judged easily.
After all, anyone with enough raw ability could pass the exam and earn a Hunter License.
But if soone with a weak moral character learned Nen too easily, the results could be disastrous a threat to society itself.
Every year, a large number of candidates took the Hunter Exam.
Learning Nen, however, was a private and highly individual process.
Typically, once new Hunters obtained their licenses, they would seek out "superiors" ntors responsible for teaching, guiding, and evaluating them.
These ntors determined whether the new Hunters were truly qualified to wield Nen and whether their character was up to standard.
This system greatly reduced the number of "bad apples."
That was what Haze TingWing had ntioned before.
Still, that was only one example the ways and opportunities to learn Nen varied greatly between individuals. There were no absolutes.
With two weeks left before the preliminaries, there was no need to rush.
It took Haze two full days to reach his destination the small town of Tandon.
The area was more than ten tis smaller than Glumgarans, sparsely populated and peaceful a quiet, almost leisurely retreat.
Its architecture resembled that of ancient Ro, with low, stone buildings.
Surrounded by mountains and forests, the climate was mild a welco change from Glumgarans' stifling heat.
But this was not his final stop.
Haze still had to take a bus to a smaller village under the sa district.
He treated the detour as a rare chance to relax like a short trip.
Under the night sky, the bus carrying twenty to thirty passengers rattled aHaze the winding mountain road.
Among the passengers were elderly people, won, and children, all dressed in simple, nearly identical clothing clearly local villagers.
Haze sat in the very last row, his head tilted back, snoring softly.
He still wore his new black suit and sunglasses an outfit he had grown accustod to.
A little girl with pigtails watched the sleeping man, giggling behind her hand…
because she saw a trail of drool.
"Sir, how much Hazeer?" soone asked.
"Once we're down the mountain and hit the flat road, about two more hours," the driver shouted.
Aside from Haze, there were several other outsiders on the bus.
So of them looked impatient.
"Why's it so far? Can't we just go sowhere bigger?" complained a blond young man.
Across the aisle, Haze slightly shifted his head, turned the other way, and kept sleeping.
Noticing this, the blond shot him an annoyed glare.
The road was terrible, the bus shook constantly yet this guy could still sleep peacefully.
The blond was irritated.
Another half-hour passed. Finally, the bus descended the mountain and rolled onto a narrow, flat road.
Soone opened a window, letting in the cool night air to soothe their nerves.
At that mont, Haze stirred awake and adjusted his sunglasses with one finger.
Beep, beep, beep!
Suddenly, a shrill series of horns blared outside.
Three black cars appeared behind the bus, honking furiously.
"What the hell's your problem?!"
The blond already annoyed cursed and leaned out the window.
Just as he was about to shout, a bullet whizzed through the air and pierced his forehead.
He dropped dead instantly.
"Ahhh!"
The passengers scread in terror.
So cried out, children wailed chaos erupted.
Screech!
The driver slamd the brakes. Tires screeched, the bus slid sideways before finally stopping.
The next instant the night sky outside the windshield flared bright as day.
Headlights blazed, flooding the road with blinding light.
A closer look revealed a row of black cars blocking the road ahead.
Dozens of n in suits stood outside, all ard with various weapons.
At the sa ti, three cars behind the bus sealed off any escape route.
"This is… the Mafia…" one of the blond's friends stamred, face pale.
Under the horrified gaze of the passengers, a dozen ard thugs raised their machine guns and grinning wickedly, opened fire.
"Da-da-da-da!"
A storm of bullets tore through the air.
tal casings clattered onto the asphalt as the sll of gunpowder filled the night.
The bus was instantly shredded glass shattered, bodies collapsed, blood splattered.
"Ahahahaha!"
The gunn laughed maniacally, reveling in the slaughter.
Monts later, the gunfire ceased.
The bus was reduced to a smoking wreck.
A man with gentle features and gold-rimd glasses stepped forward, gesturing calmly to his n.
Lighting a cigarette, he took a slow drag and exhaled.
Staring coldly at the ruined bus, he muttered,
"The other one's the owner of Heavens Arena… it can't be that easy to kill him."
As soon as he finished speaking, two n stepped forward one on each side carrying rocket launchers.
They knelt, aid, and fired.
Boom! Boom!
Two missiles streaked through the night, flas trailing behind them, and struck the bus.
The explosion tore through the darkness fire and smoke rising, heat radiating outward.
"You dare cheat us out of our money? You'll earn it, sure… but you won't live to spend it."
"This is the end you deserve."
The man with glasses took another slow drag, his voice calm and detached.
"Put out the fire."
"Yes, sir."
(End of Chapter)
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