Liam picked up the keyboard and briefly searched, investigated.
The Military Ceremony Gungi World Championship was held in Sanhisk, a large city in the United States of Saherta. This year was the sixth time. Every competition had been held in this city.
The reason was simple—it was closest to East Gorteau.
The Republic of East Gorteau was a world-famous powerhouse in Military Ceremony Gungi. To organize a world competition without professional Gungi players from East Gorteau participating? Better not to hold it at all.
East Gorteau was relatively closed. Located in the Balusa Islands south of the Yorbian Continent. Not very active in external exchanges.
Probably to accommodate the country's Gungi players, the World Championship venue was set in Sanhisk City in the United States of Saherta on the Yorbian Continent. Not far from the Balusa Islands—could be reached in half a day by high-speed airship. Easy round trip.
The result of this not-so-distant distance: although this year's competition ended just a few days ago, Liam estimated Komugi, who'd just won the third championship, might have already returned home.
Even in East Gorteau—a nation of Military Gungi players—in such a fiercely competitive environment, Komugi could be said to be the invincible player in the country. Went to the World Championships to dominate. Now had won the triple crown. Such a top talent, the Gungi King—even if the King of East Gorteau didn't take it seriously, he wouldn't let her compete at her own expense. Would definitely follow the official airship of East Gorteau to and from the country.
Even if Liam wanted to intervene now, it seemed too late.
If he intervened forcefully, he'd only become a common thug.
Seems I can only wait for the next one. That's the play.
When the time came, Liam would consider setting up an ambush in Sanhisk City in advance, looking for an opportunity to leave a Star Mark on Komugi.
With a master card like Star Mark, no matter how things developed, it'd definitely be much easier to handle.
This year was July 1995. The next Military Gungi World Championship...
Liam checked. Hey, this competition was held every two years? The next one wouldn't be until 1997?
In the manga, Komugi, who was invited by the Ant King to play Gungi, was already the world Gungi champion for five consecutive years...
In 1995, it was the Triple Crown. Held every two years. Then continuing to win in 1997 and 1999 would be exactly five crowns.
The Chimera Ant arc of the manga took place in early 2000s. At that time, Komugi happened to be the winner of five crowns. If she wanted to win the sixth crown, she'd have to wait until June 2001. But she'd no longer have this opportunity.
June 1997, East Gorteau, Sanhisk City, Military Gungi World Championship, Komugi.
Although Liam wanted to intervene in the possible tragic fate of a rare talent like Komugi, he wasn't so enthusiastic he'd try every means to find her in the closed East Gorteau—unfriendly to outsiders—having missed this year's opportunity.
Therefore, he just kept these summarized information points in mind. Would wait until Komugi came out of East Gorteau on her own in two years before making plans.
He was still in the mood to think about the blind little Gungi king thousands of miles away. But the young bounty hunter Zykwan over there was already extremely anxious.
Zykwan's brothers left downstairs didn't know when they'd been taken care of. At this moment, the attacker must have quietly gone upstairs. Didn't know whether ambushing or preparing to sneak attack. No matter what it was, their situation at the moment wasn't safe. Why was this young Hunter so big-hearted, not taking it seriously at all?
Of course there was a reason Liam didn't take it seriously.
With him as intermediary, with cooperation of Star Mark and Moon Mark Ring, he, Jaku and Shizuku could share vision and establish team voice in their minds. Those assassins, killers or Hunters who wanted to sneak up the stairs, wanted to sneak attack on them—really overthinking it.
What's more, just as a truly powerful Hunter probably didn't care about signal exposure from their license, a truly powerful villain probably didn't care at all whether there was a new Hunter nearby who accidentally exposed their signal when using a Hunter License to swipe the card to access the internet.
For example, would a battle junkie like Hisoka keep an eye on some professional software, pay attention to whether there was a new Hunter License signal nearby?
Impossible! This guy didn't even pay attention to big international news like Chimera Ants...
And if a guy with insufficient skills focused on the license in hand, the result would undoubtedly become what it was now.
Liam raised his chin toward the door. Looked at Zykwan in shock. Shizuku dragged a man and woman back into the house with a calm expression. The legs of the latter two had been broken. Judging from the twisted injuries, it was estimated—after being caught up by Shizuku, she'd smashed them directly with Blinky.
Flesh and bones, mixed with blood and water, left a trail on the floor. Shizuku threw the two beside the sofa, looked at Liam inside the open bedroom door.
Liam had no doubt—if she hadn't been concerned about his heart, Shizuku would've hit their heads instead of their legs. What was mopping the floor now wouldn't be their broken legs, but their brain matter...
"Look at you." Liam said to Zykwan. "Aren't you a Bounty Hunter? Do you recognize these two? How much are they worth?"
Looking at the man and woman with broken legs in a pool of blood, eyes full of confusion and fear, Tut—the tutor of the cram school—shivered in terror.
Cold sweat appeared on Zykwan's forehead. "They're a couple of Strange Thieves who've committed more than thirty crimes in total. Over eighty victims. Their victim got their money and property robbed. The victim even got dismembered. There are even rumors they eat human flesh. Everyone's bounty is no less than thirty million Jenny! They actually happened to be nearby?"
"Seventy million? Oh, then this is a profit." Liam thought of the millions he'd spent just now to check the information of the entrepreneur who'd bought the Scarlet Eyes. Couldn't help feeling a lot more comfortable. "They came to us. That's good—so they don't harm others, right?"
He patted Zykwan's broad shoulder enthusiastically. Zykwan couldn't help being speechless. Asked, "You've never dealt with a bounty criminal in exchange for a bounty, have you?"
"No, so I need help from you, a professional Bounty Hunter!" Liam said with a smile. "Here, another fish is coming. Shizuku, clean it up, lest the smell of blood scares people away."
Shizuku nodded, turned on the vacuum cleaner. "Suck in all the blood on the ground."
Blinky opened its mouth wide. Powerful suction swept away the blood trailing on the floor. Even the gore on the broken legs was sucked into the vacuum cleaner that embodied Nen power. The four broken legs that were bleeding profusely suddenly stopped flowing. The faces of the two Strange Thief criminals turned a lot paler—don't know how Blinky understood Shizuku's order. Followed the broken legs to drain a lot of blood from the two people's bodies.
In the corridor, a tall man leaned against the wall, moved forward quietly like a shadow. Light as smoke.
But in the corner of the corridor, a little gray bird stared at him more inconspicuously. Turning its head from time to time.
"Hey, who is this? How much is he worth?"
"Looking at his movements, he should be the Shadow Killer. It's said he's a fanatical follower of the Zoldyck assassin family..."
"I asked you how much he was worth."
"Uh," Zykwan could only say, "over seventy million."
Liam smiled. "Finally something exciting. Shizuku, let's go work together."
"Mm." Shizuku nodded. Stretched out her hand to grab Blinky. Readied the sharp-toothed chainsaw.
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