The phone in the old woman's hand was still connected, and Ponzu's voice echoed from it. Clearly, this was Ponzu's grandmother. Yet from what they could see on-screen, she looked very much dead.
Ron spoke through Sasuke's cara feed. "Check if that person's alive."
Sasuke approached, letting a flare of aura probe the old woman's body. A mont later, he shook his head at the cara.
She was already dead.
Which ant Ponzu's grandmother had been gone for so ti. But if that was so, who was on the other end of Ponzu's call?
Ruco and Hanzo exchanged glances, both a little creeped out.
"What's going on?"
"So this is the kind of thing that happens in the Nen world?"
Even Ron wasn't sure what to make of the scene. Ponzu simply stared at the monitor, eyes reddening as tears rolled down her cheeks. "Grandma…"
From the phone, her grandmother's voice kept speaking.
"Ponzu, what's wrong?"
But on the screen, the old woman's mouth never moved.
"This is complicated," Ron said, turning to Ponzu. "I've never encountered anything like this, so I'll have to ask around. Even though my overall ability has reached A-rank, my experience can't match that of truly veteran Nen users"
Especially with phenona that never appeared in the original storyline. He kept that thought to himself.
He took out his own phone and called Zeno. A mont later, the line connected.
"Ron."
"Grandfather Zeno, I have a question for you…"
Ron explained the situation in detail: how they'd co to Ponzu's village, what they'd seen, and the old woman's corpse that appeared sohow still "alive" on the phone. Zeno went silent for a bit.
"Is it post-mortem nen?" he finally asked.
"No," Ron replied. "I've seen plenty of post-mortem nen before—if that was all it was, I'd just grab my Rotten Life Blade and mow down everything from one end of the village to the other. Any ordinary Death Nen would be absorbed by my ability."
"How does the aura look to you?"
"Calm, deathly still, and…just unsettling."
"I see," Zeno said. "Send a video clip."
"Alright."
Ron had Chii record a short video of Sasuke's feed, then sent it to Zeno's phone. Monts later, Zeno called back.
"Grandfather?"
"I've never seen Nen like this either, so I can't give any solid advice. The one thing I can tell you is: stay away. Getting close would be very dangerous."
"Is there nothing we can do?"
"Does that place matter so much to you?"
"One of my teammates lived here, and that corpse is her grandmother."
Zeno paused. "I know soone who might have co across sothing like this. But he's very temperantal. If I contact him for you, it may backfire. I'll give you his number, and you can handle it yourself. His na is Gogus."
Zeno recited a string of digits.
"Thanks, Grandfather Zeno," Ron said.
"Until you figure this out, don't go near that place."
"Understood."
They hung up. Ron dialed Gogus's number right away. The first ti, no answer. The second ti, still nothing. The third ti, the call picked up only to be cut off. On the fourth attempt, he found himself blocked.
"Chii!" Ron prompted.
Chii placed the call instead, bypassing any blocking. It was rude, but since the man wouldn't answer otherwise, there was no choice. The phone rang a long ti before a raspy voice finally ca through:
"Who are you?"
He sounded downright hostile.
"Are you Gogus? I've got a job for you. Please look at the images I'm sending—whatever fee you na, I'll pay it if you can help solve this."
The response was imdiate: the line went dead again. All Ron could do was wait, hoping Gogus would at least check the ssage.
Ponzu had finally cald down, no longer trying to charge into the village.
"Captain, thank you. I'm sorry for losing my cool back there."
"It's fine," Ron answered with a small wave. "I understand."
Two hours passed. Then Ron's phone rang.
"Where is that place?" a voice demanded.
"Gogus?"
"Tell the exact location. I'm on my way."
Ron gave him the coordinates, and on the other end, there was a clamor of hurried noise.
"Soone get an airship ticket—right now! If there's no flight, charter one, quick!"
Then the call ended with a click. Ron arched an eyebrow.
"Seems like Gogus knows sothing about whatever's there. If so, we might get answers. But what in the world could it be?"
A sudden thought crossed Ron's mind:
"Could this be connected to the Dark Continent?"
He rembered the horrifying sight at the Kurta Clan's hidden sanctuary—an old man covered halfway in eyes, well beyond normal human comprehension. That elder had claid the Scarlet Eyes themselves were tied to so existence from the Dark Continent. It was like a disease of sorts.
Human Nen in all its negative or positive forms was still just spiritual energy plus physical energy. Yet the aura in this village stood outside that familiar spectrum, more like…sothing else.
Two days later, Ron and the others spotted a black dot in the sky drawing rapidly closer, eventually revealing itself to be an airship. The passengers aboard must have noticed Ron's group, too, because a figure leapt from the craft midair.
Boom!
The ground shook as he landed—a wiry old man whose gaze swept over Hanzo, Ponzu, and Ruco before settling on Ron.
"You the one who called ?"
"Gogus?"
He nodded. "That's . Where are the bugs? Hurry up and take there."
Gogus was clearly impatient, more than his tone alone conveyed. He hadn't bothered to change clothes, still wearing rumpled loungewear. But for a skilled Nen user, outfit hardly mattered.
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