Gourmet Hunter - Chapter 293 (Patreon)

Chapter 293: Retreat

Under normal circumstances, even if the Black Cat consumed all his Nen, it wouldn’t be a big deal to him, akin to merely depleting his energy during a regular practice session, recoverable with a day’s rest.

However, in the midst of battle, having the Black Cat swallow about seventy percent of his latent energy undoubtedly stripped Luo of his inherent advantage.

Although it was a rule of his ability, it was still an unwelcome act.

Luo understood the Black Cat's principles of action. For instance, now, he knew that relying on commands alone wouldn’t make the Black Cat exert full effort without incentives. Thus, he placed himself within Dove's attack range yet chose not to respond.

*Luo cannot die!*

This phrase was bound within the soul of the Black Cat, for if Luo died, he too would suffer the consequences.

This was the Black Cat’s Achilles' heel, and the responsibility his unique soul had to shoulder. Even if disobedient, he had to be a bodyguard.

Therefore, Luo did not command the Black Cat to confront Dove but instead presented a choice.

This choice was: If I die, you'll have to die with me. Right now, I don’t want to waste energy on this enemy, who might just kill me with one punch. So, do you want to watch me die, or will you actively block this enemy?

What a choice!

Absolutely no choice at all!

The Black Cat cursed inwardly and rushed to Luo's side, taking the punch from Dove. By sacrificing some of his Nen, he managed to repel Dove into the air.

Dove adjusted his posture in mid-air and landed steadily, his gaze towards Luo and the Black Cat rather chilly.

From Luo’s actions, it was clear he intended to rescue Sanbica. However, Dove wasn’t in a hurry, as the life-restricted zone laid out by Sanbica hadn’t completely vanished yet. Under such circumstances, Luo couldn’t take Sanbica away immediately.

Dove picked up his phone and said, “Old Prison Block G, Cell 331.”

After stating the location, he put away his phone and remotely issued a command to the artificial soldiers in the submarine to come to this location.

He planned to have the artificial soldiers and his teammates first surround this area.

Luo cut a passage through a glass wall and entered the cell, walking towards Sanbica, who was sitting on the ground hugging her knees.

The Black Cat stood by the broken glass, glanced back at Luo who completely ignored the situation, and said helplessly, “You’re ruthless!”

Indeed, using his own life as a threat to force him to act was harsh, but he just fell for it!

It was like he had just managed to steal a chicken, but might now have to spit out what he had swallowed.

“Hurry up, I don’t want to waste the Nen I’ve finally accumulated.”

The Black Cat resentfully threw these words at Luo, who paid him no mind, standing two meters in front of Sanbica, his expression slowly turning grim.

At that moment, Sanbica’s eyes were tightly shut, her body curled up, her clothes stained with numerous indelible heavy dirt marks, and several patches of clear bloodstains, while her face mask was soaked with fresh blood.

A dark green area expanded into a circle around her, emanating an aura of 'do not approach.'

Luo knew it was a virus manifested by Sanbica’s Nen, not requiring cells or living hosts, yet possessing the characteristics and threats of a deadly virus.

But now, Sanbica was like a candle in the wind. Not to mention her visibly depleting Nen, her injuries might not have been treated for a long time, worsening to an unknown condition.

Luo took a deep breath, suppressing the urge to turn around and kill that man in the white lab coat, and stepped into the dark green life-restricted zone.

He knew that he couldn’t engage in prolonged combat under the current circumstances. It wouldn’t be long before the twenty-plus Nen users previously in the airing room would arrive here.

Thus, the priority was to take Sanbica away and return to the Hunter Association for treatment as soon as possible.

Seeing Luo step into the forbidden area, Dove suddenly contained the surging Nen within him, watching with interest as Luo approached Sanbica step by step.

“You really aren’t afraid of death. That area contains at least ten types of lethal virus mixtures,” Dove said coldly.

Seeing that the man in the white lab coat seemed to have lost the desire to attack, and the Black Cat wouldn’t likely initiate an attack either, rather than wasting Nen on this seemingly troublesome guy, it was more comfortable to slaughter the defenseless prison guards.

Likewise, it would increase the blackened pages, but the effort and gain between the two were

 worlds apart.

When Dove spoke, Luo had already fully stepped into the dark green restricted area and arrived in front of Sanbica.

The substance, like a green dye, was actually visible only to Nen users. When Luo stepped into the area, it seemed to come to life, clinging to the soles of his shoes and slowly spreading upward along his trousers.

This was the lethal virus invading the body!

Dove was fully aware, and how could Luo not be?

He ignored the dark green substance climbing from his shoe soles up his trouser legs, suddenly turned back, his eyes coldly fixed on Dove, and said firmly, “Maybe not now, but you’re a dead man…”

The dark green substance clung to Luo’s arms, neck, and cheeks, forming irregular patterns on his skin, radiating a chilling yet strangely beautiful aura.

These were deadly viruses formed by Nen, which seemed to have invaded Luo’s body, but in reality, were blocked by a membrane constructed by Luo’s God’s Hand, posing no threat to him.

However, when the dark green virus tangled with the Nen membrane, Luo realized the troublesome nature of this substance, capable of using the target’s Nen as a breeding ground or carrier, then slowly eroding and growing.

That is, once his Nen was exhausted, the deadly virus could take his life in a short time.

Hearing Luo’s declaration of his death sentence, Dove laughed as if he had heard the biggest joke of the century.

He stared at Luo and said coldly, “Not to mention that you’re already entangled with that ‘good stuff,’ do you think you can leave this place?”

Teammates and artificial soldiers were already rushing here at top speed, but as Luo entered the restricted area, Dove felt the situation was about to be resolved.

Luo ignored Dove and didn’t remove the deadly virus clinging to the Nen membrane, as that would be a superfluous action.

He bent down and gently picked up the unconscious Sanbica.

When his body made contact with Sanbica, the rate of virus erosion suddenly increased, as the source was Sanbica herself.

In an instant, Luo’s body was smeared with large patches of the dark green substance, as if splashed with a bucket of paint. Although not entirely covered, the clean areas were few.

“Come, clear the way.”

Luo held Sanbica in a princess carry, looking at the wall ahead.

Now, he needed to focus on dealing with the Nen virus released by Sanbica in her unconscious state. If the enemies formed a surrounding net, it would be troublesome.

“Tsk.”

Preferring Luo to quickly leave this place rather than stay and fight, the Black Cat saw Luo preparing to flee and, unwilling to be slack at work, rushed ahead of Luo to the wall and slashed open a passage.

Under Dove’s puzzled gaze, the Black Cat directly broke through the wall, creating a pathway. Meanwhile, the virus-infected Luo appeared unaffected, following behind the Black Cat, running swiftly.

“What’s going on?”

Dove felt puzzled. Logically, given Luo’s heavily infected appearance, it would only take a few seconds for him to collapse.

Though unsure of the situation, he couldn’t let Luo escape with Sanbica. While controlling the artificial soldiers, he quickly caught up with Luo.

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