Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

The room was filled with thick smoke, giving it an almost ethereal atmosphere.

A few heavy smokers were playing cards and puffing away leisurely, which made it even more impressive that a few men in the corner managed to keep up their workout routines.

When Marza pushed the door open, these people remained engrossed in their activities, and only the bald man and the chubby man paid attention to him.

"Boss."

Marza was used to this, so he walked past the group of people and came to the bald man.

"What happened? Did you get beaten up?"

The bald man stopped teasing Marza. He casually put down his book, leaned back, and crossed his legs.

The chubby man stared at Marza's swollen half face, and a flash of disdain flickers in his eyes.

Despite his fat body, in terms of strength, this chubby man is stronger than Malza. Being able to eat his way to such a figure in Meteor City was an achievement in itself.

"Yeah." Marza admitted as he lowered his head with a look of shame on his face. Because half of his face was swollen, he looked a little weird.

"Let's hear it." The bald man said with a blank expression on his face, but he seemed a little interested in knowing what had happened.

First of all, Marza knew the rules. If he got beaten one-on-one, he couldn't expect others to back him up. But if he got beaten by a group of people, then depending on the situation, someone can still step in to help him settle the score.

Since Marza came, it means he was beaten up by a group of people, but judging by his injuries, the encounter didn't seem serious enough.

"It's Machi, and the outsider who was accepted recently." Marza's tone was mixed with resentment. He knew the boss's style, so he refrained from exaggerating and directly told him everything that had just happened.

After listening to Marza's narration, the chubby man immediately laughed and mocked him, "Seriously? With such a huge body, you got scared stiff by a little kid?"

The bald man's reaction wasn't as dramatic as the chubby man's. He looked thoughtful, with a gleam in his triangular eyes.

Marza knew he was in the wrong, and had no capital to refute the chubby man's ridicule. Instead, he raised his head slightly, hoping his boss would back him up.

At this time, the bald man suddenly stood up, stretched out his hand and patted Malza on the shoulder, saying: "It's not your fault. After all, you haven't reached that level yet."

'That level?'

Marza was puzzled, but he did not dare to ask.

"Where are they now?" The bald man grinned in a creepy way.

Marza was immediately delighted when he heard this. The boss's question meant that he was willing to help him. However, before Marza could say anything, the chubby man interjected.

"Boss, come on. Marza's so useless. Even if you are leaving tomorrow, there is no need to help him, right?"

"Don't say that. We are still brothers after all." The bald man cast a sidelong glance at the chubby man, and his smile became even more creepy.

Indeed, according to the group's rules, Marza's predicament was a reflection of his incompetence, and there is no need to stand up for him.

But the bald man had two reasons for intervening. First, he had deduced that the kid named 'Law' could also use Nen, so he was quite interested in meeting him. Second, he was scheduled to leave Meteor City tomorrow as part of a deal to be handed over to a mafia organization.

The key lies in the second reason.

Since he was about to leave Meteor City and probably won't be coming back, he figured he might as well indulge a little before leaving.

He had originally made a list of people he wanted to kill before leaving, and the way they would die had also been decided.

If these people in the list are the main course, then Law and Machi can be regarded as appetizers...

"Heh… hehehe…"

Lost in his thoughts, the bald man let out a low chuckle, his triangular eyes gleaming with a twisted light. He subconsciously stuck out his tongue to lick the corner of his lips.

As his emotions deepened, his Aura began to seep out unconsciously. Dark, ruthless, and deranged… It was as if a ball of black silk threads was wrapped around him.

Marza and the chubby man, who were closest to the bald man, felt a chill run down their spines and instinctively backed away several steps.

The other people in the room were also startled. Those who were playing cards threw the cards in their hands to the ground without caring whether they were good or not, and retreated to the corner.

They all stared at their boss, whose quiet laughter filled the room, and felt the temperature in the room suddenly drop, leaving everyone shivering in the icy air.

"Tell me where they are."

After some time, the bald man stopped laughing, and without looking at Marza, he picked up the book he had just put down and began to flip through it. As he turned the pages, the nearly manic expression on his face gradually subsided.

The book wasn't thick, its orange cover bearing only the title: A Thousand Ways Humans Can Die!

'Yes... this feeling.'

Feeling the Aura emanating from his boss, Marza's body trembled slightly. At this moment, he realized that the boss and the little brat he had just provoked were the 'same kind of person'.

The bald man had asked for their location, but Marza could only guess their location based on the protective suit Machi was wearing.

However, in the answer he provided, he couldn't include uncertain words like 'probably' or 'maybe'. He had a premonition that if he used these words…

He'd die.

Even if it was just speculation, or if he didn't know the precise location, there was only one acceptable answer for this question.

In that instant, no one taught Marza how to answer. He suppressed his fear, mustered up all his remaining courage, and replied with a trembling voice: "The landfill outside West District."

The landfill was vast and divided into sections, but Marza could only answer with 'the landfill'.

"Oh."

The bald man suddenly stopped flipping the pages of the book.

"Hmm. This death will do."

He muttered to himself, casually tossed the book behind him, and walked towards the door with an expressionless face.

No one in the room dared to breathe, and their eyes followed the bald man's movements to the doorway.

"You guys carry on. I'm going out to 'play' for a bit." The bald man said as he opened the wooden door and strode out.

The bald man is named Cook, and he always thought of himself as a noble person!

Once Cook left, Marza's knees went weak and he collapsed to the floor, with his face and back covered in cold sweat.

Seeing how miserable Malza looked, even the chubby man couldn't muster a mocking word this time.

.....

The landfill outside West District.

Once outside Meteor City, one could see numerous trucks hauling all sorts of garbage back and forth in the landfill.

Perhaps out of habit from years of work, the drivers of these trucks generally followed the same routes. Moreover, the types of garbage they transported varied depending on the region of origin.

This was the world's dumping ground. Both affluent, powerful nations and impoverished, weak ones sent their garbages here.

Over time, residents of Meteor City had informally divided the landfill into four sections, namely Area A, Area B, Area C, and Area D.

This division was self-imposed, and not an actual form of garbage classification.

Area D is the area with the least resources and also the area with the most chemical wastes, making it the most dangerous area. While Area A is the area with the most resources, but it also has various dangerous chemical residues.

Because Area D has the least resources and is very dangerous, there are relatively few people venturing there, and Machi and her group usually go to Area D.

After arriving at the destination, the four of them split up.

"Keep anything you think is useful."

Following Machi's words, Law wandered alone among the towering piles of trash.

Although it is not affected by the toxins, the stench is still unbearable.

Law's ability to control his Aura is still very weak, but he can still cover his nose with Aura to block out the odor.

Being new to the area, he didn't immediately search for useful items, but instead strolled around aimlessly.

Suddenly, a spark of awareness, like a fleeting current, jolted through his thoughts, causing him to subconsciously look towards a pile of garbage about twenty meters away.

'There is something there...'

This phrase inexplicably surfaced in Law's mind.

Law frowned and hesitated for a moment, then walked towards the pile of garbage.

As he got closer, that peculiar sensation grew stronger, as if an arrow were pointing him in the right direction.

Following the increasingly clear feeling, Law suppressed the psychological discomfort and began digging into the pile of garbage with a clear sense of purpose.

After about ten minutes, his fingertips accidentally brushed against a hard object, and the white smoke appeared in his mindscape once again.

'What is this?' Law was slightly surprised.