Realizing it, Xiang Nan strolled around as though sightseeing.
Because he was wearing clothes unsuited to the local climate and had a somewhat unusual bearing, he inevitably caught the townspeople's attention. At first glance, he seemed like a bizarre tourist from some faraway place.
He hadn't gone far—hadn't even started a detailed search—when, just ahead, an old man came walking toward him.
The elder was hunched over, leaning on a wooden staff, puffing on a pipe, wearing a kindly face. His steps were slow; the two of them, passing each other, would take at least ten seconds. Xiang Nan's gaze appeared not to notice the old man, as though ignoring this harmless elder.
Before long, the two figures were close.
Gazing straight ahead, Xiang Nan's mouth curved in the faintest smile.
Swish!
Right as the old man drew alongside him, appearing about to walk on by, that frail-looking body abruptly straightened. A weak-looking hand morphed into a blade-like strike, chopping at Xiang Nan's throat. The speed and force generated a sharp whoosh as the air split.
But once that arm swept over, Xiang Nan—originally on the old man's left side—had already vanished from where he stood.
"Hmm?" The old man's expression changed.
He was about to look all around when he suddenly felt his body sink: a hand had clamped onto his shoulder. Xiang Nan's face appeared behind him, close to his ear.
"So that means it's you—our 'intruder' from another world."
Instantly, the old man felt a coldness inside. He hesitated to move.
"Are you alone? Surely you have a partner…since I assumed it was a 2v2. Where's the other one?" Xiang Nan spoke as though oblivious to his captive's alarm, glancing casually about.
Whoosh!
As he spoke, the old man twisted at the waist. One hand swung around, launching a black blur in midair at Xiang Nan. He tried a second sneak attack. Yet Xiang Nan merely leaned backward, hands still in his pockets, stepping away slightly, foiling it easily.
He saw at once that this enemy's moves were a form of martial art—fingers could flatten like blades or bend like claws. Judging from the swirling gusts and pulsing veins on that hand, a mere graze might have been crippling to a normal person.
"So you haven't run away…which means, for some reason, you can't just leave. Letting us fail the mission by escaping wouldn't help you," Xiang Nan said, stepping back, giving his opinion. Then his gaze studied the intruder's unnatural body posture and skeleton. "Impressive…you can temporarily dislocate certain joints, changing your height and build. Combine that with costume and makeup, no wonder I didn't spot you straight away."
In front of him, the old man leapt forward with the agility of a hare, pouncing as both palms, driven by his arms, stabbed and hacked like two sharp spears. Xiang Nan moved with fluid footwork, ducking and weaving—bending sideways, lowering his head—evading each blow. He was taking the measure of this foe.
Within seconds, Xiang Nan concluded that the Kengan Ashura world also involved a kind of martial arts or fighting style.
Boom!
They'd barely begun exchanging blows when the old man's face flushed, giving it everything he had but unable to threaten Xiang Nan at all. Just then, a loud explosion sounded behind Xiang Nan—someone else jumped in. This new attacker planted a powerful step, launching himself through the air with startling speed and momentum. He raised both fists overhead like a poised arrow, aiming at a gap in Xiang Nan's evasive movements, and came crashing down.
Bang.
He slammed both fists squarely into Xiang Nan's black coat, driving Xiang Nan—still upright—back along the ground for a good ten-plus meters, leaving a shallow trench where Xiang Nan's shoes dug in. The old man and his ally froze, wide-eyed, pupils shrinking.
That strike, able to smash a foot-thick concrete wall, didn't so much as unbalance the man in front of them, nor make him cough blood.
"Hmm…" Xiang Nan murmured. He lightly brushed off the spot on his coat where he'd been hit, then looked at the pair. "No powers beyond the ordinary, so that was your best shot, right?" he said with a small laugh.
From analyzing the system's structure, Xiang Nan guessed that under normal circumstances they'd want to kill him quickly so nothing went wrong. They wouldn't hold back.
"Looks like it isn't a 2v2 after all… Tch, the system must have some hidden rule messing with the game's format." Xiang Nan touched his chin, sighing. "This game is complicated, but complicated can be fun, right?"
He strode forward, finally taking his hands out of his pockets. As he did, from the corner of his eye, Xiang Nan glanced behind the two men to a shape lurking behind a bale of hay. The system had only provided one intruder's photo as a clue, but Xiang Nan wouldn't assume there was only one. Now, it looked like the exact number was uncertain.
"A Nen user?!" exclaimed the "old man," who, after realigning his joints, no longer even looked elderly, face flooding with panic.
"Oh? You know about Nen…what, have you watched Hunter x Hunter?" Xiang Nan asked in a conversational tone, smiling.
"Run!"
Though Xiang Nan seemed perfectly amicable, they both shrieked in alarm, turning to flee.
"Why though?"
They wondered in despair how they'd ended up matched against a Nen user—hadn't the system said the guy was only Extinction 2 or 3? Where was the balancing?
"Tsk, let's talk this out, why run?" Xiang Nan complained. But before his voice even faded, he slipped between them in a blur. The intruders had barely started to pivot when—
Pop.
Hardly any visible movement from Xiang Nan. Just a small snapping sound. Both cross-world players' eyes went blank, bodies giving a tiny shudder, then going rigid. Their life force snuffed out in an instant.
After their death, blood spurted from their ear canals. They slumped to the ground.
"Clue #1: The Kengan Ashura world is built around martial arts or combat," Xiang Nan quietly noted.
"Clue #2: That world's power system is much weaker than Hunter x Hunter, so they have to rely on a bigger group of players to balance it.
"Clue #3: These folks had some gaming experience. They'd be considered 'veterans' from a lower-tier world.
"Clue #4: They do understand Hunter x Hunter, so meeting me was a total mismatch they weren't ready for. They basically drew the short straw. This third round, for me, is basically a free pass."
"There's still some unanswered points, but… oh well."
In that single lightning exchange, Xiang Nan had killed two. He never broke his pace, murmuring while his gaze locked onto a figure fleeing in the distance.
Instead of wracking his brain for intel, Xiang Nan could just grab it from them—free intel. Far less trouble.
Time to hunt down the last one.
~~~
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