The cold sensation beneath him and the jolting of the vehicle moving over rough terrain.
All of it constantly reminded Morrow—
This was reality.
He had clearly brushed against death, yet when he opened his eyes again, he had returned to a year ago.
Morrow was momentarily dazed, unable to suppress the memories surging from the depths of his mind.
A year ago, he had awakened in this very prison of a carriage.
The unfamiliar environment back then, coupled with the suffocating cage, had naturally woven an overwhelming panic amidst the cold and jolts, dominating all his emotions at the time.
Now, with his thoughts returning to the present, Morrow was no longer like before—screaming and shouting in sheer terror.
He quickly calmed down and swept his gaze over the surroundings once more.
By the faint light seeping through small holes in the carriage, he could see two rows of iron cages inside the elongated compartment, each holding a naked person.
Morrow was among them, equally unclothed.
His eyes scanned the people in the cages one by one—men and women, around his age, likely between 14 and 16 years old.
As he observed them, the images from his memories gradually overlapped with their appearances.
While Morrow studied the others, his own movements upon waking had drawn their attention, and they all turned to look at him.
Most of their gazes were dull and indifferent.
Only two or three showed traces of confusion.
Ignoring them, Morrow lowered his head, avoiding the many eyes fixed on him.
What in the world... was going on?
In the fragments of his memory, Feitan's sinister glare, laced with fury, seemed to materialize before his eyes.
The sensation of a cold blade slicing across his face and snuffing out his life still lingered faintly.
It felt like a venomous serpent coiled around his heart, sending a chill deep into his bones.
And yet...
Placing a hand on his chest, he could still feel the violent pounding of his heart.
He was alive!
Confirming this fact, Morrow closed his eyes, doing his best to steady his breathing.
This bizarre method of cheating death made him realize just how precious the simple act of breathing truly was.
A moment later, Morrow slowly opened his eyes and, as he lowered his head, glanced at the back of his right hand.
The Tree Rings tattoo was still there!
This invigorated him.
He remembered clearly—the Tree Rings tattoo had only begun to form an outline on the second day after his transmigration, fully taking shape over the following days.
But at this point in time, the Tree Rings tattoo had already appeared, and it was complete.
This was different.
Focusing his vision, Morrow moved his right hand into the light for a better look.
Under the faint illumination, he quickly noticed the changes in the Tree Rings tattoo.
The originally white-filled rings had now turned pitch black.
Moreover, the infinity symbol in the inner circle was gone, replaced by—
Lv.1.
Morrow's expression shifted. Judging by the blackened rings, he realized that all these anomalies were likely caused by the Tree Rings tattoo.
As for the infinity symbol turning into Lv.1, he had no idea what it meant.
Was it... the Etude of Love?
Suddenly, Morena's figure flashed through his mind.
"Lv" was a level symbol, and the level system was the most distinctive aspect of Morena's Nen ability.
So it was only natural for Morrow to make that connection. But is there any connection between these two?
If the effect of Tree Rings is to return him to a year before his death, then what role does the level symbol, replaced by the infinity sign, play in this?
Morrow lowered his eyelids, sorting through the numerous pieces of information he had gathered.
Lost in thought, he subconsciously raised his left hand and gently brushed over the Tree Rings tattoo on the back of his right hand.
Hmm?
At that moment, Morrow noticed a red "X" symbol had appeared on the back of his left hand.
The edges of the symbol were pitch-black, exuding an ominous aura.
...What is this?
Morrow's pupils contracted slightly as his focus instantly zeroed in on the newly appeared "X" symbol.
In an instant—
His consciousness trembled like a small boat swallowed by a whirlpool, flickering into momentary haziness.
It lasted no longer than a single breath.
Once again, Feitan's figure appeared before Morrow's eyes.
This time, it was so vivid that he could even see the icy killing intent concealed beneath Feitan's furious expression.
Sshhk!
The sensation of the blade slicing through his face and the suffocating grip of death returned to him—doubled in intensity.
The next moment, endless darkness swallowed him.
Just like that, Morrow experienced an eerily realistic Death Replay.
—--
Immediately after, his consciousness flickered once more.
The scene before him crumbled away like weathered stone, replaced by a heart clenched tightly by pitch-black hands.
Morrow stared at the heart, and in his mind, an answer abruptly surfaced.
That heart, gripped by those hands—was his.
This inexplicable realization was forcibly shoved into his head, as if transmitted like data.
Along with it came another piece of information—something called the "Death Threshold."
Hmm?
Abruptly, his consciousness snapped back to reality.
Morrow froze for a moment, realizing he was still holding the same posture as before.
Death Threshold?
Muttering in disbelief, he slowly raised his head, staring fixedly at the rusted iron bars in front of him before sighing and leaning back weakly against the opposite set of bars.
Death Threshold—
In other words, his time of death: June 23, 1997.
On that day, he had died at Feitan's hands.
And then, he had been reborn back to this point in time—the moment he had first crossed over: June 7, 1996.
Without a doubt, he had been given a chance to start over.
But the Death Threshold imprinted upon him would not disappear just because he had been reborn.
If he failed to destroy the "Death Threshold" before June 22, 1997, his heart would instantly shatter into dust, sending him back into Death's embrace once more.
The method to destroy the Death Threshold was simple: before the original time of death arrived, he had to personally kill the one who had created the Death Threshold—thereby erasing the "X" symbol on the back of his left hand.
In other words, within a year, he had to kill Feitan—who remained completely unaware of this.
Only then could he break free from the curse of the Death Threshold.
A year, huh...
Morrow exhaled deeply, recalling those pitch-black hands clutching his heart. For some reason, it almost felt like Kurapika's Judgement Chain had pierced through his chest.
Well, a Death Threshold was just a Death Threshold.
Whether he could destroy it or not was another matter—it was still better than dying outright.
Besides...
Morrow glanced at the level symbol at the very center of his Tree Rings tattoo.
Though he still wasn't sure about its exact function, it probably wasn't anything bad. As long as we find a way to turn Lv.1 into Lv.2, we can put it into practice.
For now, let's focus on solving the immediate problem.
Morrow gathered his thoughts and glanced at the rusted iron bars.
The truck carrying them would arrive at a mental hospital built on a mountain in a few hours.
Though it was called a mental hospital on the surface, it secretly dealt in human trafficking and organ trade.
Yes.
From the moment they were locked in these cages, Morrow and the others had already been forcibly labeled as piglets.