In the Republic of East Gorteau, there is a peculiar organization.
It is called a Spy System, which is a very powerful informant system that controls domestic intelligence.
If someone finds a spy from an enemy country, finds evidence of subverting the regime, or intercepts a fugitive.
They will receive a high bonus, and the bonus is not just money.
If the report exceeds a certain number of times, all members of the organization will be promoted. On the contrary, if the reported news is not true, or there is a traitor in the organization.
Then, the joint responsibility system will be implemented, and all members must be punished together. Moreover, this organization not only has clear rewards and punishments but also extremely bad means.
They will separate a family and forcibly assign them to different groups.
If an entire group conspired to escape, the best-case scenario for their remaining family members was life imprisonment.
The worst case? Execution.
To keep a small ruling elite well-fed, the country's citizens lived in extreme poverty.
Worse still, the Republic of East Gorteau's rulers spread false news to the world, claiming their citizens were suffering from natural disasters and requesting economic aid from other nations.
"Of course."
Killua said as he navigated through a swamp while speaking casually to Gon. "None of that aid money actually went to help the weak. Instead, the ruling class used it to buy luxury cars, jewelry, and even weapons of mass destruction..."
Gon's eyes sparkled, and steam practically shot from his ears as he struggled to process all this information.
His brain was about to overload, and Killua's explanation was just too detailed for him to follow.
And honestly, he was also curious about where Killua got all this intel.
"I got it from Illumi."
Killua explained casually: "And Illumi probably heard it from my grandfather, Zeno."
"My grandfather had been here before. And besides, all this information is recorded on the hunter-exclusive website."
As they talked, the two finally arrived at a small village.
Killua had meticulously prepared everything in advance, local clothing, class identification badges, and other disguises.
However, to be extra cautious in case there were additional methods to detect spies, they needed to gather more intel.
The two sneaked into the village quietly.
Surprisingly, the village was empty.
Aside from the large portraits of supreme leader Ming Jol-ik hanging on every house's walls, there was nothing else.
Judging from the bloodstains on the ground, it was clear that the villagers hadn't left for some event; they had been secretly disposed of.
In the nearby wilderness, they even found human bones gnawed by wild dogs.
This also confirmed their previous speculation that the rulers used the guise of convening a national plenary meeting to select high-quality humans and present them to the Ant King, and their actions had already begun in advance.
"The Ant King can't manage these trivial matters personally, so the executors of all this should be the Royal Guards."
"There should be someone with hypnosis ability among them, turning the ruler of this country into their puppets."
"This way, they can help the King locate Nen users among the population. They're probably holding some kind of nationwide selection tournament disguised as a celebration."
"The reason the village is empty is because one part of the population has already been sent to the capital."
"Another part, those who resisted or were deemed unqualified, were secretly eliminated."
"The Republic of East Gorteau has a population of five million; it's impossible to gather everyone all at once."
"To avoid public suspicion, they're likely conducting the selection in secret, eliminating people gradually..."
"This country has also banned cell phones and other communication devices. So even if people started disappearing, the public wouldn't notice."
"Assuming that a soldier ant with Nen ability can screen 10,000 people in ten days."
Killua calculated. "For five million people, they would need at least 500 such Chimera Ant soldiers..."
Even Gon could do that math.
But the problem was…
"The total number of Chimera Ants is not that large.."
Killua affirmed: "Then there is only one answer."
"It doesn't matter if the person in charge of the selection doesn't have Nen!"
"As long as there are people who are good at hypnosis among the Royal Guards, this can be done."
"Every human has an aura if their aura is concentrated in their fists and used to strike applicants one by one..."
"With just a 1% success rate, they could easily form an army of 50,000 Nen users."
"If those people are merely meant to be food for the king, the danger level isn't too high."
"But if a royal guard has the ability to turn humans into Chimera Ants..."
At this point, Gon and Killua both felt heavy.
They realized the terrifying implications of such an army.
And worse still…
"The remaining 4.95 million people have lost their meaning of existence..."
Perhaps they will become the rations of the 50,000 Chimera Ant.
"However, as long as Chairman Netero or others cause a commotion among them and interrupt their selection work, it will be fine."
"Our goal is to infiltrate the event, take down the controller, and awaken the people's consciousness."
"But if the rebellion is triggered, the Chimera Ants will definitely not just sit back and watch."
"If we want to carry out Chairman Netero's plan, we need to operate in the shadows..."
After the two made up their minds, they took action quickly.
Not only them but also Morel, Kite, and Knov, who are all elites, naturally saw the Chimera Ants' behavior.
They also immediately took actions similar to Killua and Gon.
On the other side, in the capital of the Republic of East Gorteau.
"Except for us and the Chairman, there are only six people to fight the Chimera Ants..."
In a luxurious room, Lan leaned on the soft sofa, looking at Ging, who was chewing an apple there, and smiled: "It seems that this action isn't really that important?"