Once Xiang Nan finished configuring his talent, he closed the system screen and walked straight into the bedroom.
He opened the safe and took out the bankbook inside, quickly glancing at the balance.
"Hubby?"
Noticing something was off, the body's wife followed him into the room.
Xiang Nan stepped back into the living room and put on his clothes.
"Where are you going, honey? What's going on?"
"Daddy?"
Even his daughter felt the weird tension between them and looked over.
"Starting right now, we're getting a divorce," Xiang Nan said, offering zero explanation—he didn't want to waste time.
He opened the door and headed downstairs, not even looking back.
To him, the family attached to this body was just dead weight.
It didn't matter if people in this world were "real" or not—he was a system player now.
If these two, mother and daughter, stuck with him, they'd only get dragged into danger.
Eventually, they'd lose their lives.
Xiang Nan was decisive; or rather, his only goal here was to clear the game.
He had zero interest in romantic or familial attachments.
If he'd been a decent person, after all, he wouldn't have ended up in "Hell" when he died.
"Honey?!"
"Husband!"
With long strides, Xiang Nan made it downstairs in under a minute. He hailed a cab and sped off, leaving the sobbing woman behind as she tried to chase the taxi and ended up collapsing on the ground.
"Young man, had a fight with your wife?"
The taxi driver, an older guy with a balding head, glanced at the rear-view mirror. He saw the desperate woman falling behind and tried to offer some advice. "Look, every couple has its ups and downs. Whatever the issue—"
He stopped mid-sentence when he noticed Xiang Nan's icy stare in the mirror.
Something in Xiang Nan's eyes made him shiver, so he wisely shut up.
"Where to?"
After a pause, the middle-aged driver swallowed nervously and used a polite form of address.
"The Hunter family's hunting grounds."
"Got it."
The man turned the steering wheel and headed in that direction.
From the memories of this body, Xiang Nan knew that because of the Sky Arena, the Republic of Padokea was heavy on martial arts. Every city on this continent was full of dojos and combat gyms of all kinds, and this thriving fight culture fed a booming entertainment industry. Outside of official channels, it was easy to acquire firearms; basically every city had a black market.
Even on the surface, once you went through a legal process, certain stores could openly sell guns for specific professions.
When Xiang Nan said he was heading to the hunting grounds, he was referring to a place on the outskirts of Wesera City reserved for the wealthy elites. This establishment had fenced off a chunk of wilderness just outside town, stocked it with wild animals so that well-heeled customers could come hunt and indulge in the thrill of killing.
Xiang Nan had two goals in going there:
1. Get his hands on some firearms.
2. Test the effectiveness of his newly configured talent.
Since he wasn't yet a Nen user and lacked reliable means of self-defense, firearms and bullets were a straightforward way to boost his offensive capabilities—definitely more practical than hand-to-hand combat at this point.
He glanced out the car window.
As they drove through different parts of the city, Xiang Nan gained a clearer understanding of Wesera's local culture. There were no towering skyscrapers or massive steel-and-concrete landmarks like in his previous life. Sure, there were buildings and shops, but they were of average height and pretty ordinary.
The city as a whole felt like an enlarged version of a quaint Western European town. The residents came in all sorts of skin and hair colors—some looked outlandish by Xiang Nan's old standards, but here it was perfectly normal.
Up in the sky, a giant balloon-like airship moved slowly along, like a tiny black ant crawling across a blue sheet of paper.
Most of the people in Wesera seemed to be involved in fishing or aquaculture, judging by their clothes.
"On the surface, these people are no different from those in my old world," Xiang Nan thought.
"But based on what I saw in the anime clips, humans in Hunter x Hunter have a much higher lower limit and upper limit in terms of physique—probably because this world's power systems and environment are special. That might've caused some sort of evolutionary difference. Still, by and large, these enhanced individuals are a minority. But look at Gon and Kurapika—those kids were freakishly strong even in their early teens, purely through combat skills and physical conditioning."
"And as for that kid Killua—don't even get me started."
Well, they were the main characters with built-in plot armor.
"This body of mine, though, isn't exactly young…"
Xiang Nan frowned.
If he'd been reborn as a teenager, his growth curve would be a lot better than it was now.
"We're here," the driver announced after a while, parking the car.
Xiang Nan pulled out a large bill and handed it over without waiting for change. He got out and headed straight for the store with the flashy sign out front.
A couple of high-end cars were parked outside.
Xiang Nan pushed open the door to find an interior decorated like a bar: small groups of people sat chatting in booths, or drinking. Nobody really paid any attention to him walking in.
"Welcome to the Hunter Family's Hunting Grounds."
A cheerful voice rang out. One of the waitstaff, sporting a red bandana and a bright smile, came up to greet him.
"Would you like to do some shooting practice, or actually go out and hunt?"
The waiter—who had a couple of freckles on his cheeks and was busy twirling a butterfly knife at lightning speed—fired off the question with practiced ease.
He kept his eyes on Xiang Nan the whole time, yet maneuvered the knife so skillfully it was just a blur of silver, showing no fear of cutting himself.
Impressive, Xiang Nan noted silently.
"Both," he replied.
"This way, please," the waiter said, his smile broadening.
Xiang Nan noticed the walls were covered in taxidermied animal heads, exuding a raw, untamed vibe. There were deer antlers, bear pelts, and a life-sized stuffed wolf serving as a showpiece in front of the counter.
Clearly dead, of course.
The waiter took him up to the counter and called for the boss.
Xiang Nan saw the walls and display cabinets loaded with all kinds of guns.
"Which firearms are you looking to use?"
The boss, a burly man with a thick beard and a rugged face, gave Xiang Nan a quick once-over. "If this is your first time, I'd suggest starting with a handgun. Most regular folks are pretty intimidated by firearms, so—"
He hadn't even finished talking before Xiang Nan pointed to a display behind him, where a gleaming silver curved blade, less than two feet long, was on show.
"That blade. Is it for sale?" Xiang Nan asked.
"…"
His question made the boss and the waiter exchange glances, their expressions changing slightly.
"Sir, nothing in our store is actually for sale. We only do short-term rentals for target practice and hunts. Of course, one thing you can take home is any wild animal you personally kill on the hunting grounds, as a trophy," the waiter explained, smiling.
"Handguns, rifles… plus a sniper," Xiang Nan said, shifting his gaze away from the blade and scanning the firearms in the counter's display. After just a few seconds, he pointed out specific models with precise movements.
His choices made the big-bearded boss and the waiter look alarmed again.
Each gun he'd picked had notoriously high handling difficulty and complex construction.
Most people couldn't manage them easily. Even the simplest tasks of calibrating the sights and dealing with recoil required a lot of skill.
"Sure," the boss said, handing Xiang Nan several firearms one by one.
"Target practice is charged per bullet; the hunting grounds charge by the hour."
"Got it," Xiang Nan answered coolly.
The waiter quickly slung a bag holding the selected guns over his shoulder and beckoned Xiang Nan to follow. As they left, the waiter glanced back at the boss.
The bearded man gave him a look in return.
The waiter nodded, clearly understanding the signal.