The sound of footsteps echoed in the darkness, cutting through the silent stillness like sharp blades.
The sudden and unexpected visitor caused a momentary freeze in the air that permeated the surroundings.
Davidson, who had been in a constant state of Zetsu, felt a brief shock, mirroring the shifting atmosphere around him.
However, he quickly regained his composure.
At this moment, due to the constraints of his ability, all the Aura Nodes in his body are closed, and he can no longer use any Nen.
In such a situation, if faced with a threat, he naturally had no means of resistance.
Just like now—
The visitor who appeared out of nowhere might only need a single flick to end his life.
However, Davidson had no fear in his heart, because he had long prepared himself for the embrace of death.
The unidentified visitor sensed this and felt a sense of pleasure.
Had Davidson showed a panicked reaction at this moment, the visitor would have been completely disappointed and believed that Davidson is unworthy of conversing with him.
"Don't you want to say something?"
The visitor stops in the darkness and listens to Davidson's steady breathing.
Davidson lifted his head slightly, and all he could see in his vision was the pitch-black darkness.
As he was forced in Zetsu state, he cannot see the existence of any Aura, but since the other party had found their way here, it was impossible for them to be an ordinary person.
The other party can basically be identified as a Nen User.
"Who are you?"
Davidson asked the question he wanted to know most at the moment.
Upon hearing this, the visitor simply introduced himself: "Seirin Group, Heavenly Stem, Diego."
"Seirin Group? Didn't they already...?"
Davidson's eyes changed slightly.
He has investigated the Hunter Association, so he knows about the Seirin Group, the legendary Hunter Group that was once famous all over the world and closely related to the Hunter Association.
However, as far as he knew, the once-prominent Seirin Group had already withdrawn from the stage and become history before Netero took over the Hunter Association.
As for the reason…
It seems that it was due to internal disagreements, leading to a sudden downfall at the peak of their power, ultimately fading into obscurity.
'Unexpectedly…'
Davidson felt a hint of surprise.
Diego looked at Davidson's reaction and extracted some information from it.
'Since the other party knows about the Seirin Group, he must have some knowledge about the Hunter Association.'
'However, despite knowing how powerful the Hunter Association is, he still held the first real book signing event of "Swamp Man" in the Swardani City, where the Hunter Association's headquarters is located.'
Thinking of this, Diego became even more pleased.
He smiled in the darkness and said, "Actually, we've met before."
"Hmm?"
Davidson followed the sound, roughly looking in a direction.
Just by the voice, it was impossible to verify whether they had truly met before.
"Heh."
Diego chuckled softly: "I asked for your autograph at the signing event, but with so many readers coming and going, even if you could see my face now, you probably wouldn't remember me."
"…"
Davidson fell silent at the revelation.
'This person attended the signing event?'
'That means that Swamp Man's ability might already be residing in this person's body.'
'But it is only a possibility.'
The reason he thinks so is because readers attending the signing event didn't necessarily acknowledge him and the Swamp Man book.
Some readers may only agree with the book…
In that case, the conditions for activating the ability cannot be met …
Also, due to the strict limitations of his abilities, Davidson was unable to tell whether Diego was affected by the Swamp Man's ability.
Otherwise, he wouldn't need to speculate at all.
Diego's eyes flickered when he saw Davidson was silent.
Without a doubt, Diego's body also hosted the seed of the Swamp Man's ability.
He was very sure of this.
It's because, by relying on his Nen Beast's ability, Diego used the seed of the Swamp Man residing in his body as a lure to locate Davidson, who is hiding in the swamp.
Therefore, from the first sentence of their conversation, he had already confirmed that Davidson was unable to 'sense' his presence.
'You are clearly the originator of the spreading ability, but you are unable to control it?'
'Interesting.'
This is like a person with Manipulator-Type Nen Ability trying their best to control a target, but in the end, he is unable to sense the target's presence. If they are unable to perceive the target's presence, they may not have the ability to control the target.
'It's probably because of his ability's limitations…'
'In other words—'
'Davidson, as the creator of this ability and successfully activated the ability, was unable to sense and control the Swamp People who were being transformed.'
'It's truly fascinating.'
'Not to control the world, but to simply to destroy everything.'
'That's how the ability of Swamp Man was born.'
As a loyal reader of Swamp Man, Diego came up with this speculation in a short period of time.
"As expected of the man who wrote the book Swamp Man."
Diego was so happy that his facial features expanded wildly, and he said with unrestrained joy: "Besides, I really admire your courage in setting the 'first stop' in Swardani City."
Diego's voice contained undisguised excitement and pleasure.
"You probably think like this... If the Hunter Association fails to detect the existence of Swamp Man at the first opportunity, then the spread of the ability could have been more securely guaranteed."
"Yes."
Davidson still didn't understand the purpose of Diego's visit, but he made no attempt to conceal it in their conversation.
When he chose Swardani City, where the Hunter Association is located, as the "first stop" for the signing event, not only was he absolutely confident in the spread of Swamp Man, he also had the thought of testing it.
Although the Hunter Association noticed 'Swamp Man' earlier than he expected, he was still convinced that the Swamp Man could gradually and slowly turn the entire world into a bursting bubble, just as he expected.
Until death, without rest!
"Hahaha!!"
Diego suddenly threw his head back and laughed loudly.
That laughter echoed in the deep darkness of the underground space.
Davidson furrowed his brow at this.
He had considered scenarios where the Hunter Association found him, but he did not expect that the first person to find him would be the long-disappeared Seirin Group.
As for this man named Diego in front of him...
Although he had only interacted with him for a short time, Davidson could sense a hint of a similar aura from Diego.
After a while…
Diego suddenly restrained his laughter.
"Fire."
He said suddenly.
As soon as the words fell…
Streaks of fires suddenly lit up in the surrounding darkness.
This unexpected burst of fire instantly illuminated the entire underground space.
The first thing Davidson saw was a tall, skinny man with dark skin and short hair standing less than twenty meters away in front of him.
This person should be the Diego who just talked to him.
And in the more distant surroundings, he noticed that there were more than ten people standing, scattered in various locations.
These people were dressed in hooded black robes, each holding a portable torch in their hands.
The fire in the underground space comes from the torches they held.
Diego, the black-skinned tall man, looked at Davidson, who remained calm, spread open his arms, and an intriguing smile slowly appeared on his sinister face.
"Kill me."
This sentence was not actually addressed to Davidson.
Just when Davidson was stunned…
One of the black-robed figures raised a pistol, aimed at the back of Diego's head, and pulled the trigger.
"Bang!"
The sound of gunshot echoed through the entire space.
The high-temperature bullet cut through the air, accurately hitting the back of Diego's head.
In an instant—
Diego's head exploded like a watermelon, with red and white matters scattered all over the ground.
Thud.
This is the sound of Diego's body falling to the ground.
"…"
Seeing this scene, Davidson's pupils shrank.