The person who emerged from the bushes was a woman dressed in a tight black dress.
Her skin was slightly tanned, her figure slender yet curvaceous, and her demeanor carried a hint of allure.
Wearing an outfit like that in a remote forest was unusual in itself.
But the fact that she was a Nen user made it less surprising.
Moro stared at the woman who had appeared so suddenly. His body remained tense, his aura fluctuating.
However, upon noticing her outfit and seeing her face—a broad forehead and vertical pupils—his tension eased slightly.
He recognized who she was—
A member of the Hunter Association's Zodiac Twelve, Sai-Snake Gel.
Moro guessed that she had been drawn by the sound of gunfire.
Gel stood on the slope, arms crossed, calmly observing Moro.
Their gazes met in the air—one filled with scrutiny, the other with a mixture of curiosity and caution.
Strangely enough...
Moro's bare body didn't seem like something worth paying attention to in this situation.
Gel's gaze swept over Moro's aura. Compared to when she first arrived, it had noticeably relaxed.
But the speed at which he went from tense to calm was unusual.
Gel's eyes shifted to the open cargo car and the two corpses lying on the ground.
Then she looked back at Moro and said calmly:
"Do you think I'm less of a threat than that guy on the ground?"
As she spoke, she pointed at the dead Zazan with her finger, her expression meaningful.
"Quite the opposite."
Moro, though still cautious, no longer felt the same sense of crisis as before.
At first, he thought Gel had been drawn by the gunfire. Now, it seemed like she had been here even before that.
The noise she made when she appeared had likely been intentional.
"If you wanted to harm me, you wouldn't have made any noise to alert me."
Moro raised his head, meeting Gel's gaze with a calm look.
Despite his words, he was still mentally prepared to defend himself or attack at any moment.
Even though he knew that, against someone from the Zodiac Twelve, he didn't stand a chance, he wouldn't go down without a fight.
If he had to die, he would at least make some waves.
Hearing Moro's response, Gel glanced briefly at his aura-covered right hand. Her expression remained indifferent as she silently leapt down from the slope, landing lightly on the road.
Without saying a word, she walked toward the cargo car.
This naturally shortened the distance between her and Moro.
Moro, who had placed himself in a position of weakness from the start, couldn't help but feel a growing sense of pressure as Gel approached.
As a reincarnated soul, Moro's impression of the Hunter Association wasn't entirely one of "righteous heroes solving problems"...
But aside from a few individuals, he didn't think the Zodiac Twelve were the type to casually disregard human life.
However—
Not everyone was as sincere and transparent as Gon Freecss.
It was no surprise that Moro felt pressured.
Gel seemed to sense the shift in Moro's emotions and stopped, giving him some space.
She had been applying subtle pressure after noticing how insincere Moro's calmness was.
But treating someone who was likely an innocent rookie as a criminal was a bit much, even for her.
Gel shook her head slightly and turned to face the cargo car.
From her vantage point, she could see the rows of cages inside, each holding naked children.
The sight of their bare bodies...
At this, Gel involuntarily glanced at Moro again, further confirming his role in the situation.
Moro, however, didn't react to her scrutiny.
It wasn't that he had some kind of exhibitionist tendency—he simply didn't think such trivial things were worth being bothered about.
But Gel's look, along with her calm demeanor, stirred a memory within Moro.
When Morena had bought him and he had woken up on the airship, she had scanned his body in the same way.
"You're lucky. You survived that chaos without losing a limb. That's why I bought you."
Morena's expression back then was eerily similar to Gel's now.
The only difference was that Morena had done something that had made Moro extremely uncomfortable at the time—
She casually grabbed his most vulnerable part and, in a voice devoid of any emotion, said:
"If you were a girl, I think I'd be more satisfied."
Her tone and actions made it seem like she could rip that part off at any moment.
That had been Moro's first encounter with Morena.
In Moro's view, Morena never hid the long scar that stretched across half her face. Perhaps for that reason, she never hid her strange thoughts when she was around him and Dog Brother either.
Yet despite nearly a year of living together, Moro still hadn't figured out what kind of person Morena really was.
Maybe it was because...
He had labeled her as "antisocial" from the very beginning.
"You're surprisingly relaxed around me."
Gel's calm voice broke Moro's train of thought. He snapped to attention, his expression shifting as he reflected on his lapse in awareness.
Seeing the flash of regret in Moro's eyes, Gel's interest was piqued.
In their brief interaction, she had observed that Moro held himself to extremely high standards.
And people like that, once they crossed the threshold into Nen mastery, rarely ended up weak.
If she had more ambition for a Two-Star Hunter rank, she might've been tempted to invest some time in training him.
"Gel, Pro Hunter."
Gel's gaze locked onto Moro as she introduced herself.
"Pleasure to meet you. Just call me Moro."
Moro responded by giving his name in turn.
Gel nodded slightly and asked,
"Why don't you tell me what happened? I might be able to help."
"..."
Moro was silent for a moment before calmly recounting the situation.
However, he didn't mention the fact that the cargo car was destined for a psychiatric hospital.
In this mess, he was just a "piglet" that hadn't yet been sent to the "slaughterhouse." The wisest choice was to say and do as little as possible.
After hearing Moro's explanation, Gel classified the incident as human trafficking.
She didn't seem curious about how Moro knew Nen or why he had killed the middle-aged man.
Gel had only come to this area to collect venom from a newly discovered snake species.
Coming across this situation was merely an unexpected side quest.
She had no qualms about doing a good deed on the side—but getting deeply involved was out of the question.
Gel's detached attitude was exactly what Moro had hoped for.
"Gel... I'll leave them in your care."
Seeing that Gel was willing to handle the children in the cargo car, Moro felt a sense of relief.
Thanks to his actions, maybe these "piglets" could finally live normal lives.
Gel nodded—it was a simple matter for her, just a phone call's worth of effort.
Moro smiled faintly and, under Gel's gaze, stripped clothing from the corpses for something to wear.
He also rummaged through Zazan's belongings, taking any cash he found and pocketing the handgun as well.
Throughout the process, Gel remained silent, simply watching.
Moro secured the handgun and prepared to leave.
"Thank you."
He sincerely thanked Gel.
Without her, he would've been at a loss as to how to handle the children.
Gel responded with a slight nod.
Moro took that as his cue and turned to leave.
But as he walked away, he couldn't help but glance toward the direction the cargo car had been heading.
At this time, were Morena and Dog Brother already at the psychiatric hospital?
He didn't know.
Standing at the crossroads of fate, armed with memories of the future, Moro had no intention of walking the same path again.
Although their paths hadn't crossed yet, it seemed they would part ways after all...
Morena.
Moro thought of her briefly, then resolutely headed in the opposite direction.
Behind him,
Gel watched Moro's figure disappear into the distance before pulling out her phone and making a call to arrange help for the children in the cargo car.
After finishing the call, Gel noticed the surveillance monitor installed in the driver's cabin.
With nothing better to do, she climbed into the cabin and began replaying the recorded footage.
Moments passed.
As the video played, Gel's vertical pupils narrowed in disbelief as they reflected what was shown on the screen.