Morning arrived, and Xiang Nan woke early in a small, out-of-the-way hostel in the city.
He had set an alarm for himself; now there were barely five minutes left before the "Extinction Game" officially started.
After resting for several hours, he'd mostly recovered. Thanks to his background as a doctor, he'd tended to his external injuries well enough.
Sitting on a small wooden chair inside his room, he glanced out the window at the gloomy sky and the drizzle coming down. His open duffel bag lay at his feet.
He wasn't sure what form this so-called "trial" would take, nor what nature it would have.
Could it be a sudden incident? A random event?
Or maybe it would be tied to the identity he'd "inherited" in this world?
Could his own experiences over the past 24 hours serve as some kind of trigger?
Xiang Nan just couldn't be certain.
He'd chosen this location in a part of town that was relatively remote. Even if there were some large-scale disaster—like a terrorist attack or a gang shootout—it likely wouldn't reach here. In other words, this place and its surroundings pretty much eliminated most common sources of danger.
If he'd been clearer on the "rules," he might've even left the city entirely, further cutting off potential triggers. But in the end, he decided not to. If the upcoming trial turned out to be something else entirely, being too far away might backfire.
[Ding! Time's up. The first round of the Extinction Game has officially begun. All players, take note!]
Just as he was mulling it over, that familiar system voice echoed in his mind.
The screen before him changed, displaying new content.
[Ding! Quest triggered. The player must kill the target within 24 hours.]
A quest.
Raising his eyebrows, Xiang Nan studied the screen carefully.
The requirement was simple: kill a specific person. But it gave no info whatsoever about the target—no name, no details.
It just showed the distance between them, no map or anything. Apart from the distance, it was completely blacked out.
Xiang Nan noticed the red dot indicating his target was moving—meaning the distance between them kept changing.
Without hesitation, he picked up his bag and headed downstairs.
This kind of mission felt a lot like a decapitation strike he'd done in his past life—except there was zero intel, and no team. He was alone.
Calling it "decapitation" was more like an assassination.
Other than the bare-bones mission info, his system screen just displayed a countdown timer and the total number of players in this round of the Extinction Game: 920.
Seeing that number, Xiang Nan felt a slight jolt.
He remembered that when he first arrived, the number had been marked as 1,000.
Now it was down to 920—80 dead already.
Obviously, they didn't just drop dead the moment the trial started. They were probably "eliminated" by various circumstances over the past 24 hours.
Every player had been teleported to different places, with different identities, and their experiences and mindsets varied wildly, so it made sense some would die before the game even began.
Though there was no map—just a black background—by observing whether the distance increased or decreased, Xiang Nan could roughly guess the target's direction.
He flagged down a taxi and headed toward where the red dot was located.
"The mission says to kill the target, but that doesn't mean it ends the moment they die. The requirement is deceptively simple, but the real challenge is surviving the next 24 hours," Xiang Nan thought, leaning back with his eyes closed as the cab sped along.
That meant his target likely wasn't someone trivial. If it were just an ordinary nobody, killing them wouldn't trigger any big chain reaction in 24 hours—unless they had significant connections, in which case their death would provoke a massive retaliation or manhunt. That was probably the real catch.
And evidently the target wasn't a fellow player, because if they were, they would be able to track Xiang Nan's location via the system the same way he tracked theirs. You'd see the red dot moving around like he was right now.
"Given the time limit, the sooner I kill them, the better. The longer I wait, the more unpredictable it'll get. Judging by the time constraints, the target must have some serious security around them," Xiang Nan reasoned.
He wasn't exaggerating the difficulty—"Blondie," his so-called guide, had implied that the game was twisted enough that even the first round's survival rate would be low.
After following the system's prompt, the cab finally stopped outside the most luxurious hotel in Wesera City.
According to the screen, the red dot was practically on top of him now—almost certainly a hotel guest.
After paying the fare, Xiang Nan got out and stood on the sidewalk, gazing at the tall, opulent building. A giant ornamental fountain loomed nearby.
He watched people coming and going through the grand entrance but didn't rush in.
High-end hotels like this had tight security checks, meaning he probably couldn't just walk in with a bag of firearms.
He took another look around, then shouldered his bag and left. Before long, he found a "net café" of sorts—similar to the internet cafés of his old world, though here they sold smoothies, snacks, and meals, and the internet technology wasn't as advanced or information-rich as back on Earth. Still, plenty of data could be found online.
In a corner seat, Xiang Nan began digging for any news about that hotel from the past few days, hoping to glean some tiny clue from open sources since the system gave him zero intel.
He also kept an eye on his target's position in the system's display so he wouldn't lose track.
An hour later, having gathered some basic information, Xiang Nan interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on them, thinking.
"The system's mission is so vague—no intel on the target at all. But once I do kill them, it's bound to cause major trouble. Maybe it's connected to my future in this world. I just hope they're not a Nen user or something."
"I definitely need a disguise. No way can I let them find out who I am."
Suddenly, Xiang Nan's gaze shifted to the computer screen. On a whim, he typed in "Hunter Association" to see what popped up.
The page was filled with a bunch of topics and news articles, so he clicked a few links and scanned them.
"Huh?"
After a few minutes, he noticed something off. He re-entered his search terms and tried "Chairman Isaac Netero."
Lots of info came up referencing the Hunter Association's chairman, but there was no direct mention of "Netero" anywhere. Whenever the chairman was referenced, it was oddly blurred or vague.
That can't be right.
Even if Hunter x Hunter's story hadn't officially kicked off, Netero should definitely exist at this point, given his age.
What struck Xiang Nan as odd was that all the articles he read about the Hunter Association lacked any mention of characters he recognized—no "Zodiacs," no mention of 1-star, 2-star, or 3-star Hunters, none of the big names he knew should be around.
That seemed impossible. Zodiac Hunters were individuals who made major contributions to society. They'd be big deals, and someone like Netero had certainly done interviews, made public appearances, etc. There was no way the internet wouldn't have at least a mention or a photo.
After all, this was the Hunter x Hunter world.
Xiang Nan tried searching for the "Zoldyck Family" next.
Their estate on Kukuroo Mountain in the Republic of Padokea was famously a tourist attraction.
Something's off.
Sure enough, he found some references to Kukuroo Mountain itself, but zero mention of the Zoldyck Family—no records at all.
Yes, it made sense for the Zoldycks to be secretive, and the general public might not know what they looked like. But they were an infamous clan of assassins, and that big gate at the mountain's entrance was a well-known site that at least some tourists claimed to have photographed or heard about. Why was there nothing?
"So the characters definitely exist, but it looks like the system is temporarily blocking us players from accessing them—screening out any story-related figures."
"Are they preventing us from taking shortcuts, or is it to protect these powerful characters from interference until we get stronger? Hard to say."
Xiang Nan had planned to confirm the current timeline so he could prepare based on the original story. Now, he realized that was hopeless.
For a player, knowing what would happen in advance—having foreknowledge of the entire plot—was a massive advantage. If the system was blocking it, that meant:
"Survive the weeding-out process first. Only if you stand out among the other players can you even hope to leverage your knowledge of the story. Otherwise, you don't get the chance."
"'Trash doesn't deserve special treatment.' That must be the system's logic," Xiang Nan thought, taking a deep breath.
Brutal but straightforward… he mused.