Hunter x Hunter: Tonight, Germain joins the hunt

Chapter 395: Real People Are Irreplaceable

To everyone's surprise, German declared that he had not drawn any answers from the timeline listed, and asked everyone to do their own thing.

Everyone had doubts, but they had to disperse.

They revolved around the campfire and moved in their orbits like planets.

German walked around the campfire and came to a big tree where light and shadow intersected in dimness and darkness, and saw Xiaodi squatting there.

Xiaodi hugged her knees with her hands, raised her head and looked at German without expression.

Germain could see that she was in a bad mood and asked, "What's wrong with you?"

"I..." Xiaodi hesitated for a long time, adjusted his black-framed glasses, and said, "Are there really four "fake people" here?"

"Yes, you just heard our analysis. I didn't bring more than three people to the rainforest swamp, but there are eight people here. There must be something wrong."

German looked Xiaodi up and down suspiciously and asked, "Do you have any clues?"

Xiaodi shook her head, hesitated for a moment, and asked, "Do you think it's possible that I am one of the 'fake people'?"

Ok?
When German heard this, he was stunned for a moment.

He really didn't expect that someone would doubt his existence, but considering that this person was Xiaodi, it did make sense.

"Why do you think so?"

"Think about it, I have a bad memory, don't I? People often laugh at me for this..."

Xiaodi knocked her own head lightly with her fist and said.

"Maybe I'm the fake person who got in, but I just forgot about it... If it were me, I would be able to do something like this, right?"

She usually denies it, but occasionally she is quite self-aware.

German couldn't help but smile and said, "Don't worry, Xiaodi, you are not a "fake person."

Xiaodi stared at him with eyes wide open, as if she had heard something incredible, and asked:

"Are you telling the truth? How can you be sure? Why?"

She asked a series of questions.

Germann explained:

"After listing that timeline just now, I actually understood the rules of the posthumous mind ability of "Double-Tailed Snake: Hell Bell"."

"I don't know."

Xiaodi shook her head.

Germain explained step by step.

"It actually has more convenient methods that will never reveal flaws in the timeline. For example, it can directly replace someone among us, or replace someone in our memory."

"But it didn't do that, which proves that it either didn't want to do that or couldn't do that."

"The former means that they have the potential for 'complete hypnosis', but they deliberately expose their flaws to allow us to fight."

"But this method is totally unnecessary. It has this ability. It can just hypnotize us to kill each other."

"So I'm leaning towards the latter, 'It can't do that.'"

"I noticed that the number of 'fake people' was slowly increasing. When I realized something was wrong, there were still seven of them, and then it became eight."

"In other words, they are like nails that pierce your skin and flesh, causing you to bleed and pus to flow, and the wound gradually becomes infected and expands."

"The way they modify cognition and reality is that they insert themselves into our memories and continue to erode reality."

"Directly replacing someone is something they can't do, at least not right now."

"So, if you want to know who the 'real person' is, you just need to grasp one point."

"That is a character like me who is absolutely indispensable in the timeline. Without this character, the events after the timeline cannot move forward at all."

Xiaodi's eyes went blank halfway through listening. She nodded resignedly, not caring whether she understood it or not, and admitted that what German was saying was right.

Just trust German.

Germain continued:

"Your ability of Nen, the bulging-eyed fish, is second only to mine in the exploration of the Dark Continent."

"There is no other person here who has the ability to replace you, so you must be real."

"If you're not real, then you're undermining the premise that I am real."

Xiaodi rolled her big eyes, licked her lips, and said:

"Anyway, I'm a 'real person', right?"

"Correct."

At this moment, someone suddenly spoke from behind the tree, and then a figure turned around, scaring Xiaodi.

Xiaodi turned around and saw that it was Jin with a big beard.

She couldn't help but turn her head to look at Germann, her eyes implying that if Jin had overheard their conversation, she should kill him to silence him.

Germain understood her look and waved his hand.

Jin curled his lips and explained:

"I am a 'real person' just like you, and the reason is the same - irreplaceability."

"Without me, you would have no way of getting in touch with Greedy Island, nor would you be able to obtain logistical support from Greedy Island."

"They can imitate Greedy Island's cards and some of the cards' abilities, but they haven't completely woven the most direct relationship network with Greedy Island."

"After all, they are just a group of monsters living in the Dark Continent, using our memories to understand humans."

"They never expected that we would be so calm after encountering such a situation, and not start to suspect each other and kill each other right away, so there were many omissions in the memory modification."

"Besides that, the scope of their ability to modify memory is limited."

"Most of their encounters with us on the timeline occurred between the end of 1997 and now, and the rest are extremely vague."

"If we give them more time, they should be able to do better, right?"

When Jin said this, his tone was actually a little regretful, as if he wanted to see what that situation was like.

"Anyway, after Germann realized this, he disbanded the gathering and quietly found me. He will come back to you after explaining the situation."

"The reason why we are so cautious is that we have another companion. Among the other five people, we are not sure which one is our companion."

"Until we find him or her, it's best to keep our knowledge a secret."

When Xiaodi heard the words "cautious" and "keep a secret", she covered her mouth.

Then she looked around with her distinct black and white eyes, as if she was afraid that her breathing was too loud and would expose the situation here.

Germain said:

"Just be more natural."

So Xiaodi loosened her hands, blinked her big eyes, and asked in a low voice:
"How do we find our last companion?"

Germain said:

"In fact, we already have a goal, but we are not sure yet, and the reason is also irreplaceable."

"I am irreplaceable because of the 'Teleportation Lantern', you are irreplaceable because of the 'Bulky Eye Fish', and Jin is irreplaceable because of the 'Island of Greed'."

"What else is irreplaceable? Of course, it is the ability to keep the team fighting..."

"At first I was wavering between 'stress relief' and 'healing', but considering my many experiences of 'virtue and torture', I finally decided that 'stress relief' was essential."

"In this team, Leonard and Biscuit both have the ability to relieve stress. The last companion should be among them."

"It's just that both of them have been in the team for a long time, and there are no obvious flaws in my memory. It's hard to tell which one of them is the real one."

Xiaodi asked:

"So what should we do now? Call them both over and ask them?"

"That's fine," said Germann. "Call them both over first. It doesn't matter if we can't tell the real one from the fake one right away."

At this time, Xiaodi was keenly aware of what Germain wanted to do:

"I see. We have to target people other than them, right?"

Germain nodded:

"That's right...their numbers are gradually increasing. We can't wait any longer."

"Otherwise, when the sun rises, there will probably be a lot of people here. By then, the situation will be more complicated, and cognition and reality will be modified even more by them."

Germain turned to King and added:
"Please keep an eye on Leonard and Biscuit and see if you can find the 'fake person'. Xiaodi and I will clean up the rest of the guys."

"Okay, don't worry, leave it to me."

Jin replied.

Xiaodi was eager to try it out.

Just as the three were about to make their next move, they heard a loud bang not far away, and then saw a cloud of dust and a large tree falling down. A conflict had been brewing for a long time and it suddenly broke out.

The enemies are Hart the Barbarian Warrior and Sigman the Shield Breaker.

The two women exchanged longhandled knives and spears for a moment, then separated to the left and right.

"Crusader" Leonard and "Gem Hunter" Biscuit quickly stepped in and tried to persuade them not to fight among themselves.

The Cursed One, Dubisk, stood coldly in the shadows, saying nothing, with no intention of helping either side.

"She must be a bastard who got in here!"

Hart pointed at Sigman and yelled in anger.

"Her ability to read is related to snakes, and the "Double-tailed Snake Hell Bell" is also a snake. How can it be such a coincidence?"

Sigman stared at Hart indifferently and said:

"You said before that I was going crazy, but now it seems that you are the one who is crazy, right?"

The two women were on the verge of a fight, their minds colliding, and the weapons in their hands were pointed at each other ready to go.

"Stop that!" Leonard yelled, "Stop fighting!"

He noticed that Germain, Jin and Xiaodi were approaching from behind, and turned around quickly and said:

"German, say something to stop them, right? The Twin-Tailed Snake Hell Bells must want us to attack each other like this! We can't fall for it!"

German, Jin and Xiaodi looked at each other and nodded, but they were thinking about other things.

According to the previous method of elimination, Hart and Sigman must be "fake people" who sneaked in.

They are making such a scene in front of everyone, showing their hostility towards each other. Are they planning to play a double act and split the entire team into two factions?
After thinking about it, Germain decided not to explain anything to Leonard and Biscuit. He wanted to proceed at his own pace.

So, he patted Xiaodi's arm and whispered:

"Tie one of them down first, I'll help you later."

Xiaodi nodded in agreement.

Then, the two separated, with Germain walking towards Hart and Didi walking towards Sigman.

Hart thought Germain was here to stop the fight, and said with a fierce look on his face:

"German, you don't have to say anything. I will never trust this woman..."

Before she could finish her words, she heard a snap and her hands holding the long-handled knife flew up into the field of vision.

Then, the vision in her head began to spin!

In an instant, only half of Hart was left, standing there, with blood gushing out of the sky!
German just looked down with cold eyes, holding the meat saw that was still dripping with blood in his hand.

Until her death, she never expected that Germain would suddenly jump up and slash her with a knife!

In fact, except Jin and Xiaodi, no one else expected this.

Leonard and Biscuit were both shocked, their throats were itchy and they couldn't utter a word.

Then, they took a step together towards where Hart's body was, but suddenly felt their shoulders sink.

The two looked back and saw Jin was between them, with his hands on their shoulders.

"Don't move, just watch quietly, and don't do anything suspicious."

"Trust us, this will be good for you all."

Leonard and Biscuit soon realized that they were threatened.

The two were a little annoyed, and when they were about to say something, they saw Jin nodding in the direction of Hart's body.

"See for yourselves."

The two turned their heads and saw that the half of the corpse that was still standing finally couldn't hold on and fell to the ground with a thud.

Hart's face was full of disbelief and horror.

German stood aside holding a bloody meat saw.

The mutilated corpse suddenly emitted black smoke as if it was burning, and soon her body, clothes, weapons, etc. disappeared one after another.

Disappeared along with it was the knowledge that Hart was his companion and the related modified reality.

After a moment of trance, German and others recalled and confirmed that Hart was indeed not one of them.

Almost everyone had the same idea:
Why did we trust Hart so much before? He was one of us. There were so many flaws...

It seems that this is the influence of the "Champion-level Demon" behind "Twin-Tailed Snake·Hell Bell" and the entire rainforest terrain.

German turned around and first observed the expressions on Leonard and Biscuit's faces, then looked at Jin.

Then he quickly walked towards the battlefield on the other side.

Sigman was also shocked by Germain's sudden move, so she did not immediately react to Xiaodi's approach.

When she came to her senses, the shield that she was holding with her broken limbs had been sucked away by Xiaodi's "Bulging Eye Fish" and thrown to the ground by Xiaodi.

Xiao Di said to her with a little pride:
"You are fake, and I am real."

"Huh? Xiaodi, you..."

Sigman was startled for a moment and tried to salvage something, but he noticed that Germain was walking towards him with a meat saw.

"You can't do this. I, I am your comrade, have you forgotten? Those memories of us fighting side by side, do you think they are all false?"

At this time, she could no longer maintain her previous taciturn personality.

German remained unmoved. He walked quickly, then suddenly changed into a flash and broke through to Sigman at lightning speed.

"Don't!"

Sigman only had time to raise his spear a little before the meat saw chopped him on the neck, and his head and body were separated in an instant!
That chocolate-colored face was immediately filled with resentment.

A snake formed from her mental energy shot out from her broken limb and bit Germann fiercely.

German calmly dodged to the side, and with another casual move, he cut Sigman's broken limb into two pieces!

Sigman fell to the ground amid the spurting blood, and in the blink of an eye, black smoke rose up like burning plastic.

German turned and looked at Dubisk not far away.

Dubisk cursed in a low voice, and seemed to realize that it was pointless to explain, so his skin and flesh immediately swelled up, turning into a tall werewolf, and turned and ran!

The werewolf got on all fours and moved at an extremely fast speed. In the blink of an eye, he shot out like an arrow, running back and forth between the tree branches until he was dozens of meters away.

It still has a chance. Even if it doesn't stay with Germain and the others, it can continue to reproduce "false people", but it will take longer and have more flaws...

But at least it is still alive, and being alive can preserve its lifespan.

However, the next moment, a deadly sound of wind broke through the air from behind.

It turned its head in horror, and was met with a sharp spike that blew its head off!
With a snap, the headless werewolf tumbled down from the branches and fell into the mud. Not long after, his body began to burn.

Germann put away the threaded cane that had transformed and stretched out, turned around and walked back to the campfire.

At this time, there were only five people left, including himself.

Hart's entire body had been burned, but Sigman's half was still left.

"The memories should have been corrected, right?"

Germain looked at everyone and they all nodded.

"That's good."

As he spoke, he walked in front of Leonard and Biscuit.

Both of them became nervous because they realized that German was going to find the last "fake person" among them.

If he gets caught, his fate will be the same as Hart, Sigman, and Dubisk!
Germann's body was originally covered in the blood of Hart, Sigman and Dubisk, but as they died, the blood turned into black gas and evaporated.

He first explained the basis for judging "irreplaceability" and pointed out that he, Xiaodi and Jin are all real people.

So now there is a real person, between Leonard and Biscuit.

Leonard and Biscuit looked at each other with unpleasant expressions.

Emotionally, they all have memories of being companions, but rationally, one of them must be fake.

Both of them knew who was the fake one, but how could they tell the difference and make German believe it?
Leonard was the first to speak out:

"German, Jin, Xiaodi, think carefully about how I stood at the forefront to protect you before, and how I will do it for you after the battle..."

Before he could finish his words, he felt a strong wind coming from beside him.

Leonard quickly swung his sword to block, but was directly pushed away by a soft force, followed by a strong fist wind blowing in his face!

"Biscuit?!"

Leonard was shocked by the sudden attack from the people next to him!
Biscuit, however, did not give in and attacked Leonard with murderous intent. This was her way of proving herself!
Only "fake people" would continue to fish in troubled waters.

"Real people" are not only indispensable to teamwork, but also have no fear of death.

(End of this chapter)