When Germain heard Bisky's words, he found it a bit strange, so he decided to activate "Madoka." After his "Endurance" exceeded 90 points, the radius of his "En" expanded by another 10 meters, reaching a total radius of 60 meters.
Germain's "En" had a detection radius much larger than Kite's, but it still didn't compare to Zeno's, let alone "Pitou" or the "Ant King."
Soon, his "En" picked up two movements, resembling ripples on a lake hitting an obstacle and bouncing back.
One set of ripples was pulsating violently, while the other was quite weak.
The violent pulses clearly belonged to Kurapika.
But what about the other one? Whose weak pulse was that?
Germain informed Bisky and Shizuku of his findings, explaining that Kurapika was approaching with a weakly pulsating stranger.
"Who do you think it could be?" Germain asked.
Bisky crossed her arms.
"Kurapika is usually cautious. It's strange that he would bring a stranger here. The weak pulse likely means that person is injured."
Shizuku blinked, still cupping her face in her hands, the campfire's glow making her cheeks red.
"Then it must be someone he knows, right? He would only do this if someone he trusts is hurt."
"We'll find out soon enough," Germain said, adding more wood to the fire. The flames grew larger, and the heat finally made Shizuku move back.
After a while, Kurapika emerged from the woods.
He was indeed carrying a stranger, and from a distance, it appeared to be a woman.
"Teacher…"
Kurapika approached awkwardly, still holding the woman in his arms.
"I found her by the river and saw she was hurt, so I used the 'Healing Thumb Chain' to give her first aid."
"But she didn't wake up. I couldn't leave her alone in the wild, so I brought her here."
After saying this, he gently laid the woman down on the ground next to the campfire.
The woman, with her eyes closed, had long hair and wore hair accessories shaped like ears with a heart pattern.
Her body was covered in Band-Aids and smelled of medicine. Her skin felt slightly hot and red, likely from a fever.
"Ah." Shizuku looked at her face, adjusted his glasses, and recognized her. "It's Sheila. What's she doing here?"
"I don't know," Kurapika replied, shaking his head.
"Sheila?" Bisky pondered for a moment and asked the question on Germain's mind, "Is she the Sheila from Meteor City? The childhood friend of the Phantom Troupe's core members?"
Shizuku nodded. "That's her. She mentioned being afraid that the Phantom Troupe would discover her connection to us, so she wanted to leave Meteor City for a while. I never expected her to come to the Kakin Empire."
The cave fell silent, with only the crackling of the firewood breaking the quiet.
Finally, Kurapika sat down cross-legged and spoke, his expression complicated.
"Back then, near the Kurta Clan's retreat, my friend Pairo and I found Sheila lying on the ground, barely alive. That's when everything happened."
"Sheila is someone who loves taking risks, but she often gets hurt because she's careless. It's a miracle she has survived this long."
"When I saw her by the river, it felt like time was out of sync. I even thought Pairo was right next to me. It was like going back to the past..."
His tone was a bit sad, but he showed no hatred or anger towards Sheila.
Kurapika didn't feel anger towards Sheila for the destruction of his clan. She had long cut ties with the Phantom Troupe and had tried to save the Kurta clan, but she was just a step too late.
Germain pointed at Sheila, whose breathing was a bit rapid.
"She is someone who is willing to help us. She's worth bringing on board. You did well to bring her here. But in her current state, will she be okay?"
Kurapika shook his head.
"It should be fine. The fever might be due to an infection from a wound. My 'Healing Thumb Chain' can activate and speed up the body's healing process without needing to know the cause or symptoms of the illness."
"My ability has stabilized her condition. I think she will wake up tomorrow morning."
"Wait." Bisky stood up and searched through his things, pulling out a towel and some medicine. "We'll take care of her for one night and see what happens once her fever goes down."
The four of them had no bad feelings towards Sheila, so they decided to take care of her.
That night, everyone helped look after Sheila, who had a fever and was unconscious, until her fever went down in the middle of the night. Then they wrapped themselves in blankets and fell asleep.
However, early in the morning, they were all awakened by a scream.
"Aaaaaaaa——"
Germain opened his eyes and carefully lifted the blanket off himself. He instinctively created a "Cleaver" and a "Firearm" in his hands and looked towards the source of the scream.
He was often attacked and had become instinctively alert, so his sleep was light.
The one who screamed was Sheila, who had just woken up. She sat up, wrapped in a blanket, looking as if she had been humiliated.
Next to Sheila was Shizuku, who was rubbing her eyes in confusion after being woken up.
She still didn't understand what was happening, so she sat up, squinted her eyes, searched the ground for a moment, and finally found her glasses and put them on.
At this point, Sheila finally recognized Shizuku. After all, a person looks different when wearing glasses compared to when they don't.
"Shi, Shizuku? Why... why are you lying next to me?" She was surprised.
Shizuku tilted her head and looked at her, as if confused by Sheila's surprise.
She started to say something that made Sheila even more confused.
"Hmm... you're awake... Germain and Kurapika's luggage fell off the cliff, and Bisky didn't bring many blankets, so I shared a blanket with you last night..."
"Huh?"
When Sheila heard this, she looked around and was shocked by the other three faces, especially Kurapika.
"Wait, wait, what is going on? You guys... my brain is a bit confused."
She had a special impression of the four people present.
"Phantom Troupe Killer" Germain.
He was the killer who took down several members of the "Phantom Troupe," people Sheila once knew but who had now turned into monsters.
She had been following Germain's movements and felt mixed emotions about him.
Sheila couldn't fully hate Germain, nor could she admire him completely. She hated what the Phantom Troupe had become but still hoped that one day they could change back.
Then there was "Chairman Netero's disciple" Biscuit.
Now, Sheila had achieved the dream she shared with her childhood friends Sarasa and Pakunoda — to become a professional hunter.
Now that she was a professional hunter, it was hard not to know Bisky.
Bisky had a great reputation within the Hunter Association; otherwise, she wouldn't be one of the candidates for the new Chairman in the original timeline.
There was no need to say much about Shizuku; they kept in touch often.
As for Kurapika, the reasons behind their connection were as complicated as a tangled thread. This made Sheila unsure of how to face him once she recognized him, and she felt like escaping.
Too much information flooded into her mind at once, causing her to feel overwhelmed.
********
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