With the business negotiations concluded, the atmosphere at the dining table noticeably lightened. Seeing Su Xiao not touch the food, Zeno put down his chopsticks; the old man used both forks, knives, and chopsticks during meals.

"What, are you afraid my Zoldyck family poisoned the food?"

As soon as Zeno finished speaking, other members of the Zoldyck family looked at Su Xiao.

"Of course."

Su Xiao’s response was straightforward, Coate Zoldyck in drag frowned.

"How could there be poison in the food..."

"Someone, change the guest’s food."

Silva spoke, and two female housekeepers entered the living room to replace Su Xiao’s food. Indeed, the food was poisoned, arranged by Silva.

"Really... poisoned."

Coate Zoldyck lowered his head and ate quietly.

"You were an unknown guest before, but now you are the employer."

Silva’s voice was somewhat cold, which matched his personality—serious, rigid, and a very traditional assassin.

"There’s no need to eat here. When can I meet Maha Zoldyck?"

Su Xiao wouldn’t touch any food provided by the Zoldyck family; Silva was an expert in poison, and this guy had significant accomplishments in biological mutation, with a body not knowing how many times modified, even able to ignore the deadly poison of the golden equipment "Bian’s Dagger."

"About two hours, are you... going to challenge some powerful entity?"

Zeno seemed to vaguely understand something.

"Yes, no harm in telling you. My main purpose in seeing Maha Zoldyck is to find out if I’ll die fighting him, and if so, how long I can last."

"Are you going to challenge the Chairman of the Hunter Association?"

Zeno’s eyes gleamed as he probed for any unknown risks in this commission.

"Something stronger than the Chairman."

"Are you crazy?"

"To become strong, you must do things that seem crazy."

"..."

Zeno shook his head; his thinking was completely different from Su Xiao’s.

"Can you reveal anything? If not willing, then forget it."

Zeno continued probing.

"Remember those things from the Yukexin Auction last time?"

Su Xiao referred to the Nilapan Tribe that besieged Yukexin Auction, those creatures from the Dark Continent.

"I remember, those things are not insignificant; if I guess correctly, they come from the Dark Continent."

Zeno no longer concealed the known information; exchanging information appropriately is beneficial.

"Recently, near ’Dongguo Fruit Country,’ a group of peculiar creatures appeared, hunting humans and livestock; I’m interested in these creatures."

"Dongguo Fruit Country? That autonomous nation?"

Coate Zoldyck bit his lip, his expression wasn’t good.

"Oh? Coate went to that country?"

Zeno signaled his grandson to continue.

"I went there once for a mission; that autonomous nation’s king... is a really annoying guy."

Coate Zoldyck seemed reluctant to elaborate, for a simple reason: that king took a liking to Coate Zoldyck’s appearance, nearly infuriating him to the point of killing the king.

Listening to Coate Zoldyck’s description, Bubu Wang seemed interested, its gaze implying, "Do continue; I’m interested in this story."

"So the things appearing in Dongguo Fruit Country are strong enough for you to seek out my grandfather to test whether you’ll die fighting them?"

Zeno basically understood the gist.

"That’s basically it."

No need to conceal the matter of Dongguo Fruit Country. Calculating the time, the Ant Nest has likely been built, and the Mosaic ant is appearing in legions.

Su Xiao isn’t heading to Dongguo Fruit Country now because the Mosaic ant is currently weak, weak enough that Su Xiao can flatten the Ant Nest alone.

Even if the Ant King’s three personal guards have emerged, they can’t stop Su Xiao. 1V3, Su Xiao wouldn’t win, but 3V3 is different—Bubu Wang can divert one, A Mu can hold off one, and Su Xiao only needs to handle one personal guard.

Of course, this is just Su Xiao’s assumption; he won’t currently seek trouble with the Mosaic ant. Through the Derived World Contact Platform, Su Xiao learned many Contractors are teaming up to ’protect’ Mosaic ant development.

If the Ant King fails to emerge, the main task ends without consequence. Sure, there’s no need to endure the obliteration penalty, but it would lead this Derivative World to zero gains.

Some weaker Contractors indeed hope for zero-gain situations; they just need to stay alive.

But not everyone thinks that way; when it comes to snatching the Ant King’s heart, a situation might arise where only obtaining part of the Ant King’s heart completes the main task.

Su Xiao has received similar tasks a few times; he judges that the more complete the heart obtained, the higher the completion rate of the main task, and thus the richer the rewards.

This leads to a scenario where the one with the Ant King’s heart will gain tremendous wealth, forcing those without it, and unwilling to die, to pay high prices for a small piece of the Ant King’s heart.

This is competition: the strong acquire everything, while the weak only await death. Reincarnation Paradise isn’t a charity; only those with ability can survive.

Thus, during the race for the Ant King’s heart, all Contractors will be uncommonly frantic, possibly leading to a massive Contractor melee.

"Seems something big is about to happen, but it has nothing to do with my Zoldyck family."

Zeno ceased probing about Dongguo Fruit Country.

"It seems... it is related."

Ilmi, who had been silent, spoke.

"How?"

Grandpa Zeno’s smile faded a little.

"Killua is near Dongguo Fruit Country; he was previously at Yukexin, now his location is the border of Dongguo Fruit Country."

As these words were said, Grandpa Zeno’s smile completely vanished.

"That’s indeed not good news; Killua needs to grow outside, but he can’t face such strong enemies yet."

Zeno misunderstood the entire situation; he believed that even with Su Xiao’s current strength, he couldn’t escape Dongguo Fruit Country unscathed, even needing to consult Maha Zoldyck for a trial.

"Ilmi, go bring Killua..."

"Father."

Silva interrupted Zeno.

"I previously promised Killua we won’t interfere with his decisions."

Zeno squinted, contemplated for a moment, then sighed, "Let him go."

"Father!"

Silva’s wife, Ji Qiu, spoke - a beautiful woman with her face wrapped in bandages, wearing external electronic eyes.

"How can you do this? Killua, he... he..."

Ji Qiu was on the verge of berserk; Killua was her beloved, although, as the Zoldyck family’s daughter-in-law, her motherly love for Killua seemed twisted—or perhaps no Zoldyck is normal.

"Shut up."

Silva’s tone was calm; as soon as he spoke, the previously ranting, extremely agitated Ji Qiu seemed to have been muted.

Su Xiao remained silent, feeling that the Zoldyck family was surprisingly interesting.