My Researching Journey (HxH)

.........

Chapter 211: Just Eating Dinner

..........

Only a second passed before they seem to realize what just happened, what they just did as one of them walked to the front with a hint of apology on his face in contrast to the weird look they all had before.

"I'm sorry for our strange welcome, we're just not used to having guests around here. So our caution should be understandable right?"

'Well, this is strange, too strange. What's with their behavior?' Thought Yasuo, kind of confused regarding their quick behavior change.

At one point, they seemed extremely fake and mechanical, and at another, they became extremely human, 'A bit of research and examination is needed.'

Thinking of that, Yasuo started his experimentation directly as a bright smile surfaced on his face.

"You needn't apologize, I understand... I'm lost and I found myself in other people's homes so I understand and am sorry for the inconvenience."

Yasuo's voice and tone were strangely different than his usual tone, It was as if he was trying to mimic their way of talking and accent; as if he was trying to fit in.

There was a strange second of the silence of the city of netizens looked directly at Yasuo's eyes, each and every one of them.

Yasuo did the same as he looked at the middle-aged man's inky eyes. Not just that, his expression was the same as him and just like everyone in the city, his expression takes a second or so to change.

"No worries, no worries," Responded the middle-aged man, nodding with a similar bright smile on his face:

"But where did you come from? And excuse our cautiousness please, but It should be understandable, right?"

Yasuo slightly narrowed his eyes hearing the peculiar response and responded accordingly.

"Of course, it's understandable so no worries. I come from far away land but I'm very friendly."

Yasuo gave them half a second to comprehend what he said before he continued, "Thank you for allowing me to stay here temporarily, I really needed that else I wouldn't have known what to do."

Yasuo seemed to have skipped a few lines there? The situation was quite peculiar, it was too strange.

Yet, the strangeness of the situation only continued to escalate as the middle-aged man smiled even brighter.

"No worries, you seem very friendly so you're welcome here whenever you want, in fact, you can stay in my place until you find your way."

His tone was filled with enthusiasm as if he truly believes what he's saying, seeing nothing unusual about the situation.

Yasuo gently looked around noticing the town's people heading back to their own business.

In the end, only a few people were left in the place, the people that were already there and the middle-aged man who seems to be the governor of the town.

No one of the people previously gathered there saw anything wrong with the situation as the moment the governor responded to Yasuo, they just directly turned around and left, going about their business.

Still, the strangeness will only continue to increase henceforth as the governor stood still in the same place, looking directly at Yasuo's eyes.

They remained like that for a few seconds with no one else paying attention to the particularly strange situation as if they don't exist.

Yasuo was also looking at the governor's pitch-black eyes, waiting to see if the latter can act by himself yet they remained like that for more than a minute.

Fascination, that was the right word to describe Yasuo's feelings at the moment as he thought to himself, 'A faulty product but fascinating nonetheless.'

Only then did he open his mouth and said, "Please lead the way,"

Those calm words seemed to awake the governor from his slumber, from his frozen state as he nodded and said, "Please follow."

Yasuo smiled and followed after him. He was quite amused by the game he took part in, how could he not? This is the strangest thing he has ever faced.

However, he didn't take the usual route and instead took a shortcut. He was basically exploiting the holes within the game to achieve what he wants.

He wasn't sure what he did will work but he tried it nonetheless. He had been observing these strange people for a while, their behavior specifically and that's the result.

The governor led Yasuo to an exquisite ancient house, humble but its obvious ancientness made it quite elegant.

It seemed to be one of the most luxurious houses within the city, at least from the outside.

From the insides however, it's completely bland with little to no furniture within it.

Yasuo noticed two other people in the house. He noticed a middle-aged woman comfortably sitting on a chair and reading a book.

Not far from the woman is a little boy who seems to be around six years old. He was playing around with few toys.

The vibe was strangely peaceful, and not just within the house but in every part of the city. A strange peacefulness that can bring tranquility to the most sinister of hearts.

The reason is quite simple, in contrast to their previous loudness, the people of the two rarely speak to each other or even to themselves, all that could be heard is the faint sound of people moving.

The woman lifted her head looking at her husband and questioned after noticing the unknown visitor, "Who might that be?"

Her husband amicably responded, "It's a friendly visitor that needs help, he needs a place to stay, so if offered him to stay with us until he finds his way."

The woman nodded with a small friendly smile on her face and looked at Yasuo before saying, "Please treat the place like your home and don't shy away from asking anything."

No amount of amicableness can make Yasuo ignore their dark eyes and what lies beneath their skin.

He remained cautious and made sure to continuously scan the area around him just in case.

He also wanted to avoid even coming in direct contact with any of them but none of them seem to be interested in doing so or even introducing themselves.

Yasuo didn't mind and just nodded. The governor then led him to his room, an extra room they have that has just one bed and nothing else.

Yasuo sat down on the bed and closed his eyes, focusing on sensing everything within his time which envelops the whole city and beyond.

He was at first suspecting that the black energy within the people here should in theory also exist in every part of the city.

He even used his amplification domain discreetly to check to the atomic level and even beyond, yet he found nothing, it only exists within them.

After investigating the city a bit more, Yasuo opened his bright eyes thinking to himself.

'The black energy is definitely somewhat related to the dark snakes I found buried in the crimson land, they're just way too similar.

The only difference is that the dark snakes seemed to be much more dangerous and extremely meticulous while the one within them feels a bit too simple.'

A smile painted on Yasuo's face, 'And that tells me a lot. No matter who Don's enemy or target was, he was most likely from this town, and perhaps, the town wasn't an underground city but existed on the surface.

Somehow, either by him or something else, the town was destroyed and that left a shadow in his heart if he had any, or he simply did it himself for some unknown reason.'

Yasuo then frowned feeling a bit uncomfortable that he can't use his memory reading ability to see the town's past.

Well, he can but he's inclined not to take the risk. The creature that made this strange town work as it is now is definitely not simple.

And with all the trouble he probably went through to create it, he probably had a close emotional connection to it.

So looking through time at him will definitely be disastrous and force Yasuo to use his last means when it's not fully ready, akin to eating fruits when they aren't fully ripened.

The fruit will be eaten but it will be nowhere near as delicious as it will be when fully mature.

No matter how much trouble and weirdness Yasuo went and will go through for his research, he will always remember this month as the strangest and creepiest of all.

He was truly dedicated to his research and experimentation so he was barely fazed by the disturbing town.

He wholeheartedly focused on a process of trial and error to solve the convoluted ways the black energy work.

He observed their behavior and mimicked it trying to fit in as well as test his mind and fight against the unknown because that's humanity's greatest enemy and biggest fear.

Fear is part of our human DNA and so it is not unusual for you to feel fear when you are stepping out into the unknown.

Our brain is hardwired to prefer negative consequences to uncertain outcomes. Our brain does not like us stepping out into the unknown or living in a world of change.

However, if the unknown become known then that'll be a problem no more.

And so, we have the scene of Yasuo sitting on a chair next to the dining table just like everyone else.

The other three people in the room are the governor and his wife as well as their child.

They are all sitting around the table which has few clean bowls and wooden spoons, cups, and plates.

The peculiar thing about this is the fact that they're all empty and what the people in the room doing is simply looking in front of them.

This is a ritual Yasuo is used to by this point because he has gone through it many times... They are eating dinner.