Based on this, Germain speculated that the "new Ant King" might very well be Gyro.
Gyro had been the de facto ruler of the NGL Autonomous Region, the source of the world's distribution of DD narcotics.
However, the invasion of the Chimera Ants destroyed his empire. A Chimera Ant Squadron Leader killed him and delivered him to the Ant Queen, who desperately needed a large amount of food at the time.
Through the Queen's consumption and reproduction process, Gyro was reborn as a Chimera Ant.
Shortly after his birth, he regained his human memories faster than any other Chimera Ant and immediately decided to leave the Queen and the nest.
Gyro became the first Chimera Ant capable of resisting their natural instincts and disobeying the Queen's rule.
Unwilling to submit to the Queen or the Ant King, he left the NGL Autonomous Region to seek new opportunities in the outside world.
Gyro's strength allowed him to do this. His power surpassed the Squadron Leaders and was just below that of the Royal Guards, making him one of a kind.
Now, Meteor City—a place even more isolated and hostile than the NGL Autonomous Region—might just be his new opportunity.
Germain didn't share his speculation with Shizuku. Instead, he asked her: "Since this is happening in Meteor City, will you go back to help?"
Shizuku blinked her large eyes.
"It's probably impossible, right? Since we eliminated most of the Phantom Troupe, you and I are now called 'the traitors of Meteor City.'"
Although the outside world's Mafia don't know that the Phantom Troupe members come from Meteor City (as revealed at the end of the Yorknew City arc), many people from Meteor City definitely know.
Shizuku continued:
"I've been funding the Church anonymously; otherwise, even the old priest might not dare to accept my money."
"If we go back together, whether Meteor City and the Phantom Troupe will target us is hard to predict…"
Germain wanted to comment on the "if we go back together" part. He never intended to get involved in this mess.
However, Germain understood Shizuku's concerns.
He had asked the question mainly to remind her, but he didn't expect her to be more clear-headed than he thought.
At this moment, Shizuku adjusted her black-framed glasses.
"Besides, the current situation in Meteor City is a mess. Two elders were captured by the new Ant King and Queen and turned into Chimera Ants."
"The new Ant King and Queen's subordinates were originally residents of Meteor City, transformed into Chimera Ants."
"The residents of Meteor City have been fighting against their former leaders, benefactors, comrades, and even family members."
"Now, even Meteor City itself doesn't know how to handle this situation."
Shizuku tilted her head in deep thought for a moment. In the end, she couldn't come to any conclusions, so her eyes turned toward Germain.
"Germain, if you were an elder of Meteor City, what would you do?"
If I were an elder of Meteor City?
Germain thought for a moment and calmly said:
"If I were an elder of Meteor City, then Zazan's initial nest building would never have happened."
"But if it did happen and things turned out the way they are now, I would eliminate the new Ant King, the new Ant Queen, and their guards."
If there's anything Germain learned from this Chimera Ant hunting mission, it would be that a decapitation strategy solves the problem.
Shizuku nodded, then said nothing more. Both of them turned their focus back to matters regarding the Dark Continent.
Much later, Germain learned that the old priest from the Church, who gave Shizuku the inverted cross necklace, had also been transformed into a Chimera Ant, becoming a member of the Chimera Ant Kingdom.
At this time, Shizuku didn't know which side to support.
At 8 AM on December 10th, the lantern teleportation to the ancient Labyrinth city began smoothly, as expected.
The team members for this mission were Germain, Shizuku, Buhara, and Sanbica. Their abilities covered areas such as combat, transportation and storage, cuisine, and medical care.
Most of the A-level members from Greed Island gathered in the Lantern Teleportation Hall on the second underground floor of the Limeiro Castle, once again watching the team members depart.
Palm, Meleoron, Ikalgo, and others didn't have the required permissions, so they naturally didn't know what was going on here.
They were all sent to various places on Greed Island to get familiar with the environment, unaware that most of the core figures of Greed Island were below Limeiro Castle.
The four members of the team would disappear for a while next, and their explanation was simply that they were out on a mission.
Professional hunters often have the habit of teaming up for missions, so it wouldn't be unusual for them to disappear for months or even a year or more.
Moreover, "they went out on a mission" wasn't really a lie to Palm, Meleoron, Ikalgo, and the others, but more of a concealment.
The "outside" referred to the Dark Continent, beyond the six continents, which was perfectly reasonable.
After confirming that all the supplies were ready, everyone took hold of the messenger spirit's hand.
Sanbica remained calmer than Buhara, who had experienced it once before, when touching the cold, dry hand of the messenger spirit.
She wasn't frozen in fear; she was simply very calm.
This was because the touch of the messenger spirit's hand reminded her of the feeling she often encountered when handling corpses for dissection. Holding it felt like returning to the dissection table.
Sanbica always followed her professional habits and wore rubber gloves. So now, it felt even more like performing an autopsy.
If seen from this angle, Sanbica actually had more experience than Buhara.
Vroom—
In the purple glow, the teleportation began.
The world spun, everything twisted, and in the blink of an eye, everything returned to normal.
The group looked around and realized they had reached the top of a tall tower, with platforms extending outward on all sides, and a circular dome above.
The lantern teleportation succeeded once again, without any issues.
Buhara and Sanbica both sighed in relief, then began to look around, taking in their surroundings.
There were no other people at the top of the tower. Ging, Bisky, and Menchi were nowhere to be seen.
The ancient labyrinth city and the Six Continents didn't have much of a time difference, so it should have been around 8 AM here as well.
However, the four of them noticed that the sky outside was dim, as if nightfall was about to come.
Germain first turned around to check the teleportation lantern, confirming that the cooldown time was 40 days.
In other words, he couldn't return to the Six Continents or travel to another normal lantern's location until January 21 of the next year.
As for special lanterns, they weren't affected by this cooldown time. However, Germain's frequency of encountering "negative traits" and "diseases" would increase.
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