HxH: Noah’s Heart

"Are you a child?"

Upon hearing Smith's solemn revelation of his ability, Noah couldn't help but feel speechless.

It seemed that this guy believed his ability was extremely frightening and wanted to instill fear in Noah with such a shocking disclosure to gain an advantage.

However, this tactic seemed quite childish and had little effect on Noah.

With this thought in mind, a red figure had already come rushing towards Noah with a sound akin to the breaking of air.

Easily evading the whip's strike, Noah's figure flickered, disappearing from where he had been.

Seeing Noah vanish, Smith suddenly felt a tingling sensation on his scalp and the back of his neck. Subconsciously, he gathered his aura towards the back of his head.

Thud!

The next moment, Smith felt a heavy impact on the back of his head, and then his whole body was sent flying, crashing heavily into the wall.

"Not bad for a reaction, huh?" Noah lowered his arm, and if Smith hadn't used Ken to defend himself just now, Noah would have directly pierced a big hole in the back of his head.

Climbing up from the ground, Smith covered the back of his head, shook his head vigorously, and looked up at Noah.

Even though he had blocked Noah's attack, Smith still felt his brain buzzing, a constant 'buzzing' in his ears, and his vision had become somewhat blurry.

"Damn… brat." Because his vision was somewhat blurry, Smith opened his eyes wide and shook his head, mumbling curses.

After the brief exchange, Smith immediately realized that Noah was not as easy to deal with as he had imagined.

"Conjurers, when they materialize objects, must consume a significant amount of aura on the object. As a result, the aura remaining on their bodies decreases. 'Conjuring' can give you a rough idea about this. When dealing with Conjurers, the most important thing to pay attention to is the special abilities associated with the objects they materialize."

"However, you've kindly told me all about your ability. Although I'm not an Enhancer, there was already a gap in strength between us. With the aura you have left after materializing objects, you can't defend against my attacks unless you use Ken."

While Noah was speaking, his actions didn't stop. He appeared by Smith's side like a phantom, and a whip-like leg lashed horizontally across Smith's face, slamming his head into the wall, causing blood to splatter.

"But can you react like this a few more times?"

With the help of Shadow Step and the gap in their strength, Smith had no way to pinpoint Noah's location. Now, he finally realized that in Noah's eyes, he was no different from Shaz and the others, but it was already too late to understand.

Watching Noah easily defeat Smith, both Dr. White's and Dr. Crowly's bodies shivered involuntarily.

Noah then appeared in front of Dr. Crowly, looking at the teenager who was even shorter than himself. Despite their height difference, Dr. Crowly's fear didn't diminish.

To him, Noah's sky-blue eyes seemed like whirlpools leading to hell—profound and terrifying.

"Ah!"

Finally, unable to withstand the fear any longer, Dr. Crowly screamed and reached into his pocket, pulling out a dagger and thrusting it toward Noah.

"Dr. Crowly!" Right behind him, Dr. White yelled, but in the next second, he saw Crowly being sent flying by Noah's casual slap.

"Don't…" Dr. White's warning words were only just complete at this moment.

Dr.Crowly's body spun in mid-air like a broken sack and crashed against the wall. Noah came to Dr.White's side.

"Well, now that the troublemakers are all taken care of, I have a few questions, Dr. White." Noah stood beside the cabinet, crossing his arms, and spoke.

At this moment, Dr. White, who had suddenly aged by ten years, sighed deeply. His trembling body gradually calmed down, and he said, "Go ahead, ask your questions."

"Do I have those 'Zero' cells inside my body?"

It seemed that Noah didn't expect Noah to ask this question. Dr. White turned his head in surprise, then his face showed a look of realization, and he said, "Have you lost your memory?"

"Kind of," Noah nodded.

"Then I'll start from the beginning and tell you everything I know," White began.

"A few months ago, I was hired by the Elder Council of Meteor City to work in this laboratory. At that time, the experiment being conducted in this laboratory was the 'Zero Cell Extraction and Fusion Experiment.'"

"As far as I know, 'Zero Cells' are mysterious cells that can awaken a powerful force called Nen in the human body. The source of these 'Zero Cells' comes from a young boy who was referred to as the 'Zero Cel's host,' Noah."

White glanced at Noah and continued, "At the time, nobody in the laboratory knew the origin of the host, except for the Elders. Of course, we didn't inquire about it. Our job was to extract the 'Zero Cells' from the host and then conduct fusion experiments with people provided by the Elders."

"At the beginning, the experiment didn't go smoothly. The rejection of 'Zero Cells' was far beyond our imagination. All the people sent in for fusion failed, leading to a catastrophic breakdown, turning into blood, just like Rami lying on the experimental table now," White said, glancing at the test tube on the table.

"How did you eventually succeed?" Noah's fragmented memories didn't contain the details White mentioned, so he asked further.

Taking a deep breath, White looked at Noah with a complex expression and spoke slowly, "Unexpectedly, we found that inflicting immense pain on the host reduced the rejection of 'Zero Cells.' The greater the pain, the lower the rejection."

Hearing this, Noah narrowed his eyes. He didn't need White to explain further; he could already imagine what the past Noah had gone through.

It was nothing but being ruthlessly tortured by these researchers for the sake of extracting those 'Zero Cells.'

No wonder this body harbors such a maniacal obsession. He could imagine the kind of torment the past Noah had endured.

"Then what happened?" Noah asked softly.

Although he had traversed halfway through this life, he didn't have a direct experience of everything this body had gone through before.

Nevertheless, an indescribable sense of oppression welled up within him. It was an uncomfortable feeling, making him want to go on a rampage.

"Then, we finally faced retribution. The host went insane and turned the entire laboratory into hell. I was lucky to be away at the time, so I survived, but everyone else perished. They all turned into blood, and the host disappeared without a trace, presumed dead."