As Beans stepped into the room, his previously hospitable smile froze.
"What... is happening here?!"
Sweat began to seep from his shiny green head.
Upon stepping in, before he could speak more than a few words, Beans felt an overwhelming pressure like a mountain.
This pressure primarily came from the excellent hunters seated in their seats and the scorching gazes they directed at him.
Beans could not understand why all these eyes were suddenly on him.
Until…
"Thank you for your effort."
Luke patted his shoulder and then stepped past him with a smile, directly approaching the various professional hunters and meeting their gazes.
The lineup was not much different from the original Zodiac Twelve: Mizaistom Nana (Horse),
Kanzai (Tiger),
Pyon (Rabbit),
Botobai Gigante (Dragon),
Gel (Snake),
Saccho Kobayakawa (Horse),
Ginta (Sheep),
Saiyu (Monkey),
Cluck (Chicken),
Cheadle Yorkshire (Dog),
and naturally, Paristhon Hill (Rat).
Plus Ging Freecss (Boar).
"Yo, you're here."
Upon seeing Luke, Ging Freecss casually greeted him.
Ginta, however, stood up with delight: "You have arrived, Luke!"
He had known Luke for a long time, had kept in contact, and their relationship was good.
Seeing Luke here made Ginta particularly happy.
"Is he really that Luke?!"
Pyon, hearing the name, could not help puffing up her cheeks.
"Is he the one who founded that internet platform?!"
A few years ago, Pyon had almost fallen for a scam involving this platform.
After being tricked, even Botobai Gigante had smashed his own phone.
The psychological shadow left on Pyon was still vivid and clear.
Later, after discovering who had founded the platform, Pyon had secretly remembered Luke's name, waiting for the day they might meet face-to-face.
Unexpectedly, she encountered the man here.
Mizaistom Nana also looked at Luke with a complicated expression.
Back in Ironwood Mountain, he had naively tried to capture the boss of the largest addictive ore distributor.
He faced tremendous resistance and ran into the Kute Gang of Thieves, nearly losing his life.
Fortunately, Luke had previously given him life-saving pills, allowing him to narrowly escape.
Strictly speaking, he owed his life to Luke.
Not to mention the initial advice or the subsequent handling of the Kute Gang of Thieves, which indirectly avenged him.
Others also, more or less, cast curious glances at Luke.
Recently, his reputation has spread rapidly.
Not to mention the network world he had built, he had also dealt with the Kute Gang of Thieves and repaired numerous ruins.
Although much of this was provided by Ging Freecss, everything was legitimate, and the others could not object.
This allowed Luke's star rating to rise swiftly to double stars.
Double-Star Hunters are rare in the association.
Moreover, he has contributed to the breeding method of the Two-headed Wolf and the development of the internet.
Yet, he did not count these achievements as his own merits.
He relied solely on hunting criminals and repairing ruins as undeniable contributions, earning his star rating legitimately.
In terms of star rating, this was undeniably impressive.
However, no matter what achievements Luke obtained, or how many star levels he rose, the outstanding hunters present were not particularly concerned.
What they cared about was still the sentence just said by Chairman Netero.
The person who was targeting him had already arrived at the scene, which also meant…
"Are you the one targeting Chairman Netero?!"
Kanzai, who had not yet officially been given the codename of Tiger, but already seemed strong and imposing in Luke's eyes, asked this provocative question while sizing up Luke from head to toe.
Luke could completely understand why this guy was chosen as the Tiger representative. The words he spoke, Luke could sense, carried no malice; it was simply a question.
But the tone and content of the words easily gave the impression that this guy was provoking someone.
Although Kanzai did not intend this, and even if others misunderstood him, he would most likely just snort dismissively without explaining.
This gave Luke a deeper understanding of the people present at this close encounter.
"Looks like I'm not too late to the meeting, it has probably not started yet."
Luke smiled, feeling quite at ease, and walked toward the conference table.
This was a long conference table.
Chairman Netero sat at the main seat at the front, and on the left and right sides of the long table, there were six hunters on each side.
Only the far end, directly opposite the main entrance and facing Chairman Netero, was still empty.
Luke walked straight to this spot.
"Do you want me to get you a chair?"
Ging Freecss raised his eyes and looked at Luke.
This was the first sentence he had spoken after entering the room and gathering with everyone.
Previously, whether it was Chairman Netero or Kanzai speaking, he had remained silent.
The expressions of the other professional hunters varied.
They knew of Luke's relationship with Ging Freecss; for years of ruin-restoration work, Ging Freecss had counted Luke as a contributor.
He had forcefully fed him into the Double-Star Hunter rank, and from this, things were fairly clear.
Within the Hunter Association, there were people who could get along with Ging Freecss, like List, Dwun, and others.
But in recent years, they seemed to have disappeared, no longer participating in even basic internal activities.
If one didn't know their names were listed among the Game Master ranks of the Greed Island game and its promotional materials, one might think they had all met misfortune.
People who could get along with Ging Freecss were not good people... and certainly not normal ones!
"No need, I've got one myself."
Luke refused Ging Freecss's offer and produced an office chair out of thin air.
This was a high-grade rotating chair; compared to the ordinary long benches the others were using, in terms of comfort and flexibility, it was on a completely different level.
"This is an ergonomic gaming chair produced at Ambrossa, designed to match a computer."
Luke introduced the gaming chair with a smile amid the others' varied gazes.
"If anyone needs it, I can make introductions..."
After speaking, he leaned back into the chair, reclining completely: "I guarantee a very good price for you all."
"Of course, if you want to choose for yourselves, just mention my name and you can get a 20% discount."