The Kakin Empire and their own Thousand Ears Society? Or maybe another assassin family?
In other words—was there anyone in the world who could take over Netero's business?
The Zoldycks had a long-standing connection with Netero, and presumably, they weren't interested in stepping in.
As for the others...
The second-most notorious assassin family, the Matar family, had reportedly been wiped out completely.
And with many top operatives from other killer groups eliminated as well, the assassin underworld was in disarray. The Zoldycks stood above them all.
It seemed like someone had a hand in that chaos. Someone who shouldn't be overlooked.Ronnel... right?
...
At that very moment, the Ronnel in question—whom Pariston had just been thinking about—was standing in a quiet corner of a hospital.
He looked down at the two unconscious bodies at his feet, his expression unreadable.
These two had been tailing him, quietly and discreetly. But Ronnel had picked up on their presence right away. After knocking them out, he recognized one of their faces. A familiar one.
Tall, wiry build.Name: Leiert.
He didn't expect they'd meet again like this.
Now that he'd confirmed Leiert's identity, Ronnel knew exactly who was backing him.The Thousand Ears Society—an arm of the Kakin Empire's will.
...
Ronnel's gaze lingered on them for a moment. Then, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed Emuksu.
"What's up? You finally miss me? Is Netero better?" Emuksu's voice on the other end was muffled—he was clearly eating.
"Yeah, he's fine now, thanks to you... By the way, do you remember a guy named Leiert from your time with the Thousand Ears Society?"
"Leiert? Dark ops. Cleanup, assassinations, internal purges... I've run into him once or twice. What's this about?"
"Nothing major. Just asking~"
They chatted for a bit before Ronnel hung up. He rubbed his chin thoughtfully as he looked at the two knocked-out operatives.
"Assassins, huh? Looks like the king Nasubi Hui Guo Rou isn't ready to let go of a partner as good as Beyond~"
With that thought, Ronnel crouched down and gave Leiert a firm slap to wake him up.
"I ask, you answer~"
He didn't care about the fear in Leiert's eyes—he just kept his voice light.
"Who are you? Who sent you? What was your mission? Any backup or secondary orders?"
As he asked, Ronnel placed his hand on Leiert's forehead.
Pakunoda's Nen—[Psychometry]—activated.
"M-Me..." Leiert stammered, clearly stalling. His eyes darted around, desperate for a way out.
But—
Crack!Two crisp impacts.
Before Leiert could even think of escaping, Ronnel finished him off—along with the second guy, who had just tried to ambush him again.
"Yep... Thousand Ears Society for sure. And that order came from the king himself~"
Ronnel stood up, ignoring the look of shock frozen on Leiert's face as he died. He'd already gotten everything he needed.
Smoothly, he stored both corpses inside his dimensional backpack.
Then, he turned toward a passageway.
Members of the Zodiacs were just leaving after visiting Netero.
"Let me remind you—if you want a blood reward, it has to come from you~"
With a flicker of motion, he vanished.
...
At the hospital passage exit, the Zodiacs stepped out one after another.
Their faces looked relaxed and relieved.
They'd just spoken with the doctor attending to Netero and gotten a full update.
"The Chairman's condition has never been better. All injuries and ailments have been completely healed!"
The doctor's voice trembled with excitement and disbelief.
"In all my years of medicine, I've never seen anything like that..."
Everyone knew what that meant—Ging had actually pulled it off. Netero was out of danger.
Even though the doctor added, "While the Chairman has stabilized and can be considered cured, his physical reserves are still significantly depleted and won't recover naturally,"
...that didn't matter much to the Zodiacs. As long as Netero was safe, they'd spare no effort to find rare medicine or Nen users with restorative abilities to replenish him.
"Tch. Looks like that bastard Ging actually did something useful for once."
That thought was shared quietly between a few of them—until a sudden slap interrupted.
"Ow... What was that? Felt like a mosquito bite."
Piyon raised a hand to the back of her neck, frowning.
With her level of Nen, no ordinary insect should've gotten anywhere near him. But the itch... it felt too real. Like something had drained a drop of blood.
Then, the others began reacting too.
Each of them, in turn, twitched or scratched, confusion on their faces.
It was like a chain reaction—an invisible, synchronized itch.
...
"A drop of blood... missing~"
Cheadle's glasses glinted as she narrowed her eyes, suddenly alert.
She was trained to notice even the smallest changes in her body—and this was definitely unnatural.
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Fanfic is completed on patreon.com/FanficsHub (799 chapters in total)