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Chapter 124: Cooperation with Milluki
The car drove away from Heaven's Arena and eventually stopped at an estate in the suburbs. This was a temporary residence Milia had prepared for them well in advance.
"Has Chrollo made his move yet?" Ronin asked.
He knew this matter wouldn't end easily. The final outcome would likely depend on him and Silva. As long as they killed Chrollo, who had hired Illumi, this assassination operation would naturally conclude.
Of course, there was an even simpler method: kill Illumi.
Ronin didn't believe Maha would follow Illumi around constantly. As long as Maha wasn't there, if Ronin could find Illumi's location, he was confident he could finish him off.
As for how to find Illumi's location, Ronin had the ultimate traitor on hand: Hisoka.
He just didn't know what Hisoka and Illumi's relationship was like at this stage. If they had already formed an alliance like in the manga, that would be even better. As long as Hisoka was given enough incentive, he would definitely be more than willing to sell Illumi out.
He believed Illumi was also fully aware of this. But being aware of it and being able to defend against it were two different things.
"Yes, he's already making his move," Kurapika, who had been in constant contact with the people left in Meteor City, confirmed. "However, there haven't been any actions beyond our predictions. The only thing that concerns me is Chrollo's contact with Sheila. If your previous deductions are correct, then I believe Pakunoda will definitely learn everything about our contact with her through Sheila's memories."
"The crux of the problem isn't whether Pakunoda will know, but whether Sheila actively guided Pakunoda to investigate," Ronin voiced his thoughts.
Just as he had judged before, he simply couldn't trust Sheila.
Kurapika held an opposing view on this. In his eyes, Sheila wouldn't be the kind of two-faced person Ronin described. However, he didn't argue the point, preferring to let the facts prove that he hadn't misjudged her.
"By the way, the explosion in the arena earlier should have been Milluki's doing. It was meant to draw my attention and create an opening for Maha's surprise attack. But I spotted it beforehand," Ronin warned. "But this guy Milluki is exceptionally skilled with computers. He might use computer technology to track and investigate our whereabouts."
"It's fine. I actually contacted Silva earlier and got Milluki's contact information. Although he isn't exactly on our side right now, he won't easily leak our information to Illumi," Kurapika said, uttering words that nearly made Ronin's jaw drop.
Didn't this amount to flipping the Zoldyck family from the inside?
"Milluki was coerced into this in the first place. Besides, the compensation Illumi offered him wasn't generous at all. According to Milluki, the majority of it went to Maha. So, working basically for free, he has some grievances. It's perfectly understandable that he's putting in the minimal effort," Kurapika explained.
"Then why did you contact Milluki?" Ronin was somewhat confused.
"You told me before that Milluki's computer skills are top-notch. So, hiring him to help us investigate information regarding the Scarlet Eyes makes perfect sense, doesn't it!" Kurapika shrugged. "The personnel Milia can mobilize are still a bit too 'surface-level'. Even though she has taken over Raymond's mafia forces, the underground intelligence they can provide us in the short term is very limited. But Milluki is different. He's deeply rooted in the underworld and can access far more useful intelligence for us. The only issue is his asking price is a bit high, but having him act as an inside man saves us a lot of trouble, so this deal is quite a bargain."
Ronin agreed with Kurapika's assessment, and he trusted Kurapika. He also understood Kurapika likely had another layer of intent behind this: they had no need to completely fall out with the Zoldyck family and become mortal enemies.
Ronin agreed with this point as well.
The Zoldyck family still hid an ultimate weapon. If it truly came to a critical moment and they activated Nanika, no one would have a good time.
"Since things here are wrapped up, we can leave now. Milluki's intelligence is actually quite useful. He helped us locate another person hoarding Scarlet Eyes on the Yorbian Continent," Kurapika stated earnestly.
Ever since they obtained those three pairs of Scarlet Eyes last time, they hadn't received any news regarding the eyes for a while.
Now that Kurapika could obtain this intelligence from Milluki, it proved his decision to contact him was completely flawless.
"But speaking of which, didn't your move to contact Milluki raise Silva's suspicions?" Ronin asked another pertinent question.
"The Zoldyck family has an intelligence-selling business anyway. I didn't need to state I was specifically looking for Milluki; I just needed to put out a request, and Silva naturally provided me with Milluki's contact info," Kurapika shrugged. "I actually thought I'd have to start with the butlers and eventually get a chance to contact Milluki."
Ronin pondered for a moment before saying, "Does this count as a gesture of goodwill?"
"Regardless, Silva, as the head of the family, clearly doesn't intend to make enemies of us. But Illumi taking the job on his own initiative has complicated things. In short, no matter what happens, maintaining the current status quo is nothing but beneficial for us. Especially since Silva promised that if we can secure a method to enter Greed Island, he and Zeno are willing to follow us in and assassinate the Phantom Troupe members existing inside the game," Kurapika revealed another condition.
This was also the primary reason that tempted him the most, solidifying his decision to avoid war with the Zoldyck family unless absolutely necessary.
"The billionaire Battera's castle is also on the Yorbian Continent, right? It seems everything is perfectly on the way," Ronin threw himself onto the sofa. "Neon, get me something to eat."
"Hey, hey, hey, I'm not a maid, okay?" Even as Neon complained, she obediently got up and headed toward the kitchen.
However, someone was faster. Blinky appeared in Shizuku's hands, and under her command, it spat out a pile of fried chicken, hamburgers, and other food directly onto the coffee table.
"Kurapika told me to prepare provisions."
As she said this, Blinky even regurgitated an entire hot dog and french fry food cart.
"Did you pay for this?" Ronin asked, rubbing his forehead as he watched Shizuku clumsily scramble to store the small cart back away.
"I paid," Shizuku said matter-of-factly. "It's not like I'm short on money."
Kurapika had given her quite a bit of money, and buying this food barely cost anything.
"Kurapika treats you so well." Watching Shizuku produce the food, Neon plopped back down onto the sofa.
"Being jealous is useless," Ronin snorted, casually grabbing a burger.
Kurapika, on the other hand, looked at the table full of food and sighed helplessly. He had asked Shizuku to buy a diverse and nutritionally balanced variety of foods. Now it seemed she had only remembered the "buy food" part.
Perhaps next time he should just have Neon go with her!
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