Chrollo arrived in Moldin City exactly seven days after Omokage's death.
They had encountered snipers on the way. According to Shalnark's investigation, someone had leaked information regarding the Troupe members' abilities on the internet. Although the asking price for the intel was not low, there were many buyers and even more people willing to take action. From Heavens Arena to Moldin City, four airships had been blown up.
Three members of the Troupe suffered minor injuries, and Nobunaga, like Uvogin, had lost an arm. Fortunately, the arm had not been destroyed; with Machi's stitching ability, Nobunaga would be able to recover after a period of rest and adjustment.
"Luo Ning must have observed the members' abilities during the massacre of the Kurta Clan! There were indeed some troublesome existences in that tribe," Feitan said. He was currently with the group.
Or rather, except for Omokage, all current members of the Phantom Troupe were gathered here.
"Well, the information currently provided does indeed match up. However, some of it was likely told to him by his father. Otherwise, based on my memory of his position at the time, he wouldn't have been able to see the abilities of so many members," Shalnark said somewhat helplessly.
Feitan narrowed his eyes and spoke bluntly. "If it weren't for that useless Uvogin, the kid wouldn't have escaped."
"What did you say, you shorty?" Uvogin's irritable voice came from behind.
"You're looking for death!" While Feitan muttered something unintelligible, his figure had already vanished from the spot.
Bang!
The sound of a collision came from the rear, but Chrollo and the others continued walking forward. No one cared about the two who had started fighting.
"There's no news from Omokage." Isley had not been able to contact Omokage since the last time he had tipped him off. At this point, there was no reason to keep hiding it. "He is most likely dead."
"Luo Ning!" Chrollo was not particularly surprised.
Omokage's obsession with eyes was obvious to everyone; he was simply too impatient. Knowing that Luo Ning was difficult to deal with yet still taking the initiative to approach him—did he believe his abilities countered Luo Ning? It seemed he had paid the price for his arrogance.
"Yes, he arrived first. His ability wasn't weak and should have countered Luo Ning's to some extent. For him to simply vanish like this, does it mean Luo Ning has grown stronger again?" Isley asked suspiciously.
He had never made contact with Luo Ning, but through the fragments of information from other members, he knew the boy could definitely be considered a genius. A Nen genius, a combat genius, an escape expert, and even possessed a streak of madness. Otherwise, no stray dog would dare to high-profilely broadcast their location at Heavens Arena while being hunted.
At least, Isley couldn't do it. In his view, such a paranoid and crazy guy was likely either a single-minded Enhancer or a highly assertive Specialist. Luo Ning seemed to occupy both categories.
"Who knows? Maybe he found a new helper," Shalnark said, having a relatively strong say in the matter.
Reviewing Luo Ning's actions revealed that he was a somewhat contradictory person. He was extremely cautious when taking airships, leaving no traces behind, yet after arriving at Heavens Arena, he high-profilely publicized himself after reaching the 200th floor. He was decisive and fierce in battle, yet his escapes afterward were incredibly smooth. Even though his abilities gave him the means to avoid their attacks entirely, he would still take the initiative to stand out and provoke them.
Until a week ago, the logic behind the boy's behavior had changed completely. No matter how hard Shalnark searched for traces of Luo Ning, the result was a total silence. And the last place he had disappeared was Moldin City.
"Luo Ning should have run away. Should we stir things up a bit?" Bonolenov, whose body was completely covered in bandages, spoke with a voice full of murderous intent.
Part of his information had also been exposed, which put him in a very foul mood. Those who were still constantly testing and watching from the sidelines were, in Bonolenov's eyes, the best targets for venting his frustration.
"Fine. Let's kill more then. People need to feel fear and terror before they know to stay far away," Chrollo said, equally cold and murderous.
...
Seven days ago, after Luo Ning killed Omokage and obtained the Scarlet Eyes, he fused them. He could feel that the evolution speed of his eyes had slowed down; he was even starting to doubt if continuing to fuse Scarlet Eyes would truly allow him to awaken the Mangekyo Sharingan.
However, his own aura capacity continued to improve. By now, his total aura pool had exceeded 20,000.
Having found Neon and killed Omokage, Luo Ning's mission in Moldin City had been perfectly completed. The next place he needed to go was Yorknew City, but before that, Kurapika had asked him for information regarding the Phantom Troupe members. Kurapika then packaged this information as intel and sold it.
During this period, Luo Ning contacted Adley again and borrowed his Hunter account. Only on the Hunter website could information about the Phantom Troupe fetch a high price. The act of borrowing the account also allowed Adley to make a small profit, making it a win-win for both parties.
However, according to Kurapika's estimation, the leak of information would only cause minor trouble for the Phantom Troupe and would not be enough to fundamentally damage them. The key reason was that the Troupe members themselves were powerful enough and rarely acted alone. People like Omokage, who harbored his own designs on the members and was in a state of being "estranged" from the Troupe, were far too rare.
In fact, if Omokage were still alive, once attackers appeared, he would have had Troupe companions moving with him at any time. In that case, if Luo Ning had encountered them, he wouldn't have had the chance to kill him.
Ultimately, it still came down to insufficient strength and a lack of time for growth. What Kurapika was doing now was buying enough development time for Luo Ning and himself.
Luo Ning felt relieved leaving these matters to Kurapika. After all, he was originally just someone who drew blueprints, did live streams, and engaged in cosplay; he only had experience in theoretical strategies, and when it came to practical execution, there were always gaps. Kurapika, on the other hand, had become increasingly skilled in these areas after constantly absorbing knowledge from the internet.
According to Kurapika, the Troupe shouldn't be able to find them in the short term. However, this window would likely only last until the end of August. Because by the end of August, what they planned to do was something the Troupe could roughly guess as long as they weren't stupid.
Go to Yorknew and buy the Scarlet Eyes that would appear at the auction!
"It's still not a good time to go to Kakin for now. Although according to your information, the person collecting the Scarlet Eyes should be the Fourth Prince of Kakin, Tserriednich, and he is currently just an ordinary person," Kurapika said while sitting in the passenger seat of the car, thinking. "But in my investigation of Kakin's history, I found that in every generation, three months before the birth of the next king, not a single prince with succession rights has died an unnatural death."
"If that's the case, it truly is difficult. Given what I know about Tserriednich, trying to buy back the Scarlet Eyes from him through a transaction is simply unrealistic." Luo Ning was driving toward the outskirts of Yorknew City.
They had arrived in Yorknew three days early. Since they couldn't find any clues regarding the Scarlet Eyes after a quick search, he prepared to take Kurapika and Neon to the outskirts to cultivate for a while.
In any case, by September, at least five or more pairs of Scarlet Eyes would appear in the auction. For now, there were only two things they needed to do: increase their strength and make money.
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