Time flew by like a shadow.
A few months passed in the blink of an eye, and by the end of August, Yorknew City had become a bustling hive of activity. A massive influx of people, all drawn by the upcoming auction, gathered in the heart of this prosperous metropolis. While the city's crime rate was steadily climbing, its GDP was growing even faster, leaving the mayor beaming with joy. As for the crime rate, the underworld controlled that anyway. Even if it spiked, the Mafia would be the first to worry. After all, the Yorknew Auction was secretly orchestrated by the Ten Community Leaders. If people ever stopped attending out of fear for their safety, the first ones to panic would be those very same gangsters desperate to offload their illicit goods.
The members of the Phantom Troupe entered Yorknew in separate waves, traveling in groups of three. They arrived with two primary objectives: first, to find and eliminate Luo Ning, the man who had been causing them endless headaches recently; and second, to purchase the game Greed Island. The massacre at Mordin City had done nothing to deter the bounty hunters and crime hunters relentlessly pursuing the Phantom Troupe. If anything, the sheer scale of the slaughter had caused the bounties on the already world-renowned A-rank fugitives to skyrocket once again. Of course, those who still dared to target the Troupe at this point were all genuine powerhouses. This constant pressure, however, had proven to be a significant nuisance for the group.
Typically, after completing a collective mission, the Troupe members would temporarily split into small teams to act independently. This time, the entire main group had only recently parted ways, and even then, the separation was intended to be brief. They were scheduled to rendezvous shortly after arriving in Yorknew.
Uvogin had been having a miserable time lately. His burns had healed, but they had left behind massive patches of scar tissue. Combined with his hair, which still hadn't grown back very long, he looked both hideous and faintly ridiculous. This had made him incredibly sensitive and prone to sudden fits of rage. Even Nobunaga, who usually teamed up with him, was starting to lose patience with his irritability. Fortunately, the Leader had assigned Machi to their group. With Machi around, Uvogin restrained himself—mostly because Machi was genuinely willing to tie him up with her threads. Uvogin had yet to successfully break free from her restraints, especially since she liked to ambush him while he was sleeping, which only made him more frustrated.
At the same time, his hatred for Luo Ning grew with each passing day. If he got the chance to meet him again, he wouldn't lose like he did last time. This time, he wouldn't give the man an opportunity to use his special abilities. After their multiple encounters, Uvogin had confirmed one thing: forming specific hand seals was the restrictive condition for Luo Ning to activate his special powers. As long as he could disrupt those hand movements, he could prevent the special attacks from ever happening. If it came down to a pure contest of physical martial arts, he would be the winner! He refused to believe that in just three months, Luo Ning's progress could have surpassed his own. He had been training like a madman, putting in effort that was surely 200 times that of an average person. Under such intense training, his improvement would be unmatched. Luo Ning would be no exception.
"Don't even think about a duel. You'll die," Machi said, ruthlessly tearing through Uvogin's thoughts. Even without being face-to-face with Luo Ning yet, she only needed one look at Uvogin's confident expression to know exactly what that simple-minded oaf was thinking. Despite the lesson of nearly being burned to death, he still hadn't learned. Machi was truly worried that if Luo Ning used even a simple baiting tactic, a fool like Uvogin would jump at it without hesitation and walk straight into a trap. 'Are all Enhancers so single-minded?' Machi couldn't help but wonder.
"I know," Uvogin grumbled, swinging the arm that had been somewhat haphazardly reattached. It was a masterpiece of Machi and Franklin, though in his opinion, it felt a bit redundant. There were numbered tattoos on the arm left by Franklin, and there was even a trace of Nen lingering within—that belonged to Franklin as well.
A car drove past the trio walking along the roadside. The driver was a strong-looking young man who seemed like he wasn't to be trifled with. Sitting in the passenger seat was a girl with long pink hair, and in the back sat a blonde girl wearing a hat. Uvogin looked toward the car instinctively, but seeing no familiar faces, he scratched his head in confusion.
Honk!
The blare of a horn interrupted Uvogin's thought of following the car. It was a heavy truck. As it drove past, the figures of Uvogin's group had already vanished from the spot. The truck driver blinked as he looked into his rearview mirror. Had he hit those three? The driver had no intention of hitting the brakes; if they had been hit, it was just their luck. Maybe they'd get lucky and be sent to another world! The driver continued listening to an isekai novel on the radio, wondering if getting hit by a truck really could transport someone to another world. On second thought, he wasn't ready to die yet. Little did the driver know that Uvogin and the others were currently sitting atop his cargo, hitching a ride into the city.
"That was Uvogin's group, right? Only three of them?" Inside the car Uvogin had glanced at, Luo Ning, sitting in the driver's seat, deactivated his Transformation Technique.
Neon held an automatic pencil in her hand. The pencil moved through the air, and her Nen left a line of text hovering in the void.
"The Frost Moon shall sink into ruin alongside the Scarlet."
"I don't get it," Neon said, shrugging as she deactivated her ability. In that instant, she had used Uvogin as a target to perform a short-term prophecy. The prophecy covered a period of one day, but she couldn't interpret the meaning of the content.
"The Frost Moon corresponds to Uvogin's month in the Troupe—number 11, which is November," Luo Ning interpreted. He turned his head to look at Neon, revealing his scarlet Sharingan. "The 'Scarlet' is clearly me."
"And 'sinking into ruin' likely means dying together. A mutual destruction?" Kurapika added his interpretation of the latter half.
"It seems there's a high probability of an ambush. That means those three walking out in the open are bait, or Uvogin is prepared to trade his life for mine," Luo Ning supplemented.
"Most likely the latter," Kurapika agreed with a nod. "I wonder if he'll trigger Post-mortem Nen? That would be interesting."
"Hard to say, but after those burns, if his hatred isn't resolved by killing me or dying with me, it really might become a lingering obsession the moment I kill him," Luo Ning analyzed. Enhancers were prone to getting stuck in ruts—just like Gon. Luo Ning didn't want to take any chances. If he was going to crush Uvogin, he needed absolute certainty. He had to account for every possible variable before delivering the final blow. He wouldn't give the man a single chance to turn the tables.
"Then it's best not to move against him today. There's no rush; we'll have plenty of opportunities," Kurapika said.
Neon's prophetic poems were only valid for a single day. However, once September 1st arrived, she would be able to perform a proper prophecy for Uvogin again. Since they lacked his specific birth date and blood type, she was currently limited to these short-term, one-day readings. Furthermore, even if they obtained his information later in September, she wouldn't be able to predict his future again that month. This was the limit of the short-term divination ability Neon could actively use through her "Lovely Ghostwriter."
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