The apartment Liam and Shizuku rented actually had a computer with internet access. But using a Hunter License at your residence might attract people with malicious intent eyeing the license. To avoid having restless nights, it was better to find a public place. A humble internet cafe was naturally the perfect spot.
Liam chose a corner with few people and plenty of empty machines. He opened a station with Shizuku and sat down. After entering the Hunter website URL Wing had given him, a bizarre splash screen with a brain pattern appeared. Then a tech-heavy specialized website popped up.
The main interface looked like a bar entrance. It prompted him to enter the Hunter License number and insert the license.
Liam glanced at the number on the black license in his hand, typed it on the keyboard, then slid the card into the reader peripheral that came standard with every computer in this world.
Click.
The door to the Hunter Bar slowly opened.
The entire website was designed like an online game. Liam seemed to be controlling a first-person perspective character walking into this online bar dedicated to Hunters.
A few drinkers sat scattered throughout. Some people were actually playing arcade machines in the corner. He couldn't tell if they were NPCs or other Hunters logged in.
There was also a bartender-like NPC behind the bar.
Liam controlled the mouse and clicked on him. A dialog box popped up. The bartender opened his mouth. "What kind of information do you want?"
An interface opened—densely packed with all kinds of information, divided into categories. From entertainment news to classified intel, it was dizzying. Almost everything was covered.
Liam browsed roughly. Under the "Assassins" category, he found an entry for the Zoldycks. He clicked tentatively. The bartender NPC prompted: "Zoldyck Family Intelligence: 500 million Jenny."
You might as well just rob me! Liam rolled his eyes, closed the dialog box, and continued browsing the information list.
He searched for "Beyond" using keywords. Result: 0.
He searched for "Ging Freecss" again. Result: also 0.
He searched for "Netero" and found some results. But for just a little information, it wanted to charge 2 billion Jenny!
Hard to say how much information about Netero 2 billion Jenny would actually buy. Liam shook his head and closed the dialog box. President, are you using this method to generate revenue for the Association's finances?
Finally, Liam searched the keyword "Scarlet Eyes" and actually found a result.
He clicked on it. The bartender NPC prompted: "Scarlet Eyes information: 1 million Jenny."
Liam's first reaction was that the Phantom Troupe must have taken action regarding the Scarlet Eyes. In other words—a considerable portion of the eyes might have fallen into the hands of Kakin's Fourth Prince and become part of that pervert's collection.
"It's only 1 million," Shizuku commented sharply. "That's really cheap."
After leaving the internet cafe, Shizuku and Liam walked side by side through the night streets.
"Does Liam want to help him find those eyeballs?" Shizuku asked.
"Anyway, besides training, we don't have anything specific to do," Liam said. "Think of it as a side quest. Most people who obtain those Scarlet Eyes aren't good people, and they're probably very rich. When the time comes, the eyeballs go to Kurapika and the money goes to us. Win-win, right?"
"Makes sense," Shizuku said.
"Whether it makes sense or not, we'll talk tomorrow." Liam sighed. "I don't know if our Suzaku's heart will be able to handle it after he hears the information I bought from the boss."
The next day, Shizuku opened her eyes and reached for the glasses on the bedside table. She put them on and yawned slightly. She saw Liam had already sat up and was looking at his phone.
Noticing her gaze, Liam showed her the screen. "Why is Heavens Arena sending spam now?"
"Sensui Mountain Conference..."
Shizuku saw a text message on the phone screen sent from Heavens Arena, inviting Liam to attend a conference from June 16th to June 26th.
"Are you going?" Shizuku asked.
"We'll see." Liam gestured toward a knock on the living room door outside the bedroom. "The side quest has arrived."
In the living room, Liam and Kurapika sat facing each other on the sofa. Shizuku grabbed a bag of cookies and ate them while watching.
"The Phantom Troupe has thirteen members. Each one has a spider tattoo plus a number as their symbol. Number 0 is their leader, Chrollo."
Liam got straight to the point. "Chrollo is a Specialist. His ability is to steal other people's abilities. As for the other members—as far as I know: Machi, a Transmuter whose ability turns aura into thread. Uvogin, an Enhancer. Nothing complicated—just massive brute strength. No obvious characteristics, but no special weaknesses either. Shalnark, a Manipulator. Remember—when facing a Manipulator, if the opponent gets the first move, you lose. Franklin, an Emitter. Basically long-range aura attacks. Phinks and Nobunaga—both Enhancers. The former is good at hand-to-hand combat, the latter is a swordsman. The most troublesome one is Pakunoda. Her ability—I don't want to see it for even a second."
Shizuku bit into a cookie and looked at Liam curiously.
"Pakunoda. Specialist. Her ability is reading memories." Liam said. "Kurapika, you don't want your memories browsed by someone like that, right?"
As for the others—Kortopi had been lured into Greed Island by him, so he must've been killed by Razor by now. Shizuku had been intercepted by him and was now the second member of The Ten, code name Dora. Liam didn't understand Feitan's or Bonoleno's abilities well enough to discuss them casually. And Hisoka most likely hadn't joined the Phantom Troupe yet at this moment.
As for the original Number 4 of the Phantom Troupe and Number 8—who Shizuku had replaced in the original timeline—Liam had no idea who currently held those positions.
Even so, the information he'd revealed now far exceeded Kurapika's expectations.
Kurapika frowned slightly, lowered his head, and pondered. He silently sorted through the information Liam had given him.
"But I still want to say—within five years, I don't recommend confronting them head-on." Liam added. "These people are all powerful masters. You heard what Wing said. Talented people can quickly accumulate considerable aura. Everyone in the Phantom Troupe definitely has many head start advantages over you in Nen training. But your advantage is that as their abilities mature, their progress will definitely slow down. You can rapidly improve your strength over the next five years and close the gap with them as much as possible."
If this were the previous Kurapika, his eyes would be burning scarlet right now, glaring at Liam angrily.
However, because of Liam's intervention, Kurapika—who now had the goal of resurrecting his tribe—just remained silent. This time it was a long, tangled silence.
Just from listening to Liam briefly describe those murderers' abilities, you could understand why they'd escaped justice for so long.
Three Enhancement types could serve as attackers. The Specialist, Manipulator, and members with weird abilities could serve as the core of intelligence and tactics. There were also the Transmuter, Emitter, and unknown members even Liam didn't know about, which greatly enriched the team composition. As a team of Nen users, the Phantom Troupe had almost no obvious shortcomings.
And as Liam said, those two Specialists in the Spider were particularly concerning.
One could steal abilities. One could steal memories.
Under normal circumstances, nobody would want to encounter either of them.
"But I have to find them," Kurapika raised his eyes and said. "I have to get the whereabouts of my clan's Scarlet Eyes from them."
"About that..." Liam sighed. "I can tell you the whereabouts of the Scarlet Eyes. But you have to agree first—you have to stay calm after hearing this information."
"Go ahead," Kurapika said calmly.
"Nine months ago, a homeless man found all the Scarlet Eyes someone had left in an abandoned building. Since then, these Scarlet Eyes have flowed into the black market. Now they're probably scattered across the world into the hands of different buyers and collectors."