With the Shadow Beasts mobilized and the Ten Dons ordering a sweep of the entire underworld, the months‑long turmoil soon began to subside.
The mafia families that had been stirring up trouble were all eliminated without exception.
That, in turn, forced other opportunistic or predatory factions to quiet down.
"Shoot the bird that sticks its head out"—the Ten Dons' tactic of killing a chicken to scare the monkeys proved highly effective.
During this time Xiang Nan spent more than a month working alongside the Shadow Beasts.
Even while on assignment, he never stopped researching Altana and training his own body's resistance to it.
Following his instructions, Orban and the others had begun independently "absorbing" life‑force crystals from the same planet.
Compared with Xiang Nan's choice of Altana, the energy they took in was milder and caused far less physical strain.
First they would build up resistance over time and then slowly raise the dosage. Xiang Nan had not yet begun absorbing it himself, but from Beishi and the others' reports their Nen output had already inched upward—a small but real effect.
To keep Altana from hurting them, Xiang Nan personally screened the energy types in advance, choosing only the warmest and gentlest varieties. Even if they slipped up, the consequences would be bearable.
After all, they lacked Xiang Nan's healing Nen; any bodily injury would be costly.
Xiang Nan could use Hands of Love to heal them, of course, but that would still waste a great deal of time and effort—and require him to go in person.
Meanwhile, news had spread through the underworld that Yorknew City would soon host the world's largest auction.
The masterminds, naturally, were the Ten Dons.
They intended to use the event both to restore order to the underworld and to line their own pockets.
By mafia custom, buying items at the auction amounted to paying tribute to the Ten Dons.
The auction therefore gave every family a chance to prove its loyalty. A family that paid tribute would enter the Dons' spotlight and might be favored later on.
At the same time, in the half‑year of chaos, some families—though not wiped out by the Shadow Beasts—had behaved suspiciously. No one could say whether the Ten Dons would punish them in the future.
For those wanting to clear their names, this auction was the perfect opportunity: go broke—buy your life.
First came the Shadow Beasts' thunderous purge, and now the auction to vacuum up all the underworld's treasure. One had to admit, the Ten Dons' calculations were sharp.
But as a confidant of the Dons and a Shadow Beast himself, Xiang Nan knew a secret few others did:
The auction was actually a silent declaration of war between the Ten Dons and the Phantom Troupe.
Since Xiang Nan's arrival in this world, the underworld had suffered constant raids by the Spiders. Mafia groups, big and small, had been harassed or destroyed—too many to count.
The Ten Dons understood all this… yet they had never been able to deal with the Troupe.
They had once hired Silva Zoldyck to kill one Spider, but that barely dented the Troupe—if anything, it drove the Spiders to massacre the mafia again. So now, using the auction to gather nearly all the underworld's elite, the Ten Dons planned to wipe out their greatest menace in a single blow.
Both sides were old foes and knew each other well.
The Ten Dons understood the Spiders' nature: the Phantom Troupe would definitely come.
Even knowing it was a trap, those lawless thieves would still show up.
The entire underworld versus the most dangerous band of robbers—an open showdown.
On the Troupe's side, the entire team had reassembled for the first time in more than three years.
Xiang Nan remained in intermittent contact with Hisoka.
Over at Heavens Arena, Gon and Killua had already left; by now—mid‑August—they were probably in Yorknew City.
Kurapika had likely become the Nostrade family's bodyguard.
That was the current intelligence.
By ordinary standards, the auction's scale and publicity were unprecedented.
Throughout September it would run continuously, with different catalogues and sessions each day; the ticket price alone was a fortune to ordinary people.
Attendees were therefore screened strictly for both identity and wealth.
For certain special sessions, a ticket plus catalogue started at ten million Jenny.
Attendance was projected to exceed fifty thousand, gathering many of the world's movers and shakers.
Though the auction had yet to begin, the Ten Dons had already deployed their defenses—the main target: the Spiders.
A Class A bounties was posted on every Phantom Troupe member.
The Shadow Beasts, of course, received the order.
But Xiang Nan's team still had one final target to eliminate before heading to Yorknew.
Ten‑odd days remained—enough to arrive early.
Because Rabid Dog and another Beast had been injured earlier, the group had been operating with only seven members.
After losing people in the Muka‑family purge, Owl had grown more cautious, determined not to let the Shadow Beasts' condition deteriorate further.
Yet in Xiang Nan's eyes… apart from Owl, the rest of the Beasts were already dead men walking.
The Yorknew arc was about to begin.
Once they met the Spiders, these arrogant blowhards would learn what real Nen masters and true killing machines looked like…
instead of boasting every day—before even seeing the Troupe—about how they would "teach the Spiders a lesson."
Some even debated how many Spiders each could kill on his own—idiotic talk.
All along the Shadow Beasts and the Phantom Troupe had only heard of each other; they had never clashed.
Years ago the Troupe had acted cautiously, never giving the Ten Dons a clear target. Under Chrollo's plan the Spiders had to grow step by step and never fought battles without absolute certainty.
With the Spiders deliberately steering clear, this half‑baked band of Shadow Beasts could not have found a trace of them even if they had tried.
…
"This is the last one, right? The Staline family."
In a city on the Azian continent, after receiving word from allied mafiosi, Owl led Xiang Nan and the others to the firefight.
Worm asked Owl,
"Yeah… according to the Ten Dons, this is the final traitorous clan that must be exterminated—no room for bargaining," Owl nodded.
They were racing toward a district.
The intel said that, surrounded by other mafia forces, the Staline family was already on its last legs, though not yet wiped out.
Their boss, shielded by his core fighters, was trying to break through the encirclement and flee.
There were, of course, Nen users among them—apparently strong ones; many of the Ten Dons' men had been knocked flat.
So the job fell to the Shadow Beasts.
"Looks like a newly risen mafia clan. Never heard of them here before. In just a few months they've built such power… astounding growth," Owl added.
In fact, they had run into this kind of oddity more than once.
Many of the forces they destroyed had something suspicious about them.
The Muka family at the start had been the same—and each cleanup had been tougher than usual.
"Porcupine, any thoughts?"
Owl instinctively looked at Xiang Nan.
After many missions together, every task Owl entrusted to Xiang Nan had been flawlessly done.
Although Xiang Nan kept a deliberately low profile, Owl sensed that his strength was among the very best in the Beasts—perhaps above Owl himself.
So his attitude had shifted from giving orders to seeking opinions.
"None…"
Xiang Nan grinned lazily. "If possible, I'd rather not lift a finger. I'm pretty tired—mind if I slack off and let you guys handle it?"
"You really are impossible…"
"Do we need the whole team? That overrates these punks. The three of us can settle it," the other Beasts said casually.
Xiang Nan's laziness didn't bother them.
They were, after all, the Ten Dons' trump card; they had pride and wouldn't go all‑out against trash.
And in their time together they had come to respect Xiang Nan's ability—he was far more reliable than the previous "Porcupine."
"At this point you really don't need to join in… take a break," Owl said, eyes narrowing with a meaning only he and Xiang Nan understood.
"Much obliged."
Xiang Nan raised a hand and flashed a mock‑grateful smile.