After pin‑pointing the target's position, the remaining Shadow Beasts dashed to the scene.
Worm and Bat were the first to attack the Stalin family's Nen users.
With one of them underground and the other in the air, the two left the enemy nowhere to run.
"Another player‑run mafia?"
The moment Xiang Nan arrived, a quick look told him this crowd was different.
Players stand out in two ways: first, they know the canon characters inside‑out; second, their Nen abilities are deliberately structured.
By contrast, natives of the main world are clueless about Nen when they first awaken. Without a mentor, most develop mediocre abilities—Kastro is a classic example, and he's already considered gifted.
With a weak Nen framework, most end up as run‑of‑the‑mill fighters. A single ability doesn't set your absolute ceiling, but it matters a lot. Raw talent alone rarely lets someone smash through that ceiling.
After watching for a few moments, Xiang Nan sharply concluded that these Stalin Nen users were a squad of players.
That surprised him.
Except for the "Star" group he'd met in Heaven's Arena, this was the first time he'd run into another organized band of players.
That in itself wasn't shocking—but any mafia able to shake the underworld and draw the Ten Dons' attention has to be backed by high‑level players, and there aren't many of those, let alone enough to form a team.
Most of the Star group back then were barely out of the newbie phase. This was different: not one or two players, but a bunch.
The Muka family needed only two players to kill one Shadow Beast and maim two more—imagine a whole party.
Yet Xiang Nan soon saw the Shadow Beasts dominating.
Together, these players were less threatening than the Muka family's female player. Partly it was the quirks of their Nen; partly the Stalins had only just risen to power and lacked a solid foundation, and the players looked newly assembled with clumsy teamwork.
Their abilities were flashy but not decisive.
He'd barely arrived when several players, despite fierce attacks and stalling tactics, were quickly crippled or killed by the Shadow Beasts. At this rate they wouldn't last.
When Nen users differ greatly in strength, a fight ends in an instant; usually the weaker side dies within a minute or two. Only evenly matched battles drag on.
"The Beasts brought four people, the enemy has six—but only five are actually fighting… and that one…" Xiang Nan stroked his chin, eyeing a long‑haired man who kept dodging the Beasts' strikes.
"That guy… the captain?"
Xiang Nan narrowed his eyes. The man's aura felt grim and eerily sinister—clearly a ruthless type.
"His strength…"
From Xiang Nan's reading, the long‑haired man was almost on par with a Shadow Beast—the strongest of the players.
On the way here, Owl had mentioned the Stalin family had plenty of Nen users; otherwise the Beasts wouldn't have been dispatched, nor could the family have resisted the Ten Dons' gangs this long.
Judging by the situation, many Stalin Nen users were players—not just the few fleeing now. How had this long‑haired man managed to rally so many players?
Heaven's Arena was a special "dungeon"; that peculiarity had produced the Star group.
Normally players avoid deep contact with other players—it's too risky, unless, like Xiang Nan and Beishi, they've survived several Reincarnation Dimensions together and built trust.
"This mafia has only just risen. Even if he's a high‑level player and dangles benefits or a grand vision, recruiting so many people is unlikely. Without the right channels, you could haunt the underworld for years and offer olive branches to every mafia‑linked player and still get a few takers. Most players who master Nen are level 5+. Even luring them with plot resources released after the Ten Dons die would be tough."
Xiang Nan mulled it over.
While he watched the long‑haired man, he noticed the man's gaze skip past the Beasts and land on him.
"Hmm?"
Xiang Nan's eyelid twitched.
"What's wrong?"
Owl, standing beside him and not yet involved, glanced over.
There was no need for them to join in; by Owl's reckoning, only the long‑haired man posed any threat to Earthworm's squad.
"It's nothing…"
Xiang Nan hesitated, face turning solemn. Something felt off. The long‑haired man's eyes almost looked as if he knew Xiang Nan—unlike other players who were startled or curious about an unfamiliar face in the Beast squad.
"Something's wrong!"
The unease grew stronger.
Just then, the grass beneath his feet rippled like a pond's surface.
Xiang Nan leapt instantly to evade—
—and vanished the next second.
Owl and Fish froze. Owl reacted fast, shifting position as Xiang Nan jumped and reaching to grab him, but his hand closed on air. Fish had had no warning at all.
The Nen ability clearly hadn't targeted Owl or Fish; neither was hurt. The only difference was that Xiang Nan, a living person, had disappeared.
"A Nen ability, huh?"
Owl landed, face grim.
"Looks like… the enemy has backup," Fish muttered.
"No." Owl frowned, glancing at the nearby player corpses felled by the Beasts. "It seems… they were after Porcupine alone…"
…
Xiang Nan's vision spun. He flared his Nen to shield himself—the trap had sprung! No wonder something had felt off: the Stalin family's chaos was a smokescreen; he was the real target.
When he was transported he felt no attack. Once his sight cleared he was still on lush grass—but all the Shadow Beasts and Stalin fighters were gone. Ten paces ahead stood three unfamiliar faces.
"Heh‑heh, finally showed up!"
"So that's Xiang Nan?"
First Xiang Nan checked himself for abnormalities, then scanned this odd "space."
The three men opposite stared at him with murderous intent.
"Relax," said a burly blond with a matching beard, sensing Xiang Nan's wary appraisal. "This is a surface world manifested by Nen—a separate space with time and usage limits.
"In plain words, you were just brought here. You're physically fine.
"Whether you leave alive, though… that's another matter."