The deaths of Feitan and Shalnark plunged the entire Phantom Troupe into an unusual state of tension.
This wasn't born from concern for their own safety; spiders never feared death.
What filled each member's heart now was nothing but pure, almost tangible bloodlust.
They were desperate to find the killer and tear them to pieces.
Franklin concluded the discussion about their leader heading to Jappon and turned his head to see a man in burgundy suit walking straight toward them.
Even as the man approached, Franklin and Bonolenov remained seated, their expressions unchanged.
The newcomer stood tall, his narrow eyes gleaming with a sinister light.
"Phantom Troupe?"
The burgundy-suited man kept his hands in his pockets, scrutinizing Franklin and Bonolenov up close.
He was Shale, the second-in-command of the local mafia family, the Ino.
That he had come alone to meet Franklin and Bonolenov spoke volumes about his confidence in his own strength.
"From the Ino family?"
Franklin wiped the pastry crumbs from his fingers with a napkin, unhurried, before countering with a question.
Beside him, Bonolenov remained silent, his eyes, visible through the gaps in his bandages, fixed on Shale.
Shale narrowed his eyes slightly, sensing the fierce aura radiating from the two men before him, and slowly withdrew his hands from his pockets.
No further confirmation was needed.
These two were undoubtedly members of the Phantom Troupe.
"That's right. I'm Shale of the Ino family. I'm leading this deal."
Though Franklin and Bonolenov's auras were intimidating, Shale was no pushover either. As the second-in-command of the Ino family, he had weathered many storms and was accustomed to dealing with dangerous individuals.
Once Franklin confirmed Shale's identity, he cut straight to the point: "As agreed, we'll pay half upfront. The rest will be settled once the job is done."
"..."
Shale fell briefly silent.
Originally,
He had intended to negotiate for a higher price.
But after sensing the dangerous presence exuded by the Troupe members up close, he wisely suppressed that thought.
Though he had no concrete basis for it, he was certain...
These two spiders wouldn't hesitate to kill him on the spot, completely indifferent to any retaliation from the Ino family.
"Fine."
After a brief pause, Shale agreed.
That simple response marked the official establishment of the deal he had personally come to broker.
Franklin and Bonolenov stood up immediately, walking past Shale on either side.
On one side was the heavy thud of Franklin's footsteps; on the other, Bonolenov's nearly soundless stride. The two contrasting pressures brushed past Shale like blades.
Truly... dangerous monsters.
Shale didn't move a muscle, his knuckles stiffening slightly as cold sweat trickled down his spine.
Only when Franklin's heavy footsteps had faded into the distance did he finally turn around, but Franklin and Bonolenov were already gone. All he could see was the bustling crowd coming and going.
"Hah..."
Shale clenched his fist tightly, trying to ease the stiffness in his fingers.
Tap, tap.
At that moment, several members of the Eno family approached from a distance.
"Big Brother Shale, how did the negotiation go? How much did you raise the price?" one of them asked eagerly.
Shale's gaze remained fixed in the direction where Franklin and Bonolenov had disappeared as he slowly shook his head. "It didn't work out."
"What?"
His subordinates froze simultaneously, exchanging incredulous looks.
Shale shoved his hands back into his pockets and frowned. "Forget raising the price... Now I'm starting to think doing business with these monsters might have been a mistake from the beginning."
—--
After concluding their deal, Franklin and Bonolenov left Zhongyang City directly.
They drove an off-road vehicle, avoiding main roads and heading straight into the wilderness.
As Class A wanted criminals, they could move around freely, but normal transportation was out of the question.
They had entered Kukan'yu Kingdom through smuggling, and naturally, they would leave the same way.
Somewhere in the plains.
The vehicle driven by Morrow was parked on the grassy field.
"Is this 'position' accurate?" Morrow asked, looking at Kalluto in the passenger seat after parking.
Kalluto was currently staring intently at the living paper doll in his palm, fingertips sensing its rhythmic vibrations.
Each tremor conveyed information like a heartbeat.
The stronger the vibration, the closer they were to their target.
This ability wasn't limited to tracking alone.
By carefully observing changes in the doll's vibration frequency, one could precisely determine whether the target was moving away or approaching.
Using this principle, simply choosing a position and staying still could turn passive "tracking" into active "interception."
Abilities didn't always have to be used conventionally.
When applied creatively, they could often yield unexpected results.
"Accurate," Kalluto murmured, feeling the increasingly intense vibrations. "The target is heading straight toward us."
"Good."
Morrow got out of the car and walked a short distance ahead before stopping to gaze into the distance.
Guided by the living paper doll, they had tracked Franklin and Bonolenov all the way to Kukan'yu Kingdom, finally pinpointing their location in Zhongyang City.
However, Morrow hadn't acted rashly. Instead, with careful consideration, he observed their movements from afar.
He wasn't in any hurry to strike.
Moreover, aside from the possibility of the Phantom Troupe setting traps, acting within the city would significantly increase the risk of exposure afterward.
With this in mind, Morrow had even restrained his "observation."
Since the living paper doll provided constant guidance, there was no need to worry about losing track of their targets.
Given this advantage, intensive surveillance of Franklin and Bonolenov's movements was unnecessary; it would only heighten the risk of exposure.
This was Morrow's approach.
Just like when he had hunted Shalnark, his methods were terrifyingly steady.
"They're here."
A gray off-road vehicle appeared in Morrow's field of vision. He immediately crouched halfway, his right hand reaching into the grass and pressing against the damp sand.
Silently, part of his aura output surged like a torrent to his right hand, which was in contact with the ground.
At the same time.
Inside the off-road vehicle, Franklin and Bonolenov immediately noticed the car parked directly ahead of them, and...
A short distance from the vehicle, Morrow crouched low in the grass.
They're coming for us.
A cold glint of bloodlust flashed through Franklin's eyes.
For every member of the Troupe, encountering beings like Blacklist Hunters was nothing out of the ordinary.
But recently...
Anyone who dared attack them, whether Blacklist Hunters or otherwise, had been marked for death without exception.
In their eyes, these aggressors could very well be the ones who killed Feitan and Shalnark.
Morrow stared at the gray off-road vehicle showing no signs of slowing down. Even from this distance, he could already "sense" the bloodlust radiating from Franklin and Bonolenov.
Triggered, huh...
Knowing the Troupe as he did, these capricious individuals wouldn't normally reveal such naked killing intent upon spotting suspicious figures. Even Uvogin, the most battle-hungry among them, would at most feel a surge of fighting spirit in such situations.
So Morrow could roughly guess the reason.
Franklin and Bonolenov's intense reaction was likely due to Feitan and Shalnark's deaths.
No big deal.
Muttering to himself, the Nen covering his right hand suddenly condensed, then vanished.
「Insidious Shooting Star」
In that instant, a stellar cross flared to life in the grass ahead of the vehicle, its ghostly blue glow mostly obscured by swaying blades.
Just as half the vehicle passed over the cross,
Whoosh!
A cerulean Shooting Star erupted from the array's center, striking the undercarriage with pinpoint accuracy.
"BOOM!"
The deafening explosion tore through the steel frame with savage force.
The entire vehicle disintegrated like paper, a blazing fireball rocketing skyward as shrapnel wreathed in flames scattered like crimson comets across the night.
Scorching shockwaves flattened the grassland in all directions.
After his successful strike, Morrow immediately stood, his gaze piercing through the roiling firestorm.
Franklin and Bonolenov came bursting through the flames, looking thoroughly disheveled.
The inferno had left clear marks. Franklin's usually immaculate robes were now charred, his exposed skin flushed an unnatural red. Bonolenov fared worse, his bandages burned to tatters, leaving only a few scorched strips fluttering pathetically in the heat.
"Emitter?"
An attack emerging suddenly from underground at a hundred meters' distance...
Though not particularly analytical, Bonolenov's extensive experience let him instantly identify Morrow's Nen type.
Still, he glanced at Franklin for confirmation.
Franklin gave a nod.
And then,
Morrow's next assault arrived.
A viridian Shooting Star streaked across the sky, trailing lethal radiance.
In its wake, violent air currents carved through the earth like invisible blades, splitting the turf with surgical precision.
Just as the Shooting Star was closing in on its target, it abruptly and inexplicably split apart, transforming into hundreds of emerald-green streaks of light that poured down like a torrential rain, completely enveloping Franklin and Bonolenov, who had just escaped the explosion.
Facing the emerald Shooting Stars assaulting them like a storm, Franklin's eyes flashed with intensity as he abruptly raised his thick arms.
His heavy knuckles fell away neatly like gun covers, revealing ten pitch-black finger holes.
"Double Machine Gun."
Turbulent Nen gathered within the finger holes, and in the next instant,
"Rat-tat-tat-tat...!!!"
Tongues of fire erupted from the finger holes as a dense barrage of diamond-shaped Nen bullets sprayed forth, weaving a net of firepower in the air.
The next moment,
The emerald Shooting Stars collided with the diamond-shaped Nen bullets, triggering a chain of explosions that illuminated the sky in flickering bursts of flame.
The shockwaves uprooted nearby grass and trees, while the scorching heat sent the remnants of Bonolenov's bandages fluttering wildly.
After sweeping away the Shooting Stars with his Double Machine Gun, Franklin didn't cease fire; instead, he adjusted his aim.
The dense web of Nen bullets surged like a giant serpent, tearing toward Morrow's position.
But just as he launched this counterattack, he saw Morrow crouched low on the ground, hands pressed firmly against the grass, a stance identical to the one he had taken when destroying the off-road vehicle earlier.
"Huh?"
The image of the off-road vehicle's undercarriage being struck flashed through Franklin's mind, his combat instincts ringing like an alarm.
Without hesitation, he forcibly cut off the Nen bullet barrage and, with astonishing agility for his massive frame, leaped sideways.
Almost simultaneously, a blue stellar cross bloomed where he had just stood, and a Shooting Star shot out from it, grazing the sole of his boot before rocketing into the sky like a missile.
Seeing this, Franklin's pupils contracted.
Had he reacted even a fraction slower, that blue Shooting Star would have pierced straight through his groin.
In an unprotected state, the violent Nen would have shredded his internal organs like a meat grinder.
This was no exaggeration.
Because he had been in the midst of activating his Double Machine Gun, the vast majority of his aura output had been concentrated in his hands.
In this state, his lower body's defenses were particularly weak.
Forget a Shooting Star, even if a gun suddenly emerged from the ground and fired at his crotch…
It would have been enough to kill him.
As Franklin's heart pounded, a deafening explosion rang in his ears.
He snapped his gaze sideways just in time to see Bonolenov grazed by a Shooting Star that had ambushed him from underground.
The moment the Shooting Star made contact with Bonolenov's Nen, it detonated violently.
The force of the blast hurled up clumps of dirt and grass, sending Bonolenov flying several meters.
But protected by Ken, Bonolenov suffered no real damage, landing steadily on his feet.
After all, the attack's power had been split in two, so its force was naturally inferior to the strike that had destroyed the off-road vehicle.
Yet the instant Bonolenov's feet touched the ground, a white serpent lunged from the side, aiming for his flank.
That serpent was none other than a mass of paper scraps controlled by Kalluto.
Bonolenov's eyes turned slightly cold. He had originally intended to use his transformation ability, but the brief wind-up time required made it clearly unfeasible under these circumstances.
Without hesitation, he abandoned the idea of transforming and leaped backward, narrowly avoiding Kalluto's attack.
The white serpent composed of paper scraps lunged onto the grass, then suddenly burst apart like fireworks, scattering countless shreds of paper that swarmed toward Bonolenov.
"Hmm?"
Bonolenov narrowed his eyes, immediately considering the idea of using his limbs to stir up aura waves and disperse these ambiguous paper scraps.
Yet the moment the thought arose, he abruptly realized his aura was receding like a tide.
"What?!"
Faced with such an inexplicable situation, even the usually composed Bonolenov couldn't help but show shock.
Clatter.
Only then did he feel the restraining force binding his body.
Looking down, he saw a translucent chain emerging from its In state, coiling around his waist like a venomous serpent.
It's In...
Bonolenov realized in an instant that this chain was sealing his Nen, and his heart pounded violently.
I have to break free from this chain!
His pupils trembled in response.
Suddenly,
A sharp crimson gleam flashed before his eyes.
"Huh?"
Before Bonolenov could react, a stabbing pain pierced his forehead.
Morrow had closed the distance in an instant, driving the Poultry Scarlet Knife straight into Bonolenov's skull.
"How pitiful... That transformation trick you were so proud of, seems you won't get to use it again."
Bonolenov's shock was the last thing he felt before darkness swallowed his consciousness, Morrow's faintly mocking voice the final thing he heard.