Chrollo's bloodlust had never been this intense.
Yet through each repeated perspective of Feitan's memories, he restrained his emotions, etching Morrow's appearance deeply into his mind.
No matter what... This man who had become a threat to the Troupe's survival must be killed!
As he relived the memories firsthand, Chrollo's bloodlust grew uncontrollably stronger.
Morrow, likely thousands of miles away, would never imagine that Chrollo was now experiencing everything he had gone through.
This chain forged from hatred was like an unsolvable equation.
Only with one side's true death could it finally end.
When Chrollo withdrew from Feitan's memories, his spirit was utterly exhausted.
He closed his eyes briefly, and when he reopened them, his vision gradually focused. He then looked down at his hands, noticing his knuckles were white from how tightly he'd been clenching them.
Without any visible reaction, he relaxed his fingers and raised his gaze to meet the eyes of his surrounding comrades.
Every pair held silent questions and concealed concern.
"I've found him."
Chrollo's tone was so calm it bordered on indifference, as if he were merely stating some trivial conclusion.
But Machi and Pakunoda exchanged a glance. They knew all too well that beneath this calmness, the most violent bloodlust was brewing.
Kortopi lifted his face, obscured by long hair, and asked, "Leader, should we act immediately?"
"No rush."
Chrollo tilted his head slightly, his gaze returning to Feitan's body on the autopsy table. He said calmly:
"We'll decide once everyone has gathered. But we can start collecting intel on that man now. If things go smoothly, we'll have all the information before the assembly and can deploy our plans directly during the meeting."
"Understood."
Kortopi nodded lightly.
The thought of an assailant capable of killing a speed-type Nen user like Feitan filled him with apprehension.
Now that they'd finally caught the killer's trail, whether for the Troupe or for himself, Kortopi desperately wanted this threat to their survival eliminated as soon as possible.
Chrollo's eyes swept over Kortopi, Machi, and Amanda in turn before settling on Pakunoda.
"Pakunoda, come with me."
Before the words fully left his mouth, he had already turned toward the door.
Pakunoda paused in momentary surprise before quickly following.
Kortopi and Amanda silently watched them leave, while Machi frowned slightly, lost in thought.
The two exited the morgue and walked down a dim corridor until Chrollo led Pakunoda into an empty office.
"Leader, did you discover something?"
Inside the office, Pakunoda studied Chrollo's back.
Chrollo walked to the desk, picked up a pen, and pulled a sheet of paper from the nearby filing cabinet. He flipped it over and placed it on the desk.
"There are still some unanswered questions, but..."
Keeping his back to Pakunoda, Chrollo began sketching the outline of a head on the paper as he asked, "During the assembly, I'll need you to voluntarily disclose more detailed information about your ability. Can you do that?"
"I can."
Though unsure of Chrollo's intentions, Pakunoda answered without hesitation; her absolute trust in him demanded nothing less.
Such an unthinking response caused the pen in Chrollo's hand to pause slightly.
Perhaps due to the consecutive deaths of his comrades, the childhood memories he had long buried kept resurfacing lately.
At the thought of those precious times, Chrollo's gaze softened momentarily before immediately reverting to its usual cold composure as he continued sketching.
Scratch, scratch.
The sound of the pen moving across paper was particularly distinct in the silent room.
In just moments, Chrollo perfectly replicated Morrow's appearance on paper with his masterful drawing skills.
He then picked up his phone, took a photo of the freshly drawn portrait, and with a few taps, sent the image to two recipients simultaneously.
One was the intelligence network, the other the young assassin from the Zoldyck Family.
After completing these tasks, Chrollo turned to Pakunoda, intending to explain why he wanted her to voluntarily reveal ability information during the gathering.
But before he could speak, his phone vibrated in his hand.
Chrollo glanced down at the screen. Illumi's number.
At this late hour...
He had just sent Illumi the "target confirmation" sketch, and now Illumi was calling immediately.
This uncharacteristically prompt reaction from Illumi surprised Chrollo, naturally leading him to consider one possibility.
It seemed Illumi might know the person who killed Feitan and Shalnark.
Chrollo pressed answer and raised the phone to his ear. Illumi's distinctive monotone voice came through, devoid of emotion, like stagnant water where even inflection seemed superfluous.
"You found him. Hmm, faster than I expected."
"..."
Chrollo's brow twitched slightly as he remained silent, waiting for Illumi to continue.
Illumi said, "Interested in renegotiating the contract terms?"
"Reason?"
Chrollo countered calmly.
Illumi replied, "I have intelligence you currently need most."
"What do you want?"
Chrollo asked directly.
Illumi's tone remained completely flat: "More money."
"Agreed. Name your price."
Chrollo's gaze grew profound as he looked at the sketch on his desk.
He wasn't completely unfamiliar with Illumi.
At the very least, he was certain Illumi wouldn't act so proactively and urgently just for money.
There must be another motive he wasn't aware of.
But whatever Illumi's purpose, Chrollo was willing to hear the information he offered.
Seeing Chrollo's immediate agreement, Illumi got straight to the point:
"How generous. But my prices are always fair. Let me think where to begin... First, Hisoka was the 'informant.'"
"Hmm?"
A ripple of reaction flashed through Chrollo's eyes.
He had previously considered the possibility of a mole in their group. To verify this, he'd quickly had Pakunoda investigate everyone.
The results showed no issues.
Chrollo trusted Pakunoda's ability couldn't be wrong; so why hadn't Hisoka been detected?
After brief consideration, Chrollo suddenly thought of Illumi's ability. He had seen Illumi's Needle People before.
From this, it could be concluded that Illumi was a Manipulator.
Given that Illumi knew Hisoka was the "informant," it was highly likely that Hisoka had commissioned Illumi to use his Manipulation ability to alter memories, thereby deceiving Pakunoda's memory-reading ability.
Chrollo quickly pieced it together and asked coldly, "Did Hisoka hire you to tamper with memories?"
"You figured it out. Saves me the trouble of explaining."
Illumi's expression and tone remained utterly unchanged. "Now, let's talk terms."
"Go on."
A hint of frost lingered in Chrollo's eyes.
Illumi murmured, "I only have two conditions..."
—--
August 24th.
The night was ink-black, with storm clouds churning overhead.
Uvogin and Nobunaga arrived together at the hospital where Feitan's body was stored.
Their goal was clear; they headed straight for the morgue in the basement.
But when they pushed open the door, they only saw six people already waiting inside: Chrollo, Pakunoda, Machi, Kortopi, Amanda, and Hisoka.
"Huh?"
Uvogin frowned, scanning every corner of the morgue, a trace of surprise in his voice. "I thought we were slow, but Phinks and the others are even slower?"
"Uvogin."
Nobunaga placed a hand on Uvogin's shoulder.
Uvogin blinked, confused, and looked at him.
Nobunaga signaled with his eyes for him to stop talking, then turned his gaze to Chrollo and the others in the morgue.
Only someone like Uvogin... would fail to notice the tension in the air.
The fact that Phinks and the others still hadn't arrived was, in itself, a very bad sign.
"Boss, still no contact with them?"
Nobunaga looked directly at Chrollo and asked.
Chrollo silently nodded.
Seeing his reaction, Nobunaga instinctively tightened his grip on his scabbard, his eyes turning cold.
If they still couldn't be reached, then it was almost certain that...
Uvogin finally caught on, his expression shifting before he urgently tried to say something.
But Chrollo, as if anticipating his reaction, or perhaps to silence him, spoke first: "Given the circumstances, what this loss of contact means requires no further confirmation."
His calm voice carried an undeniable authority as he slowly swept his gaze over everyone present, then continued:
"Now, there's only one thing we need to do... eliminate any possible threat to the Troupe."
"..."
Uvogin, uncharacteristically patient, listened quietly; but the fury boiling inside him was unmistakable, burning across his face.
As Chrollo finished speaking, Uvogin's eyes widened with rage, like a vengeful demon from hell, and he ground out two words through clenched teeth: "Who was it?"
Instead of answering directly, Chrollo turned to Pakunoda.
Pakunoda immediately stepped forward, aura swirling in her hands as she swiftly conjured a silver revolver.
Every eye in the morgue instantly fixed on her.
Slowly, she raised the revolver, its barrel gleaming coldly under the lights.
"My ability; aside from Amanda, everyone here should already know. As long as I make physical contact with a target, I can directly extract their most primal memories by asking questions."
Her fingers lightly traced the barrel, aura swirling within the chamber.
"But aside from that, there's another effect of my ability. I can extract these memories and compress them into Memory Bombs. Anyone hit by a Memory Bomb will instantly receive the complete memory."
"Previously in Jappon, we obtained another form of intelligence-gathering ability called 'Nether Mirage.'"
"Using this ability, the Boss acquired Feitan's first-person memory from the moment before his death. This ability shares some similarities with mine; both can directly implant extracted memories into someone else's mind."
"However... the Limitation of Nether Mirage is a usage limit, and each use carries the risk of memory degradation."
"In other words, the Boss can't repeatedly use Nether Mirage to transplant memories into your minds. But my ability... happens to circumvent this risk."
Pakunoda explained in detail the abilities and Limitations of Nether Mirage, as well as another application of her own ability.
With her ability as support, Chrollo wouldn't need to repeatedly extract Feitan's first-person death memory.
This way, they could avoid the risks while ensuring their comrades received the intel more clearly, without wasting Nether Mirage's limited uses.
Beyond that, Pakunoda could also compress all the recently gathered intel on Morrow into Memory Bombs.
This would allow everyone to grasp the information more intuitively.
Nobunaga understood. Pressing his thumb against his sword's guard, he said gravely, "Then what are you waiting for?"
"Understood."
Pakunoda looked at Nobunaga, who had volunteered, and immediately extended her arm, aiming the gun at him.
But before she could pull the trigger, Nobunaga suddenly said, "Wait."
"What, scared now...?" Pakunoda asked calmly.
Nobunaga replied expressionlessly, "Don't spout nonsense. I just wanted to ask if I should retract my aura."
"Don't worry. My Memory Bombs aren't so weak they can't penetrate Ten," Pakunoda answered.
Nobunaga nodded.
"Bang!"
The moment he did, Pakunoda pulled the trigger. A bullet shot through the muzzle and struck Nobunaga squarely in the forehead.
The impact forced his head back, and where the bullet hit, a wisp of flame-like aura flickered.
At the same time, Nobunaga received all the memories.
It was a strange sensation; as if the memories had always been his. There was no need for a playback-like process; he absorbed them entirely.
"Morrow, huh... Before I kill you, I'll never forget your name or face!"
Nobunaga slowly straightened his head, veins bulging on his forehead.
Pakunoda then turned to the others. "Who's next?"
"Me!" Uvogin stepped forward without hesitation.
Bang!
Pakunoda's second Memory Bomb struck Uvogin's forehead.
Without waiting to see his reaction, she looked to the others.
Machi stepped forward.
Bang!
Then Kortopi.
Bang!
After firing four Memory Bombs, Pakunoda turned to Hisoka and Amanda.
"How interesting." Hisoka twirled a playing card between his fingers, glancing sidelong at Amanda, who showed no reaction, before looking back at Pakunoda.
Pakunoda immediately raised her gun and aimed at Hisoka upon seeing the situation.
The boss guessed right...
By the time it came to the "fifth" and "sixth" bullets, Amanda had just joined the Troupe and would naturally place herself last without making any stance.
In this scenario, Hisoka, unaware that his identity had been exposed, was simply going with the flow. He wouldn't interfere with Nobunaga and the others' enthusiasm, nor would he intervene in Amanda's passivity.
So in such a "go-with-the-flow" situation, Hisoka would only accept the fifth bullet.
And this fifth bullet...
Wasn't a Memory Bomb, but a prearranged Nen bullet; one that could kill an unsuspecting Hisoka instantly!
Bang!
Pakunoda pulled the trigger.
The muzzle flashed.
Yet Hisoka, with razor-sharp instincts, detected a faint trace of bloodlust.
In the next blink, a bullet struck his forehead, splattering a streak of blood.
Then, as if struck by a heavy blow, his body was sent flying backward.
Witnessing this, everyone except Chrollo was stunned.
Thud.
Hisoka's body slammed heavily onto the cold floor with a dull impact.
"Pakunoda, what the...!?"
Nobunaga and the others were utterly shocked.
--------
Bonus chapter @200 power stones.