"You can sense the conditions for making the Nen beast disappear during the test. The usual way is that touching the person who applied the Nen will make the Nen beast vanish right away. If you can't touch them, the removal method is closely tied to the person who put the Nen on you. For example, if they like small dogs, feeding dogs will speed up the fading of the Nen beast's power."
"So that's how it works. Then I guess I'll have to start doing good deeds... Why do I feel like the chains are still partly inside my body?" Chrollo grabbed the chains hanging on him and pulled parts of them to find the source.
Except for the Nen remover being a bit on guard, the book was summoned right beside him, so he could escape with a card at any time.
Because that possibility couldn't be ruled out.
This strong person who had recovered his Nen might attack him.
Seeing the Nen beast without fear, using Gyo skillfully even while weakened, and getting involved with such a powerful Nen user, this guy...
"Will he turn on you and kill you... Do you think about that? Haha, sorry, I speak my mind too bluntly." Chrollo stood up but didn't get close to the Nen remover. Instead, he walked straight to a tree stump in the distance and sat down on it.
"I heard from my employer that your name is Yamagana. To be honest, I only took this job for the money—helping someone out in exchange for pay... In the end, I almost lost my life, and I probably didn't even earn as much as you did!"
"Let's chat. I want to know a bit about my employer, and in return, I'll tell you the reason for the Nen seal. Maybe you can give me some tips to remove the Nen faster. I don't want to work carrying this big thing around. If you're still wary... how about this? You take a card that lets you leave first, and I'll show you what's in my book. You can flip through it yourself."
With a few words, he disguised a fake identity. Chrollo spread his hands open, showing the Nen remover that his hands were empty.
Compared to his honesty, the Nen remover was overly cautious.
And Chrollo had a naturally youthful face that could mislead people. Those big eyes looked straight into others' eyes with sincerity, making the Nen remover feel guilty instead.
Even though the Nen remover took a card in his hand, he only approached after that.
"By the way, Mr. Yamagana, don't you really want to earn more money? If I were a Nen remover, I'd make a killing with Zetsu requests."
"You need to be alive to earn and spend it," the Nen remover shook his head. "The money from this job is enough for me to live on. I have more dreams to chase."
"Dreams, huh? That's great..."
The book from Greed Island didn't need to be held. It floated in mid-air. The Nen remover held a card in his left hand, keeping his right hand free to handle any sudden issues.
Chrollo reached out his right hand into the air, and the motion drew the Nen remover's gaze to it. At the same time, he said: "Book."
No game book from Kikyo appeared.
The Thief's Extreme Intent appeared in his left hand and touched the Nen remover's palm at lightning speed.
...
Saiki Kusuo, hearing Chrollo's thoughts, wasn't surprised by the Hatsu situation, but he was puzzled. Stealing the Nen remover's Nen wouldn't help remove the seals from the other spiders anyway.
The other spiders with sealed Nen couldn't contact Phantom Troupe members either, and Chrollo was the biggest one among them.
Yamagana didn't know why Chrollo touched his right hand. When his Hatsu revealed it was a book with a handprint, a bad feeling rose in his heart.
That handprint and the hand... what exactly is this...
Chrollo kept his word. He smiled and opened his book, found the latest page, and showed the Nen remover's ability and description.
Each stolen ability took two pages: one with the owner's info, one with usage details, and each page had related pictures.
"This is my card, Mr. Nen Remover."
"You, what did you do!!"
He laughed: "Don't worry, my ability won't kill anyone. I just took your ability and stored it in my book. I hope you can keep living on."
Saiki Kusuo stood far away on a tree, watching.
He didn't know if Chrollo's action really took the Nen remover's ability, or if he should stop it.
Phantom Troupe members arrived from behind, and Saiki Kusuo quietly left.
If someone dies, the Nen disappears from Chrollo's book, so the Troupe wouldn't harm the Nen remover's life.
There were two things left on the schedule to handle. One was fixing the one coastline deal for next year. Saiki Kusuo just needed to contact Bisky to join; he didn't have to be there for the actual challenge. The other was getting Chrollo out of Greed Island. The Troupe would contact the Zoldycks at the right time.
So, dear readers, you've been waiting as long as I have during this long time, right?
Saiki Kusuo's Ordinary Daily Life—Greed Island Arc, grand premiere! Thanks for your support, thanks!
...
In the villa, Saiki Kusuo spent a lot of time remodeling the room. Sometimes he asked his brothers to buy materials, sometimes he teleported out to Kukuroo Mountain to get items.
The next day, Saiki Kusuo finally made the room look like a distant memory.
Though Mashadora was a place with more people, compared to the cities outside, it was actually pretty quiet. But he had gotten used to the even longer silence on Kukuroo Mountain and forgot that mind reading picks up a lot in the normal world.
"Knock knock knock." A polite knock from Alluka. Saiki Kusuo, who had just finished organizing the room, sat on the bed and remotely opened the door.
[What's up, Alluka?]
"Brother, we bought groceries! Does brother want anything specific to eat?"
[I'm fine with anything. Why did you decide to cook?]
"Because I got a mission to cook myself!"
This game really has all kinds of missions.
Saiki Kusuo used x-ray vision to look downstairs. Milluki was rolling up his sleeves to wash veggies. Killua stared at the pile of ingredients, looking down at a recipe, then at the regular non-smart stove.
"How do you light it..." Killua studied it.
The three kids were all battle-hardened Nen users.
But seeing this scene—kids stepping on stools by the stove figuring out how to light the fire.
No one would just stand by without stopping it.
[Wait, you're cooking yourselves with no one to teach you?]
"Do you need teaching to cook?"
"It's my first time, but I've eaten so much stuff, cooking should be easy! Just watch, big bro!"
Saiki Kusuo watched Milluki peel potatoes. To keep them from slipping, he naturally used the Zoldyck family's assassination trick—cat claws. With extended nails and body control, Milluki pinned the potato.
It was hard not to doubt if this meal would turn out okay.
"Oh! Big bro, you came at the right time! How do you eat this mandrake?"
[Don't add weird stuff. Just stew it into soup.]
"What's weird stuff?"
[Don't add poison, toxic mushrooms, branches.]
"Huh? Isn't this a plant full of energy? Without poison to balance..."
[It's edible without poison.]
Saiki Kusuo stood by with arms crossed, watching and occasionally acting as the kids' all-purpose answer machine.
Prep before lighting the fire took a long time. The kids laid out the dishes they planned in order. The counter wasn't big enough, so they pulled in the living room coffee table.
The door lock turned, and the kids looked up toward the door. They saw Illumi.
Illumi was a bit puzzled: "Are you playing house?"
"Ah, big bro! We're on a mission to cook ourselves!" Milluki told the truth.
"Oh, you're cooking." Illumi's eyes scanned the table. "Why no poison?"
Warm reminder: If you like this book, please add it to your shelf to avoid not finding it next time.
[I knew big bro would ask that!!] Milluki wailed in his mind and started explaining: "Because it's for judges to eat, poison might upset their stomachs..."
"Oh." Illumi responded flatly, then said, "I'll be your first judge." [Brothers cooking for the first time, and the first judge is an outsider? Not allowed.]
Who knew Illumi would show brotherly protectiveness in a place like this.
But with Illumi supervising, Saiki Kusuo could relax.
Everyone knows the places to rest besides his room are the sofa or coffee table.
Of course, the coffee table had been moved to the kitchen.
Saiki Kusuo looked at Illumi standing dryly by the side and simply moved two sofas in front of the kitchen coffee table.
On the coffee table center, besides the brothers' prepped veggies, there were fruits, snacks, cookies scattered around.
Illumi sat down as invited, tidied the veggie plates by hand, picked up an empty plate from the table, and took an apple.
His nails extended, and Illumi waved his hand in the air twice, cutting the apple into uneven pieces, catching them one by one on the plate, then silently handed the plate to Saiki Kusuo.
...So Illumi uses his nails as a knife too.
"Cutting fruit requires precise Shu. Eat it with peace of mind; it's clean." Illumi noticed Saiki Kusuo's concern and said.
Shu is an advanced Nen technique.
Saiki Kusuo psychically picked up an apple piece and put it in his mouth from afar.
This was clean too.
Illumi used Gyo in his eyes but couldn't see Saiki Kusuo using Nen. A bit puzzled, but he didn't pursue it.
This brother always had many of his own secrets and clever ability uses. Though unwilling to kill, his talent was extremely high in many areas.
Illumi poured out the snacks and arranged them with the fruit. He also dumped out nearly half the box of cookies.
The cookies were a weird purple, the snacks various colors, and mixing them with the fruit made the plate a strange color scheme.
...Aesthetics, help.
"Kusuo."
Saiki Kusuo turned his head to look.
Illumi sat on the sofa, body leaning forward, long hair falling down.
Those pitch-black big eyes stared at Saiki Kusuo from behind the long hair.
Saiki Kusuo waited for what came next.
"The Troupe's money has come through. Do you have any use for it?"
[To pay back what I owe the family.]
Illumi thought, no wonder.
"I see. From now on, you owe the family nothing. Company profits will go straight to your card each year."
[How much stake does the Zoldyck family hold?]
"None."
[What?!]
"The Zoldycks only loaned you money from start to finish. Now those companies are all yours. If managed carefully, Kusuo, you could become a tycoon with assets rivaling the Zoldycks."
Saiki Kusuo hadn't expected that setup. No wonder the debt was so much.
"Research on large-screen phones should kick off the smartphone era. That involves huge funds. To capture the market, even the Zoldycks need to use the best, top-tier products. Only then did this Zoldyck get a share. Kusuo, you're a genius at business."
Where? This was all stuff proven in the future.
"Want to talk about the Zoldyck kids' future? ...Milluki, if your Shu isn't precise enough, use a knife."
Milluki suddenly got critiqued.
"Big bro, is my Shu okay?" Killua raised his hand to show Illumi.
"That's good." Illumi praised, then looked at Saiki Kusuo again.
Saiki Kusuo wanted to refuse, but suddenly heard Troupe voices nearby.
Why is the Troupe here again?
Sensing trouble if he stayed downstairs, Saiki Kusuo suggested to Illumi: [Can we talk upstairs?]
"Yeah, they shouldn't hear yet. Let's go to your room."
Illumi stood and went upstairs first.
The three brothers in the kitchen started whispering.
: He promised to help us, right?
: What's something we can't know?
Curiosity is killing me! What is this thing only adults can know?!
Is it related to that engagement talk before? Does our family make you marry at eighteen?!
— Oh man, you guys are overthinking it.
Saiki Kusuo's room welcomed its first guest.
Illumi looked around the room.
Rare to have a bed against the wall. Normal rooms have two nightstands by the bed, but the brother skipped them and put a desk by the window instead.
The window position let sunlight flood the whole room, making it bright and warm.
Standing in the room center, facing the bed, turning around led to the bookshelf, already lined with a row of books.
Illumi thought.
"This layout makes the space a bit tight. Won't it be uncomfortable to sleep?"
[I sleep less at home. How about swapping mine with your...]
The superpowers had worked hard all day for this; don't swap with your dark room facing away from the sun.
"Let's keep talking about that. Have you noticed the Zoldycks who stay home are all white-haired heirs?"
Yeah, even grandma lives in Meteor City besides mom.
Saiki Kusuo: ...
The Zoldycks wouldn't toss kids out to the wild for survival like foxes at a certain age, would they?
The only difference is leaving one white-haired seed.
No way.
"Killer work is pretty dangerous. In the records, non-white-haired kids always die young from various issues. We don't lack uncles or aunts; they just died in accidents."
"But our generation all has great talent, not like we'll die soon. So inheritance and property division issues will come up for sure."
Complicated... Saiki Kusuo wanted to say he'd "die" in a year, so no need to worry about that.
"The family always trains us to follow our talents, giving max freedom within the rules. Kusuo, even if your personal assets surpass the Zoldycks later, as long as you don't threaten us, the family won't guard against or hinder you."
Surprisingly lenient.
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