Early the next morning.
The news of the massive fire at the Kakin Empire National Museum quickly hit the headlines around the world.
Although the miniature sun that served as the source of the fire only burned for an hour before completely dissipating, the fire had not yet been extinguished, and the cause of the accident and the perpetrator were still under investigation...
Therefore, the Kakin Royal Family announced that the exhibition would end immediately, and the museum would not be open to the public for a long time.
...
At this moment, inside a hotel room.
Neon was woken up early by Eliza and Fury. Sitting up sleepily, she blinked and saw the serious expressions on her two maids' faces, then asked:
"Eliza, what time is it?"
"Just past seven, Miss."
"What... I thought I accidentally overslept and the exhibition had already started."
Neon said, then laid back on the bed the next moment, closed her eyes to go back to sleep, murmuring:
"Wake me up when it's time for the exhibition... I want to sleep a little longer."
"Miss Neon, actually... the exhibition has been canceled," Eliza said softly.
"Eh?!!"
Hearing this, Neon instantly woke up, opened her eyes wide and got up again, asking Eliza:
"Why?!"
Eliza explained: "Because a huge explosion occurred on the second floor of the museum. According to news reports, there were many casualties at the scene, and it happened... shortly after closing time yesterday.
Many collections were also burned by the fire.
Miss, you were too tired from playing last night and fell asleep as soon as you returned to the hotel, so we didn't have time to tell you."
"Does that mean the mummy was also burned?" Neon asked.
"Most likely."
Hearing this, Neon looked incredibly disappointed, murmuring to herself: "I should have stayed a little longer yesterday if I had known."
"Well... forget it. Anyway, this time definitely doesn't count. I'll ask Papa for other compensation later."
Neon sighed, depressed for a while, before returning to her usual relaxed self.
"Miss, one more thing."
Eliza continued: "Because the exhibition was canceled, Mr. Valtz also asked me to ask you when to return...
If you agree, he suggests we leave today."
"Arrange as you wish, just don't disturb me now."
With that, Neon wanted to sleep a little longer, but as soon as she lay down, she found she completely lost sleepiness because of this annoying matter.
She suddenly recalled the explosion Eliza just mentioned, and asked abruptly:
"Speaking of which, that guy should be fine, right?"
The two maids fell silent upon hearing this, not knowing how to speak... After all, based on Valtz and the others' accounts, and the scene reported on the news.
Such a terrible fire.
Probably no one could survive.
...
Not only Valtz and the others thought so.
On the other side, even the gathered Phantom Troupe members were convinced that the murderer who killed Kortopi and others must have died under the 'Rising Sun' released by Feitan before his death.
After all, with the blessing of Post-Mortem Nen, Feitan's Nen ability was much more exaggerated than before in both temperature and range.
At this moment, even the powerful Uvogin had terrible burns on his body, as for Phinks and Shalnark... the same was true for them.
Now, although the wound on Phinks' body had been sutured by Machi with Nen threads, his severed arm was left at the scene and probably burned to ashes by now... so it couldn't be restored.
Plus excessive blood loss on the way, Phinks felt extremely weak, and his strength seemed to have regressed a lot.
Future Troupe actions... he knew deeply that he probably wasn't qualified to participate as a combatant anymore.
However, compared to the future...
Phinks was more concerned about Feitan and Pakunoda who died before his eyes, and what they suspected before their deaths.
There is a traitor in the Troupe.
He firmly believed in his friends' judgment.
Phinks immediately walked towards Hisoka in the corner with anger, grabbed his clothes in front of everyone, and asked sternly:
"Is it you... the guy who betrayed the Troupe?"
"Hehe... why do you think so."
Hisoka smiled and said: "Just because I am a new member of the Troupe, so you think I sold your information to someone, right?"
"Who else could it be besides you?!" Phinks refused to believe that among the partners who shared joys and sorrows for many years, someone would betray the Troupe.
Hisoka looked indifferent, smiling undiminished: "Seems like you are an Enhancer... your brain is really single-minded, can't turn around."
"You know, before joining the Troupe, I had never contacted you, let alone knew your names and abilities... If I betrayed you, then how did I get the intelligence?"
Hisoka's words indeed short-circuited Phinks' brain, interrupting his original train of thought, leaving him speechless.
As Hisoka said...
If he betrayed the Troupe, then Machi, the only one who had contact with him before this... her suspicion would also rise linearly.
Even if it wasn't Machi, it meant there might be Hisoka's spies among the others.
For a moment, even Uvogin fell silent, understanding the complexity of the matter.
After thinking, Uvogin looked up at Chrollo sitting on high, and said:
"Leader, what do you think?"
Chrollo didn't look good. Hearing Uvogin's question, he closed the book in his hand and said slowly to everyone:
"Kortopi, Pakunoda, and Feitan... are all important members of the Troupe, important legs of the spider. Without them, our actions will be greatly restricted... our pace forward will also slow down because of this.
But you must also remember, anyone present is just a part of the Troupe... including me, although I am the Leader, actually I am just a character that can be replaced at any time."
"As long as you join the Troupe, I hope everyone acts as a whole, trusts each other, supports each other... mutual suspicion will never get us to where we are today, nor will we go far."
"Let's talk about the traitor later..."
Chrollo said, then turned to ask Phinks:
"Remember what the guy who killed Pakunoda and Feitan... looks like?"
"Of course."
Phinks gritted his teeth, adding with anger:
"I will never forget it in my life."
"That's good..."
Chrollo chuckled upon hearing this, instantly returning to his rational and indifferent expression, continuing:
"No matter who the murderer is, whether he is dead or alive, or whether there are accomplices... all we can do is make a big fuss for the dead partners and vent our anger."
Speaking of this, Chrollo stood up and ordered everyone:
"Next, based on the investigation of that murderer... kill everyone related to him!"
"We are the Troupe, we are thieves, grab what we want, kill whoever gets in the way! This is our principle of action!"
"Next, for the dead partners, let's make a wanton fuss!"
Seeing this, Hisoka looked at Chrollo, although regretting Yuu's death.
But the other party also broke a few troublesome guys for him, making it obviously much easier to approach the Leader later.
...
Night fell.
Inside a dim room.
Neon was alone in the room, gently stroking a black cat found in the corridor. Unknowingly, she fell asleep peacefully on the table.
Then, Yuu, who had rested for a whole day, also woke up from the dark space inside the Nen beast.
And sensed several familiar auras from the outside world.
Yuu felt the injuries on his body eased a lot, so he proactively detached from the inside of the Nen beast.
After coming out, Yuu saw Neon sleeping soundly on the table aside.
He then realized...
While he was dormant, this black cat with self-awareness actually took the initiative to return to the hotel, and even sneaked into someone else's room, sleeping soundly in someone else's arms.
However, the more important thing right now was those guys sneaking into the hotel.
"Quite a few people... and it seems there's more than one group."
Yuu didn't think much, just glanced at the injury on his arm, finding it had recovered a lot compared to the beginning, but not completely healed.
The only thing worth noting... was that during the time his Nen was converged in his body, for some reason, it intertwined with Cursed Energy.
Becoming black Nen.
It seemed to retain the characteristics of Nen, while also allowing his Six Eyes to mobilize and use this Nen as he wished.
As long as it wasn't used for emission, this black Nen could achieve zero loss.
However, this Nen currently only accounted for a part.
...