Chapter 61: I Should Have Ended It All Long Ago
"Chrollo, are you saying that man wanted you to steal his ability?"
Machi's brow furrowed slightly, a rare sign of confusion on her usually impassive face.
Chrollo leaned back against the corridor wall, holding his open book in one hand. A faint, enigmatic smile played on his lips. "Correct. And that means one of three things. One: I'm wrong, and he had no idea he was in danger of being stolen from. Two: He knew, but he's confident enough to simply develop a new ability from scratch. Or three: The ability I stole meant nothing to him in the first place..."
They were standing near the crime scene. Chrollo had been called in for questioning first because he'd been caught on the hallway cameras with Pariston the night before.
The Phantom Troupe operated on a simple principle: do whatever you want, as long as the mission gets done. Some members, like Uvogin and Feitan, solved problems by simply killing everyone in the room. Others, like Shalnark, preferred to blend in, use money, and manipulate systems. After all, if you just brute-forced everything, what was the point of having a brain?
Shalnark would happily buy a ticket (with stolen money). Feitan would just steal the ticket and probably stab the seller for good measure.
Chrollo, the leader, walked the line. He hadn't killed the security guards who came to question him because it wasn't necessary.
Machi and Kortopi had found him after he'd dealt with the guards, and he'd filled them in on the situation.
"That doesn't make sense," Machi argued, clearly skeptical of Chrollo's analysis. "How could he know the exact conditions of your theft? If he guessed wrong, he could have lost his Nen entirely, been forced into permanent Zetsu, or just died. The risk is insane. Who would willingly walk into that trap?"
Kortopi, his single eye gleaming from beneath his mop of hair, spoke up in his muffled voice. "Machi, those extreme outcomes would require even harsher activation conditions, wouldn't they? Nen isn't magic; it follows rules."
"That's exactly what makes this human so interesting," Chrollo mused, his dark eyes shining with intellectual curiosity. "I suspect... he finds pleasure in ruining himself. In being hated, even by himself."
"Here they come," Kortopi said suddenly.
Machi and Chrollo looked down the hall. Pariston and Kai, escorted by security guards, were approaching. Shizuku trailed behind them, looking around with placid curiosity.
The moment Pariston saw Chrollo, his face lit up with a blinding, sunny smile. "Haha! So, how is it? Is the little toy I spent all afternoon making fun to play with? I hope it's not too boring! I was just wondering how to dispose of that little piece of trash, and then you came along and cleaned it up for me! Thank you so much!"
"Looks like it was option three," Machi muttered, her gaze sweeping over the grinning Pariston, the nonchalant Kai, and the bewildered Shizuku.
"Indeed." Chrollo snapped his book shut and offered Pariston a polite, gentle smile. " even with such provocative words, I don't find myself disliking you."
Pariston's smile didn't waver. "That's truly regrettable. Do you perhaps have a personality defect? If so, I apologize for offending you."
Can you not be a jerk for five seconds? Kai thought, rolling his eyes. This guy is seriously unhinged. Is he really a Conjurer?
So, the sequence of events was: Pariston got on the ship, heard Ojiesky was on board, decided on a whim to ruin the man's "happy ending," spent one afternoon developing a horrifyingly cruel Hatsu specifically to torture him, and then let Chrollo steal it just for kicks?
Shizuku was right, Kai thought. Pariston's brain is broken.
The security guards and the few rubbernecking passengers nearby were completely lost. They had no idea what these two handsome men were talking about.
Soon, it was Kai and Pariston's turn to be questioned.
Kai stuck to a simple story: he was bored, he took a walk, he went back to bed. The cameras confirmed he had only been near Ojiesky's room for a few seconds.
Pariston, on the other hand, launched into a long, charming, and completely nonsensical monologue that left the guards dazed and confused.
Suddenly, a commotion erupted at the far end of the corridor. Someone was shouting, shoving their way through the crowd.
Kai and the others turned to look.
A security guard tried to block the newcomer, pinning him against the wall. But the man struggled with desperate, manic strength, screaming at the top of his lungs.
"THE! PHANTOM! TROUPE!!"
The crowd went dead silent for a heartbeat. Then, chaos exploded.
The Phantom Troupe? The A-Class bounty heads?
Here? On this ship?!
BAM!
Taking advantage of the guard's shock, the man shoved him away. He ripped off his hood, revealing a face that was less human and more skull—gaunt, sallow skin stretched tight over bone, eyes sunk deep into bruised sockets. His gaze, burning with a terrifying, manic hatred, locked onto Chrollo, Machi, and Kortopi.
"Phantom Troupe!" he shrieked, a rictus grin stretching his face. "Do you remember me?!"
"That's... isn't that the famous archeologist, Professor Ruiwan?!" someone in the crowd gasped. "He looks like a corpse!"
"I heard his whole family was murdered... Oh god, was it them?! The Phantom Troupe did it?!"
"Those people are the Phantom Troupe?!"
Panic swept through the passengers. People began to back away, terrified eyes darting between the screaming man and Chrollo's group. Even Kai, Shizuku, and Pariston were being eyed with suspicion.
The security guards were trembling. Are they real? The spiders? The mass murderers?
In stark contrast to the panic around them, Chrollo and his team were perfectly calm. Bored, even.
"Who are you?" Chrollo asked simply.
"Heh... hehehe..." Ruiwan let out a broken, sobbing laugh. "You killed my family. My friends. My neighbors. Everyone! Just for some information on the King Zhenwu Treasure... You... you deserve to die! Every day I survived... every minute! Every second! I've wanted to eat your flesh... Hehehe..."
King Zhenwu again? Kai thought.
As Ruiwan laughed his broken laugh, the air around him began to shimmer. One by one, glowing spheres of Aura began to materialize.
They were invisible to the normal passengers, but to the six Nen users in the hall, it looked like a swarm of glowing, deadly jellyfish surfacing from the deep ocean. Hundreds of them. Dense, potent balls of Nen, filling the corridor, the lounge, the entire ship.
Kai realized instantly: This is why I felt uneasy last night.
This man, Ruiwan, had seeded the entire airship with these bombs. Hundreds of them. Countless.
To kill the Spiders, he was going to blow the entire vessel out of the sky.
"You're the one who stole the tickets at the airport," Kai said, staring at the man.
Ruiwan's face seemed to gaunt further as he spoke. "I didn't want to... I didn't want so many people to die..."
Fwip!
Machi's eyes went cold. She vanished from Chrollo's side and reappeared instantly behind Ruiwan, her hand raised in a knife-hand strike, ready to sever his head from his spine.
"If I die," Ruiwan rasped, not even flinching, "these bombs... detonate instantly. And... my body is very fragile right now. You'd best be careful."
Machi's hand stopped millimeters from his neck. She looked back at Chrollo.
Ruiwan let out a screeching, ghost-like laugh. "Hehehehe... My ability is called... I Should Have Ended It All Long Ago..."
[Hatsu Analysis: 'I Should Have Ended It All Long Ago']
[Type: Emission (Post-Mortem / Curse)]
[1. Ruiwan sacrifices his own life force to create 'Special Nen Orbs' visible only to him (and other Nen users).]
[2. The release of the orbs is irreversible and unstoppable.]
[3. Once formed, the orbs automatically drift toward members of the Phantom Troupe. The closer they get, the faster Ruiwan's life force drains, and the more orbs are created.]
[4. The orbs can only convert into explosive Nen bombs when within 1 kilometer of a Troupe member.]
[5. When Ruiwan dies or his life force is fully depleted: If Condition 4 is met, all orbs detonate instantly. If not, they dissipate harmlessly.]
As Ruiwan explained his terrifying ability in a chilling monotone, more and more orbs materialized, drifting inexorably toward Chrollo, Machi, and Kortopi.
Kai felt his scalp tingle. This is insane.
Whether the bombs could kill the Troupe members was debatable—they were monsters, after all. But the ship? The ship was done for. A chain reaction of hundreds of Nen bombs would vaporize the hull instantly. They were over the open ocean. Even if the passengers survived the blast, they'd fall to their deaths or drown.
There would be no survivors.
"I see," Chrollo said, his voice perfectly calm. "I understand."
He exchanged a glance with Machi and Kortopi. Without another word, the three of them turned and walked toward the spacious observation lounge.
{Get ready to back me up.}
Kai's voice suddenly echoed in Shizuku's mind.
Kai, without saying a word aloud, turned and followed the Phantom Troupe.
(End of Chapter)