There was a soft sound at the corner of the corridor.
The bodyguard in the black suit walking near the room's door heard the noise. He put away his phone and went to check, but only saw a crumpled can.
Suddenly the back of his neck sank—as if he'd been hit hard. The scene in front of him quickly went black. He knelt down softly on the ground, using up his last strength and willpower to turn his head to see who the attacker was—but a foot stretched out and stepped back on his face that he'd finally managed to turn.
Thud. The bodyguard passed out completely.
Liam put away his foot and walked toward the room with Shizuku.
Shizuku held the door handle, twisted hard, unlocked it violently, and pushed the door open. With her and Liam's immense wrist strength, a door lock of this level was just like paper.
The two walked into the room calmly.
This room wasn't small. On the table, on the floor, on the sofa—all the places where things could be placed were basically full. There were all kinds of boxes for wrapping gifts, tied with ribbons of different colors. It was so dazzling it made you dizzy. In short... just looking at it made you want to spend a whole day unpacking.
Following the signal of the Star Mark, Liam found the one buried among the pile of gifts at a glance—the pair of Scarlet Eyes sent by Marko.
"The next step is up to you, Shizuku." Liam said. "Just like what we did before. Let Blinky absorb the Scarlet Eyes in this room. Whichever box moves, there will be eyes in it—I have to say, this method is really convenient for finding things."
Sometimes when he lived in a place and didn't know where his mobile phone was, Liam would ask Shizuku to directly manifest Blinky. Just shout "Mobile phone, I call you, do you dare to agree?" and immediately pull it out from the seams between sheets, quilts, and sofas.
Shizuku stretched out her hand and manifested Blinky, but this time she didn't act immediately as Liam wanted.
"What's wrong?" Liam was confused.
In the wedding garden, the band's performance was exciting and matched the atmosphere of the scene at any time.
The bride and groom took their oaths, exchanged rings, and kissed. The atmosphere of the entire wedding gradually reached its climax.
Many people danced hand in hand on the grass. Children competed for flower baskets and candies. Obese men in suits cheered and applauded. Women in long skirts danced gracefully. Everyone laughed. There was no way to tell that many here were involved in underground gray transactions—even the groom himself was the successor of an important family in the gang world.
Melody liked the performance of the live band but didn't like the voices of most people here. Basically everyone was lying. Even the words of blessing they said were contrary to the sincerity reflected in the beating rhythm of their hearts. The insincere heartbeats sounded particularly... harsh to Melody's ears, but she definitely felt helpless about it.
She glanced at the wedding officiant who'd retreated to the edge of the crowd with a smile. He seemed to be a calm bystander—having nothing to do with the excitement here and nothing to do with the dozens or hundreds of different heartbeats around him.
This is a Hunter. At least a Nen user.
Even if you don't use Gyo on your eyes, you can still distinguish it just by listening.
Just as she was secretly observing Essi, she suddenly heard another heartbeat approaching him. This heartbeat was... colder than any heartbeat Melody had ever heard. That was all she could think of.
"Haha, it's really interesting." With a smile, Essi looked at the newlyweds who were dancing with their arms linked in laughter amidst the cheers of the crowd.
He suddenly wondered—where are John Smith and the others? It seems like I haven't seen Kurapika for a long time. He seems to be here too, right? Already left?
People were coming and going in groups in the garden and on the grass. Even the waiters carrying dinner plates and pushing dining carts were smiling, but neither John Smith, Kurapika, nor Shizuku was anywhere to be seen. When Essi witnessed the newlyweds exchanging rings on the stage, it seemed he had not seen the shadow of those three people in the crowd. Even if they wanted to leave, would it be too early?
"Where's the fun?" Someone asked at this time.
Essi turned around and saw a woman with her hair tied up, wearing a men's suit. She was chewing gum and casually looking at the lively dancing crowd around her.
"I like to watch the moment when people declare their vows. It's so beautiful." Essi said. "So I find it interesting."
The woman blew a bubble and it popped. She chewed gum. "What's beautiful about lies that don't mean it?"
"This is also one of the interesting things." Essi smiled. "I just said it was interesting, but I didn't say it was beautiful."
Bambie looked at him and suddenly said, "Those two people followed the gifts to the back. They went to steal something. Do you know?"
Essi was stunned for a moment. He frowned. "Who are you?"
"What's wrong?" Liam asked.
Shizuku was holding Blinky. She felt a little confused about his question. "There's no need to screen out the gifts with Scarlet Eyes. Just take them all, right?"
Liam opened his mouth, not knowing what to say. Finally he smiled and gave a thumbs up. "Okay."
Regarding banditry, Doraemon—today I, Liam, admit you're stronger!
"But you still have to identify whether there are other Scarlet Eyes in this pile of gifts." Liam added. "After you have a good idea, pack them all up and take them all away!"
"Yeah." Shizuku immediately turned on the vacuum cleaner switch. "Blinky, suck in all the Scarlet Eyes here."
The big head of the vacuum cleaner—full of sharp teeth—opened its mouth. An irresistible suction force came from the mouth like an abyss. In an instant, the piles of large and small boxes in the room shook and made a rumbling sound. The smaller gift boxes were quickly shaken off and fell to the ground.
Liam shook the more obvious piles of gifts. "There are at least two other pairs of Scarlet Eyes. Okay, not in vain!"
Snap. He snapped his fingers. "Shizuku, stop it!"
He'd just made a fist when his body suddenly twisted involuntarily and punched backward hard.
As he automatically punched back, he felt a faint sensation of being pierced by a needle on his back.
From the corner of his eye, he also caught a glimpse of a hand behind Shizuku holding a needle-like object and stabbing it into her back... an antenna?
The name immediately flashed through Liam's mind.
The moment Shizuku felt the stinging sensation on her back, she carried Blinky and swiped sideways.
The short-haired young man held two passively pulled-out needle-like objects in his hands, looking a little surprised. But at this time Liam's fist had already landed on his handsome face.
A punch without mercy hit Omokage hard on the face. He was knocked upside down and hit the wall of the room hard.
It really is Shalnark!
When Liam punched out, of course he could see the opponent's appearance clearly. The appearance and characteristics of Shalnark from the Phantom Troupe were almost the same as in his memory.
But how could the other party get close behind him and Shizuku—even insert his cell phone antenna into their backs—without them noticing?
It was impossible for him and Shizuku—especially Shizuku—to be so unalert.
Fortunately, even if he and she were targeted by Shalnark's mobile phone antenna, they wouldn't be controlled by his Nen ability "Black Voice"—after all, they'd already been "controlled" by Star Mark first.
"Haha, the sneak attack failed? What a pity! Sure enough, I couldn't use my true power by attacking from behind."
The "Shalnark" was sent flying to the wall. When he landed on the ground and stood up, he quickly grew taller and became bigger and stronger. His whole body was covered with hair. His long hair exploded like a lion's mane. Omokage transformed into Uvogin's appearance. He rubbed the cheek that had just been beaten and said with a smile, "Then it seems we can only attack head-on."
Liam looked at him expressionlessly and thought to himself: "He didn't say the control failed. He just said the sneak attack failed. Seems he doesn't want to expose the information about Shalnark's Nen ability."
Omokage wore his "Uvogin" skin and thought to himself: "I tried to control them with Shalnark's ability but failed. He wasn't much surprised when he saw the process of my transformation just now. It seems he's indeed the Manipulator who controlled the gang members who fought with me and Bambie before... he's already used his Manipulation Nen ability to control himself and the girl with glasses next to him in advance!"
Outside the villa, Kurapika was taking a walk, observing other people who might appear at any time.
On the skin of his left arm under the sleeve of his suit, the two lines of divine characters written previously had not disappeared due to the wear and tear of the skin.
As long as he used Gyo, it was equivalent to blessing his eyes with an En-like effect—what Liam called "Cone."
In Kurapika's opinion, the biggest advantage of this so-called Cone was its concealment.
Generally speaking, with the En detection method, when the target is detected, the target will also sense that someone else's aura is sweeping over them—of course, if the other party is a Nen user who can sense aura.
But Cone is different. It's attached to the gaze and Gyo. Even if the target is swept by this gaze, it won't be noticed immediately.
The reason he said it won't be noticed immediately is because after all, there are many masters in this world who are very sensitive to other people's gazes. Not to mention gaze blessed with Cone—even ordinary gaze will arouse the other party's alertness...
While Kurapika was thinking about it, suddenly there was a faint explosion in the distance from the garden where the wedding was held.
"Something happened over there?"
Kurapika looked outside, but unfortunately no matter how good his eyesight was, he couldn't penetrate the barriers of the buildings along the way.
Not long after, he saw something in his Cone sight.
There was something.
Spherical, as if gently fluttering in the wind... Is this a bubble?
Transparent. No, not transparent—made of air!
More and more "bubbles" appeared. As if Kurapika's gaze aroused their alertness, they suddenly all floated toward him.
Kurapika retreated slowly. The aura in his body tightly wrapped around him, ready to go.
Unfortunately, wherever he retreated, these "bubbles" chased him—as if staring him to death.
Kurapika rubbed the C-shaped ring and said via voice: [Liam, I may know how the explosive woman from the Phantom Troupe you mentioned achieved her abilities. She's already here!]
[What a coincidence. I also have one here. The Variety Monster is here with us.]
Kurapika was forced to a corner of the courtyard wall. Looking at the "bubbles" chasing him from all directions, he raised his hand to manifest the Dolphin Bookshelf and pulled out a book.
These "bubbles" suddenly burst into light. The dense explosion overwhelmed him.
"It can transform."
When Shizuku saw "Shalnark" being beaten away and turning into "Uvogin" when he landed, she immediately understood he was the member of the Phantom Troupe Liam had mentioned.
She held Blinky in one hand. The aura in her other hand instantly transformed into a chainsaw, whipping it toward the "Uvogin" on the opposite side like a whip.
The sound of the chainsaw cutting through the air rang out.
"Uvogin" raised his thick arm and caught it steadily.
The powerful aura was like invulnerable armor. Under such protection, the chainsaw hit him without leaving any scars on his arms.
Instead, "Uvogin" used the chainsaw in his backhand and pulled hard, trying to pull Shizuku over.
Omokage glanced at Liam, who was motionless for the moment, and thought to himself: "Since the bespectacled woman's Nen ability is Transmutation or Conjuration, then the so-called Manipulation is either the one outside or him... Well, it's most likely him!"
"Is it a Manipulation method with almost no side effects? That's why it can be applied to companions. This point is very similar to Shalnark's guess!"
"As a Manipulator, since he has the habit of applying control to himself in advance, he must have realized not only did I fail in the sneak attack, but I failed in my attempt to control him... But he said nothing about it. Not a word. Is he originally taciturn, or does he already know the intelligence on our side?"
While "Uvogin's" mind was spinning, four or five more aura chainsaws struck at him like whips.
Shizuku's Nen ability was Transmutation, not Conjuration.
These weren't real chains. They were essentially aura. Of course, there was no need to do that kind of "whiplash" action.
Hisoka could raise his hand and shoot out his Bungee Gum like a laser to stick to the enemy. Naturally, Shizuku's aura chainsaw could also be shot out directly by emitting aura.
BANG BANG BANG BANG BANG!
A total of six chainsaws extended from one of Shizuku's hands, all wrapped around Uvogin's muscular pillar-like arm.
All the chainsaws began to spin crazily. The countless sharp teeth that changed their aura were like rows of sharp blades of real chainsaws. The arms wrapped in "Uvogin" were cutting like crazy.
"Uvogin's" skin was cut open. Blood spurted out.
"What a powerful cutting ability! It is indeed Transmutation-type Nen!"
"Uvogin" felt bad. He had to deal with this girl with glasses quickly.
Among the six major Nen types—Enhancement, Transmutation, Conjuration, Emission, Manipulation, and Specialization—the Nen ability of Manipulation often has characteristics of "win first" and "win with one strike," which can defeat the strong and make a comeback with the weak. In fact, there's a chance similar abilities appear in other types.
For example, Transmutation.
In the manga, Killua's Nen ability allowed him to transform aura into electricity. The concentrated burst of lightning had the potential to defeat stronger opponents.
The power of thunder doesn't have a difference of several orders of magnitude in Nen. Even if there's aura to protect the body, it's not something ordinary people can bear.
The same goes for Shizuku's chainsaw cutting.
The aura of "Uvogin" was powerful. The body-protecting aura was like an iron bell. With the current strength of Shizuku and Liam, it was estimated it would be difficult to even break through the defense. But it was different with the chainsaw cut... The extremely strong "armor-breaking" ability directly pinched the skin of "Uvogin's" arm. Blood suddenly burst out!
"Blinky, suck all the blood out of his body." Shizuku maintained the aura of the chainsaw with one hand and pushed the vacuum cleaner switch with the other hand, giving the order calmly.
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