And now, this group was standing around, chatting openly as if he didn't even exist.
Listening to their conversation... One of them didn't even know what Heavens Arena was.
How could that be?!
Except in remote, signal-less wildernesses or abandoned places with no TVs, everyone in the world knew about Heavens Arena.
Wait… abandoned places?!!
The tall man's body stiffened.
"Meteor City..."
He murmured the name under his breath.
When it comes to abandoned places, the most famous in the world is undoubtedly that one.
And coincidentally, the people from that place had the best reason to come looking.
Tap.
Suddenly, a hand patted his shoulder.
The tall man instinctively looked up and saw a young woman with short hair looking at him.
"About this foundation..."
Pakunoda asked calmly: "How much do you know?"
"..."
The tall man opened his mouth, then quickly shut up.
As Risnorth's new secretary, he naturally came into contact with many secrets about the Mom's Help Foundation, including some about Risnorth himself.
But knowing was one thing; speaking was another.
He understood very well that the only reason he was still alive was because he had this information.
If he revealed it, then he'd lose all value and be killed immediately!!
To stay alive, he had to keep every secret locked tight inside.
"You're not going to tell me, are you?"
Pakunoda, seeing this, showed no sign of panic.
She simply kept trying to coax him: "You must have kept some evidence of your company's crimes, right?"
"Otherwise, if your boss ever decided to dispose of you one day, you wouldn't have anything to bargain with."
"Where do you keep all that evidence?"
The tall man stayed silent and simply clenched his jaw.
Although he felt a surge of fear in his heart, the other party had so easily revealed his previously hidden thoughts.
But the more he felt this way, the more he couldn't bring himself to speak out.
Keep your mouth shut to stay alive!!
He repeated it to himself over and over, forcing himself to calm down.
But just as he had regained his composure...
"I see."
The young woman before him nodded in understanding.
"Those pieces of evidence, you hid them separately under the floor beneath the sofa leg in your suburban house and inside the brickwork of the chimney on the roof of a small motel you invested in..."
The tall man: "...!?"
Whoosh!!
He jerked his head up, his eyes filled with terror and confusion as he stared at the young woman before him.
Why did she know it?!
"In there, there's more than enough proof that this company, and Risnorth, were involved in crimes against children, including the ones from Meteor City."
Pakunoda withdrew her hand and turned to Chrollo, who was walking toward her from behind.
"The evidence is sufficient."
"Thank you for your hard work."
Chrollo smiled and nodded at her, his eyes full of admiration.
He hadn't expected Pakunoda to develop such a useful ability.
By making physical contact with another person, she could retrieve memories from their minds.
And not just surface memories that one could consciously suppress, but the kind buried deep within the human subconscious.
At present, Pakunoda's standard procedure for activating her ability was to ask a question first, then, the moment she touched the target, she could read their memories.
The questions were asked to facilitate access to the deepest memories.
Thus, even if the target tried to think of something else, it wouldn't affect the memory extraction.
"I'll contact Shalnark later and have him collect some of the items we need from this company."
Pakunoda said, pulling out her phone.
"We can get away before the so-called police arrive."
Chrollo observed the scene calmly.
Everything at the site was being handled in perfect order.
He oversaw the situation from outside, while Uvogin, Nobunaga, Phinks, and Franklin acted as the combatants, knocking out all of the guards.
Pakunoda, through memory extraction, obtained key clues to the evidence.
Shalnark roamed the company, seizing anything that would be useful to them.
Inside, Luke confronted Risnorth directly, with Machi assisting from the side, and Feitan handling the interrogation and torture.
Altogether, their operation had gone remarkably smoothly, almost too smoothly.
"After completing all the preliminary preparations, we will swiftly launch the operation."
"We will leave the target no chance to breathe and end everything with lightning speed..."
Chrollo mentally reviewed the operation, silently memorizing every detail of the action.
Well, in the future, at the Yorknew City Arc.
Chrollo's actions also clearly demonstrated his decisiveness.
Don't be fooled by how calmly he stayed in the base later, or how long that story arc lasted.
In truth, those many episodes are just a few days.
Especially the Phantom Troupe raid on the underground auction, where Uvogin, Nobunaga, Shizuku, Feitan, Machi, Shalnark, and Franklin formed a seven-member team for the operation.
They launched a sudden assault, stealing all the auction items.
If everything had gone smoothly, they would have slaughtered all the mafia attendees, then had Shizuku clean up the bodies and traces that could lead to them, and escape by hot-air balloon, making it a flawless execution.
Unfortunately, due to Neon's fortune-telling ability, their first operation failed, and what followed spiraled into everything that came after.
Normally, under Chrollo's arrangements, they should have been able to quickly complete their mission and evacuate on the first night of their assembly, just like now.
And this would set the tone for their future operations: fast, precise, ruthless, and efficient!!
Chrollo quietly continued reviewing and recording everything.
Uvogin and the others chatted casually, but they didn't slack off at all.
They thoroughly searched every floor of the company building.
Well, there was quite a commotion here.
The workers working overtime on the lower floors had long since deserted the building.
This was originally a night operation, so there weren't many overtime workers.
After all, this was still the 1980s, long before the era of chronic overwork in the 2020s.
Soon, under Pakunoda's direction, Shalnark, the team's tech specialist, retrieved all the company's critical data.
Then they split into two groups.
Shalnark, Pakunoda, Franklin, and Phinks, led by Chrollo, went to locate the evidence hidden by the tall man.
As for the upper floors, after confirming that everything was complete…
"Nobunaga, I'll leave it to you."
Luke had Nobunaga use his katana to carve into the office wall that classic line: "We accept anything you leave here, but don't try to take anything from us!"
The interwoven sword slashes brought the words vividly to life.
As for Risnorth himself...
"He's probably the most pitiful one tonight."
Feitan said coolly, delivering the final verdict for the so-called philanthropist who claimed to care for children's futures.
Thus, the Phantom Troupe's first operation came to a close.
...
Beep! Beep! Beep!
As the red warning lights flashed and the sharp alarms blared into the night, the members of the Phantom Troupe had already disappeared into the darkness.
The next day, an explosive piece of news swept across Yorknew City and soon surged outward.
It was spreading like a tidal wave to every corner of the world. The chairman of the Mom's Help Foundation, Risnorth, was found murdered in his private office within his building.
It was an extraordinarily heinous, shocking murder case!!!
When the police arrived and conducted a preliminary investigation, their findings shocked the world.
The number of dead and the extent of the scene were simply too great to conceal.
Back then, it was the mafia killing the mafia; no one else cared much.
But this time, the one who died was a world-renowned philanthropist.
And not just any philanthropist, it was one explicitly devoted to the welfare of children.
That made the problem and the public reaction far more serious.
Many public figures openly called for the killer to be found and severely punished.
Some even burst into emotional tears as they spoke out in defense of Risnorth: "He was just a father who lost his son! He only wanted to care for children all around the world. What crime did he commit?!!"
"Mr. Risnorth was already attacked once in the Kakin Empire, and now this happens again?!!"
"Last time, he lost his beloved child. This time, he lost his own life!"
"And we have lost such a great philanthropist!!"
"What kind of gangsters and thugs are those bastards? First they attacked him, and now they came again?!!"
"Are they heartless murderers? What kind of deep-seated hatred do they have for Mr. Risnorth!!!"
"We must investigate thoroughly! Investigate thoroughly!"
The public opinion was like a surging wave, and the cries threatened to drown out the police.
Especially the police in charge of the case, they understood the people's anger.
In fact, at the beginning, they too were furious and determined to solve the case at all costs.
But then… When they began searching the initial crime scene, they discovered Risnorth's secret room.
Well, before leaving, Luke had specifically revealed this secret room to those who came later.
The horrific scenes unfolding within were like a bucket of ice water being poured over the heads of the police.
The piercing chill shot straight up from their tailbone and directly into their foreheads.
This scene, like hell on earth, shocked everyone who witnessed it.
Many people immediately turned around and vomited.
Even the veteran police leading the investigation, who had seen their share of horrors, went pale and trembled uncontrollably.
It was clear that this wasn't the work of the criminals who killed Risnorth.
At least, a hidden chamber like that, inside Risnorth's own residence, couldn't have been built or used by outsiders.
Which meant only one thing...
"This person, seemingly a philanthropist on the surface, is actually a twisted, psychopathic lunatic?!!"
Once that thought took root in the police's minds, it wouldn't go away.
For the younger police, especially, it shattered their worldview.
"Those guys who appear so noble and righteous on the surface are actually such a person in private..."
"Is this world really that fake and hypocritical?!!"
Many people remained silent, their scalps tingling.
The leader in charge of this matter was also extremely troubled.
This matter was of such magnitude that he had no choice but to report it to higher-ups.
Clearly, this was no simple assassination.
In fact, it was very likely that these people were seeking revenge. As for the purpose of the revenge... a glance at that secret room pretty much tells the whole story.
Not to mention the obvious phrase etched on the wall.
"We accept anything you leave here, but don't try to take anything from us!"
That phrase alone made it easy to guess which group it referred to.
And since the culprits left such a message behind, it meant they hadn't intended to hide their identity at all.
But that only made things much more complicated.
It was far beyond what the local police could handle.
They immediately reported the situation.
The feedback they received was quite subtle...
"Are there any contact records, bills, or other documents?"
When the leader in charge of this incident received this inquiry from their superiors, he remained silent for a moment, then immediately shook his head.
"We're currently reviewing the assets to see if the attack might have been financially motivated."
"As for whether there are such documents..."
He glanced at the tall, expressionless man in black who had arrived with the higher-up's team.
With tactful wording, he said: "We haven't discovered or found anything yet."
"It's also possible that we lack the ability and need additional support..."
This statement made it perfectly clear.
The man in black gave a slight nod. "I'm here precisely to assist."
'More likely to destroy the evidence, right?'
The leader maintained a polite facade while exchanging formal pleasantries, but inwardly, he was gritting his teeth.
It was clear that Risnorth and his foundation had engaged in unspeakable, illicit dealings with high-level politicians.
After all, Risnorth had abducted so many children.
If no one had covered up for him, he would have been investigated long ago.
Now that Risnorth was dead, it was likely he still possessed evidence linking him to those higher-ups.
To avoid being implicated, the secret room incident was quietly buried.
Every person who had seen it was silenced, through threats or bribes.
Meanwhile, public outcry only grew louder and louder.
But the investigative team never released any updates.
No matter who inquired, no matter what questions journalists asked, the answer was always the same: "The matter is still under investigation."
No clear statement ever followed.