To put it bluntly, those competing for power and position.
Positions are limited, and everyone wants to climb higher.
Naturally, competition and pressure exist.
Once Luke delivered these materials and evidence to their rivals…
He didn't need to act. The rivals would know exactly what to do.
The knives were already in their hands; if they wanted to rise, even knowing the risk of being used as a tool, they would act.
Luke did not break the rules or take lives violently.
Instead, within the rules, he caused their downfall and stripped them of their most valued possessions.
This method was even more agonizing than killing them.
"And once V5 begins its internal conflict, they will have no time to deal with other matters."
"They'll be busy dealing with their own chaos."
Luke watched as the House Robot slowly delivered the materials one by one, then stood up and stretched lazily.
"Time really flies..."
He glanced at the calendar on the wall and the notes of major events.
Most notably, the Kukuroo Mountain, home of the Zoldyck Family.
A nominal Blacklist Hunter led a hundred amateur hunters to hunt the Zoldyck Family.
They chose to confront them head-on, smashing open the main gate, and strode boldly through the front.
Even the Zoldyck Family's guard dog, Mike, did nothing to those guests entering through the front gate, merely watching them pass.
Fortunately, these guys didn't choose a shortcut and went through the side path.
Otherwise, this group wouldn't even have been able to finish this path; they all would have ended up as food for Mike.
But now, the more than one hundred people who forcefully barged in were marching forward, proud and imposing.
Finally, they arrived at the small door that led to the Zoldyck Family's forward base.
Then… this group met total annihilation right there.
Just a child apprentice butler, completely wiped out the main force of over a hundred invaders.
Judging by appearance, she looked no more than about ten years old.
Alone, with just a staff, she effortlessly annihilated more than a hundred attackers.
Only the lead Blacklist Hunter, Shikou, barely survived.
Even so, in front of the apprentice butler named Canary, he was utterly terrified.
He no longer had any spirit left, not even the sadness or anger for the death of his over-a-hundred companions.
Let alone thoughts of revenge.
After completely losing his courage and being scared out of his wits, he voluntarily stayed there to save his own life and became the guard of the place.
The deaths of over a hundred people, aside from stirring some waves within their own circles, had no further impact elsewhere.
To put it bluntly, people die almost every moment in this world.
Whether over one hundred of them died at Kukuroo Mountain... there's no need to overthink it.
So, while the outside world remained bustling, the incident slowly passed, and in the blink of an eye, a new year arrived: 1997.
With the new year, the world became even livelier.
First, within V5, many scandals involving leaders in key positions were exposed.
Various materials that greatly affected these individuals personally were released one after another.
This caused true worldwide shock; the whole world was watching the V5 spectacle.
Not to mention, within V5 itself, many people were secretly fanning the flames and driving it all forward.
They hoped those in high positions would be disgraced and forced to step down.
By vacating those positions, they could climb up themselves.
Human evil and ambition revealed themselves clearly in this moment.
Meanwhile, the internal struggle in V5 left them no time to focus on other matters, such as pursuing the Phantom Troupe.
Originally, the Phantom Troupe killed an annoying aristocrat to obtain the Liquid Titanium Ore; that aristocrat had connections with a high-ranking official in one of the V5 countries.
But it was only with one of V5, not the entire V5.
Moreover, under Luke's careful arrangement, the high-ranking official in one of the V5s that was directly targeting the Phantom Troupe received special attention.
The other party had the most and the heaviest dirt on him.
If other V5 high-ranking officials still had the means to suppress scandals affecting themselves, the specially cared-for official by Luke was in a position where he could hardly recover.
As long as his rivals and political enemies weren't foolish, they wouldn't miss such a great opportunity.
His future was over, a done deal.
Even his original position was precarious; his fall was only a matter of time.
Thus, V5 had even less energy to pursue the Phantom Troupe.
With so many crime organizations in the world, they had no extra energy to waste on thankless pursuits.
After a long period of being pursued, the Phantom Troupe finally escaped their predicament.
Within the team, everyone had thoughts about the next moves.
Feitan and Phinks were very displeased and wanted to retaliate.
They had been chased for so long, so naturally, this couldn't be left unaddressed.
"If you dare pursue us, then be prepared to pay the price for our revenge!!"
They were ready to unleash a storm of counterattack.
For this, the two even dragged Shalnark into the fray.
Shalnark's intellect was widely recognized within the troupe as quite sharp. So a series of suitable revenge plans could be devised for Feitan and Phinks.
Even Uvogin and Nobunaga were eager to participate.
Being pursued by such a massive organization for so long, it was impossible not to feel resentment or anger.
Now that the opponents had internal problems, this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity would not be missed.
It was time to make the other side feel pain for the price of their actions.
Thus, Feitan, Phinks, Nobunaga, Uvogin, and their external strategist, Shalnark, quietly began planning how to deal with V5.
As for the other troupe members…
Chrollo played with the Liquid Titanium Ore in his hand, without much thought.
For him, simply obtaining the treasure and leaving safely was enough.
Machi and Franklin thought the same.
After the incident, one went to the Heavens Arena, the other returned to Meteor City.
One continued her medical practice while the other looked for more suitable companions.
"I found that the other side can track us based on our traces."
Franklin said.
"If I can find a suitable companion with the ability to erase these traces..."
"Then our future actions would benefit immensely in all aspects."