Chrollo arrived in Mordin City seven days after Omokage's death.
They had been ambushed by snipers on the way there.
According to the intel Shalnark dug up, someone had leaked the Phantom Troupe's abilities all over the internet. Even though the asking price for the information was steep, plenty of people bought it, and even more decided to act on it.
Just traveling from Heaven's Arena to Mordin City, they had lost four airships to bombings.
Three members of the Troupe had sustained minor injuries, and Nobunaga—just like Uvogin before him—had lost an arm.
Fortunately, the arm hadn't been crushed or pulverized. Thanks to Machi's stitching ability, Nobunaga just needed some rest and recalibration, and he'd make a full recovery.
"Ronin must have analyzed the members' abilities back when we slaughtered the Kurta Clan," Feitan said. He was currently with the main group.
In fact, aside from Omokage, every living member of the Troupe was gathered here.
"Yeah, the leaked intel matches up perfectly with what we can do," Shalnark admitted, sounding a bit frustrated. "But his father must have told him some of it. Based on my memory of where the kid was standing during the massacre, he couldn't have possibly seen everyone's abilities in that much detail."
Feitan narrowed his eyes and said bluntly, "If Uvogin wasn't such a piece of trash, that kid wouldn't have escaped in the first place."
"Shorty, what did you say?" Uvogin's booming, furious voice came from the back of the group.
"You've got a death wish!" Feitan muttered something unintelligible and vanished from his spot.
Bam!
The sound of an impact rang out from behind them, but Chrollo and the others kept walking forward, completely ignoring the two fighting in the background.
"No news from Omokage," Isley said. He hadn't been able to reach Omokage since the last time he tipped him off. Now, there was no point in hiding it. "He's most likely dead."
"Ronin," Chrollo said. He didn't sound surprised.
Omokage's obsession with eyes was common knowledge, but he had been too impatient. He knew Ronin was a difficult target, yet he practically threw himself at him. Did he think his abilities were a hard counter to Ronin's?
It seemed he paid the price for his arrogance.
"Right. Omokage got there first. His ability isn't weak, and theoretically, it should have countered Ronin. If he's gone just like that... does it mean Ronin has gotten stronger again?" Isley asked doubtfully.
He had never met Ronin personally, but just from the bits and pieces the other members shared, he knew the guy was an absolute genius.
A Nen prodigy, a combat savant, an escape artist—and he had a streak of madness in him.
Otherwise, what kind of desperate fugitive would broadcast their location at Heaven's Arena while being hunted down?
Isley certainly wouldn't do it.
In his opinion, a guy this paranoid and crazy was likely a stubborn, one-track-mind Enhancer, or an incredibly opinionated Specialist.
Ronin seemed to be both.
"Who knows? Maybe he got a new helper," Shalnark said. He was the most qualified to speak on this matter.
Reviewing Ronin's movements revealed a person who was a walking contradiction.
When he took the airship, he was cautious, leaving absolutely no trace. But once he hit the 200th floor of Heaven's Arena, he went high-profile. He fought with decisive ferocity, yet his escapes were incredibly smooth.
Clearly, with his abilities, he had ways to avoid their attacks entirely, yet he actively chose to step out and provoke them.
That was until a week ago. His behavioral logic completely shifted. No matter how hard Shalnark searched for Ronin's digital footprint, there was total radio silence.
The last place he was tracked to was Mordin City.
"Ronin probably ran for it. Should we stretch our legs?" Bonolenov asked, his voice dripping with killing intent. He was wrapped head-to-toe in bandages, and since part of his information had also been leaked, he was in a foul mood.
To Bonolenov, the people constantly probing them and watching from the shadows were the perfect targets to vent his anger on.
"Sure. Go ahead and kill a few more," Chrollo agreed, his aura equally cold. "We need to make them afraid. Once they're terrified, they'll learn to stay away."
---
Seven days ago, after killing Omokage and retrieving the Scarlet Eyes, Ronin fused them immediately.
He could feel that the evolution speed of his eyes had slowed down. He was starting to doubt whether fusing more Scarlet Eyes would actually let him awaken the Mangekyō Sharingan.
However, his aura capacity had definitely increased. His total aura reserves had now surpassed 20,000 units.
He had found Neon and killed Omokage. Ronin's mission in Mordin City was a perfect success.
His next destination was Yorknew City. But before leaving, Kurapika had asked him for the detailed intel on the Phantom Troupe members.
Kurapika then packaged that intel and sold it.
During this process, Ronin contacted Adlai and borrowed his Hunter License account. Information on the Phantom Troupe could only fetch a premium price on the exclusive Hunter website.
Borrowing the account allowed Adlai to take a cut of the profits, making it a win-win for both sides.
However, according to Kurapika's assessment, the leak would only cause the Phantom Troupe some minor trouble; it wasn't enough to deal a crippling blow.
The key issue was that the Troupe members were individually very strong and rarely acted alone.
People like Omokage, who had their own agenda and were only loosely affiliated with the Troupe, were rare. Even if Omokage were still alive, if attackers showed up, he would likely have other Troupe members nearby. If Ronin had run into that setup, he wouldn't have stood a chance.
At the end of the day, it came down to a lack of strength. They needed time to farm and level up.
And what Kurapika was doing now was buying that development time for both himself and Ronin.
Ronin was happy to leave the strategy to Kurapika. In his past life, Ronin was just a blueprint drafter who did live streams and cosplay. His experience was mostly "armchair general" stuff—good in theory, but often lacking when reality hit.
Kurapika, on the other hand, was absorbing knowledge from the internet like a sponge and becoming increasingly adept at this.
According to Kurapika, the Troupe shouldn't be able to find them in the short term.
This safety window should last until the end of August. Because anyone with a brain could guess what they would be doing at the end of August:
Going to Yorknew City to buy the Scarlet Eyes appearing at the auction!
"We can't go to the Kakin Empire yet. According to your intel, the person hoarding the Scarlet Eyes is the Fourth Prince of Kakin, Tserriednich, and he's supposedly just a normal human right now," Kurapika said from the passenger seat, thinking aloud. "But in my research of Kakin's history, I found that in the three months leading up to the selection of a new king, no prince with succession rights has ever died of unnatural causes."
"If that's the case, it's going to be tricky. Based on what I know about Tserriednich, trying to buy the Scarlet Eyes from him through a standard transaction is completely unrealistic," Ronin said as he drove. The car was heading toward the outskirts of Yorknew.
They had actually arrived in Yorknew three days early.
They had scouted around but found no leads on the Scarlet Eyes, so Ronin decided to take Kurapika and Neon to the countryside to train for a while.
Come September, there would be at least five pairs of Scarlet Eyes at the auction. right now, they only had two jobs:
Get stronger, and get rich.