Hinrigh wasn't in the cafeteria—he was stationed in a room roughly a hundred meters away.
Beside him stood a man with a sniper rifle, along with Zakuro and Lynch.
When Zakuro had passed on the intel earlier, Hinrigh had used his ability—"Hold the Sun in My Palm"—to transform several collected tools and weapons into various animals and dispatched them near the location Zakuro described.
Hinrigh's ability had a particularly dangerous trait: anything mechanical or weaponized that he'd come into contact with could be transformed into a living creature without losing its original function.
The animals he'd deployed had kept their distance, only taking pictures of Joey from afar.
From their past encounters, Hinrigh had formed a rough assessment of Joey's strength—especially his En, which had left a deep impression.
That fifty-meter En radius was a hard limit, one his creatures had strict orders never to cross.
Hinrigh had long suspected his ability might've already been exposed. Several times when his creatures had monitored Joey's Tier 3 room, they were eliminated by some unknown means.
Once might be chance. Twice, coincidence. But three times? It was no accident.
So he'd ordered some of his mafia subordinates to always carry pets—both as camouflage, and as a contingency in case things escalated with Joey.
Hinrigh had been preparing for a potential conflict for a while.
It was instinct, part of his habit when dealing with formidable enemies.
What surprised him, though, was that it wasn't his assistance to the Phantom Troupe that made Joey an enemy—it was Joey's alliance with the Ei Ei Family to assassinate the Third Prince.
Had Hinrigh predicted this sooner, he would've ordered a full-scale assault on Joey's residence without hesitation.
But he had to admit—it was their failure.
The benefits Joey brought had blinded them. The intel, the neutrality, the seeming loyalty...
Still, as subordinates, they couldn't escape blame for the Third Prince's death.
From that moment on, their mission had changed:
No longer to fight the Ei Ei Family, but to track and eliminate Joey.
Yet even then, Hinrigh considered this a futile move.
The Third Prince was dead. If the Xi-Yuu Family wanted to survive and thrive, they should've been looking for another prince to support, not chasing ghosts.
But he wasn't the leader—only the young heir. His hands were tied.
So even if he knew this hunt was tainted by emotion, he had no choice but to proceed.
Then came the turning point—a visitor in the night.
Someone came to him, offering intel and an address.
Still skeptical, he led his people to the location—and found the two princes Joey had smuggled down from the upper decks.
Unfortunately, he wasn't fully prepared. Nor did he expect that one of the princes themselves was the spatial ability user.
Because of that, he failed to capture them.
Had he succeeded, he'd already be indispensable to that "Lord."
Now, if he could just trap Joey here—make sure he never left the lower decks—that might be enough to win favor.
Hinrigh checked his watch.
It had been five minutes since he dispatched subordinates to locate any Phantom Troupe members on Tier 4.
That should be enough.
The Troupe always operated with mafia support. If smartphones actually worked properly down here, he wouldn't have needed to send anyone at all.
Joey's power was undeniable.
Hinrigh himself knew he wouldn't survive a snipe from someone like Joey—not without detection, not without damage.
In fact, he was pretty sure Joey had already figured out the trajectory of the bullet.
"Let's leave," Hinrigh said calmly. "We're not here to beat him—just stall. The Phantom Troupe will finish him off."
His gaze dropped back to the live feed of photos from the cafeteria.
He raised an eyebrow.
"Don't let anyone escape. Whether they're leaving through the front or the back—kill them all."
Lynch and Zakuro moved to relay the order, but Hinrigh stopped them.
"Just start shooting. Don't give him any openings. There's barely a hundred people in there—if they all die, so be it."
Zakuro's eyes lit up. "Perfect. I'll go now."
A hundred deaths. A sea of blood.
Zakuro's very veins seemed to pulse in excitement. Even though he couldn't control others' blood, the thought alone thrilled him.
As Lynch and Zakuro left, a new image arrived on Hinrigh's phone.
It was the last photo sent by one of his animal constructs.
Through the fog blanketing the cafeteria, a sharp beak lunged straight at the screen.
"A bird?"
Hinrigh frowned.
Joey hadn't been near any animals before.
Then realization struck him.
A cat.
A bird.
Hinrigh's eyes widened.
"Could it be… Joey's ability is similar to mine—'Hold the Sun in My Palm'?"
At that moment, Hinrigh's face twisted.
"Get out of here—now!"
He bolted from the room.
But the sniper didn't follow.
As Hinrigh rushed into the hallway, he noticed something strange—
A fly had landed on the sniper's cheek.
Hinrigh froze.
He turned back just in time to see the sniper's rifle crash to the floor with a dull thud.
A cold voice spoke near his ear—
"Where do you think you're going?"
A chill ran up Hinrigh's spine.
But he didn't hesitate.
The two handcuffs on his belt twisted into shape, shooting toward the voice.
Clack.
A white dove—formed from a handcuff—was caught by a massive pale-blue hand and crushed back into metal form.
"A conjured beast…" Hinrigh hissed.
A snake slithered from his pant leg toward the half-revealed beast behind the blue hand.
But before it got close, rain began to fall in the corridor.
The snake slowed.
Frost crept along its scales.
It froze mid-motion.
Only then did Joey reveal himself—stepping out from behind his conjured weather beast.
He'd planned this ever since noticing the bullet hole in the wall.
Hinrigh's ability was too troublesome. If Joey wanted a clean escape, he had to eliminate him.
He hadn't had many chances.
Tracking the sniper had been his best lead. If Hinrigh wasn't there, Joey would've simply left.
But if Hinrigh was…
He would strike.
His crowd disguise had been a test—to probe Hinrigh's tracking ability.
Whether it was via trajectory, or something more.
Years ago, Joey had fought a user who could mark targets via bullets.
Fortunately, his luck held.
Beyond the hummingbirds used to kill insects, he'd crafted a specific Gold Experience creature designed to detect people in Zetsu or Ten.
It had confirmed that four people in the direction of the shot were in Ten.
A clear sign—Hinrigh was there.
Joey hadn't been sniped once while leaving the cafeteria, confirming his hunch.
He'd placed the first Killer Queen bomb on the fly.
By the time Zakuro and Lynch left, it was already on Hinrigh.
Hinrigh must've received a warning on his phone—hence the sudden dash.
But Joey had the fly detonate on the unsuspecting sniper's face—
And used the opening to strike at Hinrigh.
Hinrigh countered with his conjured beast and released En to locate Joey.
He even deployed a snake transformed from some unknown weapon.
From this, Joey confirmed: the earlier sniper had indeed located him via trajectory.
If Hinrigh had another tracking method, he wouldn't have needed En now.
Which meant Hinrigh's value had just dropped to zero.
As the snake froze, Joey raised his hand.
In it gleamed his favorite weapon—a scalpel.
Hinrigh knew he was finished the moment Joey appeared.
And when his trump card, the snake, froze…
He was out of options.
As Joey's killing intent surged, Hinrigh made a final gamble.
"I know who leaked the princes' location!"
The scalpel stopped—three centimeters from his throat.
Joey's eyes narrowed.
He didn't quite believe him—
But Killer Queen appeared behind Hinrigh, slashing his neck with a knife-hand.
A gust of wind caught Hinrigh's unconscious body as his eyes rolled back.
The conjured weather beast snatched his phone and handed it to Joey.
He flipped through the pictures briefly, then pocketed it.
Mirage Illusion cloaked them both.
The hallway fell quiet once more.
A few minutes later, Zakuro and Lynch returned—Zakuro's face twisted with excitement and anxiety, Lynch grim and focused.
They stopped at the door, staring at the abandoned sniper rifle inside.
They exchanged a glance—
Both saw the same thing in each other's eyes: something had gone terribly wrong.
Before they could call their boss, a cold voice came from behind:
"I don't think I've got the wrong place. So—where's Joey?"
The killing intent behind that voice was overwhelming.
Both Zakuro and Lynch broke into cold sweat.
They knew—the moment that voice spoke, their lives were no longer their own.
"He ran. Took the young master with him."
Short. Honest. Strategic.
Zakuro had said the only thing that might keep him alive.
It didn't help.
The aura behind them flared—furious.
But just as they braced for death, a woman's calm voice cut through the air—
"Phinks."
The killing intent slowly faded.
"Let's go. He's going to find the two hidden princes. We can't let them reunite. If they do, that space ability will make finding him hell."
As the aura disappeared, Zakuro and Lynch collapsed to the ground.
"…So that's the Phantom Troupe," Zakuro muttered, shaken but awestruck.
Lynch nodded beside him. "It's… something to aspire to."
Neither noticed the two small white slips of paper that had silently attached themselves to their backs.
…
Fifteen minutes after leaving the cafeteria, Joey arrived at the door of an unassuming room on Tier 4, dragging the checked-for-bugs Hinrigh behind him.
He deactivated Mirage Illusion and knocked in the agreed pattern.
Seconds later, a calm face appeared in the open doorway—with a ladybug fluttering at her side.
"Come in," Tita said, her eyes briefly scanning the hall before lingering on the unconscious Hinrigh.
She stepped back.
Joey entered and closed the door behind him.
(End of Chapter)