For the next few days, Allen and Bodoro stayed at a cheap inn that required no identification, just cash for a room, patiently awaiting Hisoka's news.
It wasn't until the final day of August that the twisted pervert finally sent a short message with an address.
After seeing the location, Allen immediately went alone to the rendezvous point.
Upon arriving at a pitch-black slum, he finally spotted the familiar figure leaning against a wall in a corner. Hisoka's face was fixed in an excited, contorted smile as Allen proactively asked, "This is the Troupe's assembly point?"
"Mm. That's right. Chrollo and his little friends are inside that building right now. But be careful, if you get too close, you might be spotted."
Hisoka pointed at a derelict structure not far ahead that resembled an abandoned church.
"You've already met with them? Are all the members present?"
Allen immediately began assessing the situation, his eyes reflecting a chilling, faint light under the moonlight.
That look clearly stoked the dark desires within Hisoka, who instinctively licked his lips. "Yes, everyone is here. But I haven't gone in to greet them yet. I waited for you here first. Tell me, how do you plan to use that interesting transformation ability of yours to infiltrate them? Just a heads up, my relationship with most of the members is not exactly... good."
"We're going in together, of course. After all, each transformation only lasts five minutes, and I might need to swap two or three times to fulfill all the prerequisites." Allen stated. "So, I plan to silently swap places with you in some visual blind spot inside. As for my relationship with the other members, that's irrelevant. I'll simply offer a reason and an excuse they'll find convincing."
The moment the words left his mouth, Allen instantly activated the power of the Orb of Deception, transforming himself to look exactly like Hisoka.
As soon as the transformation was complete, he drew a poisoned weapon, its tip gleaming with a toxic green light, and savagely slashed a deep, bone-visible gash across his own shoulder. He allowed the poison to slowly seep into his bloodstream, forming large, horrific black vessel patterns that looked like a dense spiderweb.
"Oh my~ Using yourself as bait, are we? It seems you truly crave someone's ability! Then, let's go in. You know you can't hold out for long in your current state."
With that, Hisoka voluntarily entered the state of Zetsu and led the way toward the dilapidated church.
…
Meanwhile, inside the church, Chrollo Lucilfer, the leader, was sitting on the floor as usual, flipping through an unidentified book. He appeared scholarly and refined, bearing no resemblance to a notorious, hardened criminal.
Yet, this was the man who single-handedly founded the Phantom Troupe and established a series of rules to ensure the survival and continuation of the organization.
In a sense, he was the Spider's brain and the root cause of all the organization's atrocities.
The other Troupe members were scattered throughout the church. Some sat quietly, but others were bickering over Hisoka's conspicuous tardiness.
Just as the argument was nearing a breaking point, an extremely distorted and sickly voice suddenly echoed in everyone's ears.
"Hehehehe Good evening! I think I heard someone mention me. You weren't discussing how to eliminate me, were you? How frightening"
As the last word fell, Allen, disguised as Hisoka, slowly emerged from the darkness, radiating an astonishing bloodlust.
"Hey! You were almost late, and you're still acting so cocky?" Uvogin groused, scowling.
"My apologies, I just happened to meet an interesting fellow and accidentally got carried away," Allen replied.
With that, Allen walked straight up to Shizuku, pointing at the wound on his shoulder, which was already starting to turn black. "Would you mind helping me suck out this annoying poison?"
"Oh, sure. Blinky! Suck all the poison out."
Shizuku, completely unaware of who she was truly facing, immediately used her Nen ability, which, through powerful suction, cleanly removed all the poison.
Her ability is undeniably fascinating and highly subjective. She can suck up anything she "believes" has no life.
By biological definition, any cell can be considered life.
Yet, she can directly suck away blood, which contains a massive number of cells.
This suggests that the rules governing her ability are absolutely driven by subjective consciousness over objective reality.
This, in turn, means that the less educated or more ignorant a person is regarding natural science, the more suitable they are for using this ability. Conversely, those who are knowledgeable in natural sciences would encounter numerous limitations.
Watching Blinky's strange appearance, a flicker of undetectable yearning crossed Allen's eyes. He quickly smiled and said, "Thanks~ But I have a small question. Why don't you infuse it with a bit of Manipulation-type Nen to give it some independent movement and judgment? That way, you could free up your hands to fight."
"Eh? Is that so?" A somewhat air-headed Shizuku blinked.
"I think Hisoka has a point. Maybe you should try it," Franklin agreed.
Just as the two were speaking, Chrollo finally stood up, closed the book in his hands, and announced in a voice that wasn't loud but commanded attention, "Since everyone is present, let's talk about the mission."
"Leader! What are we stealing this time?" The impatient Uvogin was the first to break the silence.
"The treasures from the Underground Auction!" Chrollo answered without hesitation.
"Treasures? What kind of treasures?" Shalnark wore a curious expression.
"Ancient books, perhaps? The Leader enjoys reading," Machi interjected.
"No way! It has to be games! A few sets of the world's most expensive game are going up for auction this time," Feitan offered a different opinion.
"Eh, whatever it is, it won't be short of gold and jewels. That's a given..."
Nobunaga didn't get to finish his thought before Chrollo took a step forward, letting the moonlight from the window illuminate his face. He smiled and interrupted, "It's all of it. We are going to sweep the entire auction and take every single treasure!"
With that declaration, the members of the Troupe were visibly stunned.
Uvogin, especially, flat-out challenged him, "Leader! Are you serious? That's tantamount to openly declaring war on the world's organized crime and all its affiliated powers!"
"Are you afraid?" Chrollo countered, a faint smile gracing his lips.
"Hahahaha! No! I'm thrilled! I'm so happy I can barely control myself! Come on! Give the order quickly! Right here! Right now!" Uvogin roared, urging him on wildly.
"I permit you... to kill them all! Don't leave a single hindrance behind!"
Under the gaze of all his members, Chrollo delivered his command with an utterly dominant flair.
He had no idea that at this very moment, right under his nose, a Grim Reaper had already set his sights on the entire Phantom Troupe, and a pervert was lurking in a corner with his sights set on him.
What was about to unfold in Yorknew City was a classic game of the wolf hunting the deer, unaware of the hunter watching from the ridge.
The Phantom Troupe had marked the treasures of the Mafia's Underground Auction as their hunting target, while Allen and Hisoka had marked the Phantom Troupe as their prey.
Interspersed throughout this will likely be Kurapika's revenge arc, who seeks to avenge his massacred clan, and the Zoldyck Family, hired by both sides to carry out assassinations.
In short, the few days from September 1st to September 5th would turn this thriving international metropolis into an extremely chaotic spectacle.
Of course, for Allen, the most critical thing right now was to complete the several prerequisites for stealing an ability as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, once the full-scale conflict truly erupted, he might not have the opportunity to fulfill those complicated and troublesome conditions one by one.
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr-eon if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]