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The car rolled away from Heaven's Arena and pulled up at a quiet manor on the outskirts of town. Miria had the place ready for them days ago—a temporary bolt-hole stocked and waiting.
"Has Chrollo made his move yet?" Ronin asked, not the least bit worried about Maha or the rest of the Zoldycks tailing them.
Even if they did chase, he had contingency plans ready. Besides, the Zoldyck family wasn't invincible. Push them hard enough and nobody walked away happy.
He knew this mess wouldn't end easily. The cleanest way out was still the same: kill Chrollo, the one who'd actually hired Illumi. Contract dies with the client. Done.
Or the even simpler route—kill Illumi himself. Ronin didn't believe Maha would babysit his great-great-grandson forever. Once the old man stepped away, Ronin was confident he could hunt Illumi down and finish the job.
Finding Illumi wouldn't be hard. He still had Hisoka—the world's most reliable double-crosser—on speed dial.
He just needed to know how tight Hisoka and Illumi were right now. If they'd already formed the same shady alliance they had in the original story, it would make things even easier. Give Hisoka the right incentive and he'd sell Illumi out in a heartbeat.
Illumi knew that too. Knowing it and being able to stop it were two different things.
"Yeah, he's already moving," Kurapika answered. He'd stayed in contact with their people back in Meteor City. "Nothing unexpected so far. The only thing that actually bugs me is Chrollo reaching out to Sheila.
If your earlier theory is right, Pakunoda's definitely pulled every memory Sheila has about us from her head by now."
"The real question isn't whether Pakunoda knows," Ronin said. "It's whether Sheila fed her exactly what she wanted her to see."
He still didn't trust Sheila one bit. Kurapika disagreed—he believed the girl was exactly as genuine as she seemed—but he kept quiet, waiting for real proof either way.
"By the way, that explosion in the arena was definitely Milluki's doing," Ronin added. "He was trying to create a distraction so Maha could jump me. I spotted the drone early."
He paused. "Milluki's a computer genius. He could be tracking our movements right now through tech."
"No problem," Kurapika said, dropping the bombshell like it was nothing. "I already reached out to Silva and got Milluki's direct contact. He's not exactly on our side, but he won't hand us over to Illumi either."
Ronin's eyebrows shot up. They'd basically flipped a Zoldyck from the inside?
"Milluki was forced into this gig," Kurapika explained. "Illumi's paying him peanuts, and most of the money went straight to Maha anyway. He's been bitching about doing free work. So yeah, he's not exactly breaking a sweat for them."
Ronin still looked confused. "Then why'd you contact him?"
"You told me the guy's tech is top-tier," Kurapika said with a shrug. "I hired him to dig up fresh Scarlet Eyes intel. Makes perfect sense, right? Miria's network is solid, but it's all above-board stuff. Even with Raymond's mafia connections, the underground info we can get right now is limited.
Milluki lives in that world. He can pull way more useful dirt, and the only downside is his price tag. But having him working as our inside guy saves us a ton of headaches. Worth every Jenny."
Ronin nodded. He trusted Kurapika's judgment completely.
He also understood the bigger play: they didn't need to burn every bridge with the Zoldycks and turn them into mortal enemies.
The family still had that ultimate trump card—Nanika. If things ever got desperate enough for the Zoldycks to unleash her, everybody lost.
"Once we wrap things up here, we can move out," Kurapika said. "Milluki's intel is already paying off. He found another collector with a pair of Scarlet Eyes on the Yorbian Continent."
They hadn't heard a single solid lead on the eyes since they grabbed those three pairs earlier. Kurapika getting this tip straight from Milluki proved the contact had been the right call.
"One thing, though," Ronin asked. "Did Silva suspect anything when you asked for Milluki's number?"
"The Zoldycks run an info brokerage business anyway," Kurapika said, shrugging again. "I didn't have to explain why I wanted Milluki. I just gave Silva the request and he handed over the contact. I figured I'd have to go through the butlers first—didn't expect it to be this smooth."
Ronin thought about it. "Sounds like Silva's way of showing goodwill."
"Silva definitely doesn't want us as enemies," Kurapika confirmed. "But Illumi taking the job on his own complicated everything. Either way, keeping things as they are works for us right now. Especially since Silva said if we can get them into Greed Island, he and Zeno are willing to go in and assassinate any Troupe members they find inside the game."
That last part was the real reason Kurapika refused to burn the bridge. The offer was too good to pass up.
"Battler's castle is on the Yorbian Continent too," Ronin said, dropping onto the couch. "Looks like everything lines up perfectly. Neon, grab me something to eat."
"Hey, I'm not your damn maid," Neon grumbled, but she still stood up and headed for the kitchen.
Shizuku was faster. Blinky popped out, and on her flat command the vacuum fish spat out a pile of fried chicken sandwiches, burgers, and fries right onto the coffee table.
"Kurapika told me to get food ready," she said simply.
While she spoke, Blinky even regurgitated an entire street-food stall—complete with burgers and fries signage—onto the floor.
Ronin stared, deadpan. "You paid for all this?"
"Yeah," Shizuku answered like it was obvious, already stuffing the stall back inside Blinky. "I'm not broke."
Kurapika had given her plenty of cash. Buying a few meals barely dented it.
"Kurapika spoils you," Neon muttered, plopping back onto the couch now that food was already on the table.
Ronin snorted and grabbed a burger. "Jealousy doesn't look good on you."
Kurapika just sighed at the mountain of junk food. He'd asked Shizuku for a balanced spread with variety and nutrition.
Looked like she'd only remembered the "food" part.
Maybe next time he'd send Neon along to supervise.