Inside a Kakin private club, Heinrich had just hung up Ivan's call when one of his subordinates hurried in to report that someone had come looking for him.
They claimed to be from the Phantom Troupe.
He hadn't expected that Ivan's warning would come true so quickly.
Before Heinrich could even tell his men to bring them in, a massive figure had already kicked open the door and walked straight into his room.
Heinrich's expression darkened.
But he didn't move to attack.
Instead, he waved his armed family members out of the room.
Soon, only three people remained.
Heinrich—and the two members of the Phantom Troupe.
"I didn't expect you to involve yourselves in this matter," Heinrich said as he stood up.
"Say what you came for."
At the same time, his mind was rapidly analyzing the situation.
They had taken Ivan from him earlier.
Now they had come back.
If it wasn't to complain about some kind of "after-sales service," then only two possibilities remained.
First—
They believed Heinrich's group could still capture Ivan, or that Heinrich had already obtained information from him.
Second—
They had discovered the relationship between Ivan and Heinrich and believed that the escaped Ivan would contact him.
If it was the first possibility, then a fight was almost unavoidable.
He truly didn't have any further information.
But he also had no intention of proving that to them.
And in his opinion, the Phantom Troupe had no right to demand proof.
If it was the second possibility…
Then someone in their team possessed an ability similar to Lynch's—someone capable of extracting information from Ivan without him realizing it.
Even deeply hidden information.
Otherwise, Ivan would never contact him knowing his secrets had already been exposed.
Because contacting Heinrich could easily turn into a trap coordinated between Heinrich and the Phantom Troupe.
Ivan was far too cautious to allow such a possibility.
Which meant—
He would never have called Heinrich in the first place.
Heinrich's internal alarm bells rang loudly.
If the second possibility was true, then his own secrets might already have been quietly stolen during Ivan's encounter with them.
What kind of ability could do that?
It clearly wasn't like Lynch's method of interrogation through questions and beatings.
This ability had to be far more dangerous.
Perhaps something capable of invading memories and extracting information directly.
"If Ivan contacts you," Nobunaga said lazily, his dead fish-like eyes half-lidded as his hand rested on his sword hilt,
"I want you to cooperate with us and set a trap for him."
The killing intent in the room turned ice-cold.
Heinrich didn't doubt it for a second.
If he said no, the two men would immediately attack him with overwhelming violence.
So after a brief silence, he answered calmly:
"Fine."
He sat back down and placed his phone on the table.
The meaning was obvious.
Let's wait.
Wait for Ivan to call.
Nobunaga and Uvogin exchanged a glance.
Uvogin suddenly grinned and turned to leave the room.
Heinrich frowned slightly but said nothing.
Instead, he watched Nobunaga.
Inside, he wondered—
Was that big man testing him?
Heinrich didn't like judging people by appearances.
But the moment he saw Uvogin, he had instinctively classified him as an Enhancer.
And Enhancers rarely possessed abilities that could probe memories like he had imagined.
"Annoying guy," Nobunaga muttered as he removed his hand from his sword.
He still remembered the order their leader had given him:
Do not provoke the Kakin mafia for now.
He could have used other methods to pressure Heinrich.
But when Uvogin chose to leave, Nobunaga understood something.
Any further pressure would be useless.
So he turned and followed Uvogin out.
He trusted Uvogin's instincts.
Inside the room, Heinrich watched them leave.
A bead of sweat slid down his forehead.
"So that's the Phantom Troupe…"
They were like predatory beasts, ready to devour someone at any moment.
Because Heinrich now understood—
They hadn't been testing him at all.
They had simply relied on instinct to make their judgment.
And Heinrich was certain of one thing.
He hated Enhancers.
Outside the club, Uvogin leaned against the wall.
When Nobunaga stepped out, he said,
"I hate dealing with people who are too smart."
"I think smart people hate dealing with guys like you who rely entirely on instinct," Nobunaga replied.
He took out his phone.
"Looks like we'll need to adjust the plan."
The phone rang briefly before being answered.
"What is it?" Chrollo Lucilfer's calm voice came from the receiver.
"We're out," Nobunaga said.
"Too late?" Chrollo murmured.
"Then Heinrich must have seen through it."
He paused briefly.
"In that case, go find someone from the Gashaya family."
"If Heinrich made that choice, there's only one explanation."
"Ivan can provide him with significant value."
"Understood," Nobunaga said immediately.
"The new narcotics trade."
"Exactly."
Chrollo hung up.
At that moment, he was sitting in a car with Pakunoda.
Bonolenov was driving.
The vehicle moved steadily along the coastal road toward the Third Hospital.
"By the time we arrive, Ivan will probably already be heading to his next destination," Chrollo said.
"Besides, the Ai-Ai family withheld information from us."
"So if we want to know where Ivan is going next, we'll have to investigate the Third Hospital ourselves."
He rolled down the window.
The night breeze flowed into the car.
"It seems the resurrected Ivan doesn't know about that document either."
"In that case, we can slow down a little."
"Let him make the first move."
The feel of billiard balls was far better than tennis balls.
When Ivan walked out of the billiard hall, he carried two bags.
One bag was filled with billiard balls.
The other contained snacks.
There were more than thirty billiard balls in total.
When he opened the truck door and got back inside, Pike was still sitting exactly as he had left him.
Ivan found that quite satisfying.
"You drive," Ivan said.
"Just circle around the city."
"Don't try anything stupid. If you do, you die."
Pike had assumed Ivan intended to head straight to Kojima Foods.
Hearing this instead made him secretly sigh with relief.
Ivan moved to the passenger seat.
With one hand he pulled bread from the snack bag.
With the other he took out his phone.
Without hiding anything, he dialed Monica's number right in front of Pike.
It was already almost three in the morning.
Driving all the way to Kojima Foods would take more than an hour.
And the investigation afterward might take even longer.
By the time he returned, he might miss his scheduled meeting with Captain Wilge.
Meeting the Seventh Queen was extremely important.
So instead, Ivan decided to use the remaining time to rest inside the truck.
He doubted the Phantom Troupe could locate a constantly moving vehicle.
The dinosaurs following him had already been scattered across the area.
And the ones inside the truck were more than enough to handle unexpected situations.
The phone rang for quite a while before it was finally answered.
A woman's irritated voice came through the line.
"Who is this?"
"If you woke me up at this hour without something important to say, you're going to regret it."
"It's me," Ivan said.
"Ivan."
"I need the files on Kojima Foods."
"And I happen to have uncovered some information about them as well."
There was rustling on the other end of the call.
It sounded like Monica was climbing out of bed.
Her annoyed tone quickly shifted into seriousness.
"You want to get involved in the Kojima Foods investigation?"
"That situation…"
"…isn't simple."
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