A sudden attack

Smack!

Palu's eyes widened, his breathing quickening as stacks of banknotes scattered across the floor from the bag reflected in his pupils.

The next moment, he slapped himself hard across the face.

"It's... it's real!"

"I'm not dreaming!? Haha, it's real!"

Palu couldn't contain his cry of astonishment. With this money, he could take his wife away from this city and give their child a good life in the future!

Ian and the others watched him quietly.

No one laughed at him, because everyone, Uvogin included, had been through the same thing.

The lives they led today had all begun when they met Ian.

If they hadn't met Ian, they would probably still be picking through garbage in Meteor City, living on bread... How could they possibly be enjoying grand meals and strolling around the city?

"I... I'll do it! Whatever you... you need my help with, I'll do my very best!"

At that moment, Palu didn't care in the least if they were robbers or criminals!

After all, a million Jenny was sitting right there before his eyes!

"Don't worry. There's nothing in particular we need your help with. For now, just carry on living as you did before."

Ian spoke to him calmly.

Only then would they have the best possible hiding place.

As long as nothing unexpected happened, no one would notice them...

Palu nodded.

He wasn't a fool, and he worked hard to suppress the urge to tell his wife everything.

Over the next three days, he made phone calls, looked for work, and went out to buy cheap food, just enough to fill his own stomach, as he always had.

Whether outsiders or neighbors saw him,

one look at his unshaven face was enough for them to identify him as a down-and-out unemployed young man.

What Palu didn't know was that, on a distant rooftop,

a man wearing a cow hat and a cool, striking woman with brown hair had been watching him for the past few days. No, more precisely, they had been observing his house.

"He really does look like an ordinary unemployed young man..."

"I can't sense any Nen from him. Isn't he a criminal?"

The man in the cow hat murmured softly.

"If you really think he isn't a criminal, why don't you go straight up to him and ask what's going on... Mizaistom?"

Behind the man, the cool, striking woman lit a cigarette and narrowed her eyes slightly, her voice icy.

"I think... your instincts must be warning you that something's wrong with this guy."

"My Nen Ability tells me he's definitely connected to those criminals..."

Mizaistom turned to look at the woman, his voice calm.

"Besides, unless he's one of the criminals, why would he still be alive?"

"You saw the dead too, Ankeli... I don't believe an ordinary person would have a chance of surviving an encounter with criminals like that."

"But honestly... looking at how he's behaving, does he really seem like their accomplice?"

Hearing that, the woman named Ankeli fell silent.

After a long moment, she exhaled a deep breath of smoke and said,

"Either way, we can't keep wasting time here. If we want to know whether there's something wrong with this house, why don't we just go over and investigate?"

"If those criminals really are in there, we'll bring them... to justice!"

"If it unfortunately turns out we've just been overthinking things, we'll start looking for clues again!"

Hearing what he said, Mizaistom hesitated too.

He had always preferred to plan before taking action!

But... he hadn't managed to obtain a single piece of information about this gang of vicious Nen-user criminals.

That was a serious mistake on his part!

"Enough! Evil cannot be forgiven. We have to put a stop to all acts of violence. Let's seize this guy first and question him, see if we can get any useful information!"

Ankeli's furrowed brow relaxed slightly, and she chuckled.

"About time. That's the attitude a crime hunter should have!"

Just as Mizaistom was about to act,

"Creak—"

In three whole days, this was the first time someone other than the homeowner, Palu, had opened that door!

At that moment,

Mizaistom's and Ankeli's pupils both contracted!

Without blinking, they stared intently at the figures emerging from the house.

Several figures came out one after another. They were tall and short, fat and thin, male and female, and all were young. They could even be called a group of children.

But

Mizaistom and Ankeli immediately determined

that these children were the criminals who had committed those atrocities!

Even though they were a group of children, the two didn't dare let their guard down. That brutal slaughter had left a deep impression on them. Before their eyes were no children, only vicious criminals!

"Move!"

Without the slightest hesitation, he acted with lightning speed, having already resolved to arrest these criminals!

After observing the area for days, he and Ankeli had long since committed their surroundings to memory and had gone over their arrest plan in their heads more than once.

Even if their opponents were Nen users, they would still surrender before the two of them working together!

Whoosh!

In an instant, he appeared before Ian and the others, who were just about to go out.

Mizaistom waved a yellow card bearing an exclamation mark in his hand and swiftly activated his ability, Private Room Judge!

"What!?"

The sudden attack caught Ian and the others completely off guard!

For three days, Ian and the others hadn't left Palu's house at all.

That was mainly because Ian had drawn a marvelous spatial-type item, the Wallpaper House, on the first day.

With the Wallpaper House, all they had to do was paste a sheet of wallpaper depicting a door onto a wall, and it would create an additional, enormous house. Moreover, no matter what happened inside, no noise would reach the outside.

There was more than one sheet of Wallpaper House wallpaper.

So, after its walls were covered with wallpaper, the originally small house became like a castle, and they could roam through it to their hearts' content.

There was no need to go outside at all.

During that time, he had also successfully awakened Pakunoda and Franklin's Nen.

On the second day, Ian drew another rather marvelous and practical item, the Gravity Regulator.

It looked much like a bathroom scale.

A dial on it could adjust the strength of gravity in a localized space, all the way down to a state of complete weightlessness. It had originally been used in the show to simulate the environment of outer space.

But in Ian's hands, it became the perfect tool for tempering their bodies.

Especially for Uvogin and Nobunaga!

At first, the two had wanted to run outside, but after seeing the item, they begged Ian every day to turn on double gravity so they could train in it to their hearts' content.

Ian had no idea they were being watched.

Although Ian reacted quickly, he didn't have much combat experience.

When the sudden attack came, he was a little dazed!

Swish!

Behind him, however, Nobunaga, who always carried his sword, reacted in an instant. His expression changed, and he instinctively rushed forward and swung his blade without a word!

At the same time, he shouted, "Uvogin, everyone else, protect Ian!"

Meanwhile, faced with Nobunaga's charging slash, Mizaistom's gaze sharpened. He waved the yellow exclamation-mark card before Nobunaga's eyes and said sternly,

"Don't come near me!"

Nobunaga paid him no heed and slashed straight at him!

His eyes were full of determination, resolved to cut the damned attacker in half!

Just then,

Mizaistom swiftly flipped the yellow card over, revealing the side marked with a cross, and said in a low voice,

"Restrain!"

The next moment, Nobunaga's entire body went motionless, restrained in an instant.