Hunters' Quarry

Biscuit pursed her small lips and folded her arms across her chest.

"At the time, I was nearby. I'd planned to pay a hefty price for the Promise Ruby, but you got to it first. So I went to the crime scene to look for clues."

"After seeing the spider symbol on the wall and your mark, I immediately searched the Hunter Association website for information about you."

"Your background, your Nen ability, your career as an assassin—I know it all. After that, I followed the traces you left behind all the way here."

Gelman leaned his back against the rough wall of the alley, his hands tucked into the pockets of his black coat. He remained composed.

"I was careful. I shouldn't have left many traces to follow."

Biscuit smiled and shook her head.

"The night you committed that major crime and left the Phantom Troupe symbol behind, you had already become the focus of the Hunter Association website and the Dark Web."

"Someone can always provide a time and place where they saw you. Put those scattered clues together, add some help from my Hunter friends, and it was enough for me to find you."

"Don't underestimate a Hunter's ability to gather information and track people. It's our specialty."

Gelman nodded, acknowledging her point.

A group of Hunters, information brokers, and gangsters had been hunting his predecessor, and it was inevitable that they'd eventually found his trail.

The Hunter Association website seemed like a pretty good information hub. Too bad it wasn't open to someone without a Hunter License like him.

Suddenly, a "beep beep beep" sounded from Biscuit's Princess Skirt.

She raised an eyebrow, reached into a concealed pocket in her skirt, and took out a tiny phone.

The phone was covered in colorful, cute animal stickers.

Biscuit unlocked the screen and looked at it for a moment. The corners of her mouth curled up.

Grinning, she turned the screen toward Gelman.

Gelman looked closely. The screen showed a picture of the Promise Ruby, with a price underneath that made his heart skip a beat. At the very bottom, the words "Sold" were displayed.

Biscuit triumphantly waggled the phone, then put it away.

"I'd already considered the possibility that you'd handed the Promise Ruby over to someone, so I asked a friend in advance to keep an eye on the black market. In the end, I had to pay twice as much as before to buy it."

Gelman considered this.

Chrollo definitely hadn't been the one to put the Promise Ruby up for auction on the black market.

He'd probably just sold it offhand to someone he knew. After changing hands several times overnight, it had eventually ended up on the black market.

Biscuit had been tracking Gelman while also asking her friend to watch the black market. In the end, her friend had managed to snap it up.

As for "twice as much as before," she was probably comparing it with the jeweler's asking price.

But Biscuit was a veteran Hunter and hardly short of money. Some things were worth any price, and getting the Promise Ruby was worth paying double.

Gelman looked at Biscuit and decided to test her.

"Now that the Promise Ruby is in your hands, I'm no use to you anymore, right? Or are you going to play Bounty Hunter?"

Biscuit shook her head again.

"Even though I spent a fortune, the bounty on you wouldn't make up the difference... I'm not planning to attack you, either."

She suddenly reached out toward Gelman with her white-gloved left hand.

Gelman looked at Biscuit, unsure what she meant.

Biscuit smiled and kept her hand raised, her fingers swaying like a jellyfish's tentacles.

"We've been in this alley for almost five minutes. If we don't leave soon, we might attract unnecessary suspicion. Take my hand. A beautiful girl should have a gentleman protecting her."

She gave Gelman a mischievous wink with her right eye.

Gelman caught the hint in Biscuit's words and took her little hand.

They walked side by side out of the alley and onto the busy street.

Biscuit moved closer to Gelman, holding his hand and swinging their joined arms. Her radiant smile made them look just like a brother and sister out for a stroll.

She lowered her voice.

"The Phantom Troupe is the worst band of thieves in history. If you can eliminate one of its members, you'll gain fame, wealth, and status..."

"You're suspected of being a new member of the Phantom Troupe, so you've naturally become a target for Hunters and assassins. When you have time, go online and see how much your bounty has risen in just a few hours."

"I wasn't the only one who found your trail. There are so many people on this street. Have you noticed anyone following you?"

Gelman was silent for a moment, then nodded.

"Since I entered Cross Town, three people besides you have been following me. Their auras are different from ordinary people's—they're very steady."

Biscuit glanced at Gelman in surprise, then deliberately bumped him with her petite body, pretending to be a younger sister acting spoiled with her big brother.

"Pretty perceptive. I thought you'd notice at most two people... But there's actually a fourth."

"The four of them are a team of assassins. Two deliberately let their auras show, serving as 'face-up cards.' One held back a little, serving as a 'face-down card,' while the last one stayed in a state of Zetsu the whole time."

"The fourth person, hidden in the shadows, is their real leader and their final trump card in case anything goes wrong. If you only notice two or three of them, you'll fall right into their trap."

Gelman calmly walked on, holding Biscuit's hand.

"Why are you telling me all this? This is probably the first time we've met, and our networks shouldn't overlap."

Biscuit didn't answer right away. Instead, she stopped Gelman and had him buy her a cotton candy from a roadside stall. Then she began eating it in small bites.

"As a Hunter, when you're tracking your prey, you piece together clues and use them to form a picture in your mind of your quarry—their habits, their methods, their way of thinking, and so on."

"Before I found you, I'd already sketched out your general profile. But after watching you for a while, I realized you were nothing like I'd imagined."

"How should I put it? You're like an interesting gem I found. It should have been a diamond, but once I got my hands on it, it turned out to be amber. Strange, isn't it?"

Biscuit finally released Gelman's hand. Holding up the cotton candy, she tapped her phone screen and showed him several pictures.

The pictures showed three people caught in the act of killing. They were somewhat blurry, but it was still possible to make out the Phantom Troupe members Feitan, Uvogin, and Phinks.

"These are scenes of carnage from last night, in nearby towns and villages. Based on my original profile, you should be the same kind of bloodthirsty person as those three."

"But you've been quiet the whole way here. You ate your noodles like a normal person, paid for them, withdrew cash at the bank, and ignored the people following you. I can't figure out what went wrong."

"Hunters are always driven by curiosity. It's obvious you're hiding a secret. It'd be such a shame if you died at the hands of those four assassins without me ever finding out what it was..."

Biscuit took a few steps back, gave Gelman an innocent girlish smile, and waved as she raised her voice.

"Big brother, my home is right here. Thanks for walking me back. Let's hang out again another day."

She turned and skipped away.

Gelman watched her disappear around the corner. He knew she hadn't gone far; she was just hiding somewhere that made it easier to observe him unnoticed.

What a nasty personality.