Are You Crazy? You Want My Brother to Go Die?

The purification room door creaked open.

Illumi kept his head lowered, his body trembling slightly as two nurses roughly hauled him up.

The room was small, containing a cold metal bed, several tubes of unknown purpose, and a row of bottles filled with pale golden liquid. A cloying disinfectant smell hung in the air.

"Sit on it!" The nurse on the left shoved him.

Illumi staggered along with the push, looking terrified out of his wits. He braced himself against the edge of the bed, his breaths short and ragged.

"I... I'm scared..." Even the last note of his voice trembled.

"What are you scared of? Becoming the master's vessel is a blessing you've cultivated for eight lifetimes!" The nurse on the right impatiently attached monitoring tubes to his arm and lower abdomen.

Illumi did not resist.

All his attention was focused on a nearly imperceptible trace of Nen.

Just moments ago, that Nen had descended from a surveillance hole in the corner like an impossibly thin strand of spider silk. It precisely adhered to his skin, sensing his breathing, heartbeat, and even the slightest reactions of every muscle.

This was not En.

It was a "thread" tempered countless times and compressed to the limit—cold, sinister, strange, and carrying malicious scrutiny.

Danger!

The Nen Needles beneath Illumi's skin trembled faintly. He curled himself up tighter, his body hunched like a startled hedgehog.

The nurses merely assumed his stomach was hurting again. One of them cursed, "Starting again? Why is every vessel in this batch more troublesome than the last?"

Illumi's fingertips tapped ever so lightly against the cold edge of the bed.

Thump, thump, thump.

A pause.

Thump, thump.

The movement was completely concealed by the trembling of his body.

But at that same moment, the atmosphere in a run-down inn outside Sankara Town abruptly froze.

Clatter!

The bag of chips in Milluki's hand hit the floor, scattering snacks everywhere.

All color drained from his fat face as he stared fixedly at that barely noticeable movement on the controller screen.

"What is it?" Bai Zhu looked up. "Did your brother send you Morse code?"

Milluki ignored him. His fingers clenched so hard that his knuckles turned white, and even his voice went shrill.

"Big Brother says... there's a top-tier Nen Ability user inside."

In the corner, the cup in Ella's hand shook. Scalding water spilled onto the back of her hand, yet she seemed unable to feel the pain.

Bai Zhu's brow furrowed as well. "How top-tier?"

"I don't know!" Milluki nearly sprang out of his chair and lunged toward the equipment, his voice piercing. "But this is the highest-level danger signal! We have to withdraw! Immediately!"

He swiftly brought up the signal sources of the three Mechanical Spiders, his pudgy fingers already reaching for the bright red detonation button.

Just as he was about to press it, a hand shot out like lightning and firmly grabbed his wrist.

It was Bai Zhu.

"What are you doing?!" Milluki whirled around furiously, his eyes bloodshot.

"Calm down first."

"Is this the time to be calm?!"

"The more panicked you are, the more you need to stay calm." Bai Zhu's voice was as flat as ice. "Tell me—if you blow up the Spiders, can you kill that top-tier Nen Ability user?"

"No! But it can create chaos!"

"And who will that chaos hit first?" Bai Zhu countered. "Your brother is right under their noses. The moment you set off an explosion, their first reaction will be to control 'Ella'! Are you trying to save him, or send him to his death?"

Milluki's breathing grew heavy, his chest heaving violently.

"Then are we supposed to watch him die?! The mission can fail, but my big brother can't die in a hellhole like this!"

"That's why I'm telling you not to make things worse!" Bai Zhu tightened his grip and forced Milluki back into his chair. "You're a Zoldyck too. Think about the true powerhouses in your family. If your big brother had run into someone at your grandfather's level, would he still be standing there pretending to be pregnant? He would've fled long ago! The fact that he hasn't run, that he's still acting—what does that mean?"

"It means he thinks there's still room to maneuver! If you flip the table now, you'll cut off even that last bit of room!"

Those cold words were like a basin of icy water dumped over Milluki's head.

Several names flashed rapidly through his mind.

Great-grandfather Maha... Grandfather Zeno... Father Silva.

Right. If it were someone at Grandfather's level, Big Brother would have withdrawn immediately. The fact that he was still observing meant the enemy's strength...

"It's... around Father's level, or perhaps a little lower." Milluki finally pulled his hand away from the detonation button and slumped heavily against the back of his chair.

Only then did Bai Zhu let out a sigh of relief, only to find Milluki staring at him suspiciously.

"Were you panicking just now too? You were holding your pen backward."

Bai Zhu looked down and found that he really was.

Without changing expression, he turned the pen around. "Personal habit. Reverse thinking."

"You'd better actually have a plan!" Milluki snorted.

Sitting on the edge of the bed, Ella listened to the unfamiliar names and terrifying classifications of strength. At last, she understood what a dreadful vortex she had stumbled into.

She looked at her stomach. After a long while, she asked in a faint voice, "If... the thing in my stomach really is what they want, will I become a monster too?"

Bai Zhu did not comfort her. He merely stated the facts. "I don't know."

"Then... will you kill me?"

"I will!"

Even Milluki could not stand listening anymore. "Can't you say something nicer?"

"Nice words can't save lives." Bai Zhu reached out and tapped the Church's location on the map. "But before I decide you have to die, I'll do my best to keep you alive."

The answer was cruel, yet it settled Ella's heart somewhat.

Just then, the image on the screen changed.

The purification room door opened, and the silver-robed bishop entered, followed by two silent men.

"The elder wants to see her."

The nurse froze. "Now? Her purification isn't complete yet."

"It is the elder's order."

The two men lifted Illumi from the bed. His body went limp, and he nearly fell to his knees, but his right hand slipped beneath the blanket, his fingers filled with Nen Needles.

They led "Ella" out of the purification room and down the corridor toward the depths of the facility.

"Something's wrong. The Spider signal on Big Brother is being jammed!" Milluki immediately began hammering at the keyboard. "The other hidden Spider is affected too. It won't last more than three minutes!"

On the left side of the screen, the underground base's layout rapidly took shape.

At the very end stood a heavy Stone Gate without any electronic markings.

"They're heading there!" Milluki pointed at the gate. "That's the core area, where the old monster lives!"

"Good." Bai Zhu drew a circle around the core area.

"Good my ass! My big brother is about to be sent into the boss room!" Milluki was nearly losing his mind.

"Only by sending him in can we see what we can't see." Bai Zhu's tone was terrifyingly calm. "And besides, the real trump card isn't him now."

His pen drew a circle around the inn's location on the map, then wrote two words.

Ella.

Ella shuddered.

"Me?"

"Yes." Bai Zhu looked up. "That old monster has his eyes on 'Fake Ella,' but he'll soon discover she's an impostor. When that happens, we'll need a genuine 'perfect vessel' to appear before him."

"You're crazy!" Milluki finally understood what he meant. "You're pushing her into a pit of fire!"

"Correction: we're luring the enemy out of the pit of fire." Bai Zhu tossed aside his pen. "Illumi will infiltrate, you'll create chaos on the surface, and I'll be responsible for..."

"Enough!"

A hoarse yet resolute voice interrupted them.

It was Ella.

She stood up, staring at the women on the screen who lay in glass compartments, numbered and treated like livestock.

She no longer looked at Bai Zhu or Milluki. Instead, she stared directly at the red circle representing the core area.

"If I become the bait, can I save them?"

Bai Zhu put away his flippant expression. "I can't guarantee that all of them will be saved."

"What if I don't?"

"If you don't, they will definitely die. And so will you."

Ella slowly closed her eyes. When she opened them again, all that remained was hatred, rekindled after burning everything away.

"I'll go."

"Lunatics. You're all lunatics!" Milluki muttered a curse, but he still rummaged through the toolbox, pulled out a small metal case, and tossed it to Bai Zhu.

"Six Miniature Bee-Type Explosive Reconnaissance Devices. Red detonates them, so don't press it randomly!"

"Don't worry. I know how to hold back."

Bai Zhu slipped the case into his pocket. Just as he pulled open the inn door, Milluki's voice came from behind him, carrying a tremor.

"Bai Zhu!"

"Yeah?"

"Big Brother... went in."

On the screen, the heavy Stone Gate slowly opened before "Ella." Beyond it lay viscous darkness and an ominous Nen that made even the surveillance lens begin to distort.

Bai Zhu turned back and grinned at him, flashing a mouthful of white teeth.

"Perfect."

"Then it's time for me to head to the Church and help them knock on the door."