A Luo's confession continued.
"I learned about Pakunoda and Feitan through the Zoldyck Family's intelligence system. Their second son, Milluki, was very good at gathering information. Through him, I learned that Pakunoda had to touch someone to activate her ability, while Feitan was incredibly fast and exceptionally skilled at torture."
After dutifully reciting the explanation she had prepared, A Luo lowered her head and quietly waited for Chrollo's response.
If what she said could convince Chrollo, she might just get to stay alive.
"Your confession really was even more unexpected than I imagined! Still, the credibility of this bizarre story remains to be verified. Now, please answer a few questions."
"First: who are the members of the Zoldyck Family?"
"Ten in total. Apart from the grandmother who lives in Meteor City, whose identity I don't know and whom I've never met, everyone lives on Kukuroo Mountain. There's their great-grandfather Maha, their grandfather Zeno, the head of the family Silva, his wife Kikyo, their eldest son Illumi, their second son Milluki, their third son Killua, their fourth child Alluka, and their fifth son Kalluto."
"And who are your colleagues-the other butlers?"
"Tsubone and her granddaughter Amane, Gotoh, Anya, Mitsuha..."
"And you? What caused your death?"
"It had something to do with the fourth child Alluka's Nen ability, but I don't know the details. I can't help it. That's all I remember!"
"Shalnark! You've been hiding outside the door, so you should have heard everything A Luo said. You have one day. I want the results of your investigation before sunset tomorrow."
"Okay, boss!"
A boyish face poked out from behind the half-closed door. Shalnark snapped his fingers excitedly, then bounded upstairs.
"Now, A Luo, you should start preparing dinner. I want sweet-and-sour ribs tonight."
The boss rose and headed into the living room, continuing to read the thick ancient book written in an unknown script.
Left to face the other Spiders' frenzied food orders, A Luo looked as though she had lost all will to live.
Before, she might have put up with it, but Feitan had just ripped off her fingernail. Even now, her finger still hurt so badly it pierced her to the heart!
As the saying went, every finger was connected to the heart. Cradling her left hand, A Luo turned a deaf ear to the Spiders' orders.
Only crystal-clear tears kept falling, one after another, like beads from a broken string.
She looked ready to pull a Meng Jiangnü and weep the Great Wall down!
And so, that evening, the Phantom Troupe revisited Machi's disastrous cooking for the first time in ages.
After dinner, Phinks, Nobunaga, and Uvogin all had a "warm and friendly" sparring session with Feitan.
Strong as Feitan was, even he couldn't withstand three people ganging up on him!
By the end, they had nearly forced him to unleash his finishing move and destroy the Phantom Troupe's base.
Fortunately, their boss intervened in time to prevent that tragedy.
Everyone was spared the fate of spending the night stranded among piles of garbage with nowhere to sleep.
The following evening.
After skipping kitchen duty for three meals, their little cook A Luo had no choice but to return to work injured to feed the Spiders.
There was no helping it!
Who could blame her, when the Spiders' cooking skills were so utterly breathtaking?
What were the cafeteria ladies' orange stir-fried pork or steamed eggs with strawberries and two kinds of peppers compared to this?
Next to Machi's cooking, those dishes were nothing!
Lola had the good fortune to watch Machi cook once.
In Machi's eyes, whatever the ingredients were, all she had to do was chop them up, toss them together, and stew the whole mess.
As for which seasonings to add and how much, that depended entirely on her mood!
Occasionally, a slip of the hand would send half a jar of salt or pepper straight into the food.
Oh, right.
This icy beauty couldn't tell salt from sugar, either.
As a result, every dish Machi produced was utterly beyond description.
The bizarre colors and flavors were bad enough!
But somehow, she managed to keep refining those flavors that made people question their lives with every bite, coming up with something new each time?!
In a certain sense, she could be called a genius.
In short, faced with a pot of something like that, Lola simply couldn't bring herself to take a bite.
And so, having gone hungry since the night before, A Luo had now missed three whole meals!
As for the Spiders?
Those guys had clamored for their orders, but once they saw that she would only cry and absolutely refused to enter the kitchen, they hadn't given her much trouble.
Anyway, they seemed to have no sense of taste, not to mention stomachs made of iron. They hadn't even gotten diarrhea after eating Machi's food.
So, to keep herself from starving to death, A Luo could only return to the kitchen and take up her old job again.
Outside the boss's room on the second floor.
Shalnark, who had vanished from sight after receiving his orders the day before, gave a weary yawn, then stood outside the door and knocked.
"Boss?"
A second later, Chrollo's voice came from inside.
"Come in."
Shalnark opened the door and sat on the sofa opposite Chrollo. For once, his perpetually smiling, boyish face was utterly expressionless.
"Shalnark, let's hear it. What did you find over the past day?"
Chrollo didn't even look up. Still reading the ancient book in his hands, he merely asked Shalnark to report.
Shalnark didn't mind Chrollo's attitude at all. After briefly organizing his thoughts, he laid out his findings one by one.
"First, point one:
"According to every travel record currently available, Lola Reno has indeed never left the area around Heavens Arena since she was born. Her parents have never had contact with the Zoldyck Family, either, so for now we can rule out the possibility that she learned this information from her family. After all, they're a mysterious family of assassins whose members' photographs alone can sell for a hundred million Jenny!
"Point two:
"The Zoldyck Family's members are exactly as A Luo described, and the butlers' names check out, too. Especially Kasuga, whom she mentioned. My investigation found that Kasuga died three years ago, officially in an accident. But that same year, nearly seventy butlers and apprentice butlers in the Zoldyck household supposedly died in accidents just like hers!
"Anya and Mitsuha, whom A Luo also mentioned, died in accidents as well. An accidental death rate that high is far too abnormal... And the Zoldyck Family classified this matter as top secret. I spent an entire afternoon breaking into their database, and all I managed to find were those people's names!
"Point three:
"The Zoldyck Family is indeed gathering information on us.
"Especially recently, Pakunoda, Feitan, Uvogin, and Nobunaga have all revealed some portion of their abilities. But the one who needs to be most careful is No. 8, who only joined last year. They've uncovered practically every last detail of his ability!"
"I see! In that case, A Luo's story has become considerably more credible."
After hearing Shalnark's report, Chrollo finally closed the ancient book in his hands and looked up at him.
"Still, I don't believe her. A Luo wasn't telling the truth-at least, not the whole truth. Most likely, she mixed truth and lies in equal measure!"
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