She hadn't turned into a person from some stupid rock!
She was her mom and dad's child, a living, breathing human being.
Once A Luo calmed down, she suddenly understood why Chrollo had thrown her at Silva when they confronted him earlier.
Looking back on it now, had Chrollo done that to test whether she really was the Life Stone?
And to test her earlier claim that she had been a steward for the Zoldyck Family in her previous life?
But what Chrollo had done was seriously out of line!
He was completely sick! That goddamn bastard, that damned Chrollo! What the hell am I to you? A lab rat for your experiments?
The moment you discover something, you just have to test it, even if you accidentally get me killed.
Just consider it my contribution to your twisted curiosity, huh?
The moment everything clicked, A Luo really wanted to curse him out!
Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough to get away with it.
So the little cook could only swallow her humiliation, shut her mouth, and dutifully head into the kitchen to prepare a lovingly made breakfast for these utterly wicked thieves.
Meanwhile, the villains in the living room began reviewing last night's operation.
Shalnark spoke with a cheerful smile.
"I logged onto the information network first thing this morning to check. According to reliable sources, Silva Zoldyck boarded an airship back to Kukuroo Mountain in the early hours."
Chrollo lightly tapped his fingers against the sofa beneath him and spoke calmly.
"In that case, our earlier theory was correct. Once the client dies, the Zoldyck Family cancels the job. It seems your operation last night was a success. You killed the member of the Council of Elders who hired the Zoldyck Family to deal with us."
By the time A Luo brought out the finished breakfast, the Spiders had ended their discussion and gathered in twos and threes, each doing their own thing.
At the enticing aroma of food, Shalnark and Feitan put down their game controllers and hurried over, popping soft, fragrant soup dumplings into their mouths one after another.
Afraid that all the good food would be snatched up if they arrived too late, the other Spiders quickly gathered around the dining table and dug in.
Chrollo alone leisurely put away the ancient book in his hands and strolled toward the table.
Yet the moment he reached the table and sat down, Pakunoda placed her own heaping plate of breakfast in front of him.
A Luo: "..."
No wonder he wasn't in a hurry! He knew someone would take care of him.
Hmph!
What a scheming, devious, underhanded bandit chief. A Luo glared at the Spider's head, silently imagined the dumpling on her plate was Chrollo, and bit off more than half of it.
She could swear to heaven that she would never, ever forget how that bastard had thrown her at Silva like a projectile last night without a single word of warning!
Over the next few days, with the Zoldyck assassination attempt dealt with, the Phantom Troupe's members began preparing to leave Meteor City.
They were off to seek amusement in the dazzling world outside.
Only Machi, Pakunoda, and Feitan chose to stay at the base with Chrollo.
According to Shalnark, Chrollo was going to look for new members~
A Luo watched wistfully as the Spiders left one by one.
Then she hoped that a certain esteemed leader might discover his conscience and release a poor little thing like her, now that she had no research value left.
Unfortunately, Chrollo remained inscrutable on the subject.
Every day, he immersed himself in a sea of ancient books, ignoring all of A Luo's clowning and attempts to win his favor. He never acknowledged her even once.
And so the naive, optimistic little cook thought she would finally escape with her life!
To that end, timid as she was, she made special meals for Uvogin for several days.
Her condition was that when Uvogin left Meteor City, he had to take a little tagalong like her with him.
After hearing Lola's request and eating the special meals she prepared for him for several days, Uvogin finally looked toward Chrollo.
Meeting his troupe member's questioning gaze, the thoroughly inhuman head of the Spider neither agreed nor objected.
Seeing this, Lola took it as silent approval from both of them!
The little cook was so delighted that she could barely sleep for several nights.
But what Lola never expected was that, on the morning Uvogin was to leave the Meteor City base...
Chrollo appeared beside the dining table unusually early. Normally, this was when a certain someone caught up on sleep after staying awake all night.
Even more unexpectedly, just as Uvogin was about to head out and A Luo happily followed him, Chrollo suddenly threw a punch at her, for whatever insane reason.
An immense, overpowering surge of Nen rushed toward the completely unprepared A Luo.
In a split second, A Luo felt a surge of aura force its way into her body, where it began rampaging with utter ferocity.
Even the aura within her own body was drawn into that power, joining its wild revelry.
For a moment, the excruciating pain made her wish she could die right then and there.
Pakunoda was sitting opposite the leader and had just swallowed a soup dumpling A Luo had made by hand.
At the sight, she elegantly wiped the corner of her mouth and asked in surprise:
"Boss, are you planning to force this little girl's Nen awake?"
Chrollo withdrew his hand and continued eating.
"Without a Nen Ability, taking her along on our travels will be a real hassle. We might as well try awakening her Nen. If it works, things will be much easier."
Only after answering Pakunoda's question did Chrollo finally seem to discover his conscience and calmly offer Lola a reminder:
"If you don't want to die, close your eyes and imagine your aura flowing like blood through your whole body, from the top of your head to the soles of your feet."
Imagine aura flowing like blood through my whole body, from the top of my head to the soles of my feet?
What do you mean, flowing like blood? Isn't aura just a gas? How is a gas supposed to flow like a liquid like blood? What the hell is any of that supposed to mean?
And it really hurts! It hurts, it hurts! It's like someone's stirring millions of steel needles around inside my body!
At that moment, A Luo truly wanted to die.
And as she watched the aura around her grow thinner and thinner with every passing moment, her heart practically bled!
What do I do? Am I going to die? Why am I facing death again?
Yet after an ordeal that left her hovering between life and death, somehow... Lola, driven mad by pain, actually managed to bring that violently rampaging aura under control without quite knowing how.
If I've successfully awakened my Nen, does that mean I won't die?
For a moment, A Luo couldn't help feeling lucky. She was practically an unkillable cockroach, surviving even after Chrollo had put her through hell time and again.
As the saying went, survive a great calamity, and good fortune was sure to follow.
Chrollo, you bastard, just you wait. Once I'm strong enough, you'll see how I pay you back for every bit of suffering you've put me through.
However, only after Lola had fully regulated the aura inside her body did she discover, to her surprise, that while she had been hovering between life and death...
Uvogin had already left on his own!
Now, only the leader, Pakunoda, Machi, and Feitan remained at the base.
As for her, the Phantom Troupe's little cook, the leader had punched her into becoming a Nen user.
Before you continue