That night, A Luo failed to notice that both she and Feitan slept unusually deeply after drinking the water in their cups.
That was nothing unusual for A Luo, but even someone as hypervigilant as Feitan had overslept!
It had gotten to the point where Machi had to wake him up.
Wasn't that a little abnormal?
Of course, Feitan had noticed something was off, too.
But aside from sleeping especially soundly that night, nothing had happened. If there had been something wrong with A Luo's cooking, why had he been the only one to oversleep?
Chrollo's question was incisive, cutting straight to the heart of the matter.
"Feitan, aside from the dinner you had with us that day, did you eat anything else on your own?"
Feitan looked at A Luo.
"It was just some Witch Soup she'd made for Uvogin a couple of days earlier, wasn't it? It looked like something I hadn't tried before, so I wanted a taste."
Machi protested.
"That's no excuse to keep it all to yourself!"
Pakunoda nodded along.
"Right. Good food should be shared with everyone."
Chrollo looked at A Luo.
"What did you put in that soup?"
A Luo's eyes widened.
"You don't seriously suspect me of drugging the soup, do you? What would I get out of that? Giving this guy Feitan a good night's sleep? Though Witch Soup usually does have a little red wine added for flavor, and I think red wine can help you sleep."
At that thought, A Luo looked at Feitan.
"Feitan, don't tell me you weren't sleeping soundly-you were actually passed out drunk?"
Feitan said, "...Bullshit. I can drink a thousand cups without getting drunk."
A Luo said, "Who knows? Maybe you're just bragging."
Feitan was furious.
"You don't believe me, huh? Fine. Once we get out of here, you're having a drinking contest with me. I'll show you what I'm capable of. If I prove I'm telling the truth, you're doing my laundry for a month."
A Luo's eyes went wide.
"You're on! You think I'm scared of you?"
Seeing that it was almost noon, Machi exchanged a glance with Pakunoda. Together, they interrupted the bickering pair and turned to Lola to ask:
"What are we having for lunch today?"
Watching the girl bicker and play around with Feitan, and seeing how Machi and Pakunoda treated her, Chrollo narrowed his eyes slightly.
Why?
I warned them first, so why had this little girl A Luo still managed to fit right in with everyone in just a few days?
Back when he had first captured A Luo, she would never have dared speak to Feitan and the others that way.
A Luo had a confident answer to that.
In her previous life, there had been a famous saying: there was nothing one hot pot meal couldn't solve. If there was, then make it two.
Food was the foundation of life, and the dinner table was the best place in the world to make friends. Besides, as another old saying went, the way to a man's heart was through his stomach.
After cooking for the Spiders in the Phantom Troupe for so long, wouldn't it be embarrassing if they still treated her the same way they had when she first arrived?
Soon, after lunch, the four Spiders finally set off on their journey to find new companions!
Accompanying them was one little cook whom their leader refused to let go.
When she had first heard them say they were leaving, A Luo had wondered what sort of transportation Chrollo and the others planned to use.
Surely they didn't walk everywhere they went!
Today, she got her answer.
Feitan carried A Luo all the way to the outskirts of Meteor City, where they saw an airship already parked and waiting.
The instant she saw it, A Luo was stunned, yet somehow unsurprised.
She would bet anything that the Spiders had stolen this airship. She just didn't know which of them had done it.
For a moment, Lola looked at the two men and two women beside her as though they were fearless warriors... This was fucking hijacking!
In modern society, that was a serious crime that would absolutely get them put on a nationwide wanted list, arrested, and thrown into prison to spend the rest of their miserable lives behind bars!
Oh, right!
They were Class A wanted criminals here, too.
Belatedly remembering that, A Luo, who had once been an exemplary, law-abiding citizen for decades, could only struggle to stay composed and suppress her tumultuous feelings as she followed the leader onto this road of crime with no return.
What else could she do? The moment Chrollo had detained her, she had been destined to take this path sooner or later.
There was no point dwelling on it now.
Once aboard the airship, Machi found a corner and closed her eyes to rest, while the leader settled into a comfortable leather seat and picked up his book again.
Pakunoda, meanwhile, stood behind Chrollo with her arms folded.
Only Feitan headed straight for the cockpit!
Wait... Feitan! Why was Feitan the one flying the airship?!
With those short arms and legs of his, could he even reach the controls from the pilot's seat?
Had A Luo's shocked expression somehow betrayed that outrageous doubt in her mind?
On his way to the cockpit, Feitan suddenly stopped and turned to look at her with murder in his eyes.
That murderous gaze was nothing like their earlier joking and banter. He looked as though he genuinely intended to kill!
A Luo's legs went weak with fright, and she nearly dropped to her knees on the spot.
The next second, without so much as a warning, Feitan really did charge toward A Luo at the speed of light.
I'm dead, I'm dead, I'm dead...
For a moment, those words were practically the only thing running through A Luo's mind.
A second later, A Luo, who had squeezed her eyes shut in terror, realized her head still seemed to be firmly attached to her neck.
A scream, however, came from behind her!
Her entire body stiff, A Luo turned to look.
Just three steps behind her lay some random man, his head severed from his body.
The man wore an airline uniform and held a sharp weapon.
He looked like an airline employee whom the Spiders had accidentally taken along with the airship when they hijacked it.
After hiding in a corner for so long, he had finally spotted an easy target in Lola.
He had probably charged at her intending to take her hostage.
Unfortunately, he could never have imagined that Feitan would kill him the instant he showed himself, before he could even get close to A Luo.
Feitan flicked the droplets of blood from his hand.
Then he turned around expressionlessly and continued toward the cockpit.
The leader, Pakunoda, and Machi were equally unmoved. They carried on with whatever they had been doing, as though nothing had happened at all!
Only a weakling like A Luo, faced with a murder scene featuring a severed head, felt a surge of lingering terror at the thought of what the man had intended to do. Worse still, she could no longer hold back the nausea rising in her throat.
She lunged to one side and vomited violently!
A few minutes later, after throwing up so much she began to question her entire existence, A Luo felt a sensation of weightlessness.
She wiped her mouth and looked up. The airship had taken off!
And so, Lola's lifelong tour of the Hunter World, steeped in blood and stomach-churning misery, finally began in earnest.
Before you continue