"Children are all like this when they're little! They'll be fine once they grow up..."
When they reached the brightly lit lobby, the old woman looked at Lola, then at Pakunoda and Chrollo, and a kindly smile rippled across her face:
"This child has her father's eyes and her mother's hair. She looks just like a doll. What a beauty!"
Holding A Luo, Chrollo nodded to the old woman with the air of a perfect gentleman:
"You're too kind!"
Next, the Spiders collected their keys from the old woman one by one, preparing to retire to their assigned rooms.
A Luo alone was the exception.
Because just as she reached for the key the old woman offered her-
Chrollo gave a soft chuckle and interrupted the distribution of keys!
"A Luo, haven't you been making a fuss the whole way about sharing a room with your cousin tonight? We happen to need to save on lodging expenses, too, so you can share a room with him."
"My cousin?"
A Luo's expression turned downright ugly.
Since when did I have a cousin?
Chrollo raised his voice to call to Feitan, who stood in a shadowy corner.
"Feitan, aren't you going to come get your little cousin and take her back to your room?"
At that, Lola was completely dumbfounded.
What? Chrollo meant for me to share a room with Feitan tonight?
Thinking of that nightmare's interests and hobbies, A Luo broke out in goosebumps.
No! Boss, please have a heart! All I did was run my mouth and make up a little story about you and Pakunoda. Did you really have to hold such a grudge?
But their esteemed leader completely ignored A Luo's pitiful, pleading gaze and handed her over to Feitan without a shred of mercy.
In that instant, anger surged through A Luo, giving her the nerve to blurt out her revenge on Chrollo:
"Daddy, does that mean you're still sharing a room with Mommy tonight?"
Wouldn't it be strange for a married couple who already had a child to stay at an inn but sleep in separate rooms?
Especially since the two of them didn't look like a married couple at all. Partners or comrades-in-arms would have been a much better description.
As the old woman's gaze grew increasingly suspicious, Chrollo fell silent for a moment, then took a key and actually went into the same room as Pakunoda.
A Luo: "..."
No! Boss, why don't we both take a step back and let everyone have their own room? If that won't work, we could get another room and I could share with Pakunoda.
She really didn't want to share a room with Feitan!
Who knew whether that seemingly unhinged little runt might do something bizarre to her in the middle of the night?
Like pulling out her fingernails, taking pliers to her, or carving her up piece by piece.
The main problem was that she seemed to have provoked Feitan several times that day already. A Luo genuinely feared that some petty bastard with no limits would get his revenge while she was asleep!
Unfortunately, at that moment, whether as a little child or as a piece in Chrollo's collection-
A Luo had absolutely no say in how the sleeping arrangements were made!
And so, in the end, Feitan, playing the role of her "cousin," carried her back to his room.
The next day, in the little inn's ground-floor dining room.
A Luo gazed pleadingly at Chrollo, trying every way she could to butter him up, asking only for a bedroom of her own that night.
That bastard Feitan wasn't even human!
All she'd done was make one crack about him being short!
Yet he'd deliberately tormented her. Every time her breathing slowed as she drifted off to sleep, he unleashed a torrent of killing intent at her, jolting her awake.
Then he'd repeated the process, over and over, tormenting her the entire night.
Just look at the dark circles under her eyes. They could practically rival Chrollo's.
Children who didn't sleep well wouldn't grow tall.
She refused to grow up to be like Feitan. She wanted sleep, she wanted to grow, and she wanted her own room!
But Chrollo ignored every one of A Luo's attempts to win him over.
Even when A Luo begged Pakunoda and Machi to plead her case, Chrollo wouldn't budge.
Finally, after Feitan tormented her like that for two nights straight, the little girl, so exhausted she was questioning her entire existence, came to a realization.
As the saying went, better to rely on yourself than beg others for help!
But... exactly how she was supposed to rely on herself was a real headache.
Should I train hard, improve my Nen Ability by leaps and bounds, and then overthrow my oppressor once I can beat Feitan?
(Of course not.)
She hadn't fried her brain with a fever. A Luo knew perfectly well what she was capable of.
Forget one night-even if she trained day and night for an entire year, she still wouldn't be able to beat Feitan!
Nen Abilities weren't simply a matter of blasting each other with aura. Often, the deciding factors in a battle were combat experience and how flexibly each side used their Nen Abilities.
Against a veteran of countless battles like Feitan, A Luo would need several years of special training at the very least. Only after developing a finishing move of her own would she stand a chance.
Since force wouldn't work, she could only try persuasion!
A Luo borrowed the kitchen from the inn's elderly owner, then prepared a whole tableful of delicacies in one go-osmanthus yam cakes, lotus seed soup, soup dumplings, thick beef soup, and more-as an offering to Feitan.
After enjoying the food, Feitan perhaps wanted to keep A Luo around to cook more treats for him. And so, after two nights of poor sleep, A Luo finally got a night when she could sleep soundly until morning.
After a wonderful night's sleep, Lola finally had the energy and inclination to ponder other things.
Come to think of it, what were these Phantom Troupe members doing in such a remote place?
Back at their base in Meteor City, hadn't Shalnark mentioned that the boss was going out to find a new member to replace No. 8?
Could there be a Nen user here who'd caught Chrollo's eye?
That didn't seem likely!
In a backwater like this, many of the people living here might go their entire lives without even knowing what Nen was. How could there possibly be a Nen user here who'd interest Chrollo?
By the same token, anyone strong enough to catch Chrollo's eye wouldn't stay in this godforsaken place!
A Luo puzzled over it without finding an answer, until a sudden possibility burst like fireworks in her mind.
No!
The boss hadn't come to recruit a new member. More likely, he'd received information about something here that he wanted, and had come to get it.
But what methods were they planning to use this time? Were the Spiders going to commit another crime, perhaps even murder and arson here?
At that thought, Lola began to feel uneasy.
She seemed to relive the stench of blood in her memories-that evening of despair, the blood covering the ground, the Nen construct gradually turning transparent and fading away, and the family shattered in a single night. Her throat tightened in reflexive nausea, and she suddenly bent her head, about to retch.
Was there anything I could do to prevent this tragedy?
Before you continue