Meteor City covered roughly 6,000 square kilometers and had a population of about eight million.
It was said that the place had already been a dumping ground 1,500 years ago.
Official records listed it as uninhabited, so even someone abandoning a baby here would not have to register its identity, much less face any trouble.
As for how its residents lived or what kind of education they received, nobody knew that either.
That was Yoshihiro Togashi's official introduction to Meteor City in the original manga.
And at this very moment, A Luo stood on that very land.
A week earlier, the Spiders had knocked her unconscious. After some brief questioning, the Phantom Troupe had brought her back to their base.
The leader's explanation was that she was interesting and had piqued his curiosity!
And so she had the great honor of becoming part of his collection.
She still remembered waking up a week ago, finding herself with the Spiders in some nameless, unfinished building.
Chrollo closed the hefty book in his hands and looked at Pakunoda, whose hand rested on A Luo's shoulder.
Behind the esteemed leader stood Machi, a cold, aloof beauty, on one side, and Uvogin, a muscle-bound brute two or three meters tall, on the other.
"Little girl, stop looking around. Be good and answer a few questions for me, all right?"
The tall, sexy woman with the hooked nose lowered her eyes and spoke coolly to Lola.
Pakunoda's Nen Ability allowed her to probe someone's memories through physical contact.
At those words, A Luo reflexively threw off the woman's hand!
For a moment, the silence grew awkward.
"You know the activation conditions for Paku's ability?!"
Chrollo, who had been lounging casually, abruptly sat up straight, his gaze sharpening.
"Paku, ask her, 'What do you know about Nen?'"
"Tell me, little girl, what do you know about Nen?"
Having learned her lesson, Paku clamped down firmly on A Luo's shoulder this time, bending over to ask.
A moment later, she straightened and said in bewilderment:
"Strange!"
Her face was full of confusion.
"What is it?"
"Boss, I may have missed some details. I'll pass the images I saw to you now!"
With that, a gun appeared out of thin air in Paku's hand, its barrel pointed at Chrollo.
Bang! After the gunshot, Chrollo closed his eyes and sank onto the sofa behind him, his head bowed in silence.
About fifteen minutes later, Chrollo opened his eyes and studied Lola.
"You only learned about Nen Abilities for the first time yesterday? Reno never revealed the secret of the Life Stone before he died, either. So how did you know the activation conditions for Paku's ability?"
His eyes were so piercing that they seemed capable of seeing straight through A Luo's soul!
And then there was that inexplicably feverish curiosity in Chrollo's gaze!
He was like a child who had just gotten his hands on a beloved toy and could hardly wait to take it apart and study every last detail!
A Luo could not help shuddering.
With a fair amount of foresight, she realized that the days ahead probably would not be pleasant.
Throughout the journey back, Chrollo had Paku try all sorts of things to dig out every one of A Luo's secrets.
Fortunately, a blessing lay hidden in that misfortune!
Those very attempts allowed A Luo to finally stop feeling as though her heart were lodged in her throat.
As it turned out, Paku's Nen Ability could only see her memories from after she had transmigrated.
After all, even the most overpowered Nen Ability had its limits, right?
Perhaps her restrictions had something to do with time or space?
Maybe it was limited to a person's current lifetime, or their memories since birth. Whatever the reason, the result was that Lola's memories of her previous life could not be probed.
With that, Lola thought with relief that her life should be safe for the time being.
After all, the leader only disposed of his collectibles once he lost interest in them.
As long as she kept Chrollo curious.
She believed that, as part of Chrollo's collection, she ought to be handled gently and carefully stored away for a while!
At the very least, her life would no longer be in danger.
After that, the Spiders brought Lola back to the Phantom Troupe's base in Meteor City.
Although it was near the outskirts of Meteor City, far from the bustling streets of the central district, the surrounding area seemed to be the Phantom Troupe's territory.
Most of the garbage appeared to have been cleared away, and there did not seem to be anyone outside. Only a tall building stood there, looking ready to collapse.
Most of the Phantom Troupe's members were out entertaining themselves at the moment.
Besides the leader, Paku, Machi, and Uvogin, who had just returned, only Phinks and Shalnark were at the base.
Lola could not help feeling secretly relieved at the sight.
Luckily, Feitan, the expert torturer, was not there.
Then Chrollo suddenly turned back and asked her a question out of nowhere.
"Why are you suddenly so happy?"
"Huh!... It's nothing. It's just because... because I won't have to travel every day anymore."
Caught off guard, Lola hastily made up an excuse.
"You're lying! You only started looking relaxed and relieved after you saw the people inside. So answer me: are you happy because you saw Phinks and Shalnark, or are you relieved and happy because someone you didn't want to see isn't here?"
"Could it be that you know other members besides Paku and the rest of us?"
Chrollo's eyes, ringed with dark circles from his recent late-night reading, fixed on her inquisitively.
In a panic, Lola brought down a knife-hand strike... and knocked herself unconscious!
When she woke from unconsciousness once again, she was lying on an enormous bed more than three meters long and wide.
The room was sparsely furnished, with only a table, a chair, and a bed.
Sigh! I've been passing out so often lately that I'm practically an expert at it.
With practiced ease, she rubbed her aching neck and walked out of the room, grimacing.
The moment she stepped outside, she saw Chrollo curled up on a sofa in the living room a short distance from her door, reading and occasionally taking a small sip of the coffee on the table.
He spotted Lola.
The head of the Spider set down his book and beckoned her over.
"Awake? You probably don't know this, but after you passed out, I questioned Phinks and Shalnark. Neither of them knew anything about you... They didn't seem to be lying, so you don't know each other and have no relationship."
Chrollo's gaze grew even deeper as he looked at Lola.
"From that, we can deduce that they're unlikely to offer you any help. So seeing them shouldn't have made you happy. On top of that, in your panic, you actually chose to knock yourself unconscious to avoid answering my question!"
"That proves my earlier guess was correct. With the first option ruled out, only one possibility remains: you were relieved and happy because someone you expected and feared wasn't here!"
"Who could that person be?"
Lola stared at the man before her in horror.
Was... was... was he even human?
Such meticulous observation, and every deduction right on the mark.
No wonder people like him could be protagonists or villains and live exactly as they pleased.
While I was only fit to be cannon fodder, some nameless extra.
Wasn't this gap in intelligence a little too huge?!
The analysis from across from her had not stopped.
Chrollo watched Lola calmly and continued probing:
"So, A Luo, who exactly are you afraid of? Franklin? Nobunaga? Feitan?... Bingo! I got it. So it's Feitan!"
Before you continue