Killua stole a glance at Feitan.
Although every Phantom Troupe member in the abandoned building was extremely dangerous, Feitan gave him the strongest sense of danger aside from Hisoka.
Because this man was steeped in repression and malice.
Bang!
Gon was no match for Nobunaga at all. Nobunaga slammed the back of his hand hard against the table.
But Nobunaga was clearly not himself at the moment. He kept muttering about Uvogin and Machi, and even his dead-fish eyes had reddened.
Gon was stubborn too, though, and before long, the two clashed.
Killua watched on tenterhooks, but Gon's temperament happened to be just what Nobunaga appreciated. More importantly, the goddess of luck seemed to be on Gon's side as well. The coin Feitan tossed would decide whether Gon died at Feitan's hands or was saved by Nobunaga.
The answer was settled amid Feitan's cursing.
Only after dealing with Gon and Killua did Shalnark begin assigning tasks.
"There are ten of us now. Nobunaga will stay behind, and judging from what happened yesterday, the enemy can kill two members at once, so we'll need to move in groups of at least three today."
"Keep in mind that while we're looking for the enemy, they might be hunting us too, so stay in contact at all times."
Chrollo was absent, and Hisoka couldn't help believing Qiao Lun's words from last night a little more.
Because Chrollo really had left the group to act alone, something that had never happened in the three years since Hisoka joined the Phantom Troupe.
Things seem to be getting more and more interesting. As Hisoka thought this, he suddenly realized that of the nine people, the only ones who hadn't formed a group yet were Bonolenov, whose entire body was wrapped in bandages, and Kortopi, who had only one eye showing.
And those two usually accompanied the leader together with Pakunoda.
On his way to the ruins, Qiao Lun first bought a hooded tracksuit from a shop and changed into it.
Then he stopped well short of the ruins.
Because he had thought of someone: Kortopi.
Standing atop a tall building wasn't quite enough to give him a bird's-eye view of the abandoned buildings ahead, but it did allow him to notice something unusual.
The buildings were packed too densely together!
There was only one possibility: Kortopi had used his ability to copy more buildings.
The Phantom Troupe was full of talented people. Kortopi, for instance, had an ability called "Gallery Fake," which allowed him to create an exact copy of an object by touching it.
This ability also had two extremely powerful effects. One was that as long as Kortopi touched the original, he could determine the copy's location at any time. The other was that the copies could also inherit Kortopi's "En."
"En" was an advanced Nen technique produced by combining "Ten" and "Ren."
A person's aura usually wrapped around their body at a distance ranging from a few millimeters to a few centimeters. The technique of expanding the area covered by that aura as needed was called "En."
Within the range of "En," the shapes and movements of everything could be felt through the skin.
When a true master used "En," they could perceive not just an assassin within a fifty-meter radius, but even the exact number of leaves falling within that range.
It was difficult to judge the range of Kortopi's "En," but using copies to deploy "En" this way was downright unfair.
If someone couldn't distinguish the real objects from the copies, a single step could expose all their information to Kortopi's senses.
Qiao Lun hesitated.
Because there seemed to be only one option left to him: wait.
Wait for Gon and Killua to escape from the building themselves. Once he spotted them, he could not only pinpoint the building Nobunaga was in, but also determine whether Nobunaga really was the only one left inside.
If he acted rashly now, even using Rabbit Escape to scout would alert the enemy.
Then he would not only fail to rescue Gon and Killua, but might also get them hurt and lose his chance to target Nobunaga alone.
Having thought this through, Qiao Lun simply settled down to wait patiently.
Still, he wasn't entirely without a source of information. He composed a message and sent it straight to Hisoka, with whom he had exchanged numbers.
With a mole in their midst, the Phantom Troupe could forget about having an easy time.
While waiting for Hisoka's reply, he thought of something else: his own Nen.
Ever since landing Black Flash yesterday, he had noticed something unusual. His control over his aura seemed smoother than it had been yesterday. At the very least, using "Gyo" had become easier for him.
In other words, the state of clarity over Cursed Energy brought about by Black Flash had not only affected his understanding of the essence of Cursed Energy, but had also deepened his understanding of Nen.
Was it because he still had "Gyo" active in both eyes when he landed Black Flash?
Qiao Lun didn't know exactly what was going on, but he knew this was definitely tremendously good news for him.
This was also one of the reasons he was so eager to seek out more fights with Phantom Troupe members today.
If he could keep landing Black Flash, or even land three in a row, could his aura reserves increase alongside a slight increase in his Cursed Energy?
Qiao Lun felt a little anticipation.
He also needed to find out which Nen Ability category he belonged to.
According to what he had learned from the manga, Nen Abilities could be broadly divided into six major categories.
They were Enhancement, Emission, Transmutation, Manipulation, Conjuration, and Specialization.
Their names alone gave a rough idea of what each category excelled at. The most unusual among them, Specialization, encompassed Nen Abilities that did not belong to the first five types.
And according to what was revealed later in the story, Specialization users were extremely rare. Only about one in three thousand ability users belonged to Specialization.
Qiao Lun had his hopes.
And testing his own category was very simple. All he needed was a cup of water.
Qiao Lun had already prepared what he needed on the way over. Although the weight of the items in his shadow space would be added to his body, carrying everyday items could also count as a form of weight training.
Now, with time to spare while waiting, he took out the bottled water and cup he had prepared.
He filled the cup with water, then poured Nen into it.
The water in the cup did not change, but the cup's shadow on the ground began to ripple as he poured in his aura. The shadow, which should have lain flat against the ground, began twisting up and down like ocean waves.
Clearly, this change did not fall within the five conventional categories!
That was to
say, Qiao Lun was indeed the Specialization user he had hoped to be, and his ability was clearly related to shadows.
This situation was not too far beyond Qiao Lun's expectations. Or rather, he had been mentally prepared for it from the start.
After all, he was a Jujutsu Sorcerer who had inherited the Ten Shadows Cursed Technique.
And the characteristics of one's Nen were tied to the user's talents, personality, and experiences.