Shizuku was the last to attack, but by the time she reached the spot where Illumi had been knocked flying, round-headed needles were already shooting toward her.
"Suck them up." Shizuku exhaled as she gave the command to Blinky in her hands.
Powerful suction suddenly erupted from the mouth of the vacuum cleaner. The flying round-headed needles never even got close to Shizuku before they were sucked straight into Blinky's tube.
Shizuku kept up her speed, but someone on the street suddenly burst forward at an unnatural speed and slammed into her, sending her flying just as she raised Blinky to strike Illumi.
But right then, Franklin's Nen bullets followed close behind.
The man with the long earlobes did not care whether there were still pedestrians on the street. Everything between him and Illumi burst apart in an instant.
Illumi moved extremely fast and had no intention of getting entangled in a fight with the three Phantom Troupe members. As he moved, he casually flung out round-headed needles.
For a time, the pedestrians on the street were either struck by round-headed needles and turned to attack the three Phantom Troupe members, or were blasted straight into bloody mist by Franklin's Nen bullets.
The bandages on Bonolenov's body fell away completely, replaced by a special suit of armor amid the sound of music.
A spear also appeared in his hand. His gaze locked onto the sprinting Illumi, and his speed continued to increase with the music coming from his body. In just a few blinks, he was already behind Illumi.
And he was still accelerating. He had already raised his spear, clearly ready to stab Illumi to death as soon as he got close.
Illumi naturally noticed Bonolenov approaching. After all, the barrage of Nen bullets had eased as Bonolenov drew near.
Presumably, the person firing the Nen bullets was also worried that they would indiscriminately hit Bonolenov.
And that easing of the barrage gave Illumi room to act.
Round-headed needles flew backward, aimed squarely at the gaps in Bonolenov's armor. If even one hit, Illumi could turn the tables in an instant.
But from the way the nearby people had been controlled earlier, Bonolenov had also worked out what ability this "Hisoka" possessed.
A Manipulation user who could control others through round-headed needles! It was somewhat like Shalnark's ability, except he could control more people than Shalnark could.
But as long as those Nen Needles did not pierce him, his opponent's Manipulation ability could not take effect.
Bonolenov thrust his spear repeatedly, knocking away every round-headed needle flying toward him.
But the moment the needles were gone, pedestrians lunged at him like suicide bombers.
Round-headed needles were embedded in their bodies, seemingly drawing out the potential of these controlled people and fully unleashing their life energy. The speed they burst out with for that instant actually rivaled that of Nen users.
The obstruction posed by the round-headed needles had also given these suicide attackers the chance to get close to Bonolenov.
What Shizuku had faced earlier played out again with Bonolenov. Even though his spear kept puncturing the heads of those who approached, he could not stop their attacks immediately.
Illumi's method of control seemed not to care at all whether the controlled target was still alive.
Shizuku and Franklin both accelerated in pursuit.
But as Illumi ran toward more crowded areas, he controlled more and more expendable attackers, sending them lunging at the pursuing Phantom Troupe members.
More importantly, after Illumi turned a street corner, the three pursuers suddenly discovered that Illumi, who had only briefly vanished from their sight, had disappeared completely.
"He's strong, but I can say for certain that he isn't Hisoka." Franklin's expression was grim.
That bastard Hisoka actually switched himself out right under our noses. He must have done it back in the abandoned building, during that brief stretch of less than a minute when he was out of everyone's sight!
"Let's head to the Semetary Building first." The armor on Bonolenov's body disappeared, and bandages wound around him again, wrapping him up like a mummy.
Blinky spat out the round-headed needles it had sucked up. "They're actually physical objects, not conjured ones," Shizuku said.
Rather than throwing the needles away, Shizuku picked them up and carefully put them away before following Franklin and Bonolenov.
Only after they had left did police sirens sound on the street.
But the more than three hundred meters of street leading away from the café had long since been turned into a hellscape of blood and dismembered bodies.
Shalnark did not know whether the three who stayed behind could capture Hisoka, but he was already racing toward the Semetary Building at full speed.
"What happened?" Pakunoda followed beside Shalnark, her brows tightly furrowed with worry.
She was the one most opposed to their leader Chrollo acting alone. But as the person who had followed him the longest, she also understood better than anyone that once Chrollo made a decision, there was no changing it.
So there was only one thing she could do now: get there as quickly as possible.
"I don't know. The boss only sent three words: danger, Hisoka, and hooked." Shalnark held nothing back.
Killing intent was already spilling from Feitan and Phinks. Ever since the failed robbery on the night of the first, nothing had gone right for the Phantom Troupe in Yorknew City, and Feitan had had enough.
"If he could make the boss sense danger, I think the person the boss ran into was most likely the Nen beast user who killed Uvogin and the others. Especially with the word 'hooked,' it probably means the boss's plan has been brought forward." Shalnark voiced his guess, which was also the most likely possibility.
After all, quite a few members of the Phantom Troupe knew that Chrollo had left alone to find the Nostrade Family's young lady, who was skilled in fortune-telling.
Chrollo had also arranged tonight's operation well in advance.
If everything went normally, they would take care of the Shadow Beasts at the Semetary Building that night, while the people Chrollo had hired would eliminate the Ten Dons.
During that process, there was a very high chance that the Nen beast user and the Chain Killer would appear. But if everything went normally, by the time those two found their leader, the designated Phantom Troupe members should also have arrived at the Semetary Building.
Their leader would not be in any danger, because he had planned everything from the very beginning.
He was using himself as bait to pin their opponents down inside the Semetary Building, limiting their chances of summoning a flying Nen beast to escape.
But the timing was wrong now.
Given their leader's caution, if nothing unexpected had happened, there was no way he would have exposed himself at this hour, much less sent out
a danger signal.
Before Shalnark could sort out his thoughts, a message from Franklin made him understand more.
The person who had been with them all along was not the real Hisoka!
In other words, the person fighting their leader right now was very likely Hisoka, and besides Hisoka, there were also the Nen beast user and the Chain Killer watching for their chance.
The boss is in danger!