As Shalnark received Franklin's message, Qiao Lun picked up Hisoka's phone from the table and saw a new message on it as well.
"You've been exposed. Be careful."
Qiao Lun memorized the number. Hisoka had clearly left the phone here for him on purpose, and the sender was probably Illumi, who had taken Hisoka's place.
Although he had no use for Illumi at the moment, having his contact information gave him another way to hire an assassin.
As far as Qiao Lun was concerned, Illumi would never turn down money, especially when there was no conflict of interest between them.
Of course, this was only a backup option. Unless necessary, he would not contact Illumi himself.
But Illumi's message also reminded him of something: he could not stay here watching the fight any longer.
Hisoka and Chrollo's battle had yet to produce a winner, but both of them had already sustained injuries.
More importantly, Hisoka was gradually adapting to Chrollo's fighting rhythm. If Chrollo had no hidden Nen Ability up his sleeve, Hisoka really might win this encounter.
He pushed open the tightly shut doors.
Qiao Lun had no intention of tipping the scales in this duel, but he had no intention of giving Chrollo a chance to escape, either.
So by the time he stepped out of the restaurant, the Divine Dogs had already appeared beside him.
"Guard this spot. Don't let anyone leave."
He wanted to finish off Chrollo, but he had no intention of letting Hisoka go, either.
Chrollo could be exchanged for money, and so could Hisoka. No one knew yet that he was not a member of the Phantom Troupe.
Besides, Qiao Lun could sense that Hisoka was curious about him. If he gave Hisoka a chance to leave, then after fulfilling his dream of fighting Chrollo, Hisoka would very likely choose Qiao Lun as his next prey.
Qiao Lun valued his sense of security far too much to let that happen.
So from the very beginning, his plan had been for the winner to take all.
And that winner could only be him.
"Who's inside?"
A somewhat irritating voice suddenly came from the side.
Qiao Lun turned and saw an assassin in camouflage. The man was staring at him greedily with vulture-like eyes.
"The leader of the Phantom Troupe. Want to go in and take a look?" Qiao Lun patted the black Divine Dog's head, telling it to settle down. It was not time to attack yet.
Qiao Lun remembered quite a bit about this assassin who had arrived here.
After all, in the manga, he was the man Chrollo had killed with "Indoor Fish."
The thought of "Indoor Fish" made Qiao Lun pause. The restaurant was an enclosed space right now, fully meeting the conditions for Chrollo to use "Indoor Fish," yet he had not used it at all.
Was he worried that the enclosed space would be broken open? Or was he keeping his guard up against me?
Qiao Lun could not be certain, but greed welled up in the assassin's eyes at his words.
Still, there was wariness in the way he looked at Qiao Lun, as though he was worried Qiao Lun had some trick up his sleeve.
Especially when his gaze fell on the two giant wolves, alarm bells blared in his mind. This man was strong.
He might even be the strongest person he had ever encountered!
"Are you the one who supplied the mafia with three Phantom Troupe corpses?" The assassin in camouflage suddenly remembered the bodies that the mafia should have already hung up in the plaza in front of the building by now.
He had seen the three bodies. Only one was intact, but even that one had been battered beyond recognition. Of the other two, one had only its upper half left, its lower half seemingly torn off by force, while the other was nothing but a head, its eyes still open in death.
The condition of the bodies alone told him how ruthless their killer was.
With Qiao Lun guarding the doors, he was clearly telling him that the people inside the restaurant were his prey.
After some thought, the man in camouflage simply chose to retreat.
But as he backed away, two more people appeared in the corridor, both manga characters Qiao Lun knew.
Silva and Zeno!
Although neither had entered a combat state, their presence still felt razor-sharp.
"Looks like we're late," Zeno said. "Are young people already this strong these days? Even I can feel some pressure."
"Stop joking," Qiao Lun replied. "I'm the one who's really feeling the pressure here, all right?"
"You know me?" Zeno sounded a little puzzled.
"No, but you two feel familiar. Similar to a silver-haired kid I know," Qiao Lun said.
"Aren't you worried your companion might lose?" Zeno did not pursue the subject. Instead, he gave the now-closed restaurant doors behind Qiao Lun a meaningful look.
"He's not my companion, and I don't care who wins in there." Qiao Lun spread his hands. "As for you two, judging by the time, more Phantom Troupe members should have reached the building by now. Aren't you going to take them on? You can't leave all the credit to the Shadow Beasts!"
The assassin in camouflage had not quite left yet and was still listening closely. His eyes lit up at Qiao Lun's words.
At the same time, another possibility occurred to him.
Could Qiao Lun be using the Phantom Troupe's leader as bait here?
But that was none of his business. In any case, the Ten Dons were offering the same bounty for killing the leader as for killing an ordinary member.
"All right, all right!" Zeno waved a hand indifferently.
Before turning to leave, Silva carefully committed Qiao Lun's appearance and aura to memory. Even without a clash, he could tell that the man was quite strong.
Watching the two leave, Qiao Lun let out a small breath of relief.
Facing those two, Qiao Lun had felt the sort of pressure he had only experienced when facing a Special Grade Cursed Spirit in the Jujutsu world.
The rattle of gunfire had already begun to rise from downstairs. Looking out from beside a window, Qiao Lun immediately spotted a giant bat swooping down from the top of the building.
That was a person, probably a member of the Shadow Beasts.
In other words, the information Chrollo had sent out had begun to take effect. The Phantom Troupe members had broken into the Semetary Building and been discovered by the Shadow Beasts.
If that was the case, this was a perfect opportunity.
As long as the Phantom Troupe members could be split up inside the building, he would have a chance to intercept and kill another one or two of them.
His phone vibrated. It was a call from Kurapika.
"They're here. From what Melody observed,
five of them broke into the building together and are heading toward your position."
The team Melody was leading had truly proved useful this time.
"Five?" Qiao Lun murmured.
The Phantom Troupe had thirteen members in total. Its leader was currently fighting Hisoka, and three others were already dead, meaning eight remained. Those eight were operating in two teams.
There was no telling how many the Shadow Beasts could intercept, but the Zoldyck Family duo heading downstairs should at least stop one.
There were also the other assassins hired by the mafia. They could take one as well.
That left two at most. With Kurapika's help, he could easily finish them off in a short time, giving them no chance at all to meet up with Chrollo.
"Perfect!" Qiao Lun flexed his wrists and simply stayed where he was, guarding the restaurant doors.