"He got away. He jumped out of the building while we were drawing everyone's attention," Kurapika answered. "Gon saw it himself. Chrollo's attack failed to stop Hisoka.
"But Hisoka was badly injured when he left. Recovering anytime soon won't be easy. Gon even saw that he was missing an arm."
Qiao Lun fell into thought.
Hisoka had lost an arm, and Chrollo had broken a leg. But Hisoka's severed arm should have been left in the restaurant, while Chrollo's leg was only fractured and would recover soon.
That meant Chrollo, whose ability had not been sealed by Kurapika's Nen Ability, no longer had a reason to go to Greed Island.
Hisoka, on the other hand, was highly likely to choose to go to Greed Island if he wanted to restore his missing arm.
In the anime, Hisoka had reached Greed Island without going through Battera. Presumably, even if Qiao Lun left him alone, he would still encounter him once he entered Greed Island.
As for the seven remaining members of the Phantom Troupe, Qiao Lun had no intention of seeking them out.
Judging by the choice the Phantom Troupe had made when leaving, even if he went looking for them, he would most likely come back empty-handed.
Given how Chrollo operated, the next time they met would be when he had amassed the conditions for certain victory.
But Qiao Lun was not worried.
His strength still had enormous room to grow. He still had Piercing Ox, Tiger Funeral, and Mahoraga to subjugate, and in the process of subjugating them, he also needed to further develop the connection between himself and his Shikigami, as well as fusions between Shikigami.
There was also training and developing his Nen Ability, along with the interplay between his Nen Ability and cursed energy.
He still had plenty to do.
As they spoke, several people approached from outside the restaurant. Qiao Lun and Kurapika turned at the same time and saw Gon and the others.
"We saw the Phantom Troupe members' bodies!" Gon ran over excitedly.
"It's just that my gut tells me they wouldn't die that easily." Killua plopped down on the chair beside Qiao Lun and reached for a hamburger on the table. "I just couldn't tell what was wrong. Those bodies looked really convincing."
"Kortopi created those bodies. He's the guy who could copy and create the floor tiles," Qiao Lun explained. "The Phantom Troupe members aren't dead. Although they'll probably hide like rats in a sewer for a while, you should still be careful when you're out doing things."
The incident in the manga where Gon and Killua were captured again had not happened yet. It would be fine if the Phantom Troupe left now, but if they were still around, Gon and Killua could very well become targets for them to vent their anger on if they ran into them again.
After all, Nobunaga's death could easily lead the Phantom Troupe to make certain connections.
At that point, with the mindset that they would rather kill the wrong people than let anyone slip away, the Phantom Troupe would dispose of the two of them as well, unless Pakunoda had told Chrollo and the others about Killua's identity early on. Only then might Killua have some chance of survival.
But it would only be some chance. The lawless Phantom Troupe would not necessarily show the Zoldyck Family any respect.
"Don't worry. Gon and I are planning to devote ourselves completely to training now. We're not even going to watch the Greed Island auction. Senpai and Leorio will tell us everything anyway." Killua already had a plan.
"Yeah, I haven't been exposed yet." Leorio, who had barely had any presence, also spoke up for once.
"I already have some ideas for training my Hatsu." Gon was brimming with confidence.
Qiao Lun was a little surprised, unsure where Gon's confidence came from.
But he did not intend to ask. Everyone had their own opportunities. If his appearance caused Gon's Hatsu training to deviate from the original story, that was Gon's own issue. Perhaps the new ability he developed might even be stronger than his Jajanken in the manga.
Still, Qiao Lun felt it would most likely remain Jajanken. After all, Gon had only truly developed his Nen Ability after meeting Biscuit on Greed Island.
Even if he had ideas now, they were merely concepts for the beginnings of an ability.
With that, the matter came to a temporary close.
It was not until the next day that Qiao Lun learned from Killua that someone had bought the Scarlet Eyes at the auction for one billion Jenny.
From what Killua said, Kurapika was also planning to contact the person who had won the Scarlet Eyes and buy them from them at a higher price.
"Those should be fake too," Killua said with certainty.
Qiao Lun had only told them about Kortopi's Nen Ability yesterday. Killua only needed to think a little to guess that the auction items had already been switched.
Once the buyers took their purchases away, they would discover twenty-four hours later that the items had vanished without a trace.
The only question was exactly how much money the Phantom Troupe had made off with at yesterday's auction.
"Yeah, they're fake." As Qiao Lun spoke, he remembered something else: he still had Shalnark's body and Pakunoda.
The Ten Dons' deaths had not yet been discovered. The priority was to collect the bounties on the two of them while there was still time.
But going straight over to kill Pakunoda, who was currently utterly helpless, seemed somewhat odd, leaving him conflicted.
That conflict did not last long, however, because Kurapika brought Pakunoda's body to him.
Qiao Lun and the others were all shocked when they saw Kurapika arrive with the body.
"Don't look at me like that. I didn't kill her." Kurapika sounded a little helpless.
Qiao Lun chose to believe him outright, while also examining Pakunoda's body. She had died from having her throat slit. Those eyes, which had long been prepared to face death, now held nothing but deathly stillness, showing no trace of any emotion she had felt before dying.
"It was Squala." Kurapika named the killer.
Qiao Lun immediately thought of the man with somewhat Indian features. He was Neon's bodyguard and could also be considered Kurapika's senior.
In the manga, after Dalzollene died, most of the bodyguards had even chosen Squala as their new captain. It was only because Squala voluntarily declined that the position had fallen to Kurapika.
Squala was a Manipulation user who could control his hounds, serving a somewhat similar function to Qiao Lun's Divine Dogs.
But Squala's hounds were merely ordinary hounds and were not particularly strong in combat.
As Qiao Lun remembered it, this man was relatively timid and cautious. Why would he kill Pakunoda?
"Why?" Gon was equally surprised.
Besides, Gon had also dealt with Squala while spending time with Melody, and he had quite a favorable impression of this dog lover.
"For money." Kurapika looked at Qiao Lun somewhat helplessly. "Pakunoda's head is worth two billion Jenny. With that money, Squala can not only provide well for his hounds, but also marry his girlfriend Eliza and live a relatively comfortable life."