"All right, I'll come." Qiao Lun settled for the next best option, choosing to respect Battera's decision while giving him a sincere smile.
Battera nodded politely and said nothing more.
After leaving Nanpis, Qiao Lun felt that many things had not gone as smoothly as he had anticipated.
Using the item card "Archangel's Breath" from Greed Island to treat his girlfriend had already become an obsession for Battera.
Under those circumstances, even someone offering to treat his girlfriend would not gain his trust.
Especially given Battera's wealth, he had probably already hired people to treat his girlfriend with Nen Abilities. With the results falling short of his expectations, he naturally grew even more distrustful of ability users.
Still, viewed from that angle, the items in Greed Island really were miraculous.
According to its specifications, "Archangel's Breath" could completely heal every injury, illness, case of poisoning, loss of blood, and instance of organ damage afflicting its target. It could even awaken someone from a prolonged coma or bring someone back from the brink of death. In theory, as long as the target had not died completely, they could be saved.
That effect far surpassed even the all-curing herb from the Dark Continent.
And obtaining the herb required entering the Ancient Labyrinth City, whose guardian was Brion, one of the Five Great Calamities.
By comparison, obtaining "Archangel's Breath" suddenly became much easier.
But the card was of little use to Qiao Lun. He already had some understanding of Reverse Cursed Technique, and Round Deer could support him at any time. As long as his head was not blown apart or the location of his Cursed Energy core destroyed, he could recover quickly through Reverse Cursed Technique.
During the Gojo-Sukuna battle, even severed limbs, a torn-out heart, shattered internal organs, and brain damage could all be repaired quickly through Reverse Cursed Technique.
All Qiao Lun lacked now was sufficient output efficiency with his own Reverse Cursed Technique.
Rather than continuing to wander outside, Qiao Lun took Feitan straight back to the hotel. Turning down a meal delivered to his door once was enough. When the other party threw himself into his arms again, as long as Qiao Lun could confirm it was safe, he would not play the chaste gentleman.
And his way of confirming it was safe was to release the Divine Dogs beforehand. If anything unexpected happened to him, the Divine Dogs would charge straight in and tear Feitan apart.
"This wasn't repayment." Afterward, Feitan held a cigarette between his lips, looking every bit the bad boy. He was still somewhat dissatisfied, though, because an extremely important part had been missing from the whole process: kissing.
"Of course. You just wanted my body." Qiao Lun rose from the bed, revealing his perfect physique and eight-pack abs.
"Yes." The mature man did not care about his teasing. Instead, his beautiful eyes were full of appreciation and greed as he looked at Qiao Lun's wildly masculine physique.
"What are you planning to do next?" Qiao Lun's voice came from the bathroom, along with the sound of the shower.
Feitan stood at the bathroom door. "What are your plans? Are you going to Greed Island?"
"Yes." Qiao Lun did not hide it. "You could come too, actually. I'm planning to train on Greed Island."
"Me?" Feitan blew out a smoke ring. "I don't really want to work that hard. I know what kind of talent I have."
"All right." Qiao Lun gave Feitan a long look.
The mechanics of Feitan's Nen Ability were good, but the problem was that Feitan himself was too weak.
Still, everyone had their own life and choices. Since Feitan had a clear awareness and understanding of himself, all Qiao Lun could do was respect Feitan's choice.
But that respect would also mean the two of them would gradually drift apart.
"You're not going to try persuading me some more?" Feitan took off his robe, revealing his perfect curves as he stepped into the bathroom.
"What's there to persuade you about?" Qiao Lun reached out and pulled him close, his hands already beginning to wander. "Don't keep working with the Nostrade Family after this. Go straight to Kurapika. I've invested in his venture. You'll be safer working for him."
"All right, I understand. But right now, I'm hungry!" As Feitan spoke, he bent down.
It was two hours later when Qiao Lun saw Gon and the others again.
"How did it go? Did you meet Battera?" Curiosity filled Gon's eyes.
"I did. We can go straight to Nanpis on the morning of the tenth. As long as we're strong enough, we'll pass the test." Qiao Lun sat down on a sofa in the hotel lounge.
A server brought over some desserts and drinks he had ordered earlier.
Killua's gaze was locked entirely on the bags of chocolate balls on the table. His expression was like a kitten that had caught the scent of catnip.
"Then how strong do we have to be to pass?" Gon flopped onto the sofa. He did not much like tests.
"I can check for you first." Qiao Lun had nothing else to do anyway and did not mind taking on the role of examiner.
After all, he had already met Tsezguerra. Working backward from Tsezguerra's own strength, he could more or less determine what level of strength they needed to demonstrate to be certain of passing the test.
"Awesome!" Gon, an Enhancement user, sprang back to life the moment he heard Qiao Lun's words.
Meanwhile, Killua had already opened a bag of chocolate balls and was eating them contentedly.
He did not seem worried about the test. It was unclear whether he had already prepared for it.
On the fifth, Qiao Lun received three pieces of news from Kurapika.
The first was that Light Nostrade had rejected Qiao Lun's proposal and was planning to take Neon away from Yorknew City that very day.
"The Phantom Troupe hasn't been wiped out. They're leaving in such a hurry-aren't they afraid of being ambushed on the way?" Qiao Lun truly could not understand Light Nostrade's thinking.
His original idea had been to send Neon straight into Greed Island. That would at least keep her alive.
Although he did not have much affection for the girl, he did not mind protecting her in passing to prevent Chrollo from obtaining her ability.
"Neon told Basho's and our boss Light Nostrade's fortunes. Perhaps the results led them to make this choice." Kurapika was somewhat helpless too.
"No, it was Light Nostrade's wishful thinking that led him to make this choice. But he'll regret it." Qiao Lun did not intend to keep trying to persuade him.
Good advice could hardly dissuade someone bent on getting themselves killed. Sometimes, one had to respect other people's fate.
His method could keep Neon alive, but it would also effectively take away Light Nostrade's means of advancing the Nostrade Family.
Between his family's advancement and his daughter's life, Light Nostrade had made his choice. He wanted to gamble.
Kurapika likewise stopped dwelling on Light Nostrade's choice and delivered the second piece of news. "After paying compensation, I left the Nostrade Family's bodyguard team together with Melody and Feitan."
"So you've given up too."
Qiao Lun said.
"If he's determined to get himself killed, I can't stop him, and I can't protect him." Kurapika was more accepting of it than Qiao Lun.
"I thought you'd take the opportunity to use Neon as bait and lure out more Phantom Troupe members to eliminate," Qiao Lun said in surprise.
Kurapika shook his head. "It's no use. Since yesterday, more suspicious people have started appearing around the hotel. Every move you and I make is under their surveillance now.
Continuing to bait them would only waste time. We'd be better off going into hiding and waiting for a chance to find a new opportunity."
Qiao Lun had noticed the surveillance too.
Although there were ways to shake off the surveillance, he also knew that Chrollo would never act before confirming their location.
In that case, if they did not want the Nostrade Family restricting their movements, the only option left to him and Kurapika was to abandon the Nostrade Family.
"The last thing is that all the collectibles sold at the mafia auction on the third have disappeared. The furious buyers have been trying to contact the Ten Dons through various channels to demand an explanation.
But when they found the Ten Dons, they discovered that all of them had died at the round-table meeting."