Night Talk (4K)

Meteor City was pitch-black at night. In the eastern district, the streets were damp with a briny tang after the downpour had just ended, and figures slowly emerged from the alleyways.

The black market had opened, drawing all the thugs and criminals roaming Meteor City to purchase supplies.

Without a ripple of disturbance, oil lamps were lit at the stalls along the streets, their dim light illuminating an assortment of wares.

Wao kicked an empty bottle out of his path, the sole of his cheap leather boot grinding over a dead rat in the corner. A hundred or so men followed silently behind him, the scrape of steel pipes against the ground startling the death birds from beneath the eaves.

"Keep your damn eyes peeled!" Wao tugged at his tight leather vest, the knife scar on his neck gleaming oily in the dim light. "If we can't find those brats, we might end up in the incinerator tomorrow!" He spat out the toothpick in his mouth, wood splinters mixed with streaks of blood clinging to the corner of his lips.

A full day had passed since the Keike Family issued the assignment.

All the gangs in Meteor City had mobilized, searching every corner of the city using the clues provided in the assignment.

But the missing children seemed to have vanished into thin air. There was still no sign of them!

With the Keike Family's assignment looking impossible to complete, the gang bosses were beside themselves with anxiety. None of them wanted to attract the attention of Meteor City's Viper!

The Keike Family hadn't gained control over Meteor City by speaking nicely to them!

Back then, Viper had fought his way from one end of Meteor City to the other, all alone, paving the way with blood and corpses!

Their bosses were anxious, so their underlings had no choice but to stake out every corner of Meteor City in the middle of the night, hoping to find some clues...

"Clink! Clink!"

The sudden rattle of chains came from the alley opposite them.

"Boss, look over there!"

A short, plump underling grabbed his boss's arm.

"There's a kid in that cage!"

Just last night, the Keike Family had given explicit orders that the black market was absolutely forbidden from taking in any brats that week!

Following his underling's pointing finger, Wao narrowed his eyes. Two dark figures were carrying an iron cage toward a dead end. As the cloth covering it shifted, he caught a glimpse of a small figure inside.

Someone really has a death wish, daring to do this in defiance of the Keike Family's wrath?!!

"Grab your weapons!"

Wao's roar exploded into the night.

He'd been forced to come out and stake out the streets in the middle of the night, and he'd long been itching for somewhere to vent his anger!

Behind him, a hundred thugs armed with steel pipes followed close as he ran toward the alley.

"You lot, get to the far end and block the damn alley!"

After sending half his men to take a shortcut and cut off the far end, Wao went straight to the alley entrance and blocked it.

Inside the alley, three men were conducting a transaction. The sudden shout sent cold sweat streaming down their backs.

"Hands on your heads and get the hell down!"

Wao glanced at the three suspicious men and barked the order as if it were the most natural thing in the world.

As soon as he spoke, the expressions of the underlings around him turned strange. Normally, those were the Elders' Guard's lines. They hadn't expected their own turn to say them today...

Without waiting for the three men to answer, Wao waved a hand. He had no time to waste here. "Get them! Tie up those three animals."

"The sooner we catch them, the sooner we can go back and rest!"

At the word "rest," the underlings who had been dawdling perked up and charged into the alley.

"Run!"

In their panic, the three men dropped the cage and bolted.

"Thud! Thud!"

The dark mass of people streamed past the cage and pursued the three men.

"Hey, are you alive?"

Wao strode over to the iron cage and peered inside.

"A-alive."

The girl curled up inside the cage answered shakily, trembling like a rain-soaked stray cat.

"What's your name? Are you hurt?"

Wao weighed the copper lock on the cage in his hand as he asked casually.

He was doing a good deed for once, and naturally, he didn't want his effort to go to waste.

"Sheila. My name's Sheila!"

The girl cautiously raised her head, then quickly lowered it again when she saw the knife scar on Wao's neck.

"Thud! Thud!"

Amid a flurry of footsteps, the underlings who had chased the men into the alley came running back.

The three bruised and battered men were each held up by several underlings and brought before Wao.

"Boss, what should we do with them?"

Wao glanced at one man's waist and reached out to take the brass key hanging there.

"Break their arms and legs, then sell them to a recycling company later. Use the Jenny to buy the boys a late-night snack!"

It was the middle of the night, they were in an alley, and everyone around him was one of his own. Of course he could do whatever he wanted!

"Yes!"

The underlings answered respectfully.

As expected of Brother Wao. He was fair and generous!

"No! Please, no!"

"Please let me go! It's my first time!"

On hearing Wao's decision, the three men, who had been playing dead, hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Shut them up!"

At Wao's command, the underlings quickly got to work.

"Crack! Crack! Snap!"

The sharp sounds of bones breaking rang out in the alley.

"Hey, Sheila, right?"

Wao held up the key and gestured toward the girl in the cage.

"Do you know a black-haired kid who likes reading?"

"He has a bunch of kids with him, and they're all carrying homemade bombs."

Wao had asked the same question hundreds of times that day, putting it to practically everyone he met.

Perhaps out of habit, he asked the girl too, though he didn't hold out much hope.

"The... Phantom Troupe?"

Sheila suddenly looked up, revealing her bruised eye sockets between strands of dirty blond hair.

"Clang!"

The copper lock fell to the ground.

"You... know them?"

Wao was a little dumbfounded.

He had never expected the girl to answer so quickly after hearing the information he gave her.

According to how things had gone before, shouldn't she have thought hard for a few seconds before shaking her head and saying she didn't remember?

"I don't know. I just thought it sounded familiar."

Sheila didn't dare confirm it and only gave a hesitant answer.

From escaping the church to being kidnapped and turned into merchandise, she had suffered so much during that time that she no longer dared to speak loudly.

"Don't be afraid. We won't hurt you!"

Clutching the bars of the cage with both hands, Wao forced a smile despite his burning anxiety.

"What did you mean by the Phantom Troupe just now?"

Seeing Wao's smiling face, Sheila finally relaxed a little.

"It's the name we gave our group when we used to dub videotapes at the church."

Her voice was soft, but Wao was close enough to hear every word!

"The church? When the boss gave us the assignment this morning, I think he mentioned a church too!"

His thoughts racing, Wao looked at the girl in the cage and asked again.

"Then... do you know where the Phantom Troupe went?"

This time, his tone was even gentler.

With his chance to complete the assignment and rise to the top right before his eyes, the girl looked more pleasing to him by the second!

Sheila shook her head.

"Think again?"

Wao's face stiffened. His earlier excitement felt as though it had been doused with a bucket of ice water, leaving him cold to the core.

"The Phantom Troupe left a month ago. They hadn't come back by the time the church was attacked."

"Brother, I don't know where they went either."

With that, Sheila gave Wao a timid glance and buried her head again.

"Boss, why don't we take her back first?"

An underling who had been watching nearby leaned in and whispered in Wao's ear.

"Even if she isn't the one we're looking for, at least she knows the target!"

"If nothing else works, we can just hand her over and call the assignment done!"

"Are you telling me how to do my job?"

Wao glared at the underling, then turned to Sheila and spoke gently.

"It's late. Why don't you come with us first?"

"We're all good people. We won't hurt you!"

With that, Wao shot a sidelong glance at the underlings beside him, his meaning clear.

"Right, right! We're all good, law-abiding citizens."

"Brother Wao is an especially good person. He even came out in the middle of the night to do good deeds!"

A perceptive underling hurriedly chimed in, singing Wao's praises with a look of admiration.

Whoosh~

The night grew deeper, and the cold wind still blew outside the church.

After returning the Phantom Troupe's bedding and belongings one by one, Carl silently crossed the hallway and stepped onto the balcony's wooden planks.

A bright moon hung high in the sky.

"Hehe~"

Under the moonlight, Hisoka sat cross-legged in a corner of the balcony, building a house of cards one card at a time.

The wind was strong on the balcony, but the house of cards didn't budge.

Pale purple Nen Aura flickered in every gap, serving as the perfect bonding agent.

"Why aren't you asleep at this hour?"

Leaning against the balcony railing, Carl glanced at Hisoka's thin clothing out of the corner of her eye, a trace of puzzlement crossing her mind.

"Junior, you prepared dinner today, didn't you?"

Hisoka picked up a playing card, but his gaze fell on Carl.

"Qi and Blood Pumpkin?"

Something stirred in Carl's heart. Though each person had only been given two wedges, the Qi and Blood Pumpkin's special properties seemed to have caught his attention after all.

But... she hadn't intended to keep hiding it anyway.

"Oh~ So that fruit is called Qi and Blood Pumpkin?"

Hisoka licked the corner of his lips, his eyes burning.

"After eating two wedges, I feel hot all over. I'd like to find someone to help me let off some steam~"

"So?"

Carl rolled her eyes and spoke in a peculiar tone.

They had sparred for a month. How could they not know each other by now?

If Hisoka really wanted to fight, he would have come at her already. He wouldn't still be sitting there building a house of cards!

"Want to know what your companions are hiding from you?"

Holding the black joker between his fingers, Hisoka spoke teasingly.

"One wedge of Qi and Blood Pumpkin, and I'll tell you."

Carl fell silent for a moment, then slowly shook her head.

She was indeed curious about what the Phantom Troupe was hiding.

But since Chrollo and the others weren't talking, she wouldn't go out of her way to investigate!

There was no need. That was all.

"Oh?"

Hisoka's slender eyes narrowed.

Given Carl's attitude toward the Phantom Troupe, that shouldn't have been her reaction...

"If you want to eat Qi and Blood Pumpkin, I can give you some."

Gazing into Hisoka's eyes, Carl had a thought, and a wheel-sized Qi and Blood Pumpkin appeared in her hands.

"Thud!"

Carl bent down and placed the pumpkin on the wooden planks, saying nothing more.

She turned around and walked straight toward the room.

"Tsk!"

Hisoka glanced at the wheel-sized pumpkin, a flicker of surprise passing through his eyes.

That pumpkin had just appeared in Carl's hands out of nowhere, hadn't it?

"There's no fluctuation in Nen Aura. Is it not a product of a Nen Ability?"

Watching the figure disappear around the corner, Hisoka turned the thought over in his mind and flipped the playing card in his hand.

A thin black film vanished from his black joker card, revealing the bright red beneath.

"Creak~"

Deep in the corridor, Carl pushed open the door.

Chrollo's fair face came into view.

"What brings you here?"

Glancing at the dim oil lamp on the table, Carl reached back and closed the wooden door.

"There were some things I couldn't conveniently talk about this morning."

Chrollo leaned back in the wooden chair, his expression calm.

"Clap!"

A draft swept through the last sliver of the closing doorway, making the oil lamp's flame dance wildly.

"Go ahead. I'm listening."

Dropping onto the wooden-framed bed, Carl spoke with feigned calm.

In truth, he felt wronged too...

A whole day had passed, and Carl still couldn't understand why Chrollo had lied to him!

What was so important that it had to be kept from him?

"First, why we kept it from you."

Chrollo's shadow stretched and warped across the mottled wall as his fingertips unconsciously rubbed the worn cover of the book in his hands-the thing Old Will had leafed through most often when he was alive.

"Carl, you can't keep things to yourself. We were afraid you'd let the truth slip and tell Sarasa."

"Huh?"

"So I deliberately kept some things from you this morning."

"Just because of that?"

Carl's face stiffened. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that would be Chrollo's reason for keeping things from him!

"The one who killed Grandpa Will was actually our foster mother."

Glancing at Carl's expression, Chrollo continued.

Even though a day had passed, saying it again still made his heart ache.

Old Will?

The murderer?

Their foster mother!

Could those three things even be put together in a sentence?

Carl's mouth twitched, and he inwardly cried, Holy shit!

"Sarasa's still young." Chrollo suddenly turned his head, the hem of his priest's robe brushing past the oil lamp and making the light in the room flicker. "Don't tell her about this!"

To make sure she didn't overhear, he had waited until Sarasa was asleep before coming to Carl's room!

"I'll keep it a secret!"

Carl nodded and agreed to Chrollo's request, but couldn't help speaking again:

"But... are you sure they're the ones who did it?"

It wasn't that he didn't believe Chrollo. It was just that, in the original owner's memories, Old Will, as the church's priest, had always been on good terms with the local residents!

More precisely, the church stood for communion wafers, free funerals, upholding justice, and a host of other such things, enough to earn Old Will considerable respect from the residents!

If that was the case, how could they have attacked Old Will?

"The murder weapon, the murderer, and the communion wafers piled up in the kitchen-we checked them all, one by one!"

Chrollo sat in the wooden chair, his face expressionless.

If he hadn't found conclusive evidence, how could he have believed that his own foster mother's family were the killers?

"Then when you said this morning that you'd dealt with the killer..."

Carl opened and closed his mouth. It felt as though something was lodged in his throat, and for a moment he couldn't speak.

He knew perfectly well what Old Will had meant to Chrollo.

"..."

Chrollo didn't answer. He simply rose in silence and walked toward the door.

"Bang!"

The door closed softly.

As darkness swallowed the last trace of firelight, the corridor fell completely silent again.