Chapter Summaries

Carl arrived at the Forest of Mist to find Lianke and learn from her, but discovered a courtyard stacked with corpses. After calling out that Pastor Will sent his regards, Carl hurried inside when Lianke gave him thirty seconds to appear before her.

• Carl paid the number 16 bus conductor thirty thousand Jenny and rode to the Forest of Mist.
• Carl read Lianke's sign and followed the path marked for matters concerning remains.
• Carl prepared twenty-six Bomb Pomegranates before approaching Lianke's open courtyard.
• Carl shouted that Pastor Will had sent his regards, revealing a wall of corpses piled in the courtyard.
• Lianke appeared at an upstairs window and gave Carl thirty seconds to come before her, so Carl rushed toward the house.

Carl visited Lianke to learn Nen Abilities, but Lianke demanded an impossible tuition fee. Carl offered Bomb Pomegranates as payment, and Lianke accepted her as a disciple.

• Carl arrived at Lianke’s home and asked to study Nen Abilities, but Lianke demanded fifty million Jenny per session.
• Carl offered special items instead of Jenny, and Lianke asked her to pay for a broken window with the item in her hand.
• Carl revealed the item was a Bomb Pomegranate with a six-meter killing radius, startling Lianke.
• Lianke agreed to buy Carl’s Bomb Pomegranates for fifty thousand Jenny each, and Carl placed twenty-four on the bench as an initial payment of 1.2 million Jenny.
• Lianke named Carl her second disciple and told her to choose an empty room upstairs for the night.

Carl returned safely from carrying out the plan and reunited with Chrollo and the sleeping children. The next morning, she met Hisoka, who recognized that she could see his Nen Aura, and she threatened him with a Bomb Pomegranate before he backed off.

• Carl entered the manor and vanished to meet Chrollo in the wheat fields.
• Chrollo checked Carl for injuries, then they returned to find the Phantom Troupe and Sarasa asleep in the warehouse.
• An explosion woke Carl the next morning, and she encountered Hisoka in the hallway.
• Hisoka offered his hand, and Carl noticed the Nen Aura around it and refused to take it.
• Carl reached for the Bomb Pomegranate, prompting Hisoka to retreat and claim he had only been joking.

Carl accepted Lianke’s invitation to breakfast, then showed her that he could already use Nen Aura. Lianke was stunned when Carl claimed he had been born able to sense it.

• Carl harvested his Bomb Pomegranates and planted 90 Qi and Blood Pumpkins before following Lianke to breakfast.
• Hisoka served Carl bread, hot milk, and blue jam, and Carl cautiously ate the meal.
• Lianke told Carl she would test his aptitude before teaching him a Nen Ability.
• Hisoka claimed Carl had seen his Bungee Gum, but Carl denied seeing it and revealed pale golden Nen Aura around his hand.
• Carl said he had been born able to sense Nen Aura, leaving Lianke shocked and melancholy.

Lianke taught Carl the Four Major Principles of Nen and demonstrated Ten, Zetsu, and Ren. She explained that Hatsu formed a unique Nen Ability and warned Carl not to develop one without her permission, leaving him determined to follow her guidance.

• Lianke asked Carl what a Nen Ability was, and Carl described it as the manifestation of desire while Hisoka offered love as his answer.
• Lianke explained Ten and showed Carl how to compress his aura, warning that his thick Ten would waste aura and leave him poorly defended when spread across his body.
• Lianke demonstrated Zetsu through Hisoka and cautioned Carl that shutting off his aura also left him with almost no defense or perception.
• Lianke used Ren to expose Carl to killing intent and affection, showing him how Nen Aura conveyed emotion.
• Lianke explained Hatsu and warned Carl never to create a Nen Ability without her permission, and Carl agreed to remember her instruction.

Lianke explained how to judge Nen users and comforted Carl after recognizing his loneliness. She then assigned Hisoka to train Carl in the Four Major Principles by beating him, leaving Carl facing an eager senior brother.

• Lianke tested Carl’s Nen affinity and turned the water in a cup into pale golden crystals, identifying him as a Conjurer.
• Lianke taught Carl to judge Nen users by their age, trusting his instincts, and observing their eyes.
• Lianke embraced Carl and reassured him that she would help mend what was broken, while Hisoka watched jealously from beneath a tree.
• Carl asked Lianke to continue the lesson, but she declared that he first had to learn the Four Major Principles.
• Lianke ordered Hisoka to train Carl by attacking him, and Hisoka eagerly prepared to begin.

Carl trained with Hisoka under Lianke’s supervision, enduring a beating while learning to keep Ten focused on her eyes. After Lianke knocked Hisoka unconscious, she explained how he had hidden his Nen and exploited Carl’s habit of closing her eyes, then encouraged them to keep practicing.

• Hisoka repeatedly struck Carl, and she managed to block one blow before being beaten to her knees.
• Hisoka snatched Carl’s Bomb Pomegranate, but Lianke tossed a twig at him and ordered him to throw the fruit before it exploded in the sky.
• Hisoka admired the explosion, then answered Lianke’s question about whether it was more beautiful than her; Lianke lifted him and knocked him unconscious.
• Carl asked Lianke why she could not see Hisoka’s Nen Aura, and Lianke explained that he had concealed Bungee Gum with Texture Surprise and attacked whenever Carl closed her eyes.
• Lianke told Carl to practice with Hisoka more, while privately approving of the strength and resolve she had shown.

Carl shared dinner with Lianke after training and learned about the dangers of overusing Nen Aura. In Flint City, Mayor Hao promised Teresa a trip home while ordering Vincent to intensify the exploitation of Meteor City, revealing his ambition to profit from it.

• Hisoka served Carl and Lianke dinner, and Lianke urged Carl to eat enough to support her Nen Aura training.
• Lianke warned Carl that excessive Nen Aura use could destroy her body, and Carl ate while remembering her lonely meals at the welfare home.
• Teresa confronted her father, Mayor Hao Halis, for drinking and smoking, then persuaded him to promise to take her home soon.
• Hao called Vincent and ordered him to cut Meteor City's allocation by another thirty percent and increase its recovery rate, threatening Vincent's grandson when he hesitated.
• Hao reflected on Flint City's exploitation of Meteor City and vowed to make fifty billion jenny during his term as mayor.

Carl taught the Phantom Troupe about Nen before everyone rested for the night. In Meteor City, Sheila stole communion wafers to trade on the black market, then decided to use her stash to buy Old Will new glasses.

• Carl taught the Phantom Troupe while Chrollo recorded her explanations, Uvogin fell asleep, and Machi and Paku repaired Carl's robe.
• Carl went to sleep, and Chrollo finished recording notes so he could teach the others the next day.
• In September's heat, Sheila secretly withheld communion wafers from Meteor City's hungry residents and traded them for a gold-plated brooch.
• Sheila hid twenty wafers to sell on the black market, but after seeing Old Will's worn glasses, she decided to buy him a new pair instead of a hair clip.
• Sheila dropped her brooch and noticed the discount voucher from the black-market merchant attached to it.

In Meteor City, Vincent pressured Pike and Borso to support Mayor Hao’s early famine contingency plan, despite the damage it would cause to the city and their businesses. The meeting ended with both men agreeing to cooperate, while Vincent was left troubled by what the decision had done to their old friendship.

• Pike confronted Vincent over the early food cuts, citing soaring black-market prices and attacks on his casino.
• Borso reported that organ transplant orders had fallen and questioned whether Mayor Hao had ordered the famine plan.
• Vincent said the mayor needed to see Meteor City’s sincerity and demanded triple taxes and further hardship for the residents.
• Pike agreed to help maintain order, and Borso said the Hoffman Medical Group would begin buying fresh organs.
• After Pike and Borso left, Vincent reflected on their damaged friendship and the scar left by Pike’s Nen Ability, Fang.

Carl risked an all-out strike during a brutal spar with Hisoka and broke half of his tooth, but the blow left Carl badly wounded and without Nen Aura. Lianke stopped Hisoka from attacking further, treated Carl’s wound, and charged Carl for the ruined courtyard; as Carl recovered, he reflected on how much he had improved before his vision darkened.

• Carl gambled that Hisoka would attack his abdomen and struck Hisoka’s jaw with a Nen-infused fist, breaking his jaw and half a tooth.
• Carl surrendered after exhausting his Nen Aura, and Lianke severed Bungee Gum and ordered Hisoka to vent his anger in the forest.
• Lianke warned Carl that abandoning his defense could have gotten him killed, sealed Carl’s bleeding wound, and charged him for the damaged stone slabs.
• Carl held Ten around his wound until he regained enough strength to sit up against the courtyard wall.
• Carl reflected on his progress over the month as Hisoka’s roar echoed from the forest, then his vision sank into darkness.

Carl woke from her abdominal wound and set out for Meteor City with Hisoka, who had been ordered to accompany her. During the bus ride, she learned that the city’s food supply had been cut and a ticket inspector had been murdered, leaving her to suspect Lianke knew more about the growing chaos.

• Carl woke in Lianke’s care, still in pain from the wound on her abdomen.
• Hisoka said Lianke had told him to accompany Carl back to Meteor City, and the two set off with free lifetime tickets.
• On bus number 16, Carl learned the previous ticket inspector had been stabbed eighteen times and found with his organs removed.
• The young inspector began to discuss food shortages, but the driver warned him and Carl not to talk about them.
• Carl wondered whether Lianke had sent Hisoka because she knew about the unrest in Meteor City.

Carl and Hisoka encountered Meteor City's Elders' Guard while walking through the north district, and Hisoka's Nen made the guards believe they were facing deadly threats. The guards fled, and Carl and Hisoka continued toward the incineration plant.

• Carl and Hisoka discussed Hisoka's year of studying under Teacher Lianke and his debt for tuition.
• An Elders' Guard squad led by Fak approached Carl and Hisoka to conduct a routine check.
• Hisoka enveloped his playing cards in Nen Aura, and Fyodor pulled Fak back before he could approach.
• Fyodor recognized the chilling sensation from a massacre five years earlier and led Fak and the guards into an abandoned slaughterhouse.
• Carl and Hisoka continued down the street toward the smoke-covered incineration plant.

Carl found the church damaged and heard strange sounds coming from beneath it, so she retreated to the manor and alerted the Phantom Troupe. Chrollo planned a cautious search for Old Will, and the group entered the church while Carl watched through the outside-view panel.

• Carl inspected the church's broken door, spotted dried blood, and heard a gnawing sound underground before teleporting to the manor.
• Shalnark raised the alarm, and Carl told the Phantom Troupe that something might have happened at the church and that she was injured.
• Chrollo examined the church door and noticed its handle was clean, suggesting someone might have used it recently.
• Carl led the group to the warehouse, where each member took twenty Bomb Pomegranates for protection.
• Chrollo assigned the Phantom Troupe roles in a plan to search the church for people, and Carl transported them there.
• Carl watched through the outside-view panel as Chrollo and the others entered the church, while Sarasa worried about Old Will.

Carl entered the church and found Old Will tortured to death, while Chrollo and the Phantom Troupe gathered his remains and planned their next steps. Hisoka arrived ready to fight the Troupe, but Carl explained they were companions and led him away to fetch Teacher Lianke.

• Worried after Chrollo and the others failed to return, Carl went into the church to look for them.
• Carl found Uvogin in the kitchen and learned that Old Will had been tortured to death; she helped the Troupe piece together his corpse.
• Chrollo asked Carl to bring Teacher Lianke for protection and sent the Troupe to search for clues before regrouping at Sarasa's house.
• Paku questioned what they would do with Old Will's body, but Chrollo decided to leave it in the church.
• Hisoka broke into the kitchen and prepared to fight after sensing the Troupe's Nen, but Carl identified them as her companions and persuaded him to leave with her.

Carl bribed Hisoka with Bomb Pomegranates to fetch Lianke, then entered her manor and upgraded it, unlocking a dimensional fish pond. She used basic bait for her first cast and waited to see what she would catch.

• Carl offered Hisoka up to thirty Bomb Pomegranates to bring Lianke to her, and Hisoka agreed before heading off in the wrong direction.
• Carl left Sarasa safely with her adoptive mother, entered the manor, and decided to upgrade it now that the Phantom Troupe had left.
• Carl submitted 5,000 Bomb Pomegranates, expanding the manor’s farmland and unlocking the fish pond.
• Carl followed a foggy path to the ocean, where she found a fishing rod and learned the pond could catch items from other worlds.
• Carl spent fruit on basic bait and cast her line into the sea.

After failing to catch anything, Carl planted all 900 available plots with Bomb Pomegranates and decided to stay safe in her estate. Suspecting that Chrollo and the Phantom Troupe were hiding a plan to rescue Sheila, she went to the church to confront them and take them back to the Mist Forest.

• Carl spent 20,000 Bomb Pomegranates on fishing bait but caught nothing, then planted Bomb Pomegranate seeds in all 900 plots.
• Carl realized Sheila might still be alive and suspected Chrollo had sent her away while the Phantom Troupe planned a rescue.
• Carl checked Sarasa's house, where Hank told her Chrollo and the others had not visited.
• Carl hurried to the church and entered the lit projection room, determined to drag the Phantom Troupe back to the Mist Forest.

Carl returned to the church and learned that the Phantom Troupe had gone to seek revenge, while Hisoka gave her a brooch marked with the black market’s death bird. Lianke urged Carl to leave Meteor City, but after learning that Carl had opened Nen for ten companions, she rushed to the black market to find them.

• Lianke scolded Carl for staying in Meteor City and repaired Old Will’s corpse while Hisoka handed Carl the Bomb Pomegranates and a gold brooch.
• Hisoka suggested Carl ask Lianke for help, and Lianke identified the brooch’s crow as the black market’s death bird.
• Lianke told Carl to take Old Will’s body and return with her to the Mist Forest, but Carl asked her to find the Phantom Troupe at the black market.
• Lianke doubted Carl’s claim that the Phantom Troupe were Nen users until Carl explained that she had opened their Nen herself.
• Carl said that ten companions had awakened Nen, and Lianke immediately dragged her toward the black market to retrieve them.

Lianke took Carl to the Keike Casino to ask Luona for help finding the children who had gone missing in Meteor City’s black market. Luona agreed to search and gave Carl a ring bearing the Keike Family crest.

• Lianke carried the injured Carl to the Keike Casino, where the Viper’s Kiss ring earned them an escort to the manager’s room.
• Lianke’s display of malice left the scar-faced guard convulsing, and Luona invited Lianke and Carl into her room.
• Lianke told Luona that several children, including a black-haired boy who liked reading, might have gone to the black market with homemade bombs.
• Luona promised to search the black market and warn recycling companies not to take in children that night.
• Luona embraced Carl and gave her a ring bearing the Keike Family crest.

As a storm kept Lianke and Carl at Luona’s casino, the Phantom Troupe discovered that their foster mothers had likely killed Grandpa Will. Chrollo declared that they would fight the world’s oppression, and the group vowed to join him.

• Luona offered Lianke and Carl a place to stay and promised to help search for the missing children after the rain stopped.
• Hisoka hid in the church projection room as the Phantom Troupe arrived to see Grandpa Will’s body.
• Phinks and Feitan revealed that the children’s families had communion wafers, leading the group to suspect their foster mothers had killed Grandpa Will.
• Uvogin rejected the idea in disbelief, then shattered the stained-glass window as the storm poured into the room.
• Machi asked whether they would take revenge, and Chrollo said the killers deserved death but had acted to survive.
• Chrollo declared that the world was wrong and vowed to correct it, and the Phantom Troupe raised their hands and echoed his pledge.