Ronin quickly got Hisoka's phone number from Milia. After thinking for a moment, he simply forwarded it to Kurapika.
Then he made a call and explained the situation.
"I don't know what he told Milia to make her think he can help us, but I already contacted him under another identity, and I know what he wants."
Ronin summarized for Kurapika: "Hisoka's goal is a 1v1 fight with the Phantom Troupe's leader, Chrollo. But his bottom line is hard to judge, and it's hard to judge what he'll do to reach that goal.
So whether you play along with him is up to you—decide based on your own read during contact. The one thing I can confirm is that once he achieves his goal of fighting Chrollo, his target will likely shift to me."
"Will he be trouble?" Kurapika asked the key question.
"No," Ronin answered with almost no hesitation.
Hisoka's talent and combat IQ were indeed high, but Ronin had more confidence in himself.
"Alright. I get it. I'll handle it," Kurapika said confidently.
At that moment, standing at the edge of the rooftop, Ronin saw something below—mafia men suddenly turning their guns on their own companions and spraying them down.
The Phantom Troupe had started moving.
The one causing that scene was likely Shalnark's Black Voice.
After ending the call, Ronin didn't head back into the building. He stayed at the rooftop edge, enjoying the cool night breeze.
Meanwhile, on the building's mid-level floors, two figures were descending slowly.
A huge En spread from the slightly shorter of the two—within a blink it covered a radius of one hundred meters around him.
That range was enough to envelop the entire Cemetery Building.
The one releasing that massive En was Zeno Zoldyck.
"This job really isn't worth it," Zeno muttered sincerely, and he also sensed Ronin on the rooftop. "That reckless brat—now he's slacking off at a time like this."
At the same time, Ronin felt that En as well.
That En had appeared during his fight with Hisoka too—judging by the aura signature, it was Zeno's.
But it wasn't the same as the "strange En" Ronin had sensed during combat.
And one of Ronin's shadow clones had already moved close to the Zoldycks' position.
Zeno, still maintaining En, seemed to sense something. He gave Silva a small nod. Silva released more aura, and the two of them accelerated at once, rushing downward.
Downstairs, near the vault, Chrollo's group appeared openly.
Five people in total—Chrollo in front, with Pakunoda and Kortopi beside him, and Bonolenov and Franklin guarding the trio.
Pakunoda placed her hand on the building manager responsible for the vault.
She quickly extracted the method for opening it from his memories. But when the vault door opened, all five of them frowned.
"In his memory, only one young man wearing round sunglasses and flip-flops entered the vault," Pakunoda reported quickly. "After he left, the vault was never opened again."
Chrollo's eyes brightened.
He had deliberately looked for someone with a space-storage ability before, but never found one.
He hadn't expected the mafia to have such a talent.
"Remember what he looks like. He must have used his ability to move the goods. Find him," Chrollo said, turning away without another glance at the vault.
Just then, a rumble sounded from above.
"Looks like Phinks and the others upstairs have already made contact," Pakunoda said.
"The goods aren't here. We stay grouped. Ronin probably won't show himself now, so we retreat first," Chrollo analyzed calmly.
This situation had pushed the Troupe into the open, while Ronin—the one being hunted—was now the one hidden in the dark with the initiative.
It felt terrible.
"This kind of method isn't something Ronin would've done earlier," Chrollo added. "So someone must be advising him. We should find that person—if someone is planning for Ronin, killing him will get harder."
"Ronin seems to have a boy and a girl with him," Pakunoda followed behind Chrollo. "The boy's identity is unclear. The girl seems to be the Nostrade family's 'dead' young lady."
Pakunoda had previously searched the memories of ordinary witnesses who saw Ronin's group fight the Shadow Beasts.
She'd seen those two companions in the memory.
She recognized Neon only because, back in Molding City, they had captured Light Nostrade to make things easier.
While reviewing Light's memories, Pakunoda saw what his daughter Neon looked like.
According to Light's memories, Neon was simply a girl with strange hobbies who liked fortune-telling and prophecy shows.
But if Neon were truly useless, why would Ronin keep her at his side?
So Neon had to have something special—something her father didn't even know about.
As for the boy, Pakunoda had no impression at all.
…
When Ronin's shadow clone reached the first floor, it found two bodies already in the lobby.
One was the tattooed mohawk youth—still gripping a baseball bat—cut in half, blood everywhere.
The other was the red-haired woman with big waves.
Her death was even more gruesome: dozens of holes pierced through her body, all stabbed by a thin sword.
These two were among the people hired by the Ten Dons to deal with the Phantom Troupe, but clearly the strength gap between them and actual Troupe members was still too large.
Zeno and Silva were standing on the second-floor stairway, looking down at three Troupe members who had lifted their heads to watch them.
They didn't move immediately.
"Three on the first floor, five underground, and there should be three outside. The mechanic died outside—hung up," Zeno said. After that, his En began to contract, no longer covering such a wide area.
"This job really isn't worth it," Silva repeated, flexing his fingers, brow tightening.
"Want to move? Confident?" Ronin's shadow clone approached and offered a suggestion. "I can hold one of them for about two minutes."
If the Zoldycks could be pushed into action—if they killed even two Troupe members—it would be a huge help to Ronin.