Ron glanced at Baise, then quickly withdrew his gaze. Her ability was decent—but only decent. Her overall strength was far too low. Within Ron's team, Nina's ability could be seen as an enhanced version of Baise's. The conditions were less stringent and harder for others to guard against. Nina's Nen proficiency was also significantly higher, and her combat capabilities were superior.
Baise had not yet calmed down. Her breathing remained ragged. As a Nen user, it wasn't that she had never been in danger before—but what just happened had gone far beyond ordinary danger. More precisely, it was the sheer strength of the enemy that overwhelmed her.
So overwhelming that Baise had felt she had no hope of victory at all. Now that she was still alive, the feeling was so surreal it was difficult for her to accept.
"Lady Morena, what are we going to do next? Are we leaving?"
They were all mafia, yes—but the Underworld Mafia was the Underworld Mafia, and the Heil-Ly Family was the Heil-Ly Family. The two operated in completely different systems. Even among mafias, a chain of disdain existed, and the Heil-Ly Family stood higher on that hierarchy.
Once Morena had figured out the situation, she lost interest. As for stepping in to help the Underworld Mafia repel the attackers—Morena had no such inclination.
A massive hot air balloon appeared in the sky. Several members of the Phantom Troupe stood aboard, though their expressions at that moment were far from cheerful. The attack had succeeded, and they had drawn the Underworld Mafia's attention. But when they reached the warehouse that held the auction items, they found it already emptied. Everything had been moved out long beforehand.
Uvogin took out his phone, switched to speaker, and called Chrollo.
Uvogin explained the situation at the warehouse to Chrollo.
"I think we might have a traitor inside the Troupe."
Several figures stood near the edge of the hot air balloon basket. Besides Uvogin, there were Nobunaga, Franklin, Feitan, Shalnark, Hooker, and Phinks. The others were currently with Chrollo—Hisoka, Pakunoda, Kortopi, and so on.
Uvogin had spoken instinctively. To him, this was the most likely explanation. After all, this operation had been extremely secretive. How could the Underworld Mafia have known in advance and moved all the items from the warehouse?
It didn't make sense.
"Feitan already interrogated the guards at the gate. The one who took the items was a young man named Owl—likely one of the Shadow Beasts."
In Uvogin's mind, the first suspect was Hisoka. From the moment they met, he had disliked him. Uvogin couldn't stand Hisoka.
But for the rest of the Troupe, things weren't so clear. They had several suspects. Besides Hisoka, Machi was also one of them. And then there was the Zoldyck family that Chrollo had hired.
Phinks voiced his suspicion.
"Machi left at a very specific time, didn't she? Just before we were going to hit the Yorknew auction, she left the Troupe. Could it be that she's secretly joined the Underworld Mafia?"
Uvogin immediately glared at him.
"What did you say, Phinks?"
Phinks showed no fear.
"You didn't hear me? Want me to repeat it?"
Uvogin's eyes locked on Phinks.
"It's absolutely impossible that Machi would betray the Troupe. I'm telling you, no matter what, she would never sell us out."
"You trust her, but does she trust you? Uvogin, don't kid yourself. If Machi really cared about the Troupe, she wouldn't have left."
Franklin stepped between them.
Chrollo's voice came from the speaker, cutting off the argument.
"Nor is it the Zoldycks."
"It's not that the Zoldyck family is absolutely trustworthy. It's just that the reward I offered them is something they couldn't refuse. The Underworld Mafia wouldn't be able to offer something equivalent. I have full confidence in what I gave them."
"The chances of a traitor are very slim."
"The Underworld Mafia can only offer so much. Do you really think anyone in our team would be tempted by that?"
"Then what's your theory, boss?"
"Maybe it was just the Mafia's routine precautions. Or maybe they picked up on some vague bits of intel. Otherwise, their reaction wouldn't have been so precise."
Chrollo continued, "The Underworld Mafia's Nen users aren't very strong—but they are still in the end genuine Nen users. Return for now. The auction will definitely resume. This is only the beginning."
Feitan turned to Hooker.
"Hooker, you didn't kill both those Nen users?"
"I killed one. The other escaped."
Hooker stayed silent for a moment, then said, "Someone saved her."
"Who? Who could pull that off right under your nose?"
"Very strong," Hooker said. "Just by aura alone, she's stronger than I am. If it came to a one-on-one fight, I probably wouldn't be her match. She didn't seem like someone from the Underworld Mafia."
"And there was someone else beside her."
"That person is the one who saved me in the past."
"Back when I was being hunted by the Underworld Mafia, it was him who saved me—he killed the Mafia members and brought me to Meteor City. So I had even less reason to act. The one who escaped… wasn't that important."
Feitan seemed more intrigued.
"Someone who can make even you feel threatened? I didn't expect to find someone like that at this auction."
"And that person from before—are you sure you're not mistaken?"
Hooker shook his head.
"But Hooker, saying that makes me suspicious."
"Suspicious of what?"
"Suspicious that your story isn't true. That maybe you weren't rescued from the Underworld Mafia… maybe you were placed here from the beginning. Maybe you're their spy."
Feitan looked at Hooker.
Hooker met his gaze calmly.
"If I really were a spy, wouldn't this have been the perfect chance to wipe out the Troupe? Why didn't I do it?"