"I can't answer that," Ron said calmly. "The only ones who can answer you are those who made the decisions back then. All I can do is tell you what really happened."
Kurapika's eyes reddened. He didn't know whether to believe what Ron had just told him. If he didn't believe it, he would simply continue seeking revenge on the Phantom Troupe. But Kurapika also knew that Ron had deliberately come here, and before revealing this information, had asked those questions—Ron wouldn't have lied after that.
So what should he do now? Continue his revenge against the Phantom Troupe? But what about Meteor City? What about Kakin? What about Minbo? With his current strength, could he really succeed?
A sense of despair and confusion overwhelmed Kurapika. Ron said no more. The surroundings fell into silence.
Kurapika lowered his head and stayed silent for a long time. Hooker looked in his direction. Compared to himself, Hooker felt that Kurapika was even more powerless. His own enemy was only the Underworld Mafia. The Underworld Mafia's total strength didn't even surpass Meteor City, let alone compare with Kakin or Minbo.
How could one possibly seek revenge against such massive powers?
Hooker imagined himself in Kurapika's position and saw no hope at all.
"Ron, just now you said that the ones in charge included some from Meteor City, right?" Kurapika asked.
"Where does the Phantom Troupe stand within Meteor City's structure?"
"I'm not entirely sure," Ron said, "but they probably hold a fairly high position."
"I see." Kurapika nodded. "Then if I handed over Hooker in exchange, would the Phantom Troupe tell me everything they know about what happened back then?"
Ron didn't answer immediately but simply looked toward Hooker. Hooker shook his head. "I don't know."
Kurapika gritted his teeth. "Whether they will or not, this is all I can do. After all, Hooker wasn't one of the ones who slaughtered my clan."
"Ron, thank you for telling me all this."
Ron waved his hand dismissively. "No need. If there's nothing else, I'll be leaving."
Regarding the Kurta clan, this was all Ron could do—for Sumas's sake, and because of Kurapika's connection with Killua, and because of Kurapika's own persistence. Otherwise, Ron generally disliked doing unnecessary things.
When he returned to the hotel, Nina and the others had nearly finished packing. They would depart early the next morning.
Although Ron had formed a team, they rarely acted together. One reason was that Ron's personal growth in strength had been so rapid that Nina and the others simply couldn't keep up. The other was that few situations required coordinated team action.
The Rosgell incident had been an accident. The trip to Gourmet Paradise had involved only a few of them. This would be the second time the entire team acted together—but some members had changed.
They traveled in two cars. Machi drove one, with Misty and Shizuku as passengers. Ponzu drove the other, carrying Ron and Ponzu.
Ron, having mostly recovered from the depletion caused by helping Sumas devour the ark, still felt that the matter of the ark wasn't fully resolved. The ark's current state didn't meet his requirements. So Ron intended to modify it. He had already asked Sumas and received confirmation—it could be done.
After Sumas devoured the ark, it entered a sort of suspended state. In that state, Ron could alter it. Currently, Sumas's space consisted of several distinct zones: forest, desert, grassland, pyramid, warehouse, trial grounds—and now, an additional zone: the ark. Follow current novels on novel⦿fire.net
The ark now belonged to Sumas, but remained an independent area.
However, modifying the ark wouldn't be as simple as a thought. It required the power of divine characters—special script used during the ark's creation.
Ron had mastered some divine characters, but not enough.
"Greed Island might give me some useful reference points. If I'm right, the Greed Island game must have employed a large number of divine characters too—those special cities, cards, and the infrastructure that maintains the entire island."
"When we retrieve the Dark Sonata from Meteor City, I'll first assess whether the other information they have about the Dark Sonata suggests it's easy to obtain. If it is, I'll grab it first. If it's not, I'll head straight to Greed Island."
"While absorbing Greed Island's properties to craft my next nen beast, I'll also study the island and gather divine characters for modifying the ark."
For now, Sumas had only split the ark into several segments: a giant library, a seed cultivation zone, the first floor, and the second floor.
........................
Meanwhile, the Phantom Troupe had returned to Meteor City. They buried the bodies of Uvogin, Kortopi, and Shalnark beside Sarasa's grave.
Hisoka was in a somber mood. He had prepared extensively for this Yorknew auction, hoping for a one-on-one fight with Chrollo. Unfortunately, that opportunity had slipped away. The biological experiment squad, Oster, and Ron's intervention—none of it had been part of Hisoka's expectations, dampening his excitement considerably.
But Hisoka still wanted to fight Chrollo.
"Boss, what should we do next?" Feitan asked.
"Free action for now," Chrollo said. "There's nothing at the moment that requires the entire Troupe to act together. Also, you can start scouting new members. The Troupe has several vacancies that need to be filled."
Just then, Hisoka's phone vibrated. He glanced at the screen, and Chrollo looked over curiously.
Hisoka spoke: "It's a message about Hooker. He was captured by the chain user—but the chain user didn't kill him. Instead, he reached out to me through someone else."
"The chain user wants to negotiate with us."
Phinks frowned. "Negotiate what?"
Hisoka shrugged. "Don't know."
"Where does he want to negotiate?"