A significant portion of the campaign funds for the current Mayor of Yorknew City were secretly supported by the Mafia. The first thing the Mayor did after taking office was to promote his trusted allies within the police department all the way up the ranks.
This approach bore traces of influence, likely directed by the Ten Dons.
This was also the fundamental reason why mafia members could act so recklessly within Yorknew City.
Even if they caused a major scene, there were many ways to cover it up. They could even glorify the mafia's frantic pursuit, shifting all the blame onto vicious criminals.
Despite that tumultuous night causing harm to the lives and property of many citizens, the monetary offensive prevented any significant waves from forming.
Instead, the photos and videos spreading online sparked heated discussions among night-owl netizens.
The common point in their discussions wasn't about who the corpses were, but rather the mafia's methods.
Inside the unfinished building, the candle flames flickered.
A sudden gust of wind blew in from outside, extinguishing two candles near the entrance.
"Were the Shadow Beasts strong?" Phinks asked.
"Not really," Feitan replied.
"Very weak," Akatake said.
"I forgot," Shizuku said.
"Mediocre," Cipher said.
The four members who had faced the Shadow Beasts gave their respective answers to Phinks's question.
"So, could the Shadow Beasts have killed Franklin and Shalnark?" Phinks pressed.
Among those present, aside from the new members, the other veteran members familiar with Franklin and Shalnark's abilities didn't believe the Shadow Beasts had the capability.
Even if the Shadow Beasts consisted of the ten strongest individuals selected from all mafia members worldwide...
"If their skills were lacking, it's not impossible. Furthermore, the corpses are with the mafia, and the mafia explicitly declared that they were the ones who took down Franklin and Shalnark," Cipher said with a shrug.
What Cipher said was fact, so dwelling on this question seemed rather pointless.
In terms of the operation itself, they had lost two members and hadn't obtained a single auction item.
This was one of the most failed operations since the founding of the Phantom Troupe.
Regardless of whether the Shadow Beasts killed Franklin and Shalnark, it was undeniably connected to the mafia. They would simply avenge the two later.
The deaths of Franklin and Shalnark didn't cause huge ripples within the Troupe, but the veteran members all held the intention to avenge them.
Unwilling to waste more time on this doubt, Phinks looked at Chrollo and shifted the topic to another point of suspicion. "The mafia moved the auction items ahead of time, which means they knew about our operation in advance."
As he spoke, Phinks glanced around at the members, his voice cold. "So how did they get the information? Did someone among us leak it? Or perhaps..."
Feitan looked up, continuing the thought. "Uvogin, Nobunaga, Machi?"
Phinks nodded, saying calmly, "Right. I lean towards the latter."
Hearing Feitan and Phinks's words, the expressions of the veteran members slowly grew solemn. The new members, unfamiliar with the three names Feitan mentioned, were simply confused.
Unconsciously, all members looked towards Chrollo, who was sitting on a rock.
Meeting their gazes, Chrollo's expression remained calm.
From a personal standpoint, he didn't believe Machi and the others would do such a thing, but the figure of Law surfaced in his mind first.
There was too little information to draw a useful conclusion.
If Shalnark were here, he could have him responsible for gathering intelligence, or rely on Machi's intuition...
Chrollo, lost in thought, didn't immediately respond to the members present.
After a moment, he said calmly, "The mafia knew about our operation in advance, that is an indisputable fact. However, the mafia's countermeasures were quite abnormal."
"If they had received intelligence beforehand, knowing a top-tier thief group was coming, the security should have been much tighter. Yet, the guests attending the auction were completely unaware and didn't carry weapons."
"Given the mafia's methods, since they set bait, it wouldn't be strange even if they filled the auction venue with bombs. Moreover, the Shadow Beasts weren't stationed inside the Cemetery Building, and their timing was too slow."
"Therefore, my conclusion is: the mafia knew someone would attack the underground auction, but they didn't know it would be us."
"Of course, we cannot rule out the possibility that someone provided the mafia with vague information. But would the provider be Machi and the others, or any one of us?"
"What reason or attitude would the mafia higher-ups have to willingly believe information provided by an outsider? And what benefit could the informant gain from the Mafia?"
"Obsessing over these points is meaningless."
"There is only one thing we need to do next."
"That is to find the relocated auction items, then, take them all, and kill everyone involved!"
Chrollo's calm tone was unusually tinged with a trace of icy killing intent.
Hearing Chrollo's words, the Troupe members involuntarily released a wisp of killing intent.
The Troupe believed the entire Shadow Beasts had been deployed, so they didn't deeply investigate the cause of Franklin and Shalnark's deaths.
After all, there were ten Shadow Beasts. Subtracting the four killed by Feitan and the others, it was highly possible that Franklin and Shalnark each faced three Shadow Beasts.
From the Troupe's perspective, this line of thinking wasn't flawed. However, in reality, only four Shadow Beasts had appeared.
This was because the mastermind behind the underground auction actually held onto a sliver of hope.
Although they had Owl, a Shadow Beast with spatial abilities, move all the auction items hours in advance, they didn't have him leave immediately.
Without knowing the identity of the attackers, while they only increased the security force, the entire Shadow Beasts were stationed near the Cemetery Building.
In the mastermind's plan, if the deployed security force could successfully eliminate the potential threat, then they could simply have Owl, who was nearby, bring back all the auction items and let the underground auction proceed.
If not, they could proceed with the next step of the plan based on the identity and strength of the attackers.
However, the security force deployed at the underground auction was completely wiped out in a very short time.
Recognizing the attackers' strength, to ensure the safety of the auction items, over half of the Shadow Beasts members first escorted Owl to transport the items to a safe location. The other part of the Shadow Beasts went to delay the attackers.
Unfortunately, the Shadow Beasts' members escorting the auction items didn't anticipate the enemy's strength. By the time they returned as reinforcements, the members responsible for interception and delay had all been defeated and killed.
What surprised them even more was that two of the attackers had been intercepted and killed by unknown individuals.
The Mafia didn't reveal this point. Moreover, through the spider tattoo on the corpses, they learned the attackers' identity: the notorious top-tier criminal group, the Phantom Troupe.
Thus, after confirming the enemy's identity, the underground auction would still be held as scheduled. But this time, the mafia would set up stronger, targeted security measures… strong enough to resist, even eliminate, the Troupe.
The Ten Dons immediately invested heavily, first commissioning renowned assassins, primarily the Zoldyck Family, and then increasing the bounty on the Troupe members.
Neither the mafia nor the Troupe truly realized the existence of a third party. The former believed 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend', so they didn't thoroughly investigate. The latter was completely unaware.
Even though Chrollo's mind had inexplicably conjured Law's figure, lacking convincing evidence, he himself wouldn't easily draw conclusions.
If he had Machi's intuition to assist, the outcome might have been different.
Nearing dawn, inside the Bejita Hotel.
Kurapika sat on the sofa in his room, having not slept all night.
He had personally killed a Troupe member but didn't feel a shred of joy.
By 6 a.m., when Law woke up and found Kurapika still sitting on the sofa, he raised an eyebrow.
"Go to sleep."
He commanded in a tone that brooked no argument.