That photograph had never been uploaded to the internet… it was presumably a private image stored in an encrypted file library.
Ickshonpe traced the connections and directly infiltrated the final stronghold of the person who uploaded the video, where he coincidentally saw this photograph.
He copied the photograph and then withdrew, leaving no trace.
From start to finish, the other party was completely unaware.
The content of the photograph showed Tserriednich, the Fourth Prince of the Kakin Empire, sitting on a chair made of human bones. Behind him were various jars containing different organs.
There were infant bodies, adult internal organs, brains, intestines, relatively complete human upper torsos, the ten pairs of Scarlet Eyes Kurapika was searching for, and finally, the head of a young boy.
These human organs were each placed in separate jars, neatly arranged, creating a scene that would terrify ordinary people.
From this single image, it was clear that the Fourth Prince Tserriednich shared the same hobby as Neon Nostrade of the Nostrade Family… they were both collectors of human organs.
Additionally, Ickshonpe provided another piece of intelligence: the Fourth Prince Tserriednich had a particular hobby of torturing and killing young women, then skinning them entirely. He would tattoo various patterns on the skin and preserve it as a painting for his collection.
This was a cruel, cold-hearted individual who treated human life as worthless.
Law arrived outside Kurapika's room and knocked on the door.
After receiving Kurapika's permission, Law pushed the door open and entered.
At this moment, Kurapika was sitting on a sofa in front of a bookshelf, reading a book borrowed from Salin.
Seeing Law enter the room, Kurapika placed the book on the table beside him.
"We've found them."
Law closed the door behind him and leaned against the wall nearby.
Even now, he was still hesitating about whether to show the photograph to Kurapika.
Hearing Law's words, Kurapika immediately stood up, urgently asking, "Who is it?"
"The Fourth Prince of the Kakin Empire," Law replied.
Upon hearing this, a sharp gleam exploded in Kurapika's eyes.
That was the final beast holding the remaining eyes of his clansmen. Once he retrieved the eyes from that beast, everything would be over.
"Kurapika," Law suddenly called his name.
"Hmm?"
Kurapika snapped back to reality and looked up at Law.
"My friend found a photograph at Tserriednich's place," Law said. He had thought a lot about it and decided to let Kurapika see the photograph.
Kurapika seemed to anticipate what kind of photograph it was, unconsciously clenching his fists.
Law took out his phone, scrolled to the photograph, and turned the screen to face Kurapika.
The photograph that vividly depicted 'cruelty' now reflected in Kurapika's eyes.
Kurapika's emotions suddenly surged violently. The blood in his body boiled, his wide-open eyes glowed with a crimson moonlight-like hue, and in an instant, his entire irises turned scarlet.
Tendrils of black Aura, like small serpents, leaked from Kurapika's pupils and drifted upwards.
At this moment, he was not wearing contact lenses.
Clang, clang.
Kurapika's Aura erupted. The chain on his right hand moved without wind, reflecting its owner's state of mind.
Uncontrollable, chilling killing intent instantly filled the entire room.
This Aura immediately caught the attention of Biscuit and the others, who quickly rushed over.
Hearing the footsteps from outside, Law called out, "It's fine!"
Hearing Law's words, the arriving group exchanged glances. Trusting Law, they could only return to their respective tasks.
Law's voice and the footsteps of Biscuit and the others did not disturb Kurapika's current state.
It seemed Kurapika was immersed in the boundless killing intent he was emitting.
"Pairo."
Law suddenly heard Kurapika mutter a name in a low voice. Immediately after, he saw Kurapika's Aura reach its peak.
If he let Kurapika continue like this, he might 'go berserk' due to his emotional turmoil.
Law decisively knocked Kurapika out, who was completely unguarded against him.
After Kurapika lost consciousness, the Aura around him gradually dissipated.
This tendency to be easily controlled by emotions was the weakness of the Kurta Clan... and precisely because of this, the Kurta Clan had always been ostracized.
Law caught Kurapika's somewhat frail body and carried him to the bed.
Looking at Kurapika's tightly furrowed brows while unconscious, Law sighed softly, thinking of the name Kurapika had uttered earlier.
'Pairo... could that be...'
Law thought of the child's head placed among the ten pairs of Scarlet Eyes in the photograph.
That head was intact, preserved in a solution, and one could clearly see the pair of open Scarlet Eyes.
Perhaps the owner of this head was the Pairo that Kurapika mentioned.
Merely looking at Scarlet Eyes, one generally couldn't tell whose eyes they were. But the head was different… it preserved the appearance intact, giving Kurapika a direct and intense shock.
After seeing Kurapika have such a strong reaction, Law, instead, didn't regret showing him the photograph.
Having this first psychological preparation would prevent him from completely losing composure when seeing the eyes and the head in person later.
Standing by the bed, Law murmured to himself, "The Kakin Empire..."
Currently, there were two options to learn more details about the Kakin Empire.
One was to directly go to the Blackstone Family's base and use pure force to suppress them. The other was to get information from Beyond.
In the endless darkness, a faint light suddenly appeared… the weak flame of a candle.
'Kurapika, the reason we wanted to go see the outside world was because we read D. Hunter, right?'
'Because we wanted to experience adventures like that too, freely and casually exploring the outside world, right?'
'Yeah, that's right!'
'So, Kurapika, let's make a promise!'
'...'
'When you come back, you have to answer a question for me.'
'Okay, I promise. Wait for me to come back!'
Within the flickering candle flame, a figure waving goodbye vaguely appeared.
Whoosh.
A bone-chilling cold wind blew, extinguishing the candle flame, plunging everything back into darkness.
Kurapika suddenly opened his eyes, staring blankly at the ceiling. The pain at the back of his neck reminded him of what had happened earlier.
"You're awake," Law said, sitting by the bedside and looking at Kurapika. "Sorry, I used a bit too much force."
"How long was I out?" Kurapika asked.
"Not long, just an hour," Law replied, glancing at the clock on the wall.
…
Meanwhile, at a research facility.
Inside a glass isolation room, there was a platform with a naked male corpse lying on it.
The exposed skin of the corpse was covered with numerous pale green, jar-like hard shell growths. They weren't densely clustered, but the eyes, nose, and mouth were completely covered with them.
Outside the glass isolation room, several people in protective suits sat in front of instrument panels, operating mechanical arms to collect the jar-like hard shell growths from the corpse.
If it were stated in academic circles that this jar-like hard shell growth was a product of an unknown pathogen, it would likely cause quite an uproar.