September 1st, Yorknew City Underground Auction Hall.
A huge crowd of men, all dressed in formal suits and looking like successful business magnates, gathered together. They clustered in groups of two or three, sipping expensive red wine and champagne while softly discussing topics related to "business."
Those in the know understood that these individuals were high-ranking leaders and bosses from Mafia organizations around the world.
Those who didn't would have mistaken it for a charity gala hosted by political or commercial celebrities.
In addition to the men, a few beautiful women in seductive evening gowns could occasionally be seen. They were either relatives, mistresses, or bodyguards in disguise.
Baise, who came to attend the auction on behalf of the Nostrade family's young lady, Neon, was clearly one of the latter.
She was currently standing on the second floor of the lavishly decorated building, talking with two companions, looking down upon the motley assortment of Mafia members below. She was completely unaware that this place had already become the hunting ground of the "Spiders."
As the first auction item was about to begin, the trio quickly took their designated seats, preparing to bid on several eerie mummies according to their original plan.
Just as Baise was about to complain about the strange, perverse hobby of her employer's daughter, a short man, less than one meter sixty in height, and a giant, over two meters tall, slowly walked out from behind and stood one after the other in front of the podium.
The short man first coughed, then pursed his lips and spoke into the microphone: "Distinguished guests, we warmly welcome you to our auction today. Now, I believe we can dispense with the unnecessary pleasantries and nonsense..."
"Die, all of you!"
The giant behind him took the latter half of the sentence, spreading his arms and revealing his ten fingers, which had been transformed into gun barrels.
The next second...
Countless Nen bullets swept across the entire venue like a metal storm!
Screams!
Wails!
Blood!
Death!
In a mere ten-odd seconds, hundreds of people who came to attend the underground auction lay in pools of blood.
Ordinary people had absolutely no power to resist Nen's terrifying force; their fragile flesh and blood were instantly pierced and shredded.
Undeniably, this was a brutal massacre.
The Phantom Troupe had no intention of letting anyone leave alive from the start.
Although one of the Nostrade family's bodyguards attempted to release the puppet he manipulated to block the Nen bullet attack, his Aura reserves were simply too poor. He didn't last even three seconds before being riddled with holes like a beehive.
Baise and one other bodyguard, however, managed to rush out of the venue, which was now filled with corpses and gore.
But before they could catch their breath or make a phone call to report the situation, Shizuku appeared out of nowhere. Holding her Blinky, she smashed the other bodyguard's head, and blood and brains instantly stained the ground.
At this point, only one survivor remained in the entire auction hall.
No! I don't want to die! Run! Escape now!
Baise's heart pounded. She immediately kicked off her high heels and ran barefoot, using all her strength to try and break out, hoping to get the others waiting outside to come to her aid.
But she clearly underestimated Shizuku's speed.
Before she had run a few steps, she immediately felt a gust of wind from behind her head.
Acting on instinct, she turned around just in time to see Blinky, with its large, open mouth, smashing down hard.
In this moment of extreme peril, a dark figure suddenly leaped out from an inconspicuous corner.
With a speed that was even faster and more unbelievable, he grabbed Shizuku by the neck and asked in an extremely deep, hoarse voice, "Are you willing to bet all your Nen?"
"Mmmph..."
Obviously, it was impossible to speak normally while being gripped by the neck, so Shizuku could only counterattack by swinging Blinky.
But her strength was far too little, and her movements were not fast enough. Her wrists were instantly snapped with two sharp cracks.
"Contract fulfilled!"
"While we have no personal feud, as a member of the Phantom Troupe, you must have killed quite a few innocent people, right? So you should have no complaints about being killed by me. Farewell forever. Remember to stay away from Spiders in your next life."
The moment his voice fell silent, Allen used his superhuman strength to simply crush Shizuku's neck.
Vaelstrasz, who could no longer be contained, manifested directly, turning her into a cocoon and swallowing her.
"Who... who are you?"
Baise, having narrowly escaped death, finally recovered from the shocking sight, her voice trembling slightly.
She couldn't help but tremble.
She had come within a hair's breadth of dying!
Moreover, that fleeting red behemoth, even though it had only appeared for a few seconds, made people involuntarily feel a sense of dread and suffocation.
"I apologize, but I'm slightly pressed for time right now and can't explain too much. Would you mind taking a short nap?"
Allen raised his left hand and tapped the back of her head with a speed indistinguishable to the naked eye.
Before Baise could even react, she slumped backward into his arms.
Clearly, by using the excellent stealth effect of Shadowmeld, he had successfully ambushed the Phantom Troupe and managed to steal the Nen ability he most desired: Shizuku's Blinky.
"Hmm, the next step is to leave some false information as a provocation, to completely infuriate all members of the Troupe and make them wage full-scale war against the Mafia..."
Casually hoisting the unconscious Baise onto his shoulder, Allen placed the crucifix Shizuku wore around her neck and her iconic black-rimmed glasses in the most conspicuous spot in the corridor. Then, he silently slipped out the back door of this place, which reeked of blood.
Since Shizuku, the logistical member who could clean up the scene, was gone, it wasn't long before the Mafia members outside discovered the anomaly within.
When they rushed in and saw the mountains of corpses and seas of blood, every single one of them was stunned.
Keep in mind, this was an auction guaranteed and held by the Worldwide Mafia Syndicate!
This act was tantamount to slapping the Ten Dons hard across the face, and doing it in front of everyone.
Following a flurry of emergency phone calls, the entire Mafia of Yorknew City was mobilized, and they began searching everywhere for clues about the perpetrator.
It didn't take long for them to spot the hot air balloon carrying the remaining Troupe members overhead.
Thus, a chase began.
"Hello? Boss! We didn't find the auction items! And Shizuku is missing! Yes! I suspect she's been kidnapped! Because the crucifix around her neck and her glasses were placed intact at the doorway, which was probably left deliberately by the culprit," Uvogin yelled into his phone, his face filled with irritation.
"Kidnapped? Do you mean... the Mafia was prepared in advance and specifically ambushed one of our members at the auction site?" Chrollo's voice came through the receiver.
"Ah! That's right! Those despicable scumbags must have known something ahead of time. Otherwise, how could there be so many coincidences? Boss, I suspect we have a traitor among us!" The straightforward Uvogin voiced his opinion bluntly.
"No. That's wrong. If there truly were a traitor among us, why did the Mafia only simply reinforce the guards outside, but not make any targeted arrangements inside? Clearly, they might have received some advance information, but it was very vague. They only knew someone would try to steal the auction items tonight, not that the Phantom Troupe was responsible. As for Shizuku's disappearance, it's highly likely the enemy arranged for a Nen user to hide in the shadows to observe the situation. They happened upon an unguarded Shizuku, knocked her out and took her, intending to use her as a bargaining chip or bait to lure us into a trap," Chrollo analyzed with perfect composure.
"You're saying Shizuku is still in the Mafia's hands?"
Upon hearing a possible whereabouts for his missing comrade, Uvogin's eyes instantly gleamed.
"Yes. It's highly probable." Chrollo quickly gave a definitive answer.
"Alright. Then let me go ask these guys exactly where they hid Shizuku and the treasures!"
With that, Uvogin looked down at the pursuing Mafia members with the eyes of a man viewing the soon-to-be dead.
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You can read the ahead chapter on Patr-eon if you're interested: p-atre-on.c-om/Overgod [Just remove the hyphen to access normally]