As the sun slowly rose above the horizon, Yorknew City, which had been in an uproar all night, finally welcomed a new day.
Since the Ten Dons had already issued bounties and warrants in the dead of night, countless people with connections to the Mafia poured out of their homes early in the morning, beginning to search everywhere for the whereabouts of the Phantom Troupe members.
Because for ordinary people, even just providing photos, information, and current locations could instantly earn them a fortune they couldn't make in a lifetime.
As for the huge risks they might face, they had long been ignored, stimulated by the prospect of wealth. After all, self-deception is the common ailment of most people.
Its external manifestation is selectively believing only the parts one wants to believe, completely disregarding objective results derived from scientific calculations and statistics.
For example, while the probability of finding a Troupe member might be one in a hundred thousand, or even one in a million, everyone believed they would be the lucky one.
Furthermore, even though the probability of being killed on the spot after finding a Troupe member exceeded fifty percent, most people still believed they could escape unscathed and collect the handsome reward from the Mafia.
However, no one knew that the Phantom Troupe had not mobilized yet, still gathered inside the abandoned church in the slums.
Especially Chrollo, the leader, who was staring intently at a photograph of Rabid Dog, lost in thought about what he was planning.
After about two or three minutes, he spoke to confirm once more: "Are you certain that this Shadow Beast truly killed Uvogin?"
"That bastard stabbed Uvogin through the heart right in front of the five of us, there's absolutely no mistake. And afterwards, he and the body just vanished into thin air, leaving no trace of their aura," Feitan replied with a gloomy expression.
From his cold, ruthless eyes, it was clear that he was bottling up rage and looking for someone to unleash it on.
Chrollo nodded thoughtfully, then turned to another member and asked: "Shalnark, any news about Shizuku?"
"I regret to say no. I've checked the movements of every Mafia group in all of Yorknew City, and not a single person has publicly claimed to have captured one of us. Otherwise, judging by their usual methods, they should have directly announced it, tormented her, or even executed her to solidify the Mafia's image of invincibility," Shalnark sighed, rather helpless.
"What about the other Shadow Beasts? Are they making no moves either?" Chrollo asked again.
"According to surveillance records and some rumors, all the Shadow Beasts should have been deployed. Especially this Rabid Dog; he should have had three other companions with him. But when he appeared before us, he was alone. That's highly suspicious. Additionally, there are conflicting rumors saying the Shadow Beasts are all dead, and that we were the ones who killed them. In short, the information is chaotic and impossible to confirm."
Shalnark spilled all the results of his investigation at once. As a thoughtful individual, this was the first time he had encountered such a bizarre situation.
The Mafia's reaction, in particular, was completely unlike what it should be after capturing one Troupe member and taking out another. Quite the opposite, they looked like they had suffered a huge loss and were desperately gathering strength for revenge.
Chrollo's eyes shone with deep contemplation: "Strange. It seems there's a secret here we haven't figured out yet. Machi, Nobunaga, did either of you see this Rabid Dog while monitoring the Mafia's movements?"
Machi shook her head without hesitation: "No."
"If I saw that guy, I wouldn't hesitate to rush out and cut him down!" Nobunaga also gave a negative answer through clenched teeth.
"In other words, all the problems stem from him. Why did his three other Shadow Beast companions vanish into thin air? Where did the rest of the arriving Shadow Beasts go? Has Shizuku been captured by the Mafia or is she dead? Where is Uvogin's body hidden? As long as we find him, everything will fall into place."
Chrollo truly lived up to his title as the brain of the entire Phantom Troupe, quickly locating the key to breaking the current deadlock using very little and extremely chaotic information.
"Leader. What should we do?" Franklin asked proactively.
"Simple. First, we must deal with the Mafia, especially the threat posed by the Ten Dons. This time, they really spent a fortune to hire the Zoldyck Family. And while attacking the Mafia, we can also confirm one thing: who this guy called Rabid Dog actually is, and whether he truly takes orders from the Ten Dons," Chrollo made his decision without hesitation.
Because in his eyes, in this massive vortex filled with various doubts, the Zoldyck Family was the most dangerous enemy.
And to deal with the Zoldycks, they first had to eliminate the employers, the Ten Dons, who commanded incredible wealth.
After all, the overwhelming power Silva displayed when he forcefully killed a previous Troupe member was still fresh in his memory, and he didn't want a repeat performance.
"What about the original decoy plan?" Machi asked.
"It remains. On one hand, it can confuse the enemy, and on the other, it can test whether the Shadow Beasts were truly wiped out. If those guys aren't dead, the Mafia will certainly send them into battle. Besides that, there's one more thing I need to personally confirm."
With that, Chrollo pulled out his phone and glanced at the picture of a young girl on the screen.
This girl was none other than Neon, the daughter of the Nostrade Family, who possessed the Lovely Ghostwriter ability.
Evidently, through deep investigation, the Troupe had easily obtained detailed information about the girl, including the fact that she performed fortunes for numerous Mafia bosses every month.
To be precise, the Nostrade Family essentially relied solely on her ability to rise up in the Mafia Syndicate, climbing from the very bottom to their current position with incredible speed.
Therefore, the fact that Neon possessed a special fortune-telling ability was hardly a secret among the Mafia's top ranks.
Soon, at Chrollo's command, the Phantom Troupe, silent for one entire night, finally began to move again.
Although they had only lost two members the previous night, most of them showed no sign of sadness, as if death were commonplace for them.
The popular belief that the Phantom Troupe values friendship and camaraderie is entirely wrong, a fact clearly reflected in the Troupe's code.
Seriously, how could a group that valued companionship and friendship allow a rule that "anyone who defeats a current member can replace them as a new member"?
Chrollo had repeatedly emphasized since the Troupe's creation that the existence of the Troupe itself was the highest priority, and to achieve that goal, the life of any member could be sacrificed, including his own.
Therefore, what the Troupe valued was not the members themselves, but their abilities.
Especially those rare support abilities, such as Shizuku's Blinky vacuum cleaner, Pakunoda's memory probing, and Kortopi's copying ability; losing any of these members would sharply increase the difficulty of their operations by several levels.
But in contrast, losing a few combat-oriented members like Nobunaga, Feitan, Phinks, or Uvogin was no big deal; suitable replacements could be found easily enough.
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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]