The night air outside was cool.
He adjusted his pace and began moving toward Balza Street.
The Strepo Apartment soon came into view.
It was a large building with ten floors, concrete-gray and unremarkable at first glance.
A few windows were lit, but not enough to suggest normal residential life.
"This is their headquarters," Conrad thought.
For an established mafia family, using an apartment building as a base would be reckless.
Too many witnesses,
But for a group still growing, still testing its reach, it made sense.
Cheap, defensible, and easy to control if intimidation did its job.
As he walked closer, Conrad's eyes swept the surroundings without seeming to focus on anything in particular.
"First thing I need is numbers," he thought.
If there were many guards, openly stationed, that would be a good sign.
It would mean paranoia.
Fear of attack.
People who expect danger tend to look outward, not inward.
But if there were few guards or none visible at all, that would be far worse.
That would mean invitation.
And invitations often came with conditions.
"If they're understaffed, then they're confident. And confidence usually comes from a Nen ability that triggers when someone crosses a line."
His lips curved into a faint smile.
"I can already think of a dozen abilities like that."
His mind briefly drifted to Yokotani, the Heil-Ly Family's lawyer. A Nen ability that activated based on intrusion, location, and legal framing—an ability that punished enemies for existing in the wrong place and acting wrongly in the place.
"Territory-based Nen is always dangerous," Conrad thought. "Because you never know you've lost until it's too late."
He slowed as he reached the opposite side of the street from the Strepo Apartment.
A small convenience store stood nearby.
Conrad leaned casually against a streetlight, appearing distracted, then closed his eyes for just a moment.
His aura shifted.
Two orbs separated silently from his body, drifting outward like invisible satellites.
At the same time, Conrad entered Zetsu completely.
His presence vanished.
Nothing for even a skilled Nen user to sense unless they were actively searching and extremely close.
The orbs were different from ordinary emitted constructs.
They were obedient even while he was in Zetsu.
Controlling them was as easy as controlling his arms and legs.
As long as he didn't try to generate a new aura or reinforce his body, control remained intact.
"Good," he thought. "Still no feedback delay."
The orbs split directions.
One rose slowly upward, passing through the air toward the upper floors.
The other glided low, hugging walls and slipping through open windows and ventilation gaps where possible.
Conrad's physical body remained still.
Through the first Orb, Pulse Orb, he observed the exterior.
As long as there is not a Nen user nearby that is looking around with Gyo or too sensible to aura, it would be almost impossible for ordinary mafia members to notice the pulse aura from the orb.
There were guards, but not many.
Two at the front entrance, dressed like ordinary civilians but standing too still, eyes too alert.
"Yeah, it is easy to see that they are not ordinary people."
The other kept glancing at his phone, likely receiving updates.
On the sides of the building, there were another four, spread out.
"Six visible," Conrad assessed. "That's not enough for two hundred members."
Which meant most of them were inside.
The second orb slipped into the building.
This was the Aura Blast Orb, so it did not give him much information, but he still sensed some of the room via the Orb as it touched the edges and sent mental reports of the layout.
Conrad kept on looking around the street and counted more than forty to fifty people just in the general area.
This meant that they were expecting an attack and ready to defend.
"I am not that great when it comes to the mafia, but I can only think of that reason for so many people."
"If it is like this, the best thing would be to use a distraction to have some opening."
"It would be best if we used two distractions and one real hit; that would be the best."
Conrad already had some sort of plan within his mind.
From the outside, Strepo Apartment now looked very different to his eyes.
"At least twenty to fifty on the inside and fifty more on the outside."
"They are expecting a military-level attack or Nen users."
"This isn't a simple smash-and-clear," Conrad concluded.
He pushed himself off the streetlight and turned away, blending back into the crowd.
"Good," he thought calmly. "That means they'll make mistakes."