chapter 5
Illumi stared at the message he just received, speechless.
The text was simple, just one line, four letters, and a few strange symbols:
HELP??-_-??
But how did this person get his number? The last time they met, Archi was just born. Now, his adorable younger brother could survive alone in the maze for two days. So, don't tell him his private number was exposed in the past three years?
Illumi pulled out his work phone and double-checked that he hadn't made a mistake. He sighed. His personal phone only had his family's contact information, and all the messages in it were "mission completed" texts to his father. The last one was dated two years and nine months ago, since he no longer needed to take missions from his father after that. He kept this number only for emergencies—which had never occurred until now.
As a result, above the neat row of "mission completed" messages, there was now a text that completely deviated from his style, from someone who had disappeared for three years. Illumi couldn't help but doubt his source of information. Did he accidentally let him see it last time? Or did he already have it before then and was just teasing him? Did he tell anyone else? Could his phone have been stolen and discovered by someone else? Would it have any adverse effects on the Zoldyck family? Did he know the numbers of other Zoldycks?
Illumi knew nothing about Hisoka. Walking through the dimly lit corridors of the Zoldyck mansion, his sneakers made no sound on the stone floor. The candle flames trembled fearfully in his fluctuating aura. If Illumi wasn't certain that Hisoka had no designs on the Zoldyck family, he would definitely chase him to the ends of the earth, no matter how much time it took.
As for the content of the message itself, Illumi didn't care at all. Someone who was truly in danger wouldn't add such messy stuff after a plea for help, which seemed like a waste of time. Illumi wasn't even sure if he could find those symbols on his phone, and they were deliberately added at the end. Wouldn't it be annoying to do this in every message?
Illumi was only certain of one thing that was going according to Hisoka's expectations: he had successfully made Illumi remember his face.
But, Illumi stopped his steps towards his room. Last time, he owed Hisoka a favor, or rather two: a life and a mission. If there was a chance to pay them off at once... Illumi hesitated for a long time between resting indoors away from the snow outside and going to repay a pervert's favor. He finally nodded, deciding to at least check how he needed help. If it was another lie, Hisoka's credit could drop to negative infinity, and then he would be blocked.
Illumi paid Milluki one million Jenny to send him the location of the text message. He carefully observed the motionless red dot on his phone. Ah, what a bother, it's actually in Yorknew City, a seven-hour spaceship ride. Hopefully, Hisoka's bones wouldn't be cold by then. Illumi complained before leaving.
Would Illumi come? If he was coming, it should be soon, right?
Hisoka played with the chips in his hand. In the hall full of people in black suits, his pink outfit was very eye-catching. He seemed to be staring intently at the dealer's hand, but his attention was actually on the dark window. He watched with his own eyes as the winter sky, once empty with only a few couples passing by on the streets, suddenly became crowded at night. His En had covered the street corner, so he could detect the arrival of a certain someone at the first moment.
It rarely snowed in Yorknew City. The snow in the coastal city couldn't accumulate, and it seemed to melt on his face with the temperature of the sea breeze. But the wind and snow of Kukuroo Mountain were notoriously harsh, and the top of the mountain was covered with a white hat all year round.
The first thing Hisoka did when he arrived in the morning was to text Illumi. After staying in the Aizhen Continent for so long, he couldn't wait to see the growth of his toy.
The assassin should have just finished his work in the morning and was preparing to go home to rest, wrapped in a blanket by the fireplace to avoid the snow that had been falling for more than ten days. Then, he received his text message.
It's a pity that he couldn't see Illumi's expression when he opened the message. His pupils would definitely shrink, he might frown, and then there would be rising murderous aura, and, of course, the release of Nen. He wondered how far his Nen had grown. It was really exciting, Manipulation type. Hisoka kissed the poker card he just got.
Suddenly, there was a noisy sound from a table behind Hisoka. It started with an argument and the voices of others trying to stop the fight, then one of them erupted with powerful "Ren," shaking off the crowd surrounding them and charging directly at the other person. The cards that had just been dealt to Hisoka were also overturned, and the players were forced to leave the table. The chairs and tables were lifted up by a rising air current. Hisoka lightly tapped the ground, levitating like he was weightless, his legs drawing a graceful arc in the other person's aura before landing five meters away from the brawl.
Ah, crap, Illumi is underage, can he even get in here? Hisoka's hand movements suddenly stiffened.
It was rare for Nen users to fight in a casino. The person who made the move was either confident enough to clean up everyone present, or they had been set up. Several Hunters who rushed to stop him were also defeated, so Hisoka glanced at him casually. Emission type, 70 points at most, boring. He still hoped for Illumi's arrival. Hisoka sat down in a safe area next to the bar, fiddling with the poker cards he had just been dealt, the Ace of Spades.
A shard of a wine bottle flew past Hisoka's face, leaving a slight scratch, and embedded itself in the wooden wine rack. The shock caused all the high-end wine bottles on the rack to clink together.
How annoying, I really didn't want to get involved, Hisoka turned around and locked onto the poor person who had accidentally injured him. He didn't realize his fate and was still trying to stop the rampaging gambler with a weapon made of Nen. Hisoka threw the Ace of Spades in his hand towards him. It flew around the living room like a boomerang, and while everyone was unaware, it pierced the back of the man's head. At the moment of death, he saw Hisoka smiling at him in the distance.
After doing all this, Hisoka picked up a glass of brandy with a lack of interest.
"Ah, you're actually injured," Illumi tilted his head and looked at Hisoka's side profile, as if he hadn't seen the surrounding chaos.
"Of course, it hurts quite a bit," Hisoka traced circles on the rim of the glass, not at all surprised by Illumi's sudden appearance.
"Is it fun?" Illumi blocked the almost tangible aura surging from Hisoka's body with an equal amount of his own, his arms crossed as he questioned him.
From the moment Illumi entered the bar, he felt Hisoka's excessive enthusiasm. His aura locked onto him like a sudden blizzard, the flying ice shards scratching his face painfully. It was hard for Illumi not to notice him. Although Nen abilities were flying around in the casino, compared to the magician who suddenly erupted in front of him, Illumi didn't find any other threats. So, he was indeed deceived again. As for the sudden relaxation when he saw that Hisoka was unharmed, Illumi simply considered it an illusion caused by not having time to rest at home and quickly covered it up with regret.
"Hmm? What do you mean? I don't understand."
Liar, Hisoka's face was written with "so interesting," and even the aura surrounding him softened, infected by his master's happy mood, adding a bit of warmth, like a beach bonfire surrounded by people singing and dancing.
"Forget it, considering that you are indeed in trouble, I'll forgive you for calling me from home early on a rest day."
Illumi turned his head and surveyed the battle that had been going on since earlier. Except for the person with a card stuck in the back of his head, no one had died. All the people involved in the battle were Nen users, and the way they fought was like a group of mercenaries who had been on the edge of life and death suddenly one day received the task of finding a lost puppy. Each move deliberately avoided fatal points. How ridiculous.
"Who did you offend?" It wasn't ordinary to be so painstakingly set up to lure enemies.
"Oh, I can't count them all," Hisoka's gaze was still glued to Illumi, savoring the refined aura surrounding him. The Manipulation type Nen really had a captivating ability that made people want to believe him. Hisoka subconsciously licked his dry lips, "But I don't know any of these people."
"But they are clearly targeting you. It must be that Hisoka didn't clean up well after killing someone. There aren't many people who can invite so many helpers. You really know how to get yourself into trouble."
Although it might not be trouble in Hisoka's eyes, Illumi was surprised by his natural thought.
It was strange, the way he talked to Hisoka was like they had known each other for years, but in fact, this was only their third meeting, and the first two times they didn't get along. This time, he was tricked by a prank text message. Wasn't it a bit too intimate? But what made Illumi even more helpless was that he didn't dislike this intimacy. Hisoka seemed to always be walking a tightrope on his bottom line, his skills as good as an acrobat's. He would occasionally jump up and let his hands cross the line, and then quietly put them back in place before Illumi realized it.
"Illumi, what are you thinking about?" Hisoka leaned closer to Illumi's absent-minded eyes. "So serious, you're not thinking about me, are you?"
Illumi lowered his eyes, subconsciously avoiding the question. "Thinking about how to get out. There are ten people being manipulated, their controller will take some time. You could have solved the rest in an instant."
Hisoka clearly didn't believe him; such an obvious answer was too perfunctory. But he didn't press further, and just counted the number of people. "You take three, I take three, and we'll take care of the one above together?"
Hisoka didn't move after speaking. Illumi's thoughtful expression was too serious, and he almost thought he had been discovered. Fortunately, Illumi's immediate reaction told him that the other party hadn't thought too much. But he also didn't believe that the other party was spacing out for no reason, because the expression was too serious. He had never seen such an expression even during Illumi's preparation time before killing.
What exactly made Illumi care so much?
Hisoka found it amazing that Illumi seemed like the kind of person who would carefully consider what to eat for his next meal, while at the same time being completely indifferent to giving up a meal for money and work. Hisoka swore that he would read Illumi's thoughts one day.
The moment the pin appeared in Illumi's hand, Hisoka was ignited. He felt that the person beside him was completely different from when they were secretly competing. Just now, Illumi was like a spinning top, nudged and turned, but now he was like a fully assembled cannon, loaded and with the fuse lit, directly blasting Hisoka's nerves with a single shot. Every nerve in his body boiled, transmitting to the tip of his tongue and stimulating his taste buds. It was too tempting.
Illumi dodged the Nen puppets attracted by his powerful aura and threw a Nen-wrapped pin straight at the forehead of an Enhancement type Hunter. While the opponent was stopping the pin, he used his limb extension to teleport behind him, his hand turning into a blade and piercing the still beating heart. At the same time, Illumi threw two more pins. One was barely caught between the fingers of the second person, the other crippled his left calf. The moment he bent down, the Grim Reaper silently took his life.
Overestimating themselves. They probably didn't expect someone with similar strength to Hisoka to appear and become an enemy, so they didn't react until Illumi killed two people in the blink of an eye. Even the puppets controlled by the person on the upper floor swarmed forward together, but before they could perfectly surround Illumi, Hisoka easily slit the throats of two people with his playing cards. Illumi also took the opportunity to kill the person who had trapped him with Emission type sword blades. Two pins appeared in the person's head, then his hands dropped weakly, and his out-of-control Nen shifted its angle and accidentally killed its owner. There was probably no scene more tragic than this.
The hall was instantly empty, with dozens of gambling tables scattered on the floor, chips, dice, cards, and marbles scattered everywhere. The living puppets that had been controlled fell limp due to the departure of the Nen users. It would probably be dawn by the time they regained consciousness.
"Why did you stop me from killing him?" Illumi struggled with his wrist being held by Hisoka.
"Well, it's more fun this way, don't you think, Illumi?" Hisoka readily let go of Illumi and took a long pin from his palm to study it carefully.
Illumi started talking to the air, "Hisoka really has a bad taste. You already realized you were being hunted when you texted me in the morning, right? You deliberately pretended to be lured into a trap just to find a reason to trick me into coming here. Those people's actions were very organized, and there was likely a big mastermind behind them. Combining the situation here in Yorknew City, my arrival will cause you to encounter more trouble, so after you tricked me into coming here, you can fight more people and test my abilities."
"Don't use the word 'trick', Illumi, it hurts my feelings. I really needed your help. Besides, I don't think this level of enemies can be satisfying."
It was the first time Hisoka had heard such a long speech from Illumi, and the other party had obviously guessed it long ago, which meant that he was indeed thinking about this when he was spacing out earlier. He amusingly decided to add the characteristic of talkativeness to the Manipulation type.
However, Hisoka twirled the pin between his nimble fingers. Illumi had already cut off the Nen on it, but Hisoka still felt something seeping through his fingertips into every corner of his body. What exactly was Illumi's Nen ability? The pin seemed to be just a consumable that he was used to, something he could use to kill, but it definitely had other uses. Illumi was definitely not someone who would do useless things. If he just needed a tool for killing, there was no need to use such a troublesome item. The only explanation was that Illumi's Nen ability was related to these needles. Manipulation type? What was it used to manipulate?
The question definitely couldn't be solved today, and it was impossible to get Illumi hooked again. As expected of an elite from the assassin family, this was the most incisive and logically rigorous analysis Hisoka had ever seen. Even his proud Transmutation type psychology could be guessed for the most part, which was undoubtedly a novel experience.
Hisoka didn't control his aura at all, and Illumi, as expected, didn't feel any dejection or shame from being exposed. Instead, it was like a roller coaster stuck at the top that couldn't be repaired.
To be honest, Illumi always had the feeling that every time he saw Hisoka, the other party became more and more unscrupulous. He was like a frog being boiled in warm water, gradually getting used to this person's way of doing things, not to mention retreating on all kinds of unexpected occasions. Of course, if it weren't for the fact that there was no substantial loss and he had gained more benefits from it, Illumi wouldn't be willing to be boiled. Besides, all of Hisoka's actions showed that connecting with this kind of person didn't require the kind of twists and turns he hated. Illumi had to say that he also found this interesting, creating a little ripple in his calm and boring life.
After figuring it out, Illumi unexpectedly felt that the sustainability of this relationship was rather optimistic. As for the slight discomfort in his heart about not wanting to get close to people and the communication barriers it caused, Hisoka wasn't someone who would care about such things.
Illumi was finally glued out of his thoughts by Hisoka's gaze. "So you deliberately let yourself be hit by Nen just to ask me to help you find a Nen remover?" He said, turning his head to glance at the bloodstain on Hisoka's face.
"Oh, you're not cute at all. This injury is a real accident," Hisoka somehow read suspicion from Illumi's expressionless face. He was becoming more and more easy to understand. He covered his mouth and snickered, "I couldn't avoid it at all."
"I can't do anything without knowing the conditions of the attachment. Let's find the Nen user first. Since he made this move, he will definitely come to us on his own, just wait." Illumi subconsciously tightened his collar before going out.
"Well, before that, why don't we go enjoy the nightlife together? I bet it's something you've never experienced before. And it's guaranteed to be unforgettable."
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