The job of a professional assassin wasn't just about cleanly eliminating targets; sometimes, according to the client's requests, they had to disguise the scene as a suicide or various accidents, such as misadventure, fire, drowning, car crashes, airship disasters, and so on.
Having successfully completed another mission, the final payment landed, and the light from his phone screen illuminated a pair of cat-like eyes, equally black in the darkness.
In a good mood, Illumi Zoldyck was very satisfied with his Nen ability.
Although his Manipulator type Nen didn't have an advantage in offense and defense and wasn't suited for frontal combat, its strength lay in "achieving conditions for a one-hit kill," making it ideal for assassinations and allowing him to control targets at will.
Tasks with additional requirements always fell to Illumi because his ability was extremely convenient, making things easier for him.
Ah, it was indeed tough being the eldest son of the Zoldyck family.
Illumi didn't dislike being busy; on the contrary, he found it fulfilling.
However, at this moment, he couldn't help but think of the family member who could share the burden of household work with him, but who was currently on extended leave – his sister, Alluka Zoldyck.
Although there were factors of emotional instability, his father's favoritism towards his sister was also too obvious, and it had been that way since childhood.
In a little while, according to his father's and sister's agreement to "report back home once every three months," his sister was due to report home. httpδ:/m.kuAisugg.nět
His father, as the head of the family, had issued him a prohibition: "to refrain from any form of proactive contact with Alluka." If he wanted to know about his sister's recent situation, he didn't need to leave that period of time vacant at home; he had many other ways to find out. No matter how busy work was, he couldn't neglect his family.
Even if he wasn't there, with their mother's special attention towards his sister, there shouldn't be any major problems.
Illumi's personality was similar to his mother's; both being Manipulators, they often hit it off.
The bus arrived, and the professional killer, dressed in a casual jacket, looked no different from the surrounding travelers. He quietly moved through the crowd, blending into the environment like a drop of water merging into the sea. Sitting in the last row, he took a coin from his pocket and played with it in his hand.
It was a one-jen coin, not a special misprint, ordinary and no different from other one-jen coins on the market.
The coin had been in his pocket for a long time, absorbing his body heat. He rubbed the side with the pattern, gradually lost in thought.
Meanwhile, in the changing room, Alluka, on extended leave, adjusted her attire in front of the mirror.
Her flaxen hair was styled into two long braids, and heavy bangs paired with large, round-rimmed glasses covered most of her eyes. A few freckles were added, along with a simple gray cotton dress and dark boots, creating a plain and shy new character.
Oh, right, she also needed a crossbody bag. When taking things out from her "game backpack," she could pretend to take them from the crossbody bag to conceal her Nen ability.
Strictly speaking, the Hunter Association wasn't an absolutely righteous organization.
The Hunter Exam only assessed one's qualifications as a Hunter, paying little attention to the examinees' character and identity. Even Hisoka, who killed other examinees, could obtain a Hunter license.
Even when using a fake identity to participate in the exam, like Illumi in the original story, who brazenly revealed his true face and identity during the Hunter Exam, the Association still issued a Hunter license corresponding to the fake identity as usual.
Having an extra identity could provide a different gaming experience, so Alluka decided to use her new character to take the Hunter Exam.
The entrance to the Hunter Exam "event dungeon" was located in different places each year and was very secretive. The Hunter Association only provided candidates worldwide with a vague location as a clue; the specific location of the dungeon entrance had to be found by the candidates themselves. Various traps were set along the way, and candidates needed to find a guide, gain their approval, and then the guide would lead them to the dungeon entrance.
Millions of people attempted to participate in the Hunter Exam each year, which was not a small number. Even though many were eliminated before reaching the starting port, the starting port was still bustling with activity. Looking around, most of the crowd consisted of ambitious candidates. With such a crowd, it was likely that, as per the original plot, there would be several rounds of preliminary selections to reduce the number of candidates to a three-digit figure.
Among the numerous generic NPCs, Alluka surprisingly found a character from the original story. He was a supporting character but quite famous, recognized by almost all readers of the original story – Tonpa, who reportedly participated in the Hunter Exam 35 times.
Tonpa didn't participate in the Hunter Exam to obtain a Hunter license but to trap new candidates and derive pleasure from crushing their dreams, hence his nickname "Newbie Killer."
In short, Tonpa had unprecedented experience in the exam, and by following him, one could skip the preliminary selections and directly find the entrance to the Hunter Exam event dungeon.
Number 26.
Alluka's candidate number was quite early. It was no surprise, given that Tonpa, the perennial repeater, was very familiar with the Hunter Exam's preliminary selection routine.
Tonpa didn't notice he was being followed by Alluka throughout. At this moment, he put on a friendly expression and took the initiative to talk to the newcomers (or "new characters") who had just arrived at the dungeon entrance, pointing to his number tag, "Hello, my name is Tonpa. I'm just one number ahead of you."
Considering Tonpa had acted as the "guide" to the dungeon entrance, Alluka politely nodded.
"This is your first time taking the Hunter Exam, right?" Tonpa enthusiastically began his introduction. "I started taking the Hunter Exam when I was ten, and this is my 29th time. I pretty much know everyone who has participated in the exam before! If there's anything you don't understand, feel free to ask me."
Alluka politely nodded.
"Ah, right," Tonpa said, taking out two cans of juice. "Let me treat you to some juice as a welcome gift."
"..." Such a cliché, low-level trap that had been used up to the year the original story began. Alluka suspected if anyone had ever fallen for it, which was why Tonpa was so enthusiastic?
Alluka shook her head to decline and walked away by herself.
Tonpa, being perceptive, didn't pester her further. Before the Hunter Exam officially began, he still had to find other newcomers one by one and trick them into drinking juice laced with a powerful laxative, letting them experience the harsh realities of life. He had many targets, and Alluka was not the only one; he was very busy.
Most of the candidates gathered at the dungeon entrance had an unapproachable demeanor. The fact that Tonpa could approach newcomer candidates everywhere among them showed considerable social prowess.
In terms of appearance, this year's candidates seemed to be mostly minor NPCs. Besides Tonpa, the permanent NPC of the Hunter Exam event dungeon, there was another original character Alluka remembered – Phinks, a member of the Phantom Troupe.
The original story mentioned that Phinks had a Hunter license, so was he participating this year? That might be trouble, Alluka thought.
Phinks was responsible for handling and analyzing information within the Troupe, known as the "brain" of the "Spiders." Dealing with such a high-intelligence character was difficult. If she were unlucky enough to face him in a one-on-one challenge, depending on the specific test method, with Alluka's ordinary intellect, she might lose.
No, if it were about intellect, she would most likely lose. Phinks was the kind of character who could quickly find the real island where Greed Island was located.
Would she just have to accept her fate then?
The Hunter Exam questions each year were decided by the examiners of that year, entirely according to their preferences. Alluka hoped there wouldn't be any too outrageous challenges.
This was also one of the reasons why Alluka used a fake identity to participate in the Hunter Exam.
The Hunter Exam was merely a rookie initial dungeon for the main characters of the original story; its difficulty was not considered high.
If she failed to pass, and since Chairman Netero of the Hunter Association and Zeno were old acquaintances, Netero, with his playful personality, might discuss this huge joke with Zeno. Then Alluka would become the biggest stain on the Zoldyck family's younger generation, or rather, on the history of the Zoldycks.
What would Zeno think? What would Silva think? What would Kikyo think? What would Killua think? What would Milluki think? What would the butlers think?
An incompetent, useless, utterly unfilial, shaming the world's number one assassination family, irrecoverable garbage? A failure?
Alluka's reputation within the Zoldyck family would plummet, becoming even lower than Milluki's.
When the original story began, Killua participated in the Hunter Exam, and the first thing he would think of would be Alluka's humiliating failure that year.
"The test that sister couldn't pass must have been fun to challenge, right?"
"So boring, this is it?"
She couldn't think about it anymore; it would be too embarrassing to return to Kukuroo Mountain.
"..." Even though there were no emotions internally, her body showed clear resistance, and Alluka felt her fingers grow cold.
Alluka bit her lip.
Therefore, such embarrassing things must absolutely be avoided.
On the rooftop of a residential building five minutes away from Heaven's Arena, Killua, bored, had his hands in his pockets and was looking down, kicking the gaps between the floor tiles.
He who doesn't manage a household doesn't know the cost of firewood. Although Killua, the third young master of a wealthy family, had curbed his reckless spending habits, the prize money below the 100th floor of Heaven's Arena was still too little for him. After deducting rent and meal expenses, the remaining money was completely insufficient for buying snacks, toys, and clothes.
To save money, he tried to rent the cheapest accommodation possible. Anyway, he just needed a place to sleep and wash up; he had no other requirements.
He never expected that soundproofing would be the biggest problem. If his neighbor coughed, he could hear it clearly, let alone any other noises. Were these walls made of paper?
Recently, a couple had moved in upstairs, shaking the bed until late at night every day. When Killua was in a bad mood, he even wanted to immediately climb up and take care of those noisy people.
If his father and older brother hadn't taught him from a young age not to provoke people unrelated to his missions and not to kill innocents, he might have already acted.
The rent already paid couldn't be refunded; that was money painstakingly saved. Before he received tomorrow's prize money, he only had money left for food, not even enough spare change to buy an extra chocolate.
He wasn't even sure if he could win tomorrow; there was no prize money for losing a match.
There was no other way; when one must endure, one must endure.
Having finished the last piece of chocolate, his pockets empty, Killua couldn't help but sigh.
At only six years old, still a child, he already knew the hardships of life.
He couldn't help but think of the family member who was most indulged by the entire family and was currently on extended leave – his sister, Alluka Zoldyck.
She must be traveling around, enjoying herself, eating and drinking, living a carefree life, Killua thought with immense envy.
Being the future heir of the family was meaningless, difficult, tiring, without freedom, constantly being told to do this, do that, not to do this, not to do that. Whoever wants to be it can be it! He really wished he could switch with his sister.
Unfortunately, even he knew that such a thing was impossible.
"...Ah." Killua stretched his arms high above his head.
He might as well look forward to what kind of souvenirs his sister would bring.
His stomach, meant for sweets, had been hungry for a long time!
Please, let it be snacks!