In the "real world", Moirse disliked moving. It wasn't just the hassle of packing, but the difficulty of finding another rental that was reasonably priced and in a suitable environment.
Ultimately, it all came down to money, and the options were too few.
Now, the ability to pack up and move on less than a month's notice had become addictive.
She didn't have to lift a finger, nor did she have to worry about money. Once "moving" became effortless, it transformed into an ordinary "daily routine." She couldn't remember how many times she had moved; no, there was no need to count. Wasn't this how the wealthy enjoyed themselves?
After receiving Kite's personal tutelage, Moirse became increasingly unrestrained. When deciding on a new place to move, she would not only consider the new environment but also the local unique resources.
With a broader perspective, beyond the named characters in the original work, this world was not lacking in other passersby with high-quality character portraits.
For instance, the country Moirse was currently in had a developed entertainment industry with a mature star-making model. Every year, countless underage individuals dreaming of becoming idols converged here. They first passed the preliminary auditions of entertainment companies, becoming trainees who received professional training. It would take anywhere from a few months to seven or eight years before they might have a chance to debut as an idol.
Due to fierce competition, after comparing appearances, they also had to compare skills and luck. More than ninety percent of trainees never got to see their debut day and had to reluctantly give up before the age of 20.
Becoming an idol not only brought them glory and admiration but, more importantly, allowed them to earn money that ordinary people couldn't earn in a lifetime. Thus, many underage individuals who were confident in their appearance bet their future dreams on becoming idols.
Moirse, who liked to help good-looking people, had kindly sponsored a few trainees from less fortunate families.
The stories of handsome young men striving to escape poverty and pursue their dreams were all similarly moving. How could she bear not to help them?
Manufacture an encounter, and you'll discover that as long as they weren't original plot characters, the difficulty of "capturing" these ordinary NPCs was unbelievably easy for a wealthy and attractive young lady, like a high-level player entering a beginner's village.
Oh yes, their young age was also a significant reason.
The average age they became trainees was around 12 or 13. Following that were 12-hour high-intensity training sessions daily, with a relatively monotonous life. Where would they have the chance to accumulate dating experience? Young people were also impulsive and prone to getting carried away. A little manipulation could easily win them over, and the cost was much lower than with hosts.
No wonder men liked younger women. It wasn't just their youth, but also their naivety and ease of being deceived, along with the low cost.
Only a fool would engage with hosts. Stay away from hosts, and you'll find misfortune.
*Ding ding—*
It was the sound of her phone receiving a message from Machi.
Unlike Kite, Machi generally only sent messages when there was something important.
So, Moirse ignored the sponsored individual who was currently trying to please her, stretched out her arm, picked up the phone by her pillow, and checked the message.
The Phantom Troupe's all-member assembly mission... it was finally here. All-member assembly missions were extremely rare. If nothing unexpected happened, the original plot this time should be the massacre of the Kurta clan.
It was time to get busy.
Replying "Received," Moirse pushed away the sponsored individual, left him a stack of money, and got out of bed to shower and change.
The significantly larger sum of money made the sponsored individual understand Moirse's hint. The previous sponsored individual had also ended their arrangement in a similar manner.
When Moirse emerged from the bathroom, he couldn't help but chase after her, asking, "Can... can we keep in touch?"
- Nod
- Shake head (√)
- Silence
Moirse gently stroked his hair, then shook her head and left without a trace of reluctance.
As she passed by a park, she crushed the phone specifically used for contacting her sponsored individuals and casually tossed it into the lake.
The assembly point chosen by Chrollo was, as usual, part of his uninspired series of abandoned locations: a dilapidated building. The decaying scenery and the gathered desperadoes couldn't help but make Moirse miss the happy beginner's village filled with laughter.
According to common fanfiction tropes, the path to "capturing" popular Troupe members was arduous and long, filled with angst and occasional sweet moments or shards of glass. Especially on Chrollo's route, the bad ending rate was extremely high, with constant scheming and maneuvering. It sounded exhausting.
Frankly, was "true love" that precious? If one gave up on "true love," physical intimacy became much easier. The answer was obvious: Machi was more appealing than Kite.
After a period of refinement, Moirse had let go of her longing for Kite's playthings. Since she could rely on her own diligent hands, why be controlled by others?
After each Troupe activity, the members would scatter in different directions. Considering the long distances and personal arrangements, Chrollo set the assembly time quite loosely, allowing an additional 12 hours of waiting time beyond the scheduled time. This flexible assembly time setting could, to some extent, differentiate the types of members.
The first type was the active Troupe members, such as Feitan, Kite, and Moirse, who arrived before the assembly time.
The reason for saying "to some extent" was that Moirse simply chose to depart early out of habit, to avoid encountering unexpected delays, which always resulted in her being early.
The second type was the model Troupe members, such as Pakunoda, Franklin, Shalnark, Kalluto, and Uvogin, who arrived precisely on time.
When Moirse joined the Troupe, slots 8 and 10 were vacant. Although she hadn't met the newly joined Kalluto in the previous three Troupe activities, she learned about new members joining from the veteran member Kite. The other members who hadn't met Moirse probably also learned about new members joining through mutual communication. Therefore, introductions weren't necessary at that moment; they would just glance at her and make a brief assessment.
The third type was the members who arrived a bit later, such as Machi, Phinks, Nobunaga, and Omokage.
Meteor City was an anomaly excluded by the entire world, and the Phantom Troupe was an anomaly within Meteor City, making them anomalies among anomalies. However, there were still existences more unconventional than the Phantom Troupe, such as the future Troupe member #4, Hisoka. Most Troupe members had no positive feelings towards him, and some even found him detestable. The current Troupe #4, Omokage, had a similar interpersonal status within the Troupe as Hisoka.
Perhaps his artistic style didn't quite match the other Troupe members. After all, he was a character created specifically for a movie, and the main plot of that movie was truly terrible, especially the highly criticized plot where Killua lay on the tracks (lol).
[Updated "Phantom Troupe" Organization Member List]
[Member List (13/13):]
[0: Chrollo]
[1: Nobunaga]
[2: Feitan]
[3: Machi]
[4: Omokage]
[5: Phinks]
[6: Kite]
[7: Franklin]
[8: Moirse]
[9: Pakunoda]
[10: Kalluto]
[11: Uvogin]
[12: Shalnark]
As usual, after all members had gathered, Chrollo revealed the mission objective: "Scarlet Eyes."
All-member assembly missions were infrequent, and as Moirse had anticipated, they had reached the point in the original story concerning the Kurta clan's massacre. It was fortunate she had specially reorganized her "game backpack," temporarily clearing out items with high "preservation fees" (i.e., consuming more "Nen").
According to the original story's development, all 128 Kurta clan members living in seclusion in the forest were killed, except for one of the original protagonists, Kurapika, who happened to obtain "permission to go out" and leave his place of residence. Subsequently, Kurapika, the sole survivor of the Kurta clan, embarked on a journey of revenge against the Phantom Troupe.
Although Chrollo's commanding aura was as strong as ever, collecting eyeballs was a niche hobby even within the Troupe. The Troupe members either didn't understand or weren't interested in "Scarlet Eyes."
No, besides Chrollo, Troupe member #4, Omokage, was also interested in human eyeballs. According to his character setting, he was not only a puppeteer but also a collector who liked to collect eyeballs. His puppets had no eyes themselves; he would take the eyes of others through the puppets to give them "souls."
"One of the seven great beauties, the Scarlet Eyes," Omokage then interjected into the silence, his voice not concealing his interest.
There was no need to conceal it. He always referred to himself as "God's Puppeteer," and those familiar with him knew his penchant for eyeballs.
And "Scarlet Eyes," as "mass-produced" "collectibles," had varying degrees of quality. If Chrollo wanted the best "Scarlet Eyes," wouldn't Omokage also want the best "Scarlet Eyes"? Unlike Chrollo, whose interests were wide-ranging, Omokage was specifically a collector of eyeballs.
A win-win solution? Yes, it was very simple.
"If you're also interested..." Chrollo adopted a gentle tone of consideration for his subordinates, "You can pick one before I sell them."
Regardless of the type of spoils, Chrollo would lose interest shortly after acquiring them and then resell them. Based on past experience, the "Scarlet Eyes" would likely meet the same fate – Chrollo was well aware of his fickle nature.
To put it bluntly, Chrollo's response was essentially "I'll give it to you after I'm done playing with it," but Omokage was under someone else's roof and had to bow his head. Moreover, he would eventually get what he wanted most, just a little later. He couldn't fault Chrollo's arrangement, and he accepted it by default.
The reason the "Spider Head and Brain" combination existed in fanfiction was largely due to the tacit cooperation between Spider Head Chrollo and Spider Brain Kite. Chrollo issued commands, and Kite was responsible for detailed explanations and assisting the spider legs in executing them, with clear division of labor.
"Scarlet Eyes refers to the eyes of the Kurta clan. When the Kurta clan members become emotionally agitated, their pupils turn a fiery red, a color praised as one of the seven great beauties. If they die while their eyes are red, the color will be preserved forever," Kite stated, relaying information that could be found on the Hunter website. "The last recorded hunt for Scarlet Eyes was over a hundred years ago."
"However..." Kite's tone shifted, his smile tinged with a hint of pride, as if he had discovered a rare collectible, "Recently, there have been clues regarding the Kurta clan's hidden dwelling. Once the search area is narrowed down, the location can likely be pinpointed."
Since an all-member assembly was required, Uvogin sensed that this would be a major undertaking. He clenched his fists, suppressing his surging excitement, and posed the sole and biggest question to Chrollo, "Are we going to kill them all?"
"Don't damage their eyes," Chrollo said, stating the precautions first, then confirming, "Kill them all. Leave none behind."
"Ooooooooh—!"
Before the roaring destruction from the model member Uvogin pierced their eardrums, the Troupe members covered their ears.
The sound waves rushed out of the wind-battered ruins, startling nearby birds.
The wind died down.
As the Troupe members lowered their hands from their ears, Moirse, who had put on a voice-amplifying device, raised her right hand as if she were a model student asking a question in class, "I heard that 'Scarlet Eyes' still attached to the head are more valuable."
"That is indeed the case," Kite said, glancing deliberately in Uvogin's direction. "Then we must also be careful not to damage their faces."
"Meaning..." Before Uvogin could speak, Nobunaga said, stroking his chin, "We should wait for their eyes to turn red, and then just chop off their whole heads, right?"
"Yes, if their eyes haven't turned red yet, don't kill them," Kite nodded. "Especially the children, save them for last. They can be used to provoke them."
"What a hassle," Uvogin furrowed his brow. "Leave those things to you all. I'll handle the ones who can fight; I don't care about the rest."
"Phinks, you need to control your strength too," Kite reminded him.
"Got it, got it," Phinks waved his hand carelessly. "Do I look like someone who lacks discretion?"
The veteran members, with silent gazes, negated Phinks's self-perception, which was completely devoid of self-awareness.
And Phinks, living up to expectations, was the first to punch a Kurta clan member in the face upon entering the Kurta clan dungeon, completely forgetting Kite's instruction before departure: "Don't damage their faces."
Although he knew that the battle-loving members of the Troupe tended to disregard rules and regulations, couldn't they at least wait a little longer? Kite was about to speak, but Chrollo stopped him. "It's alright."
"The rarer the treasure, the higher its value," Chrollo smiled slightly, as the torches lit by the Kurta clan and the Scarlet Eyes combined, creating two fervent colors. "They are indeed very beautiful colors."
Their effort of wandering in the forest for a whole day was not in vain.
Even after finding out that the Kurta clan was in this forest, finding their village was not an easy task. The Kurta clan members utilized their surroundings and some special means to cleverly conceal their village. Compasses were unusable in this forest, and if outsiders did not follow a specific route, they would unknowingly deviate from the path and be unable to reach the village.
When they returned to the starting point for the second time, the Troupe members realized they had taken a large detour and ended up back where they started.
"Is this the starting point of the deviation?" Chrollo raised his hand to cover his mouth, his habitual gesture when deep in thought. "I feel like I'm missing something."
The Troupe members, accustomed to Chrollo shouldering the main intellectual burden, remained silent in unison, awaiting Chrollo's deduction.
However, the more one schemed, the more one realized the limitations of human capacity. Dwelling too much on details could lead to a meaningless waste of time. Chrollo decided to set aside the subtle sense of unease for the moment. "Since we're going in circles, the target is likely at the center of the circle. Kite, you make the markers, the numbered ones."
"Okay," Kite left the Roman numeral I on a tree trunk. "Is this okay?"
Chrollo stared at the Roman numeral for a long time. "Yes."
After walking a stretch and leaving a marker, and after leaving the 57th marker, the Troupe members returned to the starting point – the tree where Roman numeral I had been left.
Approaching the tree, Chrollo raised his hand to rub the marker, as if to confirm its authenticity. "I think there's something wrong with this tree. It seems different from when I saw it last, which is why I didn't notice we were going in circles at first."
"It does seem a bit different," Kite looked up at the tree. "But I can't pinpoint exactly what."
The others looked at the tree with him, but none could discern anything specific. So, Kite chose to seek assistance from Machi's almost supernatural intuition. "Machi, what do you think?"
"I also think there's something wrong with the tree," Machi said, then fell silent.
The ability to solve problems with intuition had its limits.
The tree had a problem? What kind of problem? A problem that made it different from the last time they saw it?
"Ah," Moirse suddenly understood Chrollo's confusion. "Leader, you said the tree seemed different. Is it because of this?"
She tossed up a fruit. That fruit was of the same species as the fruits on the tree.
"...What did you do?" Kite asked.
"Nothing much, I just picked some along the way." To be precise, she had picked a total of 103.
"......" x12
Picking roadside fruits casually was indeed "nothing much" compared to the Troupe's usual activities of arson and plunder, making it difficult to criticize.
"Do you want some?" Moirse asked, holding up the fruit amidst everyone's silence.
"......" x12
In short, the truth had been revealed. After a few more puzzle-solving steps, the Troupe members successfully entered the Kurta clan dungeon.
To quickly stimulate the Kurta clan's Scarlet Eyes, the group did not conceal their presence and ostentatiously appeared before their prey.
There was no need for further words; the malevolent "Nen" and long-honed killing intent had already announced their intentions to the Kurta clan people.
To protect their homes and kin, the young and strong of the Kurta clan came forward with weapons.
Adult Kurta clan members had stronger control over their emotions, and only a few immediately revealed their Scarlet Eyes. This was until the hidden Troupe members cut off the retreat route for the Kurta clan's elderly, young, women, and children, driving the frail lambs back into the village, and then throwing in a few corpses. Although the corpses were headless, the clothes they wore were their distinctive national attire. When the corpses were trampled, the angry Scarlet Eyes spread.
"This is getting interesting," Nobunaga gripped his unsheathed sword.
After their eyes turned red, the Kurta clan members' combat power significantly increased. The battle-loving members of the Troupe, for the first time, felt a challenge, which further stimulated their fighting spirit. Amidst the sounds of fighting and roaring, the sound of Moirse attacking old jars did not seem out of place at all.
[Acquired][Beginner's Ore x1]
The Kurta clan members relocated their living spaces periodically. Their living environment was similar to the yurts of nomadic peoples. Since the Troupe's battle enthusiasts were handling the main combat... or rather, they didn't want anyone to snatch their prey... Moirse righteously bypassed them and headed straight for the largest yurt to scavenge for items she deemed valuable.
"The Kurta clan isn't very wealthy," Kite commented, following her into the yurt. "They revere nature. Perhaps... there are some precious herbs?"
Unfortunately, there were no such things.
Nor were there any precious books. The books found were all available on the market. Kite, uninterested, put down the book he was holding. Moirse, on the other hand, scooped up all those books and [picked] them into her game backpack.
"Given the Leader's reading volume, he's probably read all those books," Kite said.
As expected of the Spider Brain, Troupe activities always focused on their leader first.
"...I haven't read them," Moirse replied.
"I didn't know you liked reading," Kite chuckled. "It seems the Kurta clan's only treasure is their eyes. Compared to those obscure minority groups that disappeared unnoticed, perhaps retaining their eyes can be considered a good thing?"
The newly joined #10, Kalluto, came from a minority ethnic group displaced by land development, which might be why Kite had such a感慨.
However, there was no sympathy involved.
The law of the jungle, survival of the fittest, was a rule commonly accepted by the people of Meteor City.
After accompanying Moirse to a few more yurts, Kite found Moirse's hobby of smashing old jars and collecting trinkets somewhat difficult to understand. However, it was a small matter that others had no reason to interfere with. Kite bid her farewell and went to help with the prisoners.
The increasingly thick smell of blood indicated that the battle was nearing its end. Chrollo had not joined the fight at all, standing in the audience as if watching the Scarlet Eyes burn.
It wasn't until Omokage rushed up to him, clutching a bleeding wound, and loudly reported a suspected traitor within the Troupe, "Number 8 ran away!"
"Why?" Chrollo asked calmly.
There was no other emotion, just mild puzzlement.
"...I don't know," Omokage gasped. "She took a Kurta clan child."
"A child?" There were more than one member responsible for prisoners. The fact that a child was taken away shouldn't have been reported by Omokage. "Where are the other members?"
"They were overlooked," Omokage explained. "There were some children who happened to be outside the village."
"You followed her."
"Yes," Omokage admitted. "She left the village, and I found it suspicious."
"Is that something worth paying attention to? No matter how far she runs, we can just chase her down. Instead of focusing on her, there are still quite a few Scarlet Eyes here that haven't been recovered," Chrollo said noncommittally. "Or, are you concerned about something else, Omokage?"
Omokage, somewhat agitated, was about to retort when Chrollo continued, "I have no interest in what you are truly concerned about. But you need to tell me from the beginning exactly what you saw."