Atop the towering mountain of garbage, Chrollo, Franklin, Pakunoda, and Feitan stood looking down.
The sunlight spilled over them, casting long shadows onto the ground below.
“Chrollo, what’s the meaning of this?” Never one to hold back his temper, Uvogin shouted furiously at the boy.
Beside him, Pakunoda looked as though she wanted to say something, but after a brief hesitation, she kept her mouth shut.
Chrollo’s gaze swept over Ian’s calm face before he spoke in a soft, even tone.
“Uvogin, if Feitan’s behavior caused a misunderstanding, I apologize on his behalf.
However, regarding what we promised you earlier, we really do need to reconsider…” With that said, he turned his earnest attention to Ian.
“You must be Ian, the one who gave Uvogin and the others their power.
Let me introduce myself.
I am Chrollo Lucilfer, the acting leader of this little group.” Ian nodded.
Inwardly, he marveled at the calm maturity in Chrollo’s words.
It didn’t feel like he was talking to a child at all; this boy could easily hold a conversation on par with any adult.
‘No wonder he awakens as a Specialist and eventually becomes the leader of the Phantom Troupe,’ Ian thought.
To some extent, Hisoka’s personality-based Nen aura test was incredibly accurate.
Acknowledging the introduction, Ian gave a slight nod and smiled.
“Uvogin has mentioned you all to me before, especially you, Chrollo.
He said you were a talented bunch, which is why I agreed to take you with us when we leave Meteor City.
But it seems we were being a bit presumptuous.
You’ve already awakened your Nen, haven’t you, Chrollo?” Uvogin and Nobunaga’s eyes widened in shock at Ian’s confident assertion.
“What?!” “Chrollo knows Nen too?” “Is that true, Chrollo?!” Both boys were utterly astounded, and even Machi looked visibly surprised.
Chrollo fell silent for a moment before replying with perfect composure.
“It seems my concealment skills are still lacking.
I knew I might be found out, but I didn’t expect you to notice my Nen the moment we met.” Ian simply offered a faint smile.
Chrollo had hidden it well, but under the focused gaze of Ian’s *Gyo*, the faint layer of *Ten* shrouding the boy’s body was glaringly obvious.
“That’s right.
Thanks to the Council of Elders, I have indeed mastered Nen.” Chrollo didn’t elaborate further.
He simply slipped his hands into his pockets and calmly observed Ian, Uvogin, and the rest.
“We don’t lack the strength to leave Meteor City.
However…
simply knowing Nen isn’t enough to guarantee survival out there.
The outside world operates on its own set of rules, whereas Meteor City is the very foundation that keeps us alive.” His dark, clear eyes bypassed the others and locked onto Ian.
“That is why I wanted to meet you, Ian.
I want to hear your perspective on this matter before I make my decision.” Ian nodded, completely understanding the boy’s train of thought.
‘As expected of the Spider’s brain,’ he mused.
Despite his young age and lack of worldly experience, Chrollo had instantly grasped the core of the issue.
His mind was incredibly sharp, and his assessment was spot on.
The rules of survival in the outside world were vastly different from those in Meteor City.
If possessing Nen was a free pass to do whatever one pleased, then the Hunter Association or the Meteor City Council of Elders—both boasting numerous Nen users—would be the ones ruling the world.
In reality, however, the Hunter Association answered to the V5.
Legally speaking, it was nothing more than a civilian organization operating under the V5’s jurisdiction.
As for Meteor City, a place erased from official maps and treated as a global dumping ground by unspoken international consensus, it held absolutely no political power.
Were Nen users worthless?
Of course not.
They were exceedingly rare, wielding bizarre and unpredictable powers.
Even a newly awakened Nen user could effortlessly take on ten or a hundred ordinary men.
Was the upper limit of a Nen user’s strength too low?
Not at all.
Setting everything else aside, the Chairman of the Hunter Association was once hailed as the strongest human alive.
Even during the Chimera Ant crisis, when he was far past his physical prime, he still managed to go toe-to-toe with the Ant King—a testament to his unfathomable power.
Yet, even a warrior who had tempered his mind and spirit to a state of near-absolute purity ultimately had to acknowledge and bow to the boundless, bottomless malice of humanity.
On the surface, the Ant King was killed by the Miniature Rose—a weapon of mass destruction born of human technology.
But in truth, what truly killed the King was humanity’s ultimate, unadulterated malice, woven into the complex and ruthless fabric of human society.
A Miniature Rose, no larger than the palm of a hand, could unleash the fury of a miniature sun, obliterating a being as invincible as the Ant King.
And yet, this cheap, easily mass-produced weapon of catastrophic devastation wasn’t created to fight monsters.
It was originally designed by humans to slaughter their equally fragile fellow humans.
Few creatures in nature possessed the capacity to inflict such unspeakable cruelty upon their own kind.
Chrollo was right.
Did surviving and thriving outside Meteor City really depend on raw Nen combat power?
The true rulers of this world were the V5, and the ones pulling the strings weren’t Nen users.
They were human elites who excelled at manipulating laws and exploiting rules.
They might not possess an ounce of physical strength, but these masters of politics—those who thrived within the labyrinthine social systems of humanity—were the ultimate avatars of human malice.
Wiping out millions of lives in an instant was nothing more than a signature on a piece of paper to them.
Elevated by the collective will of humanity to the very apex of the systemic pyramid, the resources they commanded and the sheer ruthlessness of their nature were beyond the comprehension of ordinary people—and ordinary Nen users alike.
Chrollo’s words triggered a cascade of thoughts in Ian’s mind.
When the people of this world eventually discovered that their known six continents were nothing more than tiny islands in a colossal lake, would they be able to handle the mind-shattering truth?
Were the supreme leaders of the V5 acting as a sort of strategic deterrent, much like Luo Ji, just from a different angle?
Ian drifted into deep thought.
Chrollo tilted his head, a silent question mark hanging in the air.
A heavy silence fell over the group.
Uvogin and Nobunaga exchanged bewildered glances as they watched Ian zone out.
They had no idea what was going through his head, but they trusted him implicitly.
Beside Chrollo, Feitan clenched his fists.
He shot a sideways glare at his leader.
“Hey, Chrollo.
Are you really just going to let this guy ignore you?” Chrollo maintained his unruffled composure.
“I believe he’s simply lost in thought.
Accusing him of ignoring me is a bit childish.
Since he intends to leave Meteor City, I doubt he would waste time on petty slights.” Feitan scoffed coldly at the explanation.
A moment later, Ian finally snapped out of his daze.
He had completely lost track of time, but he brushed it off with a casual shrug.
“Sorry, I was just thinking about something.” Even if he hadn’t come to any concrete conclusions.
Chrollo’s words had offered him a brand-new lens through which to view this world.
Regardless of the harsh realities, he needed to see the outside world with his own eyes to truly understand it.
Besides, he had an infinite arsenal of magical gadgets at his disposal.
He firmly believed that no matter what insurmountable problems this world threw at them, his system’s abilities could perfectly resolve them.
After all, the God of Dora’s gadgets existed for the sole purpose of making dreams come true!