Chapter 71

The Phantom Troupe is a notorious criminal organization.

The entire group consists of only thirteen members, but each member is a powerful Nen user.

From the moment of its creation, the Phantom Troupe has been involved in various heinous criminal activities.

"Take what you want."

Adhering to this philosophy, the Phantom Troupe acts with impunity, committing arson, murder, and theft without hesitation.

As a result, the Phantom Troupe quickly rose from obscurity to become a notorious A-class criminal organization.

Initially, countless bounty hunters targeted this rising criminal group.

However, those who went after the Phantom Troupe ended up losing their lives without exception.

It is important to note that—

The Phantom Troupe only gathers all its members when preparing to "execute" a large-scale criminal operation, following the leader's orders.

Due to this mechanism, it is not unusual for the Phantom Troupe to gather all its members only once every two to three years.

Although the leader of the Phantom Troupe occasionally issues a "come if you have time" order, there are always members who are absent.

Most of the time, the members of the Phantom Troupe act independently, scattered across various locations according to their personal preferences.

Despite the Phantom Troupe's dispersed nature—

The bounty hunters who went after them still failed to achieve any success.

This highlights the Phantom Troupe's strength and the difficulty in dealing with them.

Kuroro Lucifer is the leader of the Phantom Troupe and the soul of the group.

One of his hobbies is reading various books, covering a wide range of topics. As long as it piques his interest, he will read it, even ethical books.

If one were to select his favorite theme from various genres, it would be "soul" and "human nature."

"Swamp Man" is a popular book published this year, with a core theme related to "soul and human nature," perfectly aligning with Kuroro's reading preferences.

Even Kuroro, who has read extensively, highly praised the quality of this book.

Thus, he wanted to obtain a signed copy for his collection. However, the author of "Swamp Man" seems to dislike holding signing events.

Therefore, the number of signing events held since its publication has been minimal.

This is why Kuroro came to Schwadani City.

To obtain a signed copy of a book, he risked his A-class wanted criminal status and ventured into Schwadani City, which is teeming with countless hunters. This action embodies the philosophy of the Phantom Troupe's founding.

Compared to queuing at a signing event, direct theft is more in line with the identity of a "thief."

As for killing—

In Kuroro's eyes, a human unrelated to him is merely a moving lump of flesh. To him, there is no difference between a moving lump of flesh and a stationary one.

Ignoring the young man's corpse on the ground, Kuroro looked at the signature on the cover of "Swamp Man," feeling a sense of satisfaction rise from within.

Having obtained what he wanted, this trip was not in vain.

"Leader."

A woman's voice came from the apartment door.

The speaker is Pakunoda, the 9th member of the Phantom Troupe.

When the Phantom Troupe is not engaged in activities, the members act independently, but Pakunoda always stays by Leader Kuroro's side, acting as his constant companion and secretary.

"It's time to go."

Pakunoda looked at Kuroro beside the corpse and reminded him.

Schwadani City is not a good place for criminals like them. Even with simple disguises, they might not be able to avoid detection.

Therefore, in Pakunoda's view, since they have obtained what they wanted, there is no need to linger. The safest course of action is to leave immediately.

This is the reason she reminded him.

Kuroro nodded slightly at Pakunoda.

He did not intend to stay in Schwadani City for long.

"Let's go."

Holding the signed copy of "Swamp Man," Kuroro walked past Pakunoda and stepped out of the door.

Pakunoda closed the door and followed behind Kuroro.

As they left, the room fell into a deathly silence.

In the living room, the corpse lay face down, with blood pooling around it.

After a while.

A bubble suddenly formed in the blood, pushing aside the dark red liquid.

It was a black bubble, inverted like a bowl on the blood, with a smooth, black surface that remained untouched by the blood.

The black bubble quickly expanded, forming a black, three-dimensional human silhouette in just a few moments. The size and height were almost identical to the corpse.

The black human silhouette stood in the blood, looking down at the corpse.

A few seconds later.

The black silhouette slowly squatted down and touched the corpse with its right hand.

"Crack!"

As it touched the corpse, a brief, intense crackling sound was followed by a brilliant arc of lightning that vanished instantly.

When the arc disappeared, the corpse and the blood pool vanished, leaving only a charred human-shaped mark on the ground, as if—

As described in "Swamp Man."

Lightning struck countless times, the deafening roar louder than the sun's brilliance. A complete human evaporated, leaving only a charred human-shaped mark on the ground as proof of existence.

Beside the strange scene, a dead, silent swamp suddenly formed a large bubble.

Pop.

The bubble burst without warning, and the black, liquid-like substance moved like a shadow into the charred human-shaped mark, as if pouring molten iron into a mold...

Another bolt of lightning flashed.

The "human" who had evaporated a few seconds ago reappeared in the world.

However, the charred human-shaped mark would remain forever.

Inside the room.

Beside the charred human-shaped mark.

The black human silhouette that had appeared from the blood a few seconds ago had now transformed into the appearance of a young man.

He inherited everything the young man once had, picking up the remote control from the coffee table as usual and turning on the TV to watch the daily soap opera.

The flickering light from the TV cast an indescribable eerie glow on the charred human-shaped mark.

At the Schwadani City airport.

Not long ago, a privately chartered spacecraft took off from the airport.

The person who chartered the spacecraft is Davidson Donald, the author of "Swamp Man."

Now, the spacecraft is flying over Schwadani City.

By the window, a man in a dark gray suit sat, with shoulder-length silver hair and a pale face. His eyes were as black as the abyss, showing no emotion.

This man is Davidson, the author of "Swamp Man."

"Verification complete."

Davidson slightly lowered his head, his black eyes reflecting the outline of Schwadani City.

"Spread, let this utterly terrible world... turn to nothingness."

His voice was cold and mechanical.