101: Kindred Spirits with Hisoka?

After Ronnel finished clearing out all the enemies, a small surveillance drone finally arrived.

"Is it... over already?"

Lippo, watching the screen as it displayed the lifeless bodies of all the prisoners, dropped his bag of chips, spilling them everywhere.

"My god... it's done..."

Shaking with fear, the guardian glanced at the scene, while Lippo, teeth clenched, announced,

"Gon and the others have passed the group arena. They can continue."

The stone bridge connected to the cliff slowly rose, allowing Gon and the group to move forward.

Leorio's feelings were conflicted as he looked at the bridge, then back at Ronnel, who stood calmly in the ring, Kurapika fainted on his shoulders.

After the bridge was fully raised, Ronnel walked over to the prisoners' cliff and checked the bodies.

From Bendot, he found "Intermediate Strength Talent" and "Elementary Combat Skills." Sedokan had "Intermediate Deception," similar to Majtani. Johness dropped "Advanced Dismemberment" and "Intermediate Strength Talent."

Leroute, however, offered up some real treasures:

"Comprehensive Psychological Knowledge," "Intermediate Seduction Techniques," "Encyclopedia of Spiritual Research," and "Intermediate Human Psychology."

Four light clusters!

It made sense—she was a psychiatrist, after all, with a wealth of knowledge and a sharp ability to read people.

Feeling impressed, Ronnel absorbed all the skills and knowledge into himself. Then, he turned his attention to Leorio and the others, who were approaching.

"Ronnel..."

Leorio hesitated, struggling to find the right words.

Whoosh!

The sound of something cutting through the air made Leorio and the others tense up, instinctively going on guard. But the stone wasn't aimed at them.

"Alright, now we can talk," Ronnel said, clapping his hands after smashing the spare drone with a rock.

Again... Lippo watched from the control room, expressionless as the screen turned to static once more.

"Prison warden..."

The guardians approached nervously.

"I know, I know. I won't send any more backup drones. Anyway, we have other monitors in place. If it's something they don't want us to see, I won't bother."

His reasoning was sound, but the two guardians, who knew Lippo well, felt even more uneasy.

They quickly found an excuse to leave. As they exited, the sound of something breaking echoed from inside the control room.

Yep, same prison warden. The two exchanged a knowing glance before swiftly leaving the scene.

Inside the Tower...

"Ronnel, you said you're a member of the Phantom Troupe. Is that true?"

Leorio was still unsure how to start, but Gon cut straight to the point.

Leorio sighed with relief as Gon voiced the question he'd been struggling to ask. All three of them stared intently at Ronnel.

"Yeah, I am. I'm number 8, as you saw."

The air grew heavier after Ronnel confirmed it.

"So, when did you join the Phantom Troupe?" Killua asked.

"Two years ago. The leader approached me, and I didn't have any reason to refuse."

Ronnel answered casually, though a mischievous glint danced in his eyes.

Sooner or later, Kurapika and the others would find out about his involvement with the Phantom Troupe when they reached Yorknew City.

That was why Ronnel had stuck with Gon and the others during this phase of the exam. He wanted to preempt the shock they would experience when his connection to the Troupe was exposed later on.

Instead of waiting for it to happen in Yorknew, where Pakunoda or the others might sense something from their memories, Ronnel thought it would be better to ease the group into it now.

Though he wasn't afraid of Feitan, Phinks, or anyone in the Troupe confronting him, he preferred to avoid unnecessary conflicts. It was a hassle.

In the original story, Hisoka had pretended not to know Gon and the others after being captured, all to smoothly progress toward his fight with Chrollo.

Even Gon knew, in the end, that it was better to play along. Though he almost slipped up by shouting Hisoka's name at the start, he quickly caught on.

Ronnel's approach wasn't so different from Hisoka's.

Hisoka wanted to fight and kill Chrollo.

Ronnel, on the other hand, wanted to collect the bodies of the Troupe members—the more, the better. Letting Hisoka take them down would save him time and effort. Why not?

Huh. In a way, Hisoka and I might be kindred spirits.

Ronnel smirked at the thought.

After hearing his explanation, Leorio and Gon visibly relaxed, as if a weight had been lifted off their shoulders.

On the way to Dolle Harbor aboard the ship, Kurapika had shared how his people were massacred by the Phantom Troupe five years ago, and how their Scarlet Eyes were stolen.

Since Ronnel only joined the Troupe two years ago, he couldn't have been involved in the massacre.

That was a relief.

Leorio and Gon exchanged a glance, both of them smiling faintly. It seemed that Kurapika wouldn't be going on a rampage after all.

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