The Strongest Assassin of the Zoldyck Family!

Kurapika shook his head.

"I've already returned the payment that the Nostrade family sent in advance. Since I'm no longer Miss Neon's bodyguard, I can't tell you about her situation."

With that, Kurapika turned away.

After walking a while and confirming that Baise wasn't following, he finally relaxed.

Baise had suddenly disappeared and now reappeared, claiming there was nothing wrong. But Kurapika didn't dare to believe that.

The situation in Yorknew was growing increasingly complicated, and Kurapika would not trust others lightly.

He entered a secret room and pressed a switch on the wall. The light turned on.

Hooker was tied to a pillar, limbs restrained, even his neck fixed in place. In the earlier preparation, Kurapika had also injected him with poison. At this point, Hooker was incapable of movement.

"So you're the Chain User?" Hooker had guessed Kurapika's identity, and his eyes were filled with intense disgust.

"You're a lackey of the Underworld Mafia?"

In Hooker's view, the Chain User and the Shadow Beast were the same—they all worked for the Underworld Mafia. Hooker harbored an extreme hatred for the Underworld Mafia.

Kurapika frowned. Hooker's expression made him uncomfortable, because Kurapika believed that only he had the right to hate the Phantom Troupe, who had exterminated the Kurta Clan. What right did members of the Phantom Troupe have to hate him?

"I'm not with the Underworld Mafia. I'm just a bodyguard of the Nosra family!"

Hooker snorted. "What's the difference? Aren't you still their lackey?"

Kurapika's frown deepened. "I said I'm not with the Underworld Mafia. I don't know what grudge you have with them to hate them so much, but you have no right to hate me. Only I have the right to hate all of you."

As he spoke, Kurapika removed his contact lenses. "Do you remember these eyes?"

His scarlet eyes entered Hooker's view.

"Never seen them."

"Never seen them?" Kurapika froze, then suddenly roared, "Is this what the Phantom Troupe is? Back then, so many of you stormed into our Kurta settlement and killed every last member of my clan, just for these Scarlet Eyes! All that slaughter, all that cruelty and brutality… for what? Just a few tens of billions of jenny! Bloodthirsty, ruthless, inhuman—treating their lives like nothing! And now you say you've never seen them? You're no better than a beast!"

Kurapika's fury intensified, his eyes grew even redder, and a streak of blood spilled from the corner of his eye, trailing down his cheek.

Hooker seemed to recall something. "The Kurta Clan? I heard the other members mention them… but at that time, I hadn't joined the Phantom Troupe yet. I joined later. I've never seen those Scarlet Eyes, never met your people."

Kurapika's expression froze. "You joined after that? You weren't part of that operation?"

Kurapika fell silent. His hatred of the Phantom Troupe stemmed from what they did to the Kurta Clan. But if Hooker hadn't participated, then Kurapika had no grounds to hate him personally.

Kurapika calmed down, the redness fading from his eyes. "You weren't involved back then, so I have no reason to kill you. But I can't let you go either. I need you to tell me everything you know—information about the Phantom Troupe members, their plans, their abilities."

But Hooker kept his eyes closed. "I can't tell you."

"You're not afraid to die?"

"Even if I die, I can't tell you."

"Why? Does the Phantom Troupe mean that much to you? You weren't even one of the original members. What feelings could you possibly have for them?"

Kurapika was puzzled. To him, the Phantom Troupe were criminals, selfish and vicious. Hooker was a later addition—what could possibly make him so loyal?

"I won't tell you. If you want to kill me, go ahead and do it now."

Kurapika stared at him intently. "Aren't they just a gang of criminals? All of them vicious murderers. What kind of friendship could exist among such people? What do they mean to you? Is it really worth going this far for them?"

Hooker opened his eyes and looked straight at Kurapika. "What do you think the Phantom Troupe is?"

"Criminals. Vicious criminals!" Kurapika's voice dripped with hatred.

"Criminals, yes. I've killed many people since joining the Phantom Troupe, and my hands are stained with blood. But I can promise you: innocent people have rarely died at my hands. I can't speak for the others, but each of them has their own code they live by. And this world wronged us first."

Hooker continued, "The Phantom Troupe comes from Meteor Street. Since you have a grudge with them, you must have investigated their backgrounds. You should know what kind of place Meteor Street is—a dump for the entire world, an abandoned land.

Have you been there? Do you know how much garbage there is? Do you know what life is like for people there? The very air reeks of filth.

"This world wronged Meteor Street first. Every year, countless Meteor Street residents die because of outsiders—poison mixed in with the garbage, explosives, and even starvation is common. So, when people from Meteor Street go out and kill a few innocents, isn't that to be expected? Why should people from Meteor Street have to live like that? Why should they be treated that way?

"When the Phantom Troupe kills outsiders, all we're doing is paying back the world for what it's done to us."

Kurapika spoke coldly. "But what does that have to do with the Kurta Clan?"