Chrollo didn't hesitate for long before answering, "In the Kakin Empire, I was being pursued by Hisoka and couldn't shake him off."
Germain already knew about this part. What he didn't know was what happened next—at some point, Hisoka suddenly stopped sending updates on his progress.
As Germain was thinking about this, Chrollo continued.
"Hisoka has clearly changed. Every trap I set in advance, he noticed and avoided. That's not something he would've done before."
"If it were the old him, he would've seen it as a challenge, accepted it eagerly, and relished the thrill of defeating me in a tough situation."
"I originally planned to use that against him, but he didn't take the bait. Instead, he just kept chasing me… like he was fishing, trying to wear me down completely."
"In the end, I realized I couldn't keep going like that, so I engaged him in a sudden, decisive battle."
"We both suffered severe injuries. We fell off a waterfall and were swept into a raging river."
Chrollo raised his left arm—his hand was missing.
"When I woke up from unconsciousness, I found out someone had saved me. But my injuries were too severe, and the doctors there didn't have the resources to treat me properly, so they had to amputate."
Germain asked the question that interested him more. "What about Hisoka?"
"I don't know," Chrollo replied. "But I don't think he's dead. We were separated, and I have no idea where he was carried off to downstream."
"If he hasn't come after me again, it's probably because he ran into some kind of problem."
"After that, while recovering from my injuries, I learned that this place is the famous 'Slum Quarter' of the Kakin Empire."
"The people living here are marked as 'untouchables'—permanently branded and never allowed to rise above their status."
"But even though I lost my hands and feet, I used them to get back what I truly wanted."
As he said this, Chrollo actually smiled, a rare expression of joy. He genuinely believed what he was saying.
Germain was curious.
"You 'got back' what you wanted? What do you mean?"
"You're interested in this?"
"Yeah."
"Alright, then I'll tell you."
Chrollo glanced at Sheila first before speaking. "Since you're familiar with Sheila, she must have already told you about our connection, right?"
"She told us some of it," Germain replied. "But we figured out most of it on our own."
"That makes sense." Chrollo nodded thoughtfully. "Back then, what happened to Sarasa caused a huge stir in Meteor City. A lot of people knew about it."
"In any case, we never stopped searching for the killers. But they never did what we expected—they never posted the video on our 'site.'"
"That was strange. Normally, scum like them wouldn't be able to hold back for this long. They would have wanted to share it with others."
"That's when we realized something."
"The ones who tortured and killed Sarasa must have had connections with Meteor City. That's why they could come and go so easily."
"Their actions back then weren't just about murder—they were mocking us, using us for their own twisted pleasure... And to do that, they had to take one last crucial step."
"That step was coming back here—to watch us. Our pain and frustration were their source of enjoyment."
"It's very likely that, under the guise of working with Meteor City, they silently observed us for years, watching how we grew."
"In fact, we may have already met them before. We may have even spoken to them without realizing it."
"At that time, the Phantom Troupe had already gained some notoriety. By the time they wanted to get rid of us, it was too late. So instead, they started to fear us."
"They were afraid that we would track them down, so they stopped coming to Meteor City. And they definitely wouldn't have released the video voluntarily."
"Because they knew that, given the right conditions, we could trace them through the footage."
Chrollo paused for a moment, turning his head to look at Pakunoda.
"Once we realized this, we used Pakunoda's Nen ability to search through 'memories' of all the outsiders who had appeared over the years, tracking them down one by one."
"But there were simply too many, and they couldn't have stayed in the same place forever. In the end, we weren't able to complete the investigation over the years."
"This is one of the reasons why the Phantom Troupe often splits up. While each of us follows our own pursuits, we're also continuing the investigation."
"But in the end, the clue we couldn't find, no matter how hard we tried, ended up appearing before me by pure chance."
"The woman who saved me from the river claimed to be from Meteor City, just like us. But as a child, she was kidnapped by a strange man, tied up, and thrown into a van."
Germain noticed that Chrollo, Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda's expressions all turned ice-cold at that moment. Only Sheila looked as if a weight had been lifted off her shoulders.
"I asked her about the details of that day. She told me about something she would never forget—what she called 'the nightmare of her life.'"
"At the time, her eyes were covered, and her mouth was gagged, but she could still hear. She heard the scream of a young girl she didn't recognize."
"That girl was struggling violently in the van, shouting the words 'Sweepers' and calling out many names."
"There was no doubt—she was calling for us. That girl was Sarasa."
"The men in the van were annoyed by Sarasa's screaming, so they gagged her too. But even then, she kept struggling and resisting."
"Soon after, the van stopped. That woman said she heard the men cursing before they dragged Sarasa out."
"Then, she heard the most terrifying screams and cruel laughter she had ever experienced in her life. She also clearly heard them mention something about 'recording.'"
"After everything fell silent, the woman and the other kidnapped girls in the van were so terrified that they didn't dare to resist anymore."
"They were later taken onto a ship, crossing the ocean, and sent far away to the Kakin Empire's 'slums.' The purpose was to carry out what they called 'breeding of the underclass.'"
"The Kakin Empire needed the lowest-tier citizens. But the children of the underclass would always remain underclass. No normal woman would willingly bear children for them, so this dark trade was born."
Machi's pink hair was further tousled by the night breeze. She got up and shut the window, but the room's temperature still seemed to drop.
Chrollo's eyes darkened, lost deep in his memories.
"I quickly got in touch with Shalnark, Machi, and Pakunoda. We regrouped and took that woman away."
"With more clues in hand, we finally caught one of them and followed the trail to the rest. That's how we found their hidden recordings."
"One of them… we knew him. He was the one who sold us the intel on the Kurta Clan's Scarlet Eyes."
Kurapika remained motionless, showing no reaction.
"After all these years, even though they feared us, they never thought to destroy the tapes. Many twisted serial killers have that kind of obsession."
"Every time the Phantom Troupe's name appeared in the papers, they would take out those tapes, reliving their sense of thrill—enjoying the fact that we never caught them."
"But after we made them 'enjoy' a pain ten, no, a hundred times worse than Sarasa's… they finally broke. One by one, they died."
"But we knew they were just small fry. The true mastermind behind it all… was the Kakin Empire."
"And yet, we didn't have the power to take revenge against an empire that vast."
********
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