Hunter X Hunter: I Got Stronger After I Died

Leaving Heaven's Arena for the Kugan Jade Empire.

If everything had gone smoothly, Moro should have reached his destination a week ago.

However, an unexpected incident on the airship delayed him until now.

If not for his level skyrocketing from Lv7 to Lv22, causing a shift in his mindset—

And with Argo's information about the Phantom Troupe's continued dispersed activities within the Kugan Jade Empire—

Moro might have simply turned around and gone back to Heaven's Arena.

At this moment, Moro spotted Hisoka in the café, a flicker of surprise flashing through his heart before he quickly averted his gaze.

After glancing at Hisoka for a few moments, the surrounding customers also lost interest and looked away.

The older patrons had relatively normal reactions, but the younger ones couldn't help commenting on Hisoka's tear-shaped face paint and his bright red, pointed boots.

The more they talked, the less they tried to conceal their laughter.

Hisoka wasn't far from them and naturally heard the mocking remarks.

Yet he remained completely unbothered, sitting alone on a high stool by the floor-to-ceiling window. With one elbow resting on the table and his cheek propped on the back of his hand, his narrow eyes watched the flow of pedestrians on the street outside.

Near the glass door, Moro sat at his table. Using his peripheral vision, he glanced at the group of laughing young people.

These kids had no idea they were mocking a psychopath who could crush them effortlessly.

Letting go of his instinct to intervene and respecting others' fate, Moro kept listening to the comments from that side. Remarks like "Why not throw on a red clown nose while he's at it?" floated over. Moro fought hard to avoid imagining the scenario, distracting himself by lightly stirring his coffee with a spoon.

If he remembered correctly, Hisoka joined the Phantom Troupe this year…

There were typically two ways to join the Phantom Troupe.

The first was to kill a current member and take their place.

However, this rule wasn't absolute.

The second was for Chrollo to personally recruit someone to fill a vacant position.

Chrollo's skill, Skill Hunter, also contained an ability to "find suitable candidates."

With this ability, Chrollo could locate people who met his criteria and specifically target them to fill vacancies in the group.

Using this ability, Chrollo had once prepared a tactical combination of abilities to crush Hisoka in the original storyline, leaving Hisoka no chance to fight back.

In a fan story titled Nen Exorcist, Chrollo also gathered a set of tailored abilities to kill a powerful Nen user, only to have his plans foiled. That failure ultimately led to the troupe's annihilation.

In essence, the Phantom Troupe was far from a ragtag group.

It had specialists focused on direct combat, intelligence operatives skilled at scouting, and versatile members who supported various plans.

Chrollo's ability to find people ensured that this balanced team structure could always be maintained.

Hisoka joined the Phantom Troupe this year, not because Chrollo sought him out, but because he targeted the current No. 4 member.

That said, although Hisoka did take the No. 4 position in the original story, he didn't kill the previous No. 4 member.

Now that Moro thought about it, Hisoka's presence here at this time practically confirmed that he was about to target the No. 4 member soon to join the troupe.

Moro's thoughts shifted to Zeno, who was hunting the No. 8 member of the troupe and had likely also arrived in Kanda City by now…

In that case, Hisoka—who favored one-on-one battles—might have taken advantage of Zeno's actions to secure an opportunity to fight the No. 4 member alone.

Moro lowered his gaze, stopping the stirring motion of his spoon.

Scattered pieces of information fit together in his mind, forming a rough picture.

Then his thoughts returned to the established plot point: "Hisoka didn't actually kill the No. 4 member."

In that case…

Was there an opportunity to pick up the leftovers again?

And would the potential rewards from this opportunity justify the risks?

Moro couldn't help but consider the feasibility of this idea.

The main reason was the irresistibility of his recent level-up experience on the airship.

In such a short time, he had skyrocketed past Level 20, earning additional Nen ability slots as a reward.

Moro had a hunch that this straightforward leveling system would likely offer at least one more skill enhancement reward as his level increased.

Even if it didn't, the direct increase in his aura capacity and potential aura output would still effectively boost his Nen abilities' power.

This desire for level progression had already been thoroughly activated in Moro.

"Nothing ventured, nothing gained…"

Moro stared into his cup of coffee. The edge of his spoon lightly tapped the rim, sending ripples across the dark brown liquid.

Rewards and risks always went hand in hand.

This was the essence of Contracts and Limitations.

Moro made his decision.

He would observe from the sidelines, wait for the right moment, and act decisively if an opportunity presented itself. If not, he'd retreat immediately.

The Phantom Troupe, Zeno, Hisoka…

Placing these figures on the chessboard was an advantage granted to Moro by the information gap.

As evening approached, customers came and went from the café.

The young group that had been mocking Hisoka earlier seemed to have finally tired of their antics, turning their attention elsewhere.

From start to finish, Hisoka had paid no attention to their taunts.

He simply continued staring at the crowd outside, as if searching for his target among the passersby.

"So hard to choose…"

Hisoka's narrow eyes squinted slightly.

The Phantom Troupe—

A new and deeply tempting group of prey.

But he had no interest in team battles. What he sought, always, was one-on-one combat.

And so, among the scattered spiders, he would only choose one target who met his standards.

The sun sank below the horizon, and night descended.

The city's lights began to flicker on, one by one.

Suddenly, Hisoka stood from his stool and walked straight toward the exit.

As he passed by the young group that had mocked him earlier, they caught sight of the heart-shaped motifs on his shirt and burst out laughing again.

But Hisoka still ignored their existence, pushing open the glass door and leaving the café.

Moro watched the bell stop ringing as the door shut behind Hisoka, feeling a bit surprised.

Though he knew Hisoka had no interest in ordinary people, it was unexpected that he remained entirely unfazed by such open ridicule…

This caught Moro off guard.

Shaking his head slightly, he glanced at the group of young people still laughing among themselves, then finished the now-cold coffee in his cup before getting up to leave.

Just as he reached the exit, a loud noise suddenly erupted in the distance.

The sound was so intense that the café's patrons instinctively fell silent.

Both Moro, inside the café, and Hisoka, out on the street, turned toward the source of the noise.

For a moment, the same gleam flashed in both their eyes.

Meanwhile.

At a fountain plaza, Zeno slowly rose to his feet.

Before him lay a corpse with a heavily caved-in back.

Not far ahead of Zeno stood several Phantom Troupe members, led by Chrollo.

Their gazes were cold and filled with undisguised killing intent as they stared at Zeno, who had descended like a meteor to claim the life of one of their comrades.

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