Gourmet Hunter (HxH Fanfic)

Having his identity recognized was a trivial matter to Illumi, the problem is that he had no confidence in defeating Law, and engaging him would also yield no benefits.

Regardless of whether the oppressive presence surrounding Law was real or just a façade, once Law showed enough threat, Illumi would not take action without authorization.

If the commission was to take Ellie's life, that would have been a different story.

"Goodbye."

Illumi stepped back and his figure disappeared into the darkness. He left decisively without any delay.

To an observer, it might have seemed like Illumi had been frightened away by Law, but in fact, this is just one of the factors.

Judging from the one-sided show performed by Law, Illumi was still quite curious, but since it had nothing to do with the commission, there was really no point in voluntarily stepping into danger.

Law just watched Illumi leave quietly, but he did not relax his vigilance and quickly rushed to Ellie's side.

"Ellie."

Seeing Ellie's desolate and broken expression, Law felt a pang of sorrow.

After calling out several times without receiving any response, Law glanced at Barney's lifeless body on the ground, sighed softly, and picked up Ellie, only to find that she had lost consciousness.

Being constantly exposed to the rain caused the cold to invade her body, and coupled with witnessing her father's death with her own eyes, it was normal for her to not be able to hold on.

The one who struck was Illumi Zoldyck. Even without the chaos caused by Kuri and Vogt, as long as Ilmi didn't attack Ellie, Law wouldn't have risked his life for a drug lord.

In other words, no matter how events played out, Barney was destined to die today.

In Law's opinion, every member of the Zoldyck Family was incredibly dangerous. If Illumi had chosen to take action just now, Law doubted he could have saved Ellie.

'Perhaps… we were lucky.'

Law looked down at Ellie, whose eyes were closed and face was extremely pale, and then walked past Vogt, who was cowering in a corner, too terrified to make a move.

"Stay where you are. If you so much as twitch, you'll face the consequences."

When passing by Vogt, Law glanced at Vogt, who was lowering his head without daring to speak.

With his life in Law's hands, he had no means to resist.

'Barney and Martin were dead, but there was a chance Kenda was still alive.'

Law held Ellie in his arms and went to find Kenda who had been kicked into a building. He lifted the broken bricks and dug out Kenda, who was still breathing.

At this time, the gunfire on the street had ceased, replaced by the shrill sound of police sirens.

Law had no idea what was happening on the street, were unfamiliar with the relationship between the Mafia and the Yorknew City's police, and did not have the ability to handle the aftermath, so he urgently needed Kenda to take charge of the situation.

"If you're not dead, wake up."

Law held Ellie in one hand and slapped Kenda's cheek with the other.

After ten or so slaps, Kenda groaned and slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he saw was Ellie, who seemed to be unconscious. He scrambled upright in alarm, only to wince in pain as his injuries flared up, nearly causing him to collapse again.

"What happened to Ellie?" Kenda endured the pain and asked anxiously.

Placing a hand on Ellie's forehead, Law said in a deep voice: "Barney is dead. Ellie's in shock, and she's developed a fever after being out in the rain for so long."

"Master is dead?"

Kenda's face changed, and he forced himself to stand despite his injuries.

"If you can still move, start cleaning up this mess. There's something I'll need your help with later. For now, check if this house has any medicine." With Ellie in his arms, Law headed upstairs to the second floor.

The building was a residential home, so there might be some emergency medicines available. By 'cleaning up the mess', Law was referring to handling the aftermath of the street shootout.

It would be too awkward if they survived the assassins' attacks only to be caught by the police.

Though shaken, Kenda managed to steady himself. He forced his mind to calm down and followed Law upstairs.

He was seriously injured, but he knew he couldn't afford to collapse now, so with sheer willpower, he kept himself going.

Law directly pulled out the terrified resident from under the bed, and after some questioning and getting the medicine and fever-reducing patch, Law asked Kenda to leave the gold watch on his wrist that was badly scratched as compensation.

He applied the patch to Ellie's forehead and gave her a dose of medication before leaving the building.

During this period, Kenda tried to gather information about the situation on the street through his earpiece and phone, but all his attempts failed. The worst-case scenario was that all his men had been wiped out.

Kenda told Law the worst-case scenario he had predicted, but the latter remained silent.

The three of them returned to Vogt, who is still huddled on the wall. Law looked at Kenda and asked, "We need to leave Yorknew City immediately. Can you leverage your connections to keep the police off our backs?"

Kenda nodded. In Yorknew City, the police functioned more like security guards, with the Mafia holding greater authority. As long as he revealed his background, the police would definitely cooperate.

"That's good."

Law retracted his gaze and looked at Vogt. Holding Ellie with one hand and conjuring the book of God Hand with the other, his thought suddenly paused.

At this time, he noticed there's a white number '102' on the cover of the book.

When Law saw this number, he immediately thought of the number of pages in the book.

Then, he quickly turned to the last page of the book, and confirmed it had grown to 102 pages, which are two more than before.

Law glanced at Ellie, whose breathing was still a little disordered, in his arms, then looked at Kenda, before withdrawing his gaze.

'I see…'

Without dwelling further, he took out Vogt's heart and dispelled the book.

"I'm not a fan of loose ends. If trouble comes, I will find a way to resolve them as soon as possible, so I'm giving you a chance to live." Law held the beating heart and looked at Vogt coldly.

The act of holding the heart in his hands is very impactful.

Law's words gave Vogt a chance to breathe. He immediately realized that Law was not going to kill him, but needed something from him.

"What do you want me to do?" Vogt was like a drowning man grabbing a straw, and he would not let it go regardless of whether the straw could save him or not.

"It's very simple. Take these collections back to Meteor City and report to the Elder. Tell him that everyone else is dead except you." Law stated his request.

"Including you?" Vogt's eyes narrowed.

Law replied coldly: "Obviously."

"A fake death?!" Vogt blurted out.

Law's eyes suddenly turned cold, and Vogt turned silent when he saw this.

"Can you promise not to… harm my heart?" Vogt asked hesitantly after a brief silence.

Even if he did exactly as Law instructed, as long as his heart was in Law's hands, his life wouldn't truly be his own. The thought that Law could end him on a whim was suffocating for him.

"You don't have a choice."

Law said as he sealed the heart back into the book.

Vogt fell silent upon hearing this. He really had no choice. This was his only chance to survive.

"Okay, I promise you!"

Grasping at this fragile opportunity, Vogt vowed to cling to it, even if it didn't guarantee safety. It might not save him from drowning, but at least it wouldn't be the final straw that broke him.

"Remember, don't do anything unnecessary. Even if you are acting, you have to act realistically." Law reminded in a cold voice.

His plan was to have Vogt return to Meteor City with the collections and report to the Elder about the news of his death. In other words, he would not return to Meteor City for the time being.

Since the Elder gets what he wants, and now that he is 'dead', the Elder will probably not cause trouble for Machi and the others.

In order to avoid unnecessary trouble, Law did not intend to let Vogt tell Machi and the others that he was not dead yet, so as to avoid any unforeseen variables.

Anyway, he has to go back to Meteor City, but not now. He would only go back once he was stronger, which is also when he would take Shin from the Elder.

Vogt reluctantly accepted the terms, knowing he had no other choice.