The Menu

Hearing Argos' voice, Moro guessed there was some progress in the investigation.

As for Argos' rather peculiar greeting, he didn't bother to respond.

His silence caused an awkward pause in the conversation.

Argos scratched her greasy hair and went straight to the point.

"Big spender, you're in a pretty bad situation right now."

"I noticed."

Moro glanced down at the corpse beneath him.

From Yorknew to the outskirts was roughly an hour's drive.

For Argos to gather such key information in that short time proved she was quite skilled.

With that in mind, Moro's gaze shifted toward the distant road.

If he continued along that path, it would lead to a barren wilderness where his private shooting range was located.

But given the current circumstances, that shooting range was most likely compromised and had lost its purpose.

As for where to practice from now on...

He'd have to come up with another solution.

Argos was initially confused by Moro's comment but quickly caught on.

"You were attacked?"

"Yes. I almost became your twenty-billion-jen windfall."

"That would've been so unfortu—well... Actually, I'd rather you not die too easily. If you did, not only would the money burn a hole in my pocket, but I'd also be at risk of being implicated."

Argos' rebuttal was surprisingly serious.

After all, if her newest client—someone worth a fortune—died right after taking her services, it wouldn't bode well for future business.

"Alright, get to the point."

Moro was eager to know how much Argos had uncovered.

Argos understood and immediately entered "professional mode."

"The ones investigating you are the Gambino family and someone named Clyde. You've heard of the Ten Dons, right?"

"I have."

Moro's eyes gleamed slightly.

"Gambino is the surname of one of the Ten Dons."

"..."

Moro was a bit surprised but soon calmed down.

The Ten Dons—the ten most powerful mafia leaders in the world—each controlled the criminal underworld of a different region across the six continents.

These Ten Dons were also the hosts of Yorknew City's grand annual auction.

If the Gambinos were involved...

It would explain how someone had the authority to falsify death certificates and how Melina had connections to such illegal dealings.

Moro recalled that three years from now, during Yorknew's infamous auction arc, Chrollo would hire Illumi to assassinate the Ten Dons.

In that mission, Illumi even enlisted his family's ancestor, Maha Zoldyck.

And to ensure they found the Dons' hidden meeting spot in time, Kalluto Zoldyck was brought in due to his tracking ability.

This alone showed how formidable the Ten Dons were.

"So, is Kalluto's tracking ability already active at this point in time?" Moro wondered.

"If I could hire someone from the Zoldyck family, would Silva or Zeno take a non-assassination-related job like kidnapping?"

And speaking of trackers...

A certain memory flashed in Moro's mind—Palm Siberia.

Her Deep-Sea Fish of Loneliness ability was highly effective for tracking.

But whether Palm had activated her ability at this point was uncertain. Moreover, her mentor Knov was extremely wary of her using it without strict oversight.

Convincing Knov wouldn't be easy, and money alone probably wouldn't persuade him.

"However, according to my findings, this whole situation wasn't ordered by Gambino himself but by his son, Nolan Gambino."

Argos' voice pulled Moro back from his thoughts.

"The son of a Ten Don?"

Moro blinked, listening intently as Argos continued:

"Nolan has been using his father's influence to operate a secretive business in regions under the Dons' protection. This business is called The Menu."

"The Menu?"

"On the surface, Nolan has been establishing hospitals across various regions, but behind the scenes, they're running human trafficking operations."

"The 'menu' refers to a list that breaks a person down into items of value for sale."

"This way, clients can select specific 'products' they need—organs, blood, and other parts harvested from the human body. Some clients even buy whole individuals to conduct... experiments."

"And in such transactions, compatibility is everything."

There was a brief pause before Argos' voice slowed down as if choosing her words carefully:

"Big spender... If you and Nolan don't have any personal feud, then the reason they're after you might be because you were 'matched' with a client's request."

"Is that so..." Moro murmured, his expression unreadable.

From the beginning, it was likely that some buyer needed something from him, leading to him being added to Nolan's "menu."

But tonight's ambush...

It probably wasn't just about meeting a client's needs.

The most likely explanation was that his killing of the two delivery drivers had been discovered.

However, Argos wasn't aware of that incident and assumed that Moro had been targeted purely for his "market value."

Yet another unsettling question lingered—

When Gell intervened to free the captives, did she unknowingly escalate this entire situation?

If Nolan had properly investigated and discovered that Gell was only involved by coincidence, not as part of an orchestrated attack...

Then anyone with half a brain wouldn't pursue vengeance over one shipment of captives.

Unless those particular captives had exceptional value.

If that were the case...

Nolan must have thoroughly confirmed Gell's lack of connection and then refocused on tracking down the other escapees.

Moro's guess was that Gell's actions had indeed bought him some time.

But once Nolan's men found other captives, they would piece everything together, and Moro's role in killing the drivers would be exposed.

"Argos."

"Hmm?"

"Help me check something."

To verify his suspicions, Moro needed information on the current whereabouts of the other escapees.

Ten minutes later...

Argos sent Moro a video.

Moro opened it.

A gut-wrenching scream of agony blared from his phone's speakers, echoing across the plains.

It was a live recording of torture.

Moro only watched briefly before silently closing the video.

The victim in the video was one of the captives who had shared the same transport cage as Moro.

Moro's face remained expressionless, but as his gaze shifted to the corpse of Vaughn, his eyes grew colder than ever.