"It seems this job of ours is a bust."
Zeno Zoldyck, who had already arrived within Ambrossa territory and was preparing to take action, hung up the phone.
With a calm expression, he looked toward Silva Zoldyck, who was also on the phone, confirming the situation.
"It's confirmed."
After confirming with the person on the other end of the line, Silva turned to his father without expression.
"Our employer has indeed lost the breath of life."
"Good grief, we finally came all this way, and this is the result..."
Zeno shook his head slightly, his tone carrying a hint of regret for losing this job.
"It seems that from now on, any job related to Ambrossa or Vice-Chairman Luke must be raised by a level."
"If others still want to commission us to assassinate them, they must prepare for a much higher price."
Here, Zeno paused.
"But I would rather they back off after understanding the difficulty and refuse to accept the higher price."
"Otherwise, the likelihood of us making empty trips will only increase..."
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Just as he finished speaking, Silva's phone chimed again with the arrival of a message.
"Hm?!"
Silva glanced at it and then… his eyelids twitched.
"What is it?"
Zeno asked casually. "Who is it from?"
"It should still be that Vice-Chairman Luke."
Silva said slowly. "He's asking me what the price would be to assassinate Chairman Netero."
"Hehehe, he has just become Vice-Chairman and already can't wait to climb up and become chairman?"
Zeno stroked his beard while laughing. "Young people these days truly have extraordinary ambition, and they're so blatant about it."
"Tell him that he cannot afford Chairman Netero's price."
No sooner had he said this than Silva continued: "He seems to know that."
"He asks: if it were an assassination on one of the Zodiac Twelves, what would the price be?"
"The Zodiac Twelves? That depends; some are expensive, some are cheap."
Zeno immediately calculated the respective prices in his mind.
"If it's someone like Ging Freecss or Botobai, the price would also be outrageously high..."
Clearly, he had extensive knowledge of the Hunter Association's Zodiac Twelves.
For the Zoldyck Family, the information channel is one of the most crucial tools in assassination work.
"But if it's the others..."
"He asked specifically about the Rat, Pariston."
Silva directly revealed the target Luke requested.
"That Rat, huh?"
Zeno also fell into contemplation.
He did not know much about Pariston.
For the Zoldyck Family, the world's top assassin family, the words they did not know much were already enough to show the problem.
If even their intelligence network could not gather more information on Pariston, then that guy was by no means ordinary.
"... If it's Pariston, both of us must act together."
After thinking for only a moment, Zeno made the judgment.
"If he can pay the price high enough to hire both of us, then I wouldn't mind meeting that Rat."
Even for this mysterious Rat, in Zeno Zoldyck's eyes, he was at most someone to be slightly cautious of.
If they dared to give a quote for Chairman Netero, then a mere Zodiac was nothing.
And if worst came to worst… he could call his grandfather, Maha Zoldyck, and his grandson, Illumi, as well.
With the entire Zoldyck Family out in force, would they still fear they couldn't deal with that man?
Beep! Beep! Beep!
Silva quickly entered a number and sent it to Luke.
Then…
"He agreed."
Silva turned his phone toward Zeno and showed the message from Luke.
Ding!
"He transferred the money upfront."
Silva glanced at the account notification and confirmed the number: "And it's the full amount."
"Full payment? Not even a deposit, looks like he has great confidence in us."
Zeno's face revealed a fox-like grin.
"Perfect. One job was just voided, and now a new one has arrived."
"Change route. We're going to the Hunter Association."
Zeno decisively turned around with no hesitation or reluctance and headed toward Ambrossa's airport.
"Paying in full immediately, what a refined man, hahaha."
Zeno's laughter echoed under the sky.
Silva followed behind his father with steady steps.
Actually, after they accepted Luke's commission, the other side also sent a message: "So quick to accept? Refined!"
He, too, felt that the duo was refined.
This should count as mutual recognition.
Thus, after receiving Luke's mid-journey commission, this father-son duo of the Zoldyck Family, the strongest assassin family in the world today, who were originally targeting Ambrossa, decisively changed direction and target, and prepared to complete their next job according to the new employer's request.
Just as Zeno and Silva were heading toward the Hunter Association building, the news of the deaths of the other Mafia Dons also began to spread.
After all, the power and impact generated by the remote-controlled bombs Luke had planted were indeed not to be underestimated.
Not to mention, the Mafia Dons themselves were key figures under close watch by many, and their every move was being observed by those below.
Some people wanted to understand their preferences or weaknesses to curry favor with them, solve their problems, and climb upward.
Some were ambitious and looking for chances to pull them down and take their places.
The main goal was the same: to climb the ladder and become one of the new Mafia Don.
And this time, they really were going to get their wish.
"The Mafia Dons over there... They were really wiped out?!"
In Yorknew City, Light Nostrade, after receiving the news, first showed disbelief, then pure joy.
"I knew it! That lord definitely has the ability and means to casually erase the other Mafia Dons!!"
Light Nostrade spun in excitement.
"The prophetic intel I sent must have played a very important role, too!!"
The reason Luke knew there would be an assassination attempt from the Zoldyck Family this time was that he learned the news from the fortune poems sent by Light Nostrade.
Basically, every week, he would obtain future-development fortune poems from Light Nostrade.
Although Neon Nostrade, the one writing the prophecies, was very reluctant every time, that was Light Nostrade's own business.
If he couldn't even handle his own daughter, he might as well stop trying to survive in the underworld.
"Those Mafia Dons really brought death upon themselves. But this is perfect!!"
A gleam of ambition flickered in Light Nostrade's eyes: "If they had stayed obedient, that lord might not have bothered dealing with them. But since they insisted on courting death..."