Lu Ou assumed a textbook stance, confirmed his facial expression was in place, then slowly turned his head. A figure was approaching through the bushes.
Some of the branches seemed to grow in unruly directions, crisscrossing and blocking the path. The newcomer was clearly impatient, casually swatting them aside with his hands, not caring if they snapped back and hit his face, hurrying forward without pause.
Lu Ou didn't forget the role he was playing. His eyes and brows nearly scrunched together, his face twisted into an unlucky, miserable look. As if startled, he jumped aside and shouted nervously,
"Who's there?!"
Even his voice trembled convincingly. Lu Ou silently gave himself a high score—room for improvement next time. There was no helping it; the Hunter world was full of award-winning actors. If you couldn't act a little, you wouldn't survive, especially as a non-protagonist.
"Heh, so it's you. Running into you is great," the newcomer said.
The man was bare-chested, with only a necktie hanging around his neck. Looking closely, it was Leorio.
Or rather—looked like Leorio.
He was in a sorry state, as if he had just crawled out of some trap. He was covered in injuries, though fortunately none of them seemed serious.
As the man approached, Lu Ou carefully observed his appearance. At first glance, he really did resemble Leorio, and the familiar, pleasantly surprised smile on his face was convincing—like running into an old friend far from home.
However, carried on the faint breeze was a smell that couldn't be hidden.
The smell of a monkey.
With skills like this, you still dare try to scam me… Lu Ou thought. If I don't make good use of you, I'd be letting down all your hard work.
He was actually quite pleased. He had just set the stage, and prey had already delivered itself. The only regret was that this one clearly wasn't on the same level as the fake examiner he'd encountered earlier.
Still—being stupid had its advantages.
"Leorio, why are you here?" Lu Ou asked with an enthusiastic smile, a stark contrast to his earlier wariness. Toward the end, his voice even wavered slightly with concern.
"Didn't you leave with Kurapika first? Did something happen?"
The man paused, his eyes darting around. He clearly hadn't expected Lu Ou to immediately ask about someone else. Still, his sweet-talking skills were more than adequate.
"That's right. We got separated," he replied smoothly. "We ran into traps earlier and lost each other. I don't even know what the situation is like right now."
To make it more convincing, "Leorio" put on a worried expression, showing deep concern for his missing companions.
Three parts intelligence, seven parts acting.
It wasn't a perfect performance, but it passed. If Lu Ou hadn't known the plot—known that the real Leorio was currently fighting Hisoka in a life-or-death struggle—he might actually have been fooled.
Lu Ou evaluated the Face Ape's acting silently.
"Come on, Leorio. Weren't you already hungry earlier?" Lu Ou said warmly. "I prepared plenty of food especially for you. Eat some first. If it's not enough, we'll eat more when we reach the venue. Gon has a lot too."
He enthusiastically opened a shoulder bag he had deliberately kept hidden—one he had borrowed from Gon earlier—and took out several green fruits and a few steamed buns.
These were bought on the street earlier when he was preparing ingredients for the steak restaurant. They weren't cheap—he had bought them specifically for this moment.
The Face Ape stared at the pile of food stacked like a small mountain, momentarily stunned.
After all, it was an omnivorous magical beast, but its main diet was still human flesh. Food this vegetarian made it very hard to swallow—emotionally and physically.
"What's wrong?" Lu Ou added casually. "Aren't these your favorite foods, Leorio?"
Damn it—should've impersonated someone else.
Hearing this, the Face Ape hurriedly replied, "No, no! It's just… so much good food all at once. I'm just really happy."
The Face Ape wasn't very strong. It relied entirely on sweet talk and deception to obtain prey. With the prey not yet secured, it absolutely couldn't reveal any flaws.
For the sake of a good bite of meat later, it decided that patience was key.
"Thank you, Ou. Then I won't hold back."
The Face Ape-as-Leorio picked up a fruit, took two bites, found it sour and mostly tasteless, avoided chewing, and swallowed it in two gulps. Then it grabbed a steamed bun, intending to eat only that much.
It looked like it was wolfing the food down, but in reality, it desperately avoided chewing.
Unfortunately, that strategy wasn't going to work in front of Lu Ou.
With a glint in his eye, Lu Ou said, "Leorio, you're eating so fast—you must've been starving. It's fine, I've got more. Take your time."
As he spoke, he pulled out more fruits and buns from the cloth bag.
"Cough…"
The Face Ape suffered internally but said nothing.
Human food is awful. Humans themselves taste much better.
That thought looped endlessly in its mind as it miserably continued eating.
By the time Lu Ou brought out the third round of food, the Face Ape was seriously considering giving up. It was a Face Ape, not a Face Pig—its stomach wasn't that big.
On this side, Lu Ou continued deceiving the Face Ape with superb acting.
Meanwhile, elsewhere—
The real Leorio and Kurapika encountered the classic scene: "Hisoka Pretending to Be an Examiner."
After finally escaping the explosive mushroom zone, Leorio and Kurapika reached a slightly flatter patch of grass, where they ran into several other candidates.
They hadn't even had time to catch their breath before things went wrong.
Swish—swish—
Countless playing cards suddenly flew toward them from all directions. There was no way to tell how many there were or where they were coming from.
Clang! Clang!
Kurapika reacted instantly, drawing his twin blades and deflecting every card flying toward him with clean, precise movements.
Leorio, relying on his agility, dodged many of the cards, but the attacks had no discernible pattern. One moment of carelessness was all it took—a card buried itself deep into his flesh, blood spurting out immediately.
He was lucky.
Those who reacted quickly survived. Those who didn't paid with their lives.
Several people had cards embedded in their heads and bodies. They didn't even have time to react before collapsing silently, never moving again.
"Hehehe~"
The moment that twisted laughter echoed out, everyone knew—Hisoka had appeared.
The remaining candidates instinctively huddled together. Kurapika gripped his blades tightly, positioning himself in front of the injured Leorio to protect him.
Tap… tap… tap…
With unhurried footsteps, Hisoka slowly emerged before them, still wearing that careless, half-smiling expression. A suffocating aura of madness washed over everyone.
"Damn it! What the hell are you trying to pull?!"
Leorio, already wounded, was in no mood to be polite. Mutant or not, he snapped first.
"I'm playing examiner," Hisoka said lightly.
"I originally planned to stretch a bit during the second test, but the first test was far too boring. So I decided to personally help out."
He casually drew a joker card from his deck and explained with utter nonchalance:
"Simply put, I'm here to evaluate you—to see whether you're qualified to become Hunters."
Perhaps this was the last shred of mercy from Hisoka, the self-proclaimed orchard keeper.
"Evaluate? You freak!" one man shouted. "Can't you see how thick the fog is? Once we get separated from the people ahead, we'll never make it back to the examiner—meaning you'll be eliminated just like us—"
Before he could finish, a playing card sliced cleanly through his throat.
He would never speak again.
As cannon fodder, he had done his job well enough.
If Lu Ou had been there, he might've even spared him a glance—as a consolation prize. Pa