They had been left behind.
Seeing that the rhinoceros had already begun to put real power into its charge—its four hooves practically kicking up flowers—Leorio had no time for pointless talk anymore. He immediately broke into a full sprint.
Tall with long legs, Leorio still had a physical advantage. On top of that, Lu Ou reached out and patted the rhinoceros's back, causing it to subconsciously slow down by a few beats.
Although it looked like a struggle, Leorio still managed to catch up. He stomped hard on the ground, leapt upward, and vaulted onto the rhinoceros's back. Fortunately, it was a female rhinoceros—big enough that even with four people riding, it wasn't cramped at all.
Once Leorio got up there, he immediately collapsed against Gon's back, panting heavily from exhaustion.
Seeing him like this, Lu Ou and Kurapika burst out laughing without restraint. Only Gon looked at Leorio with some concern. After confirming that there was nothing seriously wrong, he didn't ask further.
Boom! Boom!
The pillar-like hooves of the rhinoceros struck the ground, causing tremors over a wide area. The white rhinoceros moved at astonishing speed. The forest scenery rapidly retreated—trees shifting from short to tall and back to short again. In just over half an hour, the vague outline of a town appeared ahead.
"Thanks, Brother Rhino. I believe you must be a beauty even among rhinoceroses," Lu Ou said, taking an apple from Gon and handing it to the white rhinoceros.
The rhinoceros snorted out a puff of hot air, disdainfully sniffed the apple, then still shook its head, opened its mouth, and bit into it. After flicking its tail, it turned gracefully and headed back into the forest.
"Goodbye, Rhino Beauty," Gon waved as he watched it leave, then stepped into the Two-Choice Quiz Town.
The style of the town was completely different from the port where they had disembarked earlier. It looked much older overall—almost like a slum.
"Steel and cotton both weigh one ton. Which is heavier?"
"Steel."
"Wrong. They're the same weight, because both are one ton."
"Between an older brother and a younger brother, which one is older?"
"The correct answer is: you don't know, because they're twins."
Voices of men and women blended together. All of them—sharp-eared as they were—caught snippets of these strange questions drifting through the air.
All of them except Leorio.
"So we've arrived right when the Cannon Fodder Trio are answering questions," Lu Ou thought to himself.
In the original storyline, when those three were answering questions in the Two-Choice Quiz Town, Gon and the others were still in the forest being chased by the white rhinoceros.
It seemed that because of his interference—Leorio not taking the trap bus, plus the rhinoceros showing them some mercy—they had saved quite a bit of time and actually caught up to this scene.
However, before even entering the town, Lu Ou sharply noticed a pool of blood on the left side of the town. It was eye-catching. Other than the blood, there were no severed limbs or remains—nothing to clearly show what had happened.
Lu Ou had some thoughts. He guessed it was probably left behind by Majtani, but whether he was dead or alive was impossible to tell.
Seeing the bloodstain, everyone's hearts tightened. At last, they felt a real sense of tension from the Hunter Exam, instinctively becoming alert.
Lu Ou took the lead, walking leisurely. Gon stayed at the rear—fearless as always. Leorio, however, had become cautious too, clutching his precious suitcase and constantly glancing around, afraid that an enemy might jump out at any moment.
When the four of them entered the town, the streets were completely empty—not a single person in sight. Just moments ago, they had clearly heard many voices. Everywhere were empty buildings in a style reminiscent of the Hirado period. Even the houses themselves were vacant.
Tap, tap, tap.
The streets were wide and hollow, so their footsteps rang out crisply.
Gon, on the other hand, looked around with great interest, observing everything.
This eerie situation only made Kurapika more vigilant. He carefully scanned the surroundings, analyzing what might happen next.
Out of the corner of his eye, Kurapika noticed that Lu Ou—who had been standing calmly in the middle of the street—suddenly stopped moving, as if he had discovered something. Kurapika walked over as well.
"What a desolate town. Does anyone even live here?" Leorio said, looking at the dilapidated houses on both sides.
"No," Gon said. "There are lots of people here."
"Lots of people breathing," Lu Ou added, picking up on Gon's words.
"Leorio, you can't let your guard down," Kurapika said seriously.
"Why can you all hear them?" Leorio exclaimed in shock.
"The sound of their clothes rubbing together is obvious," Gon explained. "They're hiding."
Leorio thought about it and realized there was no point comparing himself to freaks like Gon and Lu Ou.
"Found you," Lu Ou said. With his Nen, he quickly detected changes in the air and pulled out an old woman with two large buck teeth.
Rustle, rustle.
The sound of clothes brushing echoed as many figures gradually appeared—short people wearing loose white robes, with brightly colored hair and masks covering their faces. They surrounded the four of them, clearly unwilling to let them pass through the town easily.
Thump, thump. Thump, thump.
The repetitive sound continued. They neither spoke nor moved away, which was deeply irritating.
"What exactly do these people want? They don't seem friendly. Should we change routes to avoid a direct confrontation?" Leorio suggested, instinctively looking toward Lu Ou.
"No," Lu Ou replied. "Other paths are filled with the presence of wild beasts and magical beasts."
Kurapika nodded in agreement. "This is the correct route."
"He's right. There are a lot of wild beasts," Gon added, sniffing the air. He had clearly caught their scent.
Lu Ou had never understood what Gon's nose was made of—he could smell everything. Even Killua's blood scent, which no one else noticed, Gon could detect.
Lu Ou glanced at Gon with curiosity. Heightened senses—this had to be inherited from his father. Jin Freecss, one of the top five Nen users in the world. Along with Chairman Netero's Hundred-Type Guanyin, Ging's abilities were terrifying. Though Lu Ou's own "Face Fruit" power was extremely strong, it still required deeper development through effort.
"Then what about these people? We still need to consider whether this is a trap. We can't fully trust the captain's words," Leorio said.
"If you want to reach the cedar tree at the mountaintop, there is no other way besides passing through this town," the buck-toothed old woman said, stepping forward with a staff nearly as tall as herself.
She wore old clothes, had two protruding buck teeth, and a short, stocky build—hard to say whether she was taller than Wu Dalang. Her expression was stern, her facial features distinct. Though she looked unique, she was not inhuman.
There were rumors that the guide of Quiz Town was also a magical beast, but after looking for quite a while, Lu Ou couldn't see how she differed from a normal human.
"Look," Lu Ou said, pointing. "The pattern on her staff—it's the same as the symbol on the card the captain showed us."
At the top of the staff, a red gemstone gleamed conspicuously.
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