Chapter 26: Deception

"The Numere Wetlands is also known as the Swindlers Swap. We must cross these wetlands to reach phase 2 of the exam. This place is known to many bizzare animals. Many of them being cunning, insatiable creatures who deceive humans and pray upon them. Be very carful. If you let them fool you, you're dead."

The tunnel starts to close, I see applicants still trying to exit but are unable to make it. The moustache guy continues to speak.

"These wetland creatures will use every trick in the book to fool their pray. An ecosystem in which creatures obtain food through deceit… Hence the name, Swindlers Swamp. Stay very close to me so you won't be decieved."

Leorio: "What a joke. How can they fool us, when we're expecting it?"

"Don't let him fool you!"

Leorio: "I just said that they can't."

A man, who looks tired and hurt, walks out from the corner. He seems to be pulling something behind him.

"D-don't fall for it. He's lying to you! He's an impostor! He isn't the examiner, I am!"

Leorio: "An imposter?! What's going on?"

"Look at this…!"

He drags out a creature resembling that of the moustache guy.

Gon: "It looks just like Mr. Satotz!"

"It's a man-faced ape, one of the creatures that dwell in the Numere Wetlands."

Leorio: "A man-faced ape?"

"Man-Faced Apes love the taste of fresh human flesh. However, their limbs are long and thin, so they're quite weak. That's why they disguise themselves as humans. They trick humans into following them into these wetlands, where they team up with other animals to kill and devour them. He intends to trap every single applicant!"

Leorio: "Bastard."

Esther: "That doesn't make any sense."

Everyone looks to me, I now regret saying that out loud. I continue to speak, but in broken sentences.

Leorio: "What do you mean?"

Esther: "He said that those man-faced apes have long, weak arms and legs. So doesn't that mean running for however long we have been running would be much more of a burden on it? How can moustache guy- I mean Mr. Satotz be a man-faced ape if he's not tired?"

People stop and think, I hide behind Gon. Don't notice me, don't notice me. I hear number 44 speak.

"Here's a quicker solution."

He throws cards at both men. Our so-called real examiner dies instantly but moustache catches it. Number 44 plays with his remaining deck of cards. Wonder if I can do that?

"I see, I see… that settles that. You're the real one."

Everyone looks shocked. The man-faced ape awakens and run away. That thing was alive? Number 44 continues to speak.

"Examiners are hunters selected by the committee to do this job without pay. Any hunter, bearing the title we seek, would have been able to block that attack."

"I shall take that as a compliment. However, should you attack me again, for any reason, I will report you for turning on an examiner. And you will be immediately disqualified. Are we clear?"

"Sure."

I hear the sounds of birds swooping down onto the fake examiner. As they eat away at him, I see that he too, was also a man-faced ape.

Leorio: "Nature really can be brutal to watch…"

Kurapika: "So he was a man-faced ape as well."

"He was attempting to confuse the applicants, to lure some of them away."

Killua: "We cannot relax our guard."

Gon: "Yeah."

"We will be encountering such deception on a regular basis. I believe that a number of you were fooled into suspecting my identity?"

I look at Leorio. He was definitely fooled.

"Do you understand? If you lose sight of me in the Numere Wetlands fog, you will never reach the exams 2nd phase. Do bear that in mind. Then let us be on our way. Please follow me."