Intelligence Challenge

Chapter 27: Intelligence Challenge

Returning to the group of people again, Nova mingled with the crowd, with everyone except him and the other mysterious man, pale-faced and afraid.

 Still, no one said anything more.

 The reason?

 Everyone already knew that the masked men were madmen who didn't care about the lives of others, crying would only make them have more fun, under this proud thought everyone had a look full of determination to survive.

 What they didn't know was that Lars was laughing inside at this, not only him, but even Sarl was laughing inside too.

 What he liked the most was seeing those faces full of determination to then slowly destroy them with satisfaction, but they didn't say this out loud, they just stood proudly in front of the small crowd of people.

 "Phew, that was extreme," a voice echoed in the room, where they all turned towards the source of it.

 There stood a young man with white skin, honey-colored eyes, and brown hair, his long hair filled almost to his neck.

 He was a young man of about 17 years old, who had a now pale tone and his face was full of tiredness, but if you looked closely, you could also see a mixture of emotions between fear and... excitement.

Nova recognized the young man immediately. It was Alex, who was being held by his two arms by white robots with a humanoid figure, but not enough to be named Cyborg.

 Alex's somewhat miserable appearance, with his legs barely able to be dragged, caused several looks of pity and empathy to be directed at him. After all, several went through similar things, several had injuries, but not as serious as Alex's.

 The two robots dragged Alex towards the two masked men slowly.

 Nova was interested in this scene that would possibly unfold next.

 'I hope they don't let that guy go...', Nova mused to himself, looking directly at Alex.

 Honestly, Nova knew that in a battle without Copycat and the Earrings against Alex, it would be a somewhat resounding victory on Alex's part.

 He was no small thing, Nova knew, he died in the game and almost died. That time it was because of his fear of insects, which made his spells weaker.

 But Nova believed that if he was at his full capacity without being afraid of it, he would have destroyed the cockroach doll and be able to walk away with little to no scratches.

 'I hope he doesn't touch me in the last challenge...', Nova thought with some uncertainty.

He liked him now, at least minimally it seemed pleasant to him, he didn't want to defeat Alex, he also wanted to make him an ally for him in the future.

 Thinking about this, Alex already positioned himself in front of the two masked men.

The two subjects stood side by side, basically shoulder to shoulder, watching Alex who was being held up by robots to keep him on his feet.

 Facing the pressure of the same atmosphere, many swallowed saliva deeply for the decision the masked men were about to make.

 Enjoying the pressure of the atmosphere and the expressions of most people, the black-masked one took a step forward, being only a meter away from Alex.

 "Good," he pronounced, at the same time pulling something out of his pocket. "Drink this and you can heal long enough to take the last test, by the way, your score is 0.6."

 Lars' tone was cheerful and amused, so Alex could only nod, feeling satisfied with his score.

 While he also grabbed a small bottle with a green liquid in it, Alex hesitated for a few seconds on whether to take it.

 Although he just showed his presence, the reality was that he also heard the whole conversation, as the voices of the two masked men and the small crowd managed to be heard in the room where Alex was.

 Thinking like that, he was quite suspicious, but he knew that now he would have nothing to do if he refused they would possibly kill him, they had not mentioned it, but his intuition told him so.

Under everyone's gaze, Alex drank the contents of the bottle slowly until it was empty.

 Lugo handed it back to Lars, who soon turned to return to his usual position.

 "Thank you, superior," Alex commented gratefully.

 The potion worked instantly on him, making him feel better little by little.

 The two masked men nodded in satisfaction, as Alex rejoined the crowd with still the two robots holding him.

 Stepping forward, the white-masked one spoke calmly.

 "Okay, since everyone is calmer, I'll tell you what the next challenge consists of," Sarl paused, to see everyone's reactions, which didn't change one bit.

 Satisfied, he continued. "Next is the intelligence challenge, you are going to have a room that is going to each have a strategist from the organization, that person is going to ask you a series of questions that depends on how you answer, you are going to get a good grade or not," Sarl calmly explained.

The crowd in front of him didn't have much reaction either, just a bit of relaxation, since it wasn't about combat at all, at least not for now.

 Sarl's mask hid the wide smile he had seen in the relaxed expressions of the participants, but he wasn't that bad either, so he stopped explaining with a few last words.

 "The intelligence challenge is the one that eliminates the most participants among the three challenges," Sarl stated then being silent.

 If a needle fell on the ground, it would now be completely audible, as no one spoke, not even breathing could be heard.

 Nova, to at least look surprised, also held his breath.

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