Even in the trap-filled tower, Saiki Kusuo made a "mistake." Just after the three of them entered the room, the floor suddenly opened up.

It was a trap Chrollo was already familiar with.

Even though they could all dodge it, since it was the only way forward, the three of them ended up sliding down.

[Wow, what a surprise…] Down below, Hisoka stood with his hands on his hips. He could already feel an interesting presence getting closer from behind. Who was it? Which delicious candy was coming?

Saiki Kusuo looked annoyed. Illumi made sure he landed safely, while Chrollo managed a smooth and elegant landing.

But deep down, he really wanted to run.

"Hey there~ my old friends." Hisoka flipped a card in his hand. If he seemed bored earlier, he was clearly having fun now. "Looks like we're traveling together. Wanna play Old Maid on the way?"

[Need to act more like a bandit... That landing pose was totally mine.] Chrollo's inner voice.

The three beautiful disasters were finally united. Saiki Kusuo was already exhausted.

This was when the real trial began.

The room was full of infrared lasers, but the three Nen users passed through it easily. Hisoka, hanging on the ceiling, stretched his power toward Saiki Kusuo. A pink rubber thread shot out, and Saiki Kusuo teleported through with a serious face.

In the room covered with trap tiles, there was a sign saying not to step on the red square blocks. Saiki Kusuo noticed that none of the red square tiles were actual squares. Just as he was about to step forward, Illumi picked him up and sped through the room.

As long as you move fast enough, the traps can't catch you.

That move seemed to anger the examiner behind the scenes. A huge rolling boulder was dropped, almost hitting Chrollo, who was the last one through.

Chrollo didn't have access to Nen right now. The book in his hand was open, using the head-swapping ability. If he wanted to use any other power, he'd have to cancel this one.

It was pretty risky, but they made it through without getting hurt.

Saiki Kusuo was being carried by Illumi as they ran. Although not having to run himself was nice, the needles on Illumi's body were pretty uncomfortable.

Just when he thought he could coast through the test by sticking with the other three, things took a turn.

At the stage where they had to retrieve a key hanging a hundred meters high, Hisoka deliberately stepped back. Illumi was looking at his phone, and Chrollo was wary of Hisoka. After a long silence, Saiki Kusuo gave in, teleported to grab the key, and threw it down to the group. He stayed there for three minutes before leaving, accidentally revealing his three-minute cooldown.

In a stage with bridges that might collapse, each bridge had fake tiles in the middle. They looked just like the real ones, but underneath was a deep, endless pit—falling would mean certain death. Even though he could see through which ones were fake, to avoid suspicion, Saiki Kusuo deliberately took two wrong paths before stepping on the right one, teleporting every time he almost fell.

In the room called "Food Temptation," Saiki Kusuo teleported straight to the top and brought down pizza and dessert.

By this point, everyone just defaulted to letting him clear the stage. The others stayed behind slacking off, only reacting if danger appeared.

So how did this turn into a one-man carry? Why am I the one doing all the work when there are three powerhouses with me?

Three hours later, Saiki Kusuo led the group to a gambling room. When it came to mind games, Saiki Kusuo just listened to their thoughts to figure it out—but he was exhausted.

Not physically tired, since teleporting a few times doesn't drain a psychic like him. It was mental exhaustion.

"Hmm~ Little Chrollo got the joker card. Not very lucky, huh?"

And they were actually enjoying the game!

"Heh, I'm not usually that lucky anyway. I'd rather trust a computer's 0s and 1s than luck." Chrollo, now in disguise as "Hero," returned the cards and walked over to Saiki Kusuo's side.

"What's the challenge now?" [I really don't want to play with Hisoka.]

On the other side, three prisoners greeted them.

"Each of us gets to present one challenge—seven rounds total." A prisoner wrapped in cloth stepped forward with a deep voice. "If we win even one round, you all lose 10 hours."

Losing time? Saiki Kusuo pictured a terrible outcome. Even with the smallest penalty of 10 hours, Hisoka would definitely drag everyone into playing cards again.

Hisoka and Illumi also noticed that this trap was finally something different. All four of them were thinking the same thing: none of them wanted to give up 10 hours.

"You can give us the first challenge freely. By the way, the challenge can be anything—even a fight..." The guy speaking, though wrapped in cloth, had a clearly muscular build.

Saiki Kusuo: Are you asking to get beat up?

No thinking at all, huh? The three behind Saiki instantly lost interest.

[So, any kind of challenge is okay?] Saiki Kusuo asked.

"Yes, but you have to say what type of challenge it is first. The other side has to agree and pick someone to take it. Only then does the challenge count."

Saiki Kusuo listened to their thoughts.

Hisoka had zero interest in the three in front of him. He just wanted to fight someone and get it over with.

Illumi felt the same. Chrollo, though, seemed to be thinking it through.

Saiki Kusuo already had an idea. Once again, he was the first one among the four to step forward.

[Math problem. Do you guys have someone who can handle that?]

The challenge only worked if the other side accepted. Saiki Kusuo knew one of them had a college degree and was planning to use college-level questions to challenge them.

Yare yare… in that case, better to strike first.

"Math? Sure, I'll take that one, kid." That guy stepped forward, and a screen appeared with the rules, showing the challenge had officially started.

Saiki Kusuo looked at him and said, [Two to the tenth power, plus four to the third power, plus three times seven. It's a simple problem, but you have to show the steps. Okay?]

"Haha... hahaha... You really are a kid. Think powers make it advanced math? Sure, three steps okay? The third one is the answer. Don't tell me you can't solve it in three steps?"

[Of course.] The math itself was easy—writing the steps fast was the key. If he weren't being nice, he could've thrown out something like two to the thirtieth power just to crush them.

There was no pen or paper. The only way to write was to carve into the ground. The other guy used a knife. Saiki Kusuo asked Illumi for one of his thick, long needles.

It was part of Illumi's power, so it could cut through the floor easily and saved money, too.

The match began. The guy across from him had already figured out the answer—he just hadn't written out the full steps yet. But just as he finished copying down the question and started on the second line, Saiki Kusuo had already written down the final answer.

"Ding!" The bell rang. The other guy froze. "Wait, no way you finished that fast…"

Looking at Saiki Kusuo's paper, the start looked normal. But at the end, instead of writing 3×7 = 21, he wrote "m"!

And the steps were:

[=100+20+m]

[=120+m]

[=12m]

A crow flew overhead in silence.

"Hey, kid… You seriously don't even know what an exponent is, do you?!"

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