Don't let hatred hurt you

Kurapika stepped down from the platform. The entire arena was terrifyingly quiet, as though even the air had frozen under that savage killing intent. Every breath could be heard clearly.

The remaining prisoners looked at the burly man lying unconscious on the ground, genuine fear entering their eyes for the first time.

Leorio's mouth hung open, and he couldn't close it for a long while.

He had always thought Kurapika seemed like a cool, reserved scholar. He hadn't expected him to be so brutal in a fight. That hadn't been fighting anymore. It had been venting. It had been destruction.

"Kurapika..." Gon looked at him worriedly, wanting to say something but not knowing how to begin.

Killua folded his arms, his brow furrowed.

He had seen more than his share of killings, yet the sadness and anger mingling around Kurapika still sent an inexplicable tremor through his heart.

That wasn't a killer's coldness. It was a madness that threatened to burn him up along with everything else.

Kurapika ignored everyone and walked straight past them, intending to find a corner where he could be alone.

The scarlet had faded from his eyes, but that icy aura still enveloped him, keeping everyone at a distance.

Just then, Lin Yan moved.

He took a clean cloth from his backpack, walked over, and offered it to Kurapika.

Kurapika stopped and turned, a trace of wariness and confusion in his eyes.

"Wipe your hands. They're covered in blood." Lin Yan's voice was calm, betraying no emotion.

Kurapika glanced down at his fists. They were covered in the prisoner's blood, and in places, he had even scraped his skin from striking too hard.

He silently accepted the cloth and slowly wiped the blood from his hands.

"Thank you," Kurapika said quietly.

He knew that if he hadn't stepped forward this time, Leorio or Gon would probably have taken this match, and there was no telling what might have happened.

"We're companions," Lin Yan said suddenly, looking at him. "But don't let hatred hurt you."

Kurapika's hands froze.

He raised his head and looked straight into Lin Yan's eyes. Something seemed to churn in the depths of his own brown eyes.

"You don't understand."

Only after a long while did Kurapika force those words through clenched teeth.

"I don't understand your past."

Lin Yan shook his head, his tone still even. "But I know that power inside you just now was violent. It was helping you, but it was hurting you, too.

"Every time you use it, you consume something very important."

After reaching Foundation Establishment, Lin Yan's perception had become extraordinarily sharp.

He could clearly see that when Kurapika activated his Scarlet Eyes, his entire life aura blazed like kindling set alight, releasing an astonishing surge of energy.

But once the flames died, only ashes would remain. It was power purchased with his life.

To Lin Yan, who pursued longevity and the cultivation of both spirit and life, this ran completely counter to his Dao.

His cultivation refined essence into qi, accumulating and strengthening it. Kurapika's power burned through his life, overdrawn and destructive.

Kurapika's heart clenched violently.

Lin Yan's words were like a needle, piercing precisely the place he least wanted to touch.

How could he not know? Every time his Scarlet Eyes faded, the exhaustion and emptiness rising from the depths of his soul seemed to remind him that his life was slipping away faster.

"This is my choice," Kurapika said, his voice turning colder. "For revenge, I don't care about the price."

"And after your revenge?" Lin Yan pressed. "When all your enemies are dead and you've burned down to a pile of ashes, what will any of it mean?"

"..." Kurapika fell silent again. He couldn't answer that question.

He had never thought about what came after revenge. To him, revenge was the entire purpose of his life.

Lin Yan looked at him and sighed softly.

He knew an obsession rooted in such a blood feud couldn't be dispelled with a few words. As a companion, and as a cultivator, he simply felt an instinctive reluctance to watch a life wither away like this.

"Be careful with your eyes," Lin Yan said at last, then turned and walked back to the group.

Kurapika stood there alone, gripping the bloodstained cloth tightly, his eyes filled with conflicting emotions.

"Hey, what were you two being so secretive about?" Leorio sidled over and asked Lin Yan, his face full of curiosity.

"Nothing." Lin Yan shook his head.

"Tch. Stingy." Leorio pursed his lips.

Just then, another man stepped out from among the prisoners opposite them.

This man was nothing like the previous prisoner.

He had neither a brutish face nor a vicious expression. Dressed in a reasonably tidy prison uniform and wearing glasses, he looked genteel, like a scholar or an accountant.

He walked to the center of the arena with a smile and bowed to them.

"Hello, examinees. Congratulations on winning a round. That was quite a spectacular match." His voice was measured and polite.

"Cut the act. What kind of contest do you want?" Leorio asked impatiently.

"Heh, don't rush." The genteel prisoner adjusted his glasses. "My contest is very simple, and very fair. How about a wager?"

"A wager?" Leorio paused.

"That's right. We'll wager time." The corners of the genteel prisoner's lips curved almost imperceptibly.

"We have two candles here, one long and one short. We'll bet on which one burns out first. If you win, you gain fifty hours. If you lose, you give up fifty hours."

"What?!" Leorio cried out. "A fifty-hour bet?!"

He wasn't the only one. Even Kurapika and Gon looked shocked.

They had seventy-two hours in total, and he wanted to wager fifty on a single bet. This was madness!

"Well? Exciting enough for you?" the genteel prisoner asked with a smile. "Win, and you're practically through. Lose, and you still have a chance to turn things around. It's much faster than fighting one match after another."

Leorio's breathing quickened.

Two candles, one long and one short, and we're betting on which burns out first? Does... does that even need thinking about? Obviously, the short one burns out first! That's common sense!

Could there be a trick?

He watched the genteel prisoner warily, but the man remained perfectly composed, letting him look.

Could this be a psychological trap? Is he deliberately offering an obvious-looking answer when there's actually a hidden twist? Maybe the long candle is made of something special that burns really fast?

No, that's not right.

Leorio shook his head.

The Hunter Exam might be full of bizarre things, but in a straight wager like this, surely they wouldn't tamper with the props. That would be too crude.

They should be testing judgment and logic.

So the problem has to lie in the rules themselves, or... in people's habitual thinking!

At that thought, Leorio suddenly felt he had grasped the key!

Everyone thinks the short one will burn out first. It's too obvious! So the answer must be the opposite! The long one will burn out first!

Why? There has to be a reason!

As Leorio racked his brains, trying to find a logical explanation for that counterintuitive answer, he completely failed to notice that Lin Yan beside him was already frowning deeply.

Through Lin Yan's Qi Observation, the genteel prisoner's aura appeared a murky gray-green, like rotting mud in a swamp.

That qi contained neither the previous brute's savagery nor the ringleader's cunning, but something even more sinister-deceit and greed.

His aura resembled a meticulously woven net, every knot sticky with the temptation to drag others down.

And every word he spoke carried a faint but distinct strand of suggestive qi, quietly influencing the listeners' minds.

This was a con man, and a very skilled one.

And that supposed wager reeked from beginning to end with the foul stench of a trap.

Lin Yan's gaze shifted to Leorio.

He saw that Leorio's previously fairly steady aura was now fluctuating violently. A murky cloud of qi representing greed was slowly rising from the depths of his heart, resonating with the genteel prisoner's aura.

This is bad! Leorio's about to take the bait!

"We can't take that bet!" Lin Yan spoke up almost instinctively to stop him.

His voice wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally firm, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

Leorio had been immersed in his own logical deductions. Interrupted by Lin Yan, he immediately felt annoyed.

"Why can't we take the bet? Lin Yan, did you notice something?" Leorio asked with a frown.