Apollo listened for a while until the voices completely disappeared from his mind.
"We will watch your performance."
It seems like they have left, the Beggar thought. Shaking his head, he decided to go find a place to relieve himself. But as soon as he moved forward, someone came out from the left corridor and collided with him.
Apollo fell on his bottom.
"Ouch!" the Beggar yelled. Looking up with a frown under his mask, he saw a man wearing a black suit, with a monocle adorning his left eye.
"Oh my, are you okay?" the man, who appeared to be in his 30s or 40s, asked with concern in his voice.
"Y-yeah, thank you for asking," Apollo said, standing up while patting his back.
"That's good to hear," the man said, bowing slightly.
Apollo stared at the person in front of him and realized that this was the same man Arke had been talking to. The voice clearly matched, so there was no doubt about it. He immediately brought up the System Store to buy an item that could change his face for an hour. The moment the item took effect, he suddenly felt an invasive force trying to get past his Mask defense, which immediately broke.
"My apologies for bumping into you. I am Holst, the butler of the Mayor. If you need some compensation, feel free to ask," Holst said, bowing once more.
"Haha, no need. I just fell, and I'm a Cultivator. It's only a small matter," Apollo said, waving his hand while feeling relieved; otherwise, a second later, his real face would have been revealed.
"If you say so," Holst smiled slightly, his squinted eyes unchanged. "Then excuse me."
"Alright," Apollo nodded, and the two walked past each other.
After taking a couple of steps, Holst turned around and shouted, "Wait!"
"Why?" Apollo also turned to stare at the butler.
"How long have you been standing here?" Holst asked, pointing at the corner of the left corridor.
"A minute or two. My bowels are acting strange, so I needed to take a breather," Apollo said, putting a hand over his stomach and starting to massage it. "You know, there's a crowd of people in the bathroom area, and I wanted to find a place where I could do my business."
"Oh…" Holst nodded. "I see. Just make sure to clean up."
"Will do!" Apollo said before hurrying away while still massaging his stomach.
Holst didn't move, just watched the half-masked man disappear into the distance.
That man's excuse sounds ridiculous, but there's no way he could hear what we were talking about, as we were inside the Thought Transfer skill, Holst thought, ultimately believing what the man said. However, when he thought further about it, it somewhat made sense considering the number of people in this place.
Shaking his head, Holst went on his way.
"Ah, that's better," Apollo said as he stood up after using his Cleaning Bead on the ground and himself. It was spotless, so clean that the ground didn't look like a ground at all, but more like a shiny stone reflecting sunlight. Looking at the sun's direction, he concluded that the time was around 4 to 5 pm.
This place was outside the venue and could be considered the back of the mountain, though he was still a few dozen meters above the foot of the mountain.
This is peaceful, he thought, feeling the air and seeing the forest in the distance. After being surrounded by so many people watching his every move and their shouts constantly reverberating, being outside felt completely different.
"This is the perfect place for a solo camp," Apollo muttered, imagining himself with a camping chair, a bonfire, and a grill with barbecue on top. And don't forget the beer! Just thinking about it made him reminisce about his past.
Letting out a sigh, he was about to turn around after taking in the scene when he suddenly felt the same sensation he had when the Exam first started.
"Sh*t, that monster is staring at me," Apollo muttered with a frown as he stared into the distance, toward the forest where the Duskfangs were. He could feel it, and it was stronger this time. "Better go back before it tries to hunt me down."
With that, he immediately turned around and walked back inside the 'cave' that led back to the venue.
At the same time, he couldn't help but feel strange. The System said I would be hunted, but after that notice, the Alphadusk Shadowtail didn't attack me at all and just kept observing me.
However, the feeling boring into him right now told him that the Alpha was not going to wait any longer.
"Just let me finish my mission before you attack!" Apollo hurriedly walked back inside. That was the ideal scenario he wanted; otherwise, he would fail the mission and probably lose his life at the same time.
Once he completed the mission, he would welcome the Alpha with open arms. Was he confident that he could kill it? No, Apollo didn't think so, but it didn't mean he wasn't confident of staying alive.
Once he was back inside the venue, the feeling of being watched disappeared. He headed towards his room but stopped just as he was about to enter.
Recalling what he had just heard from Arke and the butler Holst, Apollo hesitated, wondering whether to give a heads-up to Bel or not. They definitely wanted to kill her, and Arke wouldn't hold back at all.
Since killing was forbidden, the participants knew that going further than knocking out their opponents would get them in trouble. However, with backing from the Mayor, Arke wouldn't have this problem. If they valued him greatly, they would protect him.
But it was also possible they would act like they didn't know Arke and might even kill him to get rid of their 'evidence.'
Bel would suffer unless she stopped holding back and fought Arke with the intent to kill. They would definitely make the two fight as soon as possible since their plan could fail if Arke were defeated before he could even fight Bel, and vice versa.
Should I warn her? Apollo thought, but it didn't take him long to decide. Bel Helflick was a good person; the Beggar could sense a strong sense of justice in her. Besides, Apollo didn't want to live with the regret of letting Bel, who had been good to him from the start, die at the hands of his own prey.
With this in mind, he went to find Bel's room.