The three reckless examinees paid with their lives, making the other examinees more cautious.
Apart from a few examinees who were inherently strong, most didn't think of cooperating. Instead, they looked for suitable tools to provide themselves with a safety measure.
However, someone soon noticed the fishing rod on Gon's back.
"Tch, lucky bastard," Some examinees thought with resentment, and thus conceived the idea of making a fishing rod from locally available materials.
Using a fishing rod to try their luck was indeed the safest approach at the moment. But if the Packfish could be caught by fishing, why would over a thousand workers die every year?
Strong examinees, such as Illumi and Xiaoyu, were already looking for suitable spots.
As the saying goes, 'Skill breeds boldness'. They didn't need tools and planned to do the same as Menchi: directly search for the Packfish in the water.
Few examinees thought of teaming up. In contrast, Gon's group of four had an advantage.
"With Gon's fishing rod, we don't need to enter the water," Leorio said thankfully.
Kurapika looked at the river, wondering, 'Can the Packfish really be caught by fishing?'
"Gon, let me play with the fishing rod!" Killua's eyes turned cat-like as he asked Gon for the fishing rod.
"No, we need to figure out how to catch the Packfish first," Gon said seriously.
"Stingy," Killua pouted.
Not far away, the chubby boy with the computer soon noticed Gon's group of four.
He looked down at the computer screen, which displayed detailed information about the Packfish, including pictures.
This was the advantage of having a computer. Earlier, when hunting the Great Stamp, he also relied on the computer to find the boar's weakness, allowing him to pass without major incident.
'I can leverage their abilities,' the chubby boy thought and moved closer.
As soon as he approached, Killua suddenly looked at him, startling him.
The chubby boy quickly steadied himself and said calmly, "You can't catch the Packfish by fishing."
Hearing the chubby boy's words, the others looked at him.
"I have detailed information, even pictures," The chubby boy said under their gaze.
"You want to trade information for 100 grams of roe?" Kurapika said calmly.
"Correct."
A glint flashed in the chubby boy's eyes. He lowered his voice and said, "You won't need to make an extra trip because each Packfish has at least 500 grams of roe. That means you only need to catch one Packfish."
"So? If you can catch a Packfish, you'll have at least 100 grams of extra roe no matter what. Trading the extra roe for detailed information… is there a better deal than this?"
The group couldn't help but look at each other.
As the chubby boy said, it was indeed a good deal, mainly because in this transaction, all the initiative was on their side.
That Gon's group was tempted was within the chubby boy's expectations. After all, he was the passive party, and he had to share the information first. If the Packfish roe turned out to be less than 500 grams, he probably wouldn't get his 100 grams.
In that case, it would mean he worked for nothing. But there was no other way.
After discussing for a moment, they agreed to the chubby boy's condition.
Knowing that his hope of passing entirely rested on Gon's group, the chubby boy readily showed them the Packfish information.
After reading the information, they understood why the Packfish couldn't be caught by fishing. It seemed they had to dive into the water to retrieve the roe.
The five of them gathering together naturally drew Law's attention.
He saw the chubby boy's actions and the laptop. Even without hearing their conversation, he immediately guessed the chubby boy's approach.
Thus, it was the most inconspicuous chubby boy who utilized his own advantage to get a chance to overcome this obstacle.
After watching for a while, Law suddenly saw Gon tying the fishing line around himself and was momentarily stunned.
On the riverbank, Kurapika asked worriedly, "Is this feasible?"
Leorio directly took off his shirt, patted his chest, and said, "Let me do it. You just need to hold on tight."
Gon lowered his head to check the fishing line tied around his waist, then looked up at Leorio and asked curiously, "Leorio, how long can you hold your breath underwater?"
"About four minutes," Leorio said proudly.
"That's not enough. Too short," Gon said seriously.
"This is still short?" Leorio's eyes widened.
"Mm, I can hold my breath for at least fifteen minutes," Gon said with a grin.
Leorio was instantly deflated.
'Fifteen minutes.'
The chubby boy looked at Gon in surprise, 'He looked only eleven or twelve years old.'
"Only fifteen minutes? My latest record is twenty minutes and thirty-two seconds," Killua said, hands behind his head.
"So impressive!"
Gon turned to look at Killua, his eyes seeming to sparkle with starlight.
"Uh... it's alright," Killua felt a bit embarrassed under the gaze and instinctively averted his eyes.
"Pardon me for interrupting, but is this method really okay?" The chubby boy pointed at the fishing line on Gon.
"Completely fine! This method was taught to me by someone I respect very much. And he even used this method to catch the Master of the Swamp!" Gon revealed a big smile.
'What?'
'So someone else taught you this method?'
The others present froze for a moment.
Kurapika, as if thinking of something, exclaimed, "The person who taught you this method... didn't they use you as bait?"
Hearing this, the others silently imagined a dark scenario.
A malicious adult, deceiving the innocent Gon, using him as bait to catch various valuable fish for profit.
"No," Gon lowered his head to tighten the fishing line a bit and said, "He used a very capable cat. It could even easily catch the Master of the Swamp."
Kurapika, Leorio, and the chubby boy fell silent upon hearing this.
'Using a cat to fish? Is there anything more absurd than that?'
Then, they looked at the prepared Gon, thinking that the even more absurd thing was what they were currently doing.
Killua's eyelids drooped, hiding his puzzlement.
Once ready, Gon jumped into the river and disappeared from sight in the blink of an eye.
Leorio, Kurapika, and Killua held the fishing rod, becoming Gon's most reliable anchor.
If not for the fishing rod's special material and the fishing line's toughness, this method would undoubtedly be suicidal.
Law patted his forehead, wondering if he should take the blame for Gon coming up with this method.
Five minutes later, Gon directly grabbed a fish with a mallet-shaped head, retrieved 500 grams of roe from the fish, and then released it back into the river.
"Here!"
Gon held the fish roe and handed it to Law.
The others also handed over their fish roe one after another.
Law silently accepted the roe, and Menchi announced they had passed this test.
Time passed bit by bit, the sky gradually darkened, and the test approached its end.
In the end, Law received 2,700 grams of fish roe, meaning 27 examinees passed this phase.
Over a hundred were directly eliminated. This result was acceptable.
Everyone boarded the airship and headed directly to the next test location.
During the flight to the destination, the examinees could not only enjoy abundant food but also had sufficient rest time.
In a room, Netero dialed a number and said, "The current number of examinees is twenty-nine. Therefore, cancel the [Trick Tower] phase and proceed directly to the fourth phase."
A disappointed male voice came from the other end of the line: "So, the prisoners will have to cry under their blankets."
The call ended.
Thus, due to Law's intervention, one phase of the test was directly cut.