《Global University Entrance Examination》 Chapter 1: Death Question

Chapter 1: Death Question

The snow fell for four hours. It didn¡¯t show any signs of stopping. This ce is a barren mountain cabin. Various hunting tools hung from the walls and a long wooden table gnawed away by termites sat in the centre. Around the table sat a group of people. Male, female, young and old, they were all present. There was even a foreigner amongst them. The room was very cold. Everyone present shivered with a solemn expression on their faces but no one moved to start a fire. The old radio sitting on the table was speaking. ¡¾It is currently 17:30 Beijing time.¡¿ ¡¾There are still 30 minutes until the exam starts. Examinees, please quickly head to the examination centre.¡¿ The radio sounds were scratchy and there were also static noises one would typically hear in the background of radio broadcasts from the 1950s. It tirelessly buzzed. This was already the second broadcast. The first broadcast was three hours ago. It said ¡¾Wee to examination centre 003712.¡¿ which immediately caused an olddy to faint and even now she had not yet recovered. Another person didn¡¯t listen to its instructions and attempted to destroy the radio....... After removing the batteries, he ran out of the room like he was possessed. Five minutester his body fell from the roof together with a pile of snow. Since then, no one dared to touch it. ¡¾Please enter the centre as soon as possible and avoid loitering outside.¡¿ This sentence was repeated three times. The room was deathly silent. After a long time, someone sitting at the head of the table muttered irritably: ¡°So who hasn¡¯t entered yet?¡± This person had a yellow head of slightly permed hair. His figure was lean, and he was average in height. Both his arms were tattooed with a sleeve of animals. Despite being unable to tell whether it was a dog or camel, it looked quite intimidating. The person sitting next to him shrank back a little and answered: ¡°Old Yu.¡± ¡°Who is Old Yu?¡± ¡°The drunkard who vomited the moment he entered through the door. The one who brought along his son and nephew.¡± The person who answered pointed towards the wall using his lips and then carefully made a ¡°quiet¡± gesture. Lying on the beaten sofa by the wall was the nephew. It was a 27 or 28-year-old young man. He had a tall figure and his appearance was very extraordinary. When he held the doorframe and lowered his head to enter the cabin, the picturesque mountain pines covered in snow behind him paled inparison. However, ever since he entered, he constantly maintained a dull expression. He seemed to be a little aloof. ording to Old Yu who rambled incessantly, his nephews name is You Huo. ¡°He had only returned for two months and came to Harbin to find me during the National Day holidays. I was originally supposed to take him to the airport tomorrow morning. Sigh.......It¡¯s all my fault! Useless!¡± Old Yu had drunk until he waspletely intoxicated. During the night where there were few people around, he stumbled around. On the sidewalk in front of the children¡¯s hospital, someone had left a bunch of joss paper1. Old Yu stumbled around and wasn¡¯t able to regain his bnce. With one foot stepping onto the joss paper, everything spun and himself, his son and his nephew were all sent here. When they entered the cabin, he had not yet recovered from the dizziness. No longer able to hold himself back, he vomited all over You Huo. Old Yu sobered up from his drunken state after vomiting but he was too scared to say anything to You Huo. The people who came here were all caught unexpectedly and werepletely unprepared. Only the foreigner called Mike had a set of clean clothes in his bag. After You Huo changed, he remained distant from the others andid on the sofa without a word. He appeared to have fallen asleep. Through the arm that covered his face, you could see a stud earring on his right ear. It reflected the lighting from the oilmp and appeared very dazzling. ¡¤ The sky should have darkened but every part of the mountain was covered in snow and it was still bright outside. A pregnant woman looked towards the cab in panic. The time on their phones had be erratic and they could only rely on the clock sitting above the cab to tell the time: ¡°It¡¯s almost six. Could Old Yu have..........¡± Bang, bang, bang! Before she could finish her sentence, the sound of something smacking against the door was heard. Everyone was shocked. They looked over with fearful eyes. The snow piled up on the window was pushed aside and Old Yu¡¯s face appeared through the ss. With exaggerated mouthing, he said: ¡°It¡¯s me. Open the door.¡± Everyone was relieved. Fortunately, he had returned before 6 o¡¯clock and didn¡¯t die. The two snow covered men entering the house was Old Yu and his son Yu Wen. ¡°How is it outside?¡± Everyone hurriedly asked. Old Yu shivered in ce for a moment before pping his face forcefully. He then pped his son. When they finally warmed up a little, he said: ¡°I went around everywhere but it was useless! No matter where I went, in no more than ten minutes I would see the cabin again. We can¡¯t get out!¡± ¡°Were there other people? Or houses even?¡± Old Yu spoke frustratedly: ¡°No, don¡¯t count on it.¡± Everyone¡¯s expression fell into despair. There was no signal on the phone and the time on it had be erratic. The trees all looked the same so it was hard to tell which direction was north, south, east or west. There was absolutely nothing. This was their current predicament. Oh, there was also an old radio that noisily reminded them about the exam. Exam your mum. The moment Old Yu stepped in, the radio started to make static sounds. Just being around it for the entire afternoon was enough for the people present to develop a conditioned reflex. They immediately quietened down and looked at the radio. ¡¾All examinees have been admitted. The exam rules are as follows.¡¿ Old Yu and Yu Wen who had just entered the examination centre gulped. ¡¾The exam is conducted within a set period of time.¡¿ ¡¾After the exam officially starts, examinees cannot enter the examination centre. You may not leave the centre during the exam without permission. If there is an emergency, you must follow the instructions and leave with the invigtor.¡¿ ¡¾Apart from open book exams, you cannot use mobile devices or othermunication tools. Please be considerate and turn them off.¡¿ ¡¾The exam is point-based. Examinees must write their answer on the designated answer sheet (except in special circumstances) or the answer is invalid.¡¿ When the radio finished speaking, everything once again turned silent. After a while, the room suddenly started to fall into discussion. ¡°Who is the invigtor?¡± ¡°There are open-book exams?¡± ¡°What¡¯s an answer sheet?¡± ¡°To think that you¡¯re discussing it. You all must be crazy.¡± The tattooed man yed with his swiss army knife. You couldn¡¯t tell what he was thinking. ¡°Then what should we do?¡± The eyes of the pregnant woman were still swollen from crying. She said quietly: ¡°Don¡¯t forget about that.....¡± She pointed to the roof. The tattooed man thought of the body and his face also paled. He stiffened for a moment before finally epting the situation. Holding the swiss army knife, he waved it in a particr direction: ¡°Little brat.¡± Yu Wen looked left and right and then pointed at himself: ¡°You......mean me?¡± ¡°Yes, you. Come, sit here.¡± The tattooed man patted the seat closest to him.¡± ¡°I, uh........¡± Yu Wen turned around to look at his brother only to see his brother still lying on the sofa like he was dead. He suppressed the curses inside him and said: ¡°I¡¯m 18.¡± What¡¯s more, the tattooed man is at most 25 or 26-years-old. How dare he call him little brat. ¡°It doesn¡¯t matter how I call you!¡± The tattooed man was impatient, ¡°Come here. Let me ask you. Are you a student?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°I guess so.¡± The tattooed man frowned: ¡°Can you do exams?¡± Old Yu reflexively said: ¡°He can! He grew up doing exams!¡± ¡°You can shut up.¡± Yu Wen said rudely to his drunkard old man. But after he scolded his father and turned around, he saw that everyone in the room was staring at him. Yu Wen: ¡°................¡± He thought about his words and said: ¡°I just finished the University Entrance Examination in June and I have been ying like crazy for the past three months. I¡¯ve already.........Yeah, I can¡¯t do them very well anymore.¡± The pregnant woman had panicked for the entire afternoon. She smiled with great effort: ¡°That is still better than us. It was only three months for you. We have long forgotten now.¡± ¡°No.¡± Yu Wen found the situation a little absurd and even forgot about his fear, ¡°Don¡¯t you guys read novels or watch movies? Would it truly be an exam in this horror kind of setting? It¡¯s probably just a cover!¡± ¡°Cover for what?¡± Yu Wen rolled his eyes: ¡°How would I know? Anyway, people just die everywhere in horror movies. Who the hell would suddenlye and test you on maths and physics? Is this cabin built by the Ministry of Education?¡± He still didn¡¯t feel like he had said enough. He added at the end: ¡°Hah.¡± His cousin who was lying on the sofa like a dead pig was finally awakened by his ¡°hah¡±. Yu Wen turned around to look at him. He saw You Huo sit up and look at the group of people through half-open eyes. You Huo then kneaded the back of his neck. The legs resting on the old wooden floor were long, making the sofa appear even smaller. The timing seemed to have been calcted and the moment he lowered his hand, the clock above the cab started to ring to signal that it was 6 o¡¯clock. Static sounds were emitted through the radio again. ¡¾It is currently 18:00 Beijing time. The exam has officially begun.¡¿ ¡¾As another reminder, examinees are not allowed to enter the centre after the exam has started and you cannot leave without authorisation during the duration of the exam or you will be punished.¡¿ ¡¾The other examination rules are as per the standard.¡¿ After it threw out a threat in passing, it paused for two seconds and said: ¡¾Exam duration: 48 hours.¡¿ ¡¾Subject: Physics.¡¿ Yu Wen: ¡°..............¡± ¡¾We will now be distributing the exam papers and the answer sheets. I wish you all the best.¡¿ After the radio was done, it once again died off. Yu Wen: ¡°................¡± Goddammit, shouldn¡¯t the exam paper and answer sheet be distributed first??? The pregnant women cried out in panic: ¡°That wall!¡± She was referring to the wall above the fire stove. The empty wall that was covered in several knife marks now had a few more words ¡ª¡ª¨C Topic: A group of travellers came to a snow mountain....... Exam details: The response will be collected every 6 hours. If no points are earned within 6 hours, you lose qualification to participate and will be evicted. Below that was arge nk area. It was like the response area in a test paper for answers to be written in. What question is this? What is it asking? What do we answer? Everyone was confused. Not to mention 6 hours, even if you gave them 600 hours they didn¡¯t know how to earn the points. At this moment, a gust of cold wind that carried small beads of snow rushed into the room causing everyone to shiver. They looked over at the source of the wind and saw that You Huo had walked over to the window and had opened half of it. ¡°What are you doing?!¡± The tattooed man was furious. You Huo had one hand in his trouser pocket and his other hand was about to reach out. Hearing the yell, he nced back. However, perhaps it was because the look was so fleeting, it looked cold and arrogant. The tattooed man was even more enraged: ¡°Don¡¯t you know to say something before opening the window? What are you going to do if something goes wrong?¡± ¡°Who are you?¡± You Huo threw out those three words and no longer paid him any attention. He again stretched out his left hand. Old Yu could no longer hold back. He urged his son and whispered: ¡°You ask.¡± For some reason, Old Yu had always seemed to be afraid of this nephew of his. Yu Wen shouted: ¡°Brother, what are you doing?¡± You Huo retracted his left hand and waved at him. Finally, he gave them his answer: ¡°Testing out the consequence of leaving the examination centre.¡± Everyone present gasped. Crimson red blood flowed down his fingers onto his palm. With his pale skin, it looked even more shocking. He casually rubbed it off and once again fiddled around with the windowsill. He picked up a rusty tin can and threw it out the window. Under everyone¡¯s gaze, the tin can was smashed into smithereens and it scattered across the snow. When they once again looked at the ¡°Exam Details¡±, everyone¡¯s eyes were filled with panic. By the wall, You Huo once again closed the window. His eyes swept past each and every one of their backs. As for Yu Wen who had some experience with exams.......You Huo understood him well. During the three years of high school, this high school student messed around with love and the wrong group of friends. He would often skip ss to y games at inte cafes and he suffered from a strong case of eighth-grade syndrome2. Even now, he had not yet escaped that dangerous period. It would be better to rely on a dog than him. As for the others.... Old, frail, sick, pregnant, and even a thug. All five deadly poisons are present. The opening question is a death question3. Chapter 2: Invigilator

Chapter 2: Invigtor

You Huo kicked the metal can of charcoal over and Old Yu carefully used it to start a fire. The fire in the fire stove emanated an orange-red glow. Yu Wen squatted next the fire and dejectedly threw wood in. The mes flickered as he watched it for a while. He decided that he should go find someone to talk to about his feelings before he died but, when he looked up, he saw his brother standing on the side warming his hands with a cold and disinterested expression. Yu Wen considered it for a few seconds and decided to die quietly instead. ¡¤ ¡°Umm that...¡± Old Yu suddenly spoke. You Huo nced over. ¡°I don¡¯t know how I should refer to you.¡± Old Yu patted the pregnant woman¡¯s shoulder: ¡°With a stomach like that, how can you freeze here? This isn¡¯t right, go over there to warm up. Don¡¯t catch a cold. It¡¯s not good for both you and your child.¡± The pregnant woman who heard these words was stunned for a moment. Tears flowed steadily down her face. Old Yu was surprised: ¡°What¡¯s this? What¡¯s wrong?¡± The woman silently cried: ¡°I don¡¯t even know if it has life.........¡± Having said that, she still moved her chair closer to the fire. The woman cried for a while before finally stopping. With strong nasal tone, she said to Old Yu: ¡°Oh right, please call me Yu Yao.¡± Old Yu forced out augh and said: ¡°I didn¡¯t expect you to also be from the same family line. You look about the same age as my neph........¡± Old Yu nced at You Huo through the corner of his eyes. His words then quickly changed: ¡°........son. When we get out of this damned ce, I¡¯ll give you a big fat red envelope to wish both mother and child a safe birth.¡± The tattooed man grumbled in a sullen face: ¡°The situation is already fucking like this and you have the time to chat......Fuck!¡± The others who heard his words stiffened. They scattered and started to search around the cabin. However, while the others were looking for clues to solve the problem, the tattooed man concentrated on finding all kinds of self-defence hunting tools. You Huo didn¡¯t move away. He continued to warm up his hands by the stove. He gently touched the question on the wall and then looked down at the misceneous items sitting on top of the stove. There were a few bottles and jars, a pile of darkening coins, several strangely shaped pebbles, scattered chicken feathers and even a mouldy pacifier from who knows what century. Yun Wen saw that You Huo wasn¡¯t moving so he also didn¡¯t dare move. He recalled what his teacher had said before he did the university entrance examination. When you have no clue, read the question a few times. Thinking this, he stood before the wall and read it through repeatedly. ¡°A group of travellers came to a snow mountain....... ¡°Travellers.........¡± ¡°Snow mountain.........¡± ¡°Hm................¡± When he returned to his senses after reading it through, he realised that the room was very quiet. Everyone was looking at him. Yu Wen: ¡°.........I was just reading.¡± Old Yu had the same issue most parents have. When there are many people around, they wanted to show off their child: ¡°Did you think of something?¡± Yu Wen rolled his eyes: ¡°No.¡± Everyone had a look of disappointment. They continued to rummage around. Only the tattooed man didn¡¯t relent. He assessed Yu Wen suspiciously: ¡°Really? You¡¯re not trying to hide something are you?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°Why would I hide it?¡± The tattooed man stared at him for a while. That look made those on the receiving end feel irked. ¡°Fine then. You¡¯d better not be.¡± The thug appeared to be used to threatening others and every word that came out of his mouth was harsh. After he said that, he returned to rummaging through the hunting tools. Yu Wen silently stuck up his middle finger and said inside: Stupid. This ssmate had just entered adulthood and was still in a state of peak narcissism. He felt that everyone in the world was stupid and even his own father couldn¡¯t be spared. The only exception was You Huo. In fact, he had only be familiar with You Huo over the past two years. Old Yu had said that You Huo was staying overseas to receive treatment for his illness and woulde back to China from time to time. Every time he returned, he would stay a few days at his ce. With the days all added up, it actually wasn¡¯t very long. But, using the spirit of learning that Yu Wen had never applied to his own studies, he came to understand some things. For example, there was something wrong with You Huo¡¯s memory. He would have no impression of people he had encountered a few years ago and this was also the reason why he went overseas for treatment. Also, for example, the elders in the family appeared to be a little afraid of him. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog This point really puzzled Yu Wen. He had asked Old Yu about this a few times, but Old Yu would always tell him to stop thinking useless things. Time passed and he soon felt that it was normal. After all, even the thug who had only just met You Huo was a little afraid. With his brother next to him, Yu Wen originally intended to call the thug a few names and anger him a little but when he turned back he saw that You Huo was gone. Yu Wen: ¡°.............Where did he go?¡± The pregnant woman asked Yu Wen: ¡°Who are you looking for?¡± It wasn¡¯t convenient for her to move around so she couldn¡¯t search the cabin with the others. Yu Wen: ¡°My brother.¡± Yu Yao: ¡°He went that way.¡± She indicated the direction with her chin. ¡¤ This cabin wasn¡¯t small. On the first floor was the living room and three other rooms and in the corner was an old woodendder that led to a small attic above. It was really because there were too many things here and the fact that there were many people inside as well that the cabin felt small and cramped. The bedrooms on the first floor were locked. The strangely designed lock hanging from it was rusty. What was even more strange was that a rooster was hung from one door and a hen on the other. The two chickens had their blood drained, but their feathers were neatlybed. With their heads bent in the same direction, those looking at it felt a strange sense of horror. When Yu Wen came over, You Huo was standing in the shadows by the door. It was scarier than the chickens. ¡°Brother, what do you have in your hands?¡± Yu Wen rubbed the goosebumps on his arms. ¡°Haven¡¯t you seen an axe?¡± You Huozily raised his eyes. ¡°I¡¯ve seen it....¡± Yu Wen internally wanted to say that it was because he had seen it that he asked. Why are you holding an axe out of nowhere? Holding it was fine but You Huo was also carelessly feeling out the de with the thumb of his other hand. ¡°After looking around, have you thought of anything?¡± He asked without looking up. ¡°Ah?¡± Yu Wen was a little confused, ¡°What should I have thought of?¡± You Huo looked at him. With his tall height, he would lower his eyes when looking at others. His eyes were also of a clear light brown colour and his eyelids are thin. Although he is very good looking, with his expressionless face there was a sense of dissociation and distance. It was hard to describe. In any case, you just couldn¡¯t feel any sense of familiarity. Yu Wen couldn¡¯t handle the look: ¡°Give me an example.¡± You Huo: ¡°What questions are rted to the snow mountains?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°.........Not sure.¡± You Huo: ¡°You didn¡¯t go to school?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°I went.......¡± You Huo: ¡°Did a dog go in your ce?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°I learnt a few skills.........Selecting the shortest option if three are long and one is short, selecting the longest one if three are short and one is long, choosing B if there are two long and two short options and choosing C if they are all different. I¡¯ve basically relied on this for physics.¡± You Huo: ¡°.............¡± Yu Wen: ¡°There¡¯s also another point.¡± You Huo: ¡°........¡± Yu Wen: ¡°I learnt to give up.¡± You Huo: ¡°Scram.¡± Yu Wen guessed that if he continued, the axe would probably be lodged into his head so he quickly shut his mouth. His beloved cousin finally looked away and no longer paid him any attention. After a while, Yu Wen couldn¡¯t hold back and asked another question: ¡°Brother, why are you holding onto that?¡± ¡°Finding a pen.¡± You Huo said that and even snorted at him with slight disappointment. He then threw the small axe into a waste bucket. Yu Wen stared at the axe: ¡°What are you looking for?¡± You Huo: ¡°Pen.¡± Yu Wen felt that either himself or You Huo must be crazy. You Huo over no longer paid him any attention. After saying that, he climbed up the woodendder. ¡¤ As they searched around, time went by very fast. The red number on the wall had been changing from 6 to 5 and then to 4. The time for their responses to be collected was getting closer and closer, and everyone became more and more tense. They had no clue and didn¡¯t know where to start. There was even a countdown resembling those in a university entrance examination before them. Under the strong pressure, there would always be people who would panic and start guessing haphazardly. When You Huo came back down, the pregnant woman was holding onto a small ck bottle and was about to write something on the nk wall. Rich acidic odour emanated out from the bottle. It was like ink that had been left out for too long, but its colour was a little different from ink. Perhaps it was because of the dim lighting, it appeared a little rusty brown in colour. ¡°I..........Is it really okay writing like this............?¡± Yu Yao¡¯s face was pale, and her voice revealed her inner panic. She seemed to be asking for reassurance from the others, ¡°It doesn¡¯t have much to do with physics.........¡± ¡°We have no information about the question so who knows what can give us points!¡± A bald and short middle-aged man yelled out with a sullen face: ¡°I even suspect that there¡¯s probably no such thing as a correct answer! It¡¯s nk now and 6 hourster it will continue to be nk. We can¡¯t escape from death.¡± He then red at Yu Yao: ¡°Don¡¯t have the courage to write? If you don¡¯t, I¡¯ll do it!¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Yu Yao shrank back a little. Her wet finger stillnded on the wall. She drew two strokes but saw that the water on her fingertip didn¡¯t leave any traces on the wall. The strokes that she made had already disappeared. It was even apanied by faint water sounds. Like the answer wall had........swallowed it up. ¡°I, I can¡¯t do it..........¡± Yu Yao panicked. ¡°How is that possible?! Not enough ink?¡± The bald man rushed over, stuck his finger in the ink bottle and forcefully pressed it onto the wall. The result was the same as before. Before he was able to finish drawing one stroke, the beginning of it had already disappeared. The faint water sound was heard again. The bald man was stunned for a while. His emotions suddenly went out of control: ¡°No.........Why can¡¯t we write? It must be because there¡¯s not enough ink.........not enough ink.........yes.........¡± He reached out to grab the ink bottle. Just as the whole bottle of ink was about to be poured onto the wall, the bald man¡¯s hand was suddenly held down. He turned out to look and saw You Huo looking down at him from above. With a cold face, he said impatiently: ¡°Don¡¯t be crazy. The wall isn¡¯t right.¡± The bald man subconsciously struggled for a bit. His face waspletely red but he couldn¡¯t pull back his hand. ¡°Yu Wen.¡± You Huo turned his head, ¡°Give me the rope by the wall.¡± The bald man struggled while his face was red and the veins on his neck bulged: ¡°What are you doing?!¡± You Huo used one hand to flexibly tie a knot. He wrapped the rope around him..........and even tied his arms together. ssmate Yu Wen was shocked: ¡°Brother..........What did you do before? How can you do this so skilfully?¡± You Huo¡¯s light coloured eyes swept over him. Yu Wen only now remembered.........His brother probably didn¡¯t know himself. The bald man was thrown onto the beaten sofa. You Huo screw shut the bottle of so-called ¡°ink¡±. The moment the bottle cap was tightened, everyone in the room heard a soft sigh. ¡°Who?!¡± Everyone¡¯s hair stood up. As the final stain on the answer wall faded, a line suddenly appeared in the originally nk space: Vition warning: Did not use the correct exam stationery. The invigtor has been notified. Invigtor: 001, 154, 922 The rooster in the cabin suddenly called out. Yu Wen was so scared he almost cried out together with it. He grabbed onto his brother¡¯s sleeve and fearfully looked at the door with wide eyes. You Huo wanted to walk over to the door but he had Yu Wen hanging from him like a dead fish trying to hold him back. In the end, Yu Wen was dragged together as he moved over to the door. Outside the window, through the billowing snowstorm, three figures appeared in the distance. The one at the front was tall, had short ck hair and was wearing a slim-fitting coat. Even just by looking at the outline, you could see that his figure was straight and proper. When he walked over to the door, a gust of wind blew past and the snow within it obscured his vision. He lowered his head and blinked a little, and snow particles fell from his face. When he looked up again, his dark eyes that reflected some of the snow just happened tond on You Huo. You Huo subconsciously touched his earring. Yu Wen whispered next to him in a small mosquito-like voice: ¡°Don¡¯t tell me you know him?¡± You Huo furrowed his brows and quietly answered: ¡°I forgot. ¡± Chapter 3: Solitary Confinemen

Chapter 3: Solitary Confinemen

t Judging from their positions, the man at the front was probably invigtor 001. He acted like someone who came to find shelter from the snow. While he assessed the cabin, he took off his leather gloves and said with a smile: ¡°Not bad, there¡¯s even a fire. The snow outside is quite heavy so it was very colding here.¡± No one smiled back. Most of the people in the room had shrunken back. He acted like he didn¡¯t notice this reaction and leisurely walked over to the fire stove to warm up his hands. The smile from earlier still lingered at his lips and it brought along with it a sense ofzy teasing. The snow on his shoulders and cor slowly disappeared, leaving behind a slightly damp stain. It then slowly dried up. Everyone stared at him, but no one dared to speak. The tin can that was thrown out was smashed into smithereens, but they went through the snow without a single scratch on their skins. Yu Wen hid behind You Huo while trembling. It even caused You Huo to shake along with him. He pathetically asked: ¡°Are they still human?¡± The 001 man appeared to have heard this and he turned to look at You Huo. His eyes were an extremely dark ck. With him standing against the light, the light from the fire would asionally flicker in his eyes. The teasing in his eyes still had not yet scattered. You Huo expressionlessly looked back at him. He grabbed onto the trembling boy behind him and asked calmly: ¡°Can you shut up?¡± Yu Wen didn¡¯t dare to move. ¡¤ It was only until Mr. 001 finished warming up his hands and wore his gloves again that the invigtor standing at the door spoke in an official tone: ¡°We are the invigtors for this round. I am No. 154. We have just received news that two of you didn¡¯t follow the examination rules.¡± The pregnantdy Yu Yao turned pale. She was originally unable to stand up straight and this time she was about to faint. She was like a water faucet. Tears gushed out from her eyes. As for the bald man tied up on the sofa.........he didn¡¯t even dare breathe. ¡°But..........¡± Someone suddenly spoke up. Invigtor 154 stopped and looked at the speaker. Yu Wen quickly poked his head out from behind You Huo. Unexpectedly, the person who spoke up was his alcoholic old man, Old Yu. ¡°In......In the first ce, we weren¡¯t told how we should answer the question.¡± Old Yu fearfully stuttered. ¡°There are clues for all rules.¡± 154 said. ¡°Where are the clues?¡± No. 154 looked at him expressionlessly: ¡°I¡¯m not an examinee.¡± ¡°Bu-but we didn¡¯t know! We¡¯re not guilty if we didn¡¯t know........¡± Old Yu¡¯s voice got smaller and smaller and it eventually turned into the sound of a mosquito. No. 154: ¡°That has nothing to do with us.¡± With a deadpanned face, No. 154 continued with his job: ¡°We only punish the relevant personnel who vited the rules. The others can continue to take the exam.¡± As he said that, he pulled out a white note. He read the scribbled information on it. ¡°ording to our sources, the offender was a middle-aged man and a young girl¡ª¡ª-¡± He turned to look at Mr. 001. He then looked back at the note and stopped for a few seconds. With a firm expression, he repeated: ¡°A middle-aged man and ady. The two offenders, pleasee with us.¡± As he said that, the other invigtor had already picked up the bald man from the sofa and dragged him over to the door like a dead dog. The door was opened and cold air rushed in. Snow particles covered their faces and everyone in the room screamed and shrank over to the fire stove. It was as if they would be smouldered into dust if the snow touched them. Everyone watched as invigtor No. 922 stepped out with the bald man and disappeared into the snowstorm. Left behind was the bald man¡¯s fearful screams and a small water stain on the ground. No. 154 continued with his deadpanned expression: ¡°There¡¯s also another girl, uh, woman......¡± He looked up and scanned the room with furrowed brows. Old Yu and two good-hearted olddies took advantage of the chaos earlier to hide Yu Yao behind them but they trembled like a leaf. No. 154¡¯s eyes was just about to look over when Mr. 001 pointed his chin at You Huo, ¡°The other is him. Take him away.¡± ¡°Who?¡± No. 154 looked down at the note. The sharply scribbled handwriting clearly read ¡ª¡ª¨C Young girl. No. 154 looked at You Huo with a nk look. You Huo who was being looked at stared at Mr. 001 coldly. No. 154 was certain that if this cold-faced handsome guy had a knife in his hand, he would¡¯ve already cut off his boss¡¯s head. ¡°This¡ª¨C¡± When he just wanted to speak, Mr. 001 who gave him his orders turned up his coat cor and walked out into the snowstorm. .......... ¡¤ ¡°Fuck! Brother!!¡± ¡°Dammit!! Why don¡¯t any of you speak any sense!!¡± Old Yu exploded. ¡°It¡¯s not him! It¡¯s me! Not him¡ª¡ª¨C¡± Yu Yao was stunned for a couple of seconds before quickly rushing out from behind everyone. However, when they looked over, the door was open. Snow continued to pour into the room along with gusts of wind. There was not a soul by the door. The three invigtors, along with the bald man and the wrongly used You Huo, had disappeared without a sound. ¡°Stop shouting! They¡¯re already gone. If you want, you can go chase after them!¡± The tattooed man gnashed his teeth and strode over to m the door shut. He even added two locks. The room went quiet. Old Yu¡¯s eyes were red. He pped his thigh angrily and sat onto the floor. Yu Yao fell back onto the chair. She cried even more miserably. Ever since she entered this cabin, she had not stopped crying. She was about to finish crying out her entire lifetime of tears. Yu Wen stood stiffly facing the door with a pale face. He then turned around to pick his father up. With a frown, he said: ¡°My brother left me a message.¡± ¡°What?¡± Old Yu was shocked. That invigtor took him away so quickly yet You Huo was able to have time to leave a message? Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°He asked me to find a knife.¡± Yu Wen said. ¡°What knife?¡± Yu Wen slowly shook his head. He didn¡¯t answer. Instead, he turned to look at the answer wall. Old Yu also looked over. His eyes slowly swept over the wall. Finally, it settled in one ce. It was those thin knife marks. ¡°Who did that?¡± Old Yu was stunned for a moment. Yu Wen: ¡°It was there before. I saw it before the question was given.¡± He thought back for a moment and finally understood his brother¡¯s previous actions. ¡°I understand now.¡± Old Yu was very confused: ¡°What do you know now?¡± ¡°Brother earlier was constantly saying that he was looking for a pen, but he was holding an axe in his hand.¡± Yu Wen looked at the knife marks on the wall and said, ¡°Earlier didn¡¯t that invigtor also say that there are clues for all rules? These knife marks are the clues.¡± The ink couldn¡¯t leave traces on the wall but a knife can. So it is the so-called pen. Old Yu¡¯s eyes brightened. He let out a sigh: ¡°Sure enough, he¡¯s still very good.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°Huh?¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s find a knife! At least we can be of help.¡± Old Yu wanted to turn around to let the others know of this news, but his mouth was covered by Yu Wen. ¡°No, no, no, don¡¯t!¡± Yu Wen pretended to beforting Old Yu. He patted Old Yu¡¯s back and said: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, don¡¯t worry. My brother will be fine!¡± Old Yu was about to vomit out blood from his smacks. He again said in an extremely small voice: ¡°Brother said that the knife was hidden away.¡± ¡¤ The snow got stronger. Wind would randomly blow from all directions. Everywhere outside was misty, and you couldn¡¯t see the outlines of the mountains and trees. In the distance, you could see faint lights. You Huo walked through the snow with a cold expression. When he was pushed out the door, the cabin behind him disappeared. Even if he wanted to go back, he couldn¡¯t. But there was one thing that was confirmed ¡ª¨C With the apaniment of the invigtors, they wouldn¡¯t be turned into smithereens in the snow. Butpared to the snow, the invigtors were more worrisome. The bald man was still in grief. He looked like he was at a funeral. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t go too far. Before they freezed to death, he finally saw a house. It was a very small western styled building which sat alone in the middle of the woods. In general, ghosts tend to like to inhabit these kinds of houses. ¡°We¡¯re here.¡± No. 154 pushed You Huo in. Under the light, You Huo¡¯s handsome face was stiff from the cold. His thin lips were pursed tight and his skin was cold and pale. This small building went through some sort of strange refurbishment and it waspletely covered in murals and sculptures. Big and small, they covered every corner of the house. When they looked around, he found himself facing a pale, stiff face. The moment the bald man entered, he copsed to the ground. Seeing that he was about to leave another pool of water, No. 922 didn¡¯t hesitate to drag him down the corridor. The bald man¡¯s cries came from that direction: ¡°What are you doing? I was wrong. I was wrong ¡ª¡ª¨C I won¡¯t so anything bad anymore! What are you going to do?!¡± ¡°Afraid?¡± A deep voice suddenly rang by his ear. Mr. 001 who was standing next to You Huo while taking off his gloves, asked this casually. You Huo nced at him and walked straight past him. No. 154 nced at You Huo and then looked over at 001. ¡°Why are you looking at me?¡± Invigtor 001 pointed at the corridor with his chin. He saidzily: ¡°Hurry and go. Someone can¡¯t wait any longer.¡± ¡¤ The little western building didn¡¯t look very big, but that corridor was very long. So long that people would begin to wonder if it there was something supernatural at y and you would never be able to get out. Fortunately, it wasn¡¯t an endless corridor. A few minutester, 922 stopped his steps and opened a door. He pushed the bald man in and then locked it. You Huo finally opened his mouth and asked: ¡°What punishment?¡± No. 154 was stunned for a moment. He said: ¡°Solitary confinement.¡± You Huo: ¡°..............¡± He felt that these group of people may be addicted to ying house. He looked at No. 154. 154: ¡°I¡¯m not lying. It really is solitary confinement.¡± For some reason, despite being an invigtor, when he said this his voice changed slightly and it was a little tense. ¡°You¡¯re scared.¡± You Huo said. ¡°You were confined before?¡± 154 furrowed his brows: ¡°What am I afraid of? You should be more scared.¡± When he finished saying this, he felt something strange under his foot. The sensation below the sole of his feet felt different. It seemed to feel a bit.........sticky. He then heard the faint sound of water. He looked down and saw a thickter of water seep out from under the door. Inside the door was the bald man. After being stunned for two seconds, he reacted. It was blood. ¡°Don¡¯t worry, you won¡¯t die.¡± 154 said. He opened another door on the opposite side and took advantage of the moment when You Huo is in thought to push him in: ¡°Make the most of your time.¡± When he was done, he mmed the door shut. From outside, there was the ttering of a lock being put in ce. You Huo heard his voice vaguely through the cracks between the doors: ¡°They shouldn¡¯t be so harsh for just using the wrong stationery. Solitary confinement will only let you experience the most fearful things in your life. I¡¯ll pick you up after three hours. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡¤ On the second floor of the little western bulding, invigtor 001 sat on the arm chair with one hand supporting his chin. On the table was a metal bird stand and a pitch-ck bird sat on it. His eyes fell onto the snow coated woods outside. While his finger rubbed the bird¡¯s head, there was no expression on his face. He was clearly extremely bored. Invigtor 922 was madlyining: ¡°Fucking hell, he pissed himself four times on the way there. I say one thing, he pisses himself. I say another thing and he pisses himself again!¡± No. 154 walked in shaking the paper in his hand: ¡°Young girl! You wrote young girl yourself!¡± He could no longer maintain his deadpanned expression. If you lent him 100x courage, he would even be brave enough to shove the note into 001¡¯s face. Unfortunately, he didn¡¯t dare. However, after the two of themined for a while they noticed that the person in the armchair wasn¡¯t responding. He continued to look out the window. ¡°Boss? Boss?¡± 922 tried calling out a few times. Finally, he could only increase his volume: ¡°Qin Jiu!¡± Mr. 001 finally returned to his senses. 922 pulled 154 over to be scolded and quickly slipped back. 154: ¡°.............¡± Fuck you. Qin Jiu¡¯s eyes swept back and forth between the two of them: ¡°I wasn¡¯t paying attention earlier so I didn¡¯t hear. Comin again?¡± 154 shook his head: ¡°Forget it.¡± 922 timidly walked up: ¡°Boss.......What¡¯s wrong?¡± Qin Jiu raised his eyebrow: ¡°What is that senseless talk?¡± ¡°No........I just felt that you don¡¯t seem to be in a good mood.¡± 922 said. ¡°I don¡¯t?¡± ¡°Yes.......a little.¡± 922 said: ¡°Because you were dragged over to be an invigtor?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°Then why......¡± 154 muttered. ¡°Speak louder. I didn¡¯t hear the second half.¡± Qin Jiu nced at him. When he used his pitch-ck eyes to stare at others, the others would always feel ufortable. Even if 154 and 922 had followed him for almost 3 years, they still couldn¡¯t get used to it. 154 once again shrank back. He cleared his throat and said: ¡°I said......You are in a good mood so why did you drag someone who didn¡¯t vite the rules over? Isn¡¯t this a bit of a vition of the rules?¡± Qin Jiu said: ¡°I¡¯m following the rules. He had ¡®ink¡¯ on his hands. Didn¡¯t you see it?¡± 154 was stunned for a moment: ¡°Oh, I didn¡¯t see it.......¡± Qin Jiu rubbed the ck bird¡¯s head and said: ¡°Also............¡± 922 and 154 perked up their ears. However, their boss continued petting the bird for another 10 minutes and didn¡¯t say the next sentence. After a long pause, he said: ¡°Forget it. It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°...........¡± The two subordinates almost died from suffocation. They didn¡¯t dare rebel and quickly slipped away. ¡¤ On the third floor of the small western building was a small attic. Inside there was a wall of screens which corresponded to each of the confinement rooms. The experiences of the people in the confinement rooms would be projected here. To some certain extent, you could see a lot of their secrets. But at this moment, there was a heavy lock on the door. No one came and peeked. Two screens were lit up. One was the room with the bald man, and the other was You Huo¡¯s room. The screen disying the bald man¡¯s room was blurred with blood. Through the red film, you could faintly see a silhouette of a hanging figure and a deathly pale face. As for You Huo¡¯s side, the screen waspletely normal. The screen disyed the original appearance of the room; three mirrors, a wall clock, a wooden table and chair, and that was it. ¡¤ Three hourster, No. 154 came over to the confinement room with the keys. He prepared himself to be hit by flying arms and legs but when he opened the door, he was stunned. There was nothing in the confinement room and the cold-faced handsome guy who was confined in the room was asleep on the table. With his arms covering his face, he looked like he was a high school student taking a nap in ss. The sound of 154 entering appeared to have woken him up. He frowned as he opened his eyes and he looked at 154 before closing it again. With a look of annoyance, hezed around a little more before straightening up and leaning back on the chair. He asked: ¡°Done?¡± 154: ¡°...........................................¡± Did you want to sleep a little longer????? Chapter 4: Entering Twice

Chapter 4: Entering Twice

When You Huo came out of the confinement room, the corridor waspletely silent. The room opposite his containing the bald man had no noise. There was only blood flowing out from the room. He frowned slightly in disgust and walked around the blood stains. After for a short time, he suddenly stopped his steps. There was a strange feeling of being watched from the shadows. Like something was looking down at him. Like a pair of lifeless eyes staring at him quietly. You Huo looked up. Above him was a white ceiling. Apart from a dim light, there wasn¡¯t anything else. ¡¤ ¡°Oh fuck! I almost slept past the punishment time. That damned deadpanned face didn¡¯t¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± Someone rushed down from upstairs and when he turned the corner, he quickly stepped onto his brakes. ¡°You! Cough, you¡¯re out?¡± You Huo retracted his gaze from the ceiling. The person who came was invigtor 922. He looked at You Huo and immediately changed back into his official tone. He said a quick, ¡°Excuse me¡± and stroke quickly down the corridor before opening the bloodstained door. After a moment, the bald man was taken out. 922 carried the limp middle-aged man and walked with difficulty. ¡°Why are you still here?¡± He asked. You Huo stuffed his hand in his pocket and saidzily: ¡°Waiting for you. I have no interest in turning into smithereens.¡± 922: ¡°Where¡¯s 154?¡± You Huo: ¡°Don¡¯t know.¡± ¡°Where did that damned bastard ck off to?¡± 922 muttered lowly. He readjusted the bald man and didn¡¯t have the energy toin. He tilted his head in the direction of the door and said: ¡°Let¡¯s go, I¡¯ll take you back to the examination centre.¡± ¡¤ Small western building, second floor. Qin Jiu crossed his arms and leanedzily against the window. His eyes looked down. The light from the room projected out into the woods as he watched 992 take the two examinees into the snowstorm. Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes and seemed to be in thought as he looked in the distance. The back bird suddenly let out a hoarse cry. After a moment, Qin Jiu finally grunted and stood up. He walked over to the desk and yed with the ck bird¡¯s beak. While feeding it some grains, he said: ¡°Don¡¯t you think something is missing?¡± The ck bird hoarsely cried out: ¡°Ah.¡± Qin Ji: ¡°An invigtor?¡± ck bird: ¡°Ah.¡± Qin Jiu knocked on the bird¡¯s beak and then moved to go downstairs. Before he took more than two steps, the ck bird pped its wings and followed. He looked around the hall and turned down into the corridor. He could faintly hear the sound of a chair moving in one of the confinement rooms. It was the room You Huo was confined in earlier. Qin Jiu raised his eyebrow. He knocked on the door three times: ¡°Anyone here?¡± The chair inside ttered a few times. Qin Jiu: ¡°Can I go in?¡± The chair inside mmed on the floor. Qin Jiu unlocked the door. The moment the door opened, he saw the missing Invigtor No. 154. He was tied to the chair with his hands behind him and there was arge ball of paper in his mouth. On the paper, someone had calmly used a marker to write a few words: Who¡¯s a fucking woman. Qin Jiu suddenlyughed. 154 wanted to m the chair again to remind Qin Jiu to free him first but, when he saw Qin Jiuugh, he felt a little scared and gently ced the chair down again. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Since it was a curse, Qin Jiu didn¡¯t appreciate it for too long. After a moment, 154 was finally freed from the ropes. He massaged his red wrists andined: ¡°I¡¯ve been an invigtor for three years and I haven¡¯t seen an examinee like him! The others would cry and beg and yet he just sleeps? Others wouldn¡¯t dare provoke invigtors and he just tied me up without any fear!¡± Qin Jiu sat at the desk listening. He then saidzily, ¡°Yourints almost rhyme. Continue.¡± 154: ¡°................¡± If possible, he wanted to shove the paper ball with the curse at his boss. ¡°As an invigtor, you were locked in the confinement room by an examinee. Don¡¯t you find it shameful?¡± Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes and asked. 152 maintained a stiff deadpanned expression: ¡°Dammit. Fortunately, I didn¡¯t let 922 see. Otherwise he wouldugh at me for two years straight.¡± Those who are familiar with the mechanics of this system knew that invigtors were selected from previous examinees. Only the top elites would be able to change their identity. These people were also ranked ording to their level and strength and it was the also the invigtors number. If the number is a single digit, they are the top of the top. No one would dare provoke them. For example, 001. ¡°You said earlier that..........¡± Qin Jiu hesitated for a moment. He seemed to be trying to think of an adjective. He eventually raised an eyebrow and said: ¡°That examinee was sleeping in the confinement room?¡± ¡°Yes. When I went in, everything was the same as usual. After staying in the confinement room, anything can happen but to him it was like there were no changes. He didn¡¯t have anything that he feared.¡± 154 thought for a moment. He then wondered: ¡°But is this possible? How can there be such a person? I have only seen one person like that in my entire lifetime.¡± Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes. He used his finger to stroke the beak of the ck bird sitting on his shoulder. ¡°Maybe his life has been too smooth sailing and he hasn¡¯t encountered anything that he is scared of?¡± 154 guessed. ¡°But no matter how smooth sailing it is, it will onlyst until today. This group of examinees must have been out of luck for them to encounter this type of toothpaste-like problem as their first question.¡± Qin Jiu quietly nced at him. ¡°The problem is like squeezing out toothpaste. You squeeze one out, you get another. I don¡¯t know if this is some kind of bug.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°Who came up with that ridiculous name?¡± ¡°922 that fool did. It has nothing to do with me.¡± 154 spoke stiffly. He continued, ¡°But it¡¯s just an analogy. Back when I did the exams, I feared these questions the most! It wasn¡¯t that difficult but the amount of information you get at the beginning was aplete zero. You couldn¡¯t figure out how to earn points, so I automatically affected defeat for the first round of answer submission. It was fated for one of ourpanions to be sacrifice¡± 154 thought back for a moment and then fearfully muttered: ¡°Thankfully, I only encountered it once and wasn¡¯t selected........I wonder who will be the sacrifice in this group of examinees?¡± He looked at the time: ¡°Only a few seconds left.¡± ¡¤ Before the cabin on the snow mountain. The exhausted 922 no longer cared about his face. While gasping for air he stopped You Huo who walked ahead of him. ¡°Need something?¡± You Huo looked annoyed. It was about time for the first answer submission. Through the roaring snowstorm, he could sense the panic inside the cabin. Even a second couldn¡¯t be dyed. 922 said: ¡°There¡¯s still another rule. As a person who had been confined, the two of you cannot answer when the answer is being collected for this round.¡± You Huo¡¯s expression turned even colder. 922 waved his hand: ¡°Don¡¯t re at me. Anyway, the first round for these types of questions are usually death questions. If you don¡¯t score any points¡ª¡ª-¡± He wasn¡¯t done speaking but You Huo had already turned around and opened the door. The moment hot air poured out, the rooster started to let out a cry. It was time for their responses to be collected. The bald man fell onto his knees in fear. He quickly crawled over to the corner and trembled with unfocused eyes. His actions took the lead, and several people in the room also followed suit. Yu Wen half knelt on the floor with his knees suppressing the tattooed man below him. He was holding something in his hand that appeared to have just been taken away. With the rooster¡¯s cry, he looked over in confusion. He raised his hand and muttered: ¡°Brother, I found the knife, but time is......up?¡± And then? Everyone sat on the ground stunned. They were so scared they almost forgot to breathe. The rooster cries made them panic. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°Really.......Will be evicted from the exam centre?¡± Someone murmured quietly. Then they will be sted into smithereens outside in the snowstorm? Just like that tin can that was thrown out earlier? Bang!! The locked door suddenly blew open and it forcefully mmed into the wall. Everyone flinched. Outside, 922 who had not yet left stood still. A sudden gust of wind blew in. Like a ne that was flying at a high altitude suddenly opening its door, a strong suction force pulled the people inside the room towards the door. ¡°Ahhh¡ª¡ª¡ª-¡± Old Yu cried out in shock. He suddenly fell to the ground and started to slip over towards the door. It was as if there was an invisible hand pulling him by his ankle and dragging him out. ¡¤ ¡°The answer submission will only be over after the rooster cries 9 times.¡± ¡°Also, there¡¯s a little trick for this dumb first round question. Hah.....It¡¯s quite shameless.¡± These two phrases suddenly appeared in You Huo¡¯s mind. You Huo didn¡¯t have the time to think too deeply about it. He grabbed the knife in Yu Wen¡¯s hand and jumped over the long table that was in the way. He stood in front of the answer wall. As the rooster let out itsst cry, he scribbled a word: Answer. 922 outside the door: ¡°..................¡± Is this trick also okay??? It really was okay. The rooster cries and the snowstorm abruptly stopped. Old Yu whose head was at the edge of the door had lost most of the hair at the top of his head. Yu Wen who was hugging his dad¡¯s leg rolled pathetically on the ground. Their hearts thumped furiously, and their pale faces had a look of confusion. They then turned to look at the answer wall. After what felt like almost a century, a red mark appeared next to the rough scribble ¡°Answer¡±: 2 Everyone was shocked. 922 was dumbfounded. He stood in the cold for a few seconds and then rushed back to report. ¡¤ It took a moment for the others in the room to digest what had happened. They slowly climbed up from the ground and stood on their jelly-like legs. ¡°Man, what is this. Scared me to death...........¡± Old Yu fixed up his hair that had be bald in the centre. There was a light wound on his scalp too where blood flowed down from but fortunately, he was still alive. Yu Wen released his hold of his father¡¯s leg. Heid sprawled on the ground in daze. After a few seconds, he suddenly sat up and smacked his mouth: ¡°Look at this pig head of mine! How could I have forgotten something like this?! My teacher would always remind us before an exam that even if we cannot answer the question, we should still write the word ¡®answer¡¯. Just that word alone is worth 2 points!!! Brother, how can you be so clever?!¡± ¡°...........¡± You Huo wordlessly stored away the knife. He didn¡¯t see that as a praise. In order to prevent the idiot from continuing to talk about the word ¡®answer¡¯, he finally spoke up and asked: ¡°Who took the knife?¡± When he mentioned the knife, Yu Wen¡¯s expression immediately turned sour: ¡°Who else?!¡± He pointed at the tattooed man and said: ¡°Him! We found it on him! I knew there was something wrong with him. While the others were trying to find clues, he was hoarding all kinds of weapons like a bear preparing for hibernation. If not for Ms. Yu Yao bumping into him and knocking the knife out during themotion, who knows when we would find it?!¡± As he recalled what happened moments earlier, he couldn¡¯t help but shudder. If thatmotion didn¡¯t happen, if they were just a little bit more unlucky and the found the knife a second toote, if You Huo didn¡¯te back before their responses are collected..... Then his father Old Yu...... The tattooed man was tied up to the chair as everyone interrogated him. At this moment, the answer wall suddenly changed. Topic: A group of travellers came to a snow mountain and stayed overnight at a small hunter¡¯s cabin. Question: I have 13 tableware, but food is limited and only 12 can be amodated. The tableware hide a secret and one of you is destined to die. Will you be spared? This is actually not very difficult, after all optics is the most magical thing in the world. Requirements: Find the that cursed tableware. (But cannot damage them) Knowledge being tested: Optics Everyone: ¡°..............¡± Just as everyone was looking at the problem, a line of words appeared below. Vition warning: A punished examinee broke the rules and answered the question. The invigtor has been notified. Invigtor: 001, 154, 922 Everyone: ¡°...................¡± ¡¤ Ten minutester. On the second floor of the small western building, inside the invigtor¡¯s office. An invigtor and a rule viting examinee who had returned a second time looked at each other silently. You Huo: ¡°..................¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°................¡± After a long time, the invigtor ying with the pen snorted. He looked upzily and asked: ¡°Do you n on living here?¡± Chapter 5: Gif

Chapter 5: Gif

t You Huo slouched over on the sofa. Crossing his two long legs, he nonchntly yed with his earring. Hearing Qin Jiu¡¯s words, he lifted his half-lidded eyes and it coldly swept past the other person¡¯s face before looking back down again. No exnation, no reflection, no regard for him. This attitude of his was clearly the most difficult type to deal with. ¡¤ When 154 entered his boss¡¯s office, he felt a strong sense of suffocation. ¡°You were looking for me?¡± There was an examinee in the room so 154¡¯s expression was even more serious. His words were apanied by respect. ¡°What¡¯s the punishment for the second vition?¡± Qin Jiu slowly turned the pen in his hand and looked at him, ¡°I haven¡¯t been here for a while, so I don¡¯t remember well.¡± 154 fell silent for a moment. He then said: ¡°Solitary confinement.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°..............¡± You Huo¡¯s fingers moved and he finally looked up. His expression was still very cold. Apart fromziness, there weren¡¯t any other emotions but for 154, he felt like he was being ridiculed. Perhaps it was in the genes. Or perhaps their boss just had a tendency to attract these types of people. Qin Jiu: ¡°Apart from solitary confinement, there¡¯s nothing else?¡± 154 opened his mouth. Something in the room went ¡®beep¡¯. You Huo¡¯s gaze moved and it fell onto Qin Jiu¡¯s wrist. Something over there lit up. The sound seemed to being from there. 154 said: ¡°You see, adding punishments is against the rules.¡± Qin Jiu lowered his eyes and casually adjusted his shirt cuffs. That faint light dimmed back down. When he looked up again, his eyes met with You Huo¡¯s. ¡°Only having a table and chair in the confinement room is a bit boring.¡± He looked at You Huo but his words were directed at 154. 154 nodded: ¡°Indeed.¡± ¡°Why don¡¯t you stay with him? At least there¡¯s something to do.¡± 154: ¡°...............¡± Who are you punishing? Qin Jiuughed: ¡°Just kidding. Don¡¯t take it too seriously.¡± 154 had already grown ustomed to his ability to spout out unpredictable bastard lines. He quickly breathed a sigh of relief and said: ¡°Then........I¡¯ll take him downstairs to sleep for another three hours and then take him back when it¡¯s over?¡± ¡°Is this ce a hotel?¡± 154 didn¡¯t speak back. He waited for a while, but he didn¡¯t receive any new instructions. He casually nced over. On the sofa, You Huo was looking out the window. Not knowing if he was just in daze or something, he had a ¡°do whatever you want, if you kill me then I lose¡± expression. His attitude was cold and arrogant. As for his boss Qin Jiu......... He had his hands sped loosely together as he watched You Huo¡¯s pale side profile. 154 felt that, for this extremely difficult to deal with examinee, his boss probably grew curious about him but for some reason his boss also didn¡¯t seem to be in a very good mood. ¡°Boss?¡± 154 reminded him. Only after a while, Qin Jiu looked back. He suggested to 154: ¡°Go trick another examinee into viting the rules and confine them together.¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog 154: ¡°..................¡± What nonsense are you speaking? The wrist once again let out a ¡®beep¡¯. It was probably the same as earlier, an indication and warning. 154 kept his mouth closed. Qin Jiu didn¡¯t seem to mind. ¡°Not confining. Just send him away?¡± ¡®Beep¡¯. Qin Jiu snorted. He thought about it and asked 154: ¡°Have you cleaned the confinement room that was used earlier yet?¡± 154 nced at You Huo. He was very confused: ¡°There was something that needed to be cleaned up?? The ropes have been stored away, the paper ball with the curses have also been thrown away.¡± Hearing the word paper ball, You Huo¡¯s hand that was fiddling with his earring stopped for a second but he continued to look outside with a cold expression while pretending to be both deaf and mute.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°The other room.¡± 154: ¡°Oh, no not yet. I originally wanted to clean it up, but the rule vitions happened too closely together so 922 and I haven¡¯t been able to deal with it.¡± ¡°Then let¡¯s let this special guest.......¡± Qin Jiu stopped. He looked at You Huo, ¡°What should I call you?¡± You Huo coldly humphed. ¡°Let Mr. Humph go clean it up.¡± You Huo: ¡°................¡± Seeing that a murder case was about to happen in the office, 154 quickly responded and led the dangerous man downstairs. ¡¤ Downstairs utility room. 922 and 154 were picking and choosing through the equipment. The examinee who was going to go through the punishment leaned against the door with his arms crossed and expression gloomy. ¡°Don¡¯t have such a bad expression. If you really fought, you definitely won¡¯t be able to beat him.¡± 922 said. Perhaps it was because the word ¡°answer¡± was just too amazing, 922¡¯s attitude towards You Huo had changed a little. His tone was no longer as official as before. You Huo didn¡¯t say anything but from his expression you could tell that he thinks he¡¯s bullshitting. ¡°Did you think that he¡¯s called 001 just for show?¡± 922 said, ¡°When I first met boss.....Which one was it? It was in a military base somewhere, I can¡¯t remember anymore. Anyway, it was a whole street! A whole street covered in blood. In his hands he was carrying some type of bazooka¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± ¡°Go find your bucket.¡± 154 sternly interrupted his words. ¡°Oh.¡± 922 had notpletely reminisced his past experience and was forced to stop under 154¡¯s firm look. He said to You Huo: ¡°You can go over first. I¡¯ll take the bucket overter.¡± ¡¤ You Huo and 154 went down the long corridor first. ¡°Those blood all need to be cleaned.¡± 154 pointed at the blood on the ground. He then unlocked the confinement room that held the bald man earlier. ¡°You used to be an examinee?¡± You Huo suddenly spoke up. 154 hesitated. He nodded: ¡°Yes, several years back.¡± ¡°How did you turn into an invigtor?¡± 154 considered it for a moment: ¡°Sessfully passing the exam, excellent results.¡± You Huo wrinkled his eyebrows: ¡°What exactly is this exam?¡± 154 looked at him. He answered vaguely: ¡°A sort of..........special screening I guess. Exams are all like this.¡± You Huo said sarcastically: ¡°Screening? Looking for the bravest champion?¡± As they spoke, he once again felt the same sensation from earlier of being watched. You Huo looked up but only saw a white ceiling. There wasn¡¯t anything that was looking down at him from above. ¡°What kind of people would be pulled into this?¡± He ignored that feeling and continued to ask. 154 thought about it: ¡°Extremely dangerous people.¡± You Huo remained expressionless. 154 recalled the room filled with the old, weak and pregnant. He then said: ¡°.........But it sometimes might not be very urate.¡± You Huo: ¡°What is this? Supernatural event?¡± 154 shook his head: ¡°It¡¯s not a supernatural event, it¡¯s ¡ª¡ª¨C¡± ¡®Beep¡¯. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog It was that sound again. You Huo looked back and thought that the annoying invigtor 001 had followed over. Seeing that there wasn¡¯t anyone behind him, he realised that the sound came from 154. 154 rubbed his finger. On his index finger, he wore a silver ring. A red warning light glowed faintly from below the ring. When he saw that red light, he immediately shut his mouth. ¡°What is this?¡± You Huo asked, ¡°That 001 guy earlier had it too.¡± ¡°Warning for breaking the rules.¡± 154 turned the ring around to block the light. ¡°You also have constraints and regtions?¡± ¡°Of course! More than enough!¡± 922¡¯s voice travelled over. He carried a metal bucket and stepped over the bloodstains, ¡°Forbidden to talk about dangerous topics, forbidden to abuse power and bully examinees, forbidden to help examinees to cheat, forbidden to have a rtionship with examinees¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡± You Huo: ¡°...............¡± ¡°Oh, of course that is basically impossible.¡± 922 said, ¡°It¡¯s good enough if you don¡¯t get into a fight. If you really fought, the invigtor is prohibited from killing the examinee.......and so on.¡± ¡°Can an examinee kill an invigtor?¡± You Huo asked. 922: ¡°...........¡± ¡°So, what are the consequences of viting those rules?¡± 154¡¯s face paled. 922 who was rtively easy to speak with fell silent for a few seconds. He then smiled awkwardly and said: ¡°Don¡¯t ask. Anyway, it¡¯s very scary. I haven¡¯t experienced it yet, and I also don¡¯t want to experience it in the future.¡± ¡°So, don¡¯t ask anymore dangerous questions. Isn¡¯t it better to be safe?¡± 922 ced the metal bucket down in front of You Huo, ¡°Pass the exam properly and try to get out alive. These are the things you should focus on.¡± ¡¤ 154 no longer spoke. He unlocked the confinement room. The moment the door opened, strong odour travelled out. In addition to blood, there were some residues stuck on the ground and walls. You Huo had a disgusted expression: ¡°............Do you usually clean the confinement rooms?¡± ¡°Of course not by hand.¡± 922 pinched his nose and said, ¡°Otherwise what¡¯s the difference from that and punishing us?¡± ¡°It¡¯s a bit disgusting but cleaning is better than solitary confinement.¡± You Huo looked coldly at him. 922 said cautiously: ¡°Uh......for you, it would at least be better than sharing a room with our boss right?¡± When he was done, he ran off while dragging 154 behind him. The corridor was silent again. ¡¤ Proper cleaning was impossible. You Luo leaned against the door and coldly scanned the room. He then picked up the bucket of water and poured it directly into the room. The water washed away part of the blood, and some of the residue¡¯s stuck on the floor and walls were also washed off. You Huo bent down and examined a piece in front of him. Looking carefully, it looked like bone and on top of it was long ck hair. What horrific scenes does that bald man have in his mind? You Huo suppressed his disgust and coldly entered the room. ............ The whole room was cleaned up, and the bloody water and residue filled up a whole bucket. At the very top of it was a pile of hair and a piece of skin that came from who knows where. The skin had be pale from soaking to the point that it even looked a little fake. On it was a small tattoo that was particrly conspicuous. It was a small and simple bellflower. ¡¤ After three hours, 922 once again set off and brought You Huo back to the examination centre. Qin Jiu stretched a little and decided to go find 154 to get some food. When he opened the office door, a bucket of bloody water and flesh residue was ced respectfully outside. Next to it was a small torn off piece of paper with slender scribbled handwriting. It wrote: Gift for you. You¡¯re wee. 154¡¯s voice travelled over: ¡°Boss, I¡¯m thinking of grilling some meat. What do you want to eat?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°..........I won¡¯t be hungry today.¡± 154: ¡°???¡± 922 turned around the corner with oven gloves on and stared at the bloody bucket for a total of three seconds. He said: ¡°I think I won¡¯t be hungry for the rest of my life.¡± Qin Jiu took off the piece of paper and examined it for while as he leaned against the wall. He asked 154: ¡°What¡¯s the punishment if the same examinee vites the rules the third time?¡± He asked this slowly and he even dragged out some of the words. It was as if he was carelessly trying to challenge something. 154: ¡°.........There shouldn¡¯t be a third time?¡± ¡°What if.¡± 154 said carefully: ¡°The one being punished is us..........All invigtors for full time on-site invigting.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°......................¡± The building went scarily quiet. Chapter 6: Hunter A

Chapter 6: Hunter A

This time, 922 stayed around for a while at the door after dropping the examinee off. After the experiencest time, he was very curious about what You Huo would do. However, a few secondster he regretted this decision. You Huo came out again. 922 with a look of frustration: ¡°What¡¯s wrong now?¡± You Huo: ¡°I just thought of something.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The rules here, are they based on the exams in reality?¡± 922 nodded: ¡°Of course it is.¡± You Huo: ¡°There was a rule that wasn¡¯t mentioned.¡± 922: ¡°Which?¡± ¡°If an examinee encounters a problem, can they also find the invigtor?¡± 922: ¡°.........Yes.¡± But we don¡¯t want you to look for us. To avoid trouble, 922 immediately added: ¡°It¡¯s the same as the exams in reality. You are forbidden to ask for the answer. We don¡¯t and can¡¯t help you with that.¡± You Huo made a sound of recognition. But he had always been quite little with words.......922 still felt skeptical. ¡°So when we encounter a problem, how do we find you?¡± 922 said: ¡°Just.......Use the delegated pen and write on the answer wall¡ª¡ª¨C¡± He originally wanted to say ¡®write the invigtors number¡¯ but he felt resistance inside. His mouth changed and the words that came out was, ¡°Write 001.¡± You Huo looked expressionlessly at him. 922 looked at him innocently and repeated: ¡°Yes, write 001.¡± ¡°...............¡± After what felt like a century, You Huo nodded. He then turned around and closed the door on him. 922 who had managed to make a big achievement happily went back. ¡¤ In the cabin. The fire was still burning strongly, and everyone sat around it in clearly separated groups. Because of the knife incident earlier, the tattooed man was left alienated. Alone, he sat at the corner of the table with a sullen face. The others sat far from him and would deliberately walk around him. Seeing You Huo returning, Yu Wen immediately jumped up. ¡°Brother! Did the invigtors do anything to you? What punishment? Are you okay?¡± He waved the knife around and fired out a session of questions. Everyone looked over. You Huo furrowed his brows and moved away from the de. He said: ¡°It¡¯s nothing.¡± ¡°You sure?¡± Yu Wen didn¡¯t believe him. He nced at the corner of the room and asked quietly: ¡°That person was taken away once and he became like that. How harsh was the punishment?¡± You Huo looked over at the corner of the room. The bald man who was confined earlier huddled there with yellow and turbid eyes. He swayed his body back and forth nervously as he muttered incoherently. He seemed to have been scared mad. You Huo saw the bald man and recalled the confinement room. He instantly felt a little sick. ¡°He has always been like that?¡± ¡°Yes. It has been three hours and he didn¡¯t recover at all.¡± Yu Wen snorted coldly. He then whispered: ¡°See him constantly mumbling? I even went over to listen in.¡± ¡°What did he say?¡± Yu Wen shook his head and said: ¡°I only heard something like ¡®unfortunate life¡¯. On there was also something about burning incense. I couldn¡¯t understand the rest.¡± You Huo made a sound of understanding and no longer asked. You got punished more than him so why do you seem okay?¡± Yu Wen was very curious. You Huo waszy to exin. He answered perfunctorily: ¡°Method is different.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°What punishment did you get?¡± You Huo answered briefly: ¡°Slept. Gifted the invigtor a bucket of blood.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°???¡± ¡°Why did you gift the invigtor blood?¡± You Huo looked coldly at him: ¡°Who knows? He likes it.¡± Yu Wen keenly noted that his brother said ¡®he¡¯, not ¡®they¡¯. ¡°Which one? Is he a pervert?¡± ¡°You Huo: ¡°001.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°Huh.......¡± ¡¤ You Huo and that invigtor were not in good rtions and he didn¡¯t want to talk about it anymore. He nced around, and frowned: ¡°Were you just sitting around for the past three hours?¡± ¡°How can that be?¡± Yu Wen pointed at the answer wall and said: ¡°Brother, your solution inspired me so I went and wrote a few things.¡± You Huo looked at the answer wall. On it there were densely packed scrawls made by by Yu Wen. You Huo: ¡°.............¡± Yu Wen said: ¡°My teacher said that we should write anything thates to mind. Even if you don¡¯t know, while you¡¯re writing it down you might pick up a few points inadvertently.¡± You Huo: ¡°So, you wrote an essay?¡± He tried to read the messy scrawls. He pointed at one of the lines and asked: ¡°What is this sentence?¡± Yu Wen tried to read it with even more difficulty than You Huo: ¡°I think.......We have a total of 13 people and there are 12 tableware.¡± You Huo: ¡°........Why are you copying the question? Yu Wen: ¡°.........When I don¡¯t have anything to write in an exam, in order to increase the word count, I would try to emphasise the key point in the question.¡± You Huo: ¡°.........¡± Fuck you and the key point. He pointed to another pile of circles: ¡°What¡¯s this?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°G=mg, g=9.8N/kg..........¡± You Huo: ¡°What does this have to do with optics?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°The thing is.........I don¡¯t know what kind rtionship tableware has with optics.¡± You Huo: ¡°...........¡± Yu Wen was afraid of his brother going mad with anger, so he quickly added: ¡°There are also optics here.¡± You Huo no longer wanted to look at the nonsensical scrawls. He asked directly, ¡°Where?¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog You Wen said timidly: ¡°Here. I wrote refractive index, parallel lines, spherical surface, lens, focal length, imaging.........Aren¡¯t these words all optics rted? I even drew a simple two mirror diagram.¡± You Huo was expressionless. Yu Wen thought about it and then pulled his brother away from the wall. He changed the topic: ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about the unhappy things. Apart from answering the question, we also did something else.¡± In fact, after the answer wall was updated, they turned the cabin upside down. The question said that this was a hunter¡¯s cabin and that he had 13 tableware but only enough food to feed 12. But after searching through the attic, cabs and various bottles and cans, they firstly didn¡¯t see a hunter and, secondly, there weren¡¯t any tableware. As for food........They could only dream. ¡°We searched for two hours.¡± Yu Wen said dejectedly, ¡°In such a small cabin, two hours! So you can imagine how much we¡¯ve gone through. There really was nothing. What a shit question.¡± You Huo asked: ¡°You definitely went through everything?¡± ¡°In fact, we didn¡¯t.¡± A stick thin man wearing a hospital gown coughed a few times and interjected: ¡°There were two ces that weren¡¯t touched.¡± He raised his skinny fingers and pointed at the two locked rooms. On the door of the rooms was the rooster and hen. Its necks were twisted, and their dark beady eyes looked out the window not moving an inch. Perhaps it was because the chickens looked very strange and every time, they called out it was either because of a vition or because it was time to collect the answers, no one dared to touch it. ¡°We tried to find the key, but we couldn¡¯t find it.¡± You Huo nodded. He walked over and examined the two padlocks. He then turned around and looked at the walls. Yu Wen was worried that his brother would take out the axe to break the door down. He quickly said: ¡°Brother! I yed these types of games more than everyone else here. For locked doors like this, it¡¯s best not to use force.¡± You Huo coolly asked back: ¡°Do I look retarded?¡± Yu Wen shrank back. He didn¡¯t dare speak. After a moment he said timidly: ¡°Then why are you looking at the wall?¡± ¡°Did anyone touch the hunting gear?¡± You Huo asked. Everyone¡¯s eyes moved to the tattooed man. ¡°Fuck, why are you fucking looking at me for!¡± The tattooed man saw this and was enraged: ¡°Earlier you wrongly used me of hiding the knife and now what are you going to wrongly use me of?¡± ¡°Wrongly use?¡± You Huo frowned. ¡°With so many people are grouped together, who the fuck knows where that knife fell from.¡± The tattooed man cursed. He said irritably: ¡°I¡¯m done! It¡¯s no point exining to you fools!¡± You Huo looked coldly at him. Tattooed man: ¡°.............¡± After a moment of silence, the tattooed man said: ¡°Forget it. You......what do you want to ask? Ask!¡± You Huo pointed at the wall with his chin: ¡°Put the hunting gear back to where it was. I want to look at its position.¡± The tattooed man red at him: ¡°Am I crazy? Why should I put it back after taking it down?¡± ? Three minutester, the tattooed man took out a bag of hunting gear and hung them back one by one. You Huo crossed his arms and followed behind him. ¡°I¡¯m not a dog. Can you not walk around like you¡¯re walking me?!¡± The tattooed manined dissatisfiedly but he still ced thest one back before spitting in the corner and walking away. ¡°Brother, what¡¯s wrong with the hunting gear?¡± Yu Wen asked. You Huo pointed at thest wall and said: ¡°There are two empty nails.¡± ¡°So?¡± Yu Wen was still puzzled.¡± ¡°What happened to the thing hanging from there?¡± The room went silent. Suddenly someone said: ¡°That¡¯s right.........it¡¯s missing two things. Is anyone hiding something?¡± Everyone shook their heads. Old Yu: ¡°It was like this from the beginning.¡± Everyone looked at him. ¡°That..........Before the exam started, didn¡¯t I go out for a bit?¡± Old Yu said to You Huo. ¡°You were sleeping so I didn¡¯t call you. Before I went out, I wanted to see if there were any umbres in the cabin. At that time the two nails were empty. I¡¯m certain.¡± ¡°So, you mean that from the time we entered the cabin, two hunting gears were missing?¡± ¡°Then who has it?¡± ¡°The hunter?¡± Yu Wen guessed, ¡°So......There really is a hunter and he is just not in the cabin. He probably went out hunting?¡± Everyone was a little nervous: ¡°We can¡¯t go out, he can¡¯te in. How can we find him?¡± You Huo: ¡°Time isn¡¯t up yet, right?¡± ¡¤ Everyone¡¯s sense of time was a bit off but You Huo had already dragged a chair over and moved to sit before the fire. The others also sat down and went in daze as they looked at the fire. Yu Yao supported her waist and carefully moved over. She looked at You Huo for a while. The other person¡¯s side profile was lit up by the fire making him look gentler than usual, but his eyes were still cold and indifferent. With a look of guilt, she said: ¡°I¡¯m sorry.¡± You Huo looked over at her. Yu Yao said in a small voice: ¡°That ink.....Clearly I was the one who did it but you got punished instead. I have always wanted to apologise to you but you were taken away again before I could say anything.¡± You Huo: ¡°..............¡± Yu Yao said: ¡°I know it¡¯s useless to apologise. If there is anything next time, I¡¯ll go instead.¡± You Huo: ¡°............¡± He lowered his eyes and nced at Yu Yao. He looked away and continued to warm his hands up: ¡°No need.¡± Yu Yao opened her mouth wanting to say something but in the end she didn¡¯t say anything. She sat there in daze for a while. Then she suddenly asked You Huo: ¡°You¡¯re not afraid?¡± You Huo straightened one leg. The fire stove was too warm, and he was a little sleepy. He was quiet for a moment before sayingzily: ¡°Afraid of what?¡± ¡°Afraid of death, afraid of viting the rules.......or anything. Everyone is very curious. You are very strong. It¡¯s like you aren¡¯t afraid of anything.¡± ¡°What¡¯s the point of being afraid?¡± Yu Yao nodded and said quietly: ¡°That¡¯s true. But you can¡¯t help it. I¡¯m just very scared.......¡± You Huo didn¡¯t look up. He said: ¡°You¡¯re not too timid. You even had the courage to use that unknown ink to write on the wall.¡± He spoke effortlessly. It was as if he didn¡¯t want to even move his lips. His voice was low and cold but, while being baked by the warm fire, there was no tone of me. Yu Yao lowered her head. She didn¡¯t know what to say. She lingered for a long time before saying: ¡°I actually..........¡± But she didn¡¯t finish speaking. She saw You Huo with one leg on the edge of the chair and his arm on his knee. He seemed to have fallen asleep again. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog She was surprised for a moment and she swallowed her words back. She didn¡¯t wake You Huo and just slowly moved back to the two olddies. ¡°How did he fall asleep again?¡± The olddy whispered. ¡°Didn¡¯t he sleep when he just came?¡± Yu Wen heard this faintly and he looked at You Huo. Inside he answered: No, my brother is always sleepy even after sleeping. Yu Yao didn¡¯t say have much to say. She leaned against the olddy and her eyes looked into the distance. She seemed to be in thought. ¡¤ An unknown amount of time passed and the clock above the cab changed. Beijing time, four o¡¯clock in the morning. The sudden cry from the rooster frightened everyone. They quickly sat up and looked at each other before realising that they had fallen asleep. Yu Wen pped himself a few times to wake himself up. When he lowered his hands, he heard a strange sound. ¡°Shh¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± He gestured and asked quietly: ¡°Do you hear something?¡± ¡°What?¡± Old Yu looked at his son thinking that he was speaking nonsense. ¡°Don¡¯t you hear it?¡± Yu Wen asked, ¡°That......crunching sound.¡± The room fell silent. No one dared to move. Everyone had a wary expression as they listened for movement. Sure enough, after a few seconds the crunching sound was heard again. This time everyone heard it. It was like......something heavy being dragged in the snow. The stick thin man in the hospital gown gestured out the window and mouthed: ¡°Here.¡± Before his mouth could close, the door opened with a creak. A ck shadow was cast in from outside the door. Following that, a pale faced man holding a bundle of rope entered the cabin. His figure wasrge, but he wasn¡¯t very tall. His face looked like over exposed paper and his eyes were also very strange. The iris looked a little toorge for his eyes and the white sclera only upied a very small amount. He bent down to roll the rope up. On his waist hung a wide knife and a small bell rang with his movements. No one in the room spoke. Everyone watched him drag a sack into the house and then closing the door. At this moment, he finally looked around at the fire stove. His dark eyes blinked a few times: ¡°Ah.......That¡¯s good, there are guests.¡± Everyone: ¡°..............¡± ¡¤ The one who came was the hunter that they had been waiting for. He squeezed his hand and said: ¡°Snow had blocked off the roads for the past few days so I knew that foo......I mean, guests woulde.¡± Guests: ¡°............¡± ¡°It¡¯s really cold outside.¡± He said slowly: ¡°The snow is too heavy. Everything was hidden so I couldn¡¯t find a prey. I spent a long, long time to finally dig out one.¡± He kicked the sack and smiled at everyone. His lips looked like they almost reached his ears: ¡°You¡¯re really lucky to be able to join me.¡± He sighed again and exined: ¡°I can¡¯t help it. There aren¡¯t many things on the snow mountain, and it would always be a long time until Ie across a group. I have to tighten my belly to survive so I only have two meals a day. ¡°Once in the morning at 4am and then in the afternoon at 4pm. There aren¡¯t many chances to have a wonderful meal with me.¡± He looked at the clock above the cab and said: ¡°Ah, it¡¯s just the right time. You must¡¯ve waited long and must be hungry. I can hear your stomachs growling. Can¡¯t wait?¡± Guests: ¡°..........¡± ¡°How many of you are there?¡± He held out his finger and counted them one by one, ¡°Old woman, sick man, thug, alcoholic, alcoholic¡¯s son.......¡± None of the names were nice but when he pointed at them, their faces all turned green. When he reached You Huo, he paused and wasn¡¯t happy: ¡°Why is there one still asleep.¡± ¡°Forget it.¡± Hunter A was no longer interested. He looked at the answer well and said: ¡°Looks like there are a total of 13 people but I don¡¯t have enough food. Only enough for 12. What a pity.¡± As he said that, he licked his lips: ¡°I¡¯m really hungry, but you¡¯ll have to wait a little longer. I have to prepare. It¡¯s my first time having so many guests.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°...........¡± It¡¯s also my first time seen such a girly hunter. Hunter A bent over and picked up the sack. The sack looked particrly heavy. They didn¡¯t know what it contained and they also didn¡¯t want to know...... He dragged the sack over to the corner of the room and stopped before the room with the hen hanging from the door. The keys nked and Hunter A picked one out. Using it, he opened the door to the room. A rotten smell spread out. It was a smell that was hard to describe. It was like rotten meat, dust and decaying wood all mixed together. ¡¤ Everyone had thought that the room with the hen hanging from the door was the bedroom. Now they realised that it was actually a kitchen. Inside was a long counter. It was no problem for someone to lie on it. On the other side was a tall red wooden cab. Numerous locks hung from there. Hunter A smiled at the people in the room and then made a small bow: ¡°Please wait. It¡¯ll be done soon.¡± He then closed the door. ¡¤ The people by the fire stove was silent for a long time. One of them said with fear: ¡°I don¡¯t want to eat, I want to go home.¡± ¡°Who doesn¡¯t want to go home!¡± The tattooed man had at some unknown point in time joined the crowd. He was probably afraid of Hunter A, ¡°Can we go back? If you have the ability, go and rush out through that door!¡± Everyone fell silent again. After a moment, Old Yu swallowed: ¡°That hunter¡¯s mouth was so big. It wouldn¡¯t be a problem to swallow a human head. I have a feeling he eats humans........¡± Yu Yao muttered: ¡°What¡¯s in that sack?¡± Putting those two sentences together, it was extremely terrifying. Everyone¡¯s eyes moved out the window. The snowstorm outside still had not stopped. Before the exam, Old Yu went out to investigate and said that everything was covered in snow. There weren¡¯t any people or houses within a hundred miles from here........ Where did the preye from? What¡¯s more, Hunter A said that the food was dug out. When they arrived here in the afternoon, there was a man who didn¡¯t listen to the radio and his body was soon buried under the snow....... Everyone recalled that moment in unison. Deep fear formed on their faces. Yu Wen was even about to vomit. ¡°If you want to vomit, turn around.¡± You Huo¡¯s cold voice rang out, ¡°Don¡¯t get it on me again.¡± ¡°Brother you¡¯re awake?!¡± Yu Wen cried out in pleasant surprise. ¡°What are you shouting for! Can¡¯t you be a little quieter?!¡± The tattooed man shouted. You Huo nced at the tattooed man and said: ¡°I wasn¡¯t sleeping.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°Oh¡ª¡ª¡ª Then why do you always close your eyes?¡± ¡°Eyes are ufortable.¡± Yu Wen remembered now that his father seemed to have mentioned that You Huo has had surgery done on his eyes and that would be tired and ufortable after looking at bright things for a long time. However, because he had never heard You Huo mention it, he didn¡¯t remember it himself. ¡°Brother, did you hear everything Hunter A said?¡± Yu Wen asked. You Huo hummed in acknowledgment. Yu Wen: ¡°What do we do?¡± You Huo saidzily: ¡°I¡¯m a little hungry. Wait for dinner.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°...........¡± Who are you trying to scare? Chapter 7: Third Violation

Chapter 7: Third Vition

Master You¡¯s words effectively rmed the crowd. Silence was instantly restored in the cabin, and everyone felt panicked. The soundproofing in the kitchen wasn¡¯t very good and the sound of something being dragged was heard. Soon after, there was a heavy sound. It sounded like............Somethingrge and frozen thrown onto the counter. After a while, the sound of bones being cut was heard. The sounds followed one after another. ¡¤ The clockhand above the cab moved slowly. Every second felt excruciatingly long. After about an entire century, the door to the kitchen finally opened. The smell that wafted out had be even more strange. It was like the smell from earlier but now there was also an additional trace of blood and fishiness. Hunter A took out a dark cloth and used it to wipe his hands. He stuck his head out and smiled at everyone: ¡°It¡¯s almost done. You know what? Meat that has been frozen before tastes very good. With a little bit of ice, it¡¯s both chewy and crunchy..........¡± As the pale faced man described it, he appeared to be happily visualising it in his mind. He then said: ¡°You¡¯ll love it.¡± Yu Wen huddled amongst the ground. With his brother awake, he now had the courage to curse out: ¡°Fuck........what a psychopath.¡± When he finished saying that, he heard his brothers stomach make a sound. Yu Wen: ¡°............¡± Hunter A suddenly smiled and said: ¡°Aha! I heard it! I¡¯m happy there¡¯s another person looking forward to my delicious meal. Come, there¡¯s plenty avable. I need a kind guest to help me out.¡± His pair of oversized eyes moved around in a circle. Almost everyone shrank back, only You Huo didn¡¯t move. He not only didn¡¯t shrink back, he even seemed to want to step forward. Yu Wen looked at him horrified whilst holding him back. ¡°No, no, no. I know you must be feeling shy. No need to be polite.¡± Hunter A said: ¡°I¡¯ll do it myself. Food is hard toe by so I¡¯ll pick a careful and steady person. It would be a pity if the tes broke.¡± He swayed hisrge body and walked into the living room. Because of his abnormal proportions, he walked a little clumsily. ¡¤ No one dared to breath. Their eyes all looked over to a particr corner of the room. In the corner, the crazy bald man hid in the shadows. He didn¡¯t even seem to have noticed that there was now another person in the cabin and just continued to mutter nonsensically while rocking around. The only thing to feel fortunate about was that Hunter A¡¯s attention was on the side with more people and he didn¡¯t seem to have noticed the person who was alone in the corner. So, when Hunter A walked over to the bald man¡¯s side, some people quietly gasped. ¡°Huh?¡± Hunter A suddenly stopped and turned his head. ¡°Fuck.¡± Yu Wen quietly swore. Hunter A¡¯s head turn was extremely terrifying. The angle that he achieved as not something a normal person could do. It was like an owl and his face was on his shoulders. With him turning back, he looked at the bald ban next to his feet. ¡°Ah......There¡¯s another guest here. How did I miss that? Let me see.¡± Hunter A said. His legs were too thick so he squatted with difficulty. The bald man¡¯s eyes were nk. He didn¡¯t even see therge pale face before him. Hunter A was unhappy about being ignored. He pinched the bald man¡¯s chin and patted his face: ¡°Hello? Dear guest?¡± He patted him twice but was unsessful. Hunter A gave him a hard p. Everyone: ¡°.............¡± The bald man returned to his senses. His eyes regained focus. With wide yellow eyes, he looked silently at Hunter A in front of him. Two secondster, the Hunter A¡¯s shoe was soaked in urine. Hunter A: ¡°.............¡± The big pale face twitched and he once again to form arge smile: ¡°I think this guest suits my requirements. Here, help me with the tes okay?¡± The bald man¡¯s limbs were soft. He couldn¡¯t move at all. ¡°Get up!¡± Hunter A stood up and picked the bald man up. The bald man trembled like crazy. ¡°Stand straight!¡± The bald man was terrified. He stood there trembling. Hunter A again smiled ¡°See? That¡¯s a good guest. Come with me.¡± The bald man looked back at the others but before he could get a response. Hunter A said: ¡°I hope that the others will stay where you are. If anyone moves, I¡¯ll be unhappy and that guest will be in danger.¡± The person who originally wanted to make some hand gestures silently retracted his hands. The bald man no longer dared to turn back. He fearfully followed behind Hunter A. ¡¤ Hunter A prepared the food very crudely and the kitchen was covered in small pieces of meat. On the counter was 12 empty porcin tes and the cut-up meat formed a small hill in a ss bowl. The frozen meat was very hard, and you couldn¡¯t tell what the source of the meat was. The rest of it was thrown back into the sack which was tightly tied up again. The bald man trembled like a leaf. His yellow eyes were fixated at the butcher¡¯s knife on the table. ¡°What are you looking dear guest?¡± Hunter A suddenly asked gently. The bald man¡¯s legs went weak and he quickly looked away. ¡°Oh, here you go.¡± Hunter A ced two tes in his hands and said: ¡°The tes may be a bit heavy. With your legs shaking so much, please be careful. If you identally break them.......Then we might have enough food for all of us.¡± The bald man was terrified. When he came out of the kitchen, Hunter A again emphasised to everyone: ¡°Remember? When you¡¯re helping me, you need to be very careful. If anyone in this room breaks any of the tableware, you will be severely punished. Hmm........you probably don¡¯t want to go hungry and be someone else¡¯s food right?¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Everyone heard this sentence and looked at the answer wall in sync. On it was a sentence ¡ª¡ª- Cannot damage the tableware. They originally thought that the maximum number of casualties for this question would be one and they didn¡¯t expect this kind of trap. ¡¤ The bald man and Hunter A ced 13 tes out and arranged it in a circle along the long table. He then ced the ss bowl of meat in the middle. When thest te was ced down, the bald man let out a sigh of relief and slumped down onto a chair. ¡°Don¡¯t!¡± Someone called out. The bald man was stunned. He looked at the crowd. He saw Old Yu using his eyes to direct him in the direction of the answer wall. The bald man hurriedly looked over. ¡¤ When the question was updated, the bald man had just returned from the confinement room and had been acting mad in the corner so he wasn¡¯t aware of the changes. He saw the phrases ¡°Only 12 can be amodated¡± and ¡°One is destined to die¡± and his face instantly turned pale. Who knew whether or not the ce he sat at was the one that was the unfortunate seat? The bald man struggled to get up but a big pair of hands held him down. Hunter A moved over to his ears and said: ¡°You have already chosen a seat. You can¡¯t change it. It¡¯s no point standing up again. Forget it.¡± The words ¡°forget it¡± stunned the bald man on the spot. He slumped back in the chair and no longer moved. ¡¤ Hunter A felt a little regretful. He sighed: ¡°Haa........How could he faint like that? I¡¯ve only just served up the meat and there¡¯s also wine.¡± Food had not yet been eaten and one had already fallen. Hunter A¡¯s eyes scanned across the others. ¡°I still need another person to help me get the sses.¡± He walked awkwardly to them while muttering: ¡°Who should it be? I like children, let¡¯s go with a child......¡± As he said that, his eyes rolled around in a circle and fell onto Yu Wen. Yu Wen seemingly forgot to breathe. Hunter A smiled and raised his hand. ¡°Then it¡¯ll be you my¡ª¡ª¡ª¡° His voice just fell when You Huo wordlessly moved in front of Yu Wen. ¡°¡ª¡ª-child.¡± The finger that the Hunter A had stretched out pointed straight at him. Hunter A¡¯s pale face stiffened. You Huo looked at him calmly. ¡°Me? Okay.¡± Hunter A: ¡°............¡± Okay your head. He appeared to be a little angry. You Huo then said: ¡°Going back on your words?¡± Hunter A retracted his finger and smiled while the edges of his lips twitched: ¡°No, no. How can I do that? As the owner, of course I should be true to my words.¡± He felt miffed for a moment before waving his hand: ¡°Come on kind-hearted guest.¡± He said ¡°Come on¡±. But it sounded like ¡°Why don¡¯t you die¡±. Hunter A turned around and walked into the kitchen. You Huo didn¡¯t lift his eyes and followed behind. Yu Wen was shocked. He hurriedly grabbed him and whispered: ¡°Brother! What are you doing!?¡± You Huo nced at him: ¡°Getting wine.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t you hear him?! If you identally break the sses, you¡¯ll die!¡± Yu Wen was anxious. You Huo: ¡°...........Am I physically incapacitated? To even break sses just by carrying them?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°................¡± That¡¯s true but...... He still felt that his brother was going to do something. ¡°You tell me first. Why did you suddenly take the initiative to get the sses?¡± Yu Wen didn¡¯t relent. You Huo pointed at the answer wall with his chin. He then pried his sleeves out of Yu Wen¡¯s hands and said: ¡°See the requirements for the answer?¡± ¡°Of course, I¡¯m not blind.¡± You Huo calmly said: ¡°Then let me teach you something.¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°The more emphasis there is, the more suspicious.¡± You Huo then walked off. Yu Wen stood in ce stunned. He quickly looked at his dad: ¡°What does my brother mean??? Why am I so confused?!¡± Old Yu was even more confused. ¡¤ You Huo came to the kitchen. Hunter A was looking for the key for the cab. There was a total of seven keys hanging from the brass ring. He selected three of them and opened the doors on the right-hand side of the red cab. He slowly pulled out 13 wine sses and arranged it in a row on the counter. You Huo picked one up at random and examined it. At first nce it was just an ordinary wine ss. Nothing abnormal was noted. Hunter A frowned: ¡°Put it down! Did I say that you can touch it?! Why don¡¯t you know about basic guest etiquette?¡± You Huo snorted and ced the ss back. He passed the door and looked a at the clock. He urged with a cold voice: ¡°With your speed, do you have enough time in a day to have two meals?¡± Hunter A: ¡°............¡± He red at You Huo and quietly cursed at him. He then barely squeezed out a smile: ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s okay. A generous owner should always be tolerant of the guest. I understand you¡¯re probably too hungry. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog You Huo coldly scoffed. Hunter A: ¡°.............¡± This was his first time encountering such a guest. He no longer wanted to talk and he turned to prepare his wine. Taking advantage of when Hunter A is busy, You Huo held open the cab door and scanned inside at its contents. Apart from the already arranged porcin tes and the wine sses that they had taken out, there was only a silver saucer and a small bundle of cutlery. ¡°Okay!¡± Hunter A suddenly spoke up. ¡°It¡¯s not polite to peek.¡± You Huo didn¡¯t respond. Hunter A again said: ¡°Help me take out the cutlery too. Thanks.¡± You Huo nced at his expression and pulled them out from the cab. ¡¤ Hunter A carefully hung the keys back to his waist. He then pulled out a round try and ced the sses one by one onto the tray. You Huo suddenly said: ¡°I noticed something.¡± Hunter A¡¯s¡¯s movements stopped. His big pale face looked warily at him: ¡°What?¡± You Huo: ¡°You seem to be particrly careful with the wine sses.¡± Hunter A: ¡°..........¡± He was silent for a moment. He then exined: ¡°You saw wrong. Dining is a very sacred activity. I am very cautious about every tableware.¡± You Huo hummed in response. Hunter A looked at him with vignce. You Huo: ¡°I was just joking earlier.¡± Hunter A: ¡°.............¡± ¡¤ In the living room, Yu Wen was still worried about his brother. He was afraid that this fearless brother of his wouldpletely ruin the kitchen utensils. In the end, he heard Hunter A¡¯s angry shout: ¡°Scram!¡± You Huo walked out expressionlessly with both hands empty. ¡°What¡¯s going on?¡± Everyone was stunned. ¡°Where are the sses?¡± Yu Wen gestured. ¡°Weren¡¯t you getting the sses? Why did you get kicked out?¡± You Huo didn¡¯t return back to the crowd and just stood near the dining table with his hands in his pockets: ¡°He changed his mind and decided to bring it himself.¡± Everyone was rmed. They felt that it wasn¡¯t good angering Hunter A. That guy is the subject of the question! Who knows what he can do? What if he opens his mouth and says that you¡¯re going to die? Just when everyone looked at each other in fear, Hunter A walked out himself with therge tray. On the tray was arge number of wine sses and cutlery. Hunter A ushered You Huo aside and personally ced them down on by one. For some reason, You Huo continued to stand on the side looking as if it was very interesting seeing Hunter A put down tableware. ¡¤ Yu Wen was anxious to death. He mouthed and gestured exaggeratedly to You Huo: ¡°Brother! Brothere over here! What are you doing standing there?!¡± You Huo however acted like he didn¡¯t see him and continued tozily watch Hunter A. ¡°Move aside!¡± Hunter A rudely yelled at You Huo. After yelling, he turned around and smiled at the others: ¡°What are you standing around for? Come and sit. We¡¯re about to start.¡± As he said that, he appeared to be a little hungry. He stopped and reached over to pick up an piece of raw meat from the ss bowl. Everyone watched his mouth opened like a ck hole before swallowing the entire piece of meat. He even swallowed it together with the bones. It was just like what he described before, it was both chewy and crunchy. The two olddies copsed onto the floor. The panic in the room grew heavier. ¡¤ Hunter A finished eating and licked his lips. He said softly: ¡°Ah, that was rude of me.¡± He pointed at You Huo and med him: ¡°It¡¯s all because of this offending guest who made me a little angry. I have a problem where I get hungry when I¡¯m angry.¡± His eyes moved around, and he counted the pieces of meat in the bowl. ¡°Oh no, I identally ate one and now there¡¯s only 11 left.¡± Everyone on the side watched him unblinkingly. Hunter A picked up thest wine ss and smiled: ¡°Then I will probably have to bother you........and one more can die?¡± All the blood disappeared from their faces. In the dead silence, a cold voice suddenly sounded: ¡°Isn¡¯t this against the rule?¡± The person who spoke was none other than You Huo. Hunter A was stunned. He wanted to turn to look at him but because of his uncoordinated body, he turned around in a strange posture. ¡°It¡¯s you again!¡± Hunter A frowned and was about to get angry. You Huo suddenly lifted his foot and kicked him. In an instant, the world spun. Then a loud crash was heard and hisrge pale face had fallen to the ground. Along with Hunter A, the wine ss that he had in his hand also fell. ¡°.............¡± Hunter A watched the ss shatter before him for two whole seconds. His eyes then widened in horror. ¡¤ No one in the room dared to move. Everyone maintained their stiff posture and stood there stunned. Very quickly, the hair-rising rooster started to call out! The answer wall which hadn¡¯t changed for the past four hours now had another line appear. Vition warning: Vition of exam requirements. The invigtors have been notified. Invigtor: 001, 154, 922. Everyone: ¡°.............¡± Yu Wen nced at the answer wall dumbfounded. He suddenly felt a little bad for the invigtors. ¡¤ In the small western building in the woods, 922 grabbed a notice and ran into the office. ¡°Boss.........¡± Qin Jiu frowned, and his first reaction was to look at the clock. ¡°Don¡¯t look at it. It has only been an hour since we sent him back¡± 154 said with a wooden face. Qin Jiu snorted and didn¡¯t know whether he should be happy or angry: ¡°What is it this time? Did he fight to answer the question?¡± 154 shook his head: ¡°No, it¡¯s a little more serious than that. He killed the subject.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°He killed what?¡± 154 replied expressionlessly: ¡°You didn¡¯t hear wrong. The subject of the question itself is dead.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°..........¡± 922 who managed to catch up was shocked: ¡°A subject can fucking die? What is going on?¡± Chapter 8: Return Gif

Chapter 8: Return Gif

t The rooster hanging from the door once again turned its neck and looked out the window while crying out. Three invigtors walked over through the snowstorm. A chill rushed through the cabin as soon as the door opened. Familiar scenery. Familiar people. The faces of the old, weak and sick people in the room had all stiffened. 154¡¯s face was even more stiff: ¡°We¡¯ve received another vition notice.¡± He pulled out a note and said: ¡°The notice said that an examinee¡ª¡ª¡± ¡°A cute and obedient examinee who will never learn to behave.¡± Qin Jiu added teasingly while taking off his gloves. 154 looked at him incredulously. ¡°Got a problem?¡± Qin Jiu raised his eyebrow. 154: ¡°...........No.¡± He was wondering how blind he must be to see ¡°cute and obedient¡± on You Huo. But the one who spoke was his boss. Only he had the authority to bullshit. You Huo stood against the wall with his arms folded as he looked coldly at Qin Jiu. Qin Jiu looked at him with a hint of a smile at his lips. With the warm glow from the fire stove between them, he nodded back in greeting. That act was very gentlemanly yet his expression was filled with jest. 154 was afraid that a certain invigtor and a certain examinee would start a bloody battle right then and there, so he quickly said with a stern expression: ¡°¡ª¡ª¡ª-A certain examinee vited the examination rules causing the questions main subject¡ª¡ª-¡± 922: ¡°That is, the hunter.¡± 154: ¡°..........to die on the spot. Situations like this are rather rare¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡± 922: ¡°Unheard of.¡± 154: ¡°.........We need to do a thorough investigation. I hope all of you can give us an exnation.¡± 922: ¡°This mainly refers to a certain examinee.¡± 154 closed his eyes. His boss was constantly instigating hatred while his colleague had something wrong with his brain. He calmed himself down and then expressionlessly stored away the note. He said to everyone: ¡°Where is Hunter A?¡± The examinees in the room parted like the sea to reveal the long dining table and therge pile of cloth lying next to it. The invigtor moved closer to examine it only to see that it wasn¡¯t cloth but a long, ck coat. The coat was old and frayed and the edges of it was trimmed with ck bear fur. It exuded a foul odour. Hunter A who had fallen was facing down and was covered by the coat. Using the professional ethics of an invigtor, 922 turned the Hunter A¡¯s body over. Whilst Hunter A was still alive, his face was already very pale and after he had died, it had turned a little more gray. With his face turned to one side and his eyes widened, he still maintained a terrified expression. His mouth was like a cracked open hole and his lips were bright red. 922 sternly took a step back and, whilst no one was watching, he rubbed his hand on 154¡¯s coat. 154: ¡°...........¡± He restrained the urge to roll his eyes and bent down to examine the body. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Hunter A¡¯s thick fingers were still holding the bottom of the wine ss. The rest of the ss had already shattered and were scattered across the ground. The notice of vition that they had received said that Hunter A had said: ¡°Everyone in the room who breaks any of the tableware will be severely punished.¡± This was the same as the requirements for the exam. It was originally set up for the examinees. But who would¡¯ve guessed that soon after he said that, he would shatter one himself and die faster than anyone else. Although they were generally aware of what may have happened, 154 continued to act professionally. He looked at You Huo and confirmed: ¡°You kicked him?¡± You Huo lowered his eyes to look at him. Hezily spoke up: ¡°My legs were numb so I staggered a bit.¡± Everyone: ¡°..............¡± As if you staggered. 154: ¡°Don¡¯t you think that excuse is a little far-fetched?¡± You Huo: ¡°Did I set the rule that the tableware can¡¯t be broken?¡± 154: ¡°No you didn¡¯t.¡± You Huo: ¡°Did you give birth to that uncoordinated body?¡± 154: ¡°..............¡± The other party was both cold and ridiculing. Invigtor 154 felt that he could no longer go on and turned around wanting to find someone tougher to take over only to see that only 922 was next to him. Their boss didn¡¯t move to look at the body. Seeing the invigtor in daze, Yu Wen mustered up his courage and asked: ¡°Um......The ss was broken by Hunter A himself. He died also because of his own actions. Can you not count this as my brother viting the rules?¡± ¡®Beep, beep, beep¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ª¡¯ 154 had not yet spoken up when three rule viting reminders were heard. At the same time, the three invigtors had received a warning. This was the first time for that to happen. The people in the cabin had not heard this noise before and didn¡¯t know what was going on. Yu Wen looked around for the source and asked vigntly: ¡°What¡¯s happening?¡± 922 reassured him: ¡°Don¡¯t worry. It¡¯s just the examination system urging us to hurry up with the punishment.¡± Everyone fell silent. They became even more nervous. Another person said: ¡°Then......then can I be punished instead?¡± Everyone turned to look. The one who spoke was Yu Yao. She raised her thin pale hands like a student trying to get the teacher¡¯s attention. If you looked closely enough, you could see that her hand was slightly trembling, but her eyes were determined. Unfortunately, she waspletely ignored by the invigtors. ¡¤ The system again urged them two more times. The two invigtors walked through the crowd over to You Huo. The others wanted to follow but they were hesitant and didn¡¯t dare. This was particrly the case when 154 stopped halfway and nced back at them. Those who had wanted to move stopped in ce. Facing You Huo, 922¡¯s words were not so serious. He took the opportunity when the other examinees can¡¯t hear him to ramble: ¡°It¡¯s not because we want you toe. I¡¯m telling you, when we got the notice 154 skipped a step, I dropped my meat and boss almost twisted off the bird¡¯s head when he was petting it. We all don¡¯t want to punish you. It¡¯s true. Who¡¯s really the one being tortured ¡ª¡ª¨C Stop sneering. I can see that you have some special opinions about our boss.¡± You Huo¡¯s eyes swept passed Qin Jiu and then he slowly looked away. It was as if just looking at him made his eyes hurt. 922 shook is head and said: ¡°You¡¯re really brave.¡± Master You didn¡¯t move. 922 then added: ¡°They clearly wrote on the wall not to break any of the tableware. Yes, you certainly didn¡¯t directly smash the ss ¨C If you did that, you would be the one lying on the floor ¨C But if you said that you had nothing to do with the ss smashing and the subject dying.........If I was the system I would be angry to death.¡± ¡°Indirect cause is also a cause.¡± 922 rubbed his neck. When the system issued a warning earlier, his small red light was hidden at back of his neck. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog 922 stopped. He said to You Huo: ¡°This was the final decision made by the system after fairly assessing the situation.¡± ¡¤ You Huo got up. ¡°What are you doing?¡± 154 asked vigntly. You Huo was about 185cm tall so he was a little taller than 154, and about the same as 922, but when he stood up and looked over, it always gave others a condescending feeling. This was no exception for 922. You Huo lightly nced at them: ¡°Do I have the right to refuse punishment?¡± 922: ¡°Then why are you standing there with your arms crossed?¡± You Huo moved his lips: ¡°Out of politeness. Letting you finish speaking.¡± The two invigtors: ¡°...........¡± If they had a gun they would have already fired it. ¡¤ You Huo walked away. When passing through the crowd, Old Yu grabbed him: ¡°You¡¯re really going?¡± You Huo subconsciously frowned. He had always hated skin contact particrly the ones thate without warning, but Old Yu was sincerely worried about him. He restrained himself for a moment before pulling away: ¡°Another time is not going to hurt me.¡± It was already his third time getting punished. How bad could it be? He thought. In just that small building, he had already been confined and he was made to clean. He had seen plenty of bones and flesh residue because of that so what else could they do to him? What¡¯s more, no matter how annoying the punishment was.......Even if it involved making him stare at that No. 001, it was only for three hours. He used hisst bit of patience to wave at Old Yu and he walked towards the door without looking back: ¡°That short punishment time will be over after a nap.¡± The moment his voice fell, a familiar low voice sounded. ¡°This badly behaving Mr Humph¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± You Huo¡¯s steps stopped at the door. Holding onto the door handle, he looked to the left expressionlessly. Qin Jiu stood against the sofa ying with a leather whip...........Oh sorry, a long leather rope. He dragged out his words as he asked him: ¡°You seem to be in a hurry. Where are you going?¡± They looked at each other with challenging eyes for a moment before You Huo spoke up: ¡°Getting reincarnated. Should I wait for you?¡± Qin Jiu softlyughed and said in a low voice: ¡°I¡¯m ttered but you don¡¯t need to run that far.¡± You Huo raised his eyebrow: ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°Oh right.¡± Qin Jiu turned to look inside the room, ¡°Where¡¯s the other invigtor? Did you forget to tell him what his punishment is this time?¡± You Huo looked suspiciously at 154. The other party pulled out a sheet of paper and read: ¡°ording to the regtions, if an examinee vites the rules three times, they will be treated as a special case. The invigtors will be present on-site the whole time for full-time surveince.¡± Everyone: ¡°................¡± For some reason, the invigtors¡¯ tone sounded very reluctant. 154 looked at You Huo and then continued to read: ¡°Also, the examinee is deprived of his right to choose.¡± The room was silent. After a moment You Huo looked at Qin Jiu and said coldly: ¡°Are you kidding me?¡± Qin Jiu used his hand to gesture ¡°go ahead¡± and spoke gentlemanly: ¡°Not kidding. There¡¯s still a while until the end¡ª¡ª¨C¡± He pulled out a phone from his coat pocket and pretended to look at it: ¡°¡ª¡ª¡ª-36 hours and 24 minutes. This means that we will have to stay together in the same room for a day and a half. We even brought our luggage. It¡¯s right by the door. You can take a look if you want?¡± You Huo opened the door and looked out. By the door, two suitcases stood neatly together. You Huo: ¡°.............¡± 36 hours and 24 minutes........ This wasn¡¯t a matter of a nap...........It¡¯s practically a fucking long sleep. And who are you trying to disgust by bringing your suitcase??? Oh right, I also want to remind you.¡± Qin Jiu¡¯s low voice once again sounded, ¡°There are still 24 minutes until the next answer submission. It¡¯s soon going to be 23 minutes. ording to the rules, vitors do not have the right to answer during this time. In order to prevent a particr misbehaving man from viting the rules again, I have no choice but to do something a little rude............¡± As Qin Jiu said this, the leather rope in his hand had already formed a circle. It wrapped around You Huo¡¯s left hand. He grabbed You Huo¡¯s shoulder, turned him around, and put his right hand in as well. He then pulled at it tightly. Whoosh¡ª¡ª- The rope instantly formed a knot that tightly fastened You Huo¡¯s hands together. Qin Jiu stood behind him whilst holding his shoulder. He lowered his head: ¡°This is the return gift for that dirty bucket. Do you like it?¡± Master You liked it so much he was about to explode. Chapter 9: Celebratory Beheading

Chapter 9: Celebratory Beheading

The attic wasn¡¯t high. With one wooden column standing vertically in the centre, it supported the roof like an umbre. There was a bed crammed into this small space. The sheets that had probably not been used for the past hundreds of years were both mouldy and smelly. Qin Jiu used his glove to cover his nose as he assessed the room. ¡°Let me think. Where should I put you?¡± He gently said. He was a little taller that You Huo and would hit the roof if he stood up straight. He could only bow his head as he stood there. ¡°On the bed? The bed has a bed post I can tie the rope to. Its width definitely is enough but it¡¯s a little too short.¡± Qin Jiu shook the bed frame to test out its sturdiness. When he turned around he saw the ¡°let¡¯s die together¡± expression on You Huo¡¯s face. If Yu Wen or Old Yu saw You Huo¡¯s expression, they would have immediately ran off but Qin Jiu justughed. His muffledughter rose from his throat and he said: ¡°Okay fine. It indeed isn¡¯t very clean, the frames also look a little thin so it probably won¡¯tst.......This ce also isn¡¯t big. What do you want to do?¡± You Huo maintained a cold expression and don¡¯t n to pay him any attention. Qin Jiu also wasn¡¯t in a hurry. He just continued to wait. You Huo was watched for a while before he finally said impatiently: ¡°I hope that you can lie on that lovely smelling bed, put a rope around your throat and give me the other end so that the moment I move it, everything will turnpletely quiet. Can you do that?¡± Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes. For a moment You Huo thought he was unhappy. He didn¡¯t expect to see himugh and say: ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t do that. I don¡¯t have that kind of interest.¡± You Huo: ¡°..............¡± Crazy bastard. ¡¤ The crazy bastard at least still had some human decency and he didn¡¯t really put You Huo onto the Hunter A¡¯s bed. You Huo sat on the floor with his hands behind his back. He was tied to the pir that supported the roof. Qin Jiu walked around him to open the window. The window in the attic was very small. It was no bigger than his palm but the cold air that came in managed to diffuse out the sour smell in the attic. Qin Jiu: ¡°Cold?¡± Those words were justplete bullshit. Wearing a T-shirt on a snowy day like this, would he not be cold? Butpared to being cold, You Huo couldn¡¯t stand the smell more. He ignored Qin Jiu¡¯s question and frowned: ¡°Can you let me stand?¡± ¡°No.¡± ¡°.................¡± You Huo red at him coldly Qin Jiu returned back to the bedside and sat at a small round wooden table. Facing You Huo, he said: ¡°Your legs are too long so you might identally kick me. Sitting is more stable.¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± Stable your mum. After two consecutive bouts of irritation, You Huo turned to the right and no longer paid him any attention. On the right, the ce that was supposed to be a wall was covered with a piece of ss. Through You Huo¡¯s angle, he could see half the living room downstairs. The examinees were currently standing around or sitting in daze. Without You Huo, the old, weak, sickly and pregnant were like headless flies. They spun around aimlessly and had no sense of direction. ¡¤ Yu Wen grabbed the knife and desperately started to engrave words onto the wall. He intended to write down all the physic forms that he knew even if it had nothing to do with optics. After racking his brains out, he realised that everything that he knew was written in less than five minutes. It was only when the time to apply knowledgees that you regret not acquiring enough of it. In Yu Wen¡¯s eighteen years of life, this was the first time he felt pain when he thought of this sentence. ¡°What else? Does anyone remember anything else?¡± He turned to look for help from the others. Yu Yao revealed a despondent look: ¡°I did physics and chemistry in high school but I changed to literary studies in University. After working for so long...............Those things on the wall, I wouldn¡¯t have remembered it if you didn¡¯t write it.¡± Please support the trantor and read this from https://kktrantes(.)home(.)blog/ Yu Wen looked at her like a small puppy: ¡°Big sister, please think a little harder. Whatever you think off, just add it!¡± He fortunately took after his mother. Although he cannot bepared to You Huo, he could still be considered rather good looking at school. Yu Yao¡¯s maternal love instincts grew. She hesitated and said: ¡°I still remember the refraction schematic diagram. The very, very, very basic type. Don¡¯tugh when I draw it.¡± ¡°Won¡¯tugh! If anyoneughs, I¡¯ll cut them. Really.¡± After nonsensically promising her, Yu Yao held her stomach and moved over. Using the knife, she drew an arc and two refracted lights. Yu Wen made an ¡°oh¡± noise and internally thought that it really was very simple but he himself had forgotten about it. ¡°Anyone else?¡± Yu Wen was like a passionate salesman. His eyes swept past the rest of the people. The two olddies........Forget it. They probably don¡¯t know anything about physics. The thug and sickly man had already lowered their heads in shame. The bald man was dazed. It was good enough that he wasn¡¯t crazy. And there was also an old man with twin grandchildren. The old man appeared to be suffering from slight dementia and his grandchildren were only in elementary school.........To use physics to abuse children, it was something Yu Wen couldn¡¯t do. The foreigner Mike could say two words ¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡°Neo¡± and ¡°neosomo¡±. It waspletely useless. As for Old Yu.......he only knows about alcohol. Yu Wen finally experienced the despair his brother felt. ¡¤ 922 moved his luggage in and saw him standing in daze in front of the fire stove. He said: ¡°I suggest that you stay away from the fire. Don¡¯t burn to death before you can even answer the question.¡± Yu Wen fiddled with the broken jars and thought: Forget it. Might as well burn to crisp. He looked up at the attic. The ss had be worn with time and it was very blurry. The lights in the attic was also dark. He wondered what that 001 invigtor was doing to his brother. Would his brother be looking over here and be disappointed when he sees them acting so hopelessly.........? ¡°There are still 5 minutes.¡± 922 reminded him. Everyone panicked. ¡¤ The ces where someone could stay in this old cabin was limited and the ces where people could sit was also limited. There were tableware ced on the dining table but one represented death so they couldn¡¯t randomly sit in a chair. 922 took the suitcase and circled around before squeezing together with 154 on the sofa. 152ined: ¡°Isn¡¯t boss in the attic?¡± 922: ¡°I know.¡± 154: ¡°Then why are you putting the suitcase here? Waiting for him to get it himself?¡± 922: ¡°The two bad guys are up there. I don¡¯t want to go up yet.¡± 154: ¡°..............¡± Useless 922 pouted: ¡°Why are you rolling your eyes at me? Why don¡¯t you go up?¡± 154 sat while watching the examinees sternly: ¡°I¡¯m invigting.¡± ¡°Did they ask you to watch over them? The one who needs to be supervised is upstairs.¡± ¡°Boss alone is enough.¡± 922: ¡°..............¡± 154: ¡°..............¡± The two invigtors had nothing to say. In the end, it was 922 who sighed: ¡°I have been an invigtor for three years.......No, not just invigting. Even if I include the time when I was an examinee, I have never seen someone sowless.¡± He thought that 154 would nod in agreement but the other person thought for a while and said: ¡°You¡¯ve seen one.¡± 922 was surprised: ¡°Ah??? Who? When?¡± 154 lifted his chin towards the attic. 922 then reacted.......That¡¯s right. How could he forget! There was another difficult to deal with examinee, and heter became invigtor 001. How difficult must Qin Jiu have been back then? Legend says that he almost broke the examination system. ¡°Speaking of which, I¡¯ve always wanted to ask boss about his previous feats when I manage to muster up enough courage.¡± 922 said, ¡°After all, I have only seen it twice.¡± 154 quickly stopped him: ¡°Are you joking? Don¡¯t mess with things!¡± 922 was puzzled: ¡°Why? I can¡¯t even ask? I¡¯ve noticed that every time I mentioned the boss, you would interrupt me.¡± ¡°I¡¯m just afraid that you would die too fast.¡± 154 deadpanned: ¡°Boss doesn¡¯t remember much about the past. It was said that the examination system encountered some problems and identally injured him causing him to forget some things.¡± 922 was stunned: ¡°There was something like that? Why didn¡¯t I know?¡± 154 was expressionless: ¡°Because you only know to eat.¡± 922 sat there stunned 154 added: ¡°Haven¡¯t you noticed that he doesn¡¯t mention the past at all? When I first became an invigtor, I almost met my death when I asked about it........Anyway, I don¡¯t want to go through it again. You also wouldn¡¯t want to so watch yourself.¡± ¡¤ In the attic, the only light there wasn¡¯t turned on. The space wasn¡¯t big and the light that projected over from downstairs allowed them to vaguely make out the shapes of things. The snow outside was still heavy, and it sttered against the building as it blew past. You Huo continued to look downstairs. He looked like he was silent from helplessness, but he also didn¡¯t appear anxious. A faintyer of clear light reflected his eyes and his earring would asionally glimmer at certain angles. Qin Jiu watched him for a while and then suddenly spoke up. He askedzily: ¡°Have I met you before?¡± After a moment, You Huo turned to look at him. His light brown eyes were cold like winter nights. ¡°No, if we have met I¡¯m afraid only one of us would have lived.¡± You Huo¡¯s silky voice carried a hint of mocking. ¡°Really?¡± Qin Jiu supported his chin and appeared to be thinking about something. He then agreed: ¡°It¡¯s a little regrettable but that does seem to be the case.¡± Please support the trantor and read this from https://kktrantes(.)home(.)blog/ As they spoke there were some creaking soundsing from the woodendder. 154¡¯s voice travelled over: ¡°Boss, time is almost up.¡± 922¡¯s low voice also could be head. He seemed to be behind 154: ¡°Is it okay up there? Why do I feel so scared?¡± 154 whispered: ¡°You shut up.¡± ¡°Boss.¡± 154 poked his head out, ¡°Are youing down? It¡¯s time for the answer collection.¡± Qin Jiu asked: ¡°How did they answer? I saw that little brat writing a novel nonstop.¡± 922 had not yet arrived but his voice arrived first: ¡°It¡¯s useless. I didn¡¯t look at it carefully, but I could tell at nce. If an answer like that can score points, I¡¯ll behead myself in celebration.¡± 154: ¡°..........¡± ¡¤ There was an old-fashioned clock above the cab. Every time the minute hand moved, it would make a small sound. Usually, no one would notice it but at this moment it sounded very loud and heart-stopping. It ticked a few times and then the rooster called out. The three invigtors came downstairs as the terrible sound made the examinees tremble. In order to prevent another rule vition, they waited until the ninth cry before untying You Huo. Everyone was like newly hatched chicks in a cage. They picked a corner furthest away from the door and huddled together. It was as if they wouldn¡¯t be pulled out of the examination centre if they did this. Almost all of them had their eyes closed as they waited for the uing trial. They waited and an entire minute passed. 922: ¡°............Did the system freeze because there were too many words?¡± The moment the invigtor said that, the answer wall underwent some changes. On the long and eloquent answer, two red circles appeared. Yu Wen looked through the gap between his fingers One of them circled something he wrote: Refractive index. And the other one circled thest-minute diagram Yu Yao drew: An extremely simple refraction schematic diagram. Next to the two red circles, two red numbers appeared. 1 2 The people saw the numbers and didn¡¯t react. The answer wall then changed again and all the useless answers that didn¡¯t earn any points disappeared. Several red sentences appeared: Bonus points: 1 of 13 people died, achieved the question requirements. 6. Additional points: All examinees survived, 2. Total points for this part: 11 points. The cabin was quiet for a moment and then it was followed by Yu Wen¡¯s shout: ¡°Fuck!!! 11 points! I thought we were a goner but we got 11 points instead!¡± ¡°Brother!!! Did you see that?! I got a point!!!¡± Amongst the deafening voices of the examinees, 922 looked at 154 with surprise: ¡°The system must be crazy! They killed the subject and they still fucking get additional points?!¡± 154 who saw this was also dumbfounded. He turned to look at You Huo. This great master who had been tied up for the past 20 minutes had managed to earn 8 points using just his foot. You Huo coldly appreciated his expression and then stretched out his good-looking hand: ¡°Give me your head to celebrate.¡± 922: ¡°..........¡± The system probably felt that it had gone crazy after reporting the total points. After a while, it once again spat out a line of words: Legibility -2 The total jumped from 11 points to 9 points. Yu Wen the eager student who wrote an entire book got one point and then was deducted two points. In total it was -1. Congrattions. In the small cabin, whilst both the examinees and the invigtors were going crazy, the contents of the answer wall changed: Question: There are only 12 guests and 12 sets of tableware in the Hunter A¡¯s cabin which is enough for each of you. However, there still remains a secret hidden amongst the tableware and is hidden under the light. The person sitting at the selected one will be cursed. Will that person be you? Requirement: Find that special set of tableware (But cannot damage them). Knowledge being tested: Optics. Chapter 10: Wine Glass

Chapter 10: Wine ss

While everyone was still in shock after seeing the question being refreshed, a sudden sound appeared in the cabin........ It sounded like sharp nails scratching across a wooden board. ¡°Wh-who?¡± Everyone¡¯s hair rose. They looked around searching for the source of the sound. In this terrifying setting, no one dared to fall away from the group, so they only looked around while remaining in ce. Soon, someone cried out desperately: ¡°Behind! It¡¯s behind me! Help.......¡± The one who cried out was the bald man. He was the only one who didn¡¯t move over to the answering wall to join the others. For the entire time, he sat alone at the dining table. As if paralysed from his neck down, he remained huddled in the seat that he had selected. The bald man had fainted earlier with fear because of Hunter A but now he was scared awake by the scratching sounds. With his face coated with snot and tears, he cried out with panic: ¡°Behind me. Help me! Save me, please!¡± ¡°But there¡¯s no one behind you...¡± Yu Yao said in a quiet voice. ¡°Yeah, there¡¯s no one.........¡± When the bald man heard this, he cried even more fiercely. No one dared to approach him. They could only desperately gesture at the bald man: ¡°Don¡¯t just sit there! Hurry up ande over. Come here!¡± ¡°I can¡¯t move! This chair........I can¡¯t move. It has trapped me!¡± The bald man was so panicked, his words were almost incoherent. ¡°You mean, you can¡¯t get off after sitting in the chair?¡± ¡°Yes. I can¡¯t......It wants me dead. It wants me to die!¡± The bald man cried. Everyone fearfully backed away from the dining table. Only You Huo walked over. ¡°Brother?¡± Yu Wen called out. He was originally going to grab You Huo to stop him from taking risks but when he thought of his brother¡¯s performance and his own miserable -1 point, he decided to just follow You Huo. They walked behind the bald man and finally found the source of the sound¡ª¡ª¡ª On the back of the bald man¡¯s chair, sawdust scattered as the light-coloured core of the wood was exposed. It was as if there was an invisible hand scratching on the surface of the chair. Yu Wen: ¡°It¡¯s writing something?!¡± You Huo hummed in agreement. This great master was more patient towards the ¡°ghost¡± than he was towards humans. He crossed his arms and waited on the side for it to finish. After the other examinees in the room hesitated for a moment, they quickly rushed over and huddled behind You Huo. ¡°12! It¡¯s writing 12!¡± The tattooed man shouted out. Soon after that, the sound of nail scratching against wood was hearding from a nearby chair. You Huo took a few steps to walk over and therge crowd behind him also shuffled with him. When he stopped his steps, therge crowd would also stop as if someone had suddenly stepped onto the brakes. ¡°...........¡± You Huo for a moment suspected that they were not taking a physics exam and was instead ying a game of Mother Hen. The scratching soundsted for about five minutes and each seat at the table was numbered. From 1 to 12, they each corresponded to a seat. The role of these numbers was obvious. Once you have found the cursed tableware, you just needed to write the number on the answer wall. Yu Wen guessed: ¡°My answer and sister Yu Yao¡¯s answer were circled, and we got points for that. They were all rted to refraction so does that mean.........That if we wanted to find the cursed tableware, we need to use refraction?¡± ¡°Probably.¡± Everyone answered, ¡°But what¡¯s refraction?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°..........¡± His frozen look was too amusing. Yu Yao couldn¡¯t hold back andughed. She had always been crying and grieving so this was her first time making an expression other than that. Even Yu Yao herself was a little surprised. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog She was stunned in ce for a moment. She then walked over to the group and patiently exined the concept of ¡°refraction¡±. Yu Wen dethawed and looked up at You Huo next to him only to see that he was deep in thought. ¡°Brother..........¡± Yu Wen quietly moved over to him. He followed You Huo¡¯s line of sight. Over in that direction was a group of elderly examinees. There was also a beaten sofa where the three invigtors sat. This mentally deficient boy asked: ¡°What are you looking at the invigtors for?¡± You Hu wordlessly took away his line of sight and looked down at him. Yu Wen retracted his neck and said timidly: ¡°Forget it, forget it. Go ahead and look. I won¡¯t ask anymore.¡± ¡¤ Although they had managed to survive through a round of answer collection and managed to earn themselves another six hours, no one felt relieved. Everyone stared at the tableware on the dining table like it was some precious treasure. ¡°Can we touch this te?¡± The tattooed man muttered. ¡°If I pick it up to take a look, will it be considered as me selecting my seat?¡± ¡°It¡¯s better not to touch it . Death¡ª¡ª-¡° Before Old Yu could finish his words, Yu Hou picked up a wine ss. Old Yu: ¡°¡ª¡ª¡ªIs impossible!¡± The tattooed man rolled his eyes. Everyone stared at You Huo bewildered. Seeing that he was still alive and well, and wasn¡¯t forced into a seat, they felt relieved and they all started to pick up the tableware and examine them. ¡°Why are you so brave?!¡± Since he is afterall his nephew, Old Yu hurried over to ask You Huo, ¡°What if picking up a wine ss counts?!¡± You Huo picked up a second ss: ¡°It won¡¯t. I picked them up in the kitchen.¡± Old Yu: ¡°..........¡± Are you proud of that? Old Yu was almost about to vomit blood because of his nephew but he was also too afraid to scold him. He could only re at You Hou from an unseen angle. ¡°Dad, move aside.¡± Yu Wen walked past Old Yu and picked up a silver spoon. Unable to find anything, he switched over to a silver fork. At first nce, they were allmon household items. The tes were white porcin and they didn¡¯t have any patterns on it while the silver spoons and forks were designed very simply. Just when he was about to switch to a saucer, he finally noticed that his brother wasn¡¯t touching anything else. ¡°Brother, why are you only looking at the wine sses?¡± Yu Wen couldn¡¯t help but ask. ¡°No point looking at the others.¡± You Huo ced down the third ss and stopped examining them. He proceeded to move away from the dining table. ¡°No point?¡± Yu Wen was stunned. While he was stunned, the tattooed man who had already looked through them allined: ¡°What is this garbage? There¡¯s not a single shit in these things!¡± Another person also said in distress: ¡°The question is too vague. We don¡¯t even have a hint so how can we find it?¡± ¡¤ You Huo squatted next to the Hunter¡¯s dead body. He picked up a piece of the broken wine ss and started to examine it. To him, the question has already given them plenty of clues. When he was in the kitchen earlier and was messing with the hunter, he noticed that the other party paid special attention to these wine sses and, when Hunter A dropped one of them, the question changed into ¡°There are now 12 sets of tableware.¡± This would mean that, to the question, the only thing that counted as part of the tableware were the wine sses. Therefore, the so-called secret must be hidden in the sses. Yu Wen stared at the answer wall in thought for a moment. He then pped his thigh and jumped up: ¡°Oh¡ª¡ª¡ªbrother, I finally get it! The others are all useless and only those sses are part of the tableware!¡± Everyone stood around dumbly with tes, forks and spoons in their hands. Yu Wen waved his hand and mobilised the group: ¡°Don¡¯t look at those, look at the sses!¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog He rushed over and quickly stepped onto his brakes when he got near the hunter¡¯s body. He sat onto the floor and asked to be praised: ¡°Aren¡¯t I pretty smart?¡± You Huo perfunctorily snorted. ¡¤ However, the excitement didn¡¯tst long. After a while, the group was once again in despair. They had examined every one of them and even tried to warm it up with their breaths, heat them up and shake them. After turning it around and around a few times, nothing was found. On the sofa. 922 squeezed his fingers and said: ¡°I¡¯m busting and I¡¯m also a little hungry. Was it always this hard doing full time on-site invigting?¡± 154 said: ¡°Hold it in. It¡¯s still too soon. There¡¯s still 36 hours.¡± 922 was in despair. Qin Jiu supported his head and his eyes swept past the dining table in the room beforending in a certain corner of the room. There, You Huo had his back towards him while he looked through the fragments of the wine ss. The curved back of his formed a very nice arc. He watched him for a long time and suddenly said: ¡°Have you guys seen him before?¡± 154 was confused: ¡°Why?¡± 922 was even more so: ¡°Ah?¡± Their reaction alone was enough. Qin Jiu fell silent for a moment. He then saidzily: ¡°It¡¯s nothing. If you¡¯re really hungry, you can go make something in the kitchen.¡± 154 and 922 looked over at the kitchen. They then said with a stiff expression: ¡°Not hungry at all.¡± After a few more seconds, 922 rubbed his hands and stood up: ¡°Uh.....I¡¯ll go take a look in the kitchen.¡± 154 was impressed: ¡°........You can even make something in a kitchen like that?¡± 922: ¡°I¡¯m just taking a look.¡± After he left, 154 once again looked back at the examinees. He suddenly understood the meaning behind Qin Jiu¡¯s words. He looked at You Huo and then hesitantly looked at Qin Jiu. After staring at him in silence for about a minute, his boss finally spoke up: ¡°Have I died? Why are you looking at me like I¡¯m a spirit?¡± 154: ¡°...........¡± Qin Jiu nced at him: ¡°Spit it out if you have something to say.¡± 154 pondered for a moment and said: ¡°I just wanted to say........If we have met before, that rule viting man gentleman should recognise us.¡± Qin Jiu¡¯s eyes once again returned to You Huo. After a moment he hummed in agreement. 154 was right. If they have met before, he wouldn¡¯t have this kind of reaction. It¡¯s not like there would be another person who has lost a part of their memory like he had. It couldn¡¯t be that coincidental. ¡¤ 922 rummaged through the kitchen and finally decided to change locations. He returned back to the sofa and knelt onto the ground to open his suitcase. From inside, he took out a grill and a box of already cut up beef. The moment he opened the lid, he heard Yu Wen cry out nearby: ¡°Brother, don¡¯t be so reckless!!¡± The three invigtors looked over and just happened to see You Huo pick up the bottom of the shattered wine ss from in the Hunter¡¯s hands and smash it against the edge of the table. There was a crack. The bottom of the ss was once again broken........ 922¡¯s hands shook. The beef spilt onto his pants. Holding the remaining half-boxful of meat, he asked 154: ¡°Can we ept him as a colleague after viting the rules four times? I don¡¯t want to be his invigtor anymore.¡± 154: ¡°..........¡± Which idiot would want to? The author has something to say: Qin Jiu: I do Chapter 11: The Last Supper

Chapter 11: The Last Supper

The examinees were shocked. Old Yu was so anxious, he jumped up: ¡°You! Why did you?! Didn¡¯t they say that we can¡¯t break them?! But you..........!¡± You Hou held the bottom of the ss and examined it. Without looking up, he answered: ¡°I know what I¡¯m doing.¡± 922: ¡°.............¡± Can you touch your conscience and say that again??? Don¡¯t you feel embarrassed saying that after viting the rules so many times? The cabin fell silent for a few seconds. Almost everyone thought You Huo had once again vited the rules. They stared at the answer wall apprehensively and waited for the fourth notice of vition. No one knew what kind of punishment would be imposed on someone with four consecutive vitions. Recalling the bald man going mad from just one round of punishment, they didn¡¯t dare think about it. For a moment, the notification area on the answer wall appeared to glow red but in a blink of an eye it returned to its usual appearance. It flickered red and white and then white and red. Like this, it went back an forth several times but in the end no words appeared. 154 was dumbfounded. 922 stood next too him adding fuel to the fire: ¡°It feels like the system is about to explode.....¡± In the end, the one who broke the silence was You Huo himself. He handed over the shattered end of the wine ss to Yu Wen and said: ¡°Check and see if there¡¯s anything in it. My eyes feel ufortable.¡± Yu Wen who was on his knees panicked: ¡°Brother, it¡¯s against the rules to damage the tableware...¡± You Huo moved away from the light and closed his eyes for a while. He then said in a calm voice: ¡°With what eyes of yours did you see me damage the tableware?¡± Yu Wen held onto the broken ss and internallymented: Am I blind? You Huo: ¡°The question said that there are a total of 12 sets of tableware. Can you count?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°..........¡± You Huo: ¡°Should I teach you?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°.........¡± Everyone fell silent for a while. They then came to a realisation. That¡¯s right! The question clearly wrote that there are only 12 guests and 12 sets of tableware in the Hunter¡¯s cabin. The 12 sets of tableware are all on the dining table and numbered so it naturally didn¡¯t include the broken one. Regardless of whether the examination system did it unintentionally, it had already disregarded the broken wine ss as part of the tableware. What¡¯s wrong with breaking it again? ¡°Brother, let me call you daddy!¡± Yu Wen instantly came back to life. He raised the bottom half of the wine ss and held it against the light. Just as Old Yu wanted to knock them in their heads, he heard Yu Wen cry out in surprise: ¡°No way! There really is something!¡± At the base of the wine ss was a slightly concave circle. Above it was the stem for people to hold onto. The stem had been broken off by You Huo and it was no longer even. Yu Wen changed the angle of the ss as he held it under the light from the oilmp and fire. In a spider-like posture, he soon cried out: ¡°It¡¯s this angle! If you look at it from here, you can see something!¡± All the examinees hurried over. They squeezed their heads over but couldn¡¯t find the right distance and angle. ¡°What is it? Where is it?¡± The tattooed man struggled for a moment before finally giving up: ¡°What did you see? Just spit it out!¡± Yu Wen: ¡°If I could see it clearly, do you think I need to twist it around like this?¡± Just as he was about to start arguing with the tattooed man, someone patted his shoulder. ¡°Let me look.¡± The one who spoke was You Huo. He closed his eyes to rest it up for a moment and, when his eyes felt a little better, he took the base of the wine ss from Yu Wen. ¡°Here, like this. You look from here.¡± Yu Wen helpfully adjusted the angle and pointed at the ce where the ss stem and the base met. ¡°Isn¡¯t there something there? I think it¡¯s some kind of picture, but I couldn¡¯t see it clearly. I can¡¯t tell if it¡¯s a picture or a word.¡± You Huo let out an ¡°oh¡± and once again knocked it. With a crack, the thin stem broke off cleanly from the base. It looked as if it was made so that it could easily be broken that way. ¡°There¡¯s something!¡± Yu Wen caught something that fell off from that connecting point and held it like he was holding his great ancestors. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Everyone looked on intently. There really was a thin, round piece of paper. It wasn¡¯t much bigger than a pea. Before You Huo smashed the ss, it was probably hidden under the thin stem. The back of it was nk. It looked like a tiny mirror. The front of it had a few tiny letters: Simon the Zealot The foreigner Mike read it out quietly. The two olddies wrinkled their faces with confusion: ¡°What?¡± Mike: ¡°........¡± Olddies: ¡°..........¡± It really killed him being unable to exin it in Chinese. After a moment of stunned silence, someone whispered: ¡°The Last Supper.¡± ¡°Who are you cursing?!¡± The tattooed man red at him angrily. The one who spoke was the sickly thin man. He had always looked like he was tired and depressed. He wasn¡¯t idle the whole time, but his presence was very low, so he was often overlooked. This was the first time everyone had their attention on him. Everyone waited for him to speak. They soon remembered that this man was called Zhou Jin. Zhou Jin looked feebly at the tattooed man and said: ¡°I was referring to Da Vinci¡¯s famous artwork ¡°The Last Supper¡±.¡± The tattooed man wanted to say something in response. Zhou Jin was afraid that he would ask a stupid question like ¡°Who¡¯s Da Vinci?¡± so he quickly looked away and turned to You Huo: ¡°Simon the Zealot is one of the 12 apostles.¡± ¡°Do you know all the 12 apostles?¡± Yu Wen let out a cry of surprise. Zhou Jin coughed for a while and said in a quiet voice: ¡°I study art, so I happened to know a little about it.¡± It was both supper, and there were 12 apostles. These key words matched perfectly with their current predicament. Although the several old people present didn¡¯t know much about ¡°The Last Supper¡±, the twin elementary school girls called out a name: ¡°Judas!¡± ¡°Yes, Judas!¡± Yu Wen and Yu Yao are not siblings, but they cooperated better than most brothers and sisters. In ¡°The Last Supper¡±, Judas was an infamous traitor amongst the 12 apostles. There was a feeling that they were getting close to the answer. Everyone was excited. However, when one of them picked up the knife, the others cried out: ¡°No, not the name!¡± On the long wooden table, each set of tableware had their corresponding number. They shouldn¡¯t be writing the name ¡°Judas¡± on the wall, they should be writing the number corresponding with the ss that contained Judas¡¯s name. The most impatient tattooed man rushed back over to the table. He picked up a ss and started to examine it. He saw with his own eyes a piece of paper falling out from between the stem and the base but when he held the ss, he couldn¡¯t find the paper no matter where he looked. The tattooed man¡¯s eyes were almost in contact with the base of the ss: ¡°Why can¡¯t I see anything?¡± In fact, it wasn¡¯t just him. Everyone had examined the sses earlier and, if they were able to find it so easily, would they have only found out about it now? Everyone knew that there was a name hidden in it, but they couldn¡¯t see it. And these sses were different to the one on the ground. They cannot be smashed or damaged so they cannot open it from the base the way You Huo did. Yu Wen suddenly smacked his head: ¡°I know!¡± ¡°What?¡± ¡°Refraction!¡± Yu Wen eximed, ¡°Sister Yu Yao and I wrote about refraction here! The names are in the sses and the reason why we can¡¯t see it is because.......uh........the refraction isn¡¯t right! I forgot how to exin it. Anyway, I seem to recall doing a question like this.¡± Everyone: ¡°...........¡± This unlucky child¡¯s exnation made them feel despair. Seeing that he was having so much difficulty just exining it, it was hard for them to believe that he would know how to solve the problem. Even so, everyone still held onto theirst strand of hope: ¡°What should we do to see it?¡± Yu Wen was ashamed: ¡°I.......I didn¡¯t study physics in second and third year of high school so it¡¯s been at least two or three years since I did this question. I.......forgot.¡± ¡°...........¡± I damn fucking knew it! ¡¤ You Huo expressionlessly watched Dumb Yu. He had originally wanted to tolerate his nonsense for a while, but he saw the invigtors through the corners of his eyes. 922 had dragged out a charcoal bin and had a grill set up. The remaining half a box of precious beef was carefully arranged on the grill. 154 with a stiff expression would asionally nce over at him. You couldn¡¯t tell if he was hungry or if he was just exasperated by his colleague¡¯s mentally retarded state. As for 001......He didn¡¯t even need to move. Just sitting there was enough provocation and ridicule to him. You Huo looked away. He pulled off the set of keys from the Hunter¡¯s waist and walked over to the kitchen. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog The thin paper was hidden between the stem and base of the ss and it was refracted through the ss. What should you do if you can¡¯t see it clearly at a normal angle? You naturally would need to refract it again. You Huo rummaged through the drawers and cabs in the kitchen but wasn¡¯t able to find any water that he could use. Hunter A had mentioned that there would be wine but all he brought out were empty wine sses. The only liquid in the kitchen was the blood on the ground. And they were almost all dried up now. The harder it is to find, the more important it is. This basically told You Huo that the key to the answer was here. He came out of the kitchen with keys and nced around the cabin. His eyes finally fell to the room next door. The door with a rooster hanging from it was the only door that had not yet been opened. Without any hesitation, he pulled out thest key and inserted it into the keyhole. With a click, the door opened. The smell of old dust rushed out. You Huo covered his nose and used his hand to wave it away a few times. The room before him was small, like a storage room but there were no brooms or mops inside. There was only a single wooden stand on which a single bottle of wine sat. Everyone gathered over. You Huo walked out with the bottle of wine and said: ¡°Found it.¡± Yu Wen then btedly pped his thigh: ¡°Yes, yes yes! Add water! I remember now!¡± The lid was pulled off and the strong, pungent smell of low-quality alcohol filled the cabin. This was the most important part of the Hunter¡¯s meal, but he never had the chance to enjoy it. You Huo poured the light amber coloured wine into ss number 1. Everyone stretched their necks out to watch while holding their breaths. ¡°Ah, I see it, I see it!!!¡± The drunkard Old Yu was most excited. He was the first one to call out. Another name appeared in the ss: Matthew. Zhou Jin also got excited: ¡°Matthew! That¡¯s right, this is ¡°The Last Supper¡±. Let¡¯s hurry and find Judas!¡± Everyone started to move. One by one they poured the wine into the twelve sses. The names of the apostles surfaced one after another: Bartholomew John Thomas Philip ........ When they reached the eleventh ss, the bald man sitting in the twelfth seat was trembling. Only two names had not appeared yet, and they happened to be the two most important figures in thisrge masterpiece, Judas and Jesus. If Jesus¡¯s name appeared in the eleventh ss, it would mean that Judas is in the ss that he sat at so he would be the guest that would be cursed and was destined to die. The bald man was so scared, he was about to vomit. Even while he was in the confinement room and even when he saw the cut up bloody flesh sitting near the wine sses, he didn¡¯t feel this scared. Afterall, they belonged to other people and this time it was he himself who was about to die. Suddenly, the group burst into cheers. Zhou Jin¡¯s voice was sandwiched between: ¡°Judas! Judas!¡± The bald man was stunned for a long time. He then copsed weakly on the table. It¡¯s number 11! Thank god! Judas is number 11! It¡¯s not him! He¡¯s not getting his retribution......... ¡¤ The knife was stuffed into Zhou Jin¡¯s hands and he revealed his first smile ever since he entered this cabin, ¡°I¡¯ll do it? Okay then, I¡¯ll do it.......¡± Zhou Jin stood before the answering wall and took a deep breath. He slowly started to engrave the number ¡°1¡±. Just when he was about to put the knife down again to engrave the second ¡°1¡±, someone appeared behind him and grabbed his wrist. ¡°No, we were almost misled.¡± Zhou Jin suddenly turned around and saw You Huo standing beside him. He calmly said: ¡°Not 11. It¡¯s 12.¡± The Last Supper. The person who ended up getting crucified was Jesus. The person who sat in that seat was the cursed guest. Judas was just a traitor. ¡¤ The number 12 was engraved onto the answer wall. When You Huo lowered the knife, the radio which had been silent for a long time suddenly started to buzz. ¡¾Correct answer detected.¡¿ ¡¾Examinees have submitted their answer ahead of time and have sessfullypleted this exam.¡¿ ¡¾Please wait for the final allocation of rewards and punishments¡¿ How does it feelpleting the exam 35 hours 22 minutes and 11 seconds in advance? Chapter 12: Down the Mountain

Chapter 12: Down the Mountain

There were a total of four questions in this exam: (1) Unknown (5 points) (2) Unknown (5 points) (3) The number of people having the meal changing from 13 to 12 (6 points) (4) Finding the cursed tableware (8 points) Under normal circumstances, the total score for this exam was 24 points. In special circumstances, there were opportunities to earn bonus points or have points demerited. ¡¤ With the appearance of new content on the answer wall, everyone started to whisper quietly to each other. ¡°There are two unknown questions at the beginning?¡± ¡°Yeah, the moment we started the exam we went straight into earning points for the third question. We must¡¯ve skipped over the first two questions.¡± ¡°No, the first points we got was from ¡®Answer¡¯.¡± ¡°.........¡± ¡°Look at that sequence. The two points from ¡®Answer¡¯ is probably part of the unknown questions.¡± ¡°The points sister Yu Yao and I got probably also are counted as part of the unknown questions.¡± ¡°So, the first two questions were just a starter?¡± ¡°Could it have been triggered by the Hunter?¡± ¡°Maybe. Anyway, I don¡¯t want to know.¡± The idental death of Hunter A had resulted in the two questions to be missed and the answer would now always be unknown. The total points from those two questions added up to ten points. It ounted for a lot, but no one felt regretful. If it wasn¡¯t because of You Huo, they would have already reached the heavens in the first round so they wouldn¡¯t know what could happen in theter rounds. After 48 hours, it was likely that 5 or even all of them would be dead. In a situation like this, who would care about having a chance to answer the question? They naturally wanted fewer and easier questions. They were just grateful to be alive. ¡¤ The answering wall was still calcting their points: The word ¡®Answer¡¯: 2 points, Refraction: 3 points, Question 3: 6 points, bonus of 2 points, a deduction of two points for the legibility, question 4: 8 points. In total, they got 19 points. It was way beyond the average score of 11. The total time used was 12 hours 37 minutes and 49 seconds. Compared to the average time used, they had saved 35 hours 22 minutes and 11 seconds. Yu Wen let out an ¡°Ohh¡± and said to You Huo: ¡°How did they calcte that the average time it takes for the exam to be done is 48 hours?¡± Invigtor 154 couldn¡¯t listen to him anymore: ¡°48 hours is normal.¡± You should restrain yourself. Don¡¯t get too proud okay? But he then thought about it. In just twelve hours, and if he took away the three hours You Huo used to sleep and the three hours he used to clean up that disgusting room.......... In other words, if you didn¡¯t count the time that was spent in confinement, these people, no, this examinee would havepleted the exam in less than 6 hours? Are you even human??? ¡¤ The non-human You Huo was rewarded ordingly for his achievement. The answer wall slowly issued another notice: Reward: Examinee You Huo has received the right to draw twice. ¡°Right to draw?¡± You Huo furrowed his brows. He didn¡¯t know what its intentions were. Anyway, the answer wall appeared to have temporarily died. After saying ¡°Reward for your efforts¡±, it once again fell silent and no more words appeared. While he was deep in thought, there was a ¡°ding¡± sound in the cabin. It sounded like someone receiving a new notification. You Huo suddenly felt someone stand behind him. The hand brushed his cheek as it reached out from behind. The slender and angr fingers loosely held onto a box of poker cards as it waved it before his eyes. You Huo for a moment couldn¡¯t control his expression: ¡°It¡¯s you again.......¡± ¡°You can tell that it¡¯s me just by seeing my fingers?¡± Invigtor 001 always spoke very carelessly. It made You Huo have the urge to hit him. Qin Jiu smiled and took a step back. He just managed to dodge You Huo¡¯s hand. ¡°There¡¯s no point attacking me.¡± Qin Jiu opened the box and pulled out the cards: ¡°Here, take your pick?¡± Everyone heard this and started to huddle over. But they were still scared of Qin Jiu. They felt that even if he smiled, it wasn¡¯t out of friendliness. So they just formed a circle around them that was about four metres in diameter and stretched their necks out. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog The back of the cards in Qin Jiu¡¯s hand was exactly the same, and the front had different contents in it. Some of there were very enticing, For example: > Total Score +15 (Single) > Total Score +10 (All) > Exemption (Single person, Single exam. Will receive the average score) ....... There was also some that were strange. For example: > Cheat sheet > Last minute cramming ........... Everyone could tell what it meant by just looking at the names, but they didn¡¯t know how it was going to work and whether it would be helpful in exams. Apart from these obvious rewards, there were also other ridiculous cards. You Huo scanned through them and saw about ten simr cards with contents like: > Outstanding Examinee. Please keep up your hard work. > Amazing Student. You will be rewarded for your efforts. > Top Student. Please ept our praise. Anyway, he didn¡¯t understand what good it would bring to him by selecting a certificate of merit like these in a ce like this. The trantion of it was probably: Thank you for your patronage. Please try again. You Huo pointed at some of the special cards and asked: ¡°What do the ck cards mean? Punishment?¡± Some of the cards werepletely ck and there was nothing written on it. It didn¡¯t look like a good card. Qin Jiu pulled one out and showed it to You Huo. He dragged his tone out and said: ¡°It¡¯s not a punishment but it is a bit special. At least, it¡¯s not considered a reward you would expect.¡± ¡°A ck card represents the chance to reform the exam. It can take ce on that very day.¡± The faces of several young people in the room instantly turned green. ¡°There¡¯s even a chance to reform the exam?¡± Yu Wen was especially green. His three years of high school life was battered with exam reformations. Whenever anything is changed, their study ns would be changed ordingly. Today it may be 3+2 and tomorrow the 2 would be changed to your school ranking. He didn¡¯t expect that, despite finishing his university entrance examinations, he still couldn¡¯t hide from reformations. While the onlookers had a bad expression, Qin Jiu pulled out another card from the box: ¡°I almost missed this one. There¡¯s also this card. You guys might like it.¡± > Guaranteed Pass (Single) The cabin went quiet for a moment. Murmuring and excited discussions then filled the room. ¡°This guaranteed pass........is this what I think it means?¡± The person asking was Zhou Jin. Because he was sick and he couldn¡¯t be too excited, he became the only calm one amongst the group of onlookers: ¡°Does this mean.......No need to do the examination?¡± Before Qin Jiu was about to say something, 922 interjected. He seemed to be particrly fond of introducing this ¡°Guaranteed Pass¡± card. ¡°It make look simr to the Exemption card, but the exemption card only applies to one subject and you would receive the average score instead. It can be said that it is a very safe card that gives you an adequate amount of benefit.¡± 922 said: ¡°But the Guaranteed Pass card is different. It is the true trump card. There is only one in each deck. If you draw it, it means that you have passed all the exams and can eat and sleep without a worry........¡± ¡°By the time you open your eyes again, you are back home.¡± Home? Hearing this word, everyone in the room was stunned. During the past 12 hours, they didn¡¯t dare think of something like this. Their lives depended on theirpanions and luck so how could they dare to even expect being able to go home? But now, this guaranteed pass card had aroused everyone¡¯s desire to go home. Old Yu bravely asked: ¡°If we don¡¯t have this card, how long does it take for us to go back?¡± 922 thought about it and said: ¡°It would be ording to the current examination rules. You just need to meet the two conditions ofpleting all the prescribed subjects and having a passing score.¡± Old Yu seemingly wanted to say something else, but Qin Jiu had already stored the Guaranteed Pass card away and he shuffled the deck a few times. He then fanned It out with the back of the cards facing up and said to You Huo: ¡°Here. You have two chances. Come and draw.¡± You Huo however didn¡¯t move. He turned to the others and said: ¡°Whoever is lucky,e and draw.¡± As soon as he said that, the radio started to buzz: ¡¾Warning: Examinees are not allowed to transfer their drawing opportunities.¡¿ You Huo: ¡°............¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°The system issued the warning. What are you ring at me for?¡± Qin Jiu raised his chin and saidzily: ¡°Don¡¯t rely on your good looks as a weapon1. Hurry and draw.¡± Fuck you and that damned weapon. You Huo stared at Qin Jiu with an icy cold expression for several seconds. He then forcefully pulled out a card. The crowd who didn¡¯t have a chance to draw a card were extremely nervous. They held their breaths and stared at the card. You Huo flipped it over: > Top student. Please ept our praise. Note: This is a recognition of this examinee¡¯s abilities. Please strive to maintain this momentum. You Huo: ¡°..........¡± The annoyances are endless. What dog shit luck. The radio spoke up in an untimely manner: ¡¾You have used your first drawing opportunity.¡¿ Qin Jiu used his tongue to poke at the sides of his cheek and the corner of his lips were slightly raised: ¡°Not bad. One more time.¡± You Huo had nothing to lose. He pulled another one out. Yu Wen who stood on the sidelines had his hand sped tightly together and was praying fervently. Perhaps his prayers were answered because at least he didn¡¯t receive another merit of certificate card. You Huo turned the card over: > Invigtor¡¯s Help Note: Your outstanding performance has won over the invigtors favour. You have the right to make a request to an invigtor for extra help during the exam and the invigtor is obliged to help you. The card will be valid until the end of the next exam.¡± ¡°...............¡± You Huo felt that every word on this card was filled with mockery. Fortunately, he quickly restored his expression back to his usual indifferent look. He asked Qin Jiu: ¡°Are the invigtors for each exam fixed?¡± Qin Jiu said: ¡°Of course not. Every time you do a new subject, the invigtors will be randomly refreshed.¡± ¡¤ The radio started to buzz: ¡¾A total of two drawing opportunities have been used. The drawing is over. Congrattions.¡¿ As soon as those words were spoken, the answer wall that had been silent the entire time revealed new content: Punishment: The guest sitting in the cursed seat has avoided death and will be the new hunter. ¡¤ When the second half of the sentence appeared, everyone read the words, but they couldn¡¯t understand the meaning behind it. Or more precisely....... They didn¡¯t dare understand what it meant. ¡°What does it mean by bing the new Hunter?¡± Someone mumbled. An agonising scream suddenly filled the room. Everyone stiffly turned their necks. The bald man sitting in seat number 12 was finally sitting up straight. His eyes widened and he looked fearfully at his hands. His originalplexion quickly faded and it became grey and pale. His lips turned bright red. Against the pale skin, the slit for his mouth spread open to both sides. Strange horns grew and eerie spots also appeared on his hands and fingers. The bald man looked up in confusion. After being frozen for a moment, he suddenly twisted his neck and stiffly stood up. He slowly began to look more and more like the dead hunter. Only his face still retained the original fearful expression. ¡°No, no, no. This can¡¯t be....... Don¡¯t go! Stay with me. Please stay with me, okay?¡± He muttered these words and rushed towards the group. Whoosh¡ª¡ª¡ª An unknown source of wind and snow blew past. It covered their faces and made it difficult for them to keep their eyes open. They subconsciously covered their faces using their arms and, when they opened their eyes again, the cabin was gone and the bald man who had turned into the hunter had also disappeared. Even the three invigtors were nowhere in sight. They stood in the heavy snow field. Before them was a pinewood forest and a small road could be seen nestled within it. 1: ÊÑö¦ÐÐÐ×: ¡°ÊÑ¡±means ¡°rely on,¡± ¡°ö¦¡±means ¡°good looks,¡±¡°ÐÐÐס±means mit acts of violence.¡± This four-character term can be tranted as ¡°relying on one¡¯s good looks to be arrogant and aggressive.¡± It can refer to making good use of one¡¯s special advantages to achieve difficult tasks or goals. From: http://.szdaily/content/2017-02/20/content_15419544.htm Chapter 13: Rest Stop

Chapter 13: Rest Stop

The travel down the mountain was very long. Everyone was extremely silent as they walked. Half of the reason was because they were scared by the bald man turning into the hunter, and the other half was because they were freezing cold. This group of people walked on for about half an hour before the static scenery finally started to change. The endless pine trees suddenly opened up and the road they were walking along connected with arger road at the base of the mountain. There was a stone monument sitting next to the road. On one side it wrote: Jiming Mountain.1 The other side wrote: 100m ahead. The name Jiming Mountain reminded them of the dead chickens hanging from the doors in the hunter¡¯s cabin. It was clearly referring to the mountain they hade down from. As for the 100m ahead sign, it was pointing down therger road...... Snow and mist obstructed their views and they couldn¡¯t see anything clearly. ¡°W-w-what does it m-mean by 100m ahead? The bottom half is b-b-buried in the snow?¡± Yu Wen¡¯s lips trembled. He was so cold, he was stuttering. He walked over with both his hands in his pockets and, unwilling to pull it out, he scraped at the snow on the monument with his shoes. Everyone asked: ¡°What does it say?¡± Yu Wen tremblingly walked back: ¡°The dirt is all f-f-frozen solid. Can¡¯t scrape it off.¡± The monument still only revealed the words ¡®100m ahead¡¯. Apart from it bing clearer, there weren¡¯t any other changes. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me it¡¯s another........¡± Zhou Jin¡¯s face was frozen cold, and he looked like a ghost. Yu Wen: ¡°N-n-no way. We just finished an e-e-exam. Aren¡¯t they j-just forcing us to die?¡± Everyone fell silent. They were hesitant about moving forward. ¡°Did many die?¡± You Huo threw this sentence out and walked ahead. His voice really suited this snowy cold environment. The words that came out whenever he opened his mouth could easily freeze the others up. Everyone shivered as they looked at each other. They then quickly followed behind him. ¡¤ With You Huo leading the group, their pace wasn¡¯t slow. Soon, an outline of a house appeared amidst the fog and snow. The hunter¡¯s cabin still left a psychological shadow in their hearts so the moment they saw this house, they weren¡¯t very surprised. But they soon realised that there wasn¡¯t just one house. They walked up a gentle slope and saw that there were several houses scattered sparsely ahead. If you called it a small town, then it would be too much of an exaggeration. It was more like those unpopr scenic spots on a mountain where local residents would try to get some business from asional tourists. When it doesn¡¯t get enough business each year, it would always be ready to close down. The house closest to them hung a small lightbox. On the white background, red words wrote: Amodation, Heating, Catering. The focus was obvious, and it was very enticing. The group could no longer move anymore. ¡°Why don¡¯t we make do and stay overnight here?¡± Old Yu said carefully. He thought he would get a re of objection from You Huo because it was difficult to tell whether or not it was safe. But in the end, his nephew entered the house faster than anyone else. ¡¤ You Huo had long been hungry. While they trekked through the snow, hisst regret was that he had submitted the answer too soon. If he waited a few minutes longer, 922¡¯s meat would¡¯ve been done. It¡¯s all that 001 invigtor¡¯s fault for being such an eye thorn and stealing him of his food. Just thinking of Qin Jiu¡¯s face........ You Huo touched his earring. His mood was poor. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog And so, the moment the staff at the front desk looked up, he was greeted with his cold expression. Front desk: ¡°............¡± The staff at the front desk was a young and skinny man. He fell silent for a few seconds before turning around and shouting: ¡°Boss! Someone¡¯s here!¡± ¡°What are you shouting for? If someone¡¯s here, can¡¯t you greet them?¡± The person who answered was a female. Her voice was crisp, and you could feel the force in her voice even through the door. ¡°I¡¯m afraid of scaring them away.¡± The front desk nced at You Huo and spoke timidly. ¡°In a damned ce like this, where can they run off too?¡± The door along the corridor opened and a short haired woman walked out while wielding a kitchen knife. The front desk was startled. Even You Huo was stunned. ¡°Boss, what are you doing?¡± ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing.¡± The short haired woman said: ¡°I didn¡¯t want to eat at the cafeteria today, so I got some things from next door to make something myself.¡± She lowered the knife and smiled at You Huo: ¡°Wow, a handsome guy! Just finished an exam? Let Xiao Hu register you down.¡± With the boss behind his back, the front desk Xiao Hu said to You Huo: ¡°Can I get your name? Let me see how long you guys can stay.¡± Old Yu and the others walked in while rubbing their hands. Hearing their words, his expression wasn¡¯t great. ¡°Just finished an exam? How did you know.......¡± The boss raised her elegant eyebrow. She smiled like a mountain monster: ¡°Those words are really strange. Please take a look at this line here, okay?¡± She used her knife to tap at the front desk. The front desk Xiao Hu obediently moved aside to reveal theplete wall. It read: ¡°Examinee¡¯s Rest Stop.¡± Examinee¡¯s rest stop???? Everyone¡¯s expression had turned even more ugly. Zhou Jin murmured, ¡°I thought........¡± The boss didn¡¯t find this reaction strange: ¡°You thought you weren¡¯t far from the city? That¡¯s normal. It must be your first time going to a rest stop? Everyone¡¯s like this.¡± Old Yu asked: ¡°Also, what do you mean taking a look to see how long we can stay? We can¡¯t decide how long we can stay?¡± The bossughed even harder: ¡°You wish.¡± Old Yu: ¡°.........¡± ¡°Alright! No more jokes!¡± The boss said, ¡°After youplete each exam, you will be given an allocated number of days to rest. These are all in the rules. It¡¯s not a matter of staying here as long as you want. Stop wasting time here and hurry up and report your names! Don¡¯t block the door.¡± The tattooed man was unhappy when he heard this. He exploded aggressively: ¡°Fuck this stupid ce! It¡¯s clearly wanting us to die. You can stay here if you want, I¡¯m leaving!¡± What they didn¡¯t expect was that the boss was even more aggressive. She mmed the kitchen knife into the front desk causing Xiao Hu to jump almost three feet high. ¡°Go. If you don¡¯t go, then you¡¯re my grandson.¡± The boss said this to the tattooed man and pointed at the door. Tattooed man: ¡°.............¡± He red at her angrily, tightened his cor, pulled up his zip until it reached his mouth and turned out and left. ¡¤ There was strong tension at the front desk. The others looked at the kitchen knife lodged in the front desk. It wasn¡¯t a good idea to leave and it also wasn¡¯t a good idea to stay. Only You Huo reported his name without a change in his expression. Xiao Hu tapped on the keyboard and said: ¡°Found it. You can stay here a total of seven days. From this moment¡ª¡ª-¡± He turned to look at the clock on the wall: ¡°From 3:12pm. You can check out at 3:12pm seven dayster. This is your room card.¡± You Huo received his room card. The room number was written on the front. You Huo was staying at 404. The boss nced at it and added: ¡°Oh that¡¯s right. Here we don¡¯t avoid any numbers so if you are assigned numbers like 404, 414.......It¡¯s all life so don¡¯t take it too personally. Afterall, even if you don¡¯t stay in a room with the number 4, it doesn¡¯t mean you won¡¯t die, right?¡±2 Those words of hersforted everyone there until their faces turned green. You Huo didn¡¯t look up. He turned the card over. The first line on the back wrote: Examinee¡¯s Rest Stop. Manager: Chu Yue Below that was something that looked like an examination ticket: Name: You Huo Ticket Number: 860451-10062231-000A Completed subjects: Physics Total points: 19 Boss Chu Yue finally revealed a surprised look: ¡°You got 19 points in one subject. Amazing!¡± You Huo coldly looked up. Chu Yue: ¡°Oh, it¡¯s nothing. I¡¯m just praising you. Praising that you have a face that brings cmity3. You have a good name!¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± She didn¡¯t wait for You Huo to speak and proceeded to return to back into the house whileughing loudly. Xiao Hu thought for a moment and told You Huo his rehearsed lines: ¡°Hot water is avable, and heating is in ce. For those who have just entered, don¡¯t rush to heat up your hands and burrow in your nkets. In a moment, I will bring you a bucket of snow and alcohol. You should warm up the exposed arms and lefts first before entering. The meals will be served at 7am, 11am and 5pm. The dining room is on the first floor around that corner. The meal time will go for two hours and it will be stopped at 9am, 1pm and 7pm. The chef has a bad temper, so he won¡¯t serve you before or after that.¡± You Huo heard this and nodded: ¡°Anything to eat?¡± Xiao Hu: ¡°...........won¡¯t serve you....¡± You Huo looked at him. He looked at You Huo. Two secondster, Xiao Hu turned his head and shouted: Boss! The guests want to eat!¡± ¡¤ Boss Chu ims to be a superficial person and would do things while taking into consideration other people¡¯s appearances. Fortunately, there was You Huo amongst this group of examinees. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog And so, they didn¡¯t wait long after warming up and they all sat in the dining room eating the dumplings made personally by Boss Chu herself. Yu Wen shouted saying that he wasn¡¯t hungry, but he ate like crazy. With hot food filling their stomachs, their tense mood finally rxed. Everyone started to feel a little drowsy and they leaned against each other in daze. Chu Yue said: ¡°This group of examinees¡¯ is very interesting.¡± You Huo looked at her. On a snowy day like this, Chu Yue was holding onto a ss of cold beer. She took a sip and exined: ¡°The group that checked in yesterday morning only had three people. Oh¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C¡° She pointed at the roof: ¡°Except for meals, they basically don¡¯te out at all. They don¡¯t evene out for all the meals and would just eat a few mouthfuls. Sometimes they would just sit there in daze or cry.¡± ¡°Three people? What exam did they take? How many people were there when they went in?¡± Yu Wen asked. ¡°The same as you.¡± Chu Yue answered as a matter of factly: ¡°Recently all the people staying here at my ce have taken the same exam.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°........Same exam? The hunter one? Only three people left?¡± Chu Yue said: ¡°Three people is actually a little few. But at most it¡¯s usually five or six people. That¡¯s the norm.¡± ¡°How many groups have you received?¡± Yu Wen recalled the bald man turning into the hunter and rubbed the goosebumps that formed: ¡°Doesn¡¯t that mean that there are lots of hunters?¡± Chu Yue said: ¡°Of course not. When I said the same exam, I meant the same exam centre. You can only go in after they¡¯re done.¡± She lowered her voice and said secretively: ¡°Did you know? In some exam centres, you can still find some traces left by previous examinees. Last time I heard someone picked up a finger bone and there was also another person who picked up a ring.¡± ¡°You can try looking for it.¡± Chapter 14: Crossroad

Chapter 14: Crossroad

Humans are very resilient creatures. The next day, everyone had adapted to their life living in the examinee¡¯s rest stop. Although it was not a town, whenpared to the hunter¡¯s cabin, it was much better. There was food to eat, they could sleep at ease, they wouldn¡¯t die by going out and there weren¡¯t any chickens chasing after you reminding you to submit your answers. Opposite the rest stop was a house that was three storeys high. It hung heavy stic curtains that had turned yellow with age and is no longer transparent. Only a faint circle of incandescent light could be seen emanating from within. There was a wooden sign disyed outside. The word ¡°Warehouse¡± was written. ¡°What¡¯s a warehouse?¡± The twin girls asked in unison. Old Yu was very patient with children. He exined: ¡°It¡¯s like a grocery store. It sells everything. You haven¡¯t seen it before?¡± Not only the girls, many others also shook their heads. They said: ¡°Where wee from, we don¡¯t call it that.¡± ¡°Is that so?¡± Old Yu muttered. He was rather crafty so when he followed everyone in, he immediately tried to chat with the owner. After exchanging a few words, he found out that the owner was from the same town. The owner of the warehouse was surnamed Zhao. He was a very unfriendly fellow townsman. ¡°Big brother. I¡¯ll call you big brother now.¡± Old Yu said this passionately. The owner Zhao Ding was at most fourty years old and is definitely younger than Old Yu. He had a strong build and a straight back, yet he shamelessly acknowledged this ¡°big brother¡± nickname. Holding his cigarette, he said monotonously: ¡°Up to you.¡± Old Yu said: ¡°Big brother, you must have been away from home for many years. My ent isn¡¯t strong but yours is even more so. If not for seeing the word ¡°Warehouse¡±, I wouldn¡¯t have noticed.¡± Smoke constantly poured out from Zhao¡¯s mouth: ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°You¡¯ve always had a shop here?¡± Zhao: ¡°Yeah.¡± Old Yu let out an ¡°oh¡± and tentatively asked: ¡°Looking at brother¡¯s posture, were you a soldier before? Why did youe here to open a shop?¡± Zhao finally nced at him from amidst the smoke. He said a long sentence: I haven¡¯t but seeing your posture, were you really once a soldier? How did you be fat like this?¡± Old Yu: ¡°...........¡± Zhao inhaled the cigarette a few times and extinguished it after only the butt was left: ¡°Don¡¯t try to act close. It¡¯s not going to work here. You may be acting all touched today but you might be dead tomorrow.¡± Old Yu: ¡°..........¡± ¡°If you¡¯re going to buy something, hurry up and do it. If not, leave.¡± Zhao said this and pulled out a new cigarette. ¡¤ The first floor of the warehouse was covered in smoke. The sick patient Zhou Jin went in and left immediately with a coughing fit. But he didn¡¯t give up the opportunity to shop. Because there were more things in this store than he had imagined. It looked more like aprehensive supermarket with a shabby external appearance. There were clothes, nkets, pillows, pots, pans, cups, spoons, chopsticks, medications and anything you would want to find in a supermarket. Things that you don¡¯t find in a supermarket were also here. From the first to the third floor, it waspletely filled. Every floor had several shopping carts which were coated in ayer of dust. They all pushed a cart each and started to sweep through the goods like crazy. It was as if ghosts had just entered the vige. ¡°Wait, none of these things are priced!¡± Yu Wen suddenly cried out. Zhou Jin picked up a few bottles of cough syrup and also a box of anti-inmmatory pain medications: ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that a long time ago. Cough, cough...........This is probably like those at tourist attractions. The price must have been doubled.¡± ¡°Taking advantage of us while we¡¯re on the brink of death and ripping us off. It¡¯s expected.¡± Everyone agreed. If you are not reading this from kktrantes then the trantion was stolen. Please support the original trantor Everyone knew this truth, but no one stopped their actions. When money could be exchanged for their life, they don¡¯t feel bad about spending it. Yu Wen still felt that something wasn¡¯t right. He pushed his cart around to find his brother and found You Huo standing in the corner of the third floor. What surprised him was that You Huo was also purchasing goods. ¡°Brother, you¡¯re also pushing a cart?¡± Yu Wen went over and asked. You Huo heard this and nced at him. His expression seemed to be saying ¡®What nonsense are you spouting?¡¯. Yu Wen awkwardly waved his hand and said: ¡°It¡¯s nothing. I was just looking.....¡± If even his brother is buying something, then it should be okay. Yu Wen felt relieved and started to flip through You Huo¡¯s shopping cart. He had originally thought that he would see a bunch of emergency equipment such as shlights, batteries, ropes, knifes........ But all this great master got was a change of clothes and a ck backpack. That was it. ¡°Uh.....Brother, are you getting anything else?¡± Yu Wen asked. You Huo flipped through the hangers and took out a ck down jacket. He threw it into the cart: ¡°Just these.¡± Yu Wen suddenly felt that he, with the light sticks, shlights, batteries and the such........, was like an idiot attending a concert. ¡¤ When they returned to the first floor, everyone had almost picked out everything that they needed and they all pushed their cart over to the checkout counter. You Huo didn¡¯t like crowds so he stood away from them and waitedzily by the wall. The olddy at the front asked the owner: ¡°Just these. How much is it?¡± Zhao had already smoked several cigarettes. Looking through the smoke, he scanned through the items in the cart. He snorted inexplicably: ¡°You can tell in one nce it¡¯s your first time.¡± Everyone didn¡¯t understand. Zhao: ¡°When peoplee here, they would only be brave enough to take this number of items.¡± He raised two fingers. ¡°What do you mean brother? Two items?¡± Old Yu asked. Zhao: ¡°Yes. And that¡¯s the most generous one.¡± How fucking expensive is it? Everyone silently nced at their carts filled with items. Zhou Jin finally couldn¡¯t help and ask: ¡°......Can we use WeChat, Alipay1? Or card? I don¡¯t have much cash.¡± Yu Wen added: ¡°I haven¡¯t taken out cash in years.¡± Zhao: ¡°Wechat, Alipay doesn¡¯t work here.¡± Zhou Jin and Yu Wen were disappointed. Zhao also said: ¡°Cash is also not epted.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°Huh? Then what do we use?¡± Zhao pulled out a card from under the counter. It looked exactly like the small room card they had received earlier. ¡°Do you all have this? You use this.¡± Zhao flicked the cart while showing enthusiasm that he had not shown the entire time. He smiled and said: ¡°Isn¡¯t there an exam ticket at the back of the card? Do you see the points? The things here in my shop are bought with those points.¡± ¡°It¡¯s not expensive. Daily necessities, including clothing of any kind is 0.5. Food, medicines etc is 1 point. As for knives and anything that can be used as a weapon, it¡¯s 2 points. It¡¯s very easy to remember. Do you want to calcte the price yourself first?¡± Everyone froze on the spot. Their faces were pale. Just the items in their shopping carts were enough to give them a negative score. Zhou Jin looked at his cart filled with medicine and gasped. He started coughing violently. No wonder....... No wonder these shopping carts were coated with dust. No wonder even the most generous people would only take two items. The points that they have were all earned with their blood, sweat and tears. No one knew what the next exam would be like. If they bought one or two things here and end up just one point away from passing when they calcte the cumtive score, they would probably cut their stomachs open in regret. Zhao didn¡¯t find this scene strange. After scaring them, he reverted back to his usual lukewarm attitude and said: ¡°Here, I¡¯ll check it out.¡± As soon as he said that, the people around the counter took two steps back. ¡°No one¡¯s buying?¡± You Huo who stood waiting by the wall suddenly spoke up. Everyone, including the owner, set their sights on him. He straightened up, pushed the cart over to the counter and took out the room card from his jeans pocket. Handing it to Zhao, he said: ¡°Checkout.¡± Zhao: ¡°..........¡± He looked at the items in You Huo¡¯s cart with an open mouth. The cigarette butt fell onto his shoe. You Huo held onto the card waiting for a while and appeared to be slightly impatient. Zhou snapped back to his senses and hurriedly extinguished the cigarette butt with his foot: ¡°I¡¯ll check it out¡ª¡ª¨C¡± The clothes, jeans, ck bag and down jacket added up to a total of three points. You Huo heard this and nodded. He seemed to think that he still had plenty to spare and started to scan across the shelf behind the owner. He then said: ¡°Add another pack of cigarettes and a lighter.¡± Zhao: ¡°.............¡± Yu Wen couldn¡¯t hold back: ¡°Brother, you don¡¯t even smoke so why are you buying this?¡± You Huo ced the clothes into the ck bag and said without raising his head, ¡°Just in case.¡± Two minutester, You Huo returned to his room with the bag hanging from one of his shoulders. The points on his examination ticket was now 15 points and, in a speed faster than someone falling from a building, he had be the one in the group with the lowest score. Yu Wen looked at his unchanging expression and felt that his brother was really tough. ¡¤ Seven days at the examinee¡¯s rest stop passed in a blink of an eye. At 3:12pm on thest day, the entire group checked out and Boss Chu personally kicked them out the door. ¡°Here, go straight ahead. There is a crossroad 200 metres ahead. Now go.¡± Chu Yue waved at them and said, ¡°Don¡¯t waste anymore time. It won¡¯t be good when it gets toote. I hope this isn¡¯t ourst farewell.¡± She said that and then closed the door. The lightbox with ¡°Amodation. Heating. Catering.¡± shed a few times before suddenly going out. These houses still remained standing amongst the snow and fog but, with none of their lights on, they looked like houses that had been abandoned for many years. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°This really isn¡¯t a haunted house?¡± Yu Wen shuddered. You Huo recalled the invigtors¡¯ words. He had asked if this was a supernatural event, but the invigtor¡¯s response was no. The other party had wanted to something else at that time but, before he was able to speak, he had received a warning. So........ What exactly is this? You Huo mulled over this inside. When the next exam starts, he will find a chance to trick the invigtor into spilling the truth. Hopefully the invigtor this time is one that is honest and easy to fool. ¡¤ 200 metres wasn¡¯t very far. Everyone very quickly arrived at the ce mentioned by Chu Yue. It was indeed a crossroad. A solitary pavilion sat in the middle of the intersections and a figure was slumped against it. That person saw them and struggled to stand up. When they got closer, they saw that it was the tattooed man who didn¡¯t want to stay at the rest stop. But,pared to his appearance at that time, he was now covered in blood and his left arm hung lifelessly beside him. One of his legs was also broken. ¡°How did you be like this?¡± Although they didn¡¯t like him very much, no one wanted him to die or be disabled. Afterall, he was originally just a stranger and they held no grudges against him. The tattooed man said with a hoarse voice: ¡°It¡¯s good enough not bing crazy.¡± ¡°How long have you been here?¡± Everyone looked at the pavilion. The tattooed man said: ¡°Two days.¡± ¡°Why didn¡¯t you go to the examinee rest stop?¡± The tattooed man revealed an embarrassed expression which also held a hint of anger: ¡°If I go back, I¡¯ll be her grandson. Also.......I couldn¡¯t find the way back after I left. All I could find was this.¡± ¡°Then why didn¡¯t you continue on?¡± Yu Wen asked. The tattooed man swept his eyes across and pointed at the roads: ¡°Look at those signs yourself.¡± With his reminder, everyone now noticed that there was a sign erected at each of the four roads. Under normal circumstances, those signs would say xx road or xx street. But this wasn¡¯t the case here. The four signs each said respectively: Chinese Foreign Language Math History Inside the pavilion, a small horn suddenly sounded and the familiar voice that was heard from the radio once again appeared here. ¡¾This round of exam is designed to be 3+1+1.2 Congrattions on sessfullypleting one of them, there are currently four other exams pending.¡¿ ¡¾Examinees have the right to choose and canplete them in any order.¡¿ ¡¾Please make your choice within 30 seconds.¡¿ ¡¾Laters will have their examination opportunity stripped.¡¿ Everyone: ¡°..........¡± At a crossroad like this, they would rather remain in ce until they died. The dog Yu Wen grabbed You Huo and said: ¡°Brother, I¡¯ll choose whatever you choose!¡± The others all looked over at him. What they didn¡¯t expect was for You Huo to look around and say expressionlessly: ¡°There¡¯s a choice? From my perspective, all of the signs are saying Foreign Language.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°Huh???¡± What was even more frustrating was, in You Huo¡¯s eyes, he could see a figure standing at the end of every intersection. That figure was tall. Standing under an umbre in the snow, that person appeared to be waiting for him. You Huo coldly sneered. His face was green with anger. Chapter 15: Foreign Language

Chapter 15: Foreign Language

You Huo: ¡°Yu Wen.¡± ¡°Huh?¡± Suddenly being called, Yu Wen responded immediately: ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± You Huo: ¡°Do you see someone at the end of the roads?¡± Yu Wen looked around nkly: ¡°Someone? Who?¡± You Huo¡¯s eyes looked into the distance: ¡°For example, a particrly clingy invigtor.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°...........Don¡¯t say something so scary!¡± They haven¡¯t even selected their subject yet so why would an invigtor be here?? The others heard You Huo¡¯s words and also looked around. Apart from the signs at the four ends, it waspletely empty. ¡°Forget it. It¡¯s nothing.¡± You Huo said, ¡°I only see Foreign Language from my end, so I don¡¯t have any other options. You sure you¡¯reing with me?¡± Yu Wen said: ¡°Actually, Foreign Language is my weakness.¡± You Huo nced at him. Yu Wen then said: ¡°But after thinking about it, it seems like all of them are my weaknesses.¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± Yu Wen ced his hands together and worshipped his great master: ¡°Brother, I¡¯ll go whereever you go! I¡¯ll do whatever you want me to so please bless me and help me pass. I wish you longevity.¡± You Huo: ¡°.........¡± The group of people all looked at him eagerly. You Huo snorted and pulled the zipper of his jacket all the way up to cover his chin and lips before mutteringzily: ¡°Troublesome.¡± ¡°Brother, what did you say?¡± Yu Wen didn¡¯t hear clearly and moved closer. You Huo¡¯s face was almost as cold as a block of ice: ¡°I said, which direction is Foreign Language for you?¡± Everyone pointed to the left. You Huo lifted his feet and walked over. Inside the pavilion, the small horn once again sounded. ¡¾A friendly reminder that there are only 5 seconds left until selection time is over.¡¿ Everyone was startled. They quickly started to run over. The roadbelled ¡°Foreign Language¡± was no different from the other three roads and was covered in dense fog. No one knew what was waiting behind the fog..... ¡¾4 seconds¡¿ ¡¾3 seconds¡¿ ¡¾2 seconds¡¿ ¡¾1 second¡¿ ¡¾Self-selection is over.¡¿ As the countdown reached zero, thest of their group managed to step into the dense fog. ¡¤ Qin Jiu wore a long ck coat and he had a dove-grey cashmere scarf around his neck. With one hand in his coat pocket, he used his other hand to hold a ck umbre as he waited calmly for the others to arrive. You Huo¡¯s tall figure passed through the dense fog. His face was cold and his expressionzy. A ck backpack hung loosely from his right shoulder. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Despite clearly being quite far away, Qin Jiu could still see everything in detail. The other party¡¯s light brown eyes always looked like it was covered by ayer of clear ss. Together with the earring on one side, it emitted a cold light. Qin Jiu lifted the umbre slightly and white snow slid off it while following its curves. Seeing You Huoe closer, he politely moved his hand and brought You Huo under the umbre. He dragged out his tone and said: ¡°What a coincidence, we meet again. Did Mr. Humph sleep well the past few days?¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± Despite clearly knowing his name, he still addressing him using a dumb nickname. Is there something wrong with him? He stared at Qin Jiu for a few seconds and said coldly: ¡°Deprivation of choice means that you¡¯re going to be everywhere?¡± Qin Jiu squinted his eyes and smiled: ¡°That¡¯s not exactly the case. The so-called deprivation of choice means that the examinee ¨C that is, you ¨C would lose their right to choose their text examination subject. As for the subject that you will do, it will depend on the main invigtor ¨C that is, me ¨C and the exam that I¡¯ll be invigting. Understand?¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± That tone of his sounded like he was exining to a little kid. It was an obvious case of deliberate provocation. You Huo who heard this was irritated and his expression waspletely cold. Qin Jiu saw his expression and smiled even more deeply: ¡°As for the subject the invigtor supervises, in general we can choose but I¡¯m a littlezy, so I always select it randomly. This time I randomly got Foreign Languages. However, it seems from your expression that you¡¯re not happy with it. Next time¡ª¡ª¨C¡± You Huo interrupted him with a bad expression: ¡°There¡¯s still a fucking next time?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°It¡¯s hard to say. After all, you have an extensive criminal record.¡± You Huo: ¡°.........¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°You can tell me in advance if there¡¯s a subject you want to do. If you perform well, I can consider it.¡± You Huo wanted to say: I want you to go die. Can you consider that? But he thought about it. Considering how retarded the system is, it would probably even make him go die with him. And so he just held back his belly filled with anger and maintained a dark expression as he waited next to the thick fog. ¡¤ After a while, Yu Wen came out from the fog while dragging Old Yu. This was then followed by Yu Yao and Mike. ¡°Brother!¡± Yu Wen hurried over. As soon as he saw Qin Jiu, he came to a sudden stop: ¡°You- Why are you here sir?¡± His strong desire for survival made him change his way of addressing him but he couldn¡¯t hide his shocked expression. Qin Jiu said slowly: ¡°I¡¯m apanying your brother waiting for you.¡± Yu Wen looked even more horrified. He looked at You Huo with a terrified look. You Huo: ¡°.........¡± If res could kill, Qin Jiu would already be long dead. Yu Wen said bravely: ¡°So the fulltime on-site monitoring carries over to this round too?¡± Qin Jiu nced at him. Yu Wen: ¡°Oh.¡± And so, in ssmate Yu (very pathetic) Wen¡¯s eyes, this invigtor 001 was also another great master. Great masters are always arrogant and would only be interested in speaking with other amazing characters like his brother. He knew himself very well and didn¡¯t dare continue to talk. ¡¤ ¡°Zhou Jin and the others aren¡¯t here?¡± Yu Yao and Mike came over. Old Yu said: ¡°They were right behind us. Let¡¯s wait a little longer.¡± In the end, they waited, and two strangers appeared. One had a round face and despite not being very tall, muscles covered his entire body. He was carrying a sports bag. The other was thinner and was tightly wrapped in his coat. Every now and then he would blow air onto his hands to warm it up. ¡°What¡¯s going on? There are others?¡± Yu Wen was surprised. You Huo looked at Qin Jiu. Qin Jiu tilted his head and asked You Huo: ¡°Did anyone say that the examinees for each exam are always fixed?¡± You Huo: ¡°........No.¡± Qin Jiu said: ¡°Selecting the same exam doesn¡¯t mean that you would be divided into the same examination centre. For example, invigtors 922 and 152 was also randomly selected to supervise Foreign Language but they are not in this one. What do you think it means?¡± You Huo: ¡°It means that they also don¡¯t want to see you.¡± ¡°.........¡± Yu Wen nced at Qin Jiu. He was afraid of his brother angering the invigtor. But he was surprised to see Qin Jiu just squinting his eyes and smiling: ¡°Wrong. It means that there is a smaller number of people in this exam and only one invigtor is required.¡± ¡°Smaller number?¡± You Huo frowned. ¡¤ Sure enough, after waiting for another five minutes next to the thick fog, no one else arrived. Turns out, Zhou Jin and the others were assigned to another examination centre. Although the original group consisted of the five poisons; old, weak, sick, disabled and pregnant, they got along well and at least knew a little about each other. With two new strangers, they once again needed to get to know each other. You cannot tell if this would be a good or bad thing. ¡°Fortunately, Old Yu wasn¡¯t lost.¡± Yu Wen said in fear. ¡¤ The two strangers weren¡¯t surprised when they saw their newpanions. The round-faced man had his brows furrowed into a frown and he looked a little scary. He nodded at everyone and didn¡¯t speak. The lean and thin one was a little more enthusiastic: ¡°I¡¯m called Chen Bin. I¡¯m from Chongqing. His name is Liang Yuanhao and he¡¯s from Hebei. Isn¡¯t that right?¡± He turned to ask Liang Yuanhao who nced at the group and hummed in response. ¡°Chongqing? I went there for a few years a long time ago when I was just a rookie soldier so we can be considered as fellow townsmen.¡± The socially apt Old Yu once again tried to befriend another ¡®fellow townsmen¡± and he quickly became familiar with Chen Bin. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°Liang Yuanhao and I were from the same examination centre and we¡¯re once again together in this one. This can be considered as fate. This is my already my third exam.¡± Chen Bin said this dejectedly, ¡°I was lucky enough to survive through the first two, but my points are scarily low. The possibility of passing is slim.¡± Old Yu wanted tofort him but You Huo suddenly interjected: ¡°Do you know how many points are required to pass?¡± Chen Bin was surprised: ¡°It¡¯s 60. You guys didn¡¯t know?¡± Old Yu shook his head: ¡°Don¡¯t know. The perfect score for ourst exam seemed to be........24? There were also some additional points and deductions that I couldn¡¯t make sense of. In any case, it wasn¡¯t a round number, and I didn¡¯t know what the scores were like for the other subjects so I couldn¡¯t calcte it.¡± Chen Bin asked: ¡°You guys haven¡¯t met any experienced yers?¡± Old Yu: ¡°No. In thest exam, everyone was the same. It was our first time.¡± Chen Bin: ¡°Oh, that makes sense then. I just happened to meet a brother with experience, and he said that the total scores for each exam will be slightly different but with the five subjects added up, it would be exactly 100 points. If that¡¯s the case, it would be fine getting a total score just over 60.¡± ¡°60.......¡± Old Yu counted with his fingers with a sullen expression. Chen Bin was even more sullen: ¡°I only got 10 points from two subjects. What am I going to do for the remaining three?!¡± Liang Yuanhao¡¯s expression was stiff. He walked away a little irritably. Chen Bin exined to the others: ¡°He¡¯s actually not a bad person. It¡¯s just that the total scores from three exams was too abysmal and he¡¯s a little anxious.....¡± Afterall, this was something that involved life and death. It wasn¡¯t unusual having a bad temper. The others expressed their understanding. Yu Wen pointed to Mike in reassurance: ¡°Don¡¯t worry! Look, we have a secret weapon here! This exam is Foreign Languages and we have a foreigner Mike here!¡± Chen Bin said tactfully: ¡°We saw. We noticed it the moment we arrived. But I just noticed that this friend here doesn¡¯t seem to be able to speak Chinese? It would be no different to conversing with a duck.......¡± Yu Wen then pointed at You Huo: ¡°Don¡¯t worry, my brother stayed abroad for a while so he can do it too. But.......he doesn¡¯t like talking much.¡± Chen Bin suddenly came back to life: ¡°That¡¯s okay. It¡¯s good enough to be able to understand!¡± Even Liang Yuanhao appeared to have be a little livelier. Mike and You Huo were like calming pills. In an instant, the team rxed. ¡¤ ¡°So........Where are we going now?¡± The people who were chatting finally started to face the current situation at hand. You Huo expressionlessly pointed to the left. The others only now noticed the bus stop sign standing about three metres away. It was a very simple sign that was supported by a metal pole. Fortunately, the words on it were Chinese. It read ¡°Intercity Bus¡± and below it was the English trantion. As for where this bus was going and where it would be passing, it was aplete mystery. There was no information about this. Just as everyone was confused, a loud horn was hearding through the snow. A car drove out of the thick fog and it shuddered to a stop at the bus sign. The car was covered in a thickyer of dust. It was so thick, it was difficult making out it¡¯s original colour. The wheels of it were covered in mud. It would be too generous calling it a ¡°bus¡±. It was more like one of those minivans from the 1990s that shook heavily as it drove. This car? Foreign Language exam? Everyone felt weird and confused. Even the invigtor Qin Jiu¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t very good. Seeing that 001 was unhappy, You Huo was relieved. He carried his backpack and got onto the car first. The inside wasn¡¯t very worn, and the seats were quite neat and tidy. You Huo sat down in the seat by the window in thest row. Seeing Qin Jiu also getting on, he pulled out his phone, fiddled with it and then proceeded to plug white earphones into his ears. He leaned against the window and got ready to sleep. The driver was a dark middle-aged man. He didn¡¯t speak the entire time and they didn¡¯t know whether or not he was a mute. When he saw that they were all on board, he stepped onto the elerator and set off. ¡¤ When You Huo was just about to fall asleep, there was an announcement inside the car. ¡¾It is currently 6:30am Beijing Time.¡¿ ¡¾There are still thirty minutes until the exam officially starts. Please read the exam rules below.¡¿ The familiar examination rules were repeated one by one. With the life-saving cheats Mike and You Huo present, everyone¡¯s mood was rather stable. They didn¡¯t tremble as terribly as they did the first time. ¡¾If rule vitions are made during the exam, you will be kicked out from the examination centre.¡¿ ¡¾The other examination rules are as per the standard.¡¿ Like it was teasing them, the announcement stopped for a moment. When it allowed the listeners digest this information, it slowly spat out the rest of its words. ¡¾Because of special circumstances, the exam details will be revealed in advance.¡¿ ¡¾Examination time: 10 days.¡¿ ¡¾Subject examined: Foreign Language.¡¿ ¡¾Foreignnguage being examined: Gypsy*.¡¿ ¡¾I wish you all the best.¡¿ Everyone: ¡°.............¡± I beg your pardon??? Chapter 16: Black Widow

Chapter 16: ck Widow

The radio fell into silence once again after announcing the exam information. The car was silent. What precious calming pill? With ¡°Gypsy¡± here, all that just went up in smoke. Everyone was in daze for a moment. They copsed lifelessly into their seats. The minivan instantly turned into a hearse carrying several people who were on the brink of death. It was irritating enough alone being awakened from his sleep, and he was even awakened to such terrible news. Just as You Huo was about to sit up, he saw a certain someonee over through the gap between his eyelids. He immediately closed his eyes and pretended to be dead asleep. It was like the minivan was driving through clouds. There was no shaking at all. The sound of footsteps stopped next to him. The headrest You Huo had his head rested against sank down and it was then followed by someone tugging his earphone cord a few times. ¡°...........¡± You Huo expressionlessly pretended to be asleep. The earphone cord was once again tugged a few times. It even made his earlobe and earring move. ¡°............¡± You Huo continued to pretend to be dead. ¡°There aren¡¯t any signals here so what¡¯s the point of using earphones? Stop pretending.¡± A familiar voice thatzily dragged out the words sounded. ¡°..................¡± You Huo could no longer pretend. He half opened his eyes and nced through the corner of his eyes at the hand that was holding onto the earphone cord: ¡°Need something?¡± After asking this, he finally raised his eyes and looked at the person standing before him. From his expression to the tone of his voice, he was able topletely express his attitude of ¡°spit out what you have to say or scram¡±. Qin Jiu retracted his hand from the earphone cord and leaned against the back of the seat in front of You Huo. He used his chin to point at the seat next to You Huo and said with a smile that was also not quite a smile: ¡°Your bag? I¡¯ll have to trouble you to move it.¡± ¡°It doesn¡¯t want to.¡± You Huo said this expressionlessly and plugged his earphone back in before closing his eyes again. Less than two secondster, that annoying hand reached over again. It directly pulled out his earphone. The moment those fingers brushed past You Huo¡¯s earlobe, it felt a little ticklish. You Huo raised his hand to pinch his earring and opened his eyes with furrowed brows: ¡°Need something?¡± ¡°If it is really unwilling to move then I¡¯ll have to do it myself.¡± Qin Jiu smiled and lifted the ck bag. He casually assessed its weight and then ced it onto the overhead rack above You Huo. You Huo stared at him: ¡°Can¡¯t you change to another empty seat?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°I¡¯m afraid I can¡¯t. There is a total of nine seats in this car and you guys take up seven of them. If I don¡¯t sit here, I¡¯ll have to squeeze in with the driver. I don¡¯t know about you, but the others probably wouldn¡¯t like me doing that.¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± He didn¡¯t pay attention to the number of seats when he boarded. He didn¡¯t expect the seating to be so limited. Qin Jiu sat down beside him. This person appeared tall and thin in his coat, but you could tell after he got closer that his figure is tall and straight. Through the clothing, you could feel his solid arms and warm body temperature. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Fortunately, there weren¡¯t many seats in the car so there was plenty of space between the front and back rows. Otherwise these two people would have nowhere to put their legs. You Huo wanted to straighten his legs but if he did that, he would kick the seat in front of him. At this moment, it was as if whoever makes way for the other person would be considered the loser. You Huo thought about it and decided that he had nothing to lose. He stretched out and knocked heavily into Qin Jiu¡¯s knee. He pulled up his cor and got ready to close his eyes and sleep again when he heard Qin Jiu mutter quietly: ¡°Gypsy. Amazing.¡± You Huo opened his eyes: ¡°This wasn¡¯t your chosen subject?¡± Qin Jiu nced at him. His fingerszily forced a small gap between them: ¡°With you saying that, I feel a bit wronged.¡± Wronged your ass. You Huo stared at him coldly. ¡°Look at that person you picked.¡± Qin Jiu pointed to where Mike sat, ¡°To my knowledge, this examinee¡¯s background is very colourful. He¡¯s mixed with four kinds of blood from America, France, Russia and Spain and he ended up looking like that.¡± You Huo: ¡°............¡± ¡°Sorry, I was a little harsh with my words there.¡± Qin Jiu didn¡¯t look sorry at all. You Huo: ¡°You have information on all the examinees?¡± ¡°You guess?¡± Qin Jiu¡¯s voice was low. Even when he dragged out his tone, it sounded nice. You Huo scoffed coldly. Since it was capable of bringing people to this damned ce, he believed the examination system should probably be in possession of all their information. So how much do the invigtors know? You Huo recalled their actions earlier and felt that it probably wasn¡¯t much. Invigtors were also bound by rules. Perhaps..........if they want to find out about something regarding a specific examinee, they would also need go through some kind of acquisition process? And that acquisition process probably isn¡¯t easy. Otherwise the first one 001, 154 and 922 would investigate would be him. Qin Jiu supported his head and stared at him for a while with his pitch-ck eyes: ¡°Don¡¯t worry. In general, I have no interest in an examinee¡¯s information.¡± You Huo very perfunctorily ¡®oh¡¯ed. ¡°In short, with a treasure like this in the team, it isn¡¯t surprising for you all to be sent to this damned ce.¡± Qin Jiu said. You Huo didn¡¯t know what exactly was behind the so-called examination system but he felt that it had a weird temper. In order to avoid this group of people getting their ¡°mother-tongue¡±, it had gone through twists and turns to pull out something like ¡°Gypsy¡±. Since he had found out the reason behind it, he no longer ced the me on Qin Jiu. And he didn¡¯t know if it was just his imagination but, ever since they got onto the car, Qin Jiu appeared to be a little unhappy. You Huo looked at the invigtor who was lost in thought with his eyes lowered. Perhaps it was because the reflections of the snow outside was too bright, his eyes started to hurt again. It felt a little ufortable. He rubbed it a few times before putting his earphones back in and going back to sleep. ........... ¡¤ After about ten minutes, the car suddenly shook. The distressed examines were rmed by this and quickly saw that the scenery outside had changed. The sky covered in fog and snow was gone and what appeared before them was a winding mountain road. The road conditions were not good, so the car shook endlessly as it travelled along it. There was solid mud and gravel everywhere. This road was very narrow. If two cars met on either end, they would have to shift to first gear and inch past slowly. The vegetation by the mountain road grew so densely together, it was difficult making out how far down it went. Once you fall, it is very likely for the body to go missing forever. Like this, the minivan drove daringly along it. Halfway through, the driver twisted the radio knob. The radio inside the car buzzed a few times and jumped to a certain frequency before starting to y old songs. asionally, it was interrupted by traffic reminders which warned drivers to avoid certain roads which have be blocked due to recentndslides. During the broadcast, a warning sign appeared before the car. In front of the warning sign was arge rock and a fallen tree. A normal car clearly wouldn¡¯t be able to pass through. But the driver ignored the warningpletely and swerved the car around inrge movements. Everyone in the car was startled. When they fell back into their seats, the car had already passed through thendslide and it continued to drive deeper into the mountains. ¡¤ Since entering the depths of the mountains, the sky had darkened. There clearly was heating in the car but everyone still unconsciously shivered. When they came out of the mountain road, they were met with an old street sign by the side of the road. It was marked with the road number. Old Yu wrapped himself tightly with his clothes and shrank in his head. Seeing that number, he muttered: ¡°This road seems to be close to the border.......¡± ¡°We¡¯re really crossing it?¡± Old Yu: ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± Yu Wen shrank his neck and stared anxiously outside the window: ¡°We can¡¯t just randomly cross the border!¡± As he said that, the minivan made a big turn and it entered the woods on the side. Everyone was bewildered by strange route. They wanted to ask but the driver was a mute. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Another ten minutes passed. The car got out from the woods and it braked sharply by a dirt road. ¡¤ ¡°Brother wake up. We¡¯re getting off.¡± Yu Wen had one knee up on his seat and he reached over the back of the chair to wake You Huo up. He really was in awe of his brother¡¯s bravery. He was actually able to sleep so deeply. You Huo rubbed his hair and half opened his eyes. He nced next to him through half-open eyes. The seat was already empty. With the lower half of his face covered by his cor, he said in a muffled voice: ¡°Where is he?¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Yu Wen didn¡¯t hear. You Huo shook his head to wake himself up. He stood up and stomped on his numb leg before bending down and looking out the window: ¡°Where is this?¡± This time Yu Wen heard him, ¡°Don¡¯t know. The driver stopped the car here and ran.¡± ¡°What do you mean ran?¡± Yu Wen pointed out the window: ¡°There. He ran down that dirt road.¡± They appeared to have stopped at the entrance to a vige. Through the trees, they could faintly see several roofs in the distance. Apart from the road leading down to the vige, there was nowhere else for them to go. They were surrounded by an endless sea of trees. Yu Wen followed behind You Huo and got off the car. Outside the car, the examinees looked at each other dumbly. Invigtor Qin Jiu on the other hand stood by the woods. He had one hand supporting a tree and was looking somewhere into the distance. ¡°Old Yu mentioned earlier that the road was near the border. Are we in some particr location in reality?¡± Yu Wen asked You Huo. The newly joined Chen Bin interjected: ¡°From my experience, it probably isn¡¯t. But you will probably see thingster that resemble those in reality or things that you have seen before.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°If we¡¯re not in a ce in reality then that so-called death, is it really death?¡± Chen Bin smiled bitterly: ¡°I don¡¯t know. Only those who tried it will know but who would dare try something like that?¡± Yu Wen lowered his head and said: ¡°That¡¯s true........¡± You Huo couldn¡¯t care less about this topic. After getting off, he circled around the area. Soon, he kicked somewhere and said, ¡°There¡¯s a stone monument here.¡± ¡°I was looking for that. Turns out it¡¯s here.¡± Chen Bin was experienced. After getting off, he had been looking for information. He came over and crouched before the stone monument. He pulled away some of the weeds: ¡°It probably says the name of this ce. Although it may not be useful, it¡¯s a little reassuring when you know where we are......¡± The others heard this and moved over. All they saw was a worn-out stone monument engraved with strange characters. ¡°What are those drawings?¡± ¡°Probably letters.....¡± Chen Bin took out a tissue from his bag and wiped off the parts that were stained with mud. It was still difficult to decipher. Yu Wen: ¡°K.......is this a?¡± Chen Bin: ¡°Lo..... What the hell is this?¡± ¡°Probably p.¡± Yu Yao supported her stomach and tilted her head to read: ¡°That one looks like h......u......v.¡± Putting aside the misceneous and useless parts, the name of the location that was carved onto this monument was: Kalo Phuv Everyone: ¡°............¡± What the hell is that? Let me tell you a joke. You can tell where you are just by looking at the sign. ¡¤ While everyone was in despair, the silent driver came back. He brought along a middle-aged man dressed in a military coat and leather cap. Looking at his face, he was probably a Chinese national. The driver said: ¡°There, these people.¡± Old Yu was surprised: ¡°You can talk?!¡± The driver nced at him and said hoarsely: ¡°He will take you to that house. Remember, don¡¯t go in the woods. When he was done, he waved his hand at the man with the leather hat, went back onto the minivan and drove away. The car twisted and turned into the woods and, in a blink of an eye, it was blocked by the crooked branches and it disappeared from their sights. Even the sounds of its engine and the grinding of the tires against the gravel disappeared. The woods became eerily quiet. It made everyone¡¯s hair rise. ¡¤ ¡°What did wee here for?¡± You Huo asked the man with the leather hat. The man in the leather hat made a sound of exmation and said: ¡°Didn¡¯t you say that you were looking for the ck widow? Why? Did you already forget?¡± ¡°ck widow? Who¡¯s the ck widow?¡± Chen Bin followed over and asked. The man in the leather hat cowered. He tightened his hat around his neck and said with a muffled voice: ¡°An old granny. She and her old man came here during the war and stayed behind. Seems to be Gypsies. In any case...........¡± He wrapped himself even tightened and said with a whisper: ¡°I¡¯ll take you there. You should be careful. After she came, our entire vige had be strange. What made you to want to.........stay here for ten days?¡± Everyone wanted to cry without tears. Inside they said: Do you think I¡¯m crazy? Why would I want to stay here? Chapter 17: Allocating Rooms

Chapter 17: Allocating Rooms

The man in the leather hat who led the way was the vige chief. He called this ce ¡°Chars Vige¡± and there was a total of eighteen households. The vige was located close to the border. During the war, the ck widow came over with several other Russians and they decided to stay. The stone monument was engraved by her but even the vige chief didn¡¯t know the meaning behind those words. The crowd followed him along the dirt road towards the vige. To one side of the road was a river covered with a thickyer of ice. On the other side were houses. They were all concrete houses and some still retained traces of brickwork but, no matter what it was made of, their roofs were of the exact same dark red colour. ¡°Didn¡¯t you say eighteen households?¡± Yu Wen muttered quietly, ¡°Just these houses alone look like there¡¯s more than eighteen?¡± The vige chief continued to walk ahead while wrapped tightly in his military coat. It was as if he didn¡¯t hear him. ¡°Hey, don¡¯t walk so fast. We¡¯re asking you a question old brother!¡± Even at a time like this Old Yu didn¡¯t forget to refer to him politely. The vige chief was startled by his pat on the back. He stopped his steps and mumbled incoherently: ¡°In the past there were certainly more than eighteen. Some died, some left and gradually there are only a few of us left.¡± He raised his hand and pointed at two of them: ¡°Like that one, and that one there. You can tell in one nce that it isn¡¯t being used.¡± Old Yu was about to nod when You Huo interjected: ¡°Can¡¯t tell. To me it looks like all those houses are uninhabited.¡± The vige chief was surprised: ¡°Why would you think that?¡± You Huo: ¡°Too quiet.¡± As soon as he said that, everyone¡¯s footsteps stopped. With the sound of footsteps ceasing, the strange silence became even more obvious. It really was too quiet. Despite clearly being early in the morning, there wasn¡¯t even a sound of people talking. There was no collisions between pots and pans or the sound of doors opening and closing........ There was nothing. Everyone felt goosebumps forming. They all looked warily over at the vige chief. A hint of fear could be sensed from the vige chief. After hesitating for a moment, he let out a long sigh: ¡°There really are people living there. It¡¯s just..........Everyone is too afraid to go out. They would usually try to sleep as long as they can.¡± ¡°Too afraid to go out? Why?¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog The vige chief nced carefully into the distance. Everyone¡¯s eyes followed. On the other side of the river were several low houses of a very different style. It was grey and inconspicuous, and even the roof was ck allowing it to almost blend in with the woods behind it. The vige chief appeared to be afraid of being overhead by someone and he whispered quietly: ¡°It¡¯s not safe at night. If you stay here please remember not to go out at night. Even if you hear something, don¡¯t open the door.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± Everyone was scared and confused. But the vige chief no longer dared to speak. He quickly waved his hand and continued to lead the way with his head tucked in his clothes. Everyone was confused, but they also didn¡¯t dare ask any further. ¡¤ ¡°Shit!¡± On the way, Yu Wen suddenly cried out in rm. He grabbed You Huo and said: ¡°Brother, look at that house.¡± You Huo looked over. The others who heard him also looked over. On the second floor of one of the houses stood a person. That person hid behind the curtain and watched them silently. ¡°Suddenly saw a face by the window. Scared me to death!¡± Yu Wen rubbed his chest and grumbled. Soon they realised that it wasn¡¯t just this one. In several of the houses, there were people quietly peeking out past behind the curtains. The vige chief said: ¡°Since there are guests here, they are also very curious. They¡¯re just too scared toe out.¡± ¡°Then do they stay inside the whole time?¡± Yu Wen asked with surprise: ¡°What do they do if they¡¯re hungry? They don¡¯t eat or drink?¡± ¡°We all have cers here and they are used to store food. There aredders that lead down there.¡± The vige chief exined, ¡°And it¡¯s not like they don¡¯t go out at all. Usually they woulde out and do some things in the afternoon or evening, but they will all return home before dark.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± ¡°Is it rted to the ck widow?¡± You Huo asked. The vige chief was silent for a moment. He then nodded and said quietly: ¡°I heard you¡¯re here to work for her?¡± Please read this from kk trantes ¡°Work? What work?¡± Hearing something rted to their task, everyone perked up their ears. ¡°Work with the dead!¡± The vige chief himself was frightened. He suppressed his voice and continued fearfully: ¡°That ck widow likes to deal with the dead. Like sewing up severed body parts together.¡± ¡°...........¡± Vige chief: ¡°If anyone is missing, you find her to see if they¡¯re dead and find out where they had died.¡± ¡°............¡± The vige chief appeared to be even more engrossed when he saw that they were scared: ¡°Sometimes she would go out and personally get the parts.¡± ¡°For example, a few years ago........¡± The vige chief pointed at the frozen river: ¡°A woman drifted down that river. The ck widow dragged her out using arge basket and lugged her home.¡± Drifted? Lugged? This man was good with his words. It made the listeners trembled fearfully. Several of the men retched. Yu Yao¡¯s legs were soft. Only You Huo didn¡¯t react: ¡°Since she deals with the dead, why are you living humans afraid?¡± The vige chief sped his hand and shook his head sullenly: ¡°You don¡¯t understand. Sigh.....You¡¯ll know after staying a night.¡± ¡¤ Soon, the vige chief led them to the end of the frozen river. They stepped onto the thick ice and went over to the other side. Several grey houses appeared before them. As they got closer, they saw that these houses were made from stone and the exterior walls were uneven. The grey stone surface was painted messily with white paint. A worn-out mat sat in front of the door and dried branches hung next to it. One of the houses looked a little different. There was even an old crystal ball by the windowsill and some ......eerily white things that looked like finger bones. Before they even entered the house, they smelt strong incense. It was so strong, it made them a little dizzy. The vige chief wanted to stay as far as possible from the house. ¡°This is the ck widow¡¯s ce.¡± He nced over and asked: ¡°What time is it now?¡± Everyone flipped out their phones only to see that the time disyed on their screens was 23:13 at night. It clearly wasn¡¯t the right time. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog While they were in confusion, a low voice sounded: ¡°6:55.¡± Everyone turned over. The person who spoke was Qin Jiu. He waved his phone and said: ¡°It¡¯s nothing. Just a bit more urate than yours.¡± Chen Bin was surprised: ¡°This handsome guy is amazing! The season and time in every exam are differentpared to reality so how did you get it to match?¡± Qin Jiu ced his phone back into his pocket and saidzily: ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m an invigtor.¡± Chen Bin let out an ¡°oh¡± as he rearranged his bag. Two secondster, his hand slipped, and his bag fell to the ground. ¡°You¡¯re what???¡± Qin Jiu ignored him. He pulled out a card from his pocket, tilted his head and asked You Huo next to him: ¡°Does this count as helping you?¡± The card was the card You Huo drew earlier called ¡¾Invigtors Help¡¿. You Huo took the card, turned it around and brought it right in front of Qin Jiu¡¯s nose: ¡°Please read it properly. It says here ¡®extra help¡¯. Do you know what extra means?¡± Qin Jiu revealed a smile that was also not quite like a smile: ¡°Not sure.¡± Smile your ass. You Huo: ¡°Go check a dictionary.¡± An examinee didn¡¯t wear a watch and asked the invigtor for the time. Would this be considered as extra help? Of course not. It¡¯s the same as getting an invigtor to follow you to the bathroom. It was only part of their job. The card naturally didn¡¯t get used. Qin Jiu let out a ¡°what a pity¡± before storing the card back inside his pocket. The vige chief blinked nkly for a while before returning to his senses. He reminded the others: ¡°The ck widow would wake up at 7:30 every morning. She won¡¯t open the door before then so I¡¯ll take you around and get you familiarised with this ce first.¡± ¡¤ In addition to the one the ck widow stayed in, the remaining four houses were empty. Every one of them were small and filled with old knitted nkets. There was only a single bedroom in each house that was furnished with a bed that looked a little like a tent. The vige chief said: ¡°I¡¯ll have to trouble you all to squeeze in.¡± Naturally, the newly joined Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao stayed in the same house. Since Yu Yao was a girl, it wasn¡¯t convenient for her to stay with the others, so she got a separate one alone. The remaining people were Yu Wen, Old Yu, Mike, You Huo and Qin Jiu. They would need to share the two remaining houses. You Huo thought for a moment and asked Qin Jiu: ¡°Is there a small western building you invigtors use here?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°Thanks to you, full-time onsite surveince. There¡¯s no small western building for me to stay. I need to squeeze into this narrow, confined and dirty ce instead.¡± You Huo pretended not to hear him. He looked at the vige chief sternly and said: ¡°You decide.¡± Yu Wen said: ¡°Why don¡¯t I, Old Yu and my brother squeeze together. We¡¯re a family anyway!¡± Mike nced at Qin Jiu and was very reluctant. Everyone was afraid of the invigtor. No matter how you looked at it.........The only exception was You Huo. ¡¤ Two minutester, everyone carefully watched You Huo and Qin Jiu walk into the house. Just as they were about to sit down, a familiar voice suddenly sounded in the room. ¡¾It is currently 7:00 Beijing time. The exam has officially begun.¡¿ ¡¾The first exam: Listening.¡¿ ¡¾The audio for the exam will be yed in thirty minutes. It will only be yed twice. Please listen and answer the questions carefully.¡¿ ¡¾In addition, examinees and invigtors are prohibited from developing improper rtionships. Please reassign the rooms.¡¿ Everyone: ¡°???¡± You Huo: ¡°.............¡± Looks like the system doesn¡¯t want to live anymore. Chapter 18: Listening Exam

Chapter 18: Listening Exam

It should be stressful as you wait for the question to be yed. But with the systems warning that came out of nowhere, all that tension just disappeared in an instant. All the examinees were stunned but no one dared to speak. Yu Wen originally wanted to follow them in to take a look but he remained standing there with one foot in the air. He was neither inside nor outside. Because the air around the two great masters in the room was a bit scary..... Please read this from kk trantes You Huo nced at Qin Jiu and then looked away expressionlessly. With an expression that looked like he was at a funeral, he looked around the room before finally finding the source of the sound. It was a crow specimen that stood rigidly on a copper frame. It had its wings spread and its beak wide open. Ten seconds ago when they first entered through the door, the beak was still closed. You Huo didn¡¯t even bend and just looked at the crow with narrowed eyes: ¡°Who¡¯s operating this examination system? Who set up those idiotic words? Is there a ce to file aint?¡± Crow: ¡°.........¡± You Huo turned to look at Qin Jiu. A ¡°beep¡± went off from Qin Jiu¡¯s wrist and it was followed by a red glow. He rubbed his wrist and winked at You Huo: ¡°A friendly reminder not to ask things you¡¯re not supposed to. The first time is to warn me not to leak any information out. If you ask again, you will be kicked out of this exam.¡± You Huo patted the crow¡¯s head. Crow: ¡°..........¡± Qin Jiu¡¯s eyes were dark. It stopped at You Huo for a moment before turning to look at the crow. ¡°Okay, let¡¯s change rooms. Then I¡¯ll stay with that mixed examinee.¡± He stared at the crow and said this. This time the crow was silent for two seconds. Just as everyone thought that the problem was settled, it suddenly spoke up and repeated the words from earlier: ¡¾Examinees and invigtors are prohibited from developing improper rtionships. Please reassign the rooms.¡¿ In order to amodate Mike, it even repeated that in English. Mike: ¡°...........¡± ¡°Then with this one here?¡± Qin Jiu casually pointed at Yu Wen. ¡¾Examinees and invigtors are prohibited from developing improper rtionships. Please reassign the rooms.¡¿ ¡°............¡± Everyone finally came to a realisation as the warning was announced once again. It probably wasn¡¯t directed at just Qin Jiu and You Huo. It applied to everyone else as well. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Yu Wen quietly nudged his father: ¡°Did this system get triggered by something? Why is it so sensitive.......... If sharing the same room is being improper then does that mean you¡¯ll have children by just sharing a bed?¡± Old Yu: ¡°Don¡¯t speak so carelessly!¡± Yu Wen: ¡°???¡± ¡¤ Qin Jiu also walked over to the crow. He said: ¡°Then we can just forget about full-time onsite surveince and let this examinee do as he pleases.¡± Beep¡ª¡ª¡ª- A vition warning. Mr. Invigtor 001 scoffed. Can¡¯t stay in the same room yet still needing full-time onsite surveince. Can you speak some sense? ¡¤ Qin Jiu rubbed his wrist and looked at the crow. At that moment, everyone could clearly feel the air in the room be tense. He looked like he was about to do something but after a moment he just spoke slowly: ¡°How about this? The examinee stays in the bedroom and I¡¯ll bear with it for a while and just use the sofa.¡± This time the crow didn¡¯t say anything. It appeared to have silently epted thispromise. The onlookers let out a sigh of relief. You Huo looked at Qin Jiu strangely. Although he didn¡¯t get along with this invigtor, he had to admit that Qin Jiu had a special temperament. It was as if those iron-d rules could not tie him down. Even if invigtor 001 stood there with a smile while negotiating with the examination system in a casual tone, it gave people a feeling that.......He would break the rules at any moment. His concessions andpromises were like a lionzily taking a break. It wasn¡¯t without any hint of aggression. It was like a sleepy lion asking for a kiss. Who would dare let it kiss? ¡¤ The issue of amodation was finally resolved. After going around in a big circle, the eventual room allocation was no different from the allocation at the beginning. The only addition was annoyance. The houses were all decorated very simrly, and the same crow specimen stood on a stand in all the rooms. It was the system¡¯s speaker and was used to convey information. Except for You Huo and Qin Jiu who touched its head, no one else dared to touch it. ¡¤ Soon, it was 7:30. Everyone heard creaking soundsing from inside the main house. The door opened. The ck widow was finally awake. The crow spoke: ¡¾The listening exam officially starts now. All examinees please hurry to the test centre. Each passage will only be yed twice.¡¿ As soon as the ck widow woke up, the vige chief hurried away like a mouse running away from a cat. Before he slipped away, he said to them: ¡°The ck widow has a custom. Before you enter, you must draw a card.¡± Card drawing again? You Huo¡®s expression immediately darkened. ¡°What card? ying cards or the tarot cards girls y with?¡± Yu Wen surprisingly didn¡¯tpletely waste his time away at school and actually knew a little about it, ¡°Will she give us a divination after drawing the card?¡± ¡°If she did, would you understand?¡± Old Yu interjected with annoyance. ¡°That¡¯s true. Then what¡¯s the point of drawing a card?¡± The vige chief opened his mouth but stopped himself. He eventually said: ¡°It represents whether you would be able to sleep peacefully tonight.¡± He probably could guess what they were about to say so he quickly added: ¡°Don¡¯t think about escaping. You will have to draw a card, or the consequences will be even more terrible.¡± The vige chief appeared to have recalled something and he started to tremble again. ¡°In any case, just remember not to anger her!¡± He left behind this sentence and quickly ran away. Wrapped in his military coat, he hurried across the frozen river and hid inside one of the houses on the other side. In an instant, the entire vige was silent again. The other side of the river and the side they stood on looked like two different worlds. ¡¤ With experience from the previous exam, everyone didn¡¯t dare dy things any longer. They quickly came over to the ck widow¡¯s house. A small and thin, vulture like olddy waited at the door. Her face looked like the bark of an old tree and it was covered in deep furrows but her eyes where bright, like those of a child. This contrast gave people a strange sense of unease. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Her head was wrapped in aplicatedly patterned headscarf while both her arms were covered in nging bracelets. Those bracelets appeared to be quite heavy and it was difficult for her to even raise her hand. The ck widow¡¯s eyes stared at the crowd for a few seconds. She then suddenlyughed, revealing her sharp and pointed teeth. Those who saw it couldn¡¯t help but shudder. She muttered something and then proceeded to spread out a stack of cards on front of the crowd. She gestured with her mouth at Old Yu who stood at the front. ¡°I, I pick?¡± Old Yu couldn¡¯t help but panic. The ck widow again pushed the cards closer to him. Old Yu nced at the crowd and hesitantly picked one out. The ck widow turned it around. When the others saw the card, they all gasped. Although the words on the card were iprehensible, the figure standing on a stone pir while holding a scythe was something that they were all familiar with. Yu Wen said softly: ¡°Fuck.......Is that the grim reaper? I don¡¯t remember what kind of cards there were but I think there was a grim reaper........¡± Cold sweat covered the backs of everyone present. The ck widow againughed. Herughter was dainty, like those of a young woman. At this moment, the door she held started to let out scratching sounds. It sounded like a nail scratching across it........ Everyone who had gone through an exam couldn¡¯t be more familiar with this sound. Sure enough, in the blink of an eye, an examination question appeared on the door. Please read this from kk trantes Listening question: Please listen to the following audio segment and answer the following questions. (1) What is the ck widow¡¯s name? (2) Where is the ck widow¡¯s family? Please find them. (3) How many people are in the ck widow¡¯s house? Exam requirements: The answers will be collected every morning at 7:30 in the morning. If you don¡¯t earn any points, an examinee would be randomly selected and sent into a coffin. Coffin....... What coffin??? The moment the question appeared, the ck widow opened her mouth, revealing her sharp teeth.......... She then said a long garbled code. ¡°................¡± Eight faces of confusion. Scratching once again came from the door. Another line appeared below the question: The audio has been yed once. It will now be yed again. Please listen carefully. The ck widow opened her mouth again. Suddenly a hand stretched over, and it stuffed a rag into her mouth. In an instant the ck widow¡¯s mouth was blocked. You Huo¡¯s voice sounded: ¡°Sorry about that. Please wait a bit.¡± Everyone: ¡°???¡± The newly joined Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao were stunned.......... You could fucking do something like that?! Chapter 19: Ragged Doll

Chapter 19: Ragged Doll

¡°Brother, you.............¡± Yu Wen looked at the rag stuffed inside the ck widow¡¯s mouth and whispered: ¡°Where did that thinge from?¡± You Huo answered: ¡°I grabbed it from the room.¡± He thought for a moment and added: ¡°Not dirty.¡± Yu Wen: ¡°..............¡± My dear brother, do you think the issue here is whether or not it¡¯s dirty?! But the rag was indeed very clean. The pattern wasplex, and it was even scented. It smelt a little like the incenseing from the ck widow¡¯s house. Everyone reassured themselves: At least it wasn¡¯t a smell the ck widow hated, right? But.......... Was it really okay doing something like this? Wouldn¡¯t it anger the ck widow??? Before the vige chief left, he even emphasised strongly to avoid angering the ck widow at all costs.......... It has only been a few minutes since then? ¡°It looks like you can¡¯tst a single day without breaking the rules.¡± Qin Jiu who was forced to be a personal invigtor spoke. You Huo: ¡°Did the examination requirements earlier specify that we couldn¡¯t stop the audio from ying?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°It indeed didn¡¯t.¡± You Huo: ¡°Did it say that I couldn¡¯t block the subject¡¯s mouth?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°It also didn¡¯t.¡± You Huo: ¡°Then how did I break the rules?¡± Qin Jiu seemed to find it quite amusing. He made a ¡®go ahead¡¯ gesture and indicated for You Huo to continue. He probably wanted to see what else he was going to do. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog He then saw You Huo take out his phone from his jeans pocket. He opened the recording function and then removed the rag from the ck widow¡¯s mouth: ¡°Continue.¡± Everyone: ¡°..............¡± ck widow: ¡°................¡± ¡°Oh yeah! We can use our phones!¡± Everyone soon understood. They were not forced to turn off their phones for this exam. A few minutes ago, they had even used their phone to check the time, but no one realised that they could use it to record. You Huo¡¯s actions reminded everyone that they could do this. In an instant, everyone pulled out their phones. Seven examinees with their seven phones, they were all pointed at the ck widow. Two secondster, Mr. invigtor 001 also pulled out his phone. The newly joined Chen Bin finally reacted: ¡°Is it really okay like this? Won¡¯t she get angry?¡± You Huo: ¡°It¡¯s toote now.¡± ¡°.............¡± The two neers suddenly felt like they had just boarded a pirate ship. The kind you can no longer get off from. Chen Bin tremblingly held his phone for a long time, but he saw that the ck widow was only staring at You Huo. It was as if no one else mattered and that the first person to provoke her was the key culprit. The pupils of the ck widow¡¯s eyes were veryrge making it look even more dark and deep. It was okay when it was moving around but, once fixed, it looked like the eyes of the dead. Whoever those eyes stared at, they would experience terrible fear. But You Huo didn¡¯t care. The ck widow looked at him, but he only looked down and fiddled with his phone. He saved the recording from earlier. He was so calm, everyone else felt a little too embarrassed to panic. ¡¤ You Huo saved the recording and changed the name to ¡°bunch of nonsense¡± before asking the ck widow: ¡°Is there anything else?¡± The ck widow stared expressionlessly at You Huo for a long time before cackling again. It was as if the gagging and the recording just now wasn¡¯t important or perhaps..........she had decided to settle the debtter. The ck widow¡¯s thin ws......fingers grabbed You Huo¡¯s wrist and she pulled him in through the door. She then tilted her head and looked at the others. The other examinees were not so courageous. When looked at, they immediately entered the house without needing any further prompts. The ck widow nodded with satisfaction. Please read this from kk trantes Liang Yuanhao was at the end of the group. Just as he stepped over, the door behind him creaked shut and the lock clicked. It was as if there was something following closely behind him. Every looked at the closed door and suddenly recalled thest question: How many people are there in the ck widow¡¯s house........ Their faces all turned pale and they quickly huddled together. No one dared to separate from the group. ¡¤ The ck widow¡¯s house was more spacious than expected. It was said that no matter were Gypsies lived, they would keep the customs of their ancestors. Every room was arranged so that it looked like a tent canopy and numerous felt and carpet was scattered around. The scent in the room was even stronger causing people to feel a little dizzy. Sitting on the windowsills and the stovetop were worn-out teacups, teaspoons and trays. There was a jar of something dark sitting on the wooden table. You Huo leaned down and smelt it. It was tea but it also carried a faint tobo scent. It wasn¡¯t a good smell, but it was better than the suffocating aroma in the room. The only invigtor present was also very impolite. After entering, he picked out a single seated sofa and sat down. In the house, there were two bamboo baskets sitting by the hearth. It contained balls of wool and both long and short needles. The ck widow reached in. The bracelets on her arms nged together causing her hand to sink further down from the weight. She pulled out a few woollen dolls out from the bamboo basket. Those dolls were not very good-looking. Its face, hands and feet were all made with old, greying fabric and the limbs were bulging awkwardly from the cotton stuffing. It was then stitched together with thick wool. One of it was alreadypleted. The ck widow ced it in her apron. The others were semiplete products. Some were missing limbs while others were missing heads. Looking at it, you couldn¡¯t help but feel that they were dolls used for divination or cursing. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog The ck widow pointed at the wooden frame in the corner of the room and muttered another bunch of garbled code. This time everyone was experienced. They had not turned off the recording since entering the house so it was naturally recorded down. ¡¤ You Huo looked at the wooden frame and saw severalpleted dolls sitting side by side. The ck widow ced the one in her apron there as well. She then shoved wool and needles into everyone¡¯s hands. She pointed at the bamboo basket and said: ¡°# £¤ * & ... (&%¡± Even if it was spoken in Gypsynguage, everyone could understand what she was saying ¡ª¡ª She wanted them to finish the rest of the dolls. The ck widow took out an hourss and turned it around before cing it onto the wooden table. She then got up and left. As soon as she went out, there was a rattling sounding from outside. Chen Bin responded quickly. He rushed over to the window and pulled at it a few times before saying: ¡°They¡¯re all locked.........She locked us in. What should we do?¡± Yu Wen pointed at the bamboo basket with his lips: ¡°The meaning is obvious. The hourss was also set. We will either be released once the sand runs out or we need to finish making these dolls before the sand runs out.¡± Everyone looked at each other. They then hesitantly sat cross-legged on the floor. Each picked up an unfinished doll and was in daze. Old Yu sighed and said: ¡°What else can we do? Let¡¯s sew. Since the ck widow is the subject this time, we should do as she says. If there¡¯s anything, we can just wait until the sand in the hourss runs out first, right?¡± They now subconsciously regarded You Huo has the leader. After saying something, they would always check with You Huo. But when he turned around, he saw that his nephew wasn¡¯t sitting down and was standing by the bed, looking out the window. ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± Everyone was nervous. ¡°Nothing.¡± You Huo answered. He just wanted to see where the ck widow was going. ¡¤ Outside the window you could see the ck widow¡¯s hunched figure. With the blink of an eye, she had already gone very far. Soon, she disappeared into the dark woods. You Huo lowered the curtain. He had originally wanted to sit next to the hearth, but he stopped his steps. At the very bottom of the wooden frame was a doll sitting in the corner. It had gathered ayer of dust and was very inconspicuous, but its leg drew You Huo¡¯s attention. He walked over and bent down to pick the doll up. Looking at the material and the amount of dust gathered, this doll was probably made a long time ago. Its workmanship was sloppy and the limbs that were connected to the body were all skewed. The arms and legs were also not the same colour. This made the doll look strange and pitiful. But this wasn¡¯t the reason why You Huos¡¯ attention was drawn. He noticed it because there was a pattern on one of its legs. The doll was crudely made but the pattern looked very realistic. It looked like the tattoo on the ankle of a living person. The tattoo just happened to be a small bellflower. You Huo stared at the tattoo for a few seconds. He then reached out to pat the person sitting on the sofa. Qin Jiu had been supporting his head watching him. When he was patted, hezily spoke up: ¡°Speak.¡± You Huo passed the doll¡¯s leg over to him: ¡°Look familiar? I have facial blindness. Not sure if I remembered correctly.¡± Qin Jiu looked at the pattern: ¡°Should it be familiar?¡± You Huo snorted impatiently: ¡°That thing I cleaned out from the confinement roomst time........The one I left in the bucket in front of your door. It seemed to have this too.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°...........¡± You still have the nerve to mention that??? Chapter 20: Translation Tool

Chapter 20: Trantion Tool

The others may not have the nerve to but You Huo did. He said: ¡°That piece with the tattoo was ced at the top. It should be eye-catching. You didn¡¯t see?¡± Qin Jiuughed exasperatedly: ¡°You did that to deliberately disgust me yet you expect me to look at it carefully?¡± He fiddled with the dolls leg and looked at the tattoo again: ¡°Besides........If I answered you honestly, would that be counted as extra help?¡± You Huo took away the doll: ¡°If you can¡¯t remember, forget it.¡± ¡¤ The others had not been in the confinement room, so they didn¡¯t know what kind of riddle they were talking about. They didn¡¯t dare interrupt. As an alcoholic, Old Yu¡¯s hands trembled terribly. He picked up a thick needle and tried to thread it again and again. Five minutes passed and he was still unsessful. Yu Wen watched him and finally couldn¡¯t take it anymore. He grabbed it over. ¡°Drink, drink, drink. Now look at yourself! You can no longer keep your hands and feet steady. You did this to yourself.¡± He muttered this as he helped his father thread the needle before throwing it back. The others also threaded theirs and got ready to sew. Only Yu Yao remained sitting there in daze. She whispered: ¡°I find these dolls a little strange. I¡¯m scared. Can I not sew?¡± He voice was too quiet. It almost disappeared before it left her throat. The only person who heard it was Old Yu who sat closest to her. Old Yu hesitated for a moment. He wanted to reassure her. He then heard You Huo said: ¡°Wait.¡± He said it too suddenly and everyone was startled. They quickly stopped and looked at him nkly. ¡°What¡¯s wrong? Is something wrong?¡± Chen Bin asked. You Huo walked over to the bamboo basket and bent over. He pulled out a few arms, legs and heads before throwing it back in. ¡°Don¡¯t sew.¡± He patted off the dust from his hand. ¡°Why?¡± Liang Yuanhao who had not spoken much couldn¡¯t help but ask. You Huo pointed at the bamboo basket: ¡°The fabric in here are almost the same and all are grey but those that arepleted on the wooden frame have very different coloured arms and legs.¡± Lian Yuanhao frowned: ¡°So what?¡± ¡°Nothing. Just felt it¡¯s strange.¡± You Huo straightened up. Chen Bin could tell that these examinees all listened to You Huo¡¯s words. He held Liang Yuanhao back and smiled awkwardly at You Huo: ¡°That colour.......indeed is a little strange but the ck widow asked us to sew it. If we didn¡¯t are you certain nothing will happen?¡± You Huo: ¡°Not certain.¡± Chen Bin: ¡°..........¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Liang Yuanhao still wanted to say something, but Chen Bin grabbed him and shook his head. ¡°How can you be 100% certain about anything? It¡¯s up to you whether you want to listen.¡± You Huo originally didn¡¯t have much patience. The old witch¡¯s nonsensenguage was already annoying enough. After he said that, he dragged a chair over to the hearth and silently started to warm himself up with the fire. ¡°Brother........You¡¯re really not sewing?¡± Yu Wen held the doll and asked him carefully. You Huo supported his chin and let out an ¡°En¡±. ¡°Okay then. I.....I won¡¯t sew it either.¡± Yu Wen hesitated and eventually ced the doll back into the bamboo basket. The others who had experienced the first exam also dropped the doll in their hands. It was actually a very uncertain decision. But in a world like this, nothing was certain, and everything involved gambling with their lives. It was just that You Huo made this gamble in an extraordinarily calm manner. He was like an exceptional risk taker. Despite the cold exterior, inside he was both wild and crazy. This kind of risky choice convinced the others, but it was difficult to convince Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao. Especially after experiencing three exams and still having a very low score, Liang Yuanhao was under immense pressure. He looked at everyone with suspicion. He had not experienced thest exam together, so he didn¡¯t know about the team¡¯s score and he also didn¡¯t witness You Huo¡¯s performance. From his perspective, You Huo had just been testing the limits of the rules ever since the exam started. Every move of his challenged the bottom line of the examination system consequently provoking the unknown. He really couldn¡¯t understand this behaviour........... Can¡¯t he just be a little obedient? Why did he have to go against those terrible things? Wasn¡¯t it better to live a little longer? Please read this from kk trantes He said indignantly: ¡°Up to you.¡± After sessfully going through near-death experiences, he no longer knew what to do. He however decided to go against You Huo and honestly did as the ck widow requested. As he said that, he picked up a doll¡¯s leg and sewed it. Thick wool passed through the fabric making a rustling sound. Chen Bin looked at him and then he looked at You Huo. He felt very conflicted. ¡¤ The hourss emptied very quickly and it soon became empty. Liang Yunhuo was clumsy with his hands so he could only sew on two legs. In the end Chen Bin also decided to follow the ck widow¡¯s request but he had hesitated for too long, so he only managed to half sew on an arm. There was a click. The door to the house opened and the ck widow entered the house with a hunched back/ She tilted her head and nced at the room. She then walked slowly over to Liang Yuanhao and Chen Bin. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°Hm..........¡± The ck widow picked up the doll and frowned. She appeared dissatisfied. Liang Yuanhao¡¯s face turned pale. He muttered in contempt: ¡°It¡¯s all because we wasted time on those useless things. If not, I would have definitely finished......¡± The ck widow then looked at the others only to see that they were all empty-handed. Her face instantly darkened. The group watched her fearfully, afraid that she would suddenly explode. What they didn¡¯t expect was that she would lick her lips and smile again. She ced the dolls in the bamboo basket and gathered them up. She said a series of iprehensible words before kicking them out. ¡¤ The moment the door closed, the crow¡¯s voice sounded: ¡¾The audio for the listening test is over. You will be given enough time to think about your answer.¡¿ ¡¾Tomorrow at 7:30am, the reading test will begin. Please don¡¯t bete.¡¿ ¡¾I wish you good results.¡¿ ¡¤ You Huo and Qin Jiu entered the house. The others were like eagle chicks and they all followed in behind them, packing the living room to the brim. ¡°So what was the purpose of sewing the dolls just now?¡± Yu Wen scratched his head and said, ¡°I couldn¡¯t tell. Seems like you¡¯re fine if you sew and you¡¯re also fine even if you didn¡¯t sew.¡± Old Yu patted him: ¡°Stop dreaming. How can it be that good? It¡¯s probably just not the right time yet. Just wait for it!¡± You Huo didn¡¯t care about this. He pulled out the recording from his phone: ¡°Anyone have trantion tools?¡± Yu Wen quickly said: ¡°I do, I do!¡± ¡°But there¡¯s no signal here.¡± Chen Bin said. Yu Wen: ¡°Mine doesn¡¯t need to be connected to the inte. The dictionary is already downloaded and there¡¯s also speech recognition!¡± Everyone was excited. You Huo clicked y and tossed his phone over to Yu Wen. Yu Wen held it like it was treasure. The crowd stared at him in anticipation. Soon, the ck widows garbled nonsense finished ying. Everyone didn¡¯t dare speak. They all held their breath. After waiting for another two minutes, Yu Wen said with a pale expression: ¡°Fuck............¡± ¡°What¡¯s wrong?¡± ¡°The trantion tool doesn¡¯t have Gypsy.........¡± ¡°What damned trantion tool is that?!¡± Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao was in disbelief. They pulled out their own phone and soon realised that there really wasn¡¯t. Everyone: ¡°.............¡± Fuck. We¡¯re going to die because of Foreign Language. Chapter 21: Villager

Chapter 21: Viger

A foreignnguage that even a trantion tool cannot recognise......... The system really it too far. ¡°............What about the inte?¡± Yu Wen poked at his phone and was a little anxious: ¡°Is it because the file I downloaded isn¡¯t enough? Would connecting to the inte help? Can the invigtor help with this?¡± Everyone heard this and looked over at Qin Jiu. This invigtor was standing in front of a shelf in the living room staring boredly at an incense burner. It was as if he had a pair of eyes on the back of his head. Without even turning around, he said: ¡°The reward card wasn¡¯t drawn by you. What are you looking at me for?¡± The smell of incense in the room was too strong. He pried open the lid, picked out something charred and threw it aside. Throughout the entire process, his slender fingers fiddled with the burner and he didn¡¯t appear to be afraid of being burned. The crowd heard his words and proceeded to look over at You Huo. But before You Huo could speak up, Yu Wen who proposed this suggestion initially calmed back down, ¡°Forget it. The dictionary should have all been downloaded. I was just casually suggesting it...........If several trantion tools all don¡¯t have Gypsy, then we probably won¡¯t be able to find it even if we connected to the inte. If we don¡¯t end up finding anything then that card would be wasted for nothing.¡± Chen Bin looked back and forth. He couldn¡¯t help but ask: ¡°What card? Ever since I¡¯ve joined this group, I keep hearing you mention it but I was too embarrassed to ask about it.¡± Back when the card was drawn, everyone in the group saw it. Since they all knew about it there was no point hiding it. Everyone quickly exined to Chen Bin the reward card and its use. Chen Bin who heard this was stunned: ¡°...........There really are rewards? I have only heard rumours about it and thought it was all just a lie. What did you do? How did you get that opportunity?¡± Everyone was ashamed. They internally thought: It was all because the system had randomly formed the group allowing them to hug onto a golden thigh. Chen Bin was quite understanding. Seeing everyone¡¯s change in expression, he didn¡¯t ask any further. He nced at Liang Yuanhao only to see that the other party had his lips pursed tightly together. He wore a bad expression on his face. In fact, he himself also didn¡¯t look too great. Although they didn¡¯t see the reward card themselves, they had heard about it. No matter what the reason was that allowed them to be given the opportunity to be rewarded, it proved to them one thing ¡ª¨C This group was very powerful. Or more specifically, there is a very powerful person in the group. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog As for who that person was, it was self-evident. The two of them had just happened to choose to do the opposite of that great master. Chen Bin nudged Liang Yuanhao gently and, while others were still discussing things, he whispered: ¡°Do you regret it?¡± Liang Yuanhao had a bad expression. He said roughly: ¡°The consequences haven¡¯t been revealed yet. Getting it right once doesn¡¯t mean he will always be right. I don¡¯t regret it.¡± ¡°I do a little.¡± Chen Bin grimaced before looking down at the ground. ¡¤ ¡°Brother, do you want to get the invigtor to help?¡± Yu Wen asked. ¡°No.¡± You Huo sat on the sofa armrest and continued to y with his phone. Qin Jiu reced the lid of the incense burner. He then casually picked up a colourful towel and used it to wipe his fingers before casually moving behind You Huo. With both hands pressing down on the back of the sofa, he said: ¡°You¡¯re really not? I¡¯ve been holding onto this card for a very long time and I can¡¯t wait to use it.¡± You Huo didn¡¯t even look up and just snorted in response. Qin Jiu was even more amused. This examinee was really interesting. He wouldn¡¯t hesitate to ask simple questions that fall within the boundaries of the examination rules and would even treat the invigtor rudely but, when it came to the help card, he was unwilling to use it. It was as if asking for help was equivalent to him bowing his head. What a hard to chew piece of bone. Invigtor 001mented inside. ¡¤ You Huo tapped on his phone a few times and the ck widow¡¯s young woman-like voice rang through the room. It wasn¡¯t like English. Everyone could understand English. Even if they were poor at it, if you yed it a few times at a slower pace, you could get about 70-80%. They didn¡¯t know anything about Gypsy so even if the recording was yed for an entire day, nothing would happen. They sat around silently in the living room whilst engulfed by despair and garbled noise. ¡¤ That audio was yed about ten times. Someone suddenly snapped their finger. Everyone snapped back to their senses: ¡°Why? What¡¯s wrong?¡± The one who snapped their finger was Mike. He opened his mouth and carefully listened to thest few words spoken by the ck widow before eximing excitedly. Because he spoke too fast, it sounded like garbled nonsense. Old Yu and the others were confused for a long time. They turned and asked You Huo: ¡°What did he say?¡± You Huo furrowed his brows: ¡°He¡¯s saying that the ck widow¡¯s Gypsy has Persian and Russian words mixed in.¡± He turned and asked Mike: ¡°You sure?¡± As a four-country mix, although Mike¡¯s looks didn¡¯t live up to his blood, he still possessed basguage skills. He slowed down and exined that his grandfather was Russian. Although he wasn¡¯t proficient in Russian, his vocabry wasn¡¯t bad. As for Persian, he had taken a few electives on that in university. During the process of migration, gypsies often be influenced by the people and ces that they have lived in so foreignnguages were incorporated into theirnguage. They would also learn the localnguages just like how the ck widow could understand the Chinese spoken by the examinees. The vige chief had mentioned that the ck widow came over along with several Russians to escape the war. She was probably influenced by those Russianpanions. She herself probably didn¡¯t realise it. ¡¤ When they heard this, everyone was immediately excited. Yu Wen stared at Mike with dog-like eyes of admiration and said: ¡°Quick! Hurry and tell us! What did you hear?¡± Please read this from kk trantes Hearing this question, Mike was a little embarrassed. His slightly chubby face flushed pink and he ummed and ahed a few times before uttering out a few words. ¡°Grave¡± ¡°Flower¡± ¡°Needle¡± ¡°Sun¡± You Huo looked over at Mike before turning to the group and saying: ¡°That¡¯s it.¡± Everyone: ¡°............¡± ¡°What were the questions again?¡± Old Yu asked. Yu Wen replied expressionlessly: ¡°1. What is the ck widow¡¯s name, 2. Where is the ck widow¡¯s family and 3. How many people are there in the ck widow¡¯s house.¡± Those four words, none of them answered the question........... All the hope that surged inside them instantly dissipated. Everyone¡¯s eager expressions fell and their faces turned dull. ¡¤ Before they knew it, the sun had moved to the west. It hid behind the woods, emitting a dim afterglow. Yu Yao who sat next to the window suddenly looked past the curtains and said quietly: ¡°The vigers...........¡± ¡°Ah?¡± Yu Wen moved over, ¡°What vigers?¡± Yu Yao pulled the curtains openpletely and pointed out the small circr window: ¡°There are some people on the other side of the river. They¡¯re probably vigers?¡± The frozen river glowed from the sun¡¯s rays. On the other side of the light, there were several figuresing out of a house. They carried baskets and carefully made their way towards the river. ¡°It really is.¡± Chen Bin muttered: ¡°The vige chief mentioned that they woulde out to do things at dusk and that it would be livelier but.........¡± How is it lively with only two or three people??? ¡¤ In any case, where there are people, there are clues. You Huo put on his ck down jacket and pulled the zip all the way up to his chin to cover the lower half of his face. He then proceeded to step out the door. The others all followed behind him. Qin Jiu unhurriedly walked next to You Huo. He then fell half a step behind. ¡°Clothes bought using points?¡± You Huo narrowed his eyes and looked at him through the thin slits. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°Although I have received several gifts from you, I am very generous so let me give you some words of advice.¡± Qin Jiu stuffed his hands into his coat pocket and slowly walked across the frozen river alongside him, ¡°In this exam, only a handful of people pass. In any case, during my time as an invigtor I haven¡¯t seen many. For most examinees, it¡¯s best not to spend them so recklessly.¡± You Huo¡¯s straight nose was covered under his jacket but white fog still formed as he breathed. He walked over to the opposite bank. His light-coloured eyes moved, and it fell onto a middle-aged woman standing not far away. The woman was dressed in a typical winter outfit. She wore an extremely long winter coat that wrapped her from neck to feet, and her head was almostpletely buried inside arge scarf. She crouched awkwardly by the edge of the river and waved at the man next to her: ¡°Here, chisel the ice.¡± You Huo watched them for a moment before tossing out a line to Qin Jiu: ¡°Go give those words of advice to someone else. I don¡¯t need it.¡± After that, he proceeded to walk towards the two vigers. ¡¤ The two vigers saw You Huo and was stunned for a moment. Their stiff expression then slowly turned into a smile: ¡°Are you new visitors? The vige chief mentioned it earlier.¡± You Huo nced at the vige chief¡¯s house. It¡¯s doors and windows were tightly shut. ¡°Yes, just arrived this morning.¡± He replied. The vigers nodded. They weren¡¯t very enthusiastic: ¡°You live on the other side?¡± ¡°Yeah.¡± Vigers: ¡°............¡± The pair of man and woman fell silent for a moment. Then then said: ¡°Do you have anything you want to ask us? You must still be feeling ufortable since you¡¯ve just arrived?¡± You Huo looked up: ¡°It¡¯s okay.¡± The two of them: ¡°..............¡± They looked at each other for a while before turning back to continue digging into the ice. After digging for a while, they once again nced at You Huo. ¡°Have you gone to the ck widow¡¯s ce?¡± The middle-aged woman couldn¡¯t help but ask. You Huo nodded: ¡°Yes, stayed there all afternoon.¡± ¡°Oh...........What did you do?¡± You Huo said: ¡°Made a few dolls. Don¡¯t know if you¡¯ve ever seen them?¡± The two vigers paused. They appeared a little scared. You Huo then said: ¡°And some didn¡¯t make any.¡± What was strange was that they vigers again started to tremble. After a moment, the woman looked up and said: ¡°No, usually only visitors visit the ck widow. We rarely go across the river.¡± You Huo: ¡°There were visitors before?¡± The woman nodded: ¡°Yes. They were like you and would alwayse in groups.¡± You Huo said: ¡°What happened to them afterwards? The woman was confused for a moment. She then shook her head and said: ¡°Seems like............I didn¡¯t see them leave.¡± The other examinees who had just crossed the river heard this and almost slipped on the river. Qin Jiu walked over and stopped next to You Huo. He bowed his head slightly and said: ¡°You really like to humour people.¡± You Huo: ¡°.............¡± When he was about to retort, the metal basin in the male viger¡¯s hand fell onto the ground with a ng. The two looked over and saw the man staring at You Huo for a few seconds and then looking at Qin Jiu for a few seconds. He slowly spoke up: ¡°I seem to.........have seen you two somewhere.¡± You Huo was surprised: ¡°Who? Us?¡± Chapter 22: Gravestone

Chapter 22: Gravestone

¡°Yes, I¡¯ve seen you before.¡± The male viger grabbed You Huo¡¯s hand. His palms were rough like sandpaper. It was both hard and cold. You Huo withdrew his hand. He had a bad expression. ¡°Where have you seen us?¡± He flexed his wrist as he asked. The male viger stood in ce and was nk for a few seconds. Then, as if he didn¡¯t hear that question, he repeated: ¡°I have definitely seen you.......I¡¯ve seen you.¡± ¡°Ah, he¡¯s at it again.¡± The woman ced down the chisel and sighed: ¡°Sorry about this. This person has some issues.¡± ¡°What do you mean?¡± ¡°He¡¯s not so good here.¡± The woman pointed to her head and exined, ¡°Ites and goes. When it rpses, he likes to grab people and say that they look familiar and that he had seen them somewhere before. Or he would just go around asking people ¡®Do you know me?¡¯, ¡®Do you remember me?¡¯¡± As soon as she said that, the male viger grabbed Qin Jiu¡¯s hand. He asked in a quiet voice: ¡°You know me. Do you remember me?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°..........¡± The woman said: ¡°See? Just like that.¡± ¡°What made him like this?¡± Qin Jiu asked. The woman thought for a moment and shook her head: ¡°He has always been like this.¡± She called out and the other two people fetching water by the river came over. With one on each side, they supported the male viger up. ¡°Take him back first. He¡¯ll probably act like this for a while.¡± The woman said. The two vigers nodded and dragged the man back into the house. As he was being taken away, the male viger again grabbed Yu Wen who was closest to him. He struggled and said: ¡°I¡¯ve seen them. I really have seen them before.¡± His skin was dark, and his face was covered with dry cracked lines. This was particrly serious around the corners of his mouth and eyes. He had several strands of white hair making him look even more haphazard. Yu Wen was started by him, but he also felt a little bad for him. He said: ¡°Don¡¯t drag him like this. Should I help you?¡± The two vigers shook their heads: ¡°It¡¯s okay, don¡¯t worry. We¡¯re used to it. He¡¯s strong when he starts going crazy, so you won¡¯t be able to hold him down. We can only do it this way. Also........¡± One of them spoke bluntly: ¡°You are the ck widow¡¯s guests. We........uh, don¡¯t wee strangers into our homes.¡± Very quickly, the male viger was dragged into a red-roofed house. The door closed and soon there were no more sounds. This incident made everyone look at each other with confusion. But these vigers were equivalent to the NPC¡¯s in games. The things that happened between NPC¡¯s were probably fixed plotlines, so it wasn¡¯t a good idea stepping in before you understood the whole situation. So they just took this situation in and no one dare to act. You Huo mentally noted down the house before looking away. After chatting for a while, their rtionship was still quite distant. The great master became impatient and no longer went around in circles anymore. He asked directly: ¡°Do any of you know Gypsy?¡± The woman again dug at the ice. Her hand was raised high and the chisel hit the ice heavily, bringing along with it a lot of fine shards of ice. One after another, the speed was fast, and the strength was powerful. The people watching on felt inexplicably scared. It was as if she wouldn¡¯t hesitate to bring it down even if a person was lying there before her. After smashing against the ice a few times, she shook her head: ¡°No. No one does.¡± Please read this from kk trantes ¡°But the vige chief said that the ck widow works with the dead. If none of you understand Gypsy, how did youmunicate with her?¡± Old Yu couldn¡¯t help but ask. The woman said: ¡°It was always visitors who came for her. We don¡¯t need to. And she wasn¡¯t alone before. There was also an old guy and several children who didn¡¯t speak Gypsy.¡± Old guy? Children? Everyone sensed that they had managed to get some information and was very excited: ¡°Are they the ck widow¡¯s family?¡± The woman nodded: ¡°I guess.¡± ¡°Where are they? ¡°Where did they go?¡± The woman shook her head: ¡°Left. I don¡¯t know where they went. Maybe they went home? In any case, they suddenly disappeared.¡± ¡°Does anyone know?¡± The woman again shook her head. She said: ¡°No. We don¡¯t dare ask the ck widow.¡± Everyone became dejected again. You Huo nced at the setting sun in the distance and asked, ¡°Are there graves here?¡± The woman¡¯s hand stopped. She fell silent for a while before suddenly looking up and smiling at everyone. With a smile on her face, she looked livelier, but it also gave them a creepy feeling. She awkwardly raised her arm and casually pointed in the distance, ¡°See those trees?¡± Everyone turned around, The dense trees making up the woods enclosed the vige in an airtight circle. The woman smiled and said: ¡°The graves are there. This entire encirclement of trees........they¡¯re all graves.¡± ¡¤ The sun settledpletely behind the woods and the final rays of sunlight disappeared. Before they knew it, the sky had darkened. The woman looked up and quickly picked up her metal basin. ¡°Wait.¡± You Huo grabbed her. The woman struggled a few times: ¡°What do you want?! It¡¯s dark now, don¡¯t grab me! I¡¯m going back!¡±¡± She was very strong. You Huo didn¡¯t expect this. In his moment of surprise, she managed to break free. The woman carried the basin and backed away a few stops. She urged the onlookers: ¡°You should also hurry back home. It¡¯s dark now!¡± ¡°What happens when it¡¯s dark? The vige chief also mentioned it before. You don¡¯te out when it¡¯s dark?¡± The woman trembled. She wrapped her scarf tightly around her and warily looked around. She then whispered: ¡°Ghostse out at night. They¡¯re everywhere. They would knock on your doors, open your windows, stand by the bed or hide under it. You have to be careful........¡± After that, she pressed her index finger over her lips and made a ¡°shhhh¡± sound. ¡°..........¡± Her ¡°shhh¡± gesture caused everyone¡¯s hair to rise. After the woman said this, she hurried away with her metal basin. As the sky darkened further, she left very quickly. In the blink of an eye, her figure had already reached a house in the distance. She opened the door, nced around and then carefully entered. All the doors and windows were tightly shut. In an instant, everything was silent. Several houses still had lights on but because it was very dim and would asionally flicker, it gave them an even more unnerving feeling. Chen Bin rubbed his arm and said: ¡°What do we do? There are no clues for the listening questions. We........should we go back and study the recordings again?¡± That was a hopeless suggestion. They didn¡¯t have a trantion tool and the vigers didn¡¯t understand Gypsy. They were also just told that there were ghosts who liked to knock on doors at night.........How are they going to solve these questions? ¡¤ ¡°I¡¯m entering the woods.¡± You Huo suddenly said this. ¡°You¡¯re going where???¡± Old Yu was startled by his nephew but before he could finish his question You Huo had already started to walk away. ¡°Fuck.¡± Old Yu didn¡¯t dare swear at his nephew. He cursed at the ground for a moment before shouting out: ¡°Wait a minute! You should at least bring a light!¡± You Huo didn¡¯t look back. He just perfunctorily waved his hand. Everyone: ¡°............¡± Old Yu urgently asked: ¡°Someone here! Give me a shlight! A phone is fine too! Mine ran out of power after using it this afternoon. I fucking........I can¡¯t watch him go into the graveyard alone!¡± Everyone looked at each other and shook their heads. After repeatedly ying the recordings from their phones the entire afternoon, their phones were all almostpletely drained. They didn¡¯t dare use the remaining amount for light lest the phonepletely shuts down. ¡°What about the experienced ones? You two? Did you bring a shlight?¡± Old Yu looked at Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao. Liang Yuanhao: ¡°No.¡± Chen Bin waved his hand awkwardly: ¡°They sold it at the rest stops but......our points were too low and we didn¡¯t dare buy anything.¡± ¡°That........¡± Yu Wen suddenly spoke up. He handed over something slender, ¡°I betted on my courage.........and spent 0.5 points for a light stick. Can that be used?¡± Old Yu looked at him up and down: ¡°If you¡¯re going to buy something, why did you buy a light stick?! A box of matches would be better!¡± Yu Wen cried back: ¡°I read too many novels...........Some ces you can¡¯t use open mes.¡± He held the light stick and dragged Old Yu with him to chase after You Huo. Yu Yao said quietly: ¡°I......I¡¯m going too.¡± The group all followed after You Huo leaving behind Liang Yuanhuo and Chen Bin. ¡°They........why are they so reckless???¡± Chen Bin muttered, ¡°Are we going too?¡± Liang Yuanhao had a dark expression: ¡°They already said that it¡¯s all graves there. You can go if you want to go. I¡¯m going back.¡± ¡¤ The woods were extremely quiet. There weren¡¯t even sounds of birds. You Huo stepped onto a few branches and kicked them behind him. Qin Jiu chuckledzily and dragged out his words: ¡°Can you be a little more considerate? There¡¯s someone behind you.¡± You Huo didn¡¯t respond and just kicked a few more broken branches behind him. Qin Jiu snorted. Please read this from kk trantes You Huo crossed his arms and walked around the graveyard like he was walking through a park. The darkness didn¡¯t appear to affect him. ¡°Are you sure you don¡¯t need a light? I can lend it to you.¡± Qin Jiu said. You Huo: ¡°Night vision is good so no need to worry about it. Can you shut up and be quiet for a while?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°Don¡¯t want to.¡± You Huo ignored him. After walking in the woods for a while, Qin Jiu stopped his steps, ¡°Who¡¯s calling out?¡± You Huo listened for a while and heard Yu Wen¡¯s intermittent shouts: ¡°Brother¡ª¡ª¡ª¡ªbrother where are you¡ª¡ª¡ª¡± In the distance he could see a dim green glow which lit up several people¡¯s faces. You Huo broke a few dried branches up and pulled out a lighter. ¡°Over here! Over here! I see him!¡± Yu Wen saw the fire and rushed over while alerting the others. Old Yu supported himself using a tree and panted: ¡°Haa.....You......For heaven¡¯s sake, what are you looking for?¡± You Huo: ¡°Just looking around.¡± Everyone¡¯s faces turned green. ¡°..........The, then did you find anything? If not, why don¡¯t we go back first?¡± Old Yu asked tentatively. You Huo pointed next to his feet with the tree branch: ¡°Look. A row of graves.¡± Everyone was startled. They looked over in the direction of the fire. You Huo¡¯s toes were pointed at a plot ofnd and a row of gravestones were lined up across it in a row. The gravestones were engraved with strange words. They looked like letters, but they also looked like round scrawls. This looked very simr the to writing on the stone monument at the entrance of the vige. You could tell that it was written by the ck widow. Yu Wen was confused: ¡°How did you find this ce?¡± ¡°The ck widow entered this forest this afternoon.¡± You Huo crouched down and beckoned Yu Wen over: ¡°Do you still have power left in your phone?¡± ¡°A little bit.¡± ¡°Take a photo and copy it onto the ck widow¡¯s door.¡± Everyone froze: ¡°What?¡± Did you want to anger the ck widow again?? You Huo said: ¡°What is on a gravestone? Old Yu said: ¡°The name of the deceased, photo, date of birth and death.¡± You Huo remained expressionless. Old Yu¡¯s desire to survive peaked. He added: ¡°And also the rtives of the deceased, and who wrote it.¡± Everyone: ¡°.........¡± That¡¯s right! This was engraved by the ck widow! The ck widow¡¯s name must be engraved on it! Chapter 23: Reading Question

Chapter 23: Reading Question

Yu Wen took pictures of the gravestones as You Huo held up the fire torch as a light source. Suddenly, he felt his right foot lightly stepped on and he angrily turned to Qin Jiu: ¡°Why are you stepping on me?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°?¡± He looked down. The top of You Huo¡¯s foot was stained with a few spots of dirt and it looked very fresh, like it was indeed just stepped on. Qin Jiu looked up: ¡°Am I that bored?¡± You Huo: ¡°Who knows.¡± Everyone else was standing a few steps away so only Qin Jiu who stood right next to him could do something like that. Moreover, who else in this group of people would dare do something like that? Just as Mr. 001 was forced to carry the me, Yu Wen shouted out: ¡°Who kicked me? The photo¡¯s now blurry.¡± Old Yu quickly denied: ¡°I didn¡¯t.¡± Yu Yao also waved her hand and said: ¡°Not me.¡± Yu Wen muttered: ¡°If it wasn¡¯t him or you then who else could it be?¡± .......... Everyone fell silent for a few seconds. They suddenly looked down. You Huo used the fire to scan his surroundings and saw that there were some changes around him. There were a few raised swells in the ground and the dead branches and leaves that rested above it were pushed aside. It looked as if........In just the span of a few seconds, something had crawled out from the ground. Everyone froze. They were filled with dread. The light from the fire turned everyone¡¯s faces pale. Yu Wen¡¯s lips trembled. Just as he was about to say something, You Huo used his index finger to block his lips. In the silence, they started to hear the faint sounds of something crawling. It echoed in the mountains, so it was difficult determining where the sound came from. Some even sounded like it was right next to them......... Mike and the others were instantly paralysed with fear. They didn¡¯t dare move. You Huo turned around and used the fire to illuminate a patch of grass. Before everyone¡¯s eyes, several pale-coloured things shed by before quickly disappearing. Looking at it¡¯s actions, it appeared to be heading to the vige. ¡¤ Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao stayed in the same house. They felt that it was too reckless rushing into the woods at night or wandering around the vige, so they opted for the safest choice and returned back to the house to sleep for the night. Chen Bin stood by the window and asked uneasily, ¡°We¡¯re really not going to worry about them? It¡¯s not good like that.....¡± ¡°How many exams have you taken? Why are you still so indecisive?¡± Liang Yuanhao stood beside the sink in the bathroom and rinsed his face with cold water. ¡°This exam is based on the teams score. As long as the question is answered, everyone will get the points. Why should all of us rush over? If they manage to find clues or even the answer, that¡¯s great. We won¡¯t owe them anything and will pay them back next time.¡± Chen Bin: ¡°What if they don¡¯t find anything? What if something happened?¡± Liang Yuanhao¡¯s movements stopped. He took a towel and dried his face. He answered vaguely: ¡°Then.....It¡¯s because they were too reckless. Didn¡¯t we try to persuade them? The driver and the vigers all said that we shouldn¡¯t enter the woods. They¡¯re the ones who didn¡¯t listen.¡± Please read this from kk trantes Chen Bin was still listless. Liang Yuanhao added: ¡°Let me tell you straight out. I have taken three exams and the one phrase that I have experienced deeply after all of that is that we should treasure our lives. We shouldn¡¯t let everyone sacrifice their lives. Eggs shouldn¡¯t all be put into the same basket. Even children understand this. This is also considered as leaving us with a retreat route. If something happened to them, we can take up the workload here.¡± He fell in thought for a moment and continued: ¡°Like this, we have a better chance of sess.¡± Chen Bin looked at him and said: ¡°Brother Liang......you¡¯re calcting everything like a humanoid calctor.¡± Liang Yuanhao scratched his head and said impatiently: ¡°Let¡¯s not talk about this. I¡¯m sleeping. You should go sleep too.¡± ¡¤ Each rolled up with a nket, theyid in bed forcing themselves to sleep. They had originally thought that it would take a long time but the incense in the house had an amazing effect on their sleepiness and they soon started to snore. Knocking sounds suddenly sounded from the house nearby. It was very light, but at night the sound was very distinct. It was very unnerving. Chen Bin rolled over. Liang Yunhao continued to snore, unaware of the situation outside. The knocking continued at another house closer to them. This persisted and it gradually got closer and closer........ A few minutester, knocking sounds finally sounded in this house as well. Knock, knock, knock. Chen Bin rolled over again. His eyelids fluttered a little. Knock, knock, knock. The knocking sounded again. Chen Bin was startled awake. He didn¡¯t dare open his eyes. He remained motionless in bed listening to the knocking sounds. Then, ayer of cold sweat formed all over him........... That noise wasing from under the bed. It struck against his back from across the bed. Knock, knock, knock. That thing seemed to know that he was awake. After three more knocks, a soft voice suddenly sounded: ¡°I¡¯m looking for disobedient guests. Did you sew a doll today?¡± Chen Bin almost wet himself. He squeezed his eyes shut and continued to pretend to be asleep. The voice didn¡¯t stop: ¡°Tell me, did you sew a doll today?¡± Liang Yunhao next to him twitched. He seemed to have also woken up. That voice was now close to their ears: ¡°Let me ask one more time. Did you sew a doll today?¡± The room was deathly silent. That voice sighed softly: ¡°Haa............¡± Liang Yuanhao suddenly called out: ¡°Sewed! I sewed!!¡± ¡°Ah.........What an obedient guest.¡± The voice spoke regretfully: ¡°Then you can only live...........¡± Liang Yuanhao and Chen Bin were terrified. After taking two long seconds to register its words, they felt a little relieved. That voice then asked: ¡°Who sewed more?¡± Liang Yuanhao immediately said: ¡°Me! Me! I sewed two legs! He only sewed half an arm!¡± Chen Bin was horrified. ¡°That¡¯s great¡± That voice said. Liang Yunhao let out a sigh of relief. He quietly peeked out from between his eyelids. But all he saw was a cold sh of light. Thest scene he saw was a deathly pale hand holding onto a bone-cleaver smashing down onto his leg. At that moment he recalled the female viger who was smashing the ice by the river. He internally thought: This action looks really simr........... ¡¤ You Huo and the others practically spent the entire night in the woods, but they couldn¡¯t find those crawling things. The traces left in the dirt had disappeared in an instant and the dead leaves and branches returned back to its original location looking as if it had never been moved. They only came out from the woods when the sky started to brighten up. ¡°It doesn¡¯t seem to be scary?¡± Old Yu murmured, ¡°They said not to enter the woods, but we stayed there for an entire night and nothing happened.¡± Yu Wen a stiff face: ¡°I was scared stiff........¡± ¡°But you¡¯re still alive, and none of us were hurt.¡± ¡°That¡¯s true.¡± But when they recalled the movements fromst night, they felt that things shouldn¡¯t be so simple. Those deathly pale things passed by likely because they had a different target and temporarily let them go. ¡¤ The sky very quickly brightened up. The inside of the viger¡¯s houses was still dark. The windows were old and there were still cobwebs on some of the doors. In once nce, it looked like an abandoned old house. You Huo stopped before one of the houses. Everyone was confused. They then recalled that this was the house were the crazy viger stayed. ¡°You guys go first.¡± You Huo threw out this sentence and proceeded to knock on the crazy man¡¯s door. ¡°You¡¯re looking for that viger?¡± Yu Wen asked: ¡°Do you believe what he said yesterday?¡± He knew about You Huo¡¯s memory loss and thought that he was probably sensitive about it. If someone suddenly said that he had seen him before, although he may look unreliable, perhaps his brother got curious and wanted to ask? In the end You Huo responded: ¡°Don¡¯t believe it.¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog He had paid careful attention yesterday. The crazy man¡¯s eyes when he looked at him was clouded and it had only brightened up when he saw Qin Jiu. This was particrly the case when he said to Qin Jiu ¡°You know me¡±. That expression of his was serious. If that crazy man was speaking the truth, then it would only be the part about Qin Jiu. But at that time Qin Jiu blocked him and he didn¡¯t appear to have any reaction. Moreover, whether this Mr. 001 knows that NPC and whether or not he paid him any attention.........It had nothing to do with him. You Huo thought this. He knocked on the door purely because the crazy man¡¯s mouth was loose, and it would be easier getting information out from him. ¡¤ He knocked for five minutes but he didn¡¯t get a response. ¡°Too afraid toe out? Or is he not up yet? Didn¡¯t the vige chief mention that all the vigers are afraid of the thingsing out at night so they try to sleep as long as they can and will get upte?¡± ¡°Let¡¯s wait until evening.¡± Everyone thought of the vige chief¡¯s words and decided not to wait. The time for their answers to be submitted was getting closer and closer. They hurried across the frozen river and stood before the ck widow¡¯s door. On the door, the listening questions from the day before were still clearly visible. The answer area was still nk. With experience fromst time, they very quickly found the pen used for answering the question¡ª¡ª- This time it was a real pen, but the material used to make it was special. It was carved from bone. Yu Wen felt his scalp go numb as soon as he touched it. Question (1) What is the ck widow¡¯s name? He pulled out the photo of the gravestones and copied arge section of scrawls onto the door. He didn¡¯t leave behind a single punctuation. Just as he was about to copy the answer for the second question, he was stopped by You Huo. ¡°Don¡¯t copy it.¡± ¡°Why?¡± Yu Wen asked: ¡°There should also be the names of the ck widow¡¯s family here. It¡¯s equivalent to finding the answer to two of the questions.¡± You Huo looked at him. His expression clearly reflected his thoughts: Stupid. ¡°Can you use it for tomorrow morning?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°.........You can.¡± ¡¤ The examinees all surrounded the door waiting for the scoring. After wandering around an entire night without sleeping, You Huo leaned sleepily against the wall. He just happened the see from the corner of his eyes Qin Jiu standing in the distance. He had one hand in his pocket and his other hand was ying with the help card. From this angle and distance, he couldn¡¯t see Qin Jiu¡¯s expression clearly. But You Huo couldn¡¯t help but feel that something was missing from this invigtor 001. As for what it was, he didn¡¯t know......... Afterall, he had only known Qin Jiu for a few days. ¡¤ After waiting for an unknown period of time, Old Yu suddenly cried out. He asked: ¡°It¡¯s almost time for the answer to be submitted. That Chen Bin and that......Liang Yuan Hao, why aren¡¯t they up yet?¡± ¡°Don¡¯t know. The crow just sent out a reminder earlier. They should have woken up by now?¡± Old Yu said: ¡°You guys wait a little. I¡¯ll go call them.¡± He said that and then proceeded to knock on Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao¡¯s door. The knocking on the door and the crows reminder sounded almost simultaneously. It was time for the first answer submission. On the ck widow¡¯s door, two words were picked out from the densely packed scrawls and a circle was drawn. Floure Jaroka. Plus 5 points. Everyone was relieved and happy. A golden thigh was indeed a golden thigh. Soon afterwards, a new question appeared on the bottom half. Reading question: The annual Witchcraft Festival has arrived at Chars Vige. The ck widow has prepared gifts for the vigers. That¡¯s right, they¡¯re the carefully sewn dolls. She wrote a long letter of blessing with messages for each of the vigers. Please read the letter and help the ck widow deliver the dolls to the correct vigers based on the information in the letter. The witch god above would punish those who are careless. As for those who are attentive, the vigers will guide them home. There is a way home at a ce where there are no trees. Will you be able to find it? Chapter 24: To Sew or not to Sew

Chapter 24: To Sew or not to Sew

Reading was more despairing than listening, The group all collectively gasped. Before they were able to breath out, Old Yu¡¯s cry travelled over. ¡°My god! Hurry ande over!¡± Over the span of just one night, Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao¡¯s house was turned upside down. There was blood everywhere in the bedroom. It was on the floor, the walls and on the bed...........There were also two long stains leading all the way out the front door. When everyone rushed over, Old Yu was stered up against the wall in the living room: ¡°I was damned shocked by this the moment I went in! There¡¯s nowhere to stand!¡± ¡°Fuck.........What¡¯s going on? Where are they?¡± Old Yu pointed to the open bedroom door: ¡°Should still be in bed. There¡¯s a bulge in the nket. I called a few times but no one answered........I wanted to pull it away but I was worried about being too rash.¡± The other people¡¯s faces turned pale. They had never seen a scene like this before. ¡°Are, are they still alive?¡± Yu Wen asked with fear. Old Yu remained silent. With this amount of blood, anyone would have already died. What¡¯s more the smell of blood was quite faint and the blood on the floor was dry........It had probably dried up overnight. For a while, no one in the room spoke. They didn¡¯t have very strong feelings towards the two newly joined members. This was especially the case of Liang Yunhao who didn¡¯t leave a very favourable impression whenever he spoke or acted. However, he had never harmed anyone. No one wanted them to end up like this. ¡°I¡¯ll check again...........¡± At this moment, Old Yu¡¯s qualities from back when he was a soldier emerged. While everyone was about to vomit from the sight, he wiped the sweat off his face and walked over. He would only be timid before his nephew. But before Old Yu was able to do so, You Huo had already entered the bedroom. Qin Jiu didn¡¯t follow him in. He leaned against the door frame with his arms crossed. The eyes that fell onto You Huo were filled with interest, but his lips were pursed in a straight line. He appeared to be disgusted by this bloody scene but at the same time he also appeared to be indifferent. Old Yu also wanted to enter the bedroom. But a particr invigtor was blocking the door. He considered for a moment but didn¡¯t dare speak up. If I wander around a few times, the invigtor would probably hear me? Old You thought this. But contrary to his expectations....... He walked fourps and the invigtor didn¡¯t look back. If he wanted the invigtor to give him any attention, he would probably have to want until his next life. Old Yu mulled over this for a long time before uttering a single word: ¡°That.........¡± As soon as he said that, there was the sound of something heavy falling to the grounding from the bedroom. This as followed by hysterical cry. Yu Wen who had just vomited rushed over: ¡°Brother¡ª¡ª¡ª-Brother what¡¯s wrong?!¡± Old Yu was also startled. The invigtor blocking the door finally turned around. He nced at Yu Wen: ¡°Your brother can make this kind of sound?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°???¡± He internally thought: What does my brothers cry have to do with you? Soon after, he realised...... That¡¯s right. With his brother¡¯s stubborn personality, even if you killed him he wouldn¡¯t cry out like this. Then.......who else was in the room? Everyone rushed into the room as the screaming continued. ¡°Are you fucking human or ghost????¡± Yu Wen stared at the floor next to the bed. He was so frightened, his voice trembled. Everyone looked at the floor. Chen Bin had fallen and was sitting there covered in blood. He was screaming louder than anyone there. You Huo felt a headache forming from all the screaming and shouting. He said coldly: ¡°Shut up!¡± Everyone finally calmed down. They looked at each other with horror and bewilderment for a moment and couldn¡¯t help but ask: ¡°You........You¡¯re still alive?¡± Old Yu carefully touched Chen Bin: ¡°Alive. Still alive.¡± ¡°Then.......Liang Yuanhao?¡± Chen Bin was stunned for a moment. He then said quietly: ¡°Gone.¡± ¡°What do you mean gone?¡± Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Chen Bin spoke haphazardly: ¡°Last night........st night someone knocked on our bed. Asked us about the dolls and even had a knife. I fainted.¡± The crowd didn¡¯t understand him. ¡°Wait a minute. Speak slowly. Let us hear about it.¡± Old Yu said. ¡¤ About ten minutester, they finally understood what had happened. ¡°So the person who sewed the doll would be approached and whatever you have sewed on, you will get that cut off???¡± Chen Bin nodded: ¡°She asked us who sewed more. Liang Yuanhao said he did and that he sewed two legs. And then..........his legs were cut off. I fainted on the spot. At the very end, I heard that voice say to me...........¡± ¡°What did she say?¡± He swallowed and started to tremble again: ¡°She said........See you tomorrow.¡± ¡¤ Liang Yuanhao had disappeared. The trail of blood in the living from was left behind by him but the blood had stopped abruptly at the door. They didn¡¯t know where he went after that. In fact, they could vaguely guess that Liang Yuanhao was probably dragged into the woods. But the woods circled the vige and it was so deep, you couldn¡¯t see the ends of it. If you wanted to find someone in there, it was equivalent to finding a needle in a haystack. They searched for a long time and couldn¡¯t find any traces left behind. They could only return to their houses with the crows warning. ¡¤ ¡¾Warning: Reading exam has begun. Examinees, please make the most of your time.¡¿ The crow repeated this three times. They stiffly knocked on the ck widow¡¯s door. Everything felt like it was a copy of yesterday. The ck widow once again pulled out a pile of cards and asked the person in front to draw it. Everyone¡¯s expression wasn¡¯t good. They had drawn a grim reaper card yesterday and there was now one less person in their group. If they drew another unlucky card, no one knew what the oue of that would be. This time, it was Yu Yao standing at the front. The ck widow stared at her for a long time. She stared for so long, Yu Yao¡¯s hands started to tremble. She lowered her head and pulled one out. This card wasn¡¯t as easily recognisable as the grim reaper card. On the card was a blond-haired angel ying a musical instrument. In front of the angel was a g. The g had a red cross. ¡°What card is this?¡± Everyone was confused. Yu Yao gripped tightly onto the card and whispered: ¡°Judgement.¡± ¡°Ah?¡± They didn¡¯t think she would recognise it. They then asked: ¡°Is it good or bad?¡± Yu Yao hesitated for a moment. She finally said: ¡°It represents resurrection, rebirth and good fortune........¡± ¡°Then that¡¯s a good card!¡± Everyone rejoiced. Old Yu said: ¡°Resurrection? Then will Liang Yuanhao........still be saved?¡± Resurrection and good fortune allowed everyone to rx. The ck widow however wasn¡¯t very happy. Her anger was even directed at Yu Yao who drew the card. Her resentful eyes were fixed onto Yu Yao. After a moment, she moved into the house and took out an envelope from her nightstand. Unsurprisingly, it was the letter of blessing mentioned by the question. The ck widow handed them the envelope before turning around and pointing at the dolls sitting on the wooden frame. She then started speaking: ¡°Yeck, dui, trin, store, pansch.....¡± ¡°Desh ta sho.¡± The ck widow finished her garbled speech and rubbed her hands in distress. ¡°What¡¯s she doing?¡± Yu Wen felt like he was watching a mime show. You Huo: ¡°Counting heads.¡± Please read this from kk trantes The ck widow appeared unsatisfied with the number of dolls. She dragged the bamboo basket out again and stuffed a ball of yarn in their hands. She turned the hourss around and once again left the house. ¡¤ Following Liang Yuanhuo¡¯s incident, everyone looked down at the yarn balls in their hands in a different light. What fucking yarn ball. This is a damned bone-cleaver! ¡°Who would dare sew...........¡± Old Yu muttered. He then threw the ball of yarn back into the bamboo basket. Everyone followed suit. You Huo however suddenly spoke up. He asked Chen Bin: ¡°Repeat what they saidst night.¡± Chen Bin was confused: ¡°Which?¡± ¡°The one about obedient guests.¡± Chen Bin: ¡°Oh, that monster asked us if we sewed the dolls. We said that we did. She then said that we were obedient guests and can only live.........¡± Obedient guests can only live? Everyone was stunned. They were too frightened earlier and didn¡¯t pay attention to this. Hearing those words again, it was too terrifying. ¡°Obedient guests can only live.......Then what about the disobedient guests???¡± You Huo: ¡°Can only die.¡± ¡°...........¡± If you sewed, you get your limbs or head cut off but if you don¡¯t, you die. Then to sew or not to sew??? Everyone was anxious. They didn¡¯t know what to do. Qin Jiu the invigtor was bored watching them panic. He moved to pick up the ck widow¡¯s letter. Taking out the pages, he looked at the messy scrawls. Before he could read more than two lines, it was rudely snatched away. ¡°Can you act a little more properly as an invigtor and stop disrupting the exam?¡± You Huo spat that out and then proceeded to sit down onto the sofa with the letter. ¡°I can¡¯t.¡± Qin Jiu maintained the posture of holding the letter. He rubbed his thumb with his index finger a few times before turning his head: ¡°What to do? I¡¯m suddenly feeling bored being an invigtor...........¡± You Huo sneered: ¡°Your feelings sure are sensitive.¡± ¡°So when do you n to use this help card?¡± Qin Jiu pulled the card out and waved it in front of You Huo. The great master was unperturbed: ¡°Let it rot.¡± ¡¤ The letter of blessing was filled with nonsensical scribbles. You Huo flipped through it for less than five seconds and eventually threw it aside. Shit question. The invigtor picked up the letter and spoke with some mockery: ¡°Why? The top students¡¯ clever tricks don¡¯t work anymore?¡± You Huo got up and left. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog He walked around the ck widow¡¯s house attempting to find clues for interpreting the Gypsynguage. Considering the background of this question, the ck widow¡¯s husband was probably Russian so the ck widow should be able to speak a bit of Russian. He wanted to see if there were any clues hidden around here......... But the ck widow¡¯s house was very clean. He couldn¡¯t find anything at all. What to do............ ¡¤ The sand in the hourss today was more than the one yesterday but everyone still felt that time went by too quickly. ¡°More than half of the sand is gone. What should we do about the dolls? Sew? Or not sew?¡± Old Yu asked. Yu Yao whispered in a small voice: ¡°Let¡¯s search around again. Maybe we¡¯ll find something?¡± ¡°Or.......We could just go back to the woods for tonight! Didn¡¯t we manage to escape from all thatst night?¡± Yu Wen said. The woods at night was very scary but getting scared to death was better than actually dying. With yesterday¡¯s experience, everyone eagerly agreed. Just as this suggestion was about to be passed unanimously, a particr great master once again started to act alone: ¡°I¡¯m going back to sleep.¡± Yu Wen cried out: ¡°Why?¡± You Huo: ¡°To try and see if I will die.¡± Everyone: ¡°???¡± This can fucking be tried? ¡°You¡¯re staying there all by yourself? That won¡¯t do!¡± Old Yu immediately objected. Hearing this, an invigtor casually spoke up: ¡°Excuse me, am I not considered a person?¡± Chapter 25: Starter Value

Chapter 25: Starter Value

An invigtor can also be considered a person? At least this wasn¡¯t the case in the eyes of the examinees. But when Qin Jiu said this, Old Yu didn¡¯t dare protest. They were all afraid of him. In fact, until now this invigtor 001 had not done anything terrible in this exam. He hasn¡¯t exercised his authority, hasn¡¯t caught any rule vitors and hasn¡¯t confiscated any items or tools but the examinees were still scared of him. This was because everyone assumed that invigtors were part of the system and are the systems eyes and ws. The examination system was scary, so invigtors are scary as well. Unless they had no other choice, no one dared to mess with him. Oh.......except for You Huo. As soon as Old Yu thought of You Huo, he could feel a headache forming. Just the thought of the ¡°rebellious¡± You Huo being alone with the ¡°dreadful¡± invigtor made him feel sick. ¡°Then I also won¡¯t go to the woods tonight.¡± He said. ¡°It was all because of you that I was able to live until now. Leaving you behind and taking refuge on our own is just........I can¡¯t do it.¡± Yu Yao whispered, ¡°What if we can be of help?¡± The others also agreed but their offers were all rejected. Please read this from kk trantes You Huo threw out a sentence, ¡°Too noisy with too many people¡± and no longer spoke. The others couldn¡¯t persuade him. They were also afraid of ruining things if they didn¡¯t listen to him so they could only give up. ¡¤ The sky gradually darkened, and several vigers came out from the other side of the river. As usual, they were digging at the ice. ¡°Looks like it¡¯s the same people?¡± Yu Wen counted the heads from the window, ¡°That one with the huge coat should be that big sister from yesterday? And there¡¯s that crazy man.......Those two with the leather hats look like the two who dragged the crazy man away yesterday?¡± This ssmate yed plenty of phone andputer games, but his eyesight was very good. The others couldn¡¯t see that far and could only vaguely make out the figures in the distance. You Huo looked on for a while before looking back down at the wooden frame. When the ck widow counted the heads, he had also counted with her. There were a total of sixteenpleted dolls. He roughly could still remember the distribution of the dolls. But when he looked at it again, the dolls appeared to have........quietly moved? If he remembered correctly, the doll on the far left of the first row was lying horizontally this afternoon but it was now sitting upright........ Just as You Huo moved over to take a closer look, the ck widow returned. The first thing she did when she entered was to check their progress. What made her unhappy was that all the guests were empty handed. None of them had listened to her! The ck widow stared at them silently for a while. She then suddenly cackled. She staggered over to the wall where the ¡°judgement¡± card drawn by Yu Yao was pinned. As she giggled, she turned the upright ¡°judgement¡± card upside down. ¡°..........¡± The group was stunned by this act of hers. You can still move the card even after it was drawn?! They didn¡¯t know what the meaning behind that card was, but they could intuitively sense that it probably wasn¡¯t something good. Yu Yao muttered: ¡°If it is upside down......then it means the opposite.¡± The opposite of resurrection and hope........wasn¡¯t that death and despair? The ck widow then pulled out a sack. She ced all the dolls inside the sack and also threw in four unfinished dolls from the bamboo basket. She then stuffed the sack to You Huo who stood closest to her. The four iplete products were very old and one of it was very dirty. It was as if it had been lying on the ground for a long time, or had been identally burnt by fire......... ¡¤ When they received the dolls, they were all ushered out by the ck widow. The hourss todaysted longer thanst time so by the time they were out, the vigers had already finished digging at the ice and had returned to their own homes. As soon as these vigers closed their doors, they wouldn¡¯t open the door no matter how much they knocked so they didn¡¯t waste time doing that. They split into two groups. You Huo and Qin Jiu moved to their ce of residence while the others crossed the river and headed for the woods. ¡°I still don¡¯t understand why the vigers are so afraid of the woods.¡± Yu Wen mulled, ¡°Although they are all graves, very few of them are exposed. It¡¯s scary but it¡¯s at least better than staying inside?¡± Old You: ¡°Who knows.¡± Yu Yao said: ¡°There probably is a reason why they¡¯re afraid........¡± Although they went there to hide from danger, they were worried about You Huo so they didn¡¯t¡¯ venture too deep and just stayed on the edge. ¡°Let¡¯s wait here.¡± Yu Wen looked around, ¡°There¡¯s nothing in the way here so we can see my brother¡¯s ce from here.¡± Everyone naturally had no objections. They sat down and chewed on dry, hard bread as they waited for the night to pass. ¡¤ Inside the house, the lights were on. You Huo went through the cabs one by one as Qin Jiu sat on the sofa. He broke a baguette in half. ¡°Half for you?¡± He said. ¡°No need.¡± You Huo didn¡¯t even look back. He was standing pretty far from the sofa, but he could clearly hear the terrible cracking sound when he broke the bread. You could tell based on that alone how dry it was. Qin Jiu¡¯s voice sounded again: ¡°Not satisfied? Then I¡¯ll give you the bigger half.¡± You Huo was hungry for the whole day so he naturally wasn¡¯t in a good mood. He mmed a cab door shut and walked over to the sofa menacingly: ¡°Don¡¯t involve me if you want to choke to death.¡± Please read this from kk trantes Cab, stove, drawers, tin cans.............. From the living room to the kitchen and then to the bedroom, he searched every ce he could get his hands onto and really couldn¡¯t find anything else to eat. Why won¡¯t this damned testing centre blow up? You Huo unhappily stood back up. His face was touched by something. He nced down. The broken off half of the baguette was brought before his face and held to his neck like a threatening knife. Qin Jiu said behind him: ¡°Don¡¯t bother. I¡¯ve already searched and there really aren¡¯t anything else to eat.¡± You Huo remained expressionless. He refused topromise. The diligent invigtor again used the corner of the bread to nudge You Huo¡¯s lips. He said: ¡°I suggest you try it. It¡¯s not as bad as you think. I haven¡¯t had an examinee starve to death under my supervision so don¡¯t make this the first case.¡± You Huo stubbornly stared at him for a moment before snatching it from him roughly. ¡°There were clearly three invigtors so why is the one doing fulltime on-site surveince you?¡± You Huo broke off a piece of the bread and asked coldly. Qin Jiu returned to the sofa and ced some tea leaves inside a pot that he had cleaned earlier. He ced the crooked pot onto the brazier and then asked back: ¡°ording to the rules of the test centre, something as boring as fulltime on-site monitoring is usually done by the chief invigtor. Unfortunately, I just happened to be that unlucky person. Why, who do you want toe?¡± You Huo: ¡°922, 154. Anyone.¡± At least they would know to bring along meat. The fire in the brazier was very strong and the pot soon made a loud whistling noise. Qin Jiu squinted amidst the steam and said: ¡°I¡¯ll help you pass on the message. They will surely be very happy to hear that they are remembered by an examinee.¡± Those words were normal, but it sounded like he was mocking him when it was spoken by him. You Huo ignored thatment. As the tea boiled, the room fell into silence for a while. You Huo ate a few mouthfuls of the dry bread and lost his appetite. He patted off the bread crumbs and nced at Qin Jiu: ¡°You¡¯re the chief invigtor?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°I don¡¯t look like one?¡± You Huo: ¡°Who gave you those ranks?¡± ¡°Ability? Combat power? It is said that they take into consideration many things.¡± Qin Jiu acted like he didn¡¯t care much about it. Even when talking about himself, he would always use the words ¡°it is said¡±. You Huo: ¡°So 001 is first?¡± Qin Jiuughed. He stretched his long legs and changed his posture: ¡°Not necessarily. It is said that there once was also a starter value. I guess........that person¡¯s my senior?¡± Chapter 26: Rank A

Chapter 26: Rank A

¡°The starter value.........000?¡± You Huo casually said. ¡°That¡¯s not it.¡± said Qin Jiu. ording to the very limited information avable, the system at that time wasn¡¯t the way it is right now. At that time, all the invigtors were specially selected. Despite the small number, they were all top elites. Amongst these invigtors, one was exceptionally young and exceptionally powerful. ¡°It was something from many years ago now.¡± Qin Jiu said: ¡°At that time, they used alphabets for the ranks. That person was rank A.¡± Perhaps it was because the tea was boiling in the pot causing steam to rise up, when he heard the ¡°rank A¡± You Huo was distracted for a moment. Qin Jiu rubbed his thumb against the edge of the cup and raised his eyebrow, ¡°I¡¯ve noticed that you seem to be very interested in this senior of mine?¡± You Huo returned to his senses. He had already tossed the bread aside earlier. He supported his chin with his hand and his expression turned cold again: ¡°It was boring waiting for the tea, so I was just casually asking. Where is that invigtor with the ability to crush you now?¡± ¡°You¡¯re wording is not very urate.¡± Qin Jiu corrected him: ¡°When he was an invigtor, I was still an examinee. When Iter became an invigtor, I didn¡¯t work with him much so it¡¯s hard to say who can crush who.¡± You Huo snorted. ¡°As for where he is now........¡± Qin Jiu said: ¡°Dead? I¡¯m not entirely sure. In any case, he was erased by the system.¡± You Huo noticed a subtle change in his tone. He looked up and said: ¡°You don¡¯t like him.¡± Qin Jiuughed a little. The corners of his lips thenzily hung down. Because of the systems mistake, a part of Qin Jiu¡¯s memory was missing. All the people and events from those years were forgotten and this naturally included that invigtor A. For self-review of this malfunction, all relevant data over those years were sealed by the system and no one could ess it. All his knowledge of invigtor A came through word of mouth. It is said that when he was an examinee, he would always pick fights with A. It is said that their rtionship was still very bad during the time they worked together. It is said that system¡¯s malfunction at that time only affected the area he and invigtor A governed. At that time, the two of them couldn¡¯te to an agreement eventually resulting in severe losses on both ends. Qin Jiu took a journey through the gates of hell while invigtor A was erased by the system. ........ As for all these ¡°it is said¡¯s¡±, there was no way to tell how much of it was true and how much of it was false. Regarding the system¡¯s malfunction at that time, Qin Jiu had almostpletely forgotten about it. All that was left was a very vague memory of a particr scene. That ce was a site filled with ruins. Surrounding him were metal protective fencing. There were rusty automobiles and machinery scattered around along with broken electric cables........ He sat on a metal pipe lying on the ground with one leg bent and his arm resting on his knee. The front of his shirt was covered in blood. He coughed a few times and then chuckled. There was another person in front of him. As for what that person looked like and what he wore, he couldn¡¯t remember. Instead, all he could remember was that far into the distance behind that person was a seemingly endless forest. Considering all those ¡°it is said¡¯s¡±, that person was probably invigtor A. That was the only trace of him left in his memories after all these years. And every time he recalled this scene, his mood would be very bad. How bad would it be? It was as if..........he would never be happy again. But if you called it hatred, it also didn¡¯t seem to be the case. ¡¤ The smell of boiled tea emanated out from the pot. Although it wasn¡¯t very fragrant, it was still refreshing. You Huo stared at Qin Jiu for a moment before standing up. He pulled out a mug that looked okay and unashamedly pouring himself a cup. He took a few sips before finally feeling the congested sensation in his chest from eating the dried bread earlier clear up. Earlier it was as if something had came over him causing him to chat with the invigtor. Now that he was refreshed, he had returned to his usual state. He ced the mug down and walked into the bedroom. ¡¤ The bedroom was rather tidy. There were several nkets stuffed inside the wardrobe. They were specially left there for guests who hade here to meet their unfortunate ends. You Huo pulled one out with the intention to take a nap but the moment he closed the door and inadvertently caught sight of the sofa in the living room, he stopped in his tracks. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog A minuteter, the great master threw another nket onto the sofa. Because he did it very roughly, it almost hit the invigtor¡¯s face. Qin Jiu who was still holding his tea cup was surprised by this sudden attack from behind. He looked at the nket with surprise and turned to look at You Huo. You Huo had the expression ¡°why don¡¯t you invigtors go die?¡±. He sleepily went back into the bedroom and impolitely mmed the door shut with it a ¡°bang¡±. ¡¤ In the middle of the night, the vige was tranquil. The monsters with knifes that they anticipated didn¡¯t appear. You Huo desperately tried to keep his eyes open and he waited for two hours.. Eventually gave up and fell asleep. Knock, knock, knock. That sound initially started from the wall outside but it soon changed into knockinging from inside the wall. Knock, knock, knock. In just a few minutes, the knocking sounded from under the bed. It knocked at the bed board directly reverberating into You Huo¡¯s back. You Huo didn¡¯t react. He had always been difficult to wake once asleep. Knock, knock, knock. You Huo still didn¡¯t move. With the side of his face pressed down into the pillow and one arm covering his eyes, he slept soundly. Please read this from kk trantes The knocking persisted for about five minutes, but no one paid it any attention. ¡°............¡± The knocking finally stopped. It seemed to be very confused and also a little annoyed. The bedroom fell into silence for a while. Suddenly, there was the sound of something crawling. Like the sound they heard in the woodsst time, it sounded like something crawling across the wooden floor. That thing crawled from the bedroom to the living room and found another living human in the other room. Knock, knock, knock. The knocking sounded again. Just as the first round of knocking ended, the invigtor sleeping on the sofa moved a little. With his eyes still closed, his brows furrowed into a frown. From the direction of the coffee table, a female voice asked eerily: ¡°I¡¯m looking for disobedient guests. Did you sew a doll today?¡± Invigtor: ¡°............¡± The exam question must have gone crazy. It dared to even cut up the invigtor? Qin Jiu didn¡¯t even open his eyes. He said: ¡°Didn¡¯t sew. What to do?¡± The female voice let out a soft sigh. It was as if she truly felt regretful. The next second, a pale arm rose up and the bone-cleaver in its hand moved to strike. But just before it fell, it was caught by another hand. It couldn¡¯t budge an inch. Qin Jiu sat up with the monster caught in his hand. He was even able to casually reach over and turn on the light with his right hand. As soon as the light turned on, the monster¡¯s true appearance could finally be seen. In fact, it couldn¡¯t really be called a monster. It was just an arm. There was no head, no face and no body. There was nothing else. It was just an arm. Based on its wound, it was probably cut off. It didn¡¯t look like it was done recently so it probably happened a long time ago. Considering what happened to Liang Yuanhaost night..........This arm probably belonged to an unfortunate examinee. Because it didn¡¯t have a body limiting it, the arm was extremely flexible and agile. Holding onto the bone-cleaver, it twisted and turned whilst in Qin Jiu¡¯s grasp as it tried to cut off the other party¡¯s head. Qin Jiu was annoyed. He coldly sneered and pulled out a rope from under the coffee table. After tying the hand up together with the knife, he carried the gift over and moved to knock on a particr sleeping gods door. ¡¤ You Huo was awakened by feathers tickling him. He turned his head and sneezed before rubbing his hair and sitting up in annoyance. Only after opening his eyes, he realised there was someone sitting by the bed. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog ¡°How did you get in?¡± You Huo looked displeased. Qin Jiu shook his finger. The keys hanging from it nged against each other, ¡°Using the spare key.¡± You Huo was unhappy: ¡°You can¡¯t knock first?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°...........¡± You even have the nerve to ask? ¡°What¡¯s that in your hand?¡± You Huo¡¯s eyes fell onto his other hand. There, a pale thing writhed around wildly. Qin Jiu brought the arm before him and said monotonously: ¡°Surprise, it¡¯s your goodnight gift. Do you like it?¡± You Huo: ¡°...........¡± ¡°This thing came over to cut your head off but you ignored it, so it went and found me.¡± Qin Jiu said, ¡°Please use some of your self awareness as an examinee and help deal with it.¡± You Huo was overwhelmed with disgust for about five minutes by this seemingly warm act of his. He said to Qin Jiu: ¡°Give it.¡± Qin Jiu thought he would kill it or bury it right then and there but, unexpectedly, this ingenious examinee had instead loosened the rope. With one end in his hand, he ced the other end that was bound to the arm onto the ground. ¡°What are you doing?¡± ¡°Can¡¯t you see? With it writing around like this, it must be trying to go somewhere. I¡¯m walking it back.¡± You Huo said. Qin Jiu: ¡°............¡± Twenty minutester, the group of examinees taking cover inside the woods saw a particr great master in the distance walking a dog......no, an arm. He was heading straight in their direction! Chapter 27: Dead

Chapter 27: Dead

That arm moved very quickly. Its five fingers flew up and down as it scurried across the ground. Bound helplessly by the rope, it tried to use the knife in its hand to break free whilst it twisted about but it was brutally suppressed. That scene was so shocking, everyone who saw it didn¡¯t believe their own eyes. They were originally scared to death and desperately trying to stay awake, but now they were instantly started awake by You Huo. ¡°Brother, you..........¡± Are you having fun? Yu Wen wanted to ask. But when he saw his brother¡¯s expression that clearly indicated that he did not have enough sleep, he swallowed those words back. When You Huo got close, the pale arm that was forcefully made into a leading dog stepped onto its brakes. The ghostly arm held the bone-cleaver struggled around wildly. Everyone fearfully took a step back to avoid the de before hurriedly gathering over to suppress the arm. Chen Bin asked You Huo with aplicated expression: ¡°How did you catch it?¡± The monster that had almost cut him into piecesst night had be aughing stock today. Who wouldn¡¯t be dumbfounded by this? In particr, he was the one who was almost chopped up. After managing to escape, his shock from that incident had not yet dissipated yet he was now faced with a scene like this.......... ¡°Didn¡¯t catch it.¡± You Huo indicated in Qin Jiu¡¯s direction with his chin: ¡°He gave it to me.¡± Chen Bin: ¡°.............¡± Gave........ Qin Jiu shamelessly said: ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± You Huo: ¡°Did I thank you?¡± Qin Jiu nodded and smiled: ¡°I could faintly tell from your words.¡± No one expected the invigtor to give them a hand. They were surprised for a moment before asking carefully: ¡°Then........was the help card used?¡± Qin Jiu pulled out the card from his pocket. His tone was very regretful: ¡°Looks like it wasn¡¯t.¡± Everyone was surprised: ¡°Huh? Why?¡± You Huo: ¡°What help card? He only did that out of self-defence.¡± Qin Jiu stared at the back of his head and then nodded: ¡°........Okay then.¡± Self-defence? Everyone was even more confused: ¡°This thing will even attack an invigtor? Has it gone crazy?¡± You Huo very briefly filled them in on what happened. Yu Wen hammered his palm: ¡°Then does that mean that as long as we don¡¯t wake up when the monsteres, we¡¯re fine? I knew it! I knew they wouldn¡¯t give us an impossible question. Sure enough, there was a loophole.¡± ¡°You say that as if it¡¯s easy. How are you going to make sure you¡¯re asleep? It¡¯s not going to work just keeping your eyes closed.¡± Old Yu said with frustration. Yu Wen: ¡°Oh...........How about sleeping pills?¡± ¡°Dumb child, why don¡¯t you try finding the sleeping pills first?¡± Yu Wen: ¡°............¡± In the end, everyone felt that this exam was a little ridiculous. It wasn¡¯t because the exam was impossibly hard and that they were only able to go through it with You Huo there. Rather.........The ck widow and even the ghost arm were behaving unreasonably. For example, in addition to the exam requirements, the ck widow also added extra hurdles for them such as drawing cards and sewing dolls. Another example was that the ghost arm would turn around and attack an invigtor after losing its initial target. ............ Please read this from kk trantes ¡°It¡¯s really strange.......¡± Yu Yao asked tentatively, ¡°Could this be different to the previous exams? To increase the difficulty, they added extra hurdles?¡± This youngdy had made a lot of progress. She was pretty much crying the entire time during thest exam, but she was a lot better now. Everyone there didn¡¯t have an answer to that. Also, the final result depended on the exam. Even if they had a clue, they were not guaranteed how long they could live. ? ¡°Did anything happen in the woods tonight?¡± You Huo asked. ¡°It was almost the same asst night.¡± ¡°Lots of things crawling but they moved too fast and we weren¡¯t able to chase after them.¡± Yu Wen said: ¡°They crawled away very quickly and disappeared. Now that I think about it........It probably was simr to that.¡± He nced at the pale arm. You Huo let out an ¡°oh¡± and motioned for everyone to let go of the arm. He tugged at the rope and said: ¡°Here, keep going.¡± Ghost arm: ¡°...............¡± This thing was bullied very terribly. Itid on the ground pretending to be dead and didn¡¯t move for a long time. You Huo waited for a moment and lost patience. He kicked it and said: ¡°Don¡¯t go then. Later when the sun rises, I¡¯ll drag you out the woods.¡± These things would disappear during the day and would onlye out at night. There must be a reason for this. You Huo guessed that they perhaps could not be exposed to the sun? Or perhaps they were afraid of something else........ Sure enough. As soon as he said this, the ghost arm iled and twisted around wildly. ¡°Is it scared?¡± Seeing that the threat was working, everyone began to throw out harsh words. ¡°It¡¯s now 4 o¡¯clock. It¡¯s going to be dawn soon.¡± ¡°We can also let the vigers see what was threatening them at night and knocking on their doors¡ª¡ª-¡± Yu Wen went on to talk about taking a ¡°1-day trip around the vige¡± when the arm suddenly stopped. Itid there with its grey, decaying fingers scratching against the ground. It was as if it was moving to its own breathing frequency, but it also seemed to be anxious and fearful...... What are you afraid of? The vigers? You Huo furrowed his brows. When he was about to pull at the rope and say something, the hand suddenly started to move. Its five fingers scratched at the ground and it quickly flew deep into the woods. It appeared to be desperately wanting to return to its hideout. Everyone followed it along and went through the forest but soon they lost their sense of direction. There was still morning fog in the woods, and it was extremely cold. The thick fog made the light cast from the fire torch appear a little dim. It flickered as if it was going to extinguish any moment. ¡°What¡¯s this smell?¡± Old Yu breathed in deeply through his nose. As they ventured deeper, the smell in the woods got stronger and more distinct. Chen Bin¡¯s expression changed: ¡°This smell........It¡¯s simr to the one from our room. Last night Liang Yuanhao and I smelt this and fell asleep.¡± Now that he mentioned it, everyone remembered the smell. It was a little different to the one in the ck widow¡¯s ce and it made them sleepy. Mike was physically weak and after staying up the entire night and running around, he immediately stumbled and fell to the ground. The others also soon got affected. Amidst the chaos, the ghost arm took the opportunity to move around the trunk of a tree. The moment the rope got tense, the knife cut through it. With the snap of the rope, the arm plunged into the wet mud and disappeared in a blink of an eye. Everyone looked around, but they couldn¡¯t find any traces of the arm. ¡°Shit¡ª¡ª¡ªWe were so close!¡± Everyonemented. But they could only ept that it was gone. Even if they weren¡¯t happy, they couldn¡¯t do anything about it. ? The sun soon rose. At five minutes before 7:30am, the crow cried out to remind everyone that it was almost time to submit their answer. Please read this from kk trantes Yu Wen held his phone and praised his brother: ¡°Fortunately you stopped me yesterday and didn¡¯t let me answer. Otherwise we¡¯re finished today........¡± Strictly speaking, they had also gained something tonight, but it wasn¡¯t something that helped with answering the questions and earning points. Thanks to You Huo and his ability to think ahead, they had left listening question 2 to be answered today. If they didn¡¯t, someone would need to die. Where is the ck widow¡¯s family? Please find them. The answer was very simple. It could either be the woods or the graves. Afterall, her family members were already buried in the ground and several gravestones were set up for them. Yu Wen grabbed the bone pen and wrote ¡°wo¡±. Just as he was about to write ¡°ods¡±, a voice slowly spoke up behind him. ¡°I have a question.¡± Qin Jiu raised two fingers. ¡°Hurry and write.¡± You Huo urged Yu Wen and turned to Qin Jiu: ¡°What question do you have that must be asked at this time?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°I tried to hold back but I couldn¡¯t.¡± You Huo: ¡°Speak.¡± Qin Jiu knocked on the door, ¡°The exam is testing you on Gypsy but you¡¯re answering in Chinese. You are such a rare talent.¡± You Huo: ¡°.......¡± Everyone swore inside. They were too careless! The questions were all written in Chinese and it made them subconsciously answer in Chinese. As soon as Qin Jiu reminded them, the red light on his wrist appeared and a warning sounded three times. Just as the crow opened its mouth to speak, Qin Jiu spoke up first: ¡°Article 7 of the invigtor¡¯s manual: In the event that an examinee misunderstands the question or the question is too ambiguous, the invigtor has the obligation to guide them. Isn¡¯t what they¡¯re doing now somethingpletely stupid?¡± He said this mockingly and then turned to the examinees: ¡°Sorry if I offended you.¡± Everyone: ¡°..........¡± The words spoken were polite but there was a hint of mockery and joke in his voice that made them feel a little irritated. After angering the examinees, Qin Jiu then casually said to the crow: ¡°I was just doing my job. Being a full-time invigtor is boring enough so stop nit-picking.¡± Everyone present was too afraid to even breathe. They felt that this invigtor would probably die the next second. Unexpectedly, the crow opened its mouth for a moment before closing it again and remained silent. Qin Jiu was still leaning against the door frame. His posture remained unchanged throughout this exchange. He nced back at the group and said: ¡°There are still two minutes before time is up. Is the answer written on my face?¡± Yu Wen held the bone pen in panic: ¡°Brother, how do you write woods or grave in Gypsy?¡± You Huo: ¡°.....Don¡¯t know.¡± Chapter 28: The Great Master Had Gone Mad

Chapter 28: The Great Master Had Gone Mad

¡°Right! Didn¡¯t Mike hear the word gravest time after listening to the recording? He should know!¡± At this critical moment, Yu Wen¡¯s memory was at its best. He jumped up to find him: ¡°Where¡¯s Mike?! Where did he go?¡± ¡°He¡¯s still out cold on the sofa.¡± Old Yu flew over to the room. Mike¡¯s response to the smell in the woods was particrly strong. After returning, he vomited twice and wasid to rest on the sofa. Even now, he has not woken up. Everyone was very confident, so they didn¡¯t wake him up. No one expected this kind of trouble to happen at such a critical moment. ¡°Sorry, I¡¯m sorry.........¡± Old Yu went up and pped him a few times before finally waking Mike up. Mike was still feeling dizzy from the smell and retched a few times as soon as he opened his eyes. ¡°Up! Up! Up!¡± Old Yu used the only English word he knew and dragged Mike out. ¡¤ In front of the ck widow¡¯s door, You Huo held onto the bone pen. He wrote very quickly and managed to copy everything on the gravestones in two minutes. In order to save time, he let out the ck widow¡¯s name. As soon as Mike came over, he finished off thest stroke and shoved the pen over to the other party: ¡°Write.¡± Amidst the final two calls by the crow, Mike added the word ¡°Grave¡±. .......... Phew¡ª¡ª¡ª¨C They made it in time. Everyone let out a long sigh of relief. ¡°We were almost on the brink of death......¡± Yu Wen clutched his chest. The heart that was almost about to fall out and calmed back down, ¡°I hope the gravestones wrote where they were buried instead of just ¡®here lies xxx¡¯.¡± But it didn¡¯t matter. Even if it wasn¡¯t written, there was still the words written by Mike. With the answers offering double insurance, they would most certainly get those points. This was what everyone thought. After waiting for a while, the answer wall finally changed. The system¡¯s results came out........ It was a cross. A bright red cross appeared there. To its left was the copied gravestone inscriptions and to the right was the word grave written by Mike. The meaning was obvious: Neither were correct. Everyone, including You Huo, were stunned. The result was something they didn¡¯t expect. ¡°It¡¯s wrong? How can that be?¡± ¡°Did the system malfunction and made the wrong judgement?¡± Everyone couldn¡¯t understand why their answer was wrong. You Huo stared at the answer wall with deeply furrowed brows. The inscriptions and the word grave were not correct. If there weren¡¯t any issues with the system¡¯s judgement then it meant one thing ¡ª¡ª¨C These were the graves of the ck widow¡¯s family, but they were not buried there. His eyes moved and it fell onto the third question. Question 3: How many people are in the ck widow¡¯s room? You Huo: ¡°.............. Question: Is it possible for someone who is very passionate about superstitions to leave their dead family members in their house? Answer: What can¡¯t that old witch do?! Before everyone could recover from the shock, the answer wall refreshed, and new content appeared. An unfortunate notice: From this round of submission, the system has failed to detect any points. Punishment result: A randomly selected examinee will be sent to enter the coffin. When those words appeared, You Huo patted Qin Jiu¡¯s shoulder. Qin Jiu turned his head and his eyes moved along his finger over to this face: ¡°Let me guess, our Mr Humph finally wants to ask for help?¡± You Huo: ¡°...........¡± Who¡¯s yours? Unless he had no other choice, he really didn¡¯t want to use that help card. But the current situation now was indeed headache inducing. He didn¡¯t know who the system would randomly select, and he didn¡¯t know if he would be able to find a loop hole. If it was really troublesome....... As he mulled over it, another line appeared. Note: Chars Vige traditionally holds funeralste at night. We will follow their tradition and the punishment will be executed tonight. Tonight? The punishment was different to the ones from the previous exam and was not implemented immediately. You Huo immediately retracted his hand from Qin Jiu¡¯s shoulder. Qin Jiu: ¡°?¡± You Huo said: ¡°It¡¯s still too soon.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°.........¡± He looked at You Huo for a while and said: ¡°I think I should give you a small reminder. The system will not give you any warning when they implement the punishment and would not tell you who is selected. It is likely that one moment you may be chatting face to face and the next moment one of you is gone.¡± ¡°If the one who disappeared at that time was you, how are you going to ask for help?¡± Qin Jiu asked. ¡°That invigtor 922 said that if I need something, I can just write 001.¡± You Huo responded. Qin Jiu: ¡°............¡± Please read this from kk trantes ¡°Since we¡¯re on this topic, I just wanted to ask, ¡°You Huo spoke mockingly, ¡°I heard that it must be written on the answer sheet? What kind of idiotic rule is that?¡± It was not an issue in the hunter¡¯s cabin because the space was small, and they were only a few steps away from the answer wall. But for a test centre like Chars Vige or another muchrge one, it was really too unreasonable. Qin Jiu said: ¡°922? I¡¯ll have to take note of that. But that is just a way for one to find normal invigtors.¡± You Huo: ¡°.........Then the way to find a self-proimed head invigtor like you?¡± ¡°Oh, there are many ways.¡± Qin Jiu smiled: ¡°You can try writing it anywhere in the test centre and see if I know.¡± You Huo: ¡°.........Am I crazy?¡± ¡¤ When the punishment results came out, everyone reluctantly celebrated for a moment. At least they still had more than half a day for them to prepare. It wasn¡¯t until that afternoon that they realised that this pre-notice punishment style was more terrifyingpared to immediate punishment. It was as if there was already a knife held up at their neck. With the sharp de pressing closely against their skin, the executioner says: ¡°Sorry but it is not time yet. Please wait a little.¡± The ck widow as usual made them sew dolls and didn¡¯t appear to have the intention to stop until all the examinees were cut up. Everyone¡¯s thoughts were all over the ce. They sat there restlessly, and their minds were filled with worries. While everyone¡¯s mind was preupied by the impending punishment, they didn¡¯t notice a particr great master¡¯s unusual behaviour¡ª¡ª¨C As everyone worried, he pulled out several dolls from the bamboo basket and picked up a needle. When others sewed dolls, they would pay attention to their stitches. Although it may not be straight, they would at least stitch a row to connect the limbs. He on the other hand just passed the needle through twice and considered it as a limbplete. ........... When the others finally noticed his actions, the great master had already sewed an entire row. With a quick count, there was a total of eight done. Old Yu almost fell onto his knees: ¡°.......What are you doing?¡± You Huopleted the ninth one in an instant and answered without looking up: ¡°Getting prepared.¡± This terrifying preparation of his continued until the sand inside the hourss was fone. As soon as the ck widow returned, she was met with sixteen dolls. Her old face instantly turned stiff. She had been doing this exam for a long time and it was her first time meeting such a guest. For a moment, she was at loss for words. She looked at You Huo as if he had gone mad. After a while, the ck widow muttered something and proceeded to slowly ce the sixteen dolls onto the wooden frame. ¡¤ Night came faster than the previous two days. Whilst the vigers haven¡¯t entered their homes, they went across the frozen river to find them. ¡°You¡¯re still here.........¡± The female viger held a tub of crushed ice and greeted them. But the contents of her greeting weren¡¯t something you wanted to hear. Old Yu who acted under Master You¡¯s instructions spoke straightforwardly: ¡°Sister, I want to ask you something.¡± The female viger hesitated for a moment and asked: ¡°What is it?¡± ¡°I heard that there is a tradition here and funerals can only be done at night?¡± ¡°That¡¯s right.¡± ¡°Oh, then do you do traditional burial or cremation?¡± Old Yu asked. The woman was stunned for a moment. For some reason, she appeared a little dazed. Soon, she tilted her head slightly and seemed to be looking somewhere in the woods. She then quickly returned to normal and replied nkly: ¡°Burial. We don¡¯t cremate. We can¡¯t cremate.¡± ¡°Why?¡± You Huo suddenly interrupted. The woman tilted her head and thought for a moment: ¡°There¡¯s no reason. The tradition is that the dead cannot be cremated.¡± You Huo hummed. Old Yu again asked: ¡°Then when you bury the coffin......where do they usually get buried?¡± Woman: ¡°In the woods.¡± ¡°I know it¡¯s in the woods.¡± Old Yu internally thought: Isn¡¯t that obvious? He asked exined patiently: ¡°What I mean is, aren¡¯t there ces in the woods that are already upied? I just wanted to know where it is that¡¯s emptier and could still hold more coffins. You surely don¡¯t just randomly pick a ce each time?¡± ¡°Oh, we don¡¯t do that.¡± The woman thought for a moment and pointed to the east and west: ¡°That ce, and that one. Both are still empty.¡± Everyone hastily noted it down. Old Yu wanted to ask more questions, but the woman looked at the sky and said: ¡°It¡¯s getting dark now. I have to hurry back. You should also go back. Don¡¯t run around and don¡¯t enter the woods.¡± After saying that, she picked up the tub and hurried back. Following the sound of the door closing, the vige once again became silent. Please read this from kk trantes Old Yu said with frustration: ¡°With that courage, they hold a funeral at night..........Do you think the system is just speaking nonsense? These vigers don¡¯t even daree out at night so how can they go in the woods for a funeral?!¡± ¡°The question said it so it must be the case. How can a ce like this be understood usingmon sense?¡± Chen Bing mumbled. In any case, at least they now know the location for the next burial. When someone ends up getting punished and put inside a coffin, they would at least have an idea where to start searching. ¡¤ After saying farewell to the vigers, everyone did not return to their own house. You Huo¡¯s house had unknowingly be their base camp. Everyone gathered there. The sky grew darker. As they gnawed on dried bread, they discussed what they should do at night. ¡°If we want to enter the woods, it¡¯s best to bring along some tools.¡± Yu Wen raised his hand and proposed: ¡°On one hand it can be used to defend yourself and on the other hand.....What if you get lucky and catch another ghost arm?¡± ¡°I found ropes in the room and there should be knives in each of the houses. I just don¡¯t know if they win over that bone-cleaver.¡± Old Yu said: ¡°Also, if we want to dig, we should bring along a shovel too right?¡± He turned his head as he said this to seek affirmation from You Huo. Unexpectedly, the single sofa behind him was empty. You Huo who was sitting there had disappeared. ¡°Where is he? He was there earlier.......¡± Old Yu asked with confusion. Everyone looked towards the empty sofa. The room fell into silence for a while and it suddenly exploded. ¡°Fuck?!¡± Yu Wen anxiously looked for him. He called for his brother, ¡°Brother? Where are you?¡± He called out three times in a row but received no response. The most terrible thing was that Qin Jiu was still there. During an exam, whereever You Huo went, his personal invigtor must also follow. The only exception was........when undergoing the systems punishment. They suddenly recalled Qin Jiu¡¯s words in the morning: ¡°It is likely that one moment you may be chatting face to face and the next moment one of you is gone.¡± No one in their right minds expected the system¡¯s random selection to be so coincidental and would actually send their golden thigh away. ¡¤ At this moment, the golden thigh was lying inside a very small and confined space. He couldn¡¯t straighten his legs nor could he raise his hands very high. The oxygen there was also very limited. Needless to know, he was the lucky guy ¡°randomly selected to enter the coffin¡±. He wasn¡¯t surprised by this oue, or to be more precise, he wasn¡¯t surprised by this kind of oue. Afterall, when sewing the dolls in the afternoon, he had already thought of two kinds of preparations. If someone else entered the coffin, he could reluctantly use the help card. If he himself entered the coffin......then maybe he could save the use of the help card. In the dark, You Huo tried to get a feel of the coffin walls. It was damp and cold, and he could smell the thick smell of mud. He guessed that the coffin was probably buried under some mud in the woods. With the woods being sorge, even if you have narrowed down the range, it was still equivalent to trying to find a needle in a haystack. Humans finding humans. That was always very difficult. But....... This wouldn¡¯t be the case if it was something else finding humans. ¡¤ In the woods on the east side, Old Yu and the others searched around whilst holding a fire torch and a bundle of rope. Suddenly, their footsteps stopped. Old Yu nervously gestured for them to be quiet. The others held their breaths and heard the familiar crawling sounds. But the sounds tonight were a little different. It didn¡¯t seem to be crawling towards the vige and was instead.......going deeper into the woods. After a few seconds, Yu Wen whispered: ¡°Shit........Look over there!¡± He pointed ahead. Everyone looked over and immediately went crazy. More than a dozen pale ghostly arms and legs swarmed over from all directions and gathered at a certain open space up ahead. They all carried bone-cleavers of all size and shapes as they asked eerily, ¡°Did you sew a doll today?¡± You Huo who was buried six feet under answered: ¡°I did alright. I sewed sixteen.¡± ¡°.........¡± The ghost arm and legs fell silent for a moment. The knifes then smashed down. Chapter 29: The Villagers Secre

Chapter 29: The Vigers Secre

t Chen Bin still held some psychological trauma towards these things so when he suddenly saw arge group of them, he was scared stiff. ¡°What is happening here?!¡± ¡°Did they mention sewing dolls just now?¡± Yu Wen hid behind a tree and watched them, ¡°None of us sewed anything this afternoon. The only one who sewed was my brother?!¡± He quietly gasped, ¡°Those things are looking for my brother! He must be over there!¡± Old Yu finally understood what You Huo meant by ¡®getting prepared¡¯. No wonder he sewed the dolls.... He had nned ahead and marked himself first so that ghosts woulde and find him if he was selected to enter the coffin. He even felt that one wasn¡¯t enough and made sixteen of them. Was he regarding those monsters as dogs? Oh, that¡¯s not right. It isn¡¯t just dogs. He was practically using them as living excavators. Influenced by their eagerness, the excavators were particrly efficient. The des glistened in the moonlight and they didn¡¯t seem to feel tired no matter how much they dug. After a few moments, the wet mud in the area had been turned inside out. Everyone watched on in daze. Fortunately, they didn¡¯t stand there in daze the whole time. Please read this from kk trantes Old Yu held the rope and swallowed fearfully as he looked at the bright knife des, ¡°That¡¯s my nephew. I can¡¯t just stand around and do nothing. You guys.......I won¡¯t ask for much but in a moment I¡¯ll go........¡± ¡°There¡¯s also me!¡± Yu Wen said. Chen Bin looked over. Every time the des glistened, he trembled in fear. He pped his face to motivate himself and whispered, ¡°Although....although I didn¡¯t act as a group with you before, I¡¯m not someone with a bad heart. With so many monsters, just the two of you won¡¯t be enough to suppress them. Don¡¯t count me out.........¡± Everyone agreed enthusiastically. Old Yu nodded, ¡°Okay then! Then after a while, we¡¯ll do this¡ª¡ª¨C¡± If they couldn¡¯t fight it, they should take advantage of the moment the opponent is at its weakest. Moreover, as the saying goes, ¡°those who have nothing to lose are the scariest¡±. Those arms and legs didn¡¯t have anything to lose so you could imagine how crazy they could get. Old Yu brought out the skills he had learnt from back in his younger days and made a loop with the rope. ¡°You can do this?¡± Chen Bin was surprised. ¡°Don¡¯t think of me as just an alcoholic. I¡¯ve also trained myself twenty years ago.¡± Old Yu chortled. But he had been drinking for many years and his fingers were no longer as dexterous. His act of knotting the rope was rather clumsy. ¡°Okay, okay stop bragging. Your stomach is almost bigger that Sister Yao¡¯s.¡± Yu Wen hated it the most when his father mentions anything about alcohol. He grabbed the remaining rope over and quickly tied it up. The method was obviously the same, but he was much more skilled than Old Yu. ¡°You can too?¡± Yu Yao asked softly. ¡°I taught him!¡± Old Yu was a little proud and a little emotional, ¡°I taught him when he was young. I didn¡¯t think that he would still remember.¡± Yu Wen rolled his eyes. He made a knot in a few seconds and very quickly finished knotting up all the ropes. ¡°Here, hold this end and throw it over. Have you seen things like this on TV before?¡± Yu Wen demonstrated it and then distributed the rope to the others. ¡°uracy is important.¡± This ssmate had not worked hard his whole life and waspletely hopeless in exams, but he was able to achieve high scores in things like darts and archery. Since a young age, he had been ying hoops with Old Yu and had be very skilled in his aiming ability. Apart from his face, he was basically able to date in high school because of this skill of his. The old man received the rope and tugged at it, ¡°Later, we will use these to catch those legs. Their centre of gravity is unstable so they should be easy to get. It¡¯s also not as scary as the arms.........¡± Yu Wen muttered, ¡°Weren¡¯t there a few heads? We could just smash it over after catching them. ¡°..........¡± Suddenly, everyone fell silent for a few seconds. They realised suddenly that........they were actually discussing how they should hit the exam subject. ¡°No matter.¡± Old Yu gritted his teeth, ¡°We¡¯ll see what happenster. If worstes to worse, we can just run!¡± ¡¤ In the blink of an eye, You Huo¡¯s coffin had emerged and the ground around him trembled. He knew that as soon as the lid was off, multiple knifes would pummel down. Dozens of bone-cleavers fell onto the coffin lid like heavy rain causing sawdust to scatter around. The corners of the coffin lid that was nailed shut instantly loosened. The coffin was unable to withstand therge amount of force exerted onto it and cracks formed. Fresh air leaked in through those cracks. You Huo stretched his body a little and quickly knocked one side of the coffin down before rolling out. Within a few seconds, he had managed to steal a knife from one of them. As he got ready to fight, those ghost arms and legs suddenly stopped their movements. The knives that they held couldn¡¯t reach him. You Huo looked carefully and saw that they were all bound by rope. The other ends of the rope were held firmly by the others, stopping them from venturing any further ahead. ¡°Brother!!¡± Yu Wen and the others jumped out from behind the tree. You Huo grabbed the rope from them and, whilst the arms and legs were in confusion, he quickly tied them up and seized their weapons. ¡¤ This twist happened almost instantaneously. Despite their great victory, they were all covered in cuts and bruises. Yu Wen and Chen Bin weren¡¯t strong enough and ended up rolling around the ground for a while as they wrestled with the ghost arm so their faces and necks were all scratched up. Old Yu¡¯s arm had bumped into a tree causing it to be a little dislocated. You Huo held the ropes and walked out. Yu Wen anxiously called out, ¡°Your hand!¡± Bright red blood flowed down from his forearm onto the back of his hand before staining his fingers and falling to the ground. Everyone who saw it was startled. ¡°It¡¯s okay. It¡¯s just a cut.¡± You Huo shook his hand causing the blood to scatter across the ground. That wound wasn¡¯t deep, but it was ratherrge. It was probably a wound caused by the knife when he snatched it. He took off his muddy coat and used the inside of it to wipe off the blood. ¡°Why are you like this?! You should at least treat it.¡± Old Yu tried to persuade You Huo while he gritted his teeth and realigned his arm. It was currently in the middle of winter and the temperature was very low. The blood exuding out from the wound quickly coagted into a line. ¡°The blood stopped.¡± You Huo stretched his arm out and showed it to him. He clearly had no intention to treat it. Old Yu: ¡°...........¡± After angering his uncle, You Huo was about to walk away but when he looked up, his line of sight met with the invigtors gaze. ¡°What are you looking at?¡± You Huo asked. He had just been stuffed inside a coffin and had also lost a bit of blood, so his face was paler than usual. Even the light from the fire torch couldn¡¯t warm hisplexion up. Instead, it made his earring appear even more dazzling to the eye. Qin Jiu¡¯s eyes seemed to move from his arm and then briefly to his earring. He held up a scarf in his hand and said: ¡°Nothing. I originally wanted to demonstrate some care for the examinees and lend you a temporary gauze, but it looks like it¡¯s not necessary now.¡± You Huo¡¯s lips moved a little. But he couldn¡¯t think of anything to say in response. Qin Jiu moved to put his scarf back on. You Huo¡¯s eyes briefly swept across the front of his shirt. Despite the piercingly cold winter wind, the first two buttons of his shirt were unbuttoned. He watched Qin Jiu stuff the end of the scarf inside his coat cor and felt that this man was really strange. Over the past few days, he hade to know that Qin Jiu wasn¡¯t afraid of the cold, but he still liked to wrap himself with a scarf. He didn¡¯t wrap it properly and just habitually used it to cover the first of his shirt. Please read this from kk trantes You Huo watched him for a moment before taking his eyes off the scarf, ¡°The jacket can be thrown. If the blood stains the scarf, I would have to wash it and return it to you. Don¡¯t you know how difficult it is washing off blood?¡± Qin Jiu chuckled a little, ¡°I don¡¯t usually get hurt like this so I don¡¯t really know.¡± You Huo: ¡°...............¡± Looks like he¡¯s taunting him. His expression turned cold and he turned to leave. Qin Jiu behind him suddenly asked, ¡°Are you nning on helping the system save the card? What were you going to do if those monsters cameter in the evening? Suffocate to death?¡± You Huo internallymented: I¡¯m not mentally retarded. But on the surface, he just said ¡°Oh, try and guess?¡± ¡¤ That night, despite being unable to answer the question, they had learned a lot. This time they made most of this opportunity and used therge group of arms and legs as guide dogs in the woods. The woods were still filled with fog, but they were prepared for this. The ck widow had some rejuvenating tea in those rooms. Everyone had grabbed a handful and they desperately smelled it as they went to relieve them from dizziness and nausea. After about half an hour, those frantic arms and legs finally slowed down. They wandered around a barren field covered by grass and appeared to be trying to drill into the ground. Under the light from the fire torch, something that was dully shiny appeared deep amongst the dark mud. ¡°What¡¯s that?¡± ¡°Seems to be a gravestone?¡± Everyone cautiously approached it. You Huo used his feet to clean off the dirt before bending down. ¡°Where¡¯s the fire?¡± Yu Wen and the others who were holding the fire torches moved closer. It was a t gravestone. There were photos of the deceased, their cause of death and also an address. The reason why they could understand it so easily was because the words engraved on the gravestones were written in Chinese. The name was Zhao Wentu. Examination ticket number: 8651112091327745 His friend Viger D missed him and had set up a grave for him in hopes that he could rest in peace. At the very bottom of the gravestone was information of the one who set up the gravestone. Viger D. Address: Chars Vige, house number 4. In the woods, a cold and wet wind blew through bringing along a sharp whistle. Everyone¡¯s face was pale. They stood there in dead silence. On the gravestone was a photo of the dead examinee. He had big eyes, thick eyebrows and was filled with vitality. After looking at it more closely, they couldn¡¯t help but feel a faint sense of familiarity. If he grew a stubble, grew his hair out a little more and made it a little more messy, and then changed into some dirty and ragged old clothes..... Then he would look like that crazy viger that imed to have seen Qin Jiu before. As for house number 4 in Chars Vige, the address of viger D, it just happened to also be that crazy man¡¯s house. Chapter 30: Diary

Chapter 30: Diary

¡°I¡¯m a little confused.........¡± Chen Bin pointed at the gravestone and whispered, ¡°What does this mean?¡± You Huo didn¡¯t immediately answer. He took a few steps and moved to another location that was dug up by a pair of ghost arms. A second gravestone was revealed. Name: Chu Xiaonan. Examination ticket number: 860575-04221703-1124 I will always miss you. Gravestone was set up by: Viger B. Address: Chars Vige, house number 2. On the photo was a woman with an egg-shaped face. She had her hair in a high ponytail and wasn¡¯t smiling. She looked both refined and capable. If you let down her hair and messed it up a little, added a thick scarf, coupled that with a long winter coat that went down to her knees and also included a set of cracked, pale lips........ It was that woman who was always smashing the ice by the river. Everyone¡¯s expression turned even more ugly. They stood there in silence for a moment. They then all began to dig. The third, fourth, fifth...... The area they searched grew broader and broader, and more and more gravestones were exposed. There were so many, they couldn¡¯t help but feel their scalp go numb. One after another, they uncovered familiar faces. For example, the two other vigers who regrly went to the river, and also the vige chief...... Chen Bin¡¯s face was ghostly pale. He no longer needed to confirm it. He could clearly understand what was going on¡ª¡ª¨C Those vigers who looked dull and lifeless were all once examinees. Those people who are now referred to as ¡°ABCD¡± were not originally NPC¡¯s of this vige. They once had a name. You Huo squatted before a gravestone and looked up into the distance. From where they were, they couldn¡¯t see the ends of the woods. They couldn¡¯t spend the whole night here digging. Even if they didn¡¯t eat or sleep, they wouldn¡¯t be able to finish digging up this entire ce. The number of people buried here would be a mystery even until the very end. ? Old Yu muttered in fear: ¡°What is this? Why did they be vigers? And......and with so many graves here, if all the examinees became vigers then how could there only be eighteen households?¡± ¡°There¡¯s something here!¡± Yu Yao suddenly called out. She knelt before Zhao Wentu¡¯s gravestone and held up a clear waterproof bag. ¡°Where did you find it?¡± You Huo walked over. ¡°It was buried here.¡± Yu Yao pointed to the ground. Herrge belly made it inconvenient for her to move around, so she was slowly digging along the edge of Zhao Wentu¡¯s gravestone. She didn¡¯t have to dig long to uncover this waterproof bag. Please read this from kk trantes ¡°It¡¯s probably something left behind by Zhao Wentu.¡± Yu Yao said. You Huo opened the waterproof bag and took out the book. Just as he was about to open it, he paused. He looked down at Zhao Wentu¡¯s gravestone and said: ¡°Borrowing it to take a look.¡± He said this very quietly, like a casual grunt. No one heard him apart from the invigtor who was forced to follow him around. Hearing his words, Qin Jiu¡¯s eyes flickered slightly. He looked at him for a while. The young man on the gravestone continued to smile. ? With a quick skim, you could tell instantly that it was Zhao Wentu¡¯s diary. More precisely, it was a record of his experiences during the examination. You Huo skipped over the others and turned directly to the contents mentioning this exam. ? -Day 1 of Foreign Language. Sunny.- This time we were very lucky and didn¡¯t manage to get English! There are not many Gypsy speakers left in this world anymore, yet this damned system dared to examine us on it. But it also wasn¡¯t unreasonable. There¡¯s this girl in the team who seems to know a little. I think saying ¡°little¡± is being too humble. At the very least, she was able to trante very well for the listening part of the exam. That girl wrote down the ck widow¡¯s name on the spot. Damn impressive! She said that the name ¡°floure¡± meant flower. It¡¯s pretty nice...... Alright, I really have nothing else to say about that. Except for her, the other teammates don¡¯t seem very reliable (I hope that I can soone back and p myself in the face for saying this). It might also be because my expectations were too high. Afterall, you don¡¯t always get lucky and get teamed up with those godsend teammates. The vigers said that we would need to draw a card to be able to enter the ck widow¡¯s house (Thank you ex-girlfriend for teaching me about tarot cards and making me memorise the meanings behind the entire set of cards. I didn¡¯t expect something like this to actually be usefulter on.) Unfortunately by luck was bad and I drew the hanging man..... In the afternoon, we were locked in the house and spent almost half the day sewing dolls. Manualbour was the death of me, so I only managed to sew an arm and a leg. I¡¯m a little worried. I don¡¯t know what the intention behind these dolls were but it probably wasn¡¯t a good thing. It is now nine o¡¯clock at night. I should go sleep. Sweet dreams. PS: This vige is really strange. -Day 2 of Foreign Language. Cloudy.- Someone died. Two of them. One had their limbs cut off because of the dolls. I knew there was something wrong with sewing the dolls. If you didn¡¯t sew, you die, but if you sewed the most, you would be cut up. With so much fucking blood and the body missing, what difference was it between this and death? That unlucky teammate was still very young and seemed to still be in high school. We only met yesterday but I remember him saying that his father¡¯s name was Lin and his mother¡¯s name was Tang so he was called Lin Tang. Sigh........ The scene was too bloody. I don¡¯t want to recall it or remember it. The other one was forced to enter the coffin because of an incorrect answer. Our answer for the second listening question was wrong, but how could it be wrong? I really don¡¯t get it...... The girl tranted the entire speech spoken by the ck widow for us. She said that the previous vige chief was too foolish and disapproved of the ck widow¡¯s involvement with the dead. He ostracised her for many years until her husband and children died (I suspect the vige chief probably asked someone to do it andter the ck widow killed him in retaliation?). She said she buried her entire family in the east part of the woods and had since be addicted to making dolls as a form of mental rehabilitation. The dolls helped convey her feelings, and through this she remembered her family. The girl wrote east part of the woods and also included grave as a precaution, but it was actually wrong! I don¡¯t get it. Now I want to go and take a look at the east part of the woods, but the vigers had warned us that we must not enter the woods. They seemed to be particrly afraid of that ce. Having learnt our lesson fromst night, this time everyone agreed to saw the same amount. We all only sewed the left arm so that there won¡¯t be anyone who has sewn more. It is now eight o¡¯clock at night. Soon there will be a meeting to discuss the answer to the next question. Sweet dreams. PS: I still find this vige weird, especially those vigers. The girl said that the Gypsy inscription outside the vige meant ¡°ck Earth¡±. ck could be associated with death and it¡¯s also the same ck in ck widow. So this was probably also ¡°The Land of the Dead.¡± -Day 3 of Foreign Language. Cloudy.- Another teammate died. It was because of those dolls. It was useless even if we sewed the same amount. They actually calcted by including the amount sewn on the first day too. Then that means I¡¯ve sewn a total of two arms and one leg? The only good thing was that we managed to answer correctly today. Please read this from kk trantes The ck widow¡¯s letter of blessing was very long. The girl could only understand a small portion of it. Along with some guesses, we felt that one of the dolls wearing ck clothes looked a little like viger A. The letter of blessing said that we should stand at the door, knock three times and say, ¡°I have a gift for you¡±. We were not allowed to get it wrong. We did as it said, and the door really opened. But the moment viger A saw the doll, he instantly went crazy. Forget it, I¡¯m not going to write about all the fights and conflicts. It¡¯s too tiring. It¡¯s enough just to be alive. Today everyone discussed again and decided to ensure that everyone has sewn the same amount. It is now eight o¡¯clock at night. Soon we will be having another meeting to discuss the next answer....... But with fewer and fewer people, it can no longer be called a meeting. -Day 4 of Foreign Language- Another died. We all sewed the same amount so the one who is targeted was randomly selected. Also, another terrible thing happened. The person living in viger A¡¯s house had changed. The new one turned out to be Lin Tang who had died on the first day. It really was Lin Tang, not someone who resembled him. Even the mole was exactly the same. He looked very dazed and would dig for ice together with the other vigers. The scariest thing was that he didn¡¯t recognise us anymore and no longer remembered his name. He said his name was viger A. The previous viger had left, and he had only moved in today. Then......does that mean that you are freed once you receive a doll? And the examinees who were killed would rece them as the new viger It is now seven o¡¯clock at night. There are only three of us left. I think.....I probably won¡¯t be able to get through this exam. Although I have mentally prepared myself for this with every exam, it is still a little sad thinking about it. I hope that girl would be able to live a little longer. We have troubled her too much in this exam. If there is a 1 in 10,000 chance and we are able to sessfully pass..........I hope to see her again at another city. At that time, I would change my self-introduction and try to get to know her again. Alright, I¡¯m probably just being too wishful. -Day 5 of Foreign Language.- I was cut, but I was resurrected. I still have my arms and legs, but it feels strange to touch, like cotton. If this was what it meant to be alive........ I can no longer remember what happened yesterday. While there¡¯s still time, I need to dig a grave. I hope I can remember who I am after digging one. I wish her sweet dreams. My name is Zhao Wentu. My name is Zhao Wentu.......... ? The actual diary came to an abrupt stop here. Thest entry showed signs of incoherence. On the reverse side of this entry were the words, ¡°My name is Zhao Wentu¡± filling the page. As it was written, the words became more and more awkward and crooked. At the veryst line, there was only one word: ¡°My¡±. ? After reading Zhao Wentu¡¯s diary, everyone¡¯s heart went cold. Judging from the contents of the diary, the gravestone was probably set up by Zhan Wentu himself. He had constantly repeated his name as he stood there in desperate attempt to make himself remember it a little longer. But the moment he wrote ¡°Rest in peace¡±, he had be viger D and he no longer remembered anything. asionally, he would suddenly feel that he did not belong there, and he would also suddenly feel that a visitor appeared familiar, but he could never exin why. As a result, he had be known as the crazy man. When the ghost limbs cut them up, they said that obedient guests could live, while disobedient ones could only die? Could this still be considered living? The severing of the arms and legs was like a curse. Cursed examinees would be vigers and be forever bound to this vige whilst bearing the name of viger ABCD until the day an examinee gives them the correct doll. At that time, they could finally truly pass on...... It was no wonder those vigers were so afraid of the ck widow. It was because they also used to be examinees. No wonder they were reluctant to enter the woods. It was because their own graves were there. ? You Huo finished reading the final page and closed the diary expressionlessly. He shoved the diary back into the waterproof bag and intended to bury it back in ce, but he eventually changed his mind. Holding the bag, he said: ¡°Let¡¯s go.¡± ¡°Go where?¡± Everyone had not yet recovered from their emotions. They were very confused. You Huo: ¡°I don¡¯t want to take the test anymore. Gifting all the dolls out tonight.¡± The words ¡°gifting the dolls¡± were spoken by this great master, but his expression said ¡°bomb the exam¡±. Chapter 31: Burn the Exam

Chapter 31: Burn the Exam

From their previous experience, they learnt that they didn¡¯t need toplete all the questions provided during the exam. As long as the examinee can bear the consequences of not writing down an answer such as not earning any points, non-critical ones could be skipped. There were three methods one could end an exam: One was total annihtion; another was when you run out of time and thest method was answering the key question(s) early. The key question of the hunter was finding that special set of tableware. The key question here was the reading question ¡ª¡ª Gifting out the dolls and finding your way home. Previously, Yu Wen had thought that it would take them a long time to gift the dolls out. Like how it was recorded in Zhao Wentu¡¯s diary, everyone would gather together, try and blindly guess the correct owner of each doll and then carefullyplete a small portion of the task each day. He never expected this golden thigh of his to think that it was too slow and he even wanted to finish it in one night. Eighteen households in one night? What kind of joke is this........ It wasn¡¯t because they didn¡¯t believe in You Huo, they just had no idea where to start. ? When they returned to their house, it waste at night. You Huo¡¯s room was still in the same state as it was when they left. The only difference was that the water on the coffee table had cooled down and the edges of the dry bread had turned white, making it even more unptable. The fire in the room was still burning well in the furnace. You Huo wandered around the sofa and suddenly asked: ¡°Where¡¯s the sack?¡± ¡°Sack? What sack?¡± The others didn¡¯t understand. Just as You Huo wanted to add ¡°the one with the dolls¡±, he saw Qin Jiu indicate to the furnace with his chin. Everyone looked over. On the woollen rug next to the fire, a grey sackid on the ground. One of the dolls inside had fallen out and it fell right next to the fire. If the fire was just a little stronger, it would have been burned. ¡°How did it end up there?!¡± Yu Wen hurried over and picked up the sack and the doll. You Huo pointed to the sofa and said: ¡°It was there before. Who moved it?¡± Everyone looked at each other but no one could answer his question. Old Yu said, ¡°When we found out that you were sent to enter the coffin, we rushed out after grabbing the rope. Maybe someone ced it wrongly because they were in a hurry?¡± But they all recalled carefully, and they were certain they didn¡¯t touch it. Could it be that.........It can move on its own? Just the thought of it was strange. No one dared to think any further. Yu Wen muttered: ¡°If one got burnt and we don¡¯t have the right numbers, we would have been in trouble.¡± He picked up the doll by its leg: ¡°It was so close. Look, there¡¯s a patch here.¡± ¡°And here too. Even half of the clothes¡ª¡ª-¡± Yu Wen turned the doll around. You Huo interrupted him: ¡°Those two ces were there originally.¡± Yu Wen stopped: ¡°Huh?¡± That doll was one of thest four added by the ck widow. You Huo recalled seeing burn patches on it at that time. ¡°That being said, does that mean that it was almost burnt before?¡± Yu Wen held onto the doll and said: ¡°Why does it encounter so many disasters? Does this count as a clue? Who in the vige has been burnt before?¡± Yu Yao said: ¡°Zhao Wentu.¡± Everyone was stunned for a moment. Even You Huo turned to look at her. Yu Yao felt ufortable being watched: ¡°Uh.......I¡¯m meant viger D.¡± She felt bad calling someone ¡°crazy¡± and said with a red face: ¡°Maybe it¡¯s because I¡¯m a little too concerned with cleanliness, I always notice it if other people¡¯s clothes are not clean. He had a lot of ashes on his sleeves and on the sides of his clothes. The back of his shirt was also a little burnt. It might not necessarily mean that he was burnt before, but I just thought.........maybe.¡± When she was done speaking, she kept quiet again. She sat there with apletely red face. ¡°That makes sense!¡± Yu Wen looked at the doll and said: ¡°If there are really those traces, then it must be him!¡± You Huo made a sound of agreement. When he nodded, everyone was instantly relieved. This kind of scene was like that moment when a study g checks their answer with a study god. If they happened to have the same answer, they would be pleased because they were certain they would be fine. ? Zhao Wentu had mentioned in his diary that they gave the doll to viger A because they felt that the doll resembled him. So the key to giving these gifts out was to find the simrities between the dolls and the vigers. Each doll would represent a viger. ¡°I suddenly feel like I¡¯m ying a game......¡± Yu Wen held the sack of dolls in his left hand and shook the doll in his right hand: ¡°Guess who I am?¡± ¡°Then guess.¡± Old Yu pointed at him, ¡°Put it down and don¡¯t fool around!¡± ? The dolls were lined up and everyone sat around it. After staring at it for a full minute, they exploded. Guess what?! Except for Zhao Wentu¡¯s doll which had been burned and had obvious differences from the other dolls, the other dolls had no unique characteristics at all. The minor differences were negligible, and they all shared amon point: Ugly. A couple of threads in the cloth and they dared to say that those were the eyes and nose. If you covered it with a piece of cloth, it was considered clothes. Holding this and saying to the vigers ¡°this is you¡± ¨C Are you trying to piss them off? ¡°Are there any birthmarks?¡± Chen Bin raised his hand and asked with embarrassment: ¡°Can.....we take off the clothes?¡± ¡°Are they going to fight you if you take of its clothes?¡± Old Yu had a glum expression: ¡°But there¡¯s a problem. Even if there are birthmarks under the clothes, are you going to go around stripping all the vigers?¡± Chen Bin: ¡°............¡± Please read this from kk trantes Although it was spoken quite harshly, he was right. What¡¯s more, those vigers locked themselves in the house all day and wouldn¡¯te out. Zhao Wentu said that they would only open the door if you knocked on their door three times and said ¡°I have a gift for you¡±. But once that door was opened, the examinees would need to gift out the correct doll. No mistakes were allowed. Everyone looked at the dolls in silence. They once again deeply felt confused¡ª¡ª How the fuck do we do that? ? ¡°What time is it?¡± You Huo suddenly spoke up. Everyone looked at him. They then looked at Qin Jiu. Qin Jiu took out his phone: ¡°Two in the morning. There¡¯s still about five and a half hours left.¡± You Huo: ¡°That¡¯s enough.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°Are you sure?¡± You Huo drank some water and made a sound of affirmation. He then swept all the dolls into the sack. He looked around the room and pointed at a few things: ¡°Rope, knife, cloth. Take those and whatever else you find.¡± ¡°Oh.¡± Everyone did as he said. They got everything ready and followed You Huo out the door before asking: ¡°What are we doing?¡± You Huo said: ¡°Robbery.¡± Everyone: ¡°???¡± Qin Jiu suddenlyughed. That deep voice of his sounded close to his ear. It made those hearing it feel ufortable. ¡°Go over there andugh.¡± You Huo turned his head away with a stiff expression. He then said to the others, ¡°Don¡¯t waste time. Are youing or not?¡± Everyone: ¡°.........Coming,ing.¡± ? Soon, they stood in front of a small house. The sign on the door read: ¡°4 Chars Vige¡±. Knock, knock, knock. You Huo knocked on the door: ¡°I have a gift for you.¡± Everyone held their breaths and waited. Rustling could be heard from behind the door. It was probably the sound of footsteps, but it sounded like cloth rubbing against the floor. Everyone recalled the contents of Zhao Wentu¡¯s diary. He had mentioned that although he had arms and lefts, they were soft to the couth, like it was stuffed with cotton......... It was both scary and sad. With a creak, the door opened. Zhao Wentu poked his head out. His face disyed signs of aging and his expression was dull. The white hairs mixed in in dark hair seemed to glisten a little under the moonlight. His ck eyes stared at You Huo without blinking. He asked slowly: ¡°What gift?¡± You Huo took out the waterproof bag and the burnt doll: ¡°A diary and also a doll of you. It¡¯s called Zhao Wentu.¡± The overlooking moonlight stretched his shadow out. It fell over Zhao Wentu¡¯s face. He stood under the light and shadow for a long time. His eyes then finally revealed a small light. ¡°Zhao.......Wen...........Tu....¡± He looked at the humble doll and repeated that name slowly. Because he hadn¡¯t said it for a long time, his pronunciation of it was a bit rusty. ¡°Zhao Wentu......¡± He repeated it again. .................. He stood there muttering the same words numerous times. Suddenly, he startedughing out loud and bowing forward. ¡°Don¡¯t tell me he¡¯s crazy again?¡± Old Yu asked with worry. Zhao Wentu didn¡¯t hear him. Heughed for a long time, and then he started to cry. Finally, he snatched the two gifts, pushed away You Huo and the others and rushed into the woods. In a blink of an eye, he had disappeared. ¡°Does this count as........freeing him? Where is he going?¡± ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡± You Huo walked away. It was as if he didn¡¯t care much about the oue. ? In a blink of an eye, they stood before another house. This time it was 1 Chars Vige, the house of viger A. Everyone stood there with aplex expression. They stopped talking. They had never seen this viger before so how were they going to match the viger with a doll? Let them pick it out randomly from the sack? Just as they were about to retreat, You Huo knocked on the door. ¡°Open the door, I have a gift.¡± ¡°........¡± Okay, it¡¯s toote now. Everyone looked on numbly as the door opened. A viger they had not seen before asked You Huo: ¡°What gift?¡± You Huo immediately responded with binding a rope around the viger¡¯s neck. He looped it around several times and bound the viger tightly. Viger A: ¡°???¡± Everyone instantly copsed: It really was robbery..... You Huo tightened the ropes and ced the other end in Yu Wen¡¯s hand: ¡°Don¡¯t let go. If you lose it, you¡¯re dead.¡± Yen Wen held onto the rope and looked at viger A with simrly confused expressions. He didn¡¯t know what to do. By the time everyone returned to their senses, You Huo was already standing at the door to viger B¡¯s house. Before everyone¡¯s eyes, he once again raised that sinful hand of his and said: ¡°Open the door, I have a gift.¡± Soon afterwards, there was another person in Old Yu¡¯s hands. ......... ? Half an hour. In just half an hour, they had ransacked the entire vige. There was a total of neen people in the eighteen households. Excluding Zhao Wentu who had already ran off in a crazy state, they others were all in their hands. This even included the vige chief and his elderly mother. This was the most outrageous greeting ever received by the vigers in Chars Vige. They found an empty space by the river and gathered the vigers there under You Huo¡¯s instructions. ¡°And then?¡± Old Yu asked. He then saw You Huo pick up the sack and pour out all the dolls. He pushed them over before the group of vigers: ¡°We have brought the ck widow¡¯s gift.¡± Vigers: ¡°................¡± ¡°Something like this is okay?¡± The eyes of Old Yu and the others were about the protrude out. But they then thought about it: ¡°That¡¯s true, the question didn¡¯t specifically say that they had to gift it out individually.¡± There wasplete silence by the river. Then all the vigers went crazy. ? The dolls ended up in their hands and it ripped apart that earlier illusion of peace. The vigers started to scream and struggle around. With them losing their senses, they suddenly became a lot stronger. They broke free from the ropes and rushed forward, attacking everyone in sight. Their crazy act waspletely different to Zhao Wentu¡¯s. Everyone was caught off guard by this and weren¡¯t able to hold them back. Although they had brought knives, it was only used for threatening. Now that they knew that the vigers were once examinees like them, they didn¡¯t have the heart to harm them. Please support the trantor and read this from kktrantes(.)home(.)blog Amidst the chaos, there was suddenly movementing from the woods. The sound of crawling came from all directions. You Huo looked back and his pupils instantly constricted. The ghost hands that came out this time wasn¡¯t just one or two. It also wasn¡¯t a dozen....... Everyone who had been buried six feet under- all their severed limbs and body ¨C they all emerged out from within the woods. It wouldn¡¯t be too excessive describing this situation as exam uprising. Sharp screams rang. Everyone drew closer together and panicked. ¡°Take them into the woods!¡± You Huo shouted. ¡°The woods again? Why?!!!!¡± Despite asking why, the group of people still did as they were told. They formed a circle and pushed their bodies to their absolute limits as they ran. The cold touch from the bone cleavers brushed past them numerous times. Each time, it would narrowly miss their faces and skin. All those ¡°near misses¡± were more terrifying than anything. Soon, they scattered in all directions like ripples in a pond. ? You Huo jumped over a fallen tree and examined his surroundings. He quickly calcted the density of the woods. Ever since Zhao Wentu ran into the woods, there had been one thought on his mind: In this ce, what would be considered liberation? ording to the diary, one could be freed following sessful gifting of the dolls. But that was just Zhao Wentu¡¯s spection. He was just an examinee at that time, so he only knew part of the truth. He just happened to see viger A go missing the next day after gifting him a doll, so he connected the two dots together. But looking at the situation now, there was clearly something important still missing. If not, they wouldn¡¯t be chased down like this. There must be something they had to do to quell the resentment and hatred held by these severed limbs. Only then, the examinees will be able to rx. You Huo had been constantly mulling over this problem. He then recalled the doll that had been burned by fire. Whether it¡¯s the doll or Zhao Wentu, why were burn marks appearing over and over again....... Why did the vigers say that it was a tradition of Chars Vige to bury, not cremate......... The more he thought about it, the more he felt that there was only one reason for this¡ª¡ª¨C A burial would trap and bound them to this ce while cremation would allow them to properly rest in peace. ? You Huo eyed several easily mmable locations and internally made his decision. He lured those arms and legs over to the burning nest and felt that time was right. Immediately, he stopped his steps. He reached inside his pocket intending to pull out his lighter and light up a nearby tree but the moment he reached inside, his eyebrows raised. Gone. His pocket was empty. You Huo: ¡°.........¡± Must have fallen out during the chaos earlier........ But in some situations, even a one second pause would put one¡¯s life at risk. In just that time frame, countless horrible figures had already rushed over. They immediately surrounded him forming a circle. What was even more terrible was that there was also the thick fog fromst time that induced drowsiness. .......... When the limbs started to take action, You Huo pressed his finger against a tree trunk and drew a few strokes. He did it faster than he could think about it. When he suddenly realised that what he was writing didn¡¯t seem to be 001, a sudden burst of fire enveloped those severed limbs. It was as if it was thrown into a pot of hot oil. The fire spread and scattered rapidly the moment itnded. The tangled trees here appeared to burn more easily than expected. In an instant, the woods were enveloped by a sea of fire. Countless pale severed limbs flew out from the fire before falling silently to the ground and disintegrating into dust. You Huo narrowed his eyes as he watched the fire. Bright reflections flicked against his light-coloured eyes. His gaze crossed over the fire and it fell over to a location out into the distance. There, invigtor 001 emptied the remaining contents of an oil barrel into the fire. The mes instantly surged in intensity. Under the bright lights, he strode over. There was a hint of arrogance lingering at the corner of his lips. It made his usually apathetic andzy look seem a little livelier. Under the hands of this man, the entire examination centre had turned into a burning furnace. All the zombie limbs that were trapped in a never-ending cycle were smothered by this sea of fire. Ashes to ashes, dust to dust. Chapter 32: Punishmen

Chapter 32: Punishmen

t In this moment, Qin Jiu didn¡¯t seem like an invigtor but more like an unruly examinee. From within that arrogance, there was also a hint of wildness. Admittedly, it was something that was very attractive to many. Despite clearly only knowing him for a few days, You Huo¡¯s instinctively had a strong thought. He felt that......This was the moment that was closest to Qin Jiu¡¯s true nature. It was also much more pleasing to the eye. Qin Jiu stopped before him. From his pocket, he pulled out a lighter, ¡°I found this by the river. I wonder which not very well-behaved examinee is throwing things around?¡± You Huo¡¯s expression instantly turned cold. Internally he felt that he must have gone crazy. Pleasing to the eye my ass. Qin Jiu flicked the lighter causing a small me to appear. He then blew it out and closed it. ¡°No one wants it?¡± You Huo snatched it back. He coldly scowled, ¡°Can¡¯t you speak without provocation?¡± Qin Jiuughed. He said modestly, ¡°Back at you.¡± You Huo¡¯s expression turned tense. He didn¡¯t want to give Qin Jiu anymore attention but a few secondster he asked, ¡°Did you start such a big fire?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°Not necessarily. It could also be the examination centre spontaneouslybusting.¡± You Huo: ¡°..........¡± Seeing the great master¡¯s massive eyeroll, Qin Jiuughed again, ¡°Who else would have the time to start such a big fire? If you must ask a question with such an obvious answer, I can only cooperate and answer you with an interesting answer.¡± You Huo ridiculed, ¡°That must¡¯ve been hard on you.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°You¡¯re wee.¡± You Huo: ¡°...........So when did you find the time? When I was gifting the dolls out by the river, you were still around.¡± ¡°Oh, you would need to thank those army of limbs. This time they weren¡¯t crazy enough to also chase after the exam invigtor.¡± Qin Jiu looked around and said, ¡°You all moved faster than rabbits and disappeared into the woods in a blink of an eye. I was bored and the doors to the houses just happened to be open so I went and looked around. On my way, I borrowed a few barrels of oil.¡± You Huo: ¡°And you poured it around the woods?¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°A foolish trick.¡± You Huo: ¡°........¡± He had only said it casually and it didn¡¯t mean that he really did that but there seemed to be a strange meaning behind Qin Jiu¡¯s words. This was particrly when he said the word ¡°foolish¡± and he just happened to nce at You Huo at the same time. He really was looking for death. Qin Jiu admired his stink-eye and he didn¡¯t seem to have any intention to stop his teasing, ¡°Foolish methods may be useful but it¡¯s boring. I don¡¯t like it.¡± You Huo also felt that it was boring, but he didn¡¯t say anything. Please read this from kk trantes ¡°I was toozy to circle the woods, so I just drenched the passing limbs in oil.¡± Then, those severed limbs scattered out like dandelion seeds. It took along the oil and spread it in all directions. Whenever Qin Jiu found a barrel, he would pour it onto a nearby group. In total, twelve barrels were found and eleven and a half were poured out. Those severed limbs eventually understood that he didn¡¯t not have any good intentions and started to avoid him. So Mr. Invigtor took thest half barrel of oil into the woods with the thought that ¡°since it was open, he shouldn¡¯t waste it¡±. You Huo finally could no longer hold himself back. He wondered, ¡°With you pouring the oil out in advance, would that be viting the rules?¡± ¡°All invigtors should have the ability to predict and prepare in advance.¡± Qin Jiu said. Having been an invigtor for so many years, he had been very urate in his ability to predict when an examinee would ask for help. Making the necessary preparations in advance was something many invigtors would do to avoid being a step toote when the timees. ¡¤ Qin Jiu pulled out the help card from his coat pocket. With it sandwiched between his two fingers, he waved it around in front of You Huo, ¡°With this card as a premise, how can it be considered as a vition?¡± ¡°You mean the help card has been used?¡± You Huo asked doubtfully, ¡°How can that be? I didn¡¯t write 001.¡± ¡°Didn¡¯t write?¡± Qin Jiu thought he was just too embarrassed to admit it. Heughed, ¡°If you didn¡¯t write 001 then why would I be standing here?¡± You Huo: ¡°Who knows.¡± Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes, ¡°If you didn¡¯t write 001......then what did you write? It couldn¡¯t have been my name.¡± You Huo internally thought: Who knows your name? Don¡¯t be so narcissistic. He said stiffly, ¡°Forget it. I wrote it in a haste. In any case, it wasn¡¯t you. If it was you, why has the help card not changed?¡± As he said that, the card in Qin Jiu¡¯s hand suddenly burst into mes. It had spontaneously lit up. The moment it turned into ashes, a crow nearby pped its wings and perched onto a dead branch. It opened its beak and said with a rough voice: ¡¾Examinee You Huo obtained a total of 1 help card, and have used 1. A total of 0 remains. ¡¿ You Huo: ¡°.............¡± Rubbish system. Qin Jiu spread open his hands, allowing the ashes of the card to fall through his fingers. ¡°See? The system approves.¡± See your grandmother. You Huo maintained a handsome deadpanned expression and walked away with the lighter in his hands. He went to find the other examinees. ............ Behind Qin Jiu was the tree You Huo was supporting himself on. In the centre, there was a faint grey mark. It appeared to be stains left by a finger. If you examined it carefully, you could see that the grey marks formed two English letters: GI Qin Jiu¡¯s eyes nced over. Just as he was about to move closer, someone suddenly rushed out from the fire. .......... That person paused and stared at invigtor 001. His eyes swam around. His face revealed signs of haggardness and there were multiple rips in his clothes, making him look very pathetic but his eyes were still bright, like the stars during a winter night. It wasn¡¯t anyone else. It was Zhao Wentu who had run off madly earlier. After a long, long time, Zhao Wentu said, ¡°Qin.....Jiu? Qin Jiu?¡± Qin Jiu stopped. He furrowed his brows, ¡°Do you know me?¡± Zhao Wentu looked like he had just woken up, yet he also seemed like he was still stuck inside a dream from many years ago. He smiled. In that instant, he seemed to still possess the youth and vitality he once possessed like the photo at his gravestone: ¡°How could I not know you? We went through three exams together. You may not remember me, but I remember you.¡± ¡°Why are you here?¡± He sighed softly. He then added: ¡°What about that invigtor you¡¯re always against? Not here?¡± ¡°Which invigtor?¡± Qin Jiu asked in a low voice. Zhao Wentu lowered his voice and moved closer: ¡°Invigtor A.¡± Hearing this title from another person¡¯s mouth, Qin Jiu frowned slightly. He couldn¡¯t tell whether he was in a good or bad mood. Zhao Wentu also said: ¡°Wasn¡¯t your luck extremely bad such that you always end up in the same exam as him? Is he not here?¡± Qin Jiu didn¡¯t immediately burst the other party¡¯s dream state and just made a sound of acknowledgement. ¡°Long time no see. How many exams have you finished? Can you get out safely?¡± Zhao Wentu finished saying this and then whispered: ¡°I probably asked a stupid question. You¡¯ll definitely have no problem passing. I on the other hand.........¡± He turned around and looked at the sea of fire. He whispered: ¡°I can¡¯t do it........I can¡¯t get out. Even if I get out, it¡¯s pointless. I probably can no longer be considered human anymore.¡± Qin Jiu looked at the other party. Zhao Wentu stood there and watched the fire for a long time. He seemed to be trying to etch this scene into his memories. After a long time, he took something out from inside his clothes: ¡°I should go. Can you hold onto this for me?¡± Qin Jiu looked at the waterproof bag he handed over. The diary was still lying fully intact inside. In addition to that, there was also a dusty phone that clearly looked like it hadn¡¯t been used in a long time. ¡°I just remembered that I had hidden these for a long time.¡± Zhao Wentu pointed to the phone and said, ¡°I don¡¯t want to disappearpletely. At least these will be able to prove that I once lived.¡± Qin Jiu: ¡°.........Okay.¡± Please read this from kk trantes Zhao Wentu breathed a sigh of relief. ¡°I am Zhao Wentu.¡± ¡°My name is Zhao Wentu.....¡± Heughed out loud. He then turned and ran back into the sea of fire. Qin Jiu held the waterproof bag and stood there for a while. It was like he was seeing off a distant friend. It wasn¡¯t until the fire came closer that he stowed away those items. ........ In the distance, there were sounds of people speaking. You Huo managed to find the others one after another. Qin Jiu had fortunately set the woods alight in time and no one had died. Fire was burning all over the ce but the area they stood was fine. Perhaps the system left a small foothold for them so that they could hear the final results of the exams. The crows flew out from the several houses and perched in a row onto the dead branches above their heads. The moment Zhao Wentu¡¯s figurepletely disappeared, they called out ¡°Ahh¡± and said:¡¾Examination centre has copsed and cannot be recovered. Examination has been terminated. ¡¿ Everyone: ¡°..............¡± This exam was divided into two parts. For the three listening questions, the total score was 15 points. ck widow¡¯s name (5 points) Where is the ck widow¡¯s family? Please find them. (5 points) How many people are there in the ck widow¡¯s house? (5 points) The two reading questions: Help the ck widow send out her gifts (9 points) Find the way home (3 points) The ck widow¡¯s name was 5 points, sending out gifts was 9 points and finding the way home was 3 points. It was Chen Bin¡¯s first time hearing a result like this. He waspletely shocked. After a long time, he finally couldn¡¯t help but ask; ¡°When did we find the way home? I even suspected that there was no way home in the first ce.¡± Yu Wen was the one who stretched his arm out and answered: ¡°In a while after the fire is gone, will there be any more trees? Without the trees, everywhere is the way home!¡± Chen Bin: ¡°???????¡± The system continued to report the final examination results. The total points obtained by the examinees total 17 points, exceeding the average score of 12 points. The total time used was two and a half days. Compared to the average time used, 7 days and 5 hours were saved. Another high score! Another early paper submission! And they even destroyed the examination centre! Everyone was about to cheer when the examination system added: ¡¾Examination centre was inflicted permanent damage. 5 points will be deducted from the examinee¡¯s total score. The total score is 12 points.¡¿ You Huo tsked. ¡¾Invigtor will be punished once.¡¿ Qin Jiu: ¡°Hah.¡± The Novel will be updated first on this website. Come back and continue reading tomorrow, everyone!