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 a larger 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 had come down from.
As for the 100m ahead sign, it was pointing down the larger 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 becoming 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 unpopular scenic spots on a mountain where local residents would try to get some business from occasional 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: Accommodation, 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 glare 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, his last 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 invigilator'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.
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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 glanced at You Huo and spoke timidly.
"In a damned place 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 the complete 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 boss laughed even harder: "You wish."
Old Yu: "..."
"Alright! No more jokes!" The boss said, "After you complete 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 place! 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 slammed 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 glared at her angrily, tightened his collar, 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——-"
He turned to look at the clock on the wall: "From 3:12pm. You can check out at 3:12pm seven days later. 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 glanced 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 hers comforted 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 calamity3. 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 while laughing loudly.
Xiao Hu thought for a moment and told You Huo his rehearsed lines: "Hot water is available, and heating is in place. For those who have just entered, don't rush to heat up your hands and burrow in your blankets. 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 seconds later, Xiao Hu turned his head and shouted: Boss! The guests want to eat!"
·
Boss Chu claims 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.
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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 relaxed.
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 glass of cold beer. She took a sip and explained: "The group that checked in yesterday morning only had three people. Oh———–"
She pointed at the roof: "Except for meals, they basically don't come out at all. They don't even come 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 place 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."