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 blame, 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 flashed by before quickly disappearing.

Looking at it's actions, it appeared to be heading to the village.

·

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 village, 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 villagers all said that we shouldn't enter the woods. They're the ones who didn't listen."

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 success."

Chen Bin looked at him and said: "Brother Liang...you're calculating everything like a humanoid calculator."

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 blanket, they laid 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 minutes later, 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, a layer of cold sweat formed all over him.....

That noise was coming 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 flash of light.

The last 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 villager who was smashing the ice by the river.

He internally thought: This action looks really similar.....

·

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 from last 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 villager's houses was still dark. The windows were old and there were still cobwebs on some of the doors.

In once glance, 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 villager 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 villager?" 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 translator and read this from

kktranslates(.)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 particularly 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 to come out? Or is he not up yet? Didn't the village chief mention that all the villagers are afraid of the things coming out at night so they try to sleep as long as they can and will get up late?"

"Let's wait until evening."

Everyone thought of the village 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 black widow's door.

On the door, the listening questions from the day before were still clearly visible. The answer area was still blank.

With experience from last time, they very quickly found the pen used for answering the question——-

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 black widow's name?

He pulled out the photo of the gravestones and copied a large 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 black 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 playing 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 invigilator 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 black 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 Village. The black widow has prepared gifts for the villagers. That's right, they're the carefully sewn dolls. She wrote a long letter of blessing with messages for each of the villagers. Please read the letter and help the black widow deliver the dolls to the correct villagers based on the information in the letter. The witch god above would punish those who are careless. As for those who are attentive, the villagers will guide them home. There is a way home at a place where there are no trees. Will you be able to find it?