The night was dark. The undercurrent beneath the sea was turbulent.
The small white ship began to turn back.
After coming out from the confinement room, 021 didn't try to talk to You Huo again.
Everything was like how it was when they first boarded the ship.
This Miss Decisive walked through the cabin wearing her big sunglasses paying no heed to the others. Whenever she had the opportunity, she would lash out at 078.
078 didn't know what he did wrong.
But given this lady's usual temper, he didn't think too much into it.
There were only some very occasional moments when she would quietly look though her sunglasses at You Huo without anyone else noticing.
She wanted to know whether You Huo heard what she said in the confinement room earlier.
But judging from how he was acting, he appeared to have no reaction.
He was there talking to 922....
He was responsible for being "there".
922 was responsible for "talking".
"Okay, okay, okay. There's no point looking at me. With such strong current, how can I get the ship to stop moving?" 922 raised both his hands.
"Isn't this the invigilator's quarter?" You Huo said.
"The invigilators quarter must keep pace with the rest of the examination centre. If there are turbulence, there will be turbulence. We don't get special treatment."
922 pointed next to the table: "Look at 154. His face is almost the same colour as bile. If we had the ability to stabilise the ship would we have to wait until now to do that?"
154 supported himself using the table and stood up with a green, sickly face. Just as he wanted to open his mouth to placate them, his expression suddenly changed, and he turned around and ran off.
"Poor thing. Gone to throw up again. These seasickness plasters don't work at all." 922 said.
The small white ship swayed too much. Regardless of whether they're invigilators or examines, none of their expressions were good.
Only 922 who constantly cried "seasick" seemed to be fine. The ship swayed until the floors were practically like a seesaw, yet he remained stable like an old dog.
But that old dog seemed to fear You Huo. Fearing that he would dig himself a grave if he explained too excessively, he subconsciously pushed Qin Jiu out: "Boss, you know very well how dilipilated this ship is. You...…"
As soon as 922 turned his head, he saw Qin Jiu who is very familiar with the ship walk naturally into the kitchen.
922: "...."
What are you doing.....?
In an instant, Qin Jiu reappeared. In his hand was a plate of fresh oranges.
There was clearly a chair, but he didn't sit there. Instead, he had to sit on the armrest of the sofa You Huo was on, deliberately making him a whole lot taller.
He changed into a relaxed posture and passed the plate over: "Risked my life and got these from the kitchen. Seeing that we both got confined, how about I give you half?"
"...….."
What damn fucking risking your life?
"Not eating." You Huo had lost his appetite from the swaying of the ship.
Qin Jiu picked up a slice and said: "I don't know if you've heard about this. Sailors during the middle ages are very susceptible to scurvy. I don't know about those in the cave, but it could possibly affect us if we stay here for a while. Those who have scurvy would have dark spots on their face and their teeth would become loose. If you accidentally knocked them, they could all fall out."
You Huo: "..."
"And then——–"
Qin Jiu wanted to continue but before he could do that, You Huo snatched three slices from his place.
922: "...…."
You may be able to prevent other things, but it was impossible to stop his boss from pushing the limits.
But what could he do? He could only let them eat.
And that damned boss even teased the examinee: "Congratulations, you have just escaped from the brink of death."
The examinee returned him with three slices of orange peel.
922 couldn't watch it any longer.
Since it was already like this, he had nothing else to lose. He went over and prepared to fry two more lamb chops.
He didn't want to anger his boss and the god of misfortune. It would be better to make everyone happy, not to mention he also originally wanted to make something for his boss.
Are there any rules prohibiting examinees from eating light meals at the invigilator's quarter?
No.
Afterall, when these rules were first made, no one would've expected something like this.
Thinking this, 922 busied himself in the kitchen.
.
It took half an hour for the small white ship to return to shore.
Before leaving, You Huo expressed his gratitude to 922 by asking if he had any extra food.
922: "...….."
A damned cafeteria wasn't enough for you and now you want takeaway?
As soon as he was about to speak, the red light on his finger unsurprisingly lit up and it was accompanied by the "beep" warning.
"Look, I received a warning." 922 showed him his finger: "The content of your exam is to keep those crew members alive, so it also includes providing them with enough food. If I let you get takeout, then that would be equivalent to me secretly helping you answer the question! In which exam have you seen invigilators help examinees with their answers?"
These words hit the nail on the head.
You Huo indeed had the intention to take some food back for the crew members.
But since there was a warning, he didn't insist.
He was okay with violating rules on his own accord but forcing others to violate them was too much.
What's more, after these few exams he had a rather good impression of 922.
.
The place where the small white ship docked at wasn't at the entrance to the stone cave. Instead, it was on the other side of the deserted island.
The two familiarized themselves with the terrain before walking around the island along an indistinct road.
According to Di Li's description of the question, this place should be part of the arctic circle.
And therefore, it was completely different to ordinary deserted islands. Apart from the stone cave in the vicinity, all they could see was snow and ice.
You Huo and Qin Jiu trekked through the snow one after another. Their footsteps were accompanied by crunching sounds.
This half of the island was extremely quiet. The sky was overcast, and in some areas you could faintly see a couple of stars. Even the sound of raging waves was obscured by the large reef which acted like a barrier.
Qin Jiu looked up at the point where the sky met the sea and suddenly heard You Huo ask: "Is the confinement room a special place?"
"Huh?" Qin Jiu paused.
His footsteps stopped. You Huo was a step ahead of him and his tall back silhouette melted into the night.
Qin Jiu raised and eyebrow: "Why are you asking this?"
"Just casually asking." You Huo's turned and glanced at him. He urged him with low voice: "Are you coming or not?"
Qin Jiu unhurriedly kept up with him: "You're trying to make me violate the rules. As a top student, you should be honest and well-behaved——-"
You Huo: "....Bullshit."
Qin Jiu laughed.
"Aren't you demoted into an examinee? How could you be breaking the rules?" You Huo glanced at his wrist.
There was now a watch worn there covering the place where the rule violation warning light was. In any case, ever since Qin Jiu started taking the exam, that red light never turned on again.
"It's okay to say a little more about the examinees." Qin Jiu said: "But not the system. And even more so about things the system doesn't want us to mention."
You Huo's gaze wavered.
Although that sentence of his didn't appear to mean much, it revealed some hidden messages.
Those confinement rooms were indeed special. It had something to do with the system's settings, and the system didn't want to them to mention it.
What could it not want to be mentioned?
It could either be something confidential, or a bug.
For a while, neither of them spoke. Only the sound of footsteps through the snow could be heard.
Qin Jiu would always walk half a step behind. After a while, he spoke up with his low voice: "I'm very curious."
You Huo didn't look up. As usual, he silently waited for the rest of his words, but the other party didn't say anything for a long time.
"...….."
He stopped. He looked at Qin You with an exasperated look and forced out a single word: "Speak."
Qin Jiu then continued: "Did you really see nothing in the confinement room?"
You Huo naturally wouldn't tell anyone what he saw. Who knows whether the other party would think that he's afraid of the dark, especially someone like Qin Jiu...
So he just let out a "mn" and asked back: "I heard you read a book for three hours in the confinement room and tried to repair a phone?"
"Who did you hear that from?"
"922."
Qin Jiu mentally noted that down: "It's not a book, it's a diary. Both the diary and phone are Zhao Wentu's."
You Huo stalled: "Zhao Wentu?"
"It's a pity you had already walked away when he rushed over." Qin Jiu said: "Otherwise you could see him in his sane state. At least he could remember his name. I guess it gave him that little bit of comfort."
"So he does know you."
Qin Jiu looked at the horizon. The white mist from his breath blurred up the night scene: "I was in his team when I was an examinee, but I didn't have any impression of it, so I tried to recall by looking through the diary."
It had been many years since Qin Jiu was an examinee. It was normal for him to no longer remember things from that time. Afterall, although he often smiled, he wasn't someone to form close relationships.
"Remembered anything?" You Huo casually asked.
"My memory of the events recorded in the diary wasn't deep, but I recalled some other things."
"What?"
"For example, invigilator A."
You Huo was still quite interested in this invigilator A. He waited to hear his next words.
Qin Jiu fell silent for a moment. He then said: "Just some unpleasant bits and pieces."
KK has something to say:
LOL these two managed to get a free meal too