Three small carriages were stopped outside the invigilator's place with its door wide open and squeaking in the wind.
They had come to pick the invigilator's up.
In the carriages were the luggage's of the three invigilators but the invigilator's themselves were nowhere in sight.
Half an hour ago, they had received a notice saying that the castle had been burnt down, the curse had been lifted and the examination was over. The system would soon calculate the final scores so the invigilator's got ready to leave.
But shortly after they got onto their carriages, a heart-attack inducing alarm sounded.
Inside the carriage, outside the carriage, inside the cabin; that sound came from all directions. All the invigilators immediately scrambled back into the cabin.
922's hair was still messy from sleep and 021 had just removed make up from one of her eyes.
They covered their ears to protect it from the loud warning sounds and 922 shouted at 154: "What's happening? Fire drill?"
154 shook the note in his hand and shouted back: "Violation warning. Can't you tell?"
"I can't tell! It never sounded like this!" The blockhead 922 answered.
021 frowned: "It must be a bug. The exam's over so what violation could there be?"
"What's written on the notice? Let me see." 922 leaned over.
154 straightened up the notice: "Blank. Nothing written."
"Blank?" 922 was a little surprised.
He gave up covering his ears and snatched the notice over. Examining it very closely, he muttered: "It's really blank. What does that mean? Has this happened before?"
The noise irritated 021. She said with unkindly: "No, this must be a bug."
When she turned to get back onto the carriage, the warning sounds grew louder.
"..."
021 expressionlessly stopped in place. She eventually turned around: "Alright, we're not allowed to leave."
Just as she was going to reach for her phone, she saw 154 already lowering his head to type something: "Wait a second. I will check."
021 was confused: "You have the authority to check violation details? I thought only the head invigilator of the exam can?"
154 froze: "Huh?"
922 interrupted: "I think that's just in general and it's still possible to check. In the past boss would always get 154 to check because he didn't remember the rules or was too lazy."
The alarms were too loud. 021 also had no intention to fuss over something this small.
She just nodded and said: "Then maybe I remembered wrong."
A moment later, 154 held up his phone and said: "The system took a few minutes, but I have the answer."
The violation details wrote that the violator was Qin Jiu.
...…That was something they had expected.
But what was unexpected was the violation.
The first line that appeared was: System security threat.
Soon after that, it turned blank again.
Afterwards, another line appeared: Invigilator violated rules by having an improper relationship with an examinee.
"???"
The three invigilators were all dumbfounded.
922 tried to hold it in for a while but failed: "What kind of joke is this? That's impossible. There are plenty of female invigilators who like boss so why would he take the risk to get together with a female examinee instead?"
021: "This exam indeed is different. Didn't it forcibly match him with a wife?"
"That's still not possible. How long has it been? They managed to develop feelings amidst all the fighting and killing?" 922 continued to mutter: "If it was so easy to develop, why would he have been single until now?"
"Mm...…"
The three single dogs stood there in thought.
"But what does it have to do with system security?" 922 suddenly asked.
No one could answer.
Under the system's persistent urging the three invigilators gave up their chance to rest and decided to go down the mountain to check on the situation.
Their main priority was to see what Qin Jiu had done again to make the system go crazy like this.
When they reached the base of the mountain, they realised.....
The system had not only gone crazy, it had also gone on strike.
While the castle was burnt to crisp and the examinees sat on the grass field outside, the system didn't move to calculate the scores and just went over to the invigilator's area to vent. It was only after the arrival of the invigilators that a black crow flew over and landed in front of the castle to speak:
[All patients have been cured. Examinees have completed their paper. The examination has ended.]
[Now finalising the rewards and penalties.]
922: "...….."
For some reason, he felt that the system was strangely a little scared.
The examinees who had gone through great sorrow and joy sat there with a look of exhaustion.
Amongst them, Gao Qi was particularly conspicuous. Hugging his knees and resting his head against a worn-out stone sculpture, he looked...…lifeless.
Next to him, Zhao Jiatong and Yang Shu would occasionally glance over at him.
922 stood closest to them.
Taking advantage of the moment the system was busy summarising the exam, he crouched down and poked Gao Qi's shoulder: "Are you okay? As an invigilator you shouldn't become like this just from an exam."
Gao Qi glanced weakly at him. He looked like he wanted to say something, but he hesitated and hung his head back down again.
"What happened here?" 922 pointed at him and asked Zhao Jiatong.
"Who knows?" Zhao Jiatong said, "When the fire was almost done, I thought it was time for the scores to be calculated so I got him to call the others over. Even since he returned, he had been like this."
After she said that, she pushed Gao Qi's shoulder: "What happened to you?"
Gao Qi: "Fed some poison."
Zhao Jiatong: ".....Then you can go be poisoned to death."
"Look, just like that." She looked at 922 and spread open her hands. When she was done, she turned to ask Yang Shu.
Yang Shu said: "I don't know. Looks like he had received some shock."
Invigilator 1006 who had just received some shock continued to look into the distance. His good friend Invigilator A and his old nemesis 001 were currently coming over while talking to Zhou Qi and Jiang Yuan.
You Huo and Qin Jiu was caught by this young couple from amongst the crowd.
Jiang Yuan was no longer wearing the mask and, coupled with his plaid shirt and jeans, he looked like he was in his early twenties. Even after crying until his eyes were red and swollen, his youthful vitality couldn't be concealed.
It was clear that the same face can look very different when used by different souls.
He expressed his sincere thanks to You Huo and Qin Jiu. He thanked them for being a team with Zhou Qi, thanked them for not letting Zhou Qi be in danger and thanked them for taking care of Zhou Qi.
Zhou Qi on the other hand thanked them for bringing Jiang Yuan back to life.
They were so excited; their words of gratitude were a little messy and the same content was repeated several times.
Perhaps that was the only way for them to express how thankful they were.
You Huo and Qin Jiu didn't like to listen to other people's long speeches, but at this moment they patiently listened to their fervent thanks.
The field covered in overgrown weeds was originally the castle's garden. Many broken sculptures were littered across the field.
Qin Jiu stood there with his elbow resting on a sculpture.
He had his head lowered as he listened to the young couple chatter and would occasionally nod and say a few words.
You Huo leaned on the other side of the sculpture with one hand fiddling with his earring and the other holding his elbow.
He spoke very little and just listened.
Soon, the system began to announce the scores.
Zhou Qi and Jiang Yuan stopped talking.
Qin Jiu glanced behind them and asked You Huo: "Going over?"
You Huo's finger that was touching his earring paused. He glanced over at the black crow ahead: "Can't you see that Gao Qi's about to faint?"
"I saw."
"Then give him a chance to breathe."
To be honest, Qin Jiu didn't expect Gao Qi to go and find them.
Qin Jiu said: "The psychological endurance capacity of this old friend of yours is too weak."
You Huo glanced at him.
Qin Jiu: "What? Am I wrong?"
"Didn't get along, always in disagreement, enemies." You Huo threw out these phrases one at time, "These were what you said before. Think about it first before you evaluate Gao Qi's psychological endurance capacity."
Qin Jiu rubbed his neck.
If he thought about it from a different perspective, Gao Qi was indeed a quite pitiful.
The two continued to talk to each other and paid no attention to their scores.
The black crow responsible for reporting the results angrily flapped its wings losing a few of its feathers in the process.
They only looked over when it was done with its announcement.
Although this exam was a little difficult, the score wasn't bad.
Just the points received from the Duke was enough padding for the groups and if they added the other points, they had enough for everyone to get past the B grade.
[Examinees ranked B or above can successfully continue onto their next examination. The carriages have already been prepared. Please return to the carriage you arrived on within 5 minutes. You will be sent back to the rest stop for a short break.]
Because they had once again completed the exam ahead of the scheduled time, the final examinees who managed to solve the problem, namely You Huo and Qin Jiu, would each have a chance to draw a card.
922 sighed: "Card drawing used to be a rare privilege. But now with those two...they're basically getting one every day."
He dug out a deck of cards from his pocket and glanced at Gao Qi.
"Why are they looking at you?"
"...…I don't know. Maybe because I'm handsome."
Gao Qi's expression was complicated, but his tone was dull. It looked like the poison had penetrated into him rather deeply.
922: "?"
The process of card drawing was as usual.
922 fanned it out. His eyes swept back and forth between You Huo and Qin Jiu, and said: "Why don't you go first?"
He said to You Huo: "I'm sure you won't be unlucky enough to get another good student card."
"Good student card?" Zhao Jiatong suddenly spoke up: "Are you talking about the cards like 'Top Student'?"
922: "Yeah, what else could it be?"
For some reason, Zhao Jiatong was actually very interested in those useless cards.
She asked You Huo: "What did he mean just now? You already have three cards?"
You Huo was a little surprised. He slowly nodded.
Zhao Jiatong continued: "That good? Are all three different?"
That....good?
You Huo didn't understand: "Are you being sarcastic when you're saying that its good?"
Zhao Jiatong wanted to roll her eyes but because of her habit, she didn't dare do it in front of A: "I meant it literally. I usually would only be sarcastic towards Gao Qi."
Gao Qi who was named looked up and met with You Huo and Qin Jiu's eyes. He quickly looked away.
After a while, he suddenly realised that it wasn't right. The one who got together with their enemy wasn't me! Why am I the one feeling guilty?!
"You guys.....Don't tell me you don't know how to use the good student card?" Zhao Jiatong finally realised.
922 looked at Qin Jiu and then at 154: "We don't know. We have always thought that it was an encouragement card, like a thank you come again sort of thing."
"Of course, that's not it. But it's true that no one has used this card for a long time so it's normal not to know." As one of the initial invigilators, Zhao Jiatong knew more about some things compared to the others.
She said, "There are three types of good student cards; Outstanding Examinee, Amazing Student and Top Student. When you get one of each, you can get a reward."
"What reward."
"Freedom to form a team." Zhao Jiatong said: "You can choose your own teammates and decide who you want to enter an examination centre with. There is no limit on the number of examinees."
Hearing this, You Huo and Qin Jiu finally showed some interest.
"No limit? How many times can it be used?"
"Nonsense. Of course, it can only be used once." Zhao Jiatong said: "So do you have all three?"
"No. Two of the three are duplicates." You Huo said: "I only have Top Student and Outstanding Examinee."
Zhao Jiatong had a look of disappointment.
You Huo wondered: "You said that it hasn't been used in a long time. How is that possible?"
The ability to form teams freely was definitely something very tempting. After taking an exam, you find out who is reliable, who is unreliable, who is strong and who is weak.
With the team forming reward, they could gather all the strong characters together and sweep through the exam in an instant.
So how was it possible for it not to be used in a long time?
"It requires gathering three cards. That's very difficult."
"Difficult? There are at least 10 of those cards here. There are more of them compared to the others." You Huo pointed at the cards in 922's hands.
"The total amount may be more, but you can get 922 to show you afterwards. Among those 10 cards, 6 are Top Student cards, 3 are Outstanding Examinee cards and only one is Amazing Student."
"That's still not bad. Just draw a few more times."
"My god...Do you realise how difficult it is for ordinary examinees to get the opportunity to draw cards? Over the past four months, I have only met one person and that's you."
"A long time ago, in order to get those three cards, many people would try their luck at the casino with their points. But the cards in the casino back then was completely different compared to now and good student cards were extremely rare."
Because it was difficult to get a drawing chance and because was difficult to collect all three, over time everyone gradually forgot about it.
The ability to freely form a team was indeed very tempting.
For the first time, You Huo hoped that his luck would be the same as before so that he would draw another good student card.
But the heavens didn't answer his wishes. He reached out and drew....
A Guaranteed Pass.
922: "......"
Wasn't your luck supposed to be horribly bad???
[Examinee You Huo has used one drawing opportunity!!]
The systems voice was calm, but it carried a hint of crazed ecstasy.
KK has something to say:
HAHAHA The system is trying to kick him out
Also, poor Gao Qi. That must've been a traumatising thing to witness