3:16pm, Twin Towers.
The three elevators in the punishment building were still operating normally; one had a blue light, and another had a red light.
The former was for examinees, and the latter was for invigilators. The elevators take them to different locations.
In addition to those, there was also one with a white light.
To the majority of the invigilators, that elevator with the white light is very special
It would usually remain in a "sleeping" state all year round and would always be stopped at the first floor because the opportunity to use it was few and far between.
At this moment, 078 was standing in front of an elevator door holding a notice in his hand.
He had taken a few days of sick leave.
After getting better in the morning, he received this notice.
The notice wrote...…
922 had twisted his foot, 021 felt dizzy and uncomfortable because of a sudden episode of low blood sugar and 154 had several mouth ulcers from overworking. As the three urgently require rest to recover, 078 who is in the same group is required to take over the job of punishing the rule violating examinees.
The first thought that appeared in his mind when he saw this notice was: What kind of bullshit is this?!
Twisting a foot was fine. Afterall, 922 is indeed rather sloppy. It is said that the road to the examination centre was quite rough and he heard they even needed to use horse carriages. Something like accidentally missing his step and twisting his foot was indeed something he would do.
But suddenly having low blood sugar...…
Miss 021 came from the military and her physical fitness is better than most men so how the hell could she suddenly have low blood sugar???
But...he didn't dare provoke this ancestor of his so if she says she dizzy, then he would leave it at that.
As for 154...
This one here was really taking it too far.
It was just a couple of ulcers and it wasn't on the sole of his feet. It wouldn't be to the extent of being unable to take the examinees to be punished. Did he really need that urgent rest???
Yet the system actually accepted this ridiculous request for leave.
078 even suspected that 154 may have pulled some strings.
But what surprised him the most was the punishment location.
It wrote that he needed to board this elevator.
"Huh? Hey, you———" An invigilator on duty who was responsible for watching over the building was surprised to see 078 standing there: "What are you doing standing there? Did you accidentally stand in front of the wrong one? That's the Special Punishment Sector."
Special Punishment Sector.
That was basically all that they knew about the elevator with the white light.
As for what specific rule violations it covered, they didn't know.
It is said that it deals with issues specifically related to the system's security, but no one knew whether this was true. Afterall, the sample data they could refer to was almost zero.
078 waved his notice and said: "I didn't make a mistake. It's clearly written here."
That invigilator was surprised. He moved closer and took a look: "Wow, which exam was this? All the invigilators retired? That's impossible."
"It's possible. I retired after the end of my last one." 078 pointed at his haggard face.
The other invigilator was at loss for words.
The notice didn't mention the violator nor reveal any details regarding the violation.
But 078 could already guess who it could be.
Sure enough, less than a few minutes later those two gods of misfortune arrived.
"They're here. You can go and report to 021 and the others later." The invigilator who brought them over acted like he was delivering a landmine. He turned around and fled as soon as he was done.
078 didn't have the chance to stop him.
He looked at the two with a complicated expression.
Qin Jiu raised his hand and greeted: "Good afternoon."
Good my ass.
078 internally muttered that it had turned bad after seeing those two.
"What did you two do again this time?" 078 asked frustratedly: "You're even using this elevator now."
When he asked "what did you two do", the atmosphere turned a little strange.
But 078 who was rather slow didn't notice this.
Qin Jiu looked at the elevator light and was a little surprised: "Are you sure?"
"Of course." 078 muttered, "Would I just casually shove people on?"
"What's wrong with this elevator?" You Huo asked.
He was a little curious last time and thought it was for those reserve invigilators like the bus driver and shop owners. He didn't expect himself to be able to use it.
Qin Jiu briefly gave him an explanation. The elevator then took them upstairs.
It was so fast; it was quite unexpected.
The place the elevator stopped at was at a large empty floor. Like the one last time, there was also a registration panel.
What was different, however, was that there was no one manning this station and the large French window at the end was replaced by a thick, metal door.
[Special Sector. Permission required to enter. Please show the relevant notice.]
078 took out the notice and went over to the registration desk.
When he saw the metal door, You Huo had a feeling of deja vu.
He was now no stranger to this feeling.
"What's wrong?" Qin Jiu asked in a low voice.
You Huo said: "Looks familiar. May have been here before."
There were two possible ways: Coming as a violator or coming as an invigilator.
078 was busy verifying at the desk in the distance.
The system would sound again and again in response.
Qin Jiu watched 078's back and suddenly said: "I saw your old violation records after we finished the cleaning task last time."
You Huo looked over at him.
"There was one in there that said that you once had an overly intimate relationship with someone."
".....Who?"
"I don't know." Qin Jiu said.
The system still maintained a strong influence over the invigilators. Even now, his memory was firmly suppressed and not a clue was leaked.
He lowered his head and asked You Huo: "Do you have an impression Big Invigilator?"
You Huo suddenly recalled the fragmented scene that flashed through his mind when he had his back pressed against the fence and was kissed into confusion by Qin Jiu.
In that scene, someone was standing behind him. That person said... Other invigilators and examinees don't sleep together.
When You Huo heard the same voice next to his ear, his lips moved a little.
"No." He said.
"Really nothing?" Qin Jiu asked again.
"Really."
Qin Jiu's eyes fell onto his side profile.
You Huo leaned against the wall staring at 078 in the distance. Thin lines stretched from his chin down to his neck.
Suddenly, a rather naughty finger reached out and tugged his earlobe.
"Then what were you thinking about when you paused just now?" Qin Jiu asked.
You Huo: "....."
He remained silent for a few seconds and answered: "Wondering how long 078 is going to take getting the verification sorted."
He didn't suppress his voice this time.
The invigilator who was suddenly named said awkwardly: "I haven't been here before so I'm not familiar with how it works. Do you know how 001?"
Qin Jiu looked at him expressionlessly.
078: "Oh right, you probably forgot."
"There used to be someone in charge here so there was no need to do it ourselves." Qin Jiu walked over.
"Where is that person now?" You Huo asked.
"Was sent away." Qin Jiu said, "Speaking of which, you have probably met her. She was sent over to the rest stop."
"We've met? Who?"
"Called Chu Yue, the rest stop hotel manager."
You Huo was stunned.
He really did meet her. He met here after the end of his first exam. That Boss Chu even made an exception and cooked up some dumplings for them.
078 scratched his head.
He had pressed a few wrong places on the panel and the interface was now a mess.
He didn't know what he had pressed earlier for the interface to suddenly change. It now displayed a very short list.
It was a checkin-checkout record.
Looking at the time in the first column, the first record was about three or four years ago and the time span was about a year between the first and the second record.
There was only one page of the records there. It could be seen that this place was indeed very rarely used.
The listed included the violator, the accompanying invigilator and the person in charge.
There were many unfamiliar names and code names, but Invigilator A would appear several times and Chu Yue's name would be on all of them.
You Huo suddenly remembered the message he left with 021. He had said that he needed to go find someone at the rest stop.
Although he had only been to a rest stop twice and have only met a handful of people….
But there was something called intuition.
He intuitively felt that….the person he needed to look for was probably Chu Yue.
Just as Qin Jiu wanted to turn to another page, the system sounded.
Perhaps it couldn't bear watching 078 muck around, three screens automatically appeared on the panel for 078 to verify one by one.
The information was verified.
The tightly guarded metal door finally opened. A gust of wind carrying a strong smell rushed over.
It smelt like a machine room that had not been used for a long time.
The moment he smelt this, You Huo's footsteps stopped.
He could almost hear a woman speaking beside him. That voice was the same as Boss Chu's voice.
...…
078 almost ran into him. He asked, "What's wrong?"
"Nothing." You Huo said.
He just suddenly remembered something.
***
Behind the metal door was also a security gate. All violators would have to go through it for a secondary verification.
That year, Chu Yue's hair was longer than it was now, and she would always tie it up before she had to do anything.
That day, she was biting onto a hair tie and combing back her hair with her fingers when she received a violation notice.
The violation notice was very detailed, completely different from now.
Both the violator name and violation was written on the notice.
Rule Violator: A
Violation: Overly intimate relationship with Examinee Qin Jiu.
Remark: The examinee is an outsider with an evaluated danger level of S and Invigilator A is a core system personnel. Their relationship threatens system security.
Punishment: White light district (1 times)
Other: At the request of A, the punishment has been postponed for 5 days.
Chu Yue stared at those lines and then proceeded to quickly tie up her hair.
She looked over at the young head invigilator who was already standing at the security gate and walked over: "I've noticed that the system is very biased. You asked for it to be postponed and it really did postpone it."
He snorted: "Postponing it for five days brings more benefit than harm so why wouldn't it agree."
"That's true." Chu Yue nodded. She scanned her finger on the security gate.
"Stop crossing your arms and leaning on the door." Chu Yue said.
Because of certain reasons and also because she is of a rather special standing, she was the only person in the entire invigilator district who could talk to Invigilator A like this.
With the accompaniment of several electronic sounds, the security gate processed the information.
Chu Yue suddenly asked: "So that guy left?"
"Mn."
"How did you convince him?"
"Didn't convince."
"Pretty stubborn." Chu Yue muttered, "Then how did he leave?"
"Reached the re-examination limit." A said, "Forcefully ended by the system."
The young invigilator's thin eyelids hung low and his tone was indifferent.
But Chu Yue could tell that he wasn't in a good mood.
In fact, he would usually have a cold expression and look like he was always in a bad mood. Most people wouldn't notice the subtle changes.
Only Chu Yue who knew some things could detect these changes.
"But I can't believe you." Chu Yue puffed her cheeks and said angrily: "You postponed the punishment until after he left."
Following the instructions, A raised both his hands and turned around. He acted like he didn't hear her.
He had always been like this. Chu Yu had long grown used to it.
With her character, she didn't like to meddle with other people's private affairs.
But today was an exception. She felt that she had to say something to A.
Hiding something yourself and being forced to conceal something were two different things. No one liked to hide away the things they liked; forever unable to let others know, unable to reveal anything, unable to lower their guard.
No one would want that.
"What if. I'm saying what if." Chu Yue said in a deliberately nonchalant manner: "What if that person comes back? If he knew that you took the punishment for the both of you, I think...…."
A's voice was calm and certain: "There's no what ifs. The system will definitely implement measures after sending him out."
Chu Yue said: "Hey, it's just a hypothetical question."
A no longer spoke.
After the verification at the security gate was done, the door to the punishment location finally opened.
A picked up his coat, bid her farewell and walked in.
Light penetrating through the white fog filled the entrance. Chu Yue stood next to the fog with her finger resting on a button in preparation to close the door after him.
That figure wearing the uniform was tall and lean. Countless women have turned their heads whenever he walked past.
Chu Yue suddenly sighed emotionally: "It's quite amazing. You actually could like someone."
A's footsteps stopped. He glanced over at Chu Yue and didn't refute.
Soon afterwards, he stepped into the fog.
A month later, the person he believed would never appear again had returned and, this time, he appeared before him as an invigilator.
***
[Qin Jiu, current identity is an examinee.]
[You Huo, current identity is an examinee.]
[Basic conditions for security threat not met. Special Sector cannot be opened. Punishment cannot be executed.]
You Huo returned to his senses.
He and Qin Jiu followed behind 078 and walked through the security gate again.
The result was the same as before. It sounded on par to the system slapping itself in the face twice.
078 looked at the notice dumbfounded.
He knew that the system liked to emphasise rules. It rigidly believed that it can follow all the rules and is hence superior to the irrational humans.
Who would have thought that there would be a day where it would slap itself in the face?
After the results were reported, the security gate started to emit white smoke.
It was unknown if it was due to the machine malfunctioning or because of the systems anger.
Despite coming all the way here for nothing, 078 wasn't upset. He was glad that he was finally able to send these two gods of misfortunes away.
He said with a 'setting all humanity free' tone: "I'll take you back to the rest stop."
You Huo suddenly asked: "Can I pick the rest stop?"
Before 078 could speak, the system answered first: "No!! It's random!!!"
Its voice echoed through the entire floor.
KK has something to say:
You Huo took the punishment for the both of them….. DAS TRUE LOVE GUYS