The time was just a little past eight.
The other examinees had just woken up from their nap. Some had just sat down on the sofa, some had just left the room and others were busy wracking their heads over the questions they had to answer.
The moment they heard the announcement, they continued as usual with what they were doing.
The shocking announcements over the past two days had shocked them until they had grown numb to it. Whenever they heard this name, they would just think:
[Oh…..he died aaaaagain. How many times will he die this time? Can they fix this bug already?]
Less than a few seconds later, all the examinees were stunned on the spot…..
Who did they say just died?
At the invigilator's place, the reactions of the invigilators were different.
They had in fact also grown numb to the announcements, but this numbness had ended this afternoon.
Ever since they realised that this "You Huo" was Invigilator A, their mood had become complicated——-
On one hand, they hoped that the examination centre would be calmer and that the examinees would not be too ruthless to each other because in the end the ones that will be hurt would be they themselves.
But on the other hand, for some reason they also felt excited.
This dark rush of excitement was most evident during dinner time.
Everyone in the restaurant were making the same small action: Take a few bites and glancing at the big screen above their heads, take another few bites and once again looking at the big screen.
Dinner lasted from 5pm to 8pm. Even now, they were still eating.
In the end, 021 couldn't stand it anymore: "What are they doing? Are they planning on staying in the restaurant until their hair turns white?"
"They're all waiting." 922 who related strongly helped explain, "They're waiting for him to appear on the screen again. Afterall, he is the legendary A and was once their leader. Before they would feel a headache coming when they saw his name but now it had changed to excitement and expectation. You won't understand."
After saying that, he downed a glass of red wine.
The next second, he choked on the wine.
He suddenly realised that everyone here at this table had already grown accustomed to You Huo's antics and no longer found it strange. As for the revelation that afternoon, he was the only one who had joined the other invigilators to check the records.
Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong, and also 021 and 154, they had spent the entire afternoon in their own rooms and had only just come out earlier to have dinner, so they had no knowledge about this matter with A.
From 922's perspective, he had accidentally revealed two big secrets:
You Huo is Invigilator A. This was something 021 and 154 should have no knowledge of.He knows that You Huo is Invigilator A. This was someone no one should have a knowledge of.
But after he pulled out a napkin to clean himself up and took a few more sips of red wine to calm himself down, he noticed...No one had shown any unusual reactions.
154 patted his back as 021 asked, "How can you choke even while drinking red wine?"
Zhao Jiatong asked if he wanted water while Gao Qi…..Gao Qi just watched the others help him and continued drinking his wine.
922: "?"
922: "???"
This reaction isn't right?!
922's mind was filled with questions. He sat there confused.
After a while, everyone on the table realised and froze.
While those around them were busy chatting, only their table was quiet.
Gao Qi placed down the bottle of wine he was about to pour and looked at Zhao Jiatong with a complicated look. Zhao Jiatong mouthed back "What are you looking at me for?" and poked at her food with her fork before glancing at 021 who sat opposite her. 021 on the other hand was staring at 922 with surprise while 922 was staring at 154.
154 who as at the bottom of the food chain swallowed a piece of lamb as he internally cursed himself out.
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At this moment, a notice from the 197th examination centre appeared.
The notice on the screen had an effect on par to a droplet of water falling into a pot of hot oil. The relatively quiet restaurant suddenly burst into loud commotion, blowing away the awkwardness at this table.
"I knew it. I knew it would happen again!" An invigilator sitting at the table next to them commented.
"Yeah, sure enough."
"He was the head invigilator after all..."
Someone even said regretfully, "There are only two notices this time?"
"After seeing four or five of them each time, it doesn't feel right seeing only two. I think I should reflect on myself a little."
All their attention was placed on the three words "Examinee You Huo" and they didn't pay much attention to the rest of the notice.
It was only a moment later that someone exclaimed, "What the fuck?!"
"What is it?"
"You should look at the notices! Look at who died."
Before they had the chance to have a closer look, the system spoke up.
A large exclamation mark appeared on the screen and the system's voice sounded in the restaurant:
[NPC Shirley and Sali has died in the 197th examination centre. Examination in this centre has been terminated. Can invigilators responsible for this examinee take the examinee back immediately for punishment and wait for the official start of the second stage.]
Everyone fell silent for a moment before soon exploding with excitement.
***
At the same time in the 197th examination centre.
You Huo and the others buried little Shirley in the backyard and laid her to rest next to a small patch of daisies. Her parents had mentioned in the diary that this patch of daisy was something Shirley liked and requested to be grown.
The small, delicate flowers quivered in the wind for a moment before becoming still again.
It resembled a child who had finally fallen asleep after crying.
After the death announcement, Qin Jiu and Chu Yue finally escaped from their trance and, both feeling extremely tired, feel asleep on the sofa in the living room.
As You Huo pulled two sheets out from the guest room and covered the two of them up, the paper that had fallen aside went through some changes.
"What the hell does it want?" Yang Shu said unkindly.
She picked it up and took a look.
A zero had appeared next to the second question on the paper and the words "Question 3" had appeared.
But after about five minutes, another line was squeezed out: Examination error. Examination has been terminated. Question was not answered.
Yang Shu snorted and proceeded to pass the paper around.
Soon, several more lines appeared on the paper. The system was calculating the points from the first stage——
Under their united efforts, eight adults with normal IQ had only managed to answer two questions correctly, receiving a total of 18 points.
2 points were deducted for legibility and another 5 points was deducted for their bullying behaviour, resulting in a final score of 11 points.
Under the bright red 11, a familiar line appeared:
Due to rule violations, the invigilators have been notified. Invigilators 922, 154, 021 etc are on their way.
"Etc?" Yu Wen passed the paper to You Huo, "This is my first time seeing 'etc' after the invigilators. Brother, how many people do you think is responsible for us this time?"
"Don't know." You Huo answered, "Maybe seven or eight."
There is a total of eight examinees here so even if it's one on one, eight invigilators would be more than enough.
However, it later turned out that he had underestimated the word 'etc'.
Ten minutes later, the doorbell sounded.
Yu Wen rushed over to answer the door and was left standing stupidly on the spot.
Outside the door, 154 was still expressionless as usual as he held a rule violation notice in his hand.
To his left was 922 and 021, and to his right was Zhao Jiatong and Gao Qi.
But this wasn't the main point. The main point was behind him…..
A sea of heads stretched out endlessly into the distance!
Yu Wen was shocked speechless. It took him a moment before he could return to his senses and shout back into the house: "Brother!!! 30+ invigilators came to capture us!"
You Huo: "?"
Are they crazy?
154 who was outside the door rolled his eyes. The thoughts running in his mind aligned with You Huo's.
He felt that the group of colleagues behind them were all crazy. As if they had never seen an examinee before, just a small rule violation sent them rushing out.
Clearly, they were the ones in charge of domestic examinees, but this group of people still insisted on joining.
Now look what happened. He was practically a tour guide.
"Quiet. If you have anything to talk about, talk about it when you get back."
He turned around and sent out a warning to his embarrassing colleagues.
Unfortunately, it had no effect.
The people were stunned for a moment when they saw Yu Wen. They then started falling into discussion: "Why is it a child?"
"Who are you?
"Where's A? Isn't the 197th examination centre his? Why are you here?
More and more spoke and more and more questions were thrown out.
Yu Wen was too overwhelmed by all the questioning and could only remember the last question, "I climbed over the wall to get here."
The invigilators were shocked. They finally understood how the 1/8 came about.
They had probably taken advantage of a loophole and managed to force eight of them into one place.
One of them spoke up: "I know, it's the team card."
Yu Wen didn't know what to say.
Out of instinct as a student, his palms turned sweaty when he saw the crowd of invigilators.
"Yeah, the team card." He nodded in response.
The invigilators became even more interested. There was once again a flurry of discussions.
Yu Wen could vaguely make out some.
"A is willing to team up?"
"I thought he would throw away the cards even if he has the chance to form a team."
"I also thought that…..I wonder who he teamed up with?"
Probably because Yu Wen's expression was filled with too much confusion, 922 couldn't watch on.
He covered his mouth and explained, "They're all your brother's former colleagues."
Yu Wen: "Huh?"
He then recalled Chu Yue's words and understood: "Oh, so these are all those so-called first-generation invigilators?"
922 nodded, "You know about it?"
Yu Wen explained with surprise, "I heard a little about them but weren't there only a few of them? They all coincidentally happen to be here?"
What supervising? This was pretty much a 35 people tour group and their main attraction was to take a look at their boss.
922 said, "Just take it as fate."
Seeing that their talk was getting more and more ridiculous, 154 made no attempt to fix it up.
He shook the notice in his hand and read it as per usual procedures, "Unfortunately, about ten minutes ago we have received a notice of rule violation which had resulted to the termination of the first stage of this exam. You now need to come with us for a bit."
This process was all too familiar for them.
Yu Wen turned around and called out, "Brother, we have to go to the invigilator's place again! Have you packed up? The luggage and the food, we should still have some upstairs?"
154 felt more like a tour guide at this moment.
Under the gaze of more than thirty pairs of eyes, Yu Wen came out with a backpack while supporting the injured Old Yu.
Soon after that it was Shu Xue who supported her stomach acting like she was really pregnant and behind her was Wu Li and Yang Shu.
At this point, the invigilator's reactions were still normal.
It was a group of old, weak, sick and handicapped. They couldn't help but feel bad when they saw them.
Just when they thought Invigilator A was teaming up to help the needy, Chu Yue walked down the stairs yawning sleepily.
The crowd buzzed and fell into another discussion.
"Chu Yue???"
"Z?"
"Boss Chu?"
Titles both old and new were suddenly thrown at her.
This lady who had her mouth half open and beads of tears in the corner of her eyes was met with 30+ of her old colleagues.
Before she could react, the invigilators had once again stuck out their necks.
Chu Yue turned. You Huo had come out.
In a short moment, he had changed his clothes. The dusty and muddy shirt from before was thrown away and he was now wearing a light grey, round necked shirt that he had retrieved from the rest stop.
The colour was not as sharp as black or as mild as white. It made him look particularly pale, and particularly calm.
Although he wasn't wearing a uniform, he wasn't wearing an emblem on his arm and he wasn't holding any meeting documents, when his gaze swept around at the others, the other invigilators couldn't help but feel like they had returned back to the past.
They subconsciously straightened their backs like they once did in the past.
It was as if the accident hadn't happened, A wasn't removed, and they haven't been exiled out overseas. The meetings they had would always happen abruptly; sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the afternoon. Every time, they would bring a long a pile of documents arguing while walking down the long corridor before sitting down at large round table to continue their arguments.
Before You Huo's appearance they were still actively discussing and excited to no end about their reunion.
But now that he had appeared, they all fell silent.
Chu Yue wiped the corners of her eyes. Her physiological tears from yawning also carried a hint of emotion, "It's you guys."
"Yeah." Someone answered, "It's us."
In the past there were close friends and polite colleagues amongst them. Some may have had some conflict in interests, some were extremely serious while some were more relaxed.
Their personalities were all very different, but they have worked together for a long time.
Sharing the same worries, the same restrictions and the same burdens.
They had lived in the same place seeing each other day in day out. They were pretty much the people who were most familiar with one another in the system.
But with this sudden reunion now, they realised that everyone felt a little unfamiliar.
KK has something to say:
Reunion~