Compared to Chu Yue, You Huo didn't feel emotional at all.
He hadn't recovered his memory completely so he didn't have much of an impression of these people and could only feel an occasional sense of déjà vu the moment someone makes a habitual action.
From among the crowd, someone suddenly spoke: "Head Invigilator, Chu, long time no see."
Yes, a long time indeed.
It was just a simple four words but You Huo realised from this that they were all people from his past.
Unfortunately, this emotional reunion didn't last long.
Because the last person had appeared.
Qin Jiu who was completely unaware of the situation outside carried his bag downstairs sleepily not even bothering to look up.
When he reached the door, he reached out to hold You Huo's shoulder: "Borrowing your shoulder. My eyelids are almost about to close."
After saying that, he noticed that the situation wasn't right.
The streetlamps outside were a little dazzling. He squinted his eyes and looked up and was met with more than thirty pairs of eyes staring back at him. How to describe their expressions…..
Rescuing one person from death was more meritorious than building a seven-storied pagoda for god.
154's lips moved, breaking the silence, "Why don't we all hurry back now?
He pulled Yu Wen and Old Yu along and led the way back to the invigilator's place.
Seeing that they had passed through a field of grass northwest of them, several invigilators who were at the back of the group couldn't help but comment, "What's happening? Isn't that 001? Are my eyes still working?"
Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong were forcibly held back by them to answer their questions.
"Working. It's 001." Gao Qi answered with frustration.
"Why is he walking with his arm around A? Has he gone crazy or has A gone crazy?"
Gao Qi answered lifelessly, "Both are crazy."
That invigilator snorted, "Aren't we friends? Who was the one who used to accompany you to drink every day?"
Gao Qi just wordlessly smiled.
They hadn't seen each other for a long time, and he had also deliberately avoided the systems core for several years so having a conversation like this with his old colleagues was a little difficult for him.
With just that short sentence, he was reminded of memories from the past.
Gao Qi seemed to have once again found the feeling from back then.
He no longer answered perfunctorily and nodded, "I remember. After drinking to much, you had to take me back half the time."
"That's right, that's right. So tell me, what happened with 001 and A?"
Gao Qi: "Then I'll tell you seriously. They no longer remember anything when they met and after taking a few exams together, their relationship is now...quite good."
He paused and added, "No, extremely good."
"I can't believe it." That invigilator still couldn't believe his words, "How good is extremely good? Better than how we were back then? How you and A were? As good as that?"
Gao Qi: "....."
You even have the nerve to compare.
He pinched his nose and answered vaguely, "Something like that. A little closer than A and I."
That invigilator was even more incredulous, "That can't be? Let's not talk about A, I haven't even seen 001 get close to anyone."
Gao Qi: "Ah..."
He no longer knew what to say.
That invigilator asked another crazy question, "Then aren't you jealous? Your friend was stolen."
Gao Qi: "....."
Jealous my ass.
***
The atmosphere at the invigilator's place had never been this complicated before.
Firstly, it was because all the first-generation invigilators had reunited. This group of people had been involved in too many things and had a lot to talk about but due to certain reasons, they couldn't talk about it in detail and could only exchange looks with each other.
And secondly, it was because of You Huo and Qin Jiu.
These two didn't have a habit of sticking together acting intimate and, on top of that, with Gao Qi and the others giving the other invigilators a generalised explanation, all the other invigilators thought they had become good brothers.
This conclusion made You Huo and Qin Jiu unable to cry or laugh and it even made a particular group of invigilators feel suffocated.
Fortunately, the system made a timely appearance.
It said:
[Invigilators, please immediately punish the rule violating examinee!]
021 answered apathetically, "Coming."
Although there were a lot of invigilators present, the ones truly responsible for domestic examinees were 021 and the others.
"Let's go. The confinement rooms are on the third floor." 021 said.
They were led up the staircase. The other invigilators didn't follow and remained in the restaurant.
When You Huo turned the corner, he suddenly felt several eyes on him.
He glanced lightly over in the direction of the restaurant and was met with several pairs of eyes.
The lack of memory made these colleagues of his feel a little unfamiliar but, strangely, he was able to understand their emotions with just that one glance.
He could feel the restrained expectation from them, like they were waiting for him or someone to give them an order.
Perhaps it had been suppressed too long. Much too long.
This time there were enough confinement rooms.
It even reminded You Huo of the confinement room he used when he first met Qin Jiu in that small western styled building. With rooms lined along both sides of the corridor, it wasn't a problem confining 20-30 examinees at the same time.
Having grown accustomed to sharing confinement rooms, he actually felt a little regretful now that he had the room to himself.
021 very quickly allocated the rooms. Like sorting out hotel rooms, she swiped her card and opened the rooms one after another.
"You enter this one." Gao Qi led Chu Yue into the first one.
He then led Yu Wen to the second room.
This little student would always be very filial at a time like this. Compared to worrying about himself, he was more worried about Old Yu.
Upon reaching the third floor, Old Yu's expression had been very poor.
You Huo glanced at him several times.
From his limited memory, although Old Yu seemed a little afraid of him, he was also not the same as the others.
This uncle of his wasn't good a hiding his emotions so every time he saw him, fear and apprehensiveness would always instinctively appear on his face. But soon following that, he would use extreme enthusiasm and friendliness to cover it up.
You Huo could tell that he was trying very hard.
Old Yu had always been trying very hard. Despite feeling scared, he restrained himself and did all he could to be friendly.
Humans can be rather keen towards good and bad intentions.
Regardless of whether it was good or bad, it wasn't something that one can pretend and act out. You Huo could sense awkward and clumsy kindness from an elder coming from Old Yu.
This was something he had never felt before from other elders and this was also the reason why he was willing to get along with this Yu father and son duo.
But ever since he found out about the relationship between him and the system, many of Old Yu's reactions had become a little questionable.
It couldn't be said that he had ulterior motives, but….He also seemed to have some form of unreconcilable differences with the system. It was as if the reason they were pulled in here wasn't just because he was drunk and they got in by accident.
"Are you okay?" You Huo asked him.
Old Yu seemed to be a little distracted. When he heard this question, he flinched and laughed awkwardly, "It's alright! Although I have been out of the army for many years, I shouldn't put the army to shame."
Yu Wen interjected, "We have actually been confined once before. It was when we ended up in the politics exam and accidentally violated a rule. I was okay. At most it was only a dream of doing the university entrance examination again and needing to redo all nine subjects and the bell going off before I could write anything for an essay question. As for mathematics, physics and chemistry, I couldn't answer anything and could only fumble through but at least it wasn't anything life-threatening. But for my dad! This Old Yu—–"
He pointed at Old Yu and said to You Huo, "When he came out last time, he scared me to death. I thought he had another heart attack. His face was as pale as a ghost. Look at his skin. Can you imagine how scary it was for it to suddenly turn so pale? His forehead was also covered in cold sweat when I wiped it for him."
Being talked about like this by his own son, Old Yu had recovered a little.
He kicked Yu Wen and said, "Be more respectful. You shouldn't talk bad about your own father. Xiao Huo, don't listen to his nonsense."
Old Yu explained, "It's okay. Who doesn't have something they're scared of? Mine isn't that terrible, it's just unpleasant when I think of it. Don't worry."
He looked at You Huo and for a moment seemed to have something to say.
But he just looked up and sighed.
In the end, he patted You Huo's shoulder and turned into a confinement room.
021 also sent Yang Shu in. After closing the door, she said to You Huo, "Let's go. Go to the one ahead."
As You Huo walked past Qin Jiu, at an angle unnoticed by the others, Qin Jiu briefly hooked his finger.
***
The confinement room here was the same as usual. Compared to the one in the basement, it was colder and more barren.
There was no toilet or shower, and there was no bed.
You Huo stopped at the table as 021 closed the door behind her.
She leaned against the door and asked in a low voice, "The invigilator's arrangement this time is very strange. Have you noticed?"
"Do you even need to notice this?" You Huo said, "Chu Yue told me that almost all the early invigilators are here. How could it be a coincidence?"
"In fact, not all are here." 021 said, "After checking carefully afterwards, there are a few missing."
You Huo: "Which ones?"
021: "...."
Would you recognise them if I tell you?
You Huo himself quickly realised this and changed his words, "Forget it. You have too many numbers and I can't remember anyway."
021 quickly continued, "It's the ones that are missing that makes me find it strange."
"What do you mean?"
"I have been checking things for the past few days and those invigilators…..Mm, how should I put it. From the clues I have gathered, they didn't completely favour you when they were under you back then. Do you understand what I mean?"
You Huo frowned, "Are you sure?"
"I am."
This surprised him.
"Let me ask you something." You Huo spoke.
"Ask."
"The invigilator arrangements. Are they organised by the system? Any rules?"
"According to the rules, it is random but that doesn't rule out the possibility of someone manipulating things behind the scene. However...." 021's expression was complicated.
"This isn't something anyone can do, right? It would have to go through the system in the end."
"Yes!" 021 added, "This was what I thought was very strange! As far as I know, the only person who would have such authority would be the past you. I'm not familiar about the scope of authorities since I haven't invigilated exams back then and the information is limited but if you couldn't, then no one should be able to do it. So there's another question——"
She continued seriously, "After you were removed, the system's security level has strengthened a lot and no invigilators were given an authority has high as that afterwards. 001 could be considered the highest but he doesn't have the power to do it, so who else could it be? I couldn't think of anyone. Let me tell you a joke, I tried to figure it out all afternoon through the process of elimination. After a whole day, I finally reached an answer."
You Huo: "What answer?"
"The system." 021 herself laughed. "After crossing out name after name and ruling out everything that was impossible, the only thing that could do something like this was the system itself. Do you dare believe this?"
Unexpectedly, You Huo didn't laugh nor did he make any ridiculing comments about the system.
He had actually nodded, "It's not impossible."
021, "Are you kidding me???"
You Huo wasn't joking. He had just thought of something.
Chu Yue had said that he and Qin Jiu had left behind a backup plan if their second attempt failed; a system self-correcting program, but it had unfortunately gone missing.
As for what it looked like and what medium it was contained in – You Huo couldn't remember. For the time being it wasn't possible for him to figure out why and how it had gone missing.
021 glanced at the time, "Since you've noticed then I'll head out. I'll let you know if I find anything. There are too many invigilators this time and some like to watch the monitors so I can't stay in here too long."
"Wait, two more questions." You Huo spoke up.
"Mn?"
"My uncle, the one in the room before called Old Yu, have you seen him before?" You Huo asked.
021 shook her head, "No, I just heard him mention earlier that he used to be in the army? There are quite a few people in your family with an army background."
You Huo gently pursed his lips.
This change in his expression was too subtle and 021 was also in a hurry so she didn't notice, "If I have met him before, I would find him familiar and I would definitely ask you about it immediately."
That's true.
You Huo felt that if 021 or Chu Yue or someone had met Old Yu before, they would definitely show it.
Since they hadn't mentioned it, they probably really haven't had any association with him.
He nodded.
021 said, "And what's your second question?"
"About my memory." You Huo said, "I heard that there was a way to recover memories erased by the system. Something about revoking an order to let all memory be instantly restored. Do you know where you can do it?"
021 was silent.
You Huo: "?"
This lady then spoke up, "Which lunatic told you this? I'll beat that person up."
You Huo raised a brow and didn't hesitate to sell out his boyfriend, "Qin Jiu."
021: "...…Forget it. Can't beat him."
She knew it!
Who else would be crazier than him?
Oh, that's not right.
There is another one. The one right in front of her.
You Huo said, "I don't plan to try. Just asking."
021, "You think I'm stupid? You shouldn't be like this Mr Invigilator."
You Huo pulled out the chair and sat down, "Really not telling me?"
Faced with this face, 021's resistance started to waver.
This is why people shouldn't be so good looking.
This was especially so for friends from the same camp. It makes it particularly easy for people to lose their principles.
But if you put 001 in that chair?
When 021 thought this, she very quickly realised with despair that 001 was also in the same camp as her. With that face, he would likely also succeed.
This lady who had delivered herself another blow said quickly, "I won't talk about it in too much detail because I don't feel right about it."
You Huo: "That's fine."
021 said: "Do you remember the twin buildings in the invigilator's district? The one specifically for punishments?"
"Yeah."
"There is a total of three elevators; one for invigilators, one for examinees and one that is more special. I heard that—–" 021 emphasised once again, "I only heard about it and I'm not sure if it's true since my scope of power is very limited compared to 001, but I heard that it is very important to the system."
"Don't people often talk about poking one's lungs out? That place might be something like its heart or at the very least its lungs."
After saying this, this lady quickly pushed open the door and slipped out of the room to avoid being tricked into revealed more information.
With 021 gone, the confinement room once again fell into silence.
You Huo leaned back on the chair and stared somewhere into the distance in thought. His mind was still thinking about the information from earlier.
The reason why a confinement room was called a confinement room was because of its special features.
It can always invade your thoughts, making you more emotional than usual and let you remember some past events. With this, it evokes out all kinds of terrible memories.
Before this, You Huo didn't have anything to recall.
But for some reason, this time he would always remember the ruins from Qin Jiu's confinement room.
Perhaps it was because he had stayed there several times and had assimilated?
Or perhaps the vague memories he had suddenly found some light?
At this moment, he suddenly felt that the darkness that filled the confinement room wasn't just pure darkness and he didn't simply dislike the feeling of being blind.
Under all that darkness, there should be something else.
For example, wire fencing in all four directions. For example, rusted machinery. For example, steel and cement pipes.
There should also be a large forest behind him and not far in front of him should be a faint smell of smoke.
There should be a person in front of him that got increasingly blurrier. From that person, he could smell some blood.
But when he reached out, he only came into contact with a soft and dry scarf.
He suddenly realised that he probably didn't hate this darkness.
What he hated was the darkness endlessly engulfing and obscuring the figure in front of him.
He suddenly heard a voice coming from within the darkness. It was close, but it also sounded distant and indistinct.
The other persons voice was very tired but it also carried a hint of laughter. He said, "Big Invigilator, please lower your head. I have something to say."
He probably bent down.
The other person's finger reached over. His hand brushed against the side of his face and leaving behind some residual heat. He then fiddled with his earlobe, or perhaps twisted his earring.
He couldn't remember the details and just remembered that there was a slight pain in his earlobe.
At that moment, he felt both anxious and sad.
Under the panic that he had never experienced before, he heard the other person say: "I really love you."
KK has something to say:
"I really love you."