In the innermost confinement room, 922 was having trouble speaking.
He hesitantly held the door handle and constantly glanced back at Qin Jiu.
"Speak now if you have something to say. Do it before the confinement room takes effect." Qin Jiu rubbed his face.
He was still sleepy, and he looked rather tired.
922 rarely saw him like this. He quickly swallowed his words back down and said, "It's nothing."
"Nothing?" Qin Jiu made a sound of understanding, "Then I have something."
"Huh? What is it?"
"Anything abnormal in this exam?" Qin Jiu asked.
922 internally commented: Isn't the most abnormal thing you guys???
"Apart from us."
Qin Jiu could seemingly guess his internal comments and added, "With all these old acquaintances gathered here, it's surely not just for a reunion."
922 nodded and agreed, "1006 said that too."
Qin Jiu was a little confused for a moment before soon remembering that 1006 is Gao Qi.
"We felt that it shouldn't be so coincidental and that something would probably happen, but nothing happened over the past two days." 922 added hesitantly, "As for abnormal…"
Qin Jiu raised his brow as he waited for the rest of his words.
922 said, "When we were having dinner today, everyone on our table was acting strangely."
This was what he wanted to talk to Qin Jiu about. He originally didn't have any intention to talk about it but unexpectedly he had come back in a circle.
"Your table?" Qin Jiu who heard it was surprised, "How was it strange?"
"It's hard to describe."
"...…."
922 who had accidentally revealed a big secret was surprised to see the others' reactions. It was as if they had long known about it.
Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong could be explained. Afterall, they were once Invigilator A's colleagues.
021 could also be understood. Afterall, she had once almost become his subordinate.
But 154...
In the end, 922 was most concerned about 154.
He knows?
When did he find out?
That bastard knew about it, yet he didn't tell me!
Those were the thoughts that ran through 922's head at that time but after some thought, he realised that he had also not told 154. To a certain extent, he didn't have the right to complain.
Moreover, he knew that 154 had always been a very serious person. All matters would be cleanly dealt with by him.
Can't remember the rule? Ask 154.
Don't familiar with the information? Ask 154.
Can't remember the code name of a colleague? Also ask 154.
It wasn't 922 himself. It was also the same for Qin Jiu.
Among them, it was always 154 who had been the most careful and serious with his work. 922 had once joked that he was like a secretary and received a shocking eye roll in exchange.
Just the thought of that eyeroll made 922 have the urge to laugh.
But when he returned to his senses, he was met with Qin Jiu's stare that looked like he was looking at an idiot.
922 cleared his throat and felt that he was making a fuss over nothing, "Just kidding, it's actually nothing. I just felt that 021 seems to be Invigilator A's person."
After saying that, he seemed to have felt that his words were nonsense, so he added, "I mean, I feel like they have a connection and are not as unfamiliar with each other as they appear to be."
Qin Jiu 'oh'ed'. He wasn't surprised.
"You knew about it, Boss?" 922 became energised, "Then there is too much of a disparity. Look at who's on A's side. 021. It's a two-digit number and very close to the front. Our side is more unfortunate. 154 is around the upper middle tier and is quite satisfactory but mine....haa."
In fact, there are a lot of invigilators who are under Qin Jiu and also those with good rankings, but the two he would take around with him all the time were these two with average ranks.
922 would often feel that he wasn't good enough, even forcing 154 to feel the same.
But Qin Jiu didn't care.
922 had once asked Qin Jiu why he picked himself and 154 but Qin Jiu's response was just that it was because they were pleasing to the eye.
It was a very Qin Jiu-like answer. Irrefutable.
But as it turned out, they got along very well.
922 would occasionally think that...Even if they weren't invigilators, didn't have this identity and are not in an environment like this where they are bound together to complete tasks, they would probably still become good friends.
"What's wrong? Your rank is at the bottom?" Qin Jiu found him a little amusing.
922 thought for a moment, "No, there's still 1006."
He suddenly became spirited again.
Seeing that half the confinement room was starting to change, Qin Jiu said, "Alright, get out now. Be on the look out the next few days."
"Okay, I'll let you know if anything unusual happens."
As soon as 922 left, the ruin site filled the entire confinement room.
Qin Jiu's group didn't have a habit of watching the monitors and 021 who had been with them for a while was also influenced by this. This time, however, she changed her mind.
It was because of You Huo's question.
In the monitoring room, several invigilators who were on duty were watching the monitors. They sat boredly before the screen.
021 didn't them pay any heed. As soon as she entered the room, she pulled a chair over to sit down.
"Not resting?" An invigilator nearby asked her.
"Don't have anything to do anyway. Came here to watch." 021 answered.
"When the exam is over you still need to give these examinees a place to rest, right?"
"Yeah. Other examinees still have one more night before the end of the exam. They'll have to spend the night here." 021 answered absentmindedly.
"Where are they sleeping?"
"Sleeping...…"
021 was staring at Old Yu's screen.
There wasn't anything special about it. It looked like a hospital. A sickly looking woman was holding his hand and he had his head bowed as he listened to her speak.
That women's face was extremely pale and she was extremely thin with the bones on her wrist protruding out. Her arms looked like it would snap the moment you exert some trength.
Perhaps it was because the woman was weak, she spoke very slowly. She appeared extremely calm....no, extremely cold and indifferent.
021 could even imagine her light and nonchalant voice.
In contrast to her, Old Yu appeared to be extremely emotional.
At one stage, he seemed very agitated. He sharply raised his head, his nose flaring.
021 thought he would throw off the hand holding him and start arguing but in the end he just scratched his head with frustration and lower his head back down.
...
021 watched on for a while internally wondering why this was scary.
That can't be. It was nothing compared to the lady called Shu Xue in the room next door.
To be more precise, all eight examinees are very strange.
Yu Wen was struggling under a pile of examination papers. Large clumps of hair fell from his head as he cried very pitifully.
Yang Shu's end was a large laboratory. She busied around the laboratory fixing problems that would arise one after another.
As for Wu Li, hers was also a laboratory at first but it then changed into a 'haunted house'. Numerous face-less figures surrounded her while she stood in the centre recording something in her notebook.
Chu Yue's was completely blank. In that complete world of nothingness, she sat there in silence.
Only Shu Xue's was on par to a horror movie. Arms wielding knives chased after her, scattering blood everywhere including the screen. There was even something climbing out from inside her stomach.
021 couldn't watch on.
When her eyes moved back to Old Yu's screen, she saw that the scene had changed.
That woman seemed to have finished speaking. Old Yu stood next to the bed with both hands covering his face and head, seemingly in despair.
After a moment, he lifelessly lowered his hands and nodded. He said something to the woman on the bed before turning to leave.
But when he turned around, he saw someone standing at the door.
It was a boy about eleven or twelve years old.
From the cameras angle only the dark hair and the lower half of his face could be seen.
021's heart skipped a beat.
Even without seeing the face clearly, she could tell who it was.
It was You Huo when he was a child.
Facing the person standing at the door, for some reason all the colour on Old Yu's face was gone.
021 didn't know what was happening and what Old Yu was thinking but her intuition told her that this was probably something important.
The other invigilators who were watching another screen suddenly whispered some comments in surprise.
021 returned to her senses and used this chance to quickly take some photos of the screen.
"How could this be?"
"It's my first time seeing this…."
As 021's heart slowly calmed back down, she heard the quiet discussions between the invigilators nearby.
"What are you looking at?" She asked.
The invigilators were gathered before two screens. They waved her over, "Look! Have you seen Invigilator A and 001's confinement rooms?"
021 murmured in response as she walked over, "I've seen it. One sleeps in a patch of darkness and the other treats a ruin site as a resting place to have afternoon——-"
Before the word 'tea' could come out of her mouth, she was stunned.
Because the two screens before her were different.
Most importantly, You Huo's one had changed.
At some unknown point in time, You Huo's confinement room had also turned into a ruin site. It was identical to Qin Jiu's.
"A's confinement room looks like this???"
"It's my first time seeing it."
"Me too….."
An invigilator spoke up, "Has A been in a confinement room? Probably not, right? I seem to remember people saying that the confinement room has no effect on A and Z but of course it's different now."
"I haven't seen A's but I have heard of rumours about 001. He isn't afraid of the confinement room at all."
"Where is this place? Why haven't I seen this place before?"
"...Could it be the place where the system bug occurred?"
As the invigilators discussed this, their conversation somehow went on a tangent to the topic of the system bug. They became engrossed with discussing the possible events from that day.
Only 021 remained unmoved.
In any case, she didn't participate or understand the matter with the bug.
She just felt that those two screens looked very much like a set of display pictures used by couples.
***
Three hours later, the examinees were released from their confinement rooms.
The others all looked like they had suffered significantly, and this was particularly the case for Old Yu. His forehead and neck were completely covered in cold sweat and he appeared a little dazed. Yu Wen was busy checking his hair while the other ladies were also a little in shock.
As for Chu Yue, she was still fine.
You Huo on the other hand was acting strange.
He wasn't in a bad mood from being woken up, he wasn't yawning, and he also didn't' appear impatient or arrogant like usual.
He just stood by the door fiddling with his earring while lost in thought.
"What are you thinking about it?"
His cheek was poked. It was Qin Jiu's finger.
The other party had just come out from the room next door.
The ruin site clearly wasn't a place for sleeping. His voice still contained some weariness.
You Huo stared at the finger and suddenly recalled the moment he first saw Qin Jiu. The other party was standing in the forest arranging his scarf. With fingers clutching one end of it, he tucked it in under the collar of his coat…..
He could smell the blood from the ruins again.
He closed his eyes, grabbed Qin Jiu's finger and pulled him back into his confinement room.
The door wasn't closed completely, leaving a small gap.
Lights from the corridor outside leaked in through the gap. As the invigilators stood in the distance discussing room arrangements for the examinees, snippets of their voices could be heard.
The two stood at a close proximity. Qin Jiu glanced over at the gap between the door.
He then lowered his head and kissed You Huo's chin, "What's wrong? Haven't had enough confinement?"
"No." You Huo said.
He continued to hold Qin Jiu's hand. He held it very tightly until his thin knuckles stuck out.
Qin Jiu keenly sensed his strangeness. He lowered his voice and asked calmly, "...Remembered something?"
"Mn." You Huo answered.
Just by listening to his voice itself, he sounded fine.
But after answering, he lifted Qin Jiu's hand and bent his head to kiss his wrist.
Against his thin lips, the pulse on his wrist pounded strongly one after another.
The light from outside fell onto the side of You Huo's face, highlighting his tall and straight nose.
Qin Jiu watched him through lowered eyes. The jut in his throat moved.
He sensed that the other party may have remembered something bad…. Perhaps something bloody and related to death. He suddenly felt anxious. For the first time, he felt anxious about his identity as an invigilator.
He wanted to immediately get into that special centre, get rid that memory erasing order from the system and retrieve all his memories.
With only one person remembering something involving the two of them, it was an extremely lonely thing.
"Alright then. We'll be squeezing out a few rooms for you." An invigilator's voice travelled over, "Where are the examinees? Take them upstairs."
021 and the other invigilators responsible for making these arrangements appeared around the corner.
Several examinees who were not in good condition were sitting on the bench resting. It looked as if they were in a hospital.
"Six. There are two more."
"Yeah, where's A and 001?"
As they spoke, the door to a confinement room opened. You Huo came out from inside.
An invigilator was confused, "Head Invigilator, why did you go back in?"
He wasn't as familiar with You Huo as Gao Qi so he wouldn't call him A directly and called him Head Invigilator out of habit.
Just as he wanted to ask where 001 is, he saw 001 come out from the same confinement room.
Invigilator: "?" ???
His expression turned strange for a moment, but he then felt that he might be overthinking it, so he recovered and spoke, "Let's go. I'll take you to your rooms. We have squeezed out some rooms for you all to stay in for the moment. Don't worry, the bed is big so it's enough for two."
This was what he had intended:
The Yu father and son sharing one room, the four ladies sharing two rooms amongst them and as for the last two…..
Because they are a little partial towards their former boss, they arranged a very comfortable single room for him to stay alone.
As for Qin Jiu, 922 had volunteered to share a room with 154 to leave his room for him.
021's first reaction to this arrangement was to snort. The invigilators didn't understand the meaning behind her reaction.
But very quickly, they understood.
Because right in front of their eyes, Invigilator A and 001 had casually entered a room together.
The invigilators present froze on the spot.
You Huo didn't pay them any heed. He closed the door behind him and dug out his phone.
At the end of the confinement, 021 had suddenly borrowed his phone to take a few pictures of her phone screen before returning it to him, "I saw your uncles confinement room. I don't know if it's useful but take a look when you have the chance."
KK has something to say:
HAHAHA love their reactions to our MC and ML