The kidnapping duo didn't really end up making that trip because 154 held them back.
"I can deal with something like this. Since everyone has now recovered their memory, Du Deng Liu must've also recovered his and may even no longer be the same honest old man he was. I suspect that he is no longer at the punishment sector. That old man's authority is high so there are a lot of places he can go. I'll first confirm his location and see if he can be restricted temporarily. If I'm unsuccessful, then I'll leave it up to you two, boss." 154 said.
"Okay." Qin Jiu nodded, "There is also one more thing that needs to be confirmed first."
"What?"
"How much of an effect on the system would 'tying Du Deng Liu down' cause? Once he his tied down, how long will it take for the system to react?"
"Immediately. The moment you catch him, it will know."
922 hissed and scrunched up his face, "It's that difficult? I'm telling you; I have a psychological shadow left behind by that old man."
Speaking of this, Qin Jiu now remembered. Back when 922 lost his memories, it was while he was being punished in the Twin Towers. Perhaps it was because he had recognised Du Deng Liu and wasn't able to conceal his astonishment that he ended up like that.
154 gave him a look and muttered, "Who in this room doesn't have a psychological shadow left by him?"
922 suddenly realised, "...That's true."
"But don't worry, it doesn't mean it cannot be done." 154 said, "In fact, Du Deng Liu is in a similar situation as me and is considered a separate entity in the system. From going downstairs to sitting down, the system will know everything but because it has to monitor too many people, changes like these are regarded as insignificant."
154 pondered for a few seconds and added, "At least until it poses a real threat to it, it wouldn't pay it any attention."
922 connected monotonously, "That's great. We're planning a rebellion, that's definitely nothing threatening to it."
154: "...."
Qin Jiu laughed as You Huo reached out to fiddle with his earring. From the calmness on his face, there was a hint of eagerness to proceed with their plans.
As they spoke, there were faint sounds of people speaking coming from the end of the corridor.
"Don't worry Xiao Shu, at least for now there's not too much of a problem." That was Chu Yue's voice.
"Okay….Okay, I'll tell them first." The one who answered was Shu Xue.
You Huo listened for a moment. Hearing that they were heading next door, he reached out and opened the door.
"What's the matter?" He asked.
Shu Xue was a little restless and was startled when she heard him. She froze in the corridor with a pale face.
"Where are you here? Aren't you staying in 203?" Chu Yue pointed at the door that they were about to knock on.
"Here to talk to 154." You Huo said.
Chu Yue pulled Shu Xue over, "That's just right. We were just looking for you so that saves the need to gather you together."
The two entered the room. You Huo took note of Shu Xue's state and helped close the door for her.
"What is it? Why is your expression so bad?" Qin Jiu brought a clean chair over, "You can't even stand steadily. Take a seat first then talk."
Shu Xue waved her hand. She seemed to be a little nervous. Chu Yue who couldn't stand seeing this, pushed her down onto the chair, "Don't be anxious, you hear me? Look at who's in the room. Nothing will surprise them. Besides—–"
She muttered thoughtfully, "It may not necessarily be a bad thing."
Shu Xue placed her arms around her stomach and looked around.
Her gaze swept past Qin Jiu and when it met with the unchanging cold and calm gaze of You Huo's, her expression eased a little.
"I….." Shu Xue unconsciously started to pinch at her finger joints. She took a deep breath, "I just remembered something."
The room wasn't particularly quiet. 154 had pulled out an old humidifier from who knows which cabinet and had placed it on the table, emitting a soft sound. The sound wasn't very loud, and it seemed not to have bothered Shu Xue much.
After listening to the sounds for a while, she calmed herself and continued, "I remember telling you before that when I was an examinee, I picked up a re-examination card that was dropped by someone in the woods. Because of that card, I was lucky enough to survive."
You Huo let out a 'mhn' and tilted his head towards Qin Jiu, "I'll just add here that the card was something he threw there."
Shu Xue was stunned, "Huh?"
She looked blankly at Qin Jiu, "Aren't you...Didn't you do it around the same time as us?"
Qin Jiu withdrew his gaze from You Huo and leaned against a table beside him. He scratched his sideburns and said, "That's right, but I went through it a little faster than normal."
You Huo said, "You were around the same stage at the beginning, but this former examinee went through the exams very quickly. By the time you reached Foreign Languages, he had already gone though several more rounds of punishments. That card was something he dropped when he was punished to clean the examination centre."
The re-examination card was definitely a very valuable item for an examinee. Shu Xue didn't expect to actually run into the owner of the lost item. Her face flushed red with embarrassment, "I….."
"You didn't do it intentionally." You Huo helped her finish her sentence. He then pointed at Qin Jiu with his chin, "He did it intentionally."
Shu Xue was even more confused, "Intentionally?"
Qin Jiu let out a short laugh and said, "During that time, I have accidentally dropped a lot of things. Re-examinations, postponements, exemptions, cheat sheets...I've lost a whole bunch of them."
Shu Xue: "...."
What do you mean accidentally? Anyone would immediately disagree with that statement.
This young lady finally understood his purpose back then. She looked at Qin Jiu for a while before saying softly, "Thank you."
"What for? We're so familiar already." Qin Jiu laughed.
"I should still say it." Shu Xue answered sincerely.
With this short interruption, Shu Xue's condition had improved considerable and her face had regained some colour.
They chatted casually and laughed every now and then. The atmosphere was really relaxed. It didn't look like there was an upcoming battle or that they were in a life or death situation. They just looked like a group of friends standing around in a circle chatting about ordinary life and daily trivial things.
When Shu Xue spoke again, her voice was no longer anxious. She said, "I told you at that time that I didn't know how long I slept. According to the villagers, it should be a long time, perhaps about one or two years. After I woke up, the black widow told me that she had put her daughter inside me, so I had become part of the examination centre. Back then, I couldn't remember the details from that time but I remember now."
You Huo looked at her.
"I didn't see what witchcraft was used by the black widow, what she did to me or what her so-called daughter looked like. I only remember a line. Just as I opened my eyes, the black widow had said something." Shu Xue's hands were clenched again, "She said that her witchcraft was successful, allowing me to be resurrected. I will replace her daughter and by trapped by her side forever, but....."
Shu Xue looked up at everyone, "I left."
Everyone was stunned. For a moment, no one understood what she was trying to say.
But this only lasted a few seconds. Very soon, everyone's expressions began to undergo some changes.
Shu Xue could tell that they now understood.
"I want to know if an NPC can leave the examination centre that they should belong to." Shu Xue bit her lip, "For the black widow to say something like that, it probably meant that....I had become someone from the exam, someone bound to her side, completely unable to leave her. I want to know if there are any precedent cases?"
154 slowly shook his head, "No."
Shu Xue was a little in shock. A few seconds later, she lightly nodded, "I knew it. I could tell. I shouldn't have been able to leave…..When I remembered those words, I have constantly been thinking about it. There can only be two explanations—–"
"Either, it's because I'm still an examinee but my identity is special so it's a special case amongst NPCS. But after seeing those exams, you can tell that at times they don't even regard me as a living human. In fact, I am no longer considered an examinee."
"Either that or....The witchcraft wasn't successful or it wasn't completely successful. If that's the case, what am I? And what could be in my stomach?"
She fell silent. The room was silent for a moment, leaving only the humidifier buzzing.
Chu Yue patted her shoulder and said, "She has been worrying over this in her room the whole day. The more she thought about it, the more worried she became."
Shu Xue said, "I have been following everyone around all this time and I also know a lot of things but now I don't even know what I am. What if….what if there's a problem with me? What do we do?"
When this young lady panics, her words become a mess. You Huo however could still understand what she was trying to say.
NPCs are bound to the examination centres while examinees are bound by the rules. She had always thought that she was the combination of the two, but she wasn't bound by either of them. She was able to shuttle between examination centres freely, following whoever she wanted to…..
It was neither like an examinee nor an NPC.
It was very intriguing.
Afterall, the only one that can do something like this could probably only be the system. The interference she had received wasn't just a simple witchcraft performed by a certain NPC but something related to the system.
That was why Shu Xue panicked. She was afraid that she may have unknowingly implicated the system, causing trouble for You Huo and the others.
"Why don't I stop following you all around?" Shu Xue suddenly made up her mind, "I'm better off by myself. What you are trying to do is very important and with me around, it could bring you danger."
"Then what if we fail again?" Qin Jiu asked.
Shu Xue said, "I'll wait in the system. Wait for you to return."
"What if we only half succeed and left by ourselves without saving the others?"
Shu Xue said, "That's also good. It's good enough that you can get out alive."
Qin Jiu looked at her for a while before glancing at You Huo, "Don't talk nonsense Miss. I don't think it's anything troublesome. On the contrary, it may actually be a treasure."
Shu Xue was taken aback.
Chu Yue also agreed, "Right? Did you also think of that thing? I was wondering if it could be it."
Shu Xue asked with confusion, "What are you talking about?"
"Do you remember the self-correcting program we talked about?" You Huo explained, "That thing took me a lot of time and was originally reserved as a back-up plan, but it suddenly went missing. The interference of yours may possibly be related to that."
Shu Xue: "Really? There's such a coincidence?"
You Huo, "It's not a coincidence. That self-correcting program originally had a design like that, just like how 154 can always invigilate us."
"But….." Shu Xue was still a little hesitant.
Chu Yue reassured her, "What did I say? If the system really did anything, how could nothing have happened until now? Don't worry."
You Huo pointed at 154, "As for whether we're right, he will know after he checks it."
Under the many restrictions of the system, checking it was rather cumbersome. It took some time but, in the end, they did reach a finding.
"I knew it. Earlier when I wanted to transfer you to a different examination centre, two interference items were found. I thought it was the warning devices on boss and Boss Chu but now it makes sense. It was your earring and the self-correcting program inside you."
"It's really the self-correcting program?!"
Shu Xue no longer felt anxious.
This young lady's reaction made everyone's hearts soften. She completely didn't regard herself as a normal person. Although there was something inside her, her reaction wasn't fear but happiness.
154 said, "Yes, the self-correcting program. It had integrated itself with the doll NPC probably as a way of protecting itself and preventing it from being found by the system. But there's bad news."
You Huo frowned, "What bad news?"
154 said, "That doll NPC is also an NPC. The program had integrated itself with it for so long that it itself had also become affected. When I checked it just now, I couldn't detect any response from it. I suspect it has malfunctioned and can no longer function normally."