章 55: Perfect
154 would have never thought that, as an invigilator, his life would be more thrilling than that of the examinees.
He was just performing his duties as an invigilator and ensuring that the examinees returned safely but was forced to take a dip in the water.
Was the arctic sea a place anyone could take a soak in?
Only those who sought death would do something so reckless.
And 922 was one of those. A pure idiot.
078 and 021 reacted very quickly. From the moment they noticed it and until they were pulled back up, it took less than twenty minutes.
But in this sea of ice, twenty minutes was enough for one to lose half their life.
Fortunately, although Miss 021 didn't like Qin Jiu, she wasn't someone who would just sit around and do nothing. She also regarded 154 and 922 as colleagues.
She strode over quickly in her high heels. With her hands, she popped open a bottle of alcohol and poured it all into a bucket.
After emptying out almost ten bottles, she instructed 078 and said: "These are all that I could find. I left a bottle for them to drink later. Rub this into them first. Remember, they can only go warm up by the fire after you warm them up with this or those two unlucky ones would be roasted crisp."
078 was also a high-ranking invigilator so he understood what she meant. It was just that his reaction was a little slower than Miss Decisive so he could only follow her instructions: "Okay, okay, okay. Understood."
"It must be done quickly otherwise their skin will be gone." 021 said.
078 said: "Big sister, I only have two hands...."
"You want me to rub one of them?" 021 kicked the bucket over to him, "If you really can't, give them the bucket. Let the two of them rub each other."
078 imagined that scene. Pretty good.
He shouted out "good idea" and ran off with the bucket.
Hearing the sound of his footsteps disappear upstairs, 021 turned around and rekindled the fire stove.
Along with small crackling sounds, the fire in the stove grew bigger.
021 squatted there watching the fire for a while before nestling into a nearby chair.
The living room was extremely warm, but her expression was sombre.
Following the end of the confinement, she had used that opportunity to say a few more things to You Huo.
In fact, it couldn't be called "saying something to You Huo". She was only passing on a message. It was invigilator A asking her to pass a key message to his future self ——-
[Go to the rest stop. Find a thing and a person.]
You Huo asked her: "Which rest stop?"
She said: "I don't know."
You Huo asked: "What does it mean by finding a thing?"
She said: "I don't know."
You Huo asked: "Who to find?"
She said: "I also...don't know."
You Huo: "...…."
Unable to answer any of his questions, Miss Decisive covered her face in shame: "You probably can't find a worse messenger than me."
"It has nothing to do with you." You Huo casually comforted her: "The problem lies with the person not speaking properly."
For a moment 021 didn't know whether she should mock him.
.......
Until this moment, their conversation was quite normal.
She patted her chest and said that she will definitely help him find clues while the other party expressed his gratitude.
The atmosphere was very harmonious.....
But soon afterwards, You Huo suddenly asked: "How bad was my relationship with 001?"
And just asking wasn't enough, this former invigilator even tried to get her to give an example.
Give your grandma an example!
Do you even need an example for something like this?
But because time was limited, she couldn't elaborate. What was most frustrating was that she really didn't know much.
At this moment, 021 began to contemplate. Where could she go to find something that would let this invigilator see for himself?
There were suddenly footsteps coming from the stairs.
078 had returned with his two colleagues who had just taken a dip in the sea.
021 restored her expression and watched them sit down by the fire. Each wrapped in a blanket, 154 and 922 huddled on the sofa shivering intensely.
"Better?" 021 asked.
078 nodded: "In any case we just rubbed everywhere. The skin was even rubbed red. I only brought them down here once they started to warm up."
154 was wrapped tightly by the blanket and only his flushed face was exposed. Those who weren't aware would have thought that he was embarrassed but, in fact, he even had the urge to kill 922.
"Y-y-y-y-you tell m-me…." His teeth chattered as he asked 922. "Why were you o-o-o-out of it? What were you t-thinking for you to f-f-fall into the sea? I r-r-remember you trying to s-s-say something…."
922 was huddled next to him. Because of his height, the blanket wrapped around him made him look like a large silkworm.
What he was thinking of before falling in – He remembered it very clearly.
He had heard that the phone was something another examinee left behind so that video should be something taken many years ago. Within that video was Qin Jiu who was still an examinee and invigilator A who still existed.
And that invigilator A was You Huo....
He recalled the rumours over the past few years. It all said that invigilator A was likely dead; that he was eliminated by the system.
But now, it seems that he not only didn't die, he had returned back to the system. This time, however, he had changed his identity and had become an examinee.
Based on their previous interactions...…. He probably no longer remembered the past.
So, what was his purpose of returning this time?
......
Something like this was shocking but he was able to calm back down after taking a dip in the sea.
What really surprised 922 was Qin Jiu's reaction.
He had previously heard from 154's end matters involving his boss's injury and memory loss, and a name that would be mentioned every time was invigilator A.
It was a well-known fact that these two were arch enemies.
Shouldn't arch enemies take advantage of the situation and bring more trouble to the other party to address their inner grievances?
But why was Qin Jiu's first reaction after watching the video to say "nobody"? Was he subconsciously trying to hide it?
It would be understandable if he was trying to hide it from You Huo but why was he also hiding it from his closest subordinate?
If it wasn't for the fact that he knew that the relationship between the two was bad and that Qin Jiu didn't have a good attitude towards invigilator A....
922 would've even suspected...….that this form of concealment was a disguised attempt to protect.
But that definitely couldn't be it.
922 thought: Perhaps he had something else in mind?
He shrank inside his blanket. Even after mulling over it for a long time, he couldn't figure out what Qin Jiu wanted to do.
But this didn't stop him from siding unconditionally with his boss.
"922?"
"Fool?"
"Stu———"
"Huh?" 922 abruptly returned to his senses as 154 continuously worsened his name calling.
154 pursed his lips for a few seconds before saying: "I'm asking you a question. What did you want to say earlier?"
922 shivered while internally giving his apologies. With his mouth, he said: "I....ah, it's too fucking cold. What did I want to say? I've f-f-forgotten."
154's expression turned dark. Internally he cursed: Damn you and your grandmother. If I don't beat you to death, I will take your surname.
.
This round of confinement lasted for three hours. By the time they were released, it was midnight.
Snoring could be heard coming from the cave. The main source of it were the crew members who had eaten their fill and didn't have anything else to worry about. The examinees on the other hand were sitting there with their eyes wide open, looking like a group of perched owls.
Amongst them, Di Li and his teammate were still holding onto a wooden stick. On the wooden stick hung the dead rabbit.
It was as if they were holding out an offering waiting respectfully for someone's arrival.
"Hungry again?" You Huo whose eyes were blinded by the sight of the roasted rabbit the moment he entered the cave asked.
Di Li: "...…Even if I starve to death, I wouldn't eat this."
"Then why are you holding it?"
"We were planning on getting rid of it...." Di Li wanted to say that it was because the others didn't dare touch it.
Shu Xue and Wu Li dared to, but the two of them are thin and fragile so he felt bad asking them to dispose of the rabbit. He could only do it himself.
"Then why haven't you disposed of it?"
"Since you guys roasted it, I was afraid that you guys really did want to eat it."
"....."
"So, are you guys still eating?" Di Li asked cautiously.
"Not interested." You Huo wanted to tell him to dispose of it but he remembered that he was also referring to Qin Jiu when he said "you guys". What if Qin Jiu wanted to?
"What about you? Eating?" He looked back and asked.
The moment he looked back, he saw Qin Jiu who stood a step behind him look at him with a very, very complicated expression.
You Huo: "......."
It's just eating a rabbit. Do you need to be so conflicted?
He stopped his steps and asked: "What's wrong?"
Qin Jiu who was lost in thought suddenly returned to his senses.
"...…Nothing." He quickly furrowed his brows and pinched his nose bridge a few times.
It was as if he suddenly felt sleepy and was struggling to stay awake.
When you looked back again, he had already returned to normal.
"What? Did you specially leave this thing here for our supper?" He asked Di Li.
Di Li froze for a moment. He spoke with surprise: "You're really eating?"
"Just joking around." Qin Jiu reached his hand out: "Give it here. I'll bury it at the entrance. It might still be able to talk once it's frozen again."
As soon as those words were said, the expressions of many examinees changed.
"Don't go out….." Di Li said.
The others hurriedly nodded.
"Yes, don't go out."
"Wait until the sun rises."
"What time is it now? Is it 3, 4 o'clock yet? Anyone have a watch? Or we can secretly borrow the crew members watch to check?"
"3:30am. It won't be long till dawn. Let's wait until then before doing anything."
All these murmurs didn't help You Huo with figuring out the situation.
Shu Xue waved the two over: "Sometime happened earlier. You two went to the invigilator's quarter so you don't know."
"What happened?" You Huo walked over.
"There's something approaching outside." Shu Xue said.
"Approaching? What do you mean?"
"It's like this...…..After you two were taken away to the invigilator's quarter, everyone here wanted to change shifts so that one half is resting and the other half waits for your return. I was part of the latter group...…"
At that time, the resting group fell asleep very quickly. The cave was soon filled with soft breathing sounds.
Shu Xue was leaning against the wall poking at the fire when she suddenly heard a very strange speaking voice.
It sounded like several people whispering at the same time. Mixed to some light humming, she couldn't decipher the contents.
There were four men guarding at the entrance of the cave, so Shu Xue thought they were chatting quietly to relieve their boredom. As such, she didn't pay it much heed.
But soon, that whispering sound was heard again. This time, she looked specifically at the four men only to see that they were lost in thoughts. No one was speaking....
She then waited a little more. When the whispering sounds appeared again, she leaned forward and looked around.
She then finally found the source of the sound......
That sound didn't come from inside the cave. Instead, it came from somewhere outside. It travelled into the cave through the thick stone walls.
Shu Xue didn't want to take any changes. She immediately told the other night watchmen about her discovery.
Everyone immediately leaned against the wall to listen to the strange sound.
"We heard it six times in total." Shu Xue said: "What was scary was that every time the sound was heard, it sounded like it was a little closer than before."
Di Li interjected: "That's right. Not long before you returned, a few of us took a fire torch and pointed it at the cave entrance but found nothing."
"Pointed it at the entrance?" You Huo glanced at the cave entrance: "How did you do it?"
Di Li cleared his throat. He then walked over to the cave entrance, did a lunge and swept the fire torch around: "Just....like this."
You Huo gave up.
He went over to a fire and bent down to pick up a fire torch.
Di Li asked: "You.....what are you doing?"
"Going out to take a look." As You Huo said this, he reached out to pick up a second one.
But before he grabbed the next one, he stopped.
Ever since the beginning of this exam, he and Qin Jiu had always been together whenever something significant happened.
In fact, it wasn't that often but strangely enough, it had now become a habit for him.
He would habitually think that "going out to take a look" referred to the two of them.
You Huo's fingers stopped several centimetres away from the fire. His expression was cold and indifferent, but inside he felt awkward.
But this awkwardness didn't last long.
His finger moved. He eventually seemingly nonchalantly picked up a second fire torch.
For reasons even ghosts wouldn't know, he didn't want Qin Jiu to know that he is invigilator A for the time being.
According to what he had heard, as someone who was always going against Qin Jiu, invigilator A should be someone who would rather be beaten to death than invite his enemy out to work together.
He was now doing the opposite. Even if Qin Jiu had ten brains, he wouldn't associate him with invigilator.
Perfect.
He held up the fire torch and glanced at Qin Jiu. For the first time in 800 years, he took the initiative and asked: "Coming?"
Qin Jiu: "...…"
Perhaps it was too surprising. Invigilator 001 was so happy; his expression was completely stiff.
KK has something to say:
They both know but they don't know that the other person also knows
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