บท 45: Reverse Operation
"To recall trivial bits and pieces, you must be pretty amazing." You Huo said sarcastically.
Qin Jiu raised an eyebrow: "Are you always like this?"
"Like what?"
Qin Jiu pretended to think. He then dragged his words and described: "In order to anger someone, for example me, you would help speak for someone you don't know, for example invigilator A? Honestly, it's quite childish of you."
You Huo snorted. He pulled up his collar to cover his mouth and chin and walked on: "My mouth belongs to me."
The wind in the arctic at night was so cold, it could make facial paralysis turn into true paralysis. No one wanted to speak in this environment.
The two walked on in silence for a while.
Without anyone speaking, the island seemed a little too quiet. Just like how it was when they first came ashore, it seemed to be missing something.
You Huo took a few more steps before coming to a sudden realisation.
There were no sound of waves.
They had experienced the turbulent waves on the small white ship, but it disappeared the moment they came ashore.
"What's wrong?"
Seeing him suddenly stopping, Qin Jiu was a little perplexed
You Huo said: "The sea is covered in ice. How did the invigilator's ship come in?"
In the question, the reason why three Dutch merchant ships were anchored here, and the captain and crew were forced to live on this deserted island for eight months was because the sea was blocked by a thick layer of ice, preventing them from sailing out.
That man with the buzzcut said that the merchant ships originally had ice breaking installations and would normally get through normal layers of ice without any trouble.
But the ice here was too thick and too wide. All three ice breaking parts on the ships were rendered useless.
The small white ship they were on earlier however was able to enter without a trouble and it's speed wasn't slow.
He had actually overlooked something like this.
"The invigilator's ship had some special ice breaking mechanism?" You Huo asked Qin Jiu.
As an invigilator, Qin Jiu was more than well-versed about matters associated with the examination centre and invigilators. He was practically like a one metre ninety reference book.
The book said: "Why? You want to steal the equipment from the ship?"
You Huo who was seen through didn't try to hide his intentions: "I can't?"
"It's not that you can't." Qin Jiu said: "It's just that there aren't any. The invigilator's ship does not rely on any ice-breaking equipment to sail through. If it did, you would've heard the sound of ice breaking along the way."
"922 said that invigilators ships do not receive any special treatment but in fact it does. It's ability to sail itself is a special treatment."
Qin Jiu said: "When the invigilator's ship sails through, the ice around it would disappear and become normal seawater. It doesn't need any ice breaking equipment. Haven't you noticed? If it is something that allows invigilators to apprehend examinees more easily, the system would happily help out."
Then maybe he could let the crew members pack up and sail out along the path the invigilators ship came in through?
You Huo thought this as he walked towards the edge of the reef.
Qin Jiu seemed to have the ability to read his thoughts. He turned around and shone his phones' flashlight at the place they were docked at earlier: "Don't waste your energy. Look, as soon as the ship is gone, the ice is sealed up."
Sure enough, when the light swept past the ice all looked flat. It was like it was never touched.
...Alright then.
You Huo dispelled that thought of his.
The people on the invigilator's ship had temporarily managed to escape.
.
In the cave, everyone was busy.
The wood from the two great masters that piled up as high as a mountain managed to solve the problem of not having enough burnable material in an instant.
Everyone naturally wouldn't waste these resources which were obtained with much difficulty.
They placed the wood in the driest spot possible and each took a tool and used it to cut them up into smaller pieces so that they would burn more easily.
The crew members from the merchant ships possessed extensive survival experiences so the ones who were not injured helped the examinees set up the fire.
It was necessary to ensure that the inside of the cave was sufficiently warm, but they also had to set it up so that smoke could be ventilated, and the fire pit wouldn't collapse.
Several fires were set up. The inner and outer caves instantly became warmer and brighter.
Frozen hair and clothes that were covered in filth were dried using the fire and the wounds on their skins looked better.
Everyone's mood had improved significantly. They all sat around the fire to rest.
Several seriously injured crew members, including the captain, were still in a lethargic state. Every half an hour, Wu Li would roughly check their wounds and body temperatures. Shu Xue worked hard as her assistant.
It had to be said that her status as a pregnant woman made her look non-threatening and, with her gentle temperament, she was able to get close to the others very quickly.
Even the extremely stoic Wu Li spoke to her more than anyone else.
While they rested near the fire, Wu Li suddenly asked Shu Xue: "Do the two friends of yours suffer from a brain problem?"
Shu Xue: "........"
This extremely serious lady asked that very politely, but it sounded like she was cursing them out.
Shu Xue could neither cry nor laugh: "I haven't heard them mention it. Why do you say that?"
Wu Li said: "They sometimes act like they do."
Shu Xue thought about it for a moment: "In fact, I haven't known them for long. We went through two exams together, so I only know them to a certain degree. Why don't you...ask them?"
She herself couldn't see any signs of illness in You Huo and Qin Jiu. She just felt that they were brave and strong and didn't appear to be sick. Besides...….brain problems shouldn't be that common? How could both of them coincidentally have it at the same time?
The probability of that happening was too low. Shu Xue felt that it wasn't likely.
But she wasn't a professional herself. Wu Li certainly had her own reasons for her to say that. Shu Xue didn't want to overstep her boundaries and jump to conclusions for You Huo and Qin Jiu.
Mm....What if there really was something and it was overlooked.
Shu Xue thought this.
Wu Li rubbed her hand to warm it up and said: "We'll see. Maybe it's just my occupational disease playing up and I was being overly sensitive."
.
When You Huo and Qin Jiu returned to the stone cave, everyone had already finished their part of the job and were taking turns resting.
Some slept by the fire letting out small snores.
Most didn't sleep very well. From time to time they would open their eyes and roll over.
She Xue looked very sleepy. Sitting in the corner while holding onto the suitcase, her head would drop from time to time.
You Huo and Qin Jiu lightened their footsteps and walked over.
She patted herself awake and said: "You're finally back...…I calculated the time. It has been more than three hours, so I thought something happened. I wanted to go look for you but was stopped."
The man with the buzzcut shoved his pocket watch back and said rigidly: "It's not safe at night. I naturally won't let you take risks."
"Now that the last two are also back, go and seal up the hole." He called out to a crew member and they went outside together. Using the fire, they set up a few obstacles.
"Hurry and rest up. Try to sleep as soon as possible so that you won't wake up if anything happens at night."
Hearing the words "won't wake up", Qin Jiu gave You Huo a meaningful look.
You Huo sat in the cover and straightened out his legs: "I'll keep watch."
"Did you sleep your fill in the confinement room? If you haven't slept enough, I don't mind doing a little more work tonight. I'm just worried that you'll fall asleep halfway. You sleep more deeply than I do." Qin Jiu said.
You Huo: "........"
Under his piercing glare, Qin Jiu gestured an act of zipping up his mouth before covering himself up and closing his eyes.
.
You Huo leaned back against the stone wall. His eyes quietly looked over the people in the cave before finally stopping somewhere
There, two men huddled together. They both trembled slightly, and their enlarged shadows reflected onto the walls also similarly shook.
Their faces were like white paper. One of them was nervously biting his nail looking particularly anxious.
You Huo recognised these two. One was called Chen Fei and the other was called Huang Rui. Their total score was only 11 points, which was a little more than 6 points less than You Huo and Qin Jiu's. They are currently ranked last.
They had tried very hard. They searched everywhere for branches and even checked the merchant ships, but their harvest was too small to reverse their situation.
If nothing went wrong, in a few hours at midnight, they would be the first group to take responsibility for the dead crew members and would be subjected to due punishment.
Although they didn't know what the punishment was and why it was called bearing responsibility for their death, they knew it wasn't going to be anything good...perhaps they would instantly lose their lives.
Right now, they were just waiting for the guillotine to come down.
.
The first officers' pocket watch slowly ticked on. It represented the examination time.
At 23:57pm at night, a bell suddenly sounded inside the cave.
The sleeping examinees were instantly startled awake. One even jumped up sporting their messy bed hair: "Exam time?"
The one who jumped up was Di Li. He looked around blankly before rubbing his face and sitting back down: "Fuck...Scared me to death. I thought I heard the bell for class and thought I was late for my university entrance examination."
"It wasn't your imagination."
"There really was a bell. Scared me...."
"Why is there suddenly a bell? I'm most afraid of that sound."
The others murmured in confusion.
Qin Jiu was rubbing the inner corners of his eyebrow. You Huo suddenly patted him.
"Hm?" He looked up.
You Huo pointed at the stone wall and said: "Recalculating points."
As soon as he said that, the voice of the dead rabbit rang through the cave. It carried a strange echo.
[2 minutes and 21 seconds until midnight. Now recalculating today's score.]
[Today, examinees could earn points from two areas.]
[1. Treating the crew members.]
[2. Finding fuel to ensure that temperature is maintained inside the cave.]
[The scores are calculated as follows:]
[A total of 6 points for treating the crew members, including 2 points for finding medicine and 4 points for diagnosis and treatment.]
[A total of 8 points for finding fuel to ensure that temperature is maintained inside the cave, including 5 points for finding sufficient fuel, 1 point for chopping up the firewood, and 2 points for starting up the fires safely.]
On the stone wall, the scores for the examinees began to change.
Because Qin Jiu and You Huo provided medicine and found fuel, they earned 7 points and jumped up from 17.25 to 24.45. In an instant, they became top four.
Shu Xue and Wu Li earned 4 points for diagnosis and treatment, so they also jumped up in rank by two places.
Although Di Li and the others also found some fuel, the quantity found was too far from "sufficient", so they only received 1 point.
Most of the remaining groups also earned 2 points for chopping up the firewood and starting up the fire. It was better than nothing.
Chen Fei and Huang Rui did their best and received a total of four points. Their total score changed from 11 to 15, but they were still in last place.
They sat there paralysed. They were both shocked and terrified.
At this moment, the dead rabbit spoke again.
[All points have now been allocated. Bonus points and penalties will now be applied.]
[Today, examinees could be penalised for one area.]
[1. Violating examination rules and dismantling the system ship.]
[The scores are calculated as follows:]
[Dismantling of the system ship resulted in complete loss of function of the ship. As it can no longer be repaired, the nature of this violation is extremely serious. A total of 10 points were deducted for offending examinees.]
The scores on the stone wall once again began to change.
You Huo and Qin Jiu's points were severely affected. From 24.25, it crashed to the ground and changed into 14.25.
Thanks to the joint efforts of the two, they went in the opposite direction and fell into a pit. The total score for them today was -3, successfully kicking Chen Fei and Huang Rui away and taking over the throne in last place.
The examinees were as silent as a mouse.
KK has something to say:
What a rollercoaster….
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