Chapter 51

Chapter 51: Face to Face but Unrecognizable — Did Your Brain Suffer Some Kind of Interference?

The door was already cracked open.

Light seeped in through the crack, illuminating Miss Gan Cui’s vivid green face.

“Can it be operated?” You Huo asked.

021 struggled internally, on the verge of death: “…No.”

You Huo stared at her without a word.

She added, “The difficulty is extremely high, and the risks are significant.”

You Huo asked, “Such as?”

“For example…” 021 racked her brain. “There was once a situation like this where a supervising official accidentally placed an examinee into a supervision room that already had someone inside.”

You Huo leaned against the door, waiting for her to come up with more.

021 said, “What a coincidence—those two examinees know each other. What’s even more coincidental is that they’re each other’s worst nightmare. Does that sound familiar?”

You Huo replied, “Go on.”

021 said, “In short, Person A fears nothing more than encountering Person B, and Person B fears nothing more than encountering Person A. It’s basically that kind of relationship. With these two in the same confinement room, what kind of scene do you think they would face?”

Not only was this lady dragging it out, but she also insisted on making it interactive.

Unfortunately, the audience wasn’t buying it.

Thankfully, she had long been accustomed to the other’s indifferent expression. Without waiting for You Huo to speak, she revealed the answer: “In one confinement room, there are two As and two Bs.”

“One is the real person, and the other is a replica created because the other person fears meeting them. Now think about you and 001—aren’t you quite similar to As and Bs? What if, when confined together, two copies of 001 and two copies of you appear, staring at each other…”

021 paused appropriately to build an eerie atmosphere. “Let’s not talk about whether it’s frightening or not. Would the confinement room even survive?”

Even if the proctors don’t go insane, the system certainly will.

After listening, You Huo nodded. “So it can actually be managed, but both sides’ worst-case scenarios would overlap?”

“………………”

021 thought to herself, what a waste. I spent so much effort explaining all that earlier, not for you to draw such a conclusion!

If it were 078, his head would’ve been twisted off by now.

But facing You Huo, she could only take a deep breath and maintain a smile.

“Not necessarily overlapping,” 021 explained. “There are also cases of overwriting. When one person’s fear is clearly greater than the other’s, this near-complete overwriting situation occurs. There are also instances where both fears merge and create a new scenario, and new scenarios are often even more deadly.”

She wanted to list a few more types, hoping You Huo would consider the hassle and give up on his own.

Who knew that the big shot nodded after hearing this and said, “You’ve done this more than once?”

“………………”

Screw you.

Lady 021 felt like killing someone.

She could handle anyone who came near, except for the instigator You Huo whom she couldn’t touch.

Just as she was thinking that, someone came asking for trouble.

The half-closed door of confinement room No. 1 was knocked open. When 021 answered it, she saw the blockhead 078 standing outside.

He looked somewhat surprised. “You still haven’t left?”

021 was succinct. “About to.”

078 asked, “Why did it take so long?”

“To test if the confinement room was faulty, or if this delicate-skinned examinee truly feared nothing.” 021 said.

This young lady’s expression was chillingly aloof and quite intimidating, yet behind her back, she was waving frantically at You Huo.

078, already accustomed to this young lady’s speaking style, replied seriously, “Well, it’s just as well you haven’t left yet—saves me the trouble of going upstairs. 001 just played a joke on me, but it did remind me of something.”

021 looked at him suspiciously, a bad feeling creeping in.

“How about this—let’s lock them up together. They’re probably bored sitting alone anyway, and the disciplinary purpose isn’t being achieved at all. Put them together, and maybe there’ll be some chemical reaction,” 078 said. “Isn’t there a rule that says if there’s a problem with the confinement rooms or they become completely unusable, adjustments can be made as appropriate? That includes merging them.”

021: “…”

Actually, they had done this sort of thing before; it wasn’t zero experience. But when it came to 021, 078 would get nervous, always preferring to lay out all the reasons when making a proposal to seem more convincing.

See, wasn’t he able to shock 021 today.

Uh… maybe he went a bit too far.

078 thought.

A few seconds later, Miss Gan Cui, wearing an icy expression that screamed “I’m about to break my coworker’s legs,” personally escorted You Huo into confinement room number 2.

“No matter what, be careful.” She turned her back to the door, mouthing the words to You Huo.

With those words, he turned his head and immediately changed his expression, heading off to find 078 to sweep the grave.

……

Inside Confinement Room No. 2, the scene of ruins was fully spread out.

The sky was still incredibly high and distant, the air carried a chill, and the distant windbreak forest remained silent.

It wasn’t much different from the last time, yet there were a few subtle changes in the details.

Take those stacked metal pipes, for example.

Last time, there wasn’t much rust on the surface of the metal pipe, making it the newest and cleanest thing in this ruined place.

This time, however, three red marks had been added to the metal pipe.

Qin Jiu bent down in front of the metal pipe and reached out to touch it.

Unsurprisingly, it was dried bloodstains.

Not only on the metal pipe, but there were also a few similar marks on the ground beneath his feet…

Qin Jiu, deep in thought, lightly rubbed his fingers.

After a session in the confinement room, his impression of this scene seemed to grow clearer.

He hadn’t realized this change in himself until now, as it was projected within the confinement room. The presentation here was more direct, and there were a few additional details that hadn’t been present the last time.

……

Qin Jiu stared at the bloodstains for a moment, then sat down on the metal pipe from his memory.

Once in this position, the three blood streaks aligned perfectly with him.

It was as if his fingers had been stained with blood and he had casually smeared them on the surface of the pipe. As for the ones on the ground… they had dripped from his chest.

……

Lost in thought, startled birds flew up from the shelterbelt in the distance, circling in the air.

The sky then darkened abruptly.

He pulled Zhao Wentu’s phone from his coat pocket, his eyes gazing towards the horizon.

The sky was clear and bright, with neither dark clouds nor thunderstorms, yet it continued to grow darker.

It was as if the frozen time had suddenly sped up—from dawn to dusk, then to the first hints of nightfall—all within just over ten seconds.

But soon he reacted.

It wasn’t that time was changing, but that another person had entered here, causing the surroundings to gradually darken.

Fortunately, it didn’t turn completely dark—it stopped at the very last moment of dusk.

……

Footsteps sounded not far away, light and rustling, but they didn’t disturb the silence of the ruins.

Qin Jiu turned to look in the direction of the sound…

There was a break in the base of the wall there, where the metal protective net had snapped and bent to form a damaged opening, partially obscured by machinery and a pile of discarded scrap.

You Huo had just rounded the back of that pile of machinery, his tall figure casting a faint, indistinct outline in the night.

He raised his hand to brace against the twisted protective net, bowed slightly to pass through the opening, and the moment he looked up, his gaze met Qin Jiu’s.

He sauntered unhurriedly to a closer distance and came to a halt before the metal pipe.

This scene felt all too similar to a fragment from his memory…

Even though he knew the timing was off and the person was not the same, Qin Jiu still froze for an instant.

Then he saw You Huo scanning the surroundings and breaking the silence: “Are you afraid of being alone in the suburbs?”

Qin Jiu snapped back to reality in an instant: “…”

To be honest, the scene really did resemble it quite a bit.

He let out a low chuckle and didn’t argue. Instead, he glanced around as well and asked You Huo, “What about you? Scared of the dark?”

You Huo: “…”

Qin Jiu stretched out his long legs and patted the metal pipe, signaling You Huo to sit down.

Just as You Huo was about to bend over, he caught sight of those streaks of dried blood.

In that instant, an overwhelming feeling of revulsion surged within him. Though the stains had long dried, they still felt inexplicably piercing to the eyes.

“Did you do this?” he suddenly asked.

“No.”

Qin Jiu answered quickly, almost as a subconscious reaction.

After saying it, he paused for a moment, feeling a mix of amusement and helplessness.

The blood was indeed his, but it was from many years ago—an old stain that no longer mattered. He wasn’t sure why he had just denied it.

But since he had already denied it, he continued, “It was here when we arrived. I don’t know who left it behind.”

You Huo stared at the faint marks for a while, yet that sense of repulsion lingered for a long time.

He straightened up, walked a couple of steps, and casually sat down on a discarded machine.

The overwhelming coverage that 021 described didn’t occur, and the expected chemical reaction that 078 hoped would be frightening similarly failed to happen.

Here, there were not two versions of him, nor were there two Qin Jius.

There was only a desolate ruin, half-shrouded in darkness…

Yet their two scenes merged without any conflict, unusually calm.

“Is that phone Zhao Wentu’s?” Youhuo’s gaze fell on Qinjiu’s hand.

“Mn, he left it with me last time. But it hasn’t been used for too long and won’t turn on immediately.” Qinjiu said.

You Huan said, “I’ve been watching you fiddle with it for a long time. No effect?”

Qin Jiu replied, “It’s much better than last time—at least it can boot up now.”

“And then?”

“Then? It shuts down automatically.”

“……”

You Huo watched him fiddle with it for a while before asking, “What did you want to tell me by calling me over?”

Qin Jiu: “I called you over? When?”

You Huo: “…So the one with the twitching eye was a ghost?”

Qin Jiu let out an “oh,” pretending he had just remembered: “I was just trying to be considerate of certain examinees. As an experienced invigilator and an obvious insider, I decided to satisfy your curiosity. So, here’s a hint—if there’s anything you want to ask, you can come to the detention room.”

Hearing the terms “invigilator” and “informed individual,” You Huo’s eyes flickered.

021 spoke too hastily, as those things had only just begun to process.

As for the issue, there was indeed one. This was also his reason for joining the group.

“How safe is the confinement room?” You Huo asked.

Qin Jiu took off his watch and unbuttoned his cuff, revealing a lean and strong wrist. Just below the thumb joint, embedded in his wrist, was a small indicator light, about the size of a grain of rice.

“Safe enough that I can spill all my secrets here, and this thing won’t even light up,” Qin Jiu said. “This is the only place within the system without eyes or ears, completely different from the examination halls.”

After he finished, he added one more sentence: “Within known limits.”

“Why?” Youhuo asked.

Qin Jiu: “Because of some original rules, the system can intervene with itself but not with the examinees.”

“So, to some extent, in this examination system, the examinees are the ones with more freedom. What’s in your minds and what you plan to do are not controlled by the system. You have the right to follow the rules and the right to violate them, as long as you bear the corresponding consequences.”

“The isolation room is the examinees’ world—a place crafted based on their memories and fears. According to the non-intervention rule, the system cannot secretly pry without reason.”

“What about the invigilators—” You Huo frowned as he spoke, “What’s that expression supposed to mean?”

Qin Jiu shrugged his shoulders. “No, I just suddenly thought your phrasing was quite interesting.”

“What do you mean?”

Qin Jiu said, “I thought you would ask ‘What about you all’? This represents a kind of subconscious group division, so can I interpret it as——”

You Huo interrupted with a deadpan expression. “No, you can’t.”

Qin Jiu raised an eyebrow, giving him a look for a moment before saying with a hint of a smile, “Alright, then. Supervisors are different from examinees. They…”

At this point, he even emphasized the words “they,” and You Huo’s expression instantly turned sour.

“They are considered by the system as a part of itself and can forcibly intervene when necessary—both in actions and here.” Qin Jiu tapped his temple with a knuckle.

You Huo asked, “To what extent can they intervene?”

Qin Jiu fell silent for a moment before replying, “To varying degrees. It could be brief or prolonged. Maybe just the interference of a single thought, or perhaps an entire chunk of memories.”

His gaze narrowed slightly in the darkness as he added, “It’s also possible that the entire person might be compromised. A long time ago, there used to be a rumor circulating that the earliest invigilators weren’t exactly normal people…”

You Huo tilted his head slightly, his expression growing indistinct in the nighttime shadows. “The earliest ones? Including the invigilator A you mentioned?”

Qin Jiu replied, “The ones led by him—whether they were normal or not is one thing; even whether they were human is debatable.”

You Huo: “…”

He stepped onto one of the machine’s handles as a foothold, his other long leg dangling down. He quietly looked at Qin Jiu for a moment, then moved his lips: “I remember you said you and Examiner A were like fire and water?”

“That’s what others said.” Qin Jiu recalled the fading headlights from the fragmented memories, adding: “But it really wasn’t that great.”

You Huo stared at him expressionlessly for another moment, finally unable to resist asking: “Did your brain suffer some kind of interference?”

Qin Jiu: “?”