Chapter 87

Chapter 87: Qin Ke, Invigilator A, why do you need to take a shower after coming out of the confinement room?

More people around can reduce the sense of fear.

Many people can enhance the fun factor.

With a crowd… many serious matters can become somewhat comical.

Just like in high school, when a teacher pointed outside the window and told a student, “Stand outside!”

That’s a punishment.

To a whole class of students, said: “All of you get out and stand outside!”

This is an exhibition that puts on a big show.

When the three invigilators brought back all the rule-breaking examinees, it was exactly that kind of feeling.

So absurd it made one not know whether to laugh or cry.

922 looked at the sea of people packed into the small room and couldn’t keep up the pretense any longer.

He said seriously, “I think I might have thrown a house party.”

154 rubbed his temples, still trying to play along, “…Don’t joke around.”

Actually, it really did kind of look like one.

922 sighed again, “When was the last time the invigilation office was this lively?”

154 gave up struggling, “…Yeah.”

922: “The boss is still the boss.”

154: “…Ah.”

As soon as he finished exclaiming “ah,” the system instantly issued a violation alert.

Both invigilators’ small red lights lit up with a “beep beep” sound.

021 smirked coldly beside them, thinking to herself that they should learn not to show their emotions so recklessly. Our senior is the best, after all.

She kicked the fool 922 with her high heel and said, “Don’t just stand there blocking the way. Take him downstairs—there isn’t enough room to stand here.”

922 said, “Miss, is downstairs enough? We only have three rooms. If we let in three people at a time, the line will stretch until this time tomorrow.”

“At a time like this, let’s not insist on single rooms. Have them go in together,” 154 said.

* * *

The basement fully carried on the characteristics of the Examination Center, maintaining the style of the examination hall.

This place looked just like a dungeon beneath a church—

Going down the stone steps, you’ll see an underground tunnel, with wall fires burning in semicircular stone troughs on the walls, dividing the space into distinct blocks of light and shadow.

At the end of the tunnel are three horizontal rooms, like stone-built prison cells, with narrow, dark little doors standing upright.

Perhaps to create a sense of confinement, the entire basement has only that single source of firelight just mentioned; everything else is half-hidden in dim shadows.

021 frowned as soon as she came down.

922 straightforwardly muttered, “Out of all the different types of confinement rooms, this is my least favorite style.”

“Would you please stop complaining? This is already cleaned up—before, it was even more realistic and damp everywhere.” 154 said with annoyance.

The examinees came to a halt at the end of the alley, exchanging uneasy glances.

One of the bolder ones raised their hand and asked, “Proctors, can we ask what the punishment entails?”

“Oh, you didn’t know?” 922 said without thinking.

The examinee was bewildered: “I… should know?”

The three invigilators paused for a moment, suddenly realizing that they had been desensitized by You Huo and Qin Jiu, almost forgetting that genuinely ordinary examinees were actually completely clueless about the punishments and might be a bit uneasy.

154 coughed beside them, speaking with a serious, stern expression: “In the event of a first-time violation during this examination, the offending examinee will be confined, three hours per person.”

“Will there be any life-threatening dangers?”

“Generally, not,” replied 154.

Generally?

The few more timid examinees’ faces turned pale once again.

You hesitated for a moment, then added, “Inside the confinement room, you’ll see the scenes, people, or things you fear the most. As long as you keep your wits about you, there won’t be any life-threatening danger.”

As soon as he finished speaking, his small red light emitted another beep.

His first thought was that the system was being unusually unkind tonight—flaring up at the slightest provocation, far stricter than usual.

But when he opened the door to the first confinement room and secretly felt relieved that the chaos of having multiple people might lower the risk, he suddenly realized…

It wasn’t that the system had become particularly rude, but rather that, from some point on, his stance had increasingly shifted toward siding with the examinees.

Or rather, the stance of these few invigilators in siding with the examinees had become increasingly obvious, sometimes even undeniably evident between the lines.

They were breaking more and more rules.

In the past, whenever he saw the red light turn on, he would instantly become cautious.

But today, the red light lit up twice, and he didn’t even spare it a glance.

Not just him, 922 and 021 were the same.

This was probably influenced by a certain two.

“Why are you spacing out?” 922 suddenly patted him. “What are you thinking about?”

154 snapped back to reality and said, “I wasn’t thinking about anything.”

922 gave him another glance before turning around to arrange for the examinees.

The fool tried to stuff all 19 people into the same confinement room, probably aiming to secretly reduce their risks. After all, once the number of people reaches a certain threshold, the horror scenario might become a mishmash, scaring no one.

Moreover, with companions around, they could even lend each other a helping hand.

However, just as they had squeezed in the fifth person, the system’s voice suddenly echoed in the basement.

Although the tone was flat, one could vaguely sense it had been holding back for a long time, reaching the point where it couldn’t hold back any longer.

[Warning: The maximum capacity for a solitary confinement room is 5. Exceeding this limit is a violation.]

922 asked, “Those three rooms only hold 15 people. What about the other four?”

[The remaining violating examinees should patiently wait on the bench outside the confinement room and refrain from engaging in any horseplay or causing disturbances.]

922: “Oh…”

He then attempted to stuff Qin Jiu, You Huo, and Gao Qi into three different doors, figuring that with these three leading the way, the confinement room would be even easier to navigate.

Unexpectedly, the system spoke up again.

[Examinees Pang An, Meng Cenchen, Li Hao, Zhang Rui, and Xu Xinxin enter Confinement Room No. 2 in sequence.]

922: “…”

Alright, start calling the numbers.

This isn’t a party, it’s a bank.

The system announced five more names, instructing those individuals to enter Confinement Room No. 3, and then said:

【Examinees Qin Jiu, You Huo, Gao Qi, Zhao Hong, please wait.】

Upon hearing this, 922 finally furrowed his brow.

Even a fool like him could sense the overwhelming malice in the air.

From what he knew, this candidate named Zhao Hong had also performed remarkably well, scoring the most points in the exam after those three.

Holding back these four until the second round made the system’s intentions all too obvious:

Firstly, it could prevent the detention room from becoming too simple.

Secondly, while others can finish and return to the examination hall in three hours, they have to stay here for six.

It not only extends their punishment time but also subtly removes them from the examination hall.

With these few absent, who knows what the resurrected Duke might do?

He could figure it out, so surely the boss understood it too.

922 sent the last group of candidates into the detention room, then glanced back at Qin Jiu, only to notice that he was pinching the bridge of his nose as if he wasn’t feeling quite right.

“What’s wrong, boss?” he and 154 went over.

Qin Jiu had already lowered his hand and looked just as he usually did. “What do you mean, what’s wrong?”

Once again, 922 wondered if his eyes were playing tricks on him.

They didn’t say much else and, after exchanging greetings, made their way upstairs one by one.

Outside the confinement room, there were indeed a few benches—though they were little more than stone slabs.

Examinee Zhao Hong was still riding high on the thrill of scoring points and couldn’t quite settle down for a while.

He paced back and forth a few steps, about to say “Experts, come! Let’s discuss what to do next,” when he heard Expert No. 1 casually drop a line, “Tired, I’m going to sleep for a while.”

Yu Huo casually found a “bench” in the corner, lay down, and soon fell asleep with his hands under his head.

Zhao Hong then turned to look at Qin Jiu.

He sat down on the stone platform beside Yu Huo and said, “I’ll rest for a bit too.”

It also fell silent.

Gao Qi looked at him with puzzlement, muttering, “I know A gets a bit sleepy now, but why are you like this too?”

Qin Jiu had already closed his eyes to rest, and upon hearing this, he didn’t open them, lazily responding, “Probably caught it from being around him for too long.”

Gao Qi let out a scornful “Hah,” thinking to himself, damn it, here he goes again, showing off.

Zhao Hong looked at him again, pointing at the stone platform. “Should we both sleep as well?”

Zhao Hong: “…”

Are you guys here at the Supervision Department to catch up on sleep?

Gao Qi slept as soon as he said he would, and soon, light snores echoed through the basement.

Zhao Hong lay on the stone platform, faintly able to hear the cries from the confinement room. They weren’t heart-wrenching, but carried a hint of terror.

After listening for a while, he found himself even less able to sleep, so he simply opened his eyes and stared blankly into space.

Qin Jiu and You Huo were lying close to Zhao Hong, and as his gaze wandered, it inevitably swept over the two of them.

Perhaps it was the dim light, but as Qin Jiu slept, a slight frown appeared between his brows, revealing a trace of weariness.

Zhao Hong wasn’t very familiar with them; his impression of them was that they were exceptionally capable.

He instinctively wondered: “Do they ever get tired too?”

But then he thought his own question was strange—how could people not get tired?

He was about to continue spacing out, but as he withdrew his gaze, it swept past You Huo’s elbow covering his face, and he suddenly hissed, stopping in his tracks.

Because a large patch of red had appeared beside You Huo’s wrist.

Zhao Hong looked closely and realized it was actually an injury.

A large, bloody wound.

This was very strange.

Because just over ten minutes ago when You Huo had first lain down, this wound hadn’t existed yet.

After a moment of shock, Zhao Hong suddenly realized—

The ailment transmitted from those church people was starting to take effect…

* * *

You Huo knew he was running a fever; every joint in his body ached with a dull, aching weakness.

Perhaps because he was somewhat weary, this sleep was not particularly sound, and he found himself dreaming many fragmented dreams for the first time.

He dreamed again of that familiar house.

Dreamed again of the basement.

In the dream, the surroundings were as dim as the invigilator’s office, with only a single corridor light turned on.

He came out of the confinement room and shut the door behind him.

For some reason, there was a damp sweatiness at the ends of his hair and the back of his neck.

……

However, the button on his shirt collar was impeccably fastened, with only the sleeves rolled up to his elbows.

He went up the stairs, grabbed a set of clean clothes from the back of the living room sofa, and turned to head toward the first-floor bathroom.

He hadn’t taken two steps when a voice suddenly rang out in the house.

In reality, this voice was already irritating enough to him—unexpectedly, it was even worse in the dream.

[Examiner A, why did you need to take a shower after leaving the confinement room?]

You Huo frowned slightly, then quickly returned to his cold demeanor.

“Keeping watch 24/7 like this, is it fun?”

The system’s voice sounded again:

This is within my responsibilities, and within my capabilities. Most importantly, it’s in compliance with regulations.

This system was subtly different from the one in the examination hall, with a more human-like way of speaking.

However, 922 and the others did mention that the system in the invigilators’ area is much more intelligent than the ones in the exam venues, and it’s omnipresent except for the confinement room.

In his dream, You Huo didn’t say a word, quietly pulling a towel from the drawer.

The system persisted:

[You still haven’t answered: Why did you shower after coming out of the confinement room?]

You Huo paused briefly, then said coolly after a moment, “Because it’s stuffy.”

The system fell silent. After a few seconds, it spoke:

[But according to records, 15 days ago when the temperature hadn’t risen yet, you came out of the confinement room exactly like this too.]

You Huo: “…”

You Huo threw the clothes onto the marble countertop, resting his hands on it quietly for a moment before saying, “I told you, because it’s stuffy. When are you planning to move the confinement room above ground?”

System:

[Won’t move it. The comfort level of the confinement room environment determines the severity of the punishment, so it will never be moved.]