Chapter 93

Chapter 93: Bone-Deep Hatred. It’s truly strange how love and hate intertwine.

Qin Jiu slightly pulled back, his gaze falling from his eyes onto You Huo’s lips.

Their breaths were heavy, intermingling with one another.

The warning alarm had never sounded for so long, as if it were broken.

Yet no one paid any attention to it.

“Chief Examiner, you’re panting a bit heavily,” Qin Jiu murmured quietly.

They say that light-colored eyes naturally carry a hint of coldness.

But when those beautiful eyes reflected the swirling smoke, half-open and half-closed amidst rapid breaths, they became even more moist and misty than the haze.

You Huo turned his head aside to calm down, but with little effect.

After a moment, he finally turned his face back to answer Qin Jiu: “…a normal reaction to oxygen deprivation.”

“Normal reaction…” Qin Jiu repeated the phrase, letting out a low laugh amidst heavy breaths. “Kissing another man in broad daylight, is that also part of our chief examiner’s normal reaction?”

“……”

You Huo’s lips moved slightly, and after a moment, he said, “What happened in the castle before can be considered done and dusted.”

“Things in the castle? A lot happened in the castle.”

Qin Jiu said, “Are you referring to the fact that you promised not to take risks, but then turned around and secretly made an exchange with the witch doctor while I was being surrounded? Or… the fact that you forcibly grabbed my hand and stabbed yourself before I could react? Or perhaps… while stabbing yourself, you used a hug to deceive me into holding you as you lay motionless, not breathing for what felt like an entire century before finally opening your eyes?”

You Huo: “…”

“Three things, pick one to let go of,” Qin Jiu said.

You: “What about you? You wanted to exchange one for two by stabbing yourself—did you think I wouldn’t guess?”

Qin Jiu looked down at him, his voice suddenly soft. “My heart is beating faster than ever right now. I can’t tell if it’s from anger… or something else.”

His knuckle pressed against You Huo’s jawbone, and his thumb stroked his lower lip.

Your heart is beating just as fast.

He glanced at Qin Jiu’s fingers, his voice hoarse. “…There’s a phenomenon called the suspension bridge effect.”

“Suspension bridge effect?” Qin Jiu scoffed softly. With a gentle swipe of his thumb, he tilted his head and kissed You Huo again just as his lips parted slightly. “Does the suspension bridge effect include being kissed until your neck turns red?”

The moment Qin Jiu leaned down, perhaps because the aura was too overwhelming, a scene from long ago rushed into You Huo’s mind.

Blurred yet familiar…

It seemed to be a replay of some dream.

* * *

That day, just like this exam, was in midsummer.

Perhaps this season’s fervent heat and humidity easily sparked impulsiveness and emotions.

At that time, You Huo was still Examiner A, and Qin Jiu was nearing the end of his exam phase.

That was his 11th violation, spending a day cleaning up the examination hall, then being confined for two days in Examiner A’s detention room.

It was dusk on the second day.

Qin Jiu held a cup of water, leaning against the edge of the table. His short hair was damp, and the clean shirt was unbuttoned at the collar, revealing the sharp and powerful lines of his muscles across his shoulders, back, and chest.

He took a sip of water, turning his head to speak to You Huo, “Thanks to my dear chief examiner’s persistent arguments, they added a shower to the bathroom in the confinement room. Otherwise, after these few sessions of confinement, you’d probably want to cut ties with me.”

You Huo stood nearby, waiting for him to finish drinking the water before taking the cup away.

“Didn’t the system suspect anything at all?” Qin Jiu asked.

“These facilities were present in early-era confinement rooms but were later phased out; they’ve just been reintroduced now.” You Huo said. “Can it guarantee that there won’t be examinees in the future whose situations resemble yours? Those examinees will need access to this room as well.”

His expression was as cool and composed as ever. Qin Jiu admired it for a moment before remarking, “It must’ve been fooled by that expression of yours.”

“…Are you actually thirsty or not, taking two sips every five minutes?” You Huo said.

“Changing the subject again.” Qin Jiu obediently took a third sip and said, “Whenever something less serious comes up, you always change the subject. Are you in a hurry to leave?”

You Huo replied, “It’s hot.”

The confinement room wasn’t stuffy at all; the ventilation system was decent, and the dampness from the shower had dissipated quickly.

But traces of heat still lingered.

Qin Jiu said, “Twenty minutes ago this place was clearly hotter, and you weren’t in a hurry to leave.”

You Huo: “…”

His handsome face, naturally cold and aloof, tightened as he took the cup from Qin Jiu’s hands and said, “Just remember what we talked about earlier. I’m leaving.”

“What’s up?”

“……”

He said one thing and forgot it the next moment.

Examiner A wanted to hit someone.

Qin Jiu jumped down from the table before saying, “You mean telling me to get out as soon as I finish the exam, stay as far away as possible, and never become a proctor—is that what you’re talking about?”

You Huo: “…”

He clearly wanted Qin Jiu to pass the exam smoothly, leave the system, and never jump into this pit of fire again.

But… if it had to be explained this way, it wasn’t wrong either.

“I came with a purpose, remember? Even if the system kicked me out, I’d find a way back,” Qin Jiu said.

“Your purpose is the same as mine. I understand this place better than you, I’m more familiar with the system, I can catch it off guard more easily, and I’m in a better position to achieve that goal.” You Huo frowned and said, “I don’t see why you insist on being tied down here.”

Anxiety crept in, making him unusually restless.

“Reason?” Qin Jiu said, “I have one right in front of me, walking away without looking back and talking tough.”

You Huo paused at the door.

“Suddenly, I’m a little curious. In your eyes, what kind of relationship do we have now?” Qin Jiu asked.

You Huo stood for a moment, then said, “The relationship between the invigilator and the examinee.”

After he finished speaking, silence in the room lingered for a long time. The person behind him, who had always been arrogant and unrestrained, suddenly grew quiet.

You Huo’s expression remained calm, yet the knuckles of his hand gripping the cup had turned white.

A long time later, just as he was about to open the door, very light footsteps suddenly sounded from behind him.

Then, Qin Jiu’s breath descended.

He lowered his head and whispered in You Huo’s ear, “Other invigilators and examinees don’t end up in bed, Chief Invigilator.”

You Huo’s eyelashes fluttered lightly.

It was almost a back-hugging posture, yet still carried the unique sense of tension that defined their interactions.

“I’ve long been accustomed to your tough talk—the more you worry about someone, the more you prick them. I’ve never seen you prick anyone else like this. For that alone, I would come back no matter what,” Qin Jiu said.

“Even if the system throws me out, wipes my memory and leaves nothing behind, I’ll still return.”

……

* * *

The fire in the old castle burned for a long time, showing no signs of dying down, as though too many things deserved to be scorched clean.

The souls of the Duke and the witch doctor had long since dissipated. The limbs and corpses they left behind, due to the reversal of the witch’s curse, gradually restored themselves into human forms.

They went through a fiery rebirth, screaming as they fled from the flames, seeing daylight once more.

All life and death returned to its starting point within the blaze.

In a certain corner of the castle, a red wooden box suddenly trembled several times, as if someone inside was screaming in panic, trying to escape.

Ever since the Duke was resurrected, the red wooden box had been kept under his bed.

Every few days, he would call out for “My Elisa,” searching for girls who resembled her, then behead and dismember them in hopes of bringing Elisa back.

Yet, for all this time, he had never opened that wooden box.

He hid it under the bed, and from the day he put it there until now… he never once opened it.

The ritual required the person to be resurrected and the victim to be surrounded by candles.

The Duke had performed it countless times on himself, so he remembered every detail perfectly.

But every time… every time he went to find those young women, he never brought Eliza with him.

Not because of fear of severed limbs.

He had seen plenty of severed limbs, and the ones he personally chopped off were countless, but he just didn’t want to see the face in the box, didn’t want to see the woman in that box.

Because that woman wasn’t Eliza at all.

The real Eliza had been taken away by the witch doctor on the very day the duke was resurrected.

The witch doctor said that his previous body was too old, old enough that it couldn’t last much longer. He and the duke were linked—if he weakened, the duke would weaken too. If he died, the duke would also die.

He needed a suitable body for habitation to ensure the duke lived long and healthy.

Actually, there were many possible vessels to choose from, but the steward selected the one closest to the duke.

He knew the duchess adored her husband deeply. If the witch doctor inhabited her body, perhaps he would be influenced by its original owner and remain forever loyal to the duke.

That night, the steward only revived the duke. In return for taking over the duchess’s body, the witch doctor summoned back the souls of the servants.

But she did not stay at the castle; instead, she went to the church in town and disguised herself as a nun. This was because there were more living people in the town, enough for her to use.

The butler, afraid that the duke would be heartbroken upon waking, hacked the woman from the deceived couple into pieces, creating a gruesome and chaotic scene, and then placed a mask over her face.

He said to the duke, “The resurrection failed. I don’t know what went wrong.”

The duke stood beside the pool of blood, his gaze fixed intently on the half of the face beneath the mask. After a long while, he finally said to the butler, “Put her in a box.”

Since then, turning a blind eye.

He could have requested the witch doctor to change bodies, but he did not.

He merely tacitly allowed “Eliza” to be hidden under the bed, making everyone in the entire castle wear masks along with her, to show everyone how much he missed her.

Just… she could never be brought back to life.

The mahogany box was finally knocked open. A young woman with disheveled hair jumped out, bumping into her equally wretched husband at a corner, and together they fled this place.

In the corridor engulfed by crimson flames, oil paintings lay scattered across the floor. The paint, dried and cracked under the scorching heat, turned to a charred black, while the frames burned into charcoal.

The Duchess’s lips, once curved in a smile, tightened in the blistering heat—first flattening, then turning downward slightly. It looked like disdain, yet also like sorrow.

Her body lay in what was once her splendidly decorated bedroom, while the Duke’s original body was buried beneath a stretch of scorched earth. Separated by hundreds of meters, one had turned to charcoal, the other rotted into mud—never to cross paths again.

Outside the castle, Jiang Yuan stumbled into the crowd, where Zhou Qi held him, laughing and jumping before finally breaking down into sobs.

In a more distant place, the invigilation office received a notice.

The system sounded the longest alarm in its history, yet gave only a blank slip of paper to the three invigilators.

Because it couldn’t find any basis for punishment, nor any rules to explain… why two people with no memory, separated by years and standing on opposing sides, could still end up together.

So, love and hate are truly strange things indeed.

Some decayed early and returned to the earth.

Some are etched in the bones.

Volume 5: Blood Revelry