Bustling World
Chapter 154: New Teammate
When Yu Wen stuck his head out, he saw You Huo, Qin Jiu, 154 and 922 standing in a row against the corridor wall while Yang Shu and Wu Li were standing outside room 201 like guardian gods.
“Brother, what are you all doing?” Yu Wen asked.
You Huo glanced at him, “Waiting for Shu Xue to separate from the self-correcting program.”
Yu Wen was surprised, “Self-correcting program? When did you find it? Why didn’t I know?”
“Didn’t find it. It had always been there.”
Yu Wen blinked a few times. It took him several minutes to digest this information. He finally understood what this meant, “Sister Xiao Xue…..Self correcting program…..It can’t be that thing in her stomach?!”
You Huo: “Yeah.”
Yu Wen was stunned, “How to separate? Give birth?”
You Huo looked at him expressionlessly. Yu Wen quickly shrank his neck back, “Okay, I said something stupid.”
Fortunately, he quickly remembered, “Oh, that doll! At that time, the villagers were freed when we gave them their dolls. Brother, didn’t you specially leave a doll for Sister Xiao Xue?”
You Huo finally withdrew his chilly gaze, “Just gave it to her.”
Because of Shu Xue’s special circumstances, they left the room and waited outside out of politeness, leaving Chu Yue to accompany her inside.
Miss Yang’s occupational disease acted up again, “How will this separation work? Will there be a wound? She really doesn’t need us two doctors to check on her?”
Her successive fires left the several men in shock.
922: “Uh…..When they took the Foreign Language exam, I was just an invigilator. I didn’t pay attention.”
After that, he nudged 154, “You go.”
154, “What are you nudging me for? I was also invigilating.”
After that, he looked at Qin Jiu who looked at You Huo.
You Huo: “…….”
Seeing Mr. A’s frozen expression, Qin Jiu laughed and turned back. Just as he was about to speak, the door to 201 opened.
The group stopped talking and they all came over.
Chu Yue stood by the door holding a doll about the size of her palm. It should be something made personally by the black widow; the stitches were finer than those of an examinees and the facial features were also very distinct. At first glance, it did resemble Shu Xue but looked a little younger. The hair used was also real, making those seeing it feel uncomfortable.
“Where’s Xiao Xue? How is she?” Wu Li asked.
The first reaction of everyone outside was to check if Shu Xue was okay. Chu Yue was stunned for a moment before saying gently, “She’s fine. After A gave her the doll, she felt a little dizzy and uncomfortable. Perhaps she remembered the events back then and she soon passed out. During the time it took for me to turn around and get her a glass of water, her appearance changed, and her body also thinned down. This thing was left lying next to the bed.”
Wu Li and Yang Shu however were still worried. They gave Shu Xue a check as soon as they entered the room only to confirm that there weren’t any major problems and she just needed a good night’s sleep.
Only then did everyone feel relieved.
***
At 1:22 in the morning at the rest stop, the large group finally arrived —–
More than thirty invigilators and more than a thousand examinees came at once.
The moment they walked through the thick fog, they saw You Huo standing by a warehouse wall. He wore a shirt and trouser matched with a pair of military boots and his face was rendered pale by the fluorescent lights above.
The invigilators were stunned by this sight. The person standing under the lights gave them the mistaken feeling that they were still early invigilators with a close connection to the systems core and their head invigilator was still Invigilator A.
021 almost blurted out ‘senior’ but she was able to swallow it back in time.
It was because someone walked over from the wall next to him. He stood at the top of the narrow wall holding a phone and seemed to be sending someone a message.
That person was Qin Jiu. As he sent the message, his eyes briefly glanced over.
“You’re finally here.” He stored away the phone and jumped off the wall, landing next to You Huo.
You Huo stretched out a hand to lend him some support.
“How is it?” You Huo asked.
“Changed personnel. The ones guarding the weaponry are all NPCS, new faces. They definitely won’t recognise us hard-working invigilators. Our luck is a little bad.”
“……..Alright.” You Huo accepted this fate.
Seeing their exchange, the invigilators were able to instantly return to their senses ——- Time had not gone back. A and Gin are still good friends.
……..
But this isn’t right!
Haven’t they recovered their memories? The friendship between them is still going strong?
Everyone stared wide-eyed as the two came over. Gao Qi assessed You Huo’s look and commented, “Why are you wearing this? It looks a little like our old clothes.”
You Huo casually pointed in a certain direction, “Just bought it. They only have this here.”
“You have so many negative points, but you can still afford clothes?” Gao Qi said with surprise.
Speaking of this, You Huo seemed to have remembered something. He took the card out of his army pants and stuffed it into Qin Jiu’s pocket.
“Borrowed.” You Huo answered.
As he retracted his hand and raised his head, more than thirty old subordinates stared intently…..at his hand.
Invigilator A’s psychological quality couldn’t be compared to that of a normal person. He acted like he didn’t see anything and turned his head to ask Qin Jiu for the time before turning back to the group with his usual look, “It is now 1:24am. We will go in at 1:40 to replenish weapons. There are still six minutes left to sort out the group and assign tasks. If you have any questions, ask during these six minutes.”
Gao Qi and the others again fell into trance.
It was this kind of demeanour, this cold and calm tone. Every time there was something that required everyone’s involvement, A would say something similar before they headed off. This was one of the rare moments where he would say so much in one go.
It has really been a long time.
They’re all smart people. In fact, they had already made their speculations about the origins of 154 and what You Huo and the others are planning. They had originally wanted to settle down first and ask more questions before considering the pros and cons and making a decision.
But now, they had changed their minds. Long-lost excitement and hot-bloodedness surged inside them and they suddenly wanted to do something.
Whether it’s the Forceful Faction or the Gentle Faction, it was just a difference superficially. After so many years, the two groups had already mixed. They were no longer able to distinguish clearly between the two factions, but there was also no need for it anymore.
They just wanted to do something, anything was fine, so as not to waste those years of silence and waiting.
Under this tacit understanding, even the next questions they asked were in sync. You Huo answered very simply but it was enough to explain the current situation. They only asked a few questions about 154 and his ‘position’ before spending the rest of the time understanding their plan.
“The main control centre is now hidden. According to 154’s search, it has been hidden inside an examination centre which was then mixed amongst countless other examination centres. Even the entry mechanism of it is modelled after an exam but this examination centre is not open to the general examinees. Even if someone accidentally gets in, they wouldn’t realise that it is the system’s main control centre and would just complete the exam and leave.” Qin Jiu explained.
“What benefit does this bring to it?” Someone asked.
“Of course there are benefits.” You Huo said, “The main control centre’s attack and defence protocol has a prerequisite, that is, the centre needs to sustain damage. With it hidden inside an examination centre, it can deal with the people who try to get in using the exam’s original punishment mechanism. It’s equivalent to having an extra layer of defence.”
Gao Qi nodded, “An extra layer of defence is not a big deal. We have an advantage in numbers so it shouldn’t be too troublesome. But what happens after getting into that examination centre and reaching the main control centre? Destroy it?”
“Yes.”
“How high is the probability of succeeding?” Gao Qi asked.
The probability of succeeding. That was also something You Huo and the others had been calculating all along.
Three years ago, they dared to go straight into the main control centre because You Huo’s authority was high enough and the defence protocol would be activated late so they could take advantage of the time delay.
In theory, this method should be much easier than using the self-correcting program. Afterall, the self-correcting program still required them to get to the core computer and install the program when the main control centre has reached 80% damage.
This time it was different. Although they have lost the high authority of a head invigilator, they now have 154.
On one hand, 154 can similarly help push back the activation time of the attack and defect protocol and help with reducing its lethality as much as possible. This could be done as long as Du Deng Liu didn’t interrupt in the middle of it.
On the other hand, with 154 around, the installation of the self-correcting program would be much easier. This would be the case as long as he can repair it in time.
So regardless of how they calculated it, their chance of succeeding this time was much higher than last time.
“This is only relatively speaking, and dangers will still exist so you have the right to make a choice.”
You Huo glanced at the time again and then took out a pair of protective gloves and put them on. As he adjusted the fit, he said, “Doing it, or not doing it. Choose one.”
Unexpectedly, this group of people made their choice very quickly. The group was soon split into two. All the invigilators and a large group of examinees stood on his side while about two or three hundred were sill hesitating.
This outcome exceeded everyone’s expectations.
Qin Jiu nodded, “It’s normal not wanting to participate. It’s completely understandable. But for safety’s sake, you must stay in this rest stop for the time being. 154 will arrange a place for you to stay. Before we are done, you cannot leave this place and cannot have any form of communication with anyone.”
Some wanted to take action when they heard this but perhaps because of various concerns, they still didn’t take that step.
Very soon, this group of people were taken back to the accommodation by Chu Yue who had hurried over.
021 led another group of invigilators over to heroically acquire another ‘good student’ card.
“What now?” The remaining invigilators remained standing in place.
Qin Jiu took out his phone and glanced at it, “The time is just right. There are two minutes left. It’s enough time for us to go over.”
Gao Qi asked, “Go where? To do what?”
You Huo worked his muscles and flipped onto the wall before pointing his chin towards a place in the distance.
In that direction were four brightly lit large warehouses. Outside each one of them were two teams of NPCs dressed a ‘troopers’ guarding the entrance. This was the place Qin Jiu went to check on earlier. It was the largest armoury in the rest stop.
This rest stop had a special rule. Weapons could be obtained in two ways ——-
The first was to acquire them through points but the gun, ammunition, bullets etc are all calculated separately. It was fine if you just needed it for self-defence but if it was for a rebellion……The price wouldn’t be too blinding.
The second was that you could take it using your own abilities. Competing or betting on something was fine as long as you can make the guards willingly give you the weapons, you can take them away.
Given the demand for weapons for this group of people, buying them wasn’t an option. Even if they used up all their fortune, it wouldn’t be enough.
You Huo’s card was at negative two hundred or so points. He was very aware of this so he didn’t even consider the first option at all.
And so, five minutes later, more than seven hundred examinee and more than thirty invigilators climbed over the fence and went straight in the direction of the brightly lit warehouses.
They went loot those warehouses clean under the leadership of former head invigilator A and current head invigilator 001.
***
1:44am in the morning.
The defensive line for warehouses number 1 and 2 was broken through and more than 300 examinees emptied the warehouses.
Di Li called up a group of people from a camouflage painted vehicle which was used to transport the weapons out. As he sat in the co-pilot seat, he pointed ahead and shouted at Qin Jiu, “Brother Qin! What about that one?”
Qin Jiu waved his phone at him, “154 is already dealing with it. Don’t worry and go on ahead.
1:52am in the morning.
Warehouses number three and four also could no longer resist this bunch of gangsters. The remaining people once again cleared out the majority of these two warehouses.
When Gao Qi got onto the car, he could no longer hold back, “Do we need this much? Isn’t the main control centre just a laboratory? We need these to get into a laboratory?”
“The main control centre is bigger than this rest stop.” You Huo said.
Gao Qi: “???”
At 2:10am in the morning, everyone gathered downstairs outside the hotel.
021 held a good student card that she had managed to acquire as she looked at the row of cars in daze.
When 154 came out, his mouth opened wide before quickly returning back to his cold, expressionless state.
“What is that reaction?” Qin Jiu asked him with amusement, “You also think it’s too much?”
154 shook his head, “No, it’s quite appropriate.”
“Then why was your mouth open?”
“As a part of the system, I can still react instinctively…”
Everyone could no longer hold back. They all laughed out loud.
But the next second, 154 threw out some bad news——-
“Du Deng Liu has gone into hiding. I can’t find him.”
The smiles on everyone’s faces disappeared instantly.
“But the time we have is limited. Afterall, with such a big commotion here, even if I’ve turned on the shield the system will still notice.” 154 said, “With Du Deng Liu also missing, the situation is now more complicated. We must get in before the system closes off the main control centre.”
Qin Jiu asked, “How long do you think we have?”
154 said, “Ten minutes.”
Everyone was in uproar. This was then followed by solemn silence.
What was ten minutes good enough for? No matter how powerful You Huo and Qin Jiu was, and no matter how many people there were, it would be impossible to find Du Deng Liu and restrain him during those then minutes.
At this moment, You Huo approached 021, “Give me the card.”
021 didn’t wasn’t clear on his intentions and could only give him the card.
Adding that to the remaining good student cards, he could once again establish a team.
You Huo asked 154, “This examination centre is special. Who to find to establish a team?”
Chu Yue was stunned for a moment before taking out an old notebook and giving it to him, “It’s the same. As long as the person is someone in charge of a rest stop, it’s fine. I carry my notebook around with me. You can write it here.”
A pen was tied to the notebook. You Huo used it to write his and Qin Jiu’s name before passing them around for the others to add theirs.
As the notebook was passed through everyone’s hands, everyone was still at loss and didn’t understand his intentions.
Eight minutes later, the notebook was returned back to You Huo. Under everyone’s watch, You Huo picked up the pen and then added another name at the end of the extremely long list——-
Du Deng Liu.
Everyone, “………”
It wasn’t until Du Deng Liu appeared before them with a bewildered expression that everyone was finally able to realise what You Huo was doing.
To drag the boss into the team, are you even human?!
KK has something to say:
You’re trapped now Du Deng Liu!!
