Bloody Carnival
Chapter 99: Belated Arrival
Zhao Jiatong has actually not used a good student card before, so she didn’t know about the “side effects” of using it.
When You Huo and Qin Jiu returned, they were stopped by the manager as soon as they entered through the hotel door.
At the same time, an elevator reached the first floor. Yang Shu walked out from the elevator carrying her bag with a confused look.
When she saw You Huo and Qin Jiu, she pointed to the attendant next to her and said, “You came just in time! They said that we have to take the next exam now and asked me to pack up. Is this a joke?”
“Now?” Qin Jiu was stunned.
The manager nodded, “Yes, right now.”
You Huo’s first thought was that they had angered the system again and the other party finally couldn’t hold back its retaliation.
But the manager picked up the registration book at the front desk and said: “Didn’t you register a team before?”
“Yes.” You Huo nodded, “Forming a team pushes the exam earlier?”
“Not for every case.” The manager took a sip of water and dug out a notice from under the table, “This is also my first time doing this. I would’ve forgotten about the ability to form teams if you hadn’t done so. Here——We just received this.”
You Huo received it and read its contents.
The notice wrote:
> Examinee You Huo registered for a team at 5:27pm rest stop time.
> In the case of team formation, the resting time for the members will be adjusted such that the least amount takes priority.
> Team member Wu Li was originally scheduled to take the next subject at 8:30pm tonight so the exam time for the whole group has been accordingly pushed earlier.
>After receiving the notice please send the relevant personnel to the subject selection location before 8:00pm.
The manager pointed at the clock on the wall: “It is now half past seven. The subject selection location is still a distance away from here so you should hurry or I’ll be the one punished.”
“Fine.” Yang Shu was no longer peeved after reading the notice, “Then is it too late to buy something? I don’t have any medicine left. You two——-”
As she spoke, she noticed the items in their hands: “……..”
She stared at it for a moment and said, “You bought back the whole supermarket?”
Qin Jiu said: “We haven’t gotten that rich yet, but we have some commonly used medicine.”
You Huo lifted another bag said: “There’s food too.”
Yang Shu: “Why are you buying so much food? You can still eat enough in the exam centre. It was just the last round that was special.”
Qin Jiu tilted his head towards You Huo: “This gentleman here was eating normally last time.”
Yang Shu: “Then why?”
Qin Jiu: “Picky.”
“…………”
Forget it.
The rest stop was very large. It was a small drive away from the hotel to reach the subject selection location.
When they arrived at the crossroad, they made it just in time – exactly 8pm.
As usual, the intersection was covered in white fog. Under the night sky, it exuded a cold and damp smell.
This place was like the city suburbs. There wasn’t anyone else around.
The driver honked his horn and drove away.
The car headlight turned around the corner and soon disappeared into the distance.
They crossed through the white fog. Before the fog could disperse before their eyes, they heard a calm female voice say, “Someone’s here.”
Another female voice was a little hoarse, but her tone was gentle: “To be able to think of forming a team, it must be them.”
“Adding you to the team is normal. Adding me is strange.”
The fog dispersed and a familiar crossroad once again appeared before them.
Two women, one tall and one short stood by the side of the road. It was Wu Li and Shu Xue.
“Look! It’s really them!” Shu Xue was very happy and rushed over to greet them, “We received a notice from the rest stop boss saying that we should come here half an hour in advance because someone had registered us in a team. We knew it must be you two!”
After another exam, she was still carrying a large belly.
You Huo took this in and gently frowned: “You……..”
“Oh, this?” Shu Xue casually patted her stomach, “At the rest stop Sister Lili borrowed some hospital equipment and helped take a look. It’s not a problem for the time being. I’ve thought about it and my current bug status makes it more convenient for me to find people and select examination centres so I’m leaving it alone for now.”
You Huo wanted to say something but Shu Xue then whispered: “I finally managed to meet my friends……..Anyway, I regard you two as friends. I want to stay with you two. I don’t want to go around alone anymore.”
Not mentioning anything else, this young lady’s crying skills were very good. Her eyes immediately reddened.
You Huo froze for a moment and swallowed his words back down.
Shu Xue carefully took in his expression.
As soon as the great master nodded, her reddening eyes instantly recovered.
You Huo: “?”
It hadn’t been that long, but this young lady had now learnt to cheat others?
On the other side Yang Shu and Wu Li were catching up happily.
“I was wondering why they would include me in the team.” Wu Li tucked some hair behind her ear, “How did you run into them?”
Yang Shu: “It’s a long story.”
In essence, she and Wu Li belonged to the group of people who are rational. They sought for stability as well as security.
On the first day after being dragged in by the system, they were worried that they would be separated so they had agreed on the subjects that they would do in advance……Like this they could perhaps one day run into each other again.
“My second round was quite difficult, and it took a long time, so I was a little slower than you.” Yang Shu said, “You finished History in just a few days, didn’t you? When you finished, I just started on my end and I ran into these two re-examinees.”
Wu Li nodded: “That’s quite lucky.”
“Yes!” Yang Shu quietly complimented them, “They are really good. Without those two, I might’ve died in there.”
She paused and added: “Actually, that’s not right. Perhaps there would be examinees who would cut down all the infected out of fear to end the exam.”
Wu Li shook her head: “I don’t know about the others, but I know you won’t. Why else did you study medicine?”
Yang Shu squinted her eyes and laughed.
“But what happened to your hair? Why is it cut?” Yang Shu asked.
“Too troublesome.”
“Who cut it? Looks like a dog chewed through it.”
Wu Li: “……..Me.”
Yang Shu let out an ‘oh’ and changed the topic. She pointed at You Huo and said: “Senior sister, he has something to ask you.”
Wu Li was surprised. She walked over to You Huo and Qin Jiu: “Xiao Yang said you were looking for me?”
Yang Shu came over and explained: “He spent some time abroad to treat his sickness. Professor was his attending physician.”
Wu Li was surprised.
“Isn’t it strange?” Yang Shu said.
Wu Li nodded. She seemed to have thought of something and her expression turned slightly more serious.
She stared at You Huo for a while and then turned her attention to Qin Jiu.
After a while she withdrew her gaze and mumbled, “No wonder……..”
“No wonder what?” You Huo asked.
“I asked Xiao Xue before whether you two have a problem with your brains…….” Wi Li awkwardly explained.
For a moment the atmosphere was awkward.
Yang Shi immediately stepped in to clarify: “She meant it literally. She’s not cursing you two out.”
You Huo and Qin Jiu didn’t mind because strictly speaking…..They indeed ‘have a problem with their brains’.
Wu Li decided to clarify further: “I’m referring to mental interference.”
“You can tell something like that?” Qin Jiu asked.
Wu Li: “Eyes, reactions and some others too……..If you stare at a certain type of people every day for two years, you learn to spot it.”
“For example?”
Wu Li thought about it and said: “I’ll give you the simplest example. The ones I have researched are those who have had traumatic experiences, so their memories have been cut or altered to varying degrees. It can be considered as a kind of treatment method. They usually share a common characteristic and that is having a habitual action. Some like to touch the tip of their index finger, others like to cross their fingers and so on……..They’re all seemingly meaningless actions.”
“You should know that people easily become anxious and suspicious when their memories are disturbed. They become alert to everything around them and they don’t like to get too close to anything because they are not certain whether it is real. To a certain extent, some may see that as being lazy or difficult to get close to. These habitual actions are kind of like…….how should I put it…..A security code? When doing that action, they will feel calm and at ease.”
“Or to put it another way, it’s kind of like a safe zone.”
“You would always touch the side of your neck.” Wu Li imitated Qin Jiu’s actions, “And the chin down here. Most would only have one, but you have two. The frequency is similar so you would interchange between the two.”
She then said to You Huo: “You would touch your earring.”
“But that is just an example. Most people with problems would present with these kinds of habits but it doesn’t mean that everyone who has these habits would have a problem.”
As soon as Wu Li started talking about more serious matters, she talked quite quickly but she soon put a halt to it and said: “There are too many small details in this matter. I have filled 12 notebooks and practically used a new one every two months. There’s too much to talk about.”
She looked at Qin Jiu: “You were likely interfered with more than once; at least two times.”
Qin Jiu who heard this was stunned.
“Two times?” He frowned.
He only remembered the one time.
When did the other time happen?
Wu Li then looked at You Huo.
After a while, she shook her head with a frown: “For you, I can’t tell. You seem like you were interfered with once, but you also don’t seem like it.”
As they spoke, the atmosphere had become a little more mysterious.
Wu Li said: “As for the projects I have participated in……That’s probably what you wanted to ask about, right? It’s inconvenient talking about it here.”
She did an action that surprised Qin Jiu and You Huo.
She looked up and scanned her eyes around their surroundings. It was just like actions of the invigilators who have been watched over by the system for many years. “We will talk about it later when we find a place with better privacy.”
This was something Qin Jiu and You Huo was concerned about and unexpectedly it was the same for Wu Li.
As they spoke, two more figures appeared in the white fog.
Before their faces were revealed, their voices were heard first.
“Brother!” Yu Wen shouted from afar.
Hearing this, You Huo felt as if it had been a long time since he was called this.
He used to like it when it was quiet, and he would find this cousin who would call him “brother” left and right very noisy. As for Old Yu who would always smell of alcohol and speak gruffly, he felt that he was very boring.
But now, when he once again heard their loud chatter, he found it quite nice.
He was very happy.
But You Huo’s mood had always been hard to discern by others.
You just had to understand him.
“What happened to your leg?”
He saw Old Yu limping over and asked.
“It’s nothing. Didn’t pay attention for a moment.” Old Yu answered.
Yu Wen immediately spilled everything: “What are you talking about? You just got too excited after receiving the team notice and fell down the stairs. Fell flat onto your face just like that.”
Old Yu slapped the back of his unfilial son’s head: “Shut your mouth!”
When they were done, the father and son duo looked over at You Huo with silly smiles on their faces.
It hadn’t been long but Old Yu had lost a lot of weight. His originally round face had sunken in and he looked a lot wearier.
There was a scar on the side of Yu Wen’s face. Stretching down from his cheekbones, it was about the length of a finger. He had also lost weight and his features had become more defined.
You Huo’s eyes rested on that scar of his. Yu Wen chuckled: “How is it? Isn’t it cool? I was scratched by a ghost’s claw in the last round.”
Speaking of exams, You Huo remembered something: “Why did you two take Politics?”
“Huh? How did you know?” Old Yu was surprised.
“I went later.”
“Why?”
“…….Punishment.”
Old Yu lightly let out an ‘oh’ and then smiled: “You’re really……..”
Yu Wen on the side clapped in admiration: “My brother is awesome.”
“But we didn’t choose Politics by choice. Politics wasn’t one of the options for us.” Yu Wen explained, “At that time we chose History but for some reason we were taken to a Politics exam. Later they said that there was a bug and they opened the wrong entrance causing us to be dragged in.”
Qin Jiu’s impression of Yu Wen was still of a “foolish chatterbox” so he asked with interest: “How did you get out of that exam?”
“Haa…Just talking about it makes my palms sweaty.” Yu Wen said, “Old Yu and I were tortured for the first two nights. We were so pitiful and were running around everywhere but those students were even more afraid that us, so I was able to calm down a little. I then thought of an idea—-”
“Wasn’t it nightmares coming true? As my disposition as a study slag, ghosts and monsters are okay but my worst nightmares were always about exams. Like a bunch of papers burying me alive or not being able to write a single word for a major question in the exam.”
Yu Wen scratched his head and continued: “And then I had a good idea. I talked to all the teachers and asked them to pass out exam papers. The exams would run from morning till night and it will be filled with the most difficult questions possible; the more stressful, the better. Those teachers cooperated well and pushed the monthly exams sooner. Twelve hours of exams each day and after three days of that, all the students were having nightmares about those exam papers.”
“And finally, it was something I have wished for my entire life—–We set fire to the mountain, ah no, set fire to the exam papers. After burning all the exam papers in the school and killing some of the remaining monsters, we got out. Hey brother, aren’t I clever?”
You Huo: “………….”
Qin Jiu: “…………….”
That was pretty amazing.
Very soon, it was 8:28pm.
Inside the pavilion, the system sounded again to remind them to select their subject.
“There’s no one else, right?” Yang Shu said, “Then let’s go?”
You Huo however answered: “Wait a minute. There’s one more.”
“Who?”
Everyone looked at each other. All the familiar faces were here and for a moment they didn’t know who was missing.
As soon as they were about to voice their doubts, someone belatedly appeared from within the white fog in the distance.
It was a good-looking woman with short hair. Her voice carried some sharpness: “I was wondering who pulled me into a team. Turns out it was you. Why? Finally remembered me?”
Shu Xue let out a small exclamation of surprise: “Isn’t that the boss from the rest stop? The one surnamed Chu?”
Qin Jiu was surprised: “You wrote Chu Yue?”
You Huo said: “Couldn’t get to the rest stop so could only get that person to come instead.”
The two walked over one after another and Chu Yue stopped before them.
Her gaze fell onto You Huo and then she looked at Qin Jiu. She commented half exasperatedly and half-jokingly: “So…..You two got together again? This is the third time.”
KK has something to say:
Third time!
