Chapter 69: A Night to Remember The collar is a bit damp. Is it raining outside, Examiner?

This is a villa. The interior design, dominated by whites and deep blue-grays, is simple and clear.

You Huo dreams of walking down the stairs…

This place feels strange.

It wasn’t his temporary residence abroad, nor was it any place he stayed at in the country.

Not a hospital, not a school or military base, and certainly not the home of Old Yu and his son Yu Wen…

In short, it wasn’t any place he recognized.

But as he stood there, he felt an eerie mix of familiarity and strangeness—

He seems to know exactly where to turn, which room he is heading towards, and the layout of this house.

Every move was as if he were the master of this place, which is why it felt familiar.

Yet he had not developed any sense of belonging because of this, so it still felt strange.

He guessed that this might be where he had lived as Examiner A.

The house was probably located somewhere in the examination zone, and he didn’t like it here.

But that was understandable. Who would think of a place like this as home?

In his dream, the day was already late, and the sunset had vanished just a moment before.

On one side of the first and second floors, there were large floor-to-ceiling windows. Whenever You Huo turned to that angle, the lights outside would momentarily blind him.

Through the glass and lamplight, it was clear that snow was falling outside.

Just moments ago, there was still a sunset, but in the blink of an eye, the snow began to fall with extraordinary intensity…

He squinted to avoid the light, but his steps did not pause on the first floor.

In the dream, You Huo somehow knew that he was heading for the basement…

* * *

This was a certain day many years ago, just as night was falling, with snow falling ceaselessly.

The temperature inside the house was just right, a single layer of clothing was enough.

Examiner A had just returned from an outing, his shoulders dusted with a layer of snowflakes.

He took off his coat and went upstairs, hanging it in the bedroom. Just as he was about to take a shower, a sudden commotion erupted downstairs.

This was the residential area arranged by the system for invigilators, a neighborhood of uniformly designed villas.

To the left of the villa area were the twin buildings used for penalizing examinees, while to the right was a quaint little park that maintained an unusually quiet atmosphere on ordinary days.

As a result, any commotion downstairs became particularly conspicuous.

Invigilator A lived alone, preferring solitude over gathering with companions; visitors to his residence were a rare sight.

But these two days were an exception—

A certain examinee named Qin Jiu was staying here after violating the rules.

Of course, he wasn’t staying in a bedroom, but in a confinement room.

The system didn’t allow rule-breaking examinees to enjoy themselves too much.

The commotion downstairs quieted for a moment before starting up again.

It wasn’t some irritating noise, just light tapping, unhurried.

You could tell the one tapping carried a playful tone with it.

Examiner A listened for a moment, then headed down the stairs to the basement.

The basement, as originally designed, served as both an activity area and a guest room.

Later, to accommodate Qin Jiu, the system went as far as converting the guest room into an integrated isolation chamber.

Aside from the lack of surveillance, its characteristics matched those of a standard isolation chamber.

The knocking sounds were coming from inside the isolation chamber.

He pressed his finger to open the door.

There were only a few items in the confinement room: a set of desk and chair and a bed placed against the wall were all the furniture.

Tools were rather pretentiously hung on the wall.

At that time, Qin Jiu, still a candidate, sat on the edge of the bed.

The corridor light shone in from outside the door, just falling on Qin Jiu.

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to block the light, his raised hands bound by a leather strap.

Peering over the open palm, one could see a lazy smile lingering at the corner of his mouth.

“What is it this time?” Examiner A asked, leaning against the door.

“Nothing special,” Qin Jiu replied.

“Just heard that a certain busy, high-ranking examiner had returned, so I thought I’d give a polite greeting.”

His eyes squinted again, still unable to adjust to the overly bright light.

Examiner A glanced back at the corridor light and closed the door of the confinement room with his hands behind his back.

He shut it with such force, producing a loud “bang,” as if he were unwilling to do so.

The room abruptly plunged into darkness.

“There are lights and you won’t turn them on?” Examiner A said coldly.

He flicked a switch with a snap, and a dim floor lamp in the corner lit up, far gloomier than the corridor lights.

“Oh, I would’ve liked to turn them on.”

Qin Jiu lifted his bound hands and said, “But unfortunately, I’ve been tied up like this, making it inconvenient to move. Meanwhile, the person who tied me up has been free to do as they please for most of the day, giving me no food or water, and only coming back now. If I hadn’t taken the initiative to greet you, I’m afraid you wouldn’t have remembered me… Doesn’t that count as excessive punishment, Grand Examiner?”

As is well known, Examiner A is the youngest among the invigilators.

Surprisingly young.

However, both examinees and colleagues tend to subconsciously overlook his age because he is exceptionally strong and holds an extremely high position within the system.

Only Qin Jiu stands as an exception.

The moment this candidate first met Examiner A, he daringly teased him without a shred of fear for his life.

Upon learning that Examiner A was two years younger than himself, he took to adding “Da” before the title, calling him “Big Examiner” at every turn.

This form of address would be perfectly fine coming from anyone else.

In fact, others did use it, treating it as a respectful term for the chief examiner.

But when spoken by Qin Jiu, it carried a trace of nonchalant teasing.

Examiner A glanced at the wall clock and said, “I left to take care of some business at 4 PM. It’s now 6:10.”

Two hours and ten minutes in total, that’s a whole day as you roughly estimate it?

As for not being given food or water, that’s even more bullshit!

He gave a cold snort and pushed the plates on the table aside.

“Is this pig slop?”

Of course it wasn’t pig slop. The presentation was delicate, and it was expensive, too.

This was ordered from a restaurant in the commercial district by another invigilator, as an apology for what happened during the day.

He wasn’t hungry, so he stuffed the food into the confinement room.

But who knew some examinees didn’t appreciate it at all.

Qin Jiu straightened his legs, settling into a more relaxed posture. He lifted his eyelids and swept a disinterested glance over the dishes and cups before remarking, “They’re different from last night.”

Examiner A: “…”

“The meal last night was quite good, with a rather unique flavor,” Qin Jiu said.

“The shrimp was burnt, but other than that, it was excellent.”

“……”

Proctor A expressionlessly hooked over the trash can beside him, dumping both the water and fried meat inside.

“Since you chose this yourself, then go hungry.”

He leaned against the table edge, after discarding the cold dinner, he tossed the plate back onto the table.

The confinement cell echoed with two clanging sounds, then returned to silence.

For a moment, only the sound of their breathing could be heard.

Examiner A crossed his arms, his gaze lowering from under his thin eyelids to settle on Qin Jiu.

The silence carried an almost palpable tension, thick and charged.

The tension hung in the air for a moment before Examiner A finally spoke up.

“What’s the purpose of breaking the rules so many times?”

Qin Jiu raised an eyebrow.

“Do I need a reason to break the rules?”

Examiner A did not speak.

You Qin also said, “The purpose of the exam is to select candidates, isn’t it? That’s what I’ve been led to believe. The questions are quite challenging, and I couldn’t come up with a particularly perfect way to pass. I could only settle for the next best option. If there were a better method, why would I violate the rules? Who isn’t afraid of punishment?”

Examiner A said, “Enough with the nonsense. Stop where it’s appropriate.”

You Qin laughed.

He laughed for a while and said, “I’m serious. Do you believe me?”

“I don’t believe you.”

Qin Jiu looked utterly disappointed, enough to make anyone’s teeth itch.

“During the first clearing of the exam hall, you buried a disruptor inside.”

“The third time clearing the examination hall, you guided the questions into a logical chaos. That examination hall was put into use afterward, collapsed entirely halfway through, and still hasn’t been successfully restored to this day.”

Examiner A counted them one by one.

Upon hearing this, Qin Jiu showed no haste nor annoyance, simply defending, “It was just a prank.”

Examiner A: “This is the fifth time you’ve claimed you lost a retest card.”

Qin Jiu: “That forest looked identical in every direction; it’s possible the card slipped out when I pulled out my compass. As I recall, I mentioned that to you at the time?”

Examiner A paused briefly: “And the time before that, you hid a cheat sheet.”

Qin Jiu: “Just helping out.”

Examiner A fell silent.

His light-colored eyes appeared even paler under the light, fixed quietly on Qin Jiu.

Qin Jiu returned his gaze without flinching.

After a long moment, Examiner A averted his gaze, scanned the surroundings, and then let his eyes settle on the floor lamp again.

A moment later, he suddenly said, “Forget it, I’ll give you a little honesty.”

Qin Jiu: “What kind of honesty? Let’s hear it.”

“I’ve had countless opportunities to interrogate you with these questions, but I chose to do it here. Do you know why?”

Qin Jiu thought for a moment and said, “I don’t know.”

Examiner A: “…”

Qin Jiu, watching his expression, suddenly smiled and said, “Alright, I’ll answer seriously—because this is the confinement room.”

Examiner A’s eyes flickered.

“So you did know.”

“Just happened to hear about that saying.”

“The detention room is the only place the system cannot monitor. It was a margin left in the initial design philosophy, a shelter beneath the rules.”

Qin Jiu paused for a moment before adding, “I also heard that this shelter wasn’t opened until this year. It was only after someone pointed out to the system that its practices were non-compliant that the detention room was granted exemption.”

Examiner A listened and said, “Who did you hear it from?”

Qin Jiu: “People who were investigated, people who participated, people who just happened to know.”

This statement was equivalent to a kind of confession.

Examiner A remained silent for a moment before saying, “So you really did come with a mission, and then you set your sights on me.”

This should have been a question, but he said it very calmly.

Qin Jiu: “Supervisor A has deep ties with the system—that’s the information I’ve obtained. Not giving you special treatment would really be unjustified. Don’t you agree?”

Supervisor A snorted softly in response.

This reaction seemed to amuse the candidate across from him. He stared at Supervisor A for a long while before adding, “When I first met you, I thought you were on the side of the system—just like the designers, maintenance personnel, and the other ostriches among the participants, covering your eyes and ears, pretending not to see the system’s flaws because once things spiral out of control, stopping them recklessly only leads to your own misfortune.”

“But later, I realized it wasn’t quite like that,” Qin Jiu said.

“But you’re too hard to read—whether it’s because you act too well, or because of something on my end. Your stance has always been unclear to me. In fact, just now, I wavered again.”

Examiner A watched him from the corner of his eye, his demeanor still far from warm.

“And now?”

“Now? Let’s try a different approach,” Qin Jiu said.

“Can you give me a straight answer, Chief Examiner? I’ve been guessing at your thoughts for so long…”

He paused, then added, “If I keep guessing any longer, I might start doubting my own identity.”

“Identity? What do you mean?”

“Do you know what kind of relationship thrives on guessing games?”

Examiner A looked at him but remained silent.

Qin Jiu said nothing as well.

Silence spread between them once again.

Examiner A suddenly spoke up, saying, “Granting an exemption to the confinement room—I was the one who did it. Does that count as an honest answer?”

Qin Jiu’s eyes sparkled with a gleam of light as he said, “It counts… I guess it can count.”

Examiner A glanced at the time once more, finally straightening up.

Only then did Qin Jiu realize he hadn’t even taken off his military boots, as if he still intended to go out.

“Take your time forcing yourself, then.”

With those words, he was about to walk toward the door.

Qin Jiu’s voice rang out from behind him: “Aren’t you going to untie me?”

Examiner A paused mid-step and said with a completely impassive expression, “You could free yourself in a minute. Do you have to play it up like you’re in such a miserable state?”

A light chuckle sounded from behind, followed by the faint rustling of rope.

“Alright, but you’ve got one thing wrong—”

Examiner A didn’t look back.

Just as he reached the door, another person appeared behind him.

“—In fact, it only takes a few seconds.”

Qin Jiu had just come to a stop behind him and was about to say something when he suddenly reached out his thumb and wiped it along the side of his neck.

“Your collar’s a bit damp—did it rain outside?”

The touch of his fingertip sliding across was warm and dry.

Examiner A held the door handle without moving, only slightly narrowing his eyes.

A moment later, he said, “No, it’s snowing.”

* * *

You Huo abruptly woke up at this moment.

Just like the occasional dreams over these years, the moment you wake up, the content becomes hazy and difficult to grasp.

You can only catch fragments within the rapidly blurring shadows.

You Huo only remembers that there seemed to be Qin Jiu in the dream, along with ropes and a room.

The more detailed parts are simply out of reach.

From somewhere outside came a few thuds of impact, muffled and heavy.

You Huo sat up in bed, pinching the bridge of his nose as he tried to shake off the drowsiness.

After just a couple of rubs, he suddenly felt that something was off…

Dreams coming true, dreams coming true. If he truly had dreamed of Qin Jiu, then that meant—

You Huo abruptly opened his eyes.

First, he saw Qin Jiu across the other bed, who had also just woken up and looked equally dazed.

Then, he silently turned his head and saw the extra person in the dorm room—

Not far from his bedside, a person with their hands bound by a leather rope was sitting lazily on the desk.

Next to the just-awakened Qin Jiu, a person dressed in a shirt, trousers, and military boots was leaning against the balcony door, arms crossed and eyelids lowered, watching them with a cold gaze.

On his right arm was pinned a standardized badge, engraved with the metallic words “Invigilator A.”

Who dreamt of whom, distinctly clear.

You Huo: “…”

Qin Jiu: “…”

The atmosphere was particularly tense, the moonlight particularly beautiful.

A night to remember.