Chapter 80 Old Friends He wasn’t used to it, but he was happy.

Zhou Qi was in truly poor condition.

Beneath the mask, her lips were chapped and pale, the half of her face that was visible flushed bright red with fever.

Zhao Jiatong had moved her to a long bench, wrapping her in several layers of clothes and blankets, covering her securely.

As soon as Zhao Jiatong entered, she reached out to feel her forehead, saying, “See, burning up.”

Of course, several grown men like You Huo wouldn’t just reach out and touch someone—nor was it necessary. A single glance was enough to tell that the fever was serious.

“What’s going on?” Gao Qi asked.

Zhao Jiatong replied, “How would I know? I’m just confused. She seemed fine earlier in the night—maybe a bit listless, but she had no trouble chatting or talking. I didn’t hear her sneezing or coughing, and she didn’t complain about being too hot or too cold. She fell asleep before I did, and to avoid the draft from the balcony, I even made sure to steer clear of the direct wind path.”

“How did it suddenly become like this? When did this happen?”

“Just a moment ago.”

Zhao Jiatong said: “She wasn’t feeling well, so she curled up and leaned against me. I was originally sleeping quite soundly, but having a nightmare and then feeling her burning up startled me awake. When I opened my eyes, she was already like this.”

She looked at Zhou Qi’s unconscious state and worriedly said: “To suddenly have a fever like this, especially during the exam period, I’m concerned it might be related to the exam content.”

“Test what, who has the highest temperature?” Gao Qi muttered.

“Don’t interrupt randomly. The system may be getting more…” Zhao Jiatong was comparatively tactful and didn’t say anything too bluntly insulting. She expressed it with a gesture before continuing: “But it still follows its basic rules. Everyone else is fine—only Xiao Zhou has a fever. She must have triggered something. That’s what I’m worried about.”

Qin Jiu walked a lap around the room, confirming one by one: “The bed hasn’t been moved?”

Zhao Jiatong shook her head: “No, she’s even more cautious than I am.”

“Has anything in the room been rearranged?”

“I have not.”

“Mask, formal attire?”

“Neither removed nor taken off.”

“Have you ever gone out alone at night?”

Zhao Jiatong hesitated for a moment, “I don’t know about that, but I don’t think so. Who would—”

Like the two of you?

She cleared her throat, swallowing the rest of her words in time. “She’s not particularly timid, but she’s also far from brave. Even if she needed to go to the bathroom at night, she would have woken me up to go with her.”

“Then it must be the banquet,” Qin Jiu said.

They were all consistent on everything else; the only difference was that Zhou Qi hadn’t eaten anything.

Gao Qi suddenly spoke up: “Could it be something like this—”

“The question said we must not violate the duke’s demands. That sickly duke demanded we enjoy the dinner, but Xiao Zhou didn’t touch it, so is that the so-called punishment?”

You Huo firmly rejected the idea: “No way.”

“Why?”

“She’s had alcohol before—even a drop counts.” You Huo said, “Besides, the rule says punishment for the whole group. I’m not running a fever.”

Right.

Gao Qi nodded. “This is a bit puzzling.”

Without finding the source, it would be hard to make Zhou Qi recover.

In the corner of the room, there was clear water. Zhao Jiatong soaked a cloth, tucked it onto Zhou Qi’s forehead, hoping it would help reduce her fever a bit—at least enough to wake her up first.

However, Zhou Qi seemed to be in a comatose state. Whether calling her or patting her, she showed no signs of opening her eyes..

Not even a sound.

Just then, there came another sound from the balcony.

They turned to look.

The person who arrived was Yang Shu.

Everyone was taken aback: “How did you get here?”

“Climbed over the balcony, how else?” Yang Shu said, still holding the massive hem of her dress in hand.

She undid the ties and, with a look of impatience, gathered the hem and tucked it up, revealing two long, straight legs.

…Barefoot.

The high heels were probably thrown into her room.

The three gentlemen turned their heads politely and courteously away.

Unexpectedly, Miss Yang said, “What’s there to turn away for? Haven’t you seen people wearing short skirts on the street before?”

“……”

The three men had no retort, so they turned back.

Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong subtly exchanged glances, first stealing a look at Zhou Qi and then at Yang Shu.

He thought to himself: They’re all wives forced by the system, but how come the difference is this big???

Muttering, “This damn dress is really slowing me down,” Yang Shu rummaged through the layers of her skirt to pull out a simple bag.

Never mind the men, even Zhao Jiatong was left dumbfounded. “…Where did you pull that from?”

“This skirt has three layers plus hoops. Try stuffing something into the folds of the second layer—I guarantee it won’t fall out all day.”

Yang Shu always spoke with her chin slightly raised, appearing domineering and difficult to get along with.

She took a small box out of her bag, and inside were neatly stacked pills.

“How did you know she was sick?” Zhao Jiatong was taken aback.

Yang Shu said, “I didn’t know. I just heard you next door saying she wasn’t doing well, so I came to see just how unwell she is.”

“……”

Gao Qi asked doubtfully, “Then where did you get the medicine?”

Yang Shu was even more puzzled than him. “Is it strange to carry medicine with you?”

Gao Qi kept his mouth shut.

Yang Shu walked over to Zhou Qi and started working without any politeness.

She flipped Zhou Qi’s eyelids, then forced her mouth open to check it under the light, and finally pressed on her neck.

Her movements were swift and not at all gentle.

You Huo watched for a while and said, “Are you a doctor?”

Yang Shu replied, “Not exactly.”

She said it wasn’t a big deal, yet she let go and without looking back, said to everyone, “Nine times out of ten, he’s scared—though by what, I’m not sure. The situation is manageable for now, quite peaceful, just a bit of a fever. Is there any water?”

Zhao Jiatong handed the basin forward.

Yang Shu: “… It’s drinking water, not water for washing rags.”

Zhao Jiatong shook her head. Fearing that the young lady might say, “Then drink the water from washing the rag,” she quickly replied, “Are you taking medicine? I can help her swallow it dry. I learned a trick from someone in the army back in the day to help with that.”

Yang Shu crossed her arms, watching her with some skepticism.

Only after Zhou Qi had indeed swallowed the medicine did Yang Shu turn a scrutinizing gaze toward Zhao Jiatong. “You’re in the army?”

“Yeah, doesn’t it show?” Zhao Jiatong smiled bitterly and said, “I’ve slacked off a bit over the past couple of years.”

Yang Shu curled her lips, offering no words of comfort.

Her finger swept across the people in the room, pointing at You Huo, she commented, “You must be from the military.”

Then she pointed at Qin Jiu: “You too, I think.”

Finally, she shifted her gaze to Gao Qi: “You definitely aren’t.”

Gao Qi: “…”

The middle-aged man almost coughed up a mouthful of blood.

Ms. Yang calmly analyzed, “Your state is far worse, but there’s no rule out that you’re just pretending to be a coward.”

Gao Qi couldn’t decide whether to nod or shake his head.

“You say you’re not exactly a doctor? What do you mean?”

Everyone was somewhat curious about this girl.

“I studied this, but the specific field is too complicated to explain to you,” Yang Shu said.

“Oh… I thought you were from the army medical team,” Gao Qi muttered. “This little lady has a pretty sharp eye for people.”

Yang Shu frowned, obviously disliking the term “little girl.”

“I had a project that involved dealings with the military before,” she explained briefly before changing the subject, clearly reluctant to discuss it further.

Zhou Qi fell ill suddenly and for unclear reasons. Given the sensitive timing, causing trouble wasn’t appropriate, so You Huo and Qin Jiu postponed their plans slightly.

With no desire to sleep anyway, the group didn’t return to their rooms.

While waiting for Zhou Qi’s fever to break, they chatted about this round’s questions.

Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong took turns trying to extract clues from the words spoken by the duke and the butler.

Yang Shu neither agreed nor interrupted, just sat there listening.

As Gao Qi put it: just like a judge.

As they were chatting, there were two individuals who didn’t join in at all.

Qin Jiu said to You Huo, “I’ve been thinking—there’s an exception in this exam.”

“What?”

“The whole-group punishment I mentioned earlier.”

Gao Qi, who had been listening with keen interest, immediately rolled his eyes when he heard this, thinking to himself: Got it! They’re still plotting another rule violation.

“In previous exams, if there were punishments, they were explicitly stated, with at least some indication of the method.”

For instance, in the foreign language exam, the system directly said ‘you need to get in the coffin.’

Another example is the previous exam, where the system also directly stated ‘you must replace the deceased examinee.’

Although the content wasn’t overly detailed, at least there was some information.

This time, however, it only mentioned “group punishment”—punishment for what? And how? It didn’t specify at all.

You Huo had noticed this point early on as well.

After all, anything related to rule violations always caught his attention more easily.

Qin Jiu asked him, “What do you think the system means by this?”

You Huo sneered coldly, “Stupid system, can’t even put yourself in someone else’s shoes.”

Gao Qi and Zhao Jiatong suddenly turned to look at him together.

You Huo: “?”

Gao Qi said in a tone of disbelief, “You can actually swear?”

You Huo: “…”

His expression gradually turned icy, and Qin Jiu suddenly chuckled softly.

Gao Qi quickly explained, “No, no, it’s just… a bit surprising. I’ve rarely heard you mention that before.”

In his impression, this young friend was truly aloof and taciturn, and indeed skilled at mocking people. When the Chief Examiner annoyed others, his words were like ice needles—few in number but exceptionally painful—a fact well-known to everyone.

However, as a friend, Gao Qi could sense that Examiner A held back in the many details of daily life.

In reality, most invigilators held themselves back. If anyone spent years in a monitored environment, they would instinctively hide their “true selves,” restraining and controlling themselves, striving to align with the system’s style as much as possible.

At least, that’s how it appeared.

But Examiner A was different.

Some people privately joked that the reason Examiner A was ranked A was not only because he was exceptionally strong but also because he resembled the system itself.

He was more attuned to the rhythm of the system than any other examiner—cold and unyielding. The emotions typical of a normal young person were kept to a bare minimum within him.

He could grow impatient, feel displeasure, and be picky or dismissive.

But more intense emotions than these, such as frustration, shameful anger, excitement, or sorrow, including such straightforward swearing… do not exist in him.

Only when confronting the opposing camp could a hint of vitality be seen in him.

In the past, Gao Qi took it for granted, finding it completely normal.

Now, he suddenly remembered… back then, Examiner A was just a young man in his twenties.

If not for the constraints of the system, he would probably have had vivid emotions like any ordinary young person. He might have felt a bit of pride due to his good looks, but when happy he would laugh, when angry he would curse; there would be people he disliked, and people he liked.

Instead of becoming the cold spokesperson for some machine or program.

He would have the life that any normal person should have.

Earlier in the carriage, Gao Qi thought that You Huo’s temperament and mannerisms were still largely the same as they had been years ago. He believed that the marks and influences left by the system were too profound—even amnesia couldn’t fully reset Examiner A back to the starting point.

But at this moment, as You Huo chatted with Qin Jiu, Gao Qi finally caught a glimpse… of the kind of youthful liveliness that one would expect from a young person in his old friend.

He wasn’t used to it, but he was happy.

Very, very happy.

……

He even found Qin Jiu much more pleasing to the eye.