Chapter 28: The Big Shot Has Gone Crazy
He Sewed 16 Dolls

“That’s right! Last time when Mike listened to the recording, didn’t he recognize the word for grave? He should know it!”

At the critical moment, Yu Wen’s memory suddenly became brilliant.

He jumped up searching for someone.

“Where’s Mike?! Where is he?!”

“He’s still passed out on the sofa!” Old Yu sprinted into the room.

The incense smell in the little forest had affected Mike especially badly.

After coming back, he’d vomited twice before everyone settled him into bed, and he still hadn’t woken up.

Everyone had been overly confident earlier, so nobody bothered waking him.

Who knew such a problem would suddenly appear at the crucial moment?

“Sorry, sorry…”

Old Yu slapped Mike twice before finally waking him up.

Mike was still dizzy. The moment he opened his eyes, he dry-heaved twice.

“Help! Help! Help!”

Old Yu immediately used the only English word he knew and dragged Mike outside.

…

In front of the Black Hag’s door, the bone pen was already in You Huo’s hand.

He wrote quickly, forcefully copying the gravestone inscription within two minutes. To save time, he even omitted the Black Hag’s name.

The moment Mike arrived, You Huo drew a heavy final stroke, shoved the pen into his hands, and said:

“Write.”

As the crow screeched its final two warnings, Mike hurriedly added the word for “grave.”

…

Whew—

Thank god they made it.

Everyone let out a long breath.

“That was literally a race against death…” Yu Wen clutched his chest as his heart finally dropped back into place.

“Good thing you stopped me from writing everything yesterday.”

Hopefully the gravestone included the location instead of just saying so-and-so is buried here.

But it didn’t matter.

Even if the inscription lacked the location, Mike still had the word “grave.”

Double insurance.

Surely they’d score this time.

That’s what everyone thought.

They waited a long while before changes finally appeared in the answer section.

The system’s grading result came out…

A red X.

A glaring crimson X appeared there.

To the left was the copied gravestone text.

To the right was Mike’s word for grave.

The meaning was obvious:

Both answers were wrong.

Everyone—including You Huo—froze in shock.

This result was completely unexpected.

“Wrong? How is that possible?!”

“Did the system malfunction? Did it grade incorrectly?!”

Nobody could understand why the answer was wrong.

You Huo stared at the answer wall, brows tightly furrowed.

If neither the gravestone inscription nor the word “grave” was correct, then unless the system made an error, there was only one explanation—

Those were the Black Hag’s family graves.

But her family members themselves were not inside the graves.

His gaze shifted to Listening Question (3).

Question (3): How many people are inside the Black Hag’s house?

You Huo: “……………………”

Question:

Would a superstitious old witch possibly keep her dead family members inside her house?

Answer:

What kind of insane thing wouldn’t that old hag do?!

Before everyone recovered from the shock, new text slowly appeared in the answer section.

Regretful Notice: During this collection round, the system detected no scoring points in your answers.

Punishment Result: One examinee will be randomly selected to enter the coffin.

As those words slowly appeared, You Huo casually patted Qin Jiu’s shoulder.

Qin Jiu turned his head, his gaze traveling from the fingers on his shoulder to You Huo’s face.

“Let me guess,” he said.

“Our Mr. Hm has finally decided to ask for help?”

You Huo: “……”

Who the hell is our.

Unless absolutely necessary, he truly didn’t want to use that help card.

But the current situation really was troublesome.

He didn’t know who the system would randomly choose.

Nor did he know whether there was any loophole to exploit.

If things got truly messy…

While he was still thinking, another line slowly appeared beneath the punishment result.

Note: Funeral ceremonies in Chasu Village are always held at midnight. We respect local traditions, so punishment will be carried out tonight.

Tonight?

Unlike the previous exam, this punishment wasn’t being executed immediately.

The instant he saw that, You Huo withdrew his hand from Qin Jiu’s shoulder.

Qin Jiu: “?”

You Huo said:

“There’s still time. We’ll talk later.”

Qin Jiu: “……”

He stared at You Huo for a moment before saying:

“I think I should give you a small reminder.”

“When the system executes punishment, it won’t warn you beforehand. It won’t tell you several seconds in advance who’s been selected.”

“You could be talking face-to-face with someone, and suddenly one of you just disappears.”

“If the person who disappears is you,” Qin Jiu asked,

“how exactly do you plan to ask for help?”

“That proctor 922 said before that if we need help, we just write 001,” You Huo replied.

Qin Jiu: “……”

“Since we’re talking about this anyway, I might as well ask,” You Huo mocked.

“I heard it has to be written on the answer sheet? What kind of idiotic rule is that?”

In the Hunter Cabin exam it had been manageable because the place was small. Reaching the answer sheet only took a few steps.

But in an exam site like Chasu Village—or someplace even larger—needing to run around in circles just to find a proctor was absurd.

Qin Jiu replied:

“922? I’ll have to remember that one against him.”

“But that’s only how you contact ordinary proctors.”

You Huo: “…And someone like you, the self-proclaimed chief proctor?”

“Oh, there are many methods for that.” Qin Jiu smiled slightly.

“You could try writing it anywhere in the exam site and see whether I notice.”

You Huo: “…Do I look mentally ill?”

…

When the punishment result first appeared, everyone had at least comforted themselves with the fact that they still had most of the day left.

Only by afternoon did they realize that delayed punishment was actually worse than instant execution.

It was like a blade already pressed against your throat, sharp edge tight against your skin, while the executioner calmly told you:

“Sorry, it’s not time yet. Keep waiting.”

As usual, the Black Hag forced them to sew dolls.

She clearly wouldn’t rest until every examinee had been chopped apart.

Nobody could focus anymore.

Everyone sat like they were on needles, restless and anxious.

Their nerves were so frayed that nobody even noticed a certain big shot behaving strangely—

While everyone else was panicking, he pulled several dolls from the basket and casually grabbed a needle.

Normally when people sewed dolls, they paid attention to the stitching.

Maybe not neat, but at least somewhat orderly.

Not You Huo.

One stitch through, one stitch back, and an arm was attached.

…

By the time everyone finally noticed him, a whole row of dolls had already piled up in front of him.

Someone casually counted.

Eight total.

Old Yu nearly dropped to his knees.

“…What are you doing?”

You Huo casually finished the ninth doll without even looking up.

“Preparing something.”

This horrifying “preparation” continued until the sand in the hourglass completely ran out.

The moment the Black Hag entered, she came face-to-face with sixteen dolls.

Her ancient wrinkled face froze instantly.

After serving as an exam question for so many years, this was the first time she’d encountered guests like these.

She was speechless.

She stared at You Huo like he was insane.

After a long moment, the Black Hag muttered softly to herself while slowly arranging all sixteen new dolls across the wooden shelf.

…

Night came faster than the previous two days.

Taking advantage of the villagers still being outside, everyone crossed the frozen river to speak with them.

“You’re all still alive…” the female villager greeted them proactively while carrying a basin of broken ice.

Though the content of that greeting was horrifying if you thought about it too much.

Bearing the imperial command of Big Shot You, Old Yu got straight to the point.

“Sis, can I ask you something?”

The woman took a moment to react.

“What is it?”

“I heard your village has a custom where funerals can only be held at night?”

“That’s right.”

“Oh, then around here, do you usually bury people or cremate them?” Old Yu asked.

The woman froze briefly, suddenly falling into a daze.

At that instant, her head tilted slightly as if she wanted to glance toward some part of the forest.

But she quickly recovered and replied blankly:

“Burial. No cremation. Cremation isn’t allowed.”

“Why?” You Huo suddenly interrupted.

The woman tilted her head and thought for a moment.

“No reason. It’s just tradition.”

You Huo fell silent in thought.

Old Yu continued:

“And when you bury coffins, where exactly do you put them?”

“In the forest.”

“I know it’s in the forest,” Old Yu said impatiently.

“What I mean is, doesn’t the entire forest already have graves everywhere? I’m asking where there’s still empty space left.”

“You don’t stack coffins on top of each other, right?”

“Oh, no, we don’t.” The woman thought for a moment before pointing east and west.

“That area over there, and that one too—they’re still empty.”

Everyone hurriedly memorized the locations.

Old Yu wanted to ask more, but the woman glanced at the darkening sky and said:

“It’s getting dark again. I need to hurry home.”

“You should go back too. Don’t wander around. And absolutely do not enter the forest.”

After saying that, she clutched her iron basin and ran off in panic.

Doors slammed shut one after another.

The village instantly returned to silence.

Old Yu grumbled:

“With courage like this, they still hold funerals at night…”

“Don’t you think the system is talking nonsense? These villagers don’t even dare leave their houses after dark. How could they possibly go into the forest to hold funerals?”

“If the exam says so, then it’s so,” Chen Bin muttered.

“This place can’t be judged by normal logic.”

Regardless, they’d at least figured out the burial locations.

If someone got punished and placed in a coffin, they’d at least know where to search.

…

After leaving the villagers, nobody returned to their own rooms.

You Huo’s house had somehow become headquarters.

Everyone gathered there together.

Night deepened.

While chewing on rock-hard bread, they discussed what to do later.

“If we’re going into the forest, we should bring more useful tools,” Yu Wen suggested.

“One, for self-defense.”

“And two… if we get lucky and catch another ghost hand.”

“I found hemp rope in the house,” Old Yu said.

“There are knives in every room too, though I don’t know if they can beat a bone-cleaver.”

“And if we need to dig up coffins, we’ll need shovels too, right?”

As he spoke, he instinctively turned around seeking You Huo’s approval.

Only to find the single sofa behind him completely empty.

You Huo, who’d been sitting there moments ago, had vanished.

“Where’d he go? He was just here…” Old Yu said in confusion.

Everyone stared at the empty sofa.

The room fell silent for over ten seconds before exploding into chaos.

“Fuck?!”

Yu Wen stopped searching and directly shouted:

“Bro?! Where are you?!”

He called three times in a row.

No response.

The scariest part was—

Qin Jiu was still there.

During exams, wherever You Huo went, the attached proctor had to follow.

There was only one exception…

System punishment.

Everyone suddenly remembered Qin Jiu’s words from that morning:

“You could be talking face-to-face with someone, and suddenly they disappear.”

Who the hell could’ve expected the system’s random selection to land this perfectly—

directly taking away their golden thigh.

…

At this very moment, the golden thigh was lying inside a cramped space.

His legs couldn’t fully extend.

His arms couldn’t lift properly.

Oxygen was extremely limited.

No need to think too hard.

He was obviously the “lucky winner” randomly selected for coffin punishment.

You Huo wasn’t surprised by the result.

Or rather, no result really surprised him.

Because while sewing dolls that afternoon, he’d already prepared for two possibilities.

If someone else got placed in the coffin, then if absolutely necessary he could use the help card.

If he himself got chosen…

Then maybe he wouldn’t even need the card.

In the darkness, You Huo stretched out and touched the coffin walls.

Cold, damp, carrying the heavy scent of soil.

He guessed the coffin had been buried beneath some muddy patch within the forest.

The forest was enormous.

Even with a general area narrowed down, finding someone inside was like searching for a needle in the ocean.

People searching for people was always difficult.

But…

when it came to other things searching for people, that was another story.

…

Inside the eastern forest of the mountain village, Old Yu and the others wandered around carrying bundles of hemp rope and torches.

Suddenly, everyone froze.

Old Yu nervously made a shushing gesture.

The group held their breath and listened.

The familiar crawling sounds had returned.

But tonight’s crawling sounded different.

Instead of moving toward the village…

they were heading toward the center of the forest.

Several seconds later, Yu Wen gasped.

“Holy shit… look over there!”

He pointed ahead.

Everyone followed his finger.

Then collectively lost their minds—

More than ten pale ghost hands and feet were swarming in from every direction, gathering around an open patch ahead.

Swinging cleavers of various sizes, they hissed eerily:

“Did you sew dolls today?”

Six feet underground, within thinning air, You Huo replied:

“Yeah. Sewed sixteen.”

“……”

The ghost hands and feet fell silent for a moment.

Then they raised their blades and started hacking wildly.