Chapter 36: Zero Points
The zero score he flirted his way into himself. No words.

The cashier was busy entering the purchases.

After finishing his conversation with You Huo, Qin Jiu turned and pointed toward a shelf.

“Oh right, help me add one more—”

He suddenly paused, as though the words had reached his lips only for him to forget what he wanted.

The cashier waited for a moment without hearing the rest and tried prompting him by listing the shelf items:

“What do you need? Cigarettes? Lighter? Alcohol?”

Qin Jiu let out a soft “ah,” lowered his hand, and joked:

“Force of habit. I always feel like there’s still something I should buy.”

“Can’t remember now. Forget it.”

The cashier nodded and announced the total:

“That’ll be… 19 points.”

The examinees nearby listened in a daze.

Damn.

Most of them probably didn’t even have twenty total points.

This guy casually spent nineteen in one swipe.

And the most outrageous part was that after hearing the price, he actually told the cashier:

“Then grab something random from the shelf for me.”

“Round it up.”

Cashier: “……”

Listen to that.

What kind of lunatic says things like that?

This cashier had originally been a reserve invigilator demoted to work here.

He’d seen many invigilators before and naturally heard of Number 001.

But during his working period, Qin Jiu had been recuperating.

Besides, as Chief Invigilator 001, he didn’t appear in every exam site.

So the cashier didn’t recognize him.

The young man earnestly advised:

“Sir, here’s the thing.”

“You happen to be the 12th customer checking out today, so you qualify for a lottery draw.”

“A second discount on top of the discount.”

“In other words… rounding up right now is pointless.”

“Once the discount applies, it’ll probably end in a whole number anyway.”

“Oh?” Qin Jiu said.

“There’s an event like that?”

“Yeah.” The cashier pointed upward.

“It’s written on the banner.”

“The 12th and 13th customers are today’s lucky winners.”

“But you both need to finish checking out first before redeeming together.”

“Oh.”

After reading the banner, Qin Jiu smiled meaningfully at You Huo.

“Lucky one.”

“Come check out.”

You Huo: “……”

With that mouth of his, You Huo sincerely hoped someone had beaten Qin Jiu up before in life.

You Huo pushed his shopping cart to the counter and started unloading items.

The cashier’s face turned green again.

What is happening today?

A shopaholic convention?

Muttering internally, he counted You Huo’s items one by one:

“Two overcoats…”

“Two boxes of instant noodles, two cans of beef.”

“One watch.”

Hm…

That combination looked oddly familiar.

The cashier secretly glanced between the two of them but didn’t dare comment.

After packing everything, he printed the receipt.

“Total: 5 points.”

Afraid You Huo would also ask him to “round it up,” he hurriedly pulled out a wooden box from beneath the counter.

“Here’s the lottery box.”

The cashier enthusiastically explained:

“There are 100 tickets total.”

“The best one is a 10% discount.”

“There are only 5 of those, but don’t worry!”

“There are also 15 tickets for 30% off, 30 tickets for 50% off, and 40 tickets for 20% off.”

“The discounts here are truly incredible.”

“If you can find another Rest Area like this anywhere in the world, I’ll chop my own head off.”

You Huo didn’t care about the discounts.

Nor the man’s head.

He asked:

“What about the rest?”

The cashier replied:

“Uh… 5 tickets for 10% off, 3 tickets for 5% off, and 2 tickets for full price.”

“But think about it!”

“10% off is mediocre, but the probability is the same as the 90% off tickets.”

“Very hard to draw.”

“And the 5% off tickets only have three copies.”

“Full price has only two.”

“Do you know what that means?”

“They’re even rarer than the 90% off tickets!”

“Trust me, I’ve worked here a long time.”

“I’ve seen people draw the 90% off tickets.”

“I’ve never seen anyone draw the 5% off or full-price tickets.”

“After all, the entire point of this event is helping people save points.”

“Every point is practically a life.”

You Huo said flatly:

“So we just draw?”

“……”

The cashier’s enthusiasm died a tragic death.

With drooping brows, he rotated the lottery box so the written side faced You Huo and Qin Jiu.

“There’s a rule to encourage interaction among examinees.”

“You draw for each other.”

“In other words, the ticket you draw belongs to him, and vice versa.”

“It’s a pretty famous rule.”

“Not sure if you’ve heard of it.”

Qin Jiu said:

“A little.”

“General consensus is your boss enjoys stirring conflict and is terrified examinees won’t fight.”

“……With discounts this huge, of course they can’t make it too easy to get.”

“Come on.”

“I love watching this part. Exciting!”

“It basically determines your relationship.”

“Whether you can become friends depends entirely on this moment.”

The cashier shook the box and gestured dramatically.

“Please.”

Five seconds later—

Qin Jiu drew a “5% off” ticket for You Huo.

You Huo immediately countered with a “full price” ticket.

Qin Jiu: “……”

Cashier: “……………………”

There was a kind of terrible luck called mutual destruction.

And a kind of relationship called if I suffer, you suffer too.

Everyone present had learned something today.

…

In the end, Qin Jiu still had the cashier round up the total.

When You Huo saw him pull out a points card, he found it strange.

“Where’d you get points?”

“The System gave them to me,” Qin Jiu replied.

You Huo was somewhat surprised.

Even after punishment, the System still gave starting points?

What kind of punishment was that?

Qin Jiu said:

“Know what that means?”

“What?”

“Many exam sites have entry requirements.”

“For example, first-time examinees get grouped together.”

“People who’ve already passed two subjects enter different exam halls.”

“The difficulty changes accordingly.”

“The System giving me points now means the remaining three subjects available to you all have entry restrictions.”

“In other words, the more subjects you’ve completed, the harder the next exam.”

“So the System gave me initial points for two reasons.”

“First, to obey regulations and place me into the same exam hall as the examinee I selected—namely, you.”

“Second, to preserve difficulty balance.”

“Otherwise I might accidentally get assigned among zero-experience examinees.”

Before this, whenever anyone asked about System-related matters, Qin Jiu always avoided answering and usually received warnings.

Now that he’d been punished into becoming an examinee, he no longer seemed as cautious.

So You Huo asked a few more questions.

“How many points did they give you?”

“They claim it’s based on the lowest score I ever received in a single subject.”

“Whether that’s true or not is hard to say.”

You Huo thought:

You don’t know your own lowest score?

Obviously nonsense.

…

Qin Jiu flipped his card around for You Huo to see.

Demoted Invigilator 001’s card looked nearly identical to an ordinary examinee’s:

Name: Qin Jiu
Examinee ID: 86010-06141729-Gi
Completed Subjects: 2
Total Score: 20

Unlike normal examinees, whose IDs ended in numbers, his ended in two meaningless letters.

Seeing You Huo staring at the “Gi” in confusion, Qin Jiu explained:

“Special designation for invigilators violating rules.”

“They simulated an examinee ID.”

Normal examinee IDs ended with system-assigned English identifiers to distinguish invigilators.

Qin Jiu’s should originally have been “Gin.”

But whoever filled out the card accidentally omitted a letter, turning it into “Gi.”

He’d known this before.

But after his memory loss, he forgot.

Whether the invigilator responsible had genuinely made a mistake or deliberately messed with him was impossible to know now.

Under the cashier’s “this man is insane” stare, Qin Jiu emptied his starting score entirely.

All 20 points.

Not one left.

“You have some kind of grudge against yourself?” the cashier finally blurted out.

Qin Jiu laughed once, left behind a casual “See you tonight” for You Huo, then departed the Rest Area.

…

That night, the hotel automatically checked everyone out on schedule.

At some unknown time, signposts had appeared throughout the streets, guiding examinees toward an intersection.

As expected, it was a T-junction.

The moment they reached the center of the road, the scenery behind them blurred rapidly before being swallowed by dense night fog.

Three road signs stood ahead, labeled with untested subjects:

Chinese
Mathematics
History

In the center stood a familiar security booth.

The loudspeaker inside suddenly crackled to life.

At the exact same second, Qin Jiu emerged from the fog…

pulling his suitcase behind him.

Yu Wen quietly whispered to his brother:

“This is the first time I’ve ever seen such a vacation-mode examinee…”

After two seconds of silence, he added:

“Oh wait.”

“I’m standing right next to one already.”

“Forget I said anything.”

Qin Jiu stopped beside the group.

The loudspeaker had already finished spewing its usual nonsense.

After pausing long enough to gather everyone’s attention, it finally reached the important part:

【A surprise reform to the examination system will now be implemented.】

【The scoring system has been converted into rank classifications.】

【All examinees worldwide will now be divided into four levels based on percentile rankings: A, B, C, and D.】

【Top 10% = A】
【Top 11%–50% = B】
【Top 51%–75% = C】
【Remaining examinees = D】

“Holy fu—”

Yu Wen, traumatized by three years of academic reforms, froze on the spot while internally cursing every loudspeaker in existence.

The loudspeaker continued mercilessly:

【Current scores will now be converted into ranks.】

【Ranks will be recalculated after every exam.】

【The examination system now implements elimination at the bottom tier.】

【After each exam:】

【D-ranked examinees are immediately eliminated.】

【C-ranked examinees enter probation and must retake the exam.】

【Retake exams will preserve the original setting while adjusting subquestions appropriately.】

【Examinees who achieve B rank or above after retesting may proceed normally.】

【Those remaining at C must retake again.】

【D-ranked examinees are directly eliminated.】

【Now updating examinee rankings…】

The LCD screen outside the security booth suddenly lit up.

Rows of rankings appeared.

Yu Wen: A
Yu Yiguo: A
Mike Rogen: A

Thanks to You Huo carrying them—and their refusal to waste points—these three currently held extremely high rankings.

Chen Bin: B
You Huo: B

The first one got carried by a golden thigh.

The second one spent too much money and accidentally dropped his own rank.

Shu Xue: C

Possibly destined to remain C forever.

Qin Jiu: D

“……”

A zero score he had personally flirted his way into himself.

No one had anything to say.