Chapter 38: Open-Ended Questions

The old man adjusted the sails and casually wiped his hands on his trousers.

Then he jumped down from the helm platform and looked back and forth between You Huo and Qin Jiu.

“Young people with strong bodies,” he grumbled,

“how can you just stand there watching an old man with no strength handle everything himself?”

The old man’s exposed arms were packed with knotted muscles.

Just one of his biceps looked twice as thick as a normal person’s.

No strength my ass.

Qin Jiu smiled and said:

“The chickens must feel very wronged.”

Old Man: “……”

Instantly irritated, he glared fiercely at Qin Jiu.

“Stop standing there hugging your arms doing nothing!”

“I hate young people who cross their arms and raise their chins.”

“Oh, and cold faces too.”

“All just showing off!”

You Huo got dragged into the attack for no reason.

“……If you need help, just say it.”

The old man kicked a loose floorboard.

“The hinge underneath is rusty. I can’t open it alone.”

“Help me pry it up.”

“Otherwise just stay on deck and wait for the waves to smash you.”

Fine.

Internally speechless, You Huo tested the deck out of habit with his foot.

Unfortunately, he stepped directly onto Qin Jiu’s shoe.

You Huo: “……”

Qin Jiu: “Childish, aren’t we, examinee?”

“I’m checking the floorboards. Why’d you shove your foot over?”

“What a coincidence,” Qin Jiu said.

“So am I.”

He tested several spots with the tip of his shoe and said:

“Not bad. Hollow underneath.”

“These sides aren’t even. We can—”

Before he finished speaking, You Huo had already rummaged through a pile of junk nearby and pulled out a thin iron hook with a loud clatter.

He jammed one end into the uneven crack in the deck.

Bang!

Wood chips flew.

The old man silently retreated two tiny steps.

Then he watched You Huo lift one long leg and stomp hard onto the slanted iron hook.

Crack—

The deck split open with a long fracture.

Qin Jiu still wore those black leather gloves.

Before You Huo could move, he had already bent down, shoved one hand into the lifted gap, and forcefully pried upward.

The entire floorboard flipped open.

The rusty hinges clanged to the floor.

You Huo held the iron hook and glanced at Qin Jiu.

It had been a long time since he’d met someone who could keep up with his rhythm.

Meanwhile, the old man’s face had gone green.

…

The floorboard turned out to be a trapdoor.

Underneath was a staircase leading into the ship’s cabin.

Kerosene lamps hung throughout the space, illuminating separated sleeping bunks.

…

The old man opened his mouth, ready to order them around again.

But You Huo casually patted his back and tilted his chin.

“Lead the way.”

“Thanks.”

The old man glared at him again and shut his mouth.

The three descended into the cabin together, then closed the broken hatch above them.

The cabin immediately became much warmer.

The old man ignored them completely, entered a small private bunk room, and slammed the door shut right in front of them.

This man truly carried no worries in life.

Within one minute, thunderous snoring erupted from inside.

The moment You Huo saw the filthy blankets, he lost all desire to touch them.

He found a chair and sat down.

A moment later, Qin Jiu also wandered over, fingers pressing against his nose as though the smell had assaulted him.

Even then, he still remembered to tease You Huo.

“What’s the occasion today?”

“You’re actually awake.”

You Huo: “……”

He shot Qin Jiu a look.

“I’ll pin you to that bed and make you breathe this air for thirty minutes.”

“Then tell me how it feels.”

Qin Jiu laughed.

“Sure.”

“But I’d probably drag you down with me.”

Go to hell, You Huo thought.

“How much do you remember about the Coachman of the Seas?” Qin Jiu asked.

One elbow rested on the table while his other hand idly flicked the lamp flame, making it sway gently.

Out of consideration for their decent teamwork opening the hatch, You Huo answered:

“The Netherlands.”

He had graduated high school ages ago.

And he hadn’t even been a humanities student.

By senior year he basically never touched history anymore, so what he remembered was extremely limited.

Anyway, in some century or another, the Netherlands had been called the Coachman of the Seas.

As for why, You Huo couldn’t quite remember.

Something about being cheap.

The Dutch had giant-bellied cargo ships capable of carrying far more goods than ordinary merchant vessels.

Cheaper rental costs too.

Apparently they were also willing to risk their lives for profit.

That was the full extent of his memory regarding the Coachman of the Seas.

But…

“Does remembering any of this even matter?” You Huo added.

“You think this system will test us properly?”

Qin Jiu replied:

“If you’re lucky, maybe there’s a one-in-a-thousand chance.”

You Huo snorted.

“You’d have better luck dreaming.”

Wasn’t this idiotic system’s nature obvious enough already?

It specialized in testing exactly what you didn’t know.

And even when it tested things you did know, it twisted them nine ways from Sunday.

…

The ship transporting examinees was tiny.

After sailing only a few minutes, the sea suddenly erupted into violent waves.

It felt as though they had just left some fake simulation ocean and entered the real sea.

And the real sea was raging.

Even through the thick wooden cabin walls, they could hear thunder roaring.

Occasionally lightning flashed through the trapdoor overhead.

The ship tilted and rocked violently beneath the crashing waves.

Even You Huo, who never got seasick, felt miserable.

Qin Jiu looked equally bad.

And yet, under such horribly uncomfortable conditions, both of them somehow fell asleep slumped over the table—

completely unaware.

…

You Huo was awakened by piercing cold.

His eyes snapped open.

The first thing he saw was a dark, gloomy sky.

Sky?

He immediately sat up and realized he was no longer inside the filthy ship cabin.

Beneath him was a roughly flat black reef covered in ice.

The reef was large.

Qin Jiu lay beside him on his side.

This was probably still somewhere at sea, because behind them stood a lonely island made entirely of jagged rocks.

Around the island rested nearly twenty crooked wooden ships.

More than ten resembled the small broken vessel they had boarded earlier.

But three were much larger.

One of those large ships leaned nearby.

Its deck was narrow while its hull bulged enormously—

like a giant frozen dumpling.

The ship’s lamps had all gone dark.

Parts of the bow and mast were frozen solid.

Clearly they had been stranded here for some time.

No people were visible.

You Huo smacked Qin Jiu twice and found it strange.

He himself was already awake, yet this man still hadn’t reacted.

That alone proved Qin Jiu truly feared no cold whatsoever.

While rubbing his nose bridge and sitting up, Qin Jiu even casually greeted him:

“Morning…”

You Huo wanted to carve the word morning directly onto his face.

“Maybe feel the wind first before deciding whether that greeting fits.”

You Huo stepped aside, allowing the freezing wind he’d been blocking to slam directly into Qin Jiu.

“……”

The effect was immediate.

The former invigilator woke up instantly.

Qin Jiu stood, shielding his brow with one gloved hand while looking into the distance.

Everywhere they looked was covered in swirling white ice and snow—

like polar wastelands.

“We’re still at sea?” Qin Jiu frowned.

“Yeah.”

You Huo jerked a thumb behind him.

“There’s an island back there.”

Qin Jiu scanned the area.

“Come on.”

“Let’s check the island.”

…

A short while later, You Huo, Qin Jiu…

and Qin Jiu’s suitcase stood before a cave entrance somewhere on the island.

A piece of gray-white sailcloth had been pinned near the entrance as a marker.

What made people uncomfortable was that they’d initially thought the thing pinning the cloth down was a lump of snow.

Only upon approaching did they realize there was an eyeball frozen inside.

Qin Jiu examined it and said:

“Arctic rabbit.”

The rabbit had clearly been dead for a long time.

Frozen together with the sailcloth beneath a layer of ice.

Just as You Huo bent down to inspect it, the System’s familiar voice emerged from inside the rabbit’s body:

【All examinees have arrived at the examination site.】

【This round is a large-scale examination. Total examinees: 36.】

【Based on departure docks, examinees have been divided into 18 groups, with two examinees per group.】

【Combined group scores form the basis for rank calculation in this examination.】

【This examination uses behavior-participation scoring.】

【There are no answer sheets and no standard answers.】

【In addition to predetermined scores, there are opportunities for bonus points and risks of additional deductions.】

【At the end of this examination, groups ranked C will participate in retesting.】

【Groups ranked D will be eliminated together.】

【Current starting scores for all groups are now announced.】

Inside and outside the massive cave, the sound of chiseling stone echoed simultaneously.

In the blink of an eye, the flat stone above the dead rabbit displayed the names of all eighteen groups.

Each pair of names shared one horizontal bar representing their combined score.

The higher the score, the higher the rank.

The longer the bar.

The rankings stretched downward from highest to lowest.

You Huo scanned them quickly.

The top-ranked group held a combined score of 42.

Then came 40.

Then 39.5.

Then 35…

And so on.

Near the lower middle section, they found Shu Xue’s name.

She had been paired with another examinee named Wu Li.

Together their score totaled 26, currently ranking twelfth place.

Temporary grade: C.

Aside from that, they found no familiar names.

Yu Wen and the others truly weren’t in this examination.

But looking on the bright side—

maybe they’d really gotten Tang, Song, Yuan, Ming, Qing.

As for You Huo and Qin Jiu…

These two illustrious names sat solemnly in second-to-last place.

Invigilator 001 contributed negative rather than positive value, singlehandedly dragging their combined score down to 17.25.

Firmly occupying D-rank without wavering.

You Huo’s expression looked colder than the dead Arctic rabbit.

Meeting his gaze, Qin Jiu spread his hands innocently.

“Thanks for the top student poverty alleviation support.”

“You managed to stop me from sitting firmly in dead last place.”

“I’ll do my best and try to earn you some honor.”

You Huo: “……”

Even the dead rabbit System couldn’t bear listening to that nonsense.

The System interrupted him mercilessly:

【Scores update in real time.】

【For any questions unrelated to examination answers, examinees may consult invigilators 154, 922, 078, or 021.】

When You Huo heard 154 and 922, he glanced at Qin Jiu.

“For someone also formerly an invigilator,” Qin Jiu said,

“why do you look delighted hearing 154 and 922?”

“……What delusional eye of yours saw delight?”

While speaking, the dead rabbit announced again:

【This examination officially begins now.】

【The examination question will now be broadcast.】

【Winter, 1597.】

【Three Dutch merchant ships became trapped by frozen seas while passing through Russia and temporarily docked at an unnamed island while waiting for the long winter to end.】

【This is now the eighth month of their stay here. There are fifteen days remaining before the ice melts and the sea reopens.】

【Please help all crew members of the merchant fleet return safely home.】

【Question requirement: No crew member may die.】

【Otherwise, beginning at midnight each day, the examinees in last place will bear responsibility for the deaths.】

【If more than two crew members die on the same day, responsibility will continue sequentially into the following days, still assigned to the group ranked last at midnight, until all deaths have corresponding examinee responsibility.】

Bear responsibility for the deaths?

How?

Die in their place?

Be buried alongside them?

You Huo couldn’t help remembering Chasu Village’s villagers.

His expression darkened again.

Suddenly, he felt two taps against the back of his hand.

Looking down, he realized Qin Jiu had tapped him with his fingers.

“Don’t stare at my hand.”

“Look at the cave entrance.”

Qin Jiu lifted a hand and pointed.

You Huo looked over and saw people emerging from inside the cave.

They wore thick gray medieval-style clothing and brown woolen vests.

Some had wrapped themselves in filthy animal furs.

All of them appeared to be foreigners.

They looked emaciated and numb with exhaustion.

Several were slowly carrying bodies out of the cave.

“What happened?”

Seeing the carried figures, You Huo’s heart sank.

The people being carried had tightly shut eyes, gray faces, and no signs of life.

Two of them had already stiffened completely…

The man leading the group seemed able to understand a little Chinese.

His vacant gaze shifted slowly toward You Huo and Qin Jiu.

In painfully awkward Chinese, he said:

“Dead.”

“Crewmen.”

Qin Jiu’s voice sounded quietly beside You Huo:

“This is bad.”

“Eight crewmen died before the exam even properly started.”

The last-place group wasn’t enough to cover all the deaths.

Very soon—

it would be their turn as second-to-last.