Chapter 65: Past Events II Come to My Place, You Won’t Die.

Cleaning the exam hall could take either a long time or a short time.

On one hand, it depends on how strong the examinees are; on the other hand, it depends on luck.

When assigned to an easy exam room, the trouble tends to be minimal. When assigned to a difficult one, one might even risk their life.

The punishment time set by the system is three days.

The old man had been on duty here for a long time and had witnessed many things.

Usually, when the three-day period arrived and the examinee was still nowhere to be seen, the responsible proctor would go down to retrieve them, and the punishment would be considered complete.

But Qin Jiu was an anomaly in the exam world; he always started early.

Sometimes half a day ahead, sometimes a full day in advance.

The specifics of which day he couldn’t recall, only remembering that Qin Jiu had been particularly excessive that time…

After Qin Jiu had leaped out that day, the floor-to-ceiling window sealed shut again.

The storm still hadn’t let up, pouring down heavily against the glass.

The old man gazed out the window, trying to recall events from the distant past.

He often wondered why he was here, guarding the gate, but he couldn’t remember.

Out of boredom, he fiddled with the metal console in front of him again, casually flipping through various records.

There were several such metal consoles in the invigilation area, placed in a few designated punishment zones, all interconnected.

No major authority, only for recording purposes.

Whether it’s invigilators or examinees, any violations can be traced.

People here aren’t interested in past records, but the elderly enjoy flipping through them.

The examinees’ names are unfamiliar, and the invigilator codes don’t match his memory.

He skimmed through the violation records, just to catch a hint of human warmth.

This place is too orderly, even the people are the same, so orderly that it feels lifeless.

Only in the moments when the rules are broken does a flicker of vitality reveal itself.

That’s why someone like Qin Jiu is so captivating here.

Whether you hate him or like him,

You’ll definitely notice him and then remember him.

The old man flipped through the pages for a while before lowering his head to doze off again.

It was unclear how long he had slept when another clap of thunder startled him awake again.

In a daze, he heard a knocking sound.

Knock, knock, knock—

Who is it?

The old man opened his eyes and instinctively glanced at the elevator.

The elevator door remained tightly shut, with no one coming.

Besides, who ever heard of an elevator door opening by being knocked on?

He yawned and was about to go back to sleep.

The knocking sound rang out again.

Tap, tap, tap…

The old man was stunned for a moment before suddenly realizing that it was the window glass making that sound…

He jerked his head to look, nearly twisting his old bones in the process.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window, the sky grew even darker.

The rainstorm continued to pour, splattering against the windowpane, creating gurgling streaks of water, while the lights from the exam supervision area—similar to those of the city—reflected on it.

Amidst the lights, there was a blurry figure…

“……”

An elderly man clutched his chest, carefully making his way over.

Outside the floor-to-ceiling window was a narrow platform, barely wide enough for one person to stand.

The examinee named Qin Jiu had apparently just climbed up and was crouching there, unwrapping the white bandage from the palm of his left hand.

The old man silently glanced at the time.

It had been less than six hours since this person jumped out the window??

While still stunned, the elevator doors suddenly dinged open.

A young invigilator in uniform emerged.

He seemed to have just stepped out of a meeting room, still wearing specialized glasses, with dark brown lenses covering the upper half of his face.

The old man glanced over.

Even with only the lower half of his face visible, one could tell he had a strikingly captivating appearance.

“You… here to pick up a candidate?” the elderly man asked hesitantly.

The invigilator replied rather apathetically, “Just happened to be passing by.”

The elderly man, having found his lifeline, immediately said, “You’re just in time! Your candidate is coming out.”

He quickly pressed the control button.

The floor-to-ceiling window abruptly emptied, cold wind carrying stinging drops of rain rushed inside.

Qin Jiu straightened up, biting open the knot on the bandage binding his right hand, lifting his gaze to look inside the room.

Upon seeing the invigilator, he felt a flicker of surprise for an instant, but the next second he broke into a smile.

“I thought I’d be waiting a while today, I didn’t expect it to be this fast.”

He swept a hand back through his wet short hair and walked in holding two used straps, asking the old man, “Mind pointing me to a place to throw these out?”

The corner of the old man’s mouth twitched as he pointed beside his seat.

“There’s a trash can over there.”

You Qing walked around, tossed them away, and casually tapped the control button for him.

The floor-to-ceiling window closed once more, shutting out the wind and rain outside.

“You probably need someone to mop the floor.”

Qin Jiu glanced down, noticing wet footprints left everywhere he had walked.

Is now really the time to talk about mopping?

the old man thought to himself.

Though he couldn’t see the invigilator’s eyes, the old man sensed he must be frowning.

“Have you finished cleaning up?” the examiner asked.

“Yes.”

“So soon?” the examiner asked skeptically.

Qin Jiu’s smile deepened: “I know you meant to question it, but that tone really makes me a bit… proud.”

“……”

The examiner’s lips tightened into a rigid line.

The old man couldn’t help but interject, “So what do we do now?”

There had never been such a precedent before this.

According to the rules of the system, examinees who violate the regulations must stay in the proctoring area for three days. Originally, these three days would be spent in cleanup, with no need to worry about food or lodging at all.

Now that Qin Jiu was out in less than a day, how to handle the remaining two days became a headache…

“Are there any relevant regulations?” the old man asked.

The invigilator said, “No.”

He paused for a moment before adding, “Currently, there aren’t any.”

Right now…

The old man thought to himself that after two more like this one, the system would quietly upgrade its related regulations.

For instance, regardless of whether they stay or not, they’d designate a residential area for rule-breaking examinees, so they wouldn’t run into another freak who’s far stronger than a normal person.

But that was a matter for the future.

Now, a tall, peculiar flower stood right in front of them… Just what should they do?

The invigilator was a ruthless person.

He scanned the area once and said to the old man, “Get him a bed. I’ll come to pick him up in two days.”

Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes.

The old man immediately said, “No, no.”

“What’s the problem?”

“No beds.” The old man said,

“Don’t be fooled by how big this place looks, there’s nothing in it. It’s just enough for one person to stay.”

As he spoke, Qin Jiu suddenly turned his head aside and sneezed.

The examiner’s lips flattened into a sharper line.

Through the dark-tinted lenses, one could see the furrow between his brows tighten.

A moment later, he said with a stiff face, “Come downstairs with me.”

Qin Jiu: “Huh?”

Invigilator: “…Come downstairs with me. Don’t make me repeat myself a third time.”

“Where to?”

Qin Jiu drawled out his nonsense: “I’m soaked from the rain and seriously exhausted. Careless handling could be life-threatening.”

The old man couldn’t help rolling his eyes.

He suspected that, behind the lenses, the invigilator probably rolled his eyes too.

The invigilator looked at Qin Jiu expressionlessly for a moment and said, “Come to my place, you won’t die.”

A flicker of surprise crossed Qin Jiu’s expression once more.

Before the other could respond, the invigilator had already turned and walked off to wait for the elevator.

Qin Jiu leaned against the metal counter, staring at his back for a while, then straightened up.

The elevator let out a “ding,”

and the invigilator didn’t wait for him, striding straight inside.

Qin Jiu waved at the old man and strode briskly forward. As the elevator doors were closing, he reached out to block them, then stepped inside with a smile.

……

What happened after that, the old man couldn’t clearly recall either.

It seemed Qin Jiu really did spend two days at the invigilator’s quarters.

To achieve the punishment purpose and prevent the offending You Qin from being too relaxed, the examination system took a small remedial measure within compliance, effectively patching up its own loophole in a minor way—

The invigilator cleared out a room, and the system embedded a confinement chamber within it.

The specifications were set identically to a normal confinement chamber, essentially a copy-paste in another sense.

For the remaining two days, You Qin spent his time in that confinement chamber.

……

This way of handling things continued for a while.

Half a year or a year?

Anyway, if anyone completed their punishment early, they would go to the invigilator’s office for confinement.

Later, the system suddenly changed.

Perhaps feeling it was inappropriate, or perhaps because several more examinees had completed their punishment ahead of schedule.

It was said that special accommodations were set up for examinees to stay, and a few additional rules were established.

As for what happened afterward, the old man no longer knew.

He was growing older, his memory was getting worse, and he paid less and less attention to outside matters.

I only remember that from a certain day on, examinee Qin Jiu never appeared again.

That invigilator was never heard from again…