Chapter 31: Burning Down the Exam Hall
Dust returns to dust. Earth returns to earth.

Their experience from the previous exam had already taught them something:

Not every sub-question generated during an exam actually needed to be completed.

Nonessential tasks could be skipped, so long as the examinees could bear the consequences of leaving answers blank—for example, having no scoring points when papers were collected.

There were only three ways to end an exam:

One: total annihilation.
Two: endure until time ran out.
Three: solve the key question early.

Hunter A’s key question had been finding the set of tableware.

And here, the key question was this reading section—

Deliver the dolls and find the road home.

Before this, Yu Wen and the others had assumed delivering dolls would be a long process.

Just like Zhao Wentu had written in his diary:

Everyone gathering together, half-guessing and half-reasoning their way through assigning a few dolls each day.

Completing part of it bit by bit.

Carefully dragging themselves toward the end.

Never in their wildest dreams had they expected the Golden Thigh to find that too slow and decide to finish the entire thing in a single night.

Eighteen households.

One night?

What kind of joke was that…

It wasn’t that they didn’t trust You Huo.

They just genuinely had absolutely no confidence.

…

By the time they returned to the little stone house, the night had grown extremely deep.

Everything in You Huo’s room remained exactly as they had left it.

The water on the tea table had gone completely cold.

The edges of the hard bread had turned white, somehow looking even more inedible.

Only the stove still burned fiercely.

You Huo circled the sofa once and suddenly asked,

“Where’s the bag?”

“The bag? What bag?”

Everyone looked blank.

You Huo had been about to say “the doll bag” when Qin Jiu lifted his chin toward the stove.

Everyone followed his gaze.

On the knitted rug beside the fireplace lay the dusty cloth sack.

One doll had fallen halfway out of it and landed beside the flames.

If the fire leapt even slightly higher, it would catch.

“How’d it end up there?!” Yu Wen hurried over to pick up both the bag and the doll.

You Huo pointed toward the sofa.

“It was over there before. Who moved it?”

Everyone looked at one another, unable to answer.

Old Yu said,

“When we realized you’d been coffined, we grabbed ropes and rushed out immediately. Maybe somebody shoved it aside in a panic?”

But after thinking carefully, each person could confirm they hadn’t touched it.

Could it be…

the dolls moved on their own?

The mental image was too disturbing.

No one dared dwell on it.

Yu Wen muttered,

“If one burns and doesn’t match correctly later, we’re screwed.”

He held the doll up by one leg.

“Look, there’s a scorched patch here.”

“And here too, plus half the clothes—”

As he turned it over, You Huo interrupted:

“These two marks were already there.”

Yu Wen froze.

“Huh?”

This doll had been one of the four the Black Hag added last.

You Huo had noticed the burn marks at the time.

“So it almost got burned before?” Yu Wen stared at it. “This thing’s had a rough life. Does ‘disaster-prone’ count as a clue? Was there anyone in the village who got burned?”

Yu Yao answered softly:

“Zhao Wentu.”

Everyone paused.

Even You Huo looked at her.

Yu Yao immediately became uncomfortable under the attention.

“Um… Villager Ding, I mean.”

She disliked calling people “crazy,” so her cheeks reddened slightly.

“I might be a little germophobic, so I notice whether people’s clothes are clean…”

“His sleeves and side hems had a lot of furnace ash on them. The back of his coat was scorched too.”

“Doesn’t necessarily mean he was burned. I just thought… maybe.”

After speaking, she lowered her head and went quiet again.

“That makes sense!” Yu Wen exclaimed while holding the doll. “If there are matching burn marks, then it’s definitely him!”

You Huo gave a quiet “Mm.”

The moment he nodded, everyone instantly relaxed.

The atmosphere resembled failing students checking answers with the class genius—

accidentally matching one and immediately feeling secure.

…

Zhao Wentu’s diary had mentioned that they believed one doll resembled Villager Jia, which was why they tried giving it to him.

So the key to delivering gifts was finding similarities between dolls and villagers.

Each doll represented one villager.

“Suddenly feels like we’re playing a game…” Yu Wen muttered, hugging the sack with one arm while dangling a doll in the other hand. “Guess who I am?”

“Then guess already.” Old Yu pointed at him. “Put that thing down and stop fooling around!”

…

The dolls were lined up in a row.

Everyone sat around the sofa in a circle.

After staring at each other for a full minute, they collectively broke down.

Guess what?!

Aside from Zhao Wentu’s burned doll, which had obvious distinguishing marks, the rest were practically identical.

There were barely any differences.

The only thing they all shared was ugliness.

A few stitched lines counted as eyes and noses.

A rag wrapped around counted as clothes.

Holding something like this and saying “this represents you” to a villager—

who exactly were they trying to offend to death?

“Maybe birthmarks or something?” Chen Bin raised a hand awkwardly. “Can… the clothes come off?”

“What, are they going to fight back if you undress them?” Old Yu sighed miserably. “But even if you found a birthmark underneath, are you planning to strip the villagers to verify it?”

Chen Bin: “……”

The words were crude, but the logic was sound.

Besides, many villagers stayed locked indoors all day and never appeared outside at all.

According to Zhao Wentu’s diary, villagers only opened the door after hearing three knocks and the phrase:

“I have a gift for you.”

And once the door opened, the examinees absolutely had to deliver the correct doll before the villager returned inside.

No mistakes allowed.

Everyone silently stared at the dolls and once again encountered the exam’s ultimate question—

What the hell were they supposed to do now?

…

“What time is it?” You Huo suddenly asked.

Everyone looked at him.

Then collectively turned toward Qin Jiu.

Qin Jiu checked his phone.

“Two in the morning. Technically everything before collection time still counts as tonight. Five and a half hours left.”

“Enough,” You Huo said.

Qin Jiu lifted an eyebrow.

“You sure?”

You Huo took a sip of water and replied with a muffled “Mm,” then swept all the dolls back into the sack.

Standing in the room, he pointed at several items.

“Rope. Knives. Cloth strips. Bring anything useful.”

“Oh.”

Everyone hurried to comply.

They gathered their equipment and followed You Huo to the doorway.

Only then did they suddenly realize—

“Wait. What are we doing?”

You Huo answered:

“Robbery.”

Everyone: “？？？”

Qin Jiu suddenly laughed in a low voice.

His deep voice sounded especially close in the silence, enough to make ears feel strangely hot.

“Go laugh somewhere else,” You Huo snapped while turning his head away stiffly.

Then he looked at the others.

“You coming or not?”

Everyone: “…Coming, coming.”

…

Very quickly, they stood before a small house.

The number plate read:

Chasu Village No. 4.

Knock knock knock.

You Huo rapped on the door.

“Gift delivery.”

Everyone held their breath.

After a moment, dragging footsteps really sounded from inside.

At least, they should have been footsteps.

But they sounded more like cloth scraping and dragging across the floorboards.

Everyone remembered Zhao Wentu’s diary:

I have hands and feet, but they feel soft, like cotton stuffing…

It was frightening.

And strangely heartbreaking.

Creak.

The door opened.

Zhao Wentu poked his head out.

His face looked weathered and numb.

The white hairs at his temples glimmered faintly beneath the moonlight.

His pitch-black eyes stared unblinkingly at You Huo as he asked slowly,

“What gift?”

You Huo held out the waterproof pouch and the burned doll.

“A diary,” he said.

“And a doll that represents you.”

“Your name is Zhao Wentu.”

Moonlight stretched shadows long across the ground, covering Zhao Wentu’s face.

He stood frozen for a long time.

At last, a tiny spark of light appeared in his eyes.

“Zhao… Wen… Tu…”

He looked at the crude doll and slowly repeated the name.

The pronunciation was clumsy, as though he hadn’t spoken it in far too long.

“Zhao Wentu…”

He repeated it again.

…

He stood there murmuring the name over ten times.

Then suddenly burst into loud laughter, bending over from the force of it.

“Don’t tell me he’s gone crazier?” Old Yu whispered nervously.

Zhao Wentu heard nothing.

After laughing for a long while, he abruptly began sobbing uncontrollably.

Then he snatched both gifts away, slammed through You Huo and the others, and sprinted wildly into the forest.

In the blink of an eye, he vanished.

“Does this count as… release?”

“Where’s he going?”

“No idea.”

You Huo looked utterly unconcerned about the outcome and simply turned away.

…

Moments later, they stood before another house.

This time:

Chasu Village No. 1.

Villager Jia’s home.

Everyone looked deeply uneasy.

They wanted to speak but hesitated.

They had never even met this Villager Jia, let alone matched him with a doll.

How were they supposed to deliver anything?

Hand over the entire bag and tell him to pick one randomly?

Just as everyone was considering retreat, You Huo already knocked on the door.

“Open up. Gift delivery.”

“……”

Well.

Too late to retreat now.

Everyone watched numbly as the door opened and a completely unfamiliar villager asked:

“What gift?”

You Huo immediately looped a rope around the man’s neck and tied him up in three swift motions.

Villager Jia: “？？？”

Everyone mentally collapsed.

It really was robbery.

You Huo shoved the rope end into Yu Wen’s hand.

“Don’t let go. If he escapes, I’ll come after you.”

Yu Wen stared blankly at Villager Jia face-to-face, utterly lost.

By the time everyone recovered, You Huo was already standing before Villager Yi’s house.

They watched helplessly as the boss raised his sinful hand again.

“Open up. Gift delivery.”

Then—

Old Yu suddenly found himself holding another tied-up villager.

…

…

Half an hour.

Only half an hour.

They had successfully looted the entire village.

Eighteen houses.

Nineteen people.

Aside from the already-mad Zhao Wentu, every single villager had been dragged here.

Including the village chief and the chief’s elderly mother.

This was undoubtedly the most unhinged greeting Chasu Village had ever received.

At the riverside, You Huo ordered everyone to herd the villagers into a giant cluster.

“And now?” Old Yu asked.

You Huo dumped out every doll from the sack and shoved the entire pile in front of the villagers.

“Gift delivery from the Black Hag,” he said calmly.

“We brought them.”

Villagers: “……………………”

“This actually works?!” Old Yu’s eyes nearly popped out.

Then he thought about it carefully.

Right.

The question never specified the dolls had to be delivered individually.

The riverside fell deathly silent.

Then the entire village instantly went insane.

…

The dozen dolls tore apart the illusion of peace like a dozen claws.

The villagers screamed and struggled violently.

In their madness, their strength surged dramatically.

They broke free from the ropes and lunged at everyone in sight.

This madness differed completely from Zhao Wentu’s.

Everyone was caught off guard and unable to handle it.

Though they carried knives, those were meant for intimidation.

Now that they knew the villagers had once been examinees, nobody could bring themselves to attack seriously.

In the middle of the chaos—

the forest suddenly stirred.

The rustling crawling sounds surged from every direction.

You Huo turned his head, and his pupils constricted sharply.

This time, the ghost limbs emerging from the woods were not one or two.

Not even dozens.

Every limb ever severed in this exam.

Every arm and leg buried beneath the six feet of yellow earth over countless years—

all crawled out together.

The scale of it felt less like haunting an exam hall…

and more like overturning the entire examination itself.

Screams erupted everywhere.

People grabbed one another and ran desperately as ghost limbs swarmed after them.

“Lead them into the forest!” You Huo shouted.

“We’re still going INTO the forest?! WHY?!!!”

Even while screaming why, everyone still obeyed.

They ran in huge circles at the fastest speeds and highest stamina they had ever achieved in their lives.

The icy touch of butcher knives repeatedly swept past their backs, grazing their faces and scalps by mere inches.

Nothing was more terrifying than danger that missed by “just a little.”

Very quickly, the tidal wave of limbs scattered everyone apart.

…

You Huo vaulted over a fallen tree trunk, his gaze rapidly scanning the surrounding woods while calculating tree density.

Ever since Zhao Wentu ran into the forest, one question had occupied his thoughts:

In this place, what exactly counted as release?

According to the diary, delivering the dolls meant release.

But that had only been Zhao Wentu’s understanding.

At the time, he was merely an examinee who had seen only part of the truth.

He gave a doll to Villager Jia.

The next day Jia vanished.

So he connected those two events as cause and effect.

Now, however, it was obvious something crucial was missing.

Otherwise they wouldn’t currently be fleeing this miserably.

There had to be one final step—

something that would calm the resentment of those severed limbs and allow the dead examinees true rest.

You Huo had been thinking about this constantly.

And then he remembered the burned doll.

Why did the doll—and Zhao Wentu himself—keep showing traces of fire?

Why did the villagers insist that Chasu Village only practiced burial, never cremation?

No matter how he thought about it, only one answer fit:

Burial trapped them here.

Cremation was true rest.

…

You Huo identified a section of forest that would ignite extremely easily.

Perfect.

Lure the ghost limbs here and burn them all in one go.

Excellent timing.

He abruptly stopped, reaching into his pocket for the lighter—

planning to ignite the trees and throw it into the woods.

Then his expression changed.

Gone.

His pocket was empty.

You Huo: “……”

It must have fallen out during all the collisions and chaos earlier…

But at moments like this, even a one-second pause could become fatal.

The instant he hesitated, countless pale ghost limbs surged forward, surrounding him completely.

Worst of all, the heavy sleep-inducing fog thickened around him.

…

…

The moment the ghost limbs lunged—

You Huo pressed his fingers against a tree trunk and rapidly wrote several strokes.

So fast he didn’t even have time to think.

Only after finishing did he suddenly realize—

what he wrote didn’t seem to be “001.”

In the next instant, flames exploded violently among the charging limbs.

Like a spark dropped into boiling oil, the fire spread wildly the moment it touched the ground.

The trees here twisted densely together, more flammable than anything in reality.

In mere moments, the endless forest transformed into a sea of fire.

Countless pale limbs stretched upward through the flames before collapsing silently into charred ash.

Amid the blazing inferno, You Huo narrowed his eyes.

The firelight painted his pale irises bright gold.

His gaze passed through the soaring flames and landed farther away.

There, Monitor 001 tossed an emptied fuel barrel into the blaze.

The flames burst upward again.

Beneath the firelight, Qin Jiu strode forward in long steps.

A wild edge hid beneath the smile at his lips.

Compared to his usual lazy indifference, he suddenly seemed vividly alive.

Under his hands, the entire examination hall burned to ashes.

All the endlessly repeating walking corpses disappeared into the flames.

Dust returned to dust.

Earth returned to earth.