Chapter 34: Yu Yao

He himself would no longer struggle over it.

Only the people left behind knew.

…

The moment they got off the bus, everyone froze on the spot.

Before them stretched a street lined with tall buildings and shops on both sides.

The buildings looked old, like department stores from the last century.

The display windows were dusty and dim, corner lights casting hazy halos across the glass.

It resembled some forgotten old street in a city.

“This is a Rest Area?” Everyone grabbed the driver before he could climb back onto the bus.

“What are you pulling me for?” the driver snapped irritably, prying hands off his arm. “Of course this is a Rest Area. Don’t you see the hotel here?”

The battered minibus really had stopped in front of a hotel.

The hotel had the most generic budget-hotel decoration style imaginable, sitting on the corner of the street.

Deserted.

…Actually, not just the hotel.

The whole street was deserted.

“Rest Areas can change?” everyone asked in shock.

“What about the little inn? Boss Chu? We finally got somewhat familiar with her.”

“Boss Chu? Chu Yue?” Maybe it was the lighting, but the driver’s dark face actually reddened a little. Very quickly, however, his expression dimmed again.

“You met her? She’s still at that inn Rest Area, right? There are five Rest Areas total in the country. They rotate often.”

You Huo asked sharply, “In the country? So there are overseas exams too?”

The driver pressed his lips together.

He clearly didn’t want to explain, but perhaps because Chu Yue had been mentioned, he finally spoke.

“Of course there are.”

“Aren’t you standing next to a foreigner?”

“And besides, if there’s a foreign language subject, naturally there are foreign exam sites too.”

The people who had just survived a foreign language exam silently stared at him.

Driver: “……”

“You lot just had unusually bad luck,” he added.

…

You Huo swept his gaze around.

The high-rises were brightly lit, as though full of residents.

“Can Rest Areas be chosen?” he asked.

“Usually random.” the driver said. “Each of the five places has its own special advantage—”

You Huo remembered the previous Rest Area and reluctantly came up with a characteristic.

“Especially shabby?”

Driver: “……Chu Yue’s place is a little—”

You Huo stared at him.

Driver: “……especially shabby.”

“That Rest Area might genuinely be the only one with no advantages,” the driver muttered with a frown. “Otherwise they wouldn’t have punished her by sending her there…”

“But the others have benefits.”

“Rest Area 1 is Chu Yue’s place.”

“Rest Area 2 is like a military base. Tons of weapons. Anything you can think of—and things you can’t. For certain examinees, it’s basically heaven.”

“Rest Area 3’s landmark is a casino. Lucky people can try their hand there. Maybe they’ll get a guaranteed-passing card.”

“Rest Area 4 has lots of food and entertainment. Stay there a few days and you can temporarily forget exam nonsense.”

“And 5 is here.”

You Huo frowned, suddenly feeling a terrible premonition.

“What’s the advantage here?”

The driver replied:

“The supermarket is cheaper.”

Everyone: “How cheap?”

“Ten to fifty percent off.”

“……”

Chen Bin couldn’t help saying:

“Honestly, at this point I can’t afford to lose even 0.1 points.”

“Same for most examinees,” the driver replied. “So getting assigned here usually means bad luck…”

Lucky bastard You Huo turned around and left immediately.

…

Regardless, Rest Area 5 was still somewhat better than the previous one.

They didn’t want to describe it as “prosperous.”

That sounded sarcastic.

At the very least, security at the hotel was stricter.

An automatic scanner had been installed beside the glass entrance doors.

A red beam swept over examinees as they entered.

Following the principle of “elderly, weak, sick, and injured first,” You Huo leaned against the doorway.

Only after everyone else had entered did he casually follow at the back.

The moment one foot crossed the threshold—

the alarm sounded.

The hotel receptionist shot to her feet, stretching her neck forward.

“What did you bring in?”

You Huo stopped mid-step.

“What do you mean?”

The others were equally confused. Worried something had happened to You Huo, they all glared at the receptionist warily.

The receptionist beckoned toward You Huo.

“Could you come over for a moment? I need to inspect something.”

You Huo tossed his black backpack onto the counter, pulled open the zipper, and lifted his eyelids lazily.

“What’re you checking? Go ahead.”

That face at close range had quite an impact.

The girl blushed from neck to ears and hurriedly explained:

“Uh… you can check yourself too.”

“Try thinking about whether you accidentally brought anything back from the exam site.”

Everyone looked baffled.

Yu Wen said:

“No way, right? There wasn’t a single normal thing in that cursed exam hall. Who the hell would bring something back? It’s not like it’s a local souvenir.”

The receptionist burst out laughing.

“Well, sometimes things try sneaking out with examinees. It’s happened before. Almost caused deaths in the Rest Area.”

“That’s why inspections started. More of a warning than anything.”

Everyone mentally noted that the previous Rest Area hadn’t checked.

But since the alarm had gone off, they couldn’t really argue. So no one gave the receptionist trouble.

Seeing how cooperative they were, the girl blushed again and added to You Huo:

“I know you definitely didn’t do it on purpose. No normal person would. So it’s best to look carefully and see if anything dangerous secretly—”

Before she finished speaking, You Huo had already pulled something from the side pocket of his bag.

“This?”

“……”

The receptionist couldn’t even continue saying “secretly.”

The speed at which he produced the item clearly proved he himself had put it there.

You Huo glanced at Yu Wen.

Yu Wen instantly wilted.

Absolutely unbelievable.

Half a minute earlier he had mocked his brother for having brain damage.

“Bro… h-how did you casually steal one of the Black Hag’s dolls?” he muttered weakly.

You Huo replied:

“By accident.”

Yu Wen: “……”

What kind of broken accident was that?

…

The item in You Huo’s hand was indeed one of the Black Hag’s dolls.

Not one he himself had sewn.

It was the original doll placed on the bottom shelf of the rack—the one with the wind-bell flower pattern on its leg.

Everyone had been traumatized by dolls after days of torture.

People like Yu Yao and Chen Bin turned pale instantly.

Who the hell expected the big boss to go sightseeing through the exam hall and bring back a souvenir?

You Huo asked the receptionist again:

“Against regulations?”

“Mostly we’re just worried about examinees being endangered in the Rest Area,” she replied. “If you really want to keep it, that’s fine too.”

So You Huo simply pocketed the doll again.

Receptionist: “……”

Fine then.

Amazing.

The girl stopped blushing entirely and hammered rapidly on her keyboard.

Soon she handed everyone a stack of cards.

“This Rest Area period lasts five days. Your room number is on the card.”

“Please don’t enter the wrong room and disturb other examinees recovering.”

“The top floor is the restaurant. Open 24 hours.”

“Other daily necessities or exam tools can be purchased at the shops.”

“Also, on the final day of your rest period, the department store offers the biggest discounts from 7 a.m. to 10 a.m., so don’t miss it if you need anything.”

You Huo flipped his card over.

As expected, the format was exactly the same as the previous inn’s room card.

Name: You Huo
Examinee ID: 860451-10062231-000A
Subjects Passed: Physics, Foreign Language (2/5)
Total Score: 27

Yu Wen scratched his head beside him.

“This scoring system’s messed up. Obviously you contributed the most points, but everyone ends up with the same score.”

And because You Huo had spent points buying things before, despite surviving the same two exams, he actually had the lowest remaining balance.

“Whatever.” You Huo stuffed the card into his pocket without another glance.

Chen Bin suddenly added:

“Not every exam scores like this.”

“At least one out of every five exams uses individual scoring. Whoever earns the points keeps them.”

Yu Wen blinked.

“And how much did you get?”

Chen Bin looked utterly depressed.

“Three.”

The entire group was horrified into silence.

No one spoke again until they entered the elevator.

…

Their rooms happened to be directly beneath the restaurant floor, which was convenient.

As everyone searched for their rooms with their keycards, Old Yu suddenly frowned.

“Wait, something’s wrong.”

“What?”

“The dolls were all delivered to villagers. If you brought one back, doesn’t that mean one villager never received theirs?”

“Then why did we get full marks for that question?”

You Huo answered:

“There was one extra.”

“Huh?”

Holding up the doll, You Huo said:

“This one doesn’t match any villager.”

Everyone paused and finally noticed the flower pattern on the doll’s leg.

“When we analyzed the dolls before, this wasn’t there,” Yu Wen said. “If there’d been a pattern this obvious, we definitely would’ve noticed.”

“I never included this one.” You Huo replied.

“So… the Black Hag gave it too?” Yu Wen asked.

“Mm.”

“That’s weird.” Yu Wen muttered.

“There were eighteen households. Nineteen people total counting the village chief’s daughter.”

“The Black Hag gave us twenty dolls? She can’t count? Or was she trying to confuse us?”

You Huo rubbed the doll’s leg thoughtfully.

“Or maybe there was one person we missed.”

The instant those words left his mouth, everyone stopped walking.

What did he mean by “missed”?

They’d delivered dolls to every villager.

No households were missing.

And the exam itself had confirmed full marks.

So who else could possibly have been left out?

Everyone thought for two seconds.

Then their faces turned green.

Of course there was someone else.

The examinees themselves.

Yu Wen nearly pissed himself.

“Bro… don’t tell ghost stories in the middle of the night.”

Shaken badly, everyone subconsciously glanced at each other.

As if any one of them might secretly be a ghost.

Then they realized—

You Huo was staring at someone standing to the right.

Yu Yao.

She had just found her room and swiped the card open.

The hotel heating was warm, so she had removed Mike’s oversized coat.

That naturally exposed the tears in her clothing.

Her shoulder seam was ripped open.

Her pant leg was torn as well.

Her pale ankle showed beneath the fabric.

And on the side of that ankle was a wind-bell flower tattoo.

Exactly identical to the one on the doll’s leg.

The hallway lighting illuminated it perfectly.

Yu Yao froze in place, face deathly pale.

Everyone else looked even paler.

“…Sis?” Yu Wen’s voice shook violently.

“W-what’s going on with you?”

Yu Yao lowered her eyes.

Even her shoulders trembled.

After a long while, she finally looked toward You Huo, eyes red as though she’d been crying.

“…When did you realize?”

Even now, her voice remained gentle.

You Huo’s expression hadn’t changed either. He still looked as lazy and sleepy as usual.

“Suspected it during the previous exam,” he said. “Confirmed it just now.”

Yu Wen looked utterly horrified.

“The previous exam? What happened in the previous exam?”

You Huo said:

“The question said thirteen people were dining. Count carefully how many there actually were.”

Yu Wen counted silently on his fingers.

“Thirteen!”

Then he abruptly froze.

“Wait… no.”

“There were thirteen examinees, but Hunter A was dining too.”

“That makes fourteen…”

“One of them… wasn’t counted as human?”

Everyone slowly turned toward Yu Yao, their faces shifting from pale to green.

“Sis… what exactly are you?”

Yu Wen originally wanted to ask what kind of thing are you.

But when the words reached his mouth, the recently-adult boy softened at the last second.

Yu Yao gripped the doorknob tightly and exhaled softly.

“Come inside,” she whispered. “I’ll explain. It’s not convenient in the hallway.”

Who would dare enter?

Everyone hesitated.

But You Huo nodded first.

…

Soon afterward, everyone sat gathered inside Yu Yao’s room.

Yu Yao stared at the doll for a very long time before finally speaking.

“When I said before this was my first exam…”

“I lied.”

“I really was an examinee. But that was years ago.”

“And unfortunately, my very first exam was the same one we just finished.”

“The Gypsy language exam.”

“With… Zhao Wentu’s group.”

…

She knew a little Gypsy language and had translated simple things for her teammates.

Eventually, she became the “girl” who repeatedly appeared throughout Zhao Wentu’s diary.

At the time, however, she never knew such a diary existed.

…

After Zhao Wentu disappeared, only two examinees remained.

Yu Yao.

And a middle-aged man.

That night, the ghost hands came as expected.

Originally they were targeting the middle-aged man.

But in desperation, the man grabbed Yu Yao and shoved her forward into the blades.

“I still remember him screaming, ‘Cut her instead! Not me! Please!’”

“The ghost hands didn’t strike accurately. They chopped several times.”

“It probably… looked awful.”

Yu Yao curled deeper into her chair as she sank into the memory.

Everyone listening felt sick.

“Then you…”

“Then I should’ve ended up like the other examinees,” Yu Yao said softly.

“Buried in the forest. Or turned into a villager, right?”

“I thought so too.”

“But maybe I got lucky.”

She cried for Zhao Wentu an entire day.

Eventually she even entered the forest herself, trying to locate traces of his blood to see where he had been dragged.

At the very least…

she wanted to build him a grave.

But after searching until nightfall, she found no trace of Zhao Wentu.

Instead, she found a card.

“What card?” You Huo asked.

“The same kind the invigilator made you draw,” Yu Yao said.

“I don’t know why one had fallen in the forest.”

“What did it say?”

“Retake once.”

“After I got… chopped up, the card activated.”

“But because I picked it up instead of earning it properly, the effect only activated halfway.”

Everyone asked blankly:

“Halfway? What does that mean?”

“It means I didn’t become a ghost hand or a villager like the others.”

“But I also didn’t truly revive and restart the exam.”

“I floated in the village river.”

“And the Black Hag picked me up.”

You Huo suddenly remembered something.

The village chief had once said the Black Hag specialized in dealing with the dead.

And that she had once dragged a girl from the river home inside a bamboo basket.

“I was clearly an examinee,” Yu Yao continued quietly.

“But somehow I became part of the exam hall itself.”

The Black Hag had used her witchcraft on Yu Yao.

And somehow…

it worked.

She used the hair of her dead daughter to sew a doll identical to Yu Yao.

And afterward, Yu Yao revived much like the villagers had.

“When I woke up, I was already like this. Pregnant.”

“The Black Hag said she hid her daughter inside me.”

Everyone’s scalp crawled.

Then they realized something else.

“You can understand the Black Hag’s language?”

“When I was part of the exam hall, yes.”

“But after I left, I lost the ability. Even the Gypsy language I originally knew disappeared completely.”

“Leave?” You Huo asked. “The driver said he’d never picked anyone up.”

Yu Yao smiled bitterly.

“Do I count as human? I don’t even know.”

She was like an accidental bug.

Something caught between examinee and NPC.

She didn’t leave the exam hall aboard the intercity bus either.

She simply walked.

For a very long time.

Passing through countless places before eventually, by sheer coincidence, following another group of examinees into a different exam.

Perhaps the System deliberately ignored her.

Or perhaps something else interfered.

Her memory worsened over time.

She forgot many things from before the exams.

She only vaguely remembered that some people had harmed her—

while others had protected her.

“At first I didn’t know what to do,” Yu Yao said.

“So occasionally I’d help examinees a little.”

“Then during one exam, I met the man who pushed me.”

Yu Wen immediately exploded:

“Fuck?! He didn’t die?”

“Later I learned he had an exemption card,” Yu Yao said. “He got it from the casino.”

“In that foreign language exam, he originally wanted to try clearing it normally.”

“But once he realized it was too hard, he used the card.”

Yu Wen grew even angrier.

“He had an exemption card and still shoved you in front of the blades?!”

“What happened to him later?”

“He was bad at exams,” Yu Yao replied softly.

“But he was good at dirty tricks.”

“And strangely lucky when gambling.”

“Later I heard he won two postponement cards from the casino.”

“Each card could delay exams up to two years.”

“He used both and hid in Rest Areas for four years.”

“Eventually he ran out of postponement cards and had no choice but to resume exams.”

“Then did you find him?”

Before Yu Yao could answer, You Huo spoke first.

“You found him during the previous exam, didn’t you?”

Everyone froze.

After a long silence, Yu Yao nodded gently.

“Who was it?”

You Huo answered:

“The one who became Hunter A at the end.”

Everyone went silent.

Only after a very long time did Yu Yao quietly exhale.

“I’ve always wanted to apologize to you.”

“The System often overlooks me.”

“That violation during the previous exam… I think it overlooked me then too.”

“You had ink on you, so the System mistakenly assigned the violation to you.”

“That kind of thing happened before.”

“I’ve been looking for chances to make up for it.”

You Huo said flatly:

“No need.”

After all, he’d been punished several times already and personally suffered no losses.

“More importantly,” You Huo said, “why didn’t you acknowledge Zhao Wentu?”

Yu Yao fell silent for a long time.

Then she gave a small bitter smile.

“I’ve already become like this.”

“My face changed a little.”

“Maybe because of the Black Hag’s daughter. I look like some underage girl now.”

“He wouldn’t have recognized me.”

“And besides…”

“I don’t know whether I’m human or ghost.”

“So…”

“I didn’t want to disappoint him.”

If they never met again—

then when Zhao Wentu remembered his own name in those final moments,

at least he died satisfied.

As for regrets—

they were all left behind in the diary.

He himself would never agonize over them again.

Only the people reading it would know.