{"id":3286,"date":"2026-06-05T23:00:53","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T23:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/?p=3286"},"modified":"2026-05-10T09:20:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:20:02","slug":"global-examination-30","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/chapter\/global-examination-30\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Examination 30"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 30: The Notebook
You Huo: \u201cI\u2019m done with this exam. Let\u2019s deliver all the dolls tonight.\u201d

\u201cI\u2019m a little confused\u2026\u201d

Chen Bin pointed at the gravestone and said softly,

\u201cWhat does this mean?\u201d

You Huo didn\u2019t answer immediately.

He walked several steps to the side and brushed away another layer of mud along the tracks dug up by two other ghost hands.

A second gravestone emerged.

Name: Chu Xiaonan
Exam Registration Number: 860575-04221703-1124

I will always remember you.

Gravestone erected by: Yi
Address: Chasu Village No. 2

The photo showed an oval-faced girl with a high ponytail and no smile.

She looked delicate yet capable.

But if you let a few strands of hair fall loose\u2026

wrapped her in a thick scarf\u2026

changed her clothes into the ankle-length winter garments worn here\u2026

and added pale cracked lips and dull eyes\u2026

then she would become the woman who chopped ice by the river every single day.

Everyone\u2019s expressions worsened.

They stood there silently for a while before all starting to dig through the mud.

Third gravestone.

Fourth.

Fifth\u2026

The wider the area they uncovered, the more gravestones appeared.

So many that everyone\u2019s scalp went numb.

One familiar face after another emerged.

The two villagers who fetched water by the river daily.

The village chief\u2026

Chen Bin\u2019s face turned deathly pale.

This time there was no need for confirmation.

He understood completely\u2014

those dazed villagers had once all been examinees.

Those people now called \u201cJia, Yi, Bing, Ding\u201d had not originally been NPCs of this mountain village.

They once had real names.

You Huo crouched before one gravestone and looked out into the distance.

The forest stretched endlessly.

There was no way they could dig through everything in one night.

Even if they never ate or slept, they could never uncover this entire mountain range.

No one knew how many people were buried beneath the woods.

\u2026

Old Yu muttered fearfully,

\u201cHow could this happen?\u201d

\u201cWhy did they become villagers?\u201d

\u201cAnd\u2026 and if all these examinees become villagers, why are there only eighteen households?\u201d

\u201cThere\u2019s something here!\u201d Yu Yao suddenly called out.

She sat kneeling beside Zhao Wentu\u2019s grave, holding up a transparent waterproof pouch.

\u201cWhere did you find that?\u201d You Huo walked over.

\u201cBuried here.\u201d

Yu Yao pointed at the ground.

Her pregnancy made moving difficult, so she had simply dug outward little by little from the edge of Zhao Wentu\u2019s gravestone.

Not long after, she uncovered the waterproof bag.

Inside was a pen and a leather notebook.

\u201cIt should be Zhao Wentu\u2019s belongings,\u201d Yu Yao said.

You Huo opened the bag and pulled out the notebook.

Just as he was about to flip it open, he paused.

Looking down at Zhao Wentu\u2019s gravestone, he said quietly,

\u201cBorrowing this for a look.\u201d

His voice was very soft, almost like casual muttering.

Hardly anyone heard him\u2014

except for the proctor who was required to follow him everywhere.

Qin Jiu\u2019s gaze shifted slightly at those words.

He watched You Huo for a moment.

Meanwhile, the young man in the gravestone photo continued smiling silently.

\u2026

A quick flip was enough to reveal that this was Zhao Wentu\u2019s diary.

Or more accurately\u2014

his exam record notebook.

Skipping the earlier entries, You Huo directly opened to this exam.


—

Foreign Language Exam \u2014 Day 1 \u2014 Sunny

This time my luck seriously sucks.
The language wasn\u2019t English.

There probably aren\u2019t many people left in the world who even speak Romani, yet this damned system actually dares test it.

Though I guess it\u2019s not entirely unreasonable. One of the new teammates actually understands a little.

I think \u201ca little\u201d is just modesty. Anyway, she translated the listening questions perfectly.

She immediately wrote down the Black Hag\u2019s name. Amazing.

She said the name \u201cFloure\u201d means \u201cflower.\u201d Pretty beautiful, actually\u2026

Well. I honestly have no words.

Aside from her, the other teammates all seem unreliable
(hopefully future me comes back and slaps this sentence hard).

Maybe my standards are just too high.

After all, teammates as incredible as the previous ones are incredibly rare.

The villagers said we had to draw tarot cards before entering the Black Hag\u2019s house
(thank you to my ex-girlfriend for teaching me tarot and making me memorize every card meaning. Never imagined it would become useful in real life.)

But my hands were cursed. I drew the Hanged Man\u2026

Spent the whole afternoon trapped in the Black Hag\u2019s house sewing dolls.

Handcrafting is literally killing me. I only managed one arm and one leg all afternoon.

Worried about what this means.

Definitely nothing good.

It\u2019s 9 PM now. Going to sleep.

Hope I have good dreams.

P.S. This village is really creepy.


—

Foreign Language Exam \u2014 Day 2 \u2014 Cloudy

People died. Two of them.

One got their limbs chopped off because of the dolls.

I knew sewing dolls wasn\u2019t anything good.

If you don\u2019t sew, you die.

If you sew the most, you get chopped.

That much blood\u2026 and then the person disappeared.

Isn\u2019t that basically death?

That unlucky teammate was pretty young. I think still in high school.

Only met him yesterday.

All I remember is that his dad\u2019s surname was Lin and his mom\u2019s surname was Tang, so his name was Lin Tang.

Sigh\u2026

Too bloody.

Don\u2019t want to remember it or write about it.

The other person died because we answered the question wrong and got forcibly sealed into a coffin.

We answered listening question two incorrectly.

But how?

I seriously can\u2019t figure it out\u2026

The girl translated the Black Hag\u2019s story for us.

Apparently the previous village chief was a bastard who thought her corpse business was bad luck, so he constantly ostracized her until chaos eventually killed her husband and child.

(I honestly suspect the village chief hired someone to do it, then the Black Hag killed him afterward.)

She said she buried her entire family in the eastern forest.

Since then she became obsessed with making dolls, because in her people\u2019s beliefs, dolls can carry all emotions.

She uses them to mourn her family.

The girl wrote \u201cEastern Forest,\u201d and just to be safe added \u201cinside the graves.\u201d

Still wrong.

I can\u2019t understand it.

Makes me want to visit the Eastern Forest myself.

But the villagers warned us never to enter the forest.

They seem absolutely terrified of it.

After last night\u2019s lesson, we all agreed today to sew only left arms.

That way no one could be \u201cthe one who sewed the most.\u201d

It\u2019s 8 PM now.

Meeting later tonight to discuss answers.

Hope I have good dreams.

P.S. Still think the village is creepy. Especially the villagers.

The girl said the Romani words on the village boundary stone mean \u201cBlack Land.\u201d

Black symbolizes death and misfortune, just like the \u201cBlack\u201d in Black Hag.

This place is literally a \u201cland of death.\u201d


—

Foreign Language Exam \u2014 Day 3 \u2014 Cloudy

Another teammate died.

Still because of the dolls.

Sewing equal amounts didn\u2019t work.

Turns out it calculates cumulatively across days.

Doesn\u2019t that mean I\u2019ve already sewn two arms and one leg total?

The only good thing is we finally answered correctly today.

The Black Hag\u2019s prayer letter was really long. The girl only understood part of it.

We guessed half the answers.

We thought the doll in black clothes resembled Villager Jia.

The prayer letter said we had to knock three times at the door and say:
\u201cI have a gift for you.\u201d

And we absolutely couldn\u2019t deliver the wrong doll.

We did exactly that.

The door really opened.

But when Jia saw the doll, he immediately went insane\u2026

Forget it.

Too much killing.

Too exhausting.

Being alive is enough.

Today we discussed things again.

We\u2019re maintaining equal doll-sewing totals.

It\u2019s 8 PM now.

Another meeting later to guess answers\u2026

There are fewer and fewer people left.

At this rate it can\u2019t even be called a meeting anymore.


—

Foreign Language Exam \u2014 Day 4

Another death.

Equal sewing totals no longer mattered.

The chopping became random.

Also\u2026

Something terrifying happened.

Someone new moved into Villager Jia\u2019s house.

It was Lin Tang\u2014the one who died on the first day.

It really was Lin Tang.

Not someone similar.

Even the mole on his face was identical.

He looked dazed, just like the other villagers, carrying an iron basin while chopping ice.

The most horrifying part\u2014

he didn\u2019t recognize us anymore.

Didn\u2019t even remember his own name.

He said his name was Jia.

The previous resident had left, so the house became vacant.

He had moved in today and would live there permanently.

Could it be\u2026

Receiving the doll means release?

And examinees who lose body parts become the next villagers?

It\u2019s 7 PM now.

Only three of us remain.

I think\u2026

I probably won\u2019t survive this exam.

Though I\u2019m mentally prepared every time, when it really comes to this point, it still hurts.

I hope the girl survives one more day.

This exam has been too cruel to her.

If there\u2019s even a one in ten thousand chance we clear this exam successfully\u2026

I hope someday we can meet again in some city.

Introduce ourselves properly this time.

Not like this miserable excuse of an introduction.

Alright.

I\u2019m dreaming.


—

Foreign Language Exam \u2014 Day 5

I got chopped.

But I\u2019m still alive.

I still have hands and feet.

But touching them feels strange.

Like cotton stuffing.

If this counts as living\u2026

I can\u2019t really remember yesterday anymore.

While I still have time, I need to dig a grave.

I hope by the time I finish digging it,

I still remember who I am.

Hope she has good dreams.

My name is Zhao Wentu.

My name is Zhao Wentu\u2026


—

The true record ended there abruptly.

The final entry already showed signs of mental collapse.

And on the reverse side of that final page, the words:

My name is Zhao Wentu

were written over and over.

The handwriting became clumsier and clumsier toward the bottom.

The final line contained only a single word:

\u201cI.\u201d

\u2026

After reading Zhao Wentu\u2019s diary, everyone felt ice-cold inside.

From the diary\u2019s contents, it was obvious that Zhao Wentu himself had erected this gravestone.

Before doing so, he repeatedly wrote his own name, desperately trying to remember it a little longer.

But by the time he truly carved the words Rest in Peace into the stone\u2014

he had already become Villager Ding.

He remembered nothing anymore.

Maybe once in a great while, he would suddenly feel that he didn\u2019t belong here.

Maybe he would suddenly think some passing visitor looked strangely familiar.

But he would never know why.

And so he became the village\u2019s well-known madman.

The ghost limbs had once said:

\u201cObedient guests get to live.\u201d

\u201cDisobedient guests must die.\u201d

Could this really be called living?

Losing limbs was like receiving a curse.

Examinees cursed this way became villagers forever trapped inside the mountain settlement.

Reduced to names like Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding\u2026

Until one day, some future examinee delivered the correct doll to them.

Only then could they truly die.

\u2026

No wonder the villagers feared the Black Hag so deeply.

Because they had once been examinees themselves.

And no wonder they refused to enter the forest.

Because their own graves were here.

\u2026

After finishing the final page, You Huo\u2019s expression did not change at all.

He stuffed the notebook back into the waterproof pouch.

Originally he intended to bury it again\u2014

but halfway through, he changed his mind.

Holding the bag in one hand, he said:

\u201cLet\u2019s go.\u201d

\u201cGo where?\u201d Everyone was still trapped in shock and confusion.

You Huo replied:

\u201cDon\u2019t feel like taking the exam anymore.\u201d

\u201cLet\u2019s deliver all the dolls tonight.\u201d

Although what the boss said was deliver dolls\u2014

his face clearly said:

Burn the entire exam system to the ground.<\/p>","protected":false},"parent":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"novel":[],"class_list":["post-3286","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3286","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3286"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3286\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3287,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3286\/revisions\/3287"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3286"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"novel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/ms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/novel?post=3286"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}