{"id":3280,"date":"2026-05-30T23:00:39","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T23:00:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/?p=3280"},"modified":"2026-05-10T09:11:47","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T09:11:47","slug":"global-examination-27","status":"publish","type":"chapter","link":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/chapter\/global-examination-27\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Examination 27"},"content":{"rendered":"

Chapter 27: About to Die

\u201cBro, how do you write \u2018forest\u2019 or \u2018graveyard\u2019 in Gypsy?\u201d
You Huo: \u201c\u2026I don\u2019t know.\u201d

That hand moved insanely fast.

Its five fingers clawed against the ground, flipping and scrambling wildly.

Unfortunately, a leather cord limited its range of motion. During its struggles it repeatedly tried swinging the cleaver in retaliation\u2014

and got suppressed every single time.

The whole scene was so visually shocking that everyone watching was utterly stunned.

Originally they\u2019d all been terrified out of their minds. Even with exhaustion crushing them, they\u2019d forced their eyes open to stay alive.

But after You Huo\u2019s stunt, everyone instantly became fully awake.

\u201cBro, you\u2026\u201d

Having fun with it? Yu Wen wanted to ask.

But seeing his brother wearing a dead-inside expression that clearly said \u201cFuck, I lost another night of sleep,\u201d he swallowed the question.

You Huo walked closer and forcibly made the pale ghost hand stop.

The hand swung its cleaver in a frantic circle, struggling madly.

Everyone jumped backward in fright to avoid the blade, then hurried back over to pin it down with all eight hands.

Chen Bin asked You Huo with a complicated expression:

\u201cHow did you catch this thing?\u201d

Last night it had been a murderous monster.

Today it had become a joke.

Anyone would be dumbfounded.

Especially since Chen Bin himself had almost become one of its victims. The terror of surviving by pure luck hadn\u2019t even faded yet before witnessing this absurdity\u2026

\u201cDidn\u2019t catch it,\u201d You Huo said, jerking his chin toward Qin Jiu.

\u201cHe handed it to me.\u201d

Chen Bin: \u201c\u2026\u2026\u201d

Handed\u2026

Qin Jiu generously added,

\u201cYou\u2019re welcome.\u201d

You Huo replied,

\u201cDid I thank you?\u201d

Qin Jiu smiled and nodded.

\u201cI can reluctantly interpret it that way.\u201d

Nobody had expected the proctor to be the one who subdued it.

Everyone froze for a moment before cautiously asking:

\u201cThen\u2026 the help card has already been used up?\u201d

Qin Jiu pulled the card from his pocket, sounding extremely regretful.

\u201cNot yet, unfortunately.\u201d

Everyone was shocked.

\u201cHuh? Why?\u201d

You Huo answered first:

\u201cThat was self-defense. Why would he waste the help card?\u201d

Qin Jiu stared at the back of his head for a moment.

Then nodded.

\u201c\u2026Fair enough.\u201d

Self-defense?

Everyone got even more confused.

\u201cThis thing can attack proctors too? Is it insane?\u201d

You Huo briefly explained what had happened.

Yu Wen smacked his palm.

\u201cIf that\u2019s the case, then when the monster comes, as long as you don\u2019t wake up, you\u2019re fine?\u201d

\u201cI knew it! There\u2019s no way every option leads to death. There has to be some survival condition.\u201d

\u201cHah, easy for you to say,\u201d Old Yu snapped.

\u201cHow are you supposed to control whether you wake up? It\u2019s not like just keeping your eyes shut works.\u201d

Yu Wen thought for a moment.

\u201cWhat about sleeping pills?\u201d

\u201cIdiot son, go find me a sleeping pill first.\u201d

Yu Wen: \u201c\u2026\u2026\u201d

After analyzing everything, everyone still felt this exam was outrageously unreasonable.

It wasn\u2019t that there was truly no way to survive.

As long as You Huo was around, there was always some path forward.

But\u2026

whether it was the Black Hag or the ghost hand, their behavior contained elements that simply didn\u2019t make sense.

For example, beyond the requirements written in the questions, the Black Hag had added extra obstacles like card-drawing and doll-sewing.

And the ghost hand had somehow lost track of its target, sparing You Huo the examinee and attacking the proctor instead.

\u2026

\u201cThis really is strange\u2026\u201d Yu Yao said hesitantly.

\u201cCould it be that older exams weren\u2019t like this, and they added more complications to make later exams harder?\u201d

The girl had improved a lot.

In the previous exam she\u2019d cried from start to finish.

This time she was much better.

For a while, no one had any leads.

Besides, the exam questions themselves held all the initiative.

Even if they figured things out, nobody could guarantee how long they\u2019d survive.

\u2026

\u201cDid anything happen in the forest tonight?\u201d You Huo asked.

\u201cPretty much the same as last night.\u201d

\u201cA bunch of things crawling around, but they were too fast, so we didn\u2019t chase recklessly,\u201d Yu Wen said.

\u201cThey vanished in a flash. Looking at it now\u2026 they were probably all this kind of thing.\u201d

He glanced nervously at the pale ghost hand.

You Huo gave an \u201coh,\u201d then gestured for everyone to let go.

He tugged the leather cord.

\u201cCome on. Keep running.\u201d

Ghost hand: \u201c\u2026\u2026\u201d

The thing had probably been bullied too hard.

It collapsed limply into the dirt and pretended to be dead, refusing to move.

After waiting a moment, You Huo lost patience.

He kicked it.

\u201cIf you won\u2019t move, then we\u2019ll just drag this out till dawn.\u201d

\u201cAt sunrise I\u2019ll haul you outside the forest.\u201d

These things only appeared at night and vanished during the day.

There had to be a reason.

You Huo guessed perhaps they couldn\u2019t tolerate sunlight?

Or feared something else\u2026

Sure enough\u2014

the moment he said that, the ghost hand suddenly sprang up and twisted frantically.

\u201cIt\u2019s scared, right?\u201d

Once everyone realized threats worked, they all started piling on.

\u201cIt\u2019s almost four o\u2019clock already. Dawn comes fast.\u201d

\u201cWe can even let the villagers see what\u2019s been threatening them every night. Go knock on every door one by one\u2014\u201d

Yu Wen was halfway to suggesting a \u201cmountain village one-day tour\u201d when the ghost hand suddenly froze.

It crouched there, its gray-white rotten fingers scratching weakly against the dirt.

The rhythm resembled breathing.

Or perhaps an expression of fear and unease\u2026

Fear of what?

The villagers?

You Huo frowned in confusion.

Just as he was about to yank the cord and say something else, the ghost hand suddenly exploded into motion.

Its fingers clawed wildly through the dirt as it shot deeper into the forest.

It seemed desperate to return to its nest\u2014to bury itself beneath damp soil before sunrise.

Everyone grabbed the cord and followed it through the woods, quickly losing all sense of direction.

Morning fog filled the depths of the forest.

It was freezing cold.

The heavy damp air smothered the torchlight until it flickered weakly, as though it might extinguish at any moment.

\u201cWhat\u2019s that smell?\u201d Old Yu sniffed the air.

The deeper they went, the stronger and clearer the scent became.

Chen Bin\u2019s expression changed immediately.

\u201cThis smell\u2026 it smells just like our room.\u201d

\u201cLast night Liang Yuanhao and I fell asleep because of this.\u201d

Mentioning it instantly brought everyone back to that heavy incense scent.

Slightly different from the Black Hag\u2019s house\u2014

more sleep-inducing.

Mike was overweight and physically weak.

After staying awake all night and running around this much, the smell hit him hard. He stumbled and nearly collapsed.

The others started reacting one after another too.

As chaos broke out, the ghost hand seized the opportunity to dart around a tree trunk.

The cord snapped tight.

Then the blade sliced downward.

The rope broke instantly.

The ghost hand plunged straight into the wet earth and vanished in the blink of an eye.

By the time everyone recovered and started searching again, there wasn\u2019t a trace left.

\u201cFuck\u2014! We were so close!\u201d

Everyone was extremely frustrated.

But gone was gone.

No matter how annoyed they were, they could only return defeated.

\u2026

Soon dawn arrived again.

Five minutes before 7:30, the crow began screeching reminders for collection time.

Yu Wen hugged his phone and practically kowtowed to his brother.

\u201cThank god, thank god\u2026\u201d

\u201cGood thing you stopped me from writing the second answer yesterday, otherwise we\u2019d be dead today\u2026\u201d

Strictly speaking, they had gained something during the night.

Just nothing immediately score-worthy.

Fortunately, You Huo had been cautious enough to save Listening Question (2) for today.

Otherwise someone would\u2019ve died on the spot.

Where are the Black Hag\u2019s family members? Please find them.

The answer was simple.

Writing \u201cforest\u201d or \u201cgraveyard\u201d would both work.

After all, those family members were already buried underground, reduced to gravestones.

Yu Wen grabbed the bone pen and wrote the character for \u201ctree.\u201d

Just as he was about to write \u201cforest,\u201d a lazy drawling voice sounded nearby.

\u201cI have a question.\u201d

Qin Jiu raised two fingers.

\u201cWrite first,\u201d You Huo urged Yu Wen before turning toward Qin Jiu.

\u201cWhat question absolutely has to be asked right now?\u201d

Qin Jiu replied,

\u201cI tried holding it in. Couldn\u2019t.\u201d

You Huo: \u201cSay it.\u201d

Qin Jiu tapped the door panel.

\u201cYou\u2019re taking a Gypsy language exam and answering in Chinese?\u201d

\u201cAnd you\u2019re even urging him to hurry up?\u201d

\u201cYou really are a once-in-a-lifetime genius.\u201d

You Huo: \u201c\u2026\u2026\u201d

Everyone erupted with curses.

Holy shit\u2014they\u2019d overlooked that!

The questions themselves were written in Chinese, which subconsciously tricked everyone into answering in Chinese too.

The moment Qin Jiu finished reminding them, the red light on his wrist flashed three times in succession.

The crow responsible for announcements had barely opened its beak before Qin Jiu interrupted:

\u201cInvigilation Rule Number 7: when examinees make obvious conceptual mistakes regarding answering rules, proctors are obligated to remind them.\u201d

\u201cAren\u2019t they being obviously stupid right now?\u201d

After mocking them thoroughly, he lazily added to the examinees:

\u201cMy apologies. That was a personal attack.\u201d

Everyone: \u201c\u2026\u2026\u201d

The wording sounded polite.

But his teasing tone carried such shameless amusement it made people want to hit him.

After tormenting the examinees, Qin Jiu calmly turned back to the crow.

\u201cI\u2019m simply fulfilling my duty.\u201d

\u201cFull-time invigilation is boring enough already. Don\u2019t nitpick.\u201d

Nobody dared breathe too loudly.

Everyone felt this proctor was one second away from dying.

Unexpectedly, after opening and closing its beak silently for a moment, the crow actually shut up.

Qin Jiu remained leaning against the doorframe the entire time without even changing posture.

He withdrew his gaze and said to the group:

\u201cTwo minutes until papers are collected.\u201d

\u201cDo I have answers written on my face?\u201d

Yu Wen clutched the bone pen in total panic.

\u201cBro, how do you write \u2018forest\u2019 or \u2018graveyard\u2019 in Gypsy?\u201d

You Huo: \u201c\u2026I don\u2019t know.\u201d<\/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-3280","chapter","type-chapter","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/chapter"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3280"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3281,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/chapter\/3280\/revisions\/3281"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"novel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/velvetink.xyz\/my\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/novel?post=3280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}