Chapter 143: College Entrance Examination (Gaokao)
"Why are you asking that? This is the college entrance exam, all you need to do is take the exam!"
The nearest invigilator was a portly male proctor, his face etched with rage. Tang Xinjue had no doubt he would have lunged at her, baring his teeth, if it weren't for maintaining the dungeon's settings.
Tang Xinjue remained calm, "Is it inconvenient? It's okay. I'll ask my classmates later."
The invigilator was silent for two seconds. "Do as you please, go quickly."
The atmosphere was gloomy as they descended one floor. Without warning, Tang Xinjue spoke again, "Teacher, how many floors does our building have?"
Proctor: "?"
Didn't I just answer you?
Tang Xinjue's expression remained unfazed. "I'm sorry, I've had a low IQ since childhood, and I suffer from chronic amnesia and intermittent amnesia. Sometimes I ask the same question multiple times. I hope you don't mind."
Proctor: "..."
Two seconds later, Tang Xinjue said, "Teacher, our building—"
"Fifth floor!!"
The male proctor finally lost his patience and stared at her with a twisted expression, his already bulging eyes threatening to flicker at Tang Xinjue.
"Thank you."
Tang Xinjue entered the classroom with a swift and decisive move, shutting the door behind her, blocking out the grinding and roaring.
"By the way, teacher, there's a proctor outside who seems a bit agitated. I'm worried his voice might disturb everyone's answers." Tang Xinjue nodded to the two teachers inside.
"I hope you can resolve this. Thank you for your hard work."
When everything inside and outside was completely silent, Tang Xinjue, like the other students, devotedly answered the questions. At least from the outside, she truly had the demeanor of a college entrance exam candidate.
However, this silence was ruthlessly broken five minutes later.
"Teacher, I need to go to the restroom," Tang Xinjue raised her hand.
The two invigilators wore expressions of reluctance, their feet nailed to the spot, motionless, as if trying to glare at Tang Xinjue to retract her decision.
Tang Xinjue remained unmoved: "There's no rule in the Gaokao regulations that forbids students from using the restroom, right?"
No matter how difficult the dungeon, it still adhered to the most basic principles of balance. If the NPC used the Gaokao rules to strictly restrict her actions, then she could similarly use those rules to demand them to do the same.
As long as there were no unexpected consequences, they would have to comply.
As expected, the NPC eventually, reluctantly, took her to the restroom. They simply deployed more surveillance personnel, and a massive demolition team remained outside.
However, when the supervised student leisurely emerged again, the "demolition team" was dumbfounded.
Tang Xinjue looked regretful. "The bathroom doors are all broken. I can't use them."
Proctor: "???"
They immediately went in to check, only to see that the handles and locks on every cubicle door had been distorted into strange, missing parts. Remarkably, not a single one was spared.
"You—"
The proctor was interrupted before he could finish his words. "I have amnesia. I can't recall what just happened. The exam doesn't allow for much time. I think we'll deal with this later. Let's go check on the other floors first."
After a long silence, Tang Xinjue emphasized, "Teacher, we shouldn't be delayed by this little thing, right?"
…
Soon, the group reached the fourth floor.
The proctor went into the bathroom to check, then came out with a cold warning, "Everything is fine."
Tang Xinjue simply smiled. "Unforeseen events happen. Who knows?"
A minute later, reality revealed to them the true meaning of "unforeseen events."
Looking at the restroom facilities, now completely broken, the invigilator's frozen face trembled with a look on the verge of breaking. He gritted his teeth and said, "You destroyed the Gaokao facilities!"
"First, these are school facilities. The school should be held responsible for any quality issues."
"Second, there must be evidence to support the accusation." Tang Xinjue spread her hands and calmly stated, "I'm just a fragile Gaokao candidate, suffering because I can't solve the comprehensive science test and the restroom is out of order. You can report me after the exam, but if I can't find a suitable restroom right now, I feel I have no choice but to abandon the exam because of this trivial matter."
The invigilators seemed to struggle to grasp the logic of so many words. After a moment's collective silence, they abandoned the argument and jumped to the next instruction: "Go to the fifth floor."
"If you can't do that, you must return to take the exam."
He threatened again, "Otherwise, the consequences will be dire!"
"No problem. Don't worry, I love the Gaokao more than anything. No matter what happens, it won't stop me from yearning for it. The exam is the light of my life."
Tang Xinjue agreed without hesitation, vowing.
"I hate exams. They're the source of my suffering. If God could give me a second chance, I'd skip them. If I had to impose a time limit, I'd hope it would be ten thousand years."
Guo Guo slumped back in her chair, feeling utterly drained.
She realized that the most horrific punishment wasn't being locked in her dorm room battling demons, but taking all the college entrance exams without a break, until her brain was groggy and she felt like vomiting, with no rest!
Ugh.
Guo Guo clutched her stomach. Although she didn't feel hungry, she felt a genuine urge to vomit.
She didn't know if it was due to overexertion or she was too nervous. She had hoped to survive until the exam was over, leaving the dungeon and reuniting with her roommates, but the urge to vomit grew stronger. Guo Guo's face turned pale and red, and she finally raised her hand to signal the invigilator.
"Teacher, I feel like vomiting..."
"Vomiting?"
The invigilator's stern expression was terrifying, and Guo Guo hardly dared even look up during the exam. Seeing the two steely invigilators approaching, she instinctively tensed her body, clenched her fists, and asked as politely as she could, "Excuse me, can I go to the bathroom?"
Guo Guo didn't know if it was her imagination, but at the word "bathroom," the invigilators' faces seemed to twitch simultaneously, then return to normal. They replied in a cold, unison:
"No."
...Is it that strict?
Guo Guo's eyes welled with tears. "Then can you give me a vomit bag? I'm really feeling sick right now, ugh."
The person on the other side hesitated for a moment, then opened the exam room door. Immediately, several uniformed, stern-faced invigilators entered, charging directly at Guo Guo.
Guo Guo: "???!!!"
What's going on? Has the hunt suddenly begun? She could hold it in until the end!
The invigilator who approached didn't attack. Instead, he quickly pulled out a roll of bags and said simply, "The doorway."
—So they were delivering the vomit bags.
Guo Guo quickly took the bag and cautiously ran outside the exam room. Under the watchful eyes of the invigilators, she opened the vomit bag and lowered her head.
After that shock, she couldn't vomit anymore.
A hundred thousand alpacas carrying tearful cat heads trampled through her mind. Guo Guo took two deep breaths and silently looked up. "Um, teacher, I don't think I'm so desperate right now. Can I use it later?"
The invigilator looked skeptical. "Now."
Guo Guo: "...Okay, I'll try harder."
She lowered her head again, trying to gather her breath.
"Pop!"
A sudden, crisp sound behind her startled her, and she darted back, "Who?"
However, there was no one within a few meters. Instead, two invigilators from the adjacent classroom 508 came over without a word and, right under Guo Guo's nose, picked up a transparent exam bag.
"Another student's admission ticket," the invigilator next door explained expressionlessly. "It dropped here."
Guo Guo: "Just dropped it here?"
She looked around, a huge question rising in her mind: "But why don't I see anyone?"
Where's that student?
The invigilator seemed reluctant to answer, simply saying, "He's already entered the exam room."
Guo Guo: "Oh... huh?"
The distance from here to the next classroom was at least eight or nine meters, and from the time she heard the sound of her exam bag falling to the ground to the time she turned around, it couldn't have taken more than a second.
So, in the split second that the unknown student dropped his exam bag, he sprinted into Room 508 at lightning speed and told the invigilator about it?
Although Guo Guo didn't consider herself clever, at that moment she felt her intelligence was being underestimated.
More importantly, after realizing the invigilator was talking nonsense, a hypothesis suddenly welled up in her mind.
Could this exam bag that appeared out of nowhere belong to the other three people in Class 606?
If we follow this clue, will we be able to find Xinjue and the others?
Seeing the invigilators turning to leave, Guo Guo quickly shouted to stop them, mustering the courage to ask, "Can I take a look at this exam bag?"
Facing several stares, Guo Guo gritted her teeth and continued, "I think this admission ticket looks a lot like mine. Although I don't see the name, the photo looks exactly like me! So, maybe you've got the wrong ticket, and this is actually my admission ticket. If you don't believe me, let me take a look."
She stared at the exam bag eagerly and held up a finger: "Just a quick look!"
"Just a quick look! I'm not clairvoyant and can't see other people's papers!"
Walking down the fifth-floor corridor, Tang Xinjue calmly urged the invigilators beside her to stop acting so wary.
Not only did the invigilators acting this way, but all the open classroom doors in the corridor slammed shut upon seeing her approach. Only the invigilators' vigilant eyes shone through the small glass windows, slowly shifting as she moved.
"Huh? So wary?"
Tang Xinjue smiled, then greeted everyone with a familiar air, ignoring their warnings and walking down the short corridor like a leisurely stroll.
The invigilator urged her repeatedly, and she covered her mouth and coughed twice, her face frail. "I haven't been very healthy these past few years, so please excuse my slow pace."
She was as nonchalant as if she weren't the one who had sneaked up to the fourth floor when the proctor wasn't looking.
The other person seemed to have learned his lesson this time. He didn't respond to anything she said, his face drooping and lifeless, surrounding her, leaving her no room for any action.
But through the gap between them, Tang Xinjue's sharp eyes swept the corridor one by one. The closer she got to the direction of the sound, the slower her pace became.
If she was right, it should be around here, perhaps...
Tang Xinjue suddenly paused, her gaze fixed on a classroom door.
Several fresh scratches were clearly left on the edge of the doorframe.
Raising her gaze, the classroom number came into view.
508.
The invigilator behind her saw her motionless and immediately came over to push her. However, the usually motionless girl collapsed to the ground, coughing violently, clutching her hand.
Invigilator: "..."
Author has something to say: -------
Invigilator: Today is also the day I want to resign.
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