Chapter 144: College Entrance Examination (Gaokao)
The invigilators' limited data logic had probably never encountered the term "touching porcelain" before. They stared in horror at the collapsed girl, and for a moment, no one moved, seemingly undecided whether to enforce the order or wait for Tang Xinjue to recover.
*touching porcelain, staged accidents or extortion, like when someone scam people by pretending to get hurt. It’s said that back in the Qing Dynasty, some people would carry a "valuable" piece of porcelain (of course, a fake) through busy streets. Then, they would deliberately let a passing carriage accidentally bump into them, causing the porcelain to fall and shatter. The "owner" of the porcelain would then "righteously" demand compensation from the carriage owner for the price of a genuine piece.
Under the watchful eyes of the crowd, the girl coughed for a long while before finally stopping. She spoke intermittently, "I'm allergic to pollen. This classroom seems to be filled with the smell of pollen. It's too pungent. I hope you can clear it out. Cough cough cough..."
The invigilator remained silent, and Tang Xinjue remained unfazed, continuing to cough under the crowd's unnerving gazes.
After exploring for so long, she had figured out a pattern.
The invigilators were like a program that automatically maintained the operation of a system. As long as the situation wasn't so outrageous as to completely disrupt the Gaokao, they would automatically upgrade and repair themselves until the problem was resolved.
About ten seconds later, the crowd silently parted, and a gentle, kind female teacher walked in. She extended her hand warmly to Tang Xinjue, "Student, how can I help you?"
Here they are, the invigilator version N+1.
Tang Xinjue didn't offer her hand, but weakly but persistently repeated her request. The female teacher's gentle smile remained unchanged. "We'll handle it later. Can we get you back to the exam room first?"
As she spoke, she gently grasped Tang Xinjue's arm and pulled her up.
Click.
The female teacher froze, a flicker of disbelief crossing her face.
Tang Xinjue sighed softly, "Teacher, you dislocated my arm."
"..."
"But it's okay, it's my left hand that's dislocated." Tang Xinjue smiled bravely, "You can take the exam with your right hand."
...
After a brief silence, the female teacher changed the subject with a stiff smile: "Which exam room did you say had pollen? This is a serious issue that could affect the exam. We need to investigate thoroughly."
With that, the door of Classroom 508, which had been closed for a long time, creaked open automatically.
Through the crack, Tang Xinjue peered inside. The classroom was filled with the rustling of pens, and students, in much the same posture, were absorbed in their homework. At first glance, it looked no different from any other exam room.
No. Tang Xinjue narrowed her eyes.
There was a difference.
At the end of her sight, a skinny male teacher hurriedly approached from the back of the classroom. Upon seeing the invigilators, he quickly flung the door open and reported quietly, "Everything is normal in exam room 508!"
Another invigilator: "A candidate reported that the pollen here caused her allergies."
Male teacher: "?"
He glanced around curiously, then glanced at the students working on their exams, then turned back to confirm: "There's no pollen here."
"Are there any other substances that could cause allergies?"
"No."
—Anyone with a nose could tell there was no pollen. Tang Xinjue raised an eyebrow, her heart unperturbed.
After all, this wasn't the real world. Theoretically, these replica exam rooms were not only free of pollen, but also free of any human smells or noise. They were an absolutely perfect exam environment, and any accusations were clearly groundless.
But was she trying to reason with him?
Just as the male invigilator finished speaking, a woman's voice interrupted clearly: "Are you sure?"
He then saw the young girl, surrounded by a crowd, sitting on the ground for some unknown reason. At this moment, with her arms folded and his head tilted up in a serious expression, she said in a resounding voice, "My nose can't be wrong. Are you doubting my sense of smell?"
"Teacher, I suspect it's your sense of smell that's at fault."
Tang Xinjue said righteously, "I need to talk to the other invigilator."
The male invigilator choked: "Smell, smell?"
Invigilation actually requires a sense of smell?
He truly couldn't answer Tang Xinjue. Even everyone in the room looked as if they had just heard of such a function.
...It doesn't matter. They can evolve.
After calming down, the female teacher gently gave the order: "Send the other invigilator over. We'll resolve the issue within five minutes. After five minutes, a separate room will be assigned for this student to take the exam."
Tang Xinjue understood that this was the maximum tolerance allowed by the dungeon.
However, the male invigilator was slightly startled, but didn't immediately receive the command. His lips moved twice, but no sound came out.
The female teacher frowned. "Hello? Did you hear that?"
Tang Xinjue's lips curled up slightly.
Each exam room should normally have at least two invigilators. It's impossible for one to be absent without a clear reason.
Unless... Something unexpected happened in this room, too!
As the male invigilator showed visible signs of panic and uneasiness, Tang Xinjue suddenly spoke up, "Teacher, if I saw correctly, there seems to be a vacant exam seat in this room."
She smiled. "Could that student also be allergic to pollen like me?"
Vacant invigilator, vacant student.
Even without Tang Xinjue's words, they realized the real problem.
The male invigilator's eyes darted around before he finally mumbled, "It was an accident. We wanted to handle it ourselves, but things haven't returned to normal yet."
Tang Xinjue didn't give him time to react: "Where is he?"
Caught off guard, the invigilator replied instinctively: "He disappeared. The other one went looking for him, and then also disappeared..."
"That's enough!"
The female teacher interrupted him harshly, her lips stretched so far that her normally gentle expression took on an unnatural hue.
"We're aware of the situation. You can rest."
As soon as she finished speaking, the male invigilator's head drooped limply, his body beginning to tremble slightly. After a moment, the shaking stopped, and he slowly raised his head, transformed into a completely different middle-aged man.
"The exam begins," he replied in a hoarse, formal voice.
Watching this scene, Tang Xinjue glanced thoughtfully at the female teacher.
Is it the power of the replica, or the invigilator's own abilities?
Almost simultaneously, an invigilator emerged from the crowd. The new and old stood side by side, glancing at each other before simultaneously entering Examination Room 508.
With a bang, the door to Examination Room 508 closed again, concealing everything within.
"It's time for you to take the exam. Don't worry, once the Gaokao is over, all your problems will be healed."
The female teacher looked down at Tang Xinjue. The invigilators brought out a stretcher, demonstrating their core principle of completing the exam, no matter what.
"Why bother? The Gaokao is so important, of course I have to finish it well."
Tang Xinjue smiled, stood up, and followed them in a cooperative manner. She paid no heed to her dislocated left forearm, her slender, upright frame seemingly impervious to the pain.
Before leaving, she glanced back, her gaze fixed on the door to Room 508.
The classroom door was pristine, as if newly installed, the scratch marks completely gone.
...A fleeting clue, a breakthrough point that defied all attempts, an exam process that must be completed. Everything seemed to point in a bad direction.
This dungeon might be even more difficult than she expected.
Upon receiving the exam bag, Guo Guo's eyes widened, even a little flattered.
She hadn't held out much hope, but she'd never imagined her rambling words to the invigilator would actually work.
After all, Tang Xinjue was the only one in 606 who seemed to enjoy exploiting NPCs. They'd already made a killing simply by fleecing ghosts, seemingly lacking ambition and never attempting to promote this unethical technique.
This was the first time Guo Guo had bravely taken the plunge, and she'd never imagined she'd stumbled upon something so unexpected. With a pounding heart, she opened the exam bag and pulled out the admission ticket, fearing the invigilator would change his mind.
But as soon as she caught a glimpse of the profile picture on the admission ticket, Guo Guo's heart sank.
The picture clearly showed a girl with short hair! But besides herself, the other three people in 606 all had long hair.
Looking closer, she saw a completely unfamiliar face. Glancing down, she saw only one "Cai" in the name column; the rest seemed to be smeared with glue, making it hard to make out.
"Cai what?" she muttered, only to have her admission ticket snatched from her hand. "Wait?!"
"That's not your admission ticket."
The invigilator's face was stern, looking incredibly menacing when serious.
Guo Guo considered her own return to normal strength, then glanced at the number of invigilators and their sturdy arms. She immediately backed off: "I, I get it."
The door to exam room 508 slammed shut. Guo Guo didn't even have time to look up. She could only sigh in frustration and resigned herself to her fate as she returned to the exam room to continue answering questions.
Half an hour left, half an hour...
She kept repeating to herself.
When the last exam was almost over, she'd be free!
Perhaps because her anticipation was so intense, for a moment she actually felt like she was revisiting the Gaokao, like two unfortunate individuals from different time periods overlapping at this moment, their only shared anxiety.
Alas, I wonder where Zhang You, Wanqing, Jue shen, and the others are now, and whether they share the same plight. Guo Guo thought sadly, watching the countdown on the clock.
Five minutes countdown.
After checking her paper for the third time, Zhang You finally took off her glasses, rubbed her brow, and waited with bated breath for the bell.
The four exams took neither a long nor a short time, but due to the strict rules of the dungeon, she found almost no useful information, and it was difficult to contact her roommates. She had no choice but to retake the Gaokao with all her heart.
It was a shame that she had almost forgotten all the knowledge points. If it had been Xinjue and Wanqing, perhaps they would have achieved a good score.
Time ticked by. Zhang You tapped her admission ticket gently, her fingertips landing on the words "2019" faster and faster, her mind racing with thoughts.
What would she face after the exam?
The last minute!
In the stuffy classroom, the most striking spotlight was undoubtedly a long-haired girl in the center of the first row, furiously writing.
Her long, thick black hair cascaded down her cheeks, and her delicate, striking features would have made her a true beauty if she hadn't spoken.
"Damn it! Why are we out of time?"
Zheng Wanqing suddenly slammed her hand down on the table, gnashing her teeth and clicking her tongue, then quickly picked up her pace and continued writing.
"..."
The students around her moved slightly away from her.
It turned out it wasn't the air in the classroom that was stuffy, but rather that the airflow around her was blocked.
"Ding-ling-ling—"
Zheng Wanqing reluctantly called it a day, pausing her pen at the last second before the bell rang. Looking at her test paper, she felt unsatisfied with every detail.
If she hadn't entered the dungeon so suddenly and lost her composure, her results would have definitely been much better. And what was the person who wrote the test thinking? The level of the questions was extremely poor and unbalanced. Don't let her know who it was.
The more she thought about it, the angrier she became, even angrier than she'd been at not getting first place in the university competition. She picked up her pen and tapped on her admission ticket a few times, then drew a pig on the words "2018 National..."
The exam was over, and the hall was quickly cleared. The candidates, smiling with relief, flocked to the door, with Zheng Wanqing, still unsatisfied, among them.
"Forget it, I'll check my answers with Xinjue when I get back..."
Zheng Wanqing shook her head and muttered as she stepped out.
Then, she swallowed her unfinished words, her constricted pupils slowly reflecting the scene before her.
This is—
"This is the school gate, classmate!"
In front of Tang Xinjue, an elderly woman enthusiastically answered her questions: "I see you're holding your admission ticket, so you're also a candidate, right? The exam's coming up soon, hurry in!"
The elderly woman pointed at her admission ticket. "2017 Unified College Entrance Examination" glared outward.
"I see. Thank you, Auntie."
Tang Xinjue nodded obediently, but without hesitation, she turned and walked away from the crowd and the school gate.
Her guess was correct.
The end of the four exams wasn't the end of the dungeon; it was merely the beginning of another cycle.
—Unfortunately, this was a looping dungeon.
—Even more unfortunate, the name of this loop was the College Entrance Examination.
The author has something to say: ----------
Dungeons from Different Perspectives:
Tang Xinjue: Prison Break
Guo Guo: Survive and Win
Zhang You: The number you dialed is currently unavailable.
Zheng Wanqing: Battleground of Glory!
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