Chapter 149: College Entrance Exam (Gaokao)
Hearing the questioning voice, Zhang You did not slow her pace.
“Because there was a work badge sticking out of Teacher Lan’s pocket. It seems you forgot to tuck it back in.
“Oh right, I shouldn’t call you Teacher Lan.” She paused, then corrected herself rigorously. “Teacher Bing. My apologies.”
Bing Lanlan: …slowly stuffed the badge back into her pocket.
She stared at Zhang You’s retreating back. For an instant, murderous intent flashed in her eyes like a blade, yet it was as if something restrained her from acting directly. She could only grit her teeth, turn around, and viciously order the other invigilators:
“All of you go watch her. Every single one of you!”
The invigilators exchanged glances. “To avoid affecting examinees’ mental state, no more than eight invigilators are allowed in the same exam room.”
Bing Lanlan: “…A bunch of idiots. You deserve to starve to death!”
“We are invigilators. We won’t starve.”
“Go die, you useless trash!”
“We are invigilators. We also won’t die.”
"...Ahhhh!!!"
“Room 407 reports: exam hall order has returned to normal. All invigilators, please return to your posts and maintain exam discipline.”
The dense crowd dispersed instantly. The corridor was empty again in the blink of an eye, leaving only Bing Lanlan standing alone, her face twisted.
“Why are all my subordinates such useless trash? Can’t even catch one student! I’m so mad! Die, all of you die! Skin them alive, pull out their tendons! Fry them, grill them, boil them!”
Bing Lanlan angrily grabbed her highlighted hair and yanked at it, growling at the air for a long while before barely calming down. Even so, her chest heaved violently, exhausting herself half to death.
A trace of regret surfaced in her eyes.
“If I’d known earlier… haah… I shouldn’t have chosen this character setting… haah…”
But regret came too late. She unwillingly swept her gaze down the corridor and had no choice but to push open a door, disappearing into the hall.
A few seconds later, Zhang You silently poked her head out from the shadows in the corner. She looked complicatedly toward where Bing Lanlan had vanished, then swiftly left the area.
“Tongxue, the exam has already ended. Please leave the exam room immediately.”
A tall, square-faced female teacher stood at the podium, scolding the only remaining girl in the classroom harshly.
However, not only was the girl unafraid, she looked even more serious than the invigilator: “Who says you must leave immediately after the papers are collected? Can’t I sit here and think about my wrong answers for a bit? I’ve taken the gaokao so many times and have never heard such an unreasonable demand!”
Invigilator: ?
Am I the invigilator here, or are you?
She reclaimed her teacher's dignity and sternly reprimanded her:
“This is the rule! Besides, the papers are already collected. What problems are you thinking about? Are there any questions left on this desk?”
“Are you serious?”
Zheng Wanqing glanced at her, her delicate brows knitting into impatience.
“How did you even get into university? You already forgot study methods? Who forgets questions they just solved? Of course you keep them in your head and calculate mentally.”
Invigilator: …Wait, how did this suddenly become a personal attack?
Who are you implying had bad university entrance scores??
Outside Exam Room 407, several invigilators stood quietly in the corridor, waiting for the people inside to come out. But as time passed bit by bit, there was still no sign of anyone leaving.
They silently moved closer to the classroom door, ready to break in at any moment.
But the instant they pressed close to the door panel, heated arguing suddenly burst into their ears:
“I bet you went to some trash university! Retaking the Gaokao so many times, just a repeater loser pretending to be a top student!
“Heh. When I took the Gaokao in my second year of high school, even if you removed a zero from my total score, it would still be more than what you could get in ten tries. If you studied harder back then, you wouldn’t still be doing odd jobs at a third-tier university at your age. Instead of being lenient with yourself and strict with others, why don’t you reflect on why you waste time slacking off here and squandering your life?”
“Bullshit! I’m not third-tier, I’m second-tier! What right do you, a third-tier student, have to mentor my life?”
“Second-tier is something to brag about? If you’d worked as hard as I did during the gaokao, you’d at least be in a first-tier or double first-class university now.”
“You’re talking nonsense! Do you think I was as lucky as you, getting into top universities just by passing exams? I work twenty hours a day and still can’t save enough GPA points to get into first-tier university. Do you know how hard I work every day? You trash human who only needs to use your brain and pen to get into top universities — what right do you have to look down on me?”
“You’re right. I’m sorry.”
“You… huh?”
The square-faced female teacher froze, not expecting Zheng Wanqing to suddenly change tone and concede so cleanly.
Zheng Wanqing said seriously:
“I shouldn’t judge you by grades. I also have no right to judge your university or job. Those standards shouldn’t be used to measure a person. And you’re right — right now you’re second-tier, and I’m the third-tier student. Everything I just said was nonsense. I hope you don’t take it to heart.”
“Ah… this…” The invigilator opened her mouth. All her carefully prepared insults got stuck in her throat. It felt even worse than being scolded, and for a moment she didn’t know how to respond.
Once she cooled down from the heated argument, she began to realize something was off.
Then she heard Zheng Wanqing say:
“But why is it that we’re both students? I have to take exams here, yet you get to invigilate me?”
She looked at the middle-aged square-faced invigilator seriously.
“I was wondering why does the exam never end? Could it be… you are actually my real test paper?”
Invigilator: …Damn.
I got baited!!
“So on the surface there are four people, but in reality there are eight admission tickets. We’ve been taking exams on behalf of others, and the real examinees are actually our invigilators!”
Guo Guo tried to straighten out the logic, only to find it getting more tangled.
“But then what exactly are we supposed to be tested on?”
Surely it can’t be eight people competing in gaokao scores — whoever scores higher clears the stage?
Tang Xinjue said, “That’s another question. But I lean toward the idea that our own exam hasn’t started yet.”
After all, their own admission tickets had been hidden here the whole time. Without tickets, how could they enter the real exam?
Guo Guo said, “So does that mean if I retrieve my real admission ticket now, I can enter the real advancement exam?”
Tang Xinjue said, “Not necessarily. Don’t forget there are four of us.”
If only two people got their tickets, it would be useless. They had to find a way to contact Zhang You and Zheng Wanqing and share all the information between the four of them before deciding the next step.
“Oh, I get it now.”
Guo Guo suddenly had a flash of insight.
“Because the four of us are separated, each person’s substitute exam is different, the environment is different, and the clues we find should also be different.”
“If the admission ticket is the key to entering the official test, then besides the key itself, we also need to know the entrance location and the way to use the key…”
Guo Guo was counting on her fingers when she suddenly felt the overhead light flicker slightly. She shrank her neck.
“You didn’t imagine it,” Tang Xinjue said calmly. “The light really did flicker.”
As soon as she finished speaking, the incandescent light flashed heavily again. The room briefly plunged into darkness before lighting up, then began to flicker wildly.
A sharp electric buzzing sound spread from nowhere. Papers stacked on the bookshelf were swept up by wind, rustling wildly through the air.
The two locked eyes.
“Run!”
Tang Xinjue grabbed Guo Guo and sprinted toward the exit. The door was already shaking violently, producing strange friction noises.
—After Tang Xinjue yanked the door open, Guo Guo saw that a rolled-up file had been wedged into the door gap, perfectly preventing it from fully closing.
Luckily Tang Xinjue had prepared ahead. Otherwise, they might have been locked inside. A chill ran up Guo Guo’s spine. The moment she stepped out, she activated her Yin-Yang Eyes and scanned the surroundings.
She instantly felt her hair stand on end.
“Jue Shen, run! It’s full of people behind us!!”
No — they could no longer be called people. At best they were densely packed white silhouettes, crawling out from every dark corner while groaning, moving faster than cockroaches.
The two bolted down the corridor. Near the stairwell, Guo Guo suddenly felt herself shoved left, veering away from the stairs.
“Go to the window,” Tang Xinjue said rapidly. “That’s your exit.”
A narrow window had appeared on the left wall. A faint transparent figure stood there — the short-haired girl who had led them here earlier.
Guo Guo realized the girl was here to “pick her up.”
“Then what about you? Can’t we leave together?” she asked anxiously.
The short-haired girl raised one finger.
She could only take one person.
Guo Guo blurted out, “I have Yin-Yang Eyes. Send Jue Shen back!”
The short-haired girl shook her head and gestured:
Send you away — she lives.
Send her away — you die.
Thank you, she got it.
Before she could say anything else, a familiar force swept Guo Guo toward the window, obliterating her current vision.
The narrow window vanished silently, and the corridor was plunged back into complete darkness. A chilling wind howled behind her. Tang Xinjue didn't hesitate, grabbing the staircase handle.
Instantly, the quiet staircase began to hum, like a hungry beast, restless at the scent of delicious food.
The dark staircase, like a gaping maw, eagerly awaited its impending feast.
Tang Xinjue glanced at it, thrust her wrist downward, and effortlessly leaped onto the banister, not even touching the step a millimeter.
Stairs:?
The next moment, Tang Xinjue exerted force in the opposite direction, sliding down the banister to the bottom!
…
Just as the staircase realized the food about to fly off its mouth, the chilling wind suddenly raged into a sweeping airflow. Spikes sprouted from the banister, angrily trying to force the girl off.
The sudden change in the handrail was so powerful that if she didn't change her stance, she would be pierced and bruised. Tang Xinjue turned, grasped the handrail with one hand, and leaped down, leaping directly across the distance.
The airflow missed her again, and Tang Xinjue landed on the handrail, just a few steps away from the fifth-floor corridor.
The fifth floor was the path she had taken.
Seeing her prey about to slip away, the darkness's final fury gathered at the end of the stairs. The end of the handrail instantly transformed into a massive claw, clawing upward with a dark force!
This time, there was no escape, no need to do so.
Tang Xinjue remained in her stance, took a deep breath, and focused her gaze on the corridor.
“Teacher Lü!!!”
The author has something to say: -------
Ten minutes earlier, Teacher Lü: “If anything happens, call my name.” (confident)
Ten minutes later, Teacher Lü: Changes name overnight
<<Previous | Index | Next>>
إرسال تعليق