Chapter 154: College Entrance Examination
“Hey, Guoguo, can you hear me?”
“Hey, hey? That’s not right, it should already be connected…”
Zhang You called out a few times. When she heard no response from Guo Guo’s side, she immediately sensed something was wrong: “It seems there’s someone next to Guoguo.”
Tang Xinjue: “And the distance is very close.”
That was why she didn’t dare to speak out loud in reply.
Their guess was correct. Guo Guo indeed didn’t dare to open her mouth.
Because right in front of her, the other person in the room was staring at her with eyes wide open.
From Guo Guo’s perspective, the other party was a round-faced, plump middle-aged woman, sitting on the floor covered with blank exam papers. Several greasy, juice-dripping chicken drumsticks were wrapped inside the remaining papers, one of which was hanging at the woman’s mouth, slowly lowered after failing to take a bite.
Neither of them spoke first, letting the silence quietly spread through the air filled with rich food aroma.
After a few seconds, Guo Guo nervously swallowed and finally chose to face the situation instead of running away, cautiously speaking up: “Um… Teacher, you—”
Before she could finish saying “good,” she was urgently cut off by the round-faced female teacher: “These papers are all extra leftovers, I didn’t violate any rules, okay! You’re not allowed to report me!”
Guo Guo: “……”
The three people on the other end of the communication: “……”
Wow. The moment a familiar person opens their mouth, you know exactly who it is.
Although it was only one sentence, it made all four instantly understand this NPC’s identity.
That was the one they had run into again and again in the dungeon, an indispensable part of Dorm 606’s “farming” career, the representative figure of bizarre naming in University City — Shang Yinghong tongxue.
*
Oh, now she should be called an Invigilator Teacher.
Guo Guo choked, her gaze sweeping over the greasy chicken drumsticks all over the floor, finally stopping on the middle-aged woman’s completely unmotivated face.
Xiao Hong: “Burp.”
After letting out a guilty-sounding burp, the “female teacher” finally tried to put on some teacherly authority. She cleared her throat, pulled down her face, and asked: “Y-you, why aren’t you taking the exam and instead loitering outside?”
Guo Guo: “…I want to find the restroom.”
Female teacher: “This isn’t a restroom, this is my break room. You student are so rude, hurry up and leave!”
She forcefully waved her arm and scolded Guo Guo sharply, but the timid girl with the bob haircut wasn’t scared away. Instead, she stood firmly at the doorway and softly said: “Teacher, I also feel like throwing up. Can you help me find a quiet room where I can throw up?”
Female teacher: “……”
She slowly tried to sort out the logic: “You saw me, so you want to throw up?”
“N-no, no.” Guo Guo hurriedly waved her hands. “I already wanted to throw up, that’s why I was walking unsteadily and accidentally crashed in. Maybe it’s heatstroke from the exam lasting too long.”
The female teacher gave her a suspicious look and finally slowly moved her butt.
Then, under Guo Guo’s tense gaze, the other party shifted about half a foot to the side, changed position, and sat down again.
“Sigh, I don’t want to move. Let the invigilator in your exam room help you find a room.”
As she said this, she even adjusted her body angle, leaving Guo Guo only a round, chubby back.
Guo Guo fell silent again.
You’re facing away from me — do you think I can’t hear you swallowing while staring at chicken drumsticks?
But this time, she obediently responded: “Okay, then I won’t disturb you anymore, Teacher.”
“Oh right, Teacher—”
Already halfway out, Guo Guo suddenly turned her head again. The female teacher’s body visibly stiffened.
She asked: “Teacher, which class are you invigilating?”
The other party instantly relaxed, slowly and vaguely answering: “Mm… first floor, Exam Room Five.”
“That’s quite far, you’ve worked hard.”
Guo Guo politely backed away and closed the door.
With a soft sound, the door panel once again separated the two spaces. Turning around to look around, there were no additional watchful invigilators nearby. After walking several meters, the corridor was still quiet and empty.
Only then did she dare to unclench her tightly clenched palm, wiping the sweat on her clothes.
—Finally, she could breathe!
Xiao Hong was nervous appearing as an invigilator, but Guo Guo was even more nervous, afraid that the other party might suddenly pounce on her, turning her into the next “chicken drumstick” wrapped in exam papers.
Those stubborn follow-up lines and even talking back — rather than Guo Guo herself, it was more accurate to say Tang Xinjue was talking to Xiao Hong.
Guo Guo was only responsible for passing Tang Xinjue’s words through the communicator in a way that wouldn’t make Xiao Hong suspicious, then extracting information from Xiao Hong’s reactions.
……
Walking through the peril-filled teaching building, the long-missed voices of her roommates were the only source of comfort for Guo Guo.
She wasn’t far from Xiao Hong’s room yet and still didn’t dare speak out loud, only listening to the discussion in her ear.
Zhang You, who had quietly listened to the whole process just now, said: “Xiao Hong doesn’t seem to want to trouble you very much.”
Compared to the invigilator NPCs in the other three exam rooms, Xiao Hong wasn’t just avoiding trouble — she was practically slacking off. And it was obvious she didn’t want Guo Guo to recognize her identity, preferring to pretend to be an ordinary exam hall invigilator who was slacking.
If Guo Guo hadn’t accidentally crashed into the room and met her, it was possible the entire dungeon would never reveal the dungeon Boss at all.
Was this really the hardworking Xiao Hong they knew?
On Tang Xinjue’s side, it was unclear what was happening. After giving instructions, she let out a muffled groan and disappeared for a few seconds before reappearing, her voice showing no obvious change: “That makes it even more convenient for us. Guo Guo, did Cai tongxue leave you anything?”
Guo Guo took a second to realize Tang Xinjue meant the short-haired girl, and immediately gasped: “Jue Shen, how did you know she left something for me?”
Tang Xinjue: “I guessed. She seemed to like you a lot.”
Guo Guo: “……”
“Alright, back to business.” Tang Xinjue returned to the topic, briefly explaining the exam rules book and the missing academic affairs office stamp, then pointed directly to the core issue: “What did Cai tongxue leave you?”
Guo Guo: “A-a keychain.”
It seemed to match up exactly.
Zhang You: “Heaven is about to place a great responsibility on this person.”
Tang Xinjue: “After it’s done, spicy chicken feet mixed with yogurt, split fifty-fifty.”
Zheng Wanqing hesitated for a moment: “If you’re really too scared, I can wait until next loop and clear all four dungeons in one go, then come find you. Just remember who bullied you, and I’ll come over then…”
Guo Guo: “…Thanks, I suddenly feel it’s better to do it myself.”
Although the four were in different dungeon spaces, the teaching building layout was basically the same. With guidance from the other three, Guo Guo quickly found a chance to slip to another floor and began screening rooms that matched the key-lock conditions.
There were three keys on the keychain Cai tongxue left behind: one ridiculously large, one normal-sized, and one very tiny.
After a simple comparison, Guo Guo judged that the middle key should be for doors, the smallest one for cabinets. As for the largest key, she hadn’t found its use yet and could only carefully keep it for now.
Academic Affairs Office stamp — as the name implied, the location was likely the academic affairs office. As long as she found the place, these two keys would come in handy.
“In high schools, the academic affairs office usually isn’t on a very high floor. We can start searching from the lower floors.”
Guo Guo felt Tang Xinjue’s words made sense, but halfway through walking she suddenly remembered another issue: “Wait, what if this stamping has to be done by an Academic Affairs Office NPC?”
“……”
The headset fell into silence.
After a while, Tang Xinjue said: “Then let Wanqing clear all four exam rooms and come find you.”
Fortunately, Guo Guo’s luck had always been decent. Her time of fear and anxiety didn’t last long before she successfully found a tightly locked door on the first floor.
Most importantly, there was a plaque hanging on the wall to the left of the door, so worn that the words were no longer visible. Based on her many years of compulsory education experience, only places like offices or the academic affairs office would have such signs.
“That place is opposite First Floor Exam Room Five. I’m going in now.”
Guo Guo squatted like a little mushroom in the wall corner shadow, waited for a short window with no invigilators passing by, then dashed forward in one burst!
Hesitation meant defeat. Dorm 606’s hope was on her shoulders. There were no difficult dungeons, only brave Guoguo!
The key was inserted into the lock at lightning speed. The door opened smoothly. Guo Guo rushed in like a small cannonball and slammed the door shut behind her.
Perfect, everything is going smooth—ly?
The scene inside the room entered her vision, and Guo Guo’s eyes widened abruptly:
Right in front of her, exam papers were piled messily all over the floor, several large roasted chicken drumsticks placed on the ground, one of them being held up to a mouth by a pair of chubby little hands, ready to feast. The owner of those hands froze mid-bite because of the uninvited guest’s appearance.
Xiao Hong stared at Guo Guo with eyes wide open, her expression looking as if she had seen a ghost.
The author has something to say:
Xiao Hong: Please act like a human being
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A refresher, Xiao Hong is the female ghost who repeatedly got defeated by Tang Xinjue and co. She first appear in the first arc, Dormitory Civilization Code, and then again in Classic Movie Appreciation.
Also, just realized that sometimes the roommates called Guoguo as a nickname, repeating her given name 果果 more cutely :)
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