Half-burnt Cigarette

Just like that time when he was forced to enter the coffin, the monster this time also took away people without any reason.

In just a blink of an eye, the scene before them had changed. It didn't give them any chance to react.

The crew members at least experienced the process of being taken away so they could struggle and fight against it but, for the examinees, the process of being "taken away" was omitted and they were no longer inside the cave the moment they opened their eyes again.

From the corner of his eyes, the environment had completely changed. As for what exactly changed, for the time being You Huo couldn't tell. Afterall, he was currently facing the monster's mouth....

It was probably its mouth.

In any case, it was a very big hole. Salty "sea breeze" rushed over onto his face.

You Huo: "......"

He was in the air. On his body was a large, pale, flesh-like thing lined with white holes that continued to squirm closer and closer intending to wrap around him completely.

He was extremely disgusted.

It turns out that, in order to punish people, the system was willing to do anything.

The moment he was about to be completely wrapped up, You Huo heard Qin Jiu cursing out the system.

"Top student, li—"

Before he could finish, there was a click.

The lid of the lighter in You Huo's hand flicked open. A small flame appeared.

They were indeed wrapped by the monster's body because it was slippery and pale all around and there was fleshy softness under their feet...but this was not the real mouth.

The real mouth was just a few steps away. Lined with a circle of fine, sharp teeth, it exuded an extremely unpleasant smell.

You Huo looked at Qin Jiu with a green face; "There are cigarettes in that pocket."

His upper arm was bound tightly. Although his elbow could move, he wasn't able to reach his jacket pocket from where his arm was so he could only try to turn sideways.

The mouth opening was coming closer and closer.

A hand reached into his pocket.

You Huo: "...….."

At this moment, this great master deeply regretted that suggestion of his.

The feeling of someone else's hand reaching into your own pocket felt too strange...

Fortunately, Qin Jiu moved fast.

Before he could urge him to move faster, he had already retracted his hand.

There was a sound of tearing——

The fine sound of paper tearing could be heard.

You Huo: "...…You fucking still have the time to tear the packaging???"

That mouth was almost closing up to his face.

He rarely spoke with this tone. Hearing this, Qin Jiu actually laughed.

But the sound of paper tearing also stopped.

You Huo passed over the lighter. Qin Jiu grabbed a cigarette and sent it over...

That mouth lined with teeth widened a little. The fine blade-like teeth came into contact with his skin and he could feel the cold and wet sensation as well as its strong odour.

Fuck.

You Huo turned his face away and held his breath.

...…

The monster's fleshy white limbs were wrapped to form a ball. It covered the food that was just stuffed into its mouth and looked like an old-lady's toothless mouth.

Time seemed to have stopped.

Every second felt like a year.

After about ten years, the toothless old lady began to emit smoke.

It squirmed a few times and held it in.

After another ten years...….

The old lady couldn't hold it in anymore.

It was as if it had lung disease and it coughed furiously a few times....

Eventually, it vomited.

.

When he fell to the ground, You Huo subconsciously supported himself up.

But when he pressed his hand down, he felt a bunch of strange things.

It felt like a mound of various hard objects. When he supported himself up, those things broke apart and scattered.

His palm was also cut by something sharp.

But he paid it no heed.

He fumbled around quickly to find somewhere to hide. After gesturing to Qin Jiu, the two fled and hid behind something.

He flicked the lighter a few times before a flame finally appeared. It was however a lot fainter than before.

You Huo lifted up the small flame and looked around. He saw that the thing they were hiding behind was a cabinet.

The cabinet was rusty to the point that the lock and door had been fused together so it was impossible to open but you could still faintly see the markings on it.

The markings looked very familiar. It was similar to the style on the first officer's pocket watch.

They then saw wooden floors, cabinets and boxes that were half covered in green algae. Half the stairs had collapsed....and there was a round, dusty porthole before them.

This was probably a ship that was abandoned a long time ago, but they still had no idea where the ship was located.

You Huo looked around. There were two vertical stone pillars piercing through the ceiling and floor.

From the look of these two stone pillars, they could guess that the ship may have encountered a large wave at one point causing it to overturn and then be lodged into these knife-like stones.

On the ground next to the stone pillars were piles of yellow and white human bones.

Many skulls sat amongst that pile, their empty eyes silently facing the two from various angles.

That was what they touched when they fell earlier.

When You Huo looked out to look more closely, he supported himself with his right hand on the ground.

There was a puddle of water under the metal cabinet. He just happened to press his palm onto it, and it was biting cold.

The moment the chill rushed to the top of his head; he suddenly had a feeling of.... familiarity.

The skewed ship cabin, the sharp stone pillars, and also those pale human bones.

Even the stuffy and suffocating smell. He felt like he had smelt that somewhere before.

It was as if at some point in time, he had similarly looked out from the same place and saw the same scene.

The water was colder than it was now and there was a monster throwing sticky filth around while exuding the smell of decay mixed with rust that was similar to the smell right now. At that time, it was probably even stronger…..

So strong, it made people vomit the moment they opened their mouth.

He pursed his lips tightly together and blocked his nose with his knuckles. He didn't want to breath the air in.

Someone then patted him on the shoulder and said: "Big Invigilator, give me a cigarette."

...…..

"What?" You Huo suddenly returned to his senses and subconsciously looked back.

Behind him, Qin Jiu was reaching out wiping his fingers across the porthole glass. His fingers left behind three finger streaks.

He turned around and was confused: "What what?"

"What did you just say?" You Huo asked.

"Me?" Qin Jiu said: "I didn't say anything."

You Huo frowned. He then quickly smoothened it out and restored his expression back to his usual expressionless look.

"Why? You were too affected by this place, you started to hallucinate?" Qin Jiu laughed.

"Mn."

You Huo looked away. He once again tried to look out and examine the cabin.

He changed his position. Just as he wanted to throw those words to the back of his mind, his finger came into contact with something.

It was something short. It had fallen in the gap under the metal cabinet.

You Huo frowned and picked it up. Using the flame from the lighter, he examined the object.

After careful examination, he realised that it was a half-burnt cigarette.

...

From a few days ago? Or about ten days ago?

At the examinee's rest stop at the foot of the mountain, the sharp-tongued boss Chu Yue once mentioned that some examination centres were not cleaned well and that there may be traces left behind by someone from several years ago...

.

Not far away, the monster who was forced to breathe a mouthful of smoke was behind the stone pillar. It was so enormous; you couldn't see its entirety.

It quickly recovered and moved over to continue its attack.

You Huo knew that he should be concentrating on this and looking for the right time to fight back.....

But somehow, he found himself lost in thought for a moment while he looked at the half-burnt cigarette that had already changed colour.

He tried to recall the words earlier only to find that he could no longer remember it.

He wasn't able to hear the contents clearly, nor distinguish that voice.

He didn't know who had said those words but the moment it disappeared and the moment he saw that half-burnt cigarette, he suddenly found himself feeling....sad for no apparent reason.

KK has something to say:

I can't wait till he remembers.....