Revisiting the Past

Even more strangely, You Huo saw that it was completely blank under Qin Jiu and 922's feet. They didn't have any shadows at all.

Anyone who sees something like this would feel creeped out.

922 took half a step back as he let out a curse. He spun around in place only to see that no matter how he moved and no matter which angle the moonlight and lights hit him, he didn't have a shadow.

It was as if he wasn't a living being at all.

You Huo very quickly reacted, "Same old. Only I am considered the examinee."

He turned his head and looked further away. A row of equipped cars were parked there. Gao Qi was leaning by the door of the first car, watching Du Deng Liu carefully while Yu Wen and Old Yu who were worried had their upper bodies stuck outside the car as they looked over in their direction.

You Huo confirmed it again. None of them there had any shadows either.

During this moment of distraction, the shadow on the ground moved again. It quietly stretched its hands out and suddenly reached for its neck!

You Huo suddenly frowned.

He felt a strong pressure around his throat, preventing him from breathing.

BANG——–!

The was a sudden loud sound by his feet.

Rubble scattered, leaving behind a small patch of smoke and dust. A dark bullet hole appeared on the ground where the shadow was and next to it were cracks on the pavement.

The person who had reacted this quickly was Qin Jiu. 922 quickly returned to his senses and similarly pointed his gun at the shadow.

Numerous bullets were used and the ground was a mess. Strong smell of gunpowder invaded their noses but it didn't seem to affect the shadow.

Then, the shadow of "154" reached over to You Huo.

"Get back into the car first!" Qin Jiu shouted.

You Huo grabbed his hand and strode back with great difficulty.

That short period of suffocation wasn't enough to bother him but his footsteps did indeed feel heavy.

"Then this——-"

922 looked at the patrolling "154" and then back at the back figures of Qin Jiu and You Huo. He no longer wasted time, gritted his teeth and relied on his height to wrestle away the alarm in "154's" hand.

As soon as they entered the car, Qin Jiu slapped on all the lights in the car with a sullen expression.

You Huo who was nestled in the seat felt the strong burst of light shine onto him. He could even feel the bright light through his closed eyes. 

The force around his neck suddenly loosened and fresh air finally poured back into his lungs.

He leaned his head back in the seat and took a few deep breaths. When he was finally able to breath properly again and the redness on his face from lack of oxygen faded, he opened his eyes and straightened up.

Qin Jiu was bending over watching him with a phone in his hand.

The cool white torch light and the lights from inside the car managed to create a 'shadowless' effect, allowing You Huo to escape from the shadow's sneak attack.

"Better?" Qin Jiu asked.

You Huo nodded.

The door to the car was pulled open and 922 came in carrying "154".

"Boss, he was about to sound the alarm just now. I was afraid that more people would be called over so I decided to drag him over." He picked a spot that wouldn't be easy for shadows to form and placed "154" down.

"With a face like that, I really couldn't find myself being too rough." 922 complained to Qin Jiu and then called out through the window, "1006? Help throw over the rope under the seat. I'll tie him up first."

A moment later, the fake was tied up into a cocoon. 021, Yu Wen, Di Li and the others were uneasy so they came over to check on the situation.

"Brother!"

"Brother Qin, what's going on?"

"What's going on? Why is 154 here?"

Qin Jiu briefly explained what had just happened and Yu Wen let out a sigh of relief.

"So is that what it means by shadows forming three people? When the shadow comes alive, it can be considered as an independent entity?" Old Yu's face was held taunt like a long melon. "But that's only two so how is it three people? What's the other one?"

As he said this, he felt a chill down his back. He couldn't help but glance back cautiously.

Yu Wen said with some frustration, "Don't look for it, the other one is the moon."

"Moon?"

"Yes, the three people refers to the moon, Li Bai and Li Bai's shadow…..What's with that expression?" Yu Wen said.

Old Yu and Di Li looked at him with surprise, "You actually remember the meaning of this poem? Didn't you say that you forgot everything after the exam?"

"There are also special cases." Yu Wen muttered, "Stupid system ruining my idol's poem."

As he muttered this, 021 next to him glanced up at the moon.

Di Li squatted on the side supporting his chin. He had already started to write a short essay about the poem with the intention to slowly analyse the details later.

922 said, "Don't bother looking young lady. No matter how strange an exam can be, the moon can't be the final boss. What can the moon do? Crush us to death? Considering the system's usual habits, the moon probably is just a moon."

"You mean ignore the moon and worry about just the person and the shadow?" 021 walked back with a frown, "Isn't that too direct?"

"Yeah, that's true." Di Li nodded in agreement. Even Yu Wen and Old Yu think that it shouldn't be so simple.

You Huo suddenly interrupted, "It's not direct."

"You also think that?" 021 was surprised. Her expression then became complicated and she seemed to be feeling very conflicted.

"If this was an ordinary examination centre, that would be too direct, but this one is special." You Huo said.

"Yeah. Shouldn't the special ones be more complicated?"

Qin Jiu said, "You think it's taking this as a real exam?"

It took a while for the others to understand the meaning of this sentence. They looked at him blankly thinking inside, 'Isn't this an exam though?'.

"Don't forget about the original purpose of this examination centre." Qin Jiu said, "It's not used for examinations, that is just a guise. The system set up this place just to add a barrier around the main control centre. What is the barrier? It is to kill anyone who tries to break into this place to avoid further troubles."

He paused, raised his eyes and asked 021, "Do you think it would make the barrier gradually increase in difficulty?"

021's face paled, "....No. It would try to set it as a dead end."

"Setting it as a complete dead end is against the rules. It would be a little euphemistic and leave a small way out, but that route definitely won't be something a normal person can clear so the possibility of breaking through the barrier is close to nil."

Everyone's expressions suddenly turned ugly. Yu Wen swallowed and asked fearfully, "What do we do?"

"Take it as it is." 922 waved his phone. In it were the messages between him and 154, "We didn't come here to find a way out, we came to fight it until it breaks down. 154 said, don't be tricked by the system into taking the exam and focus on finding the core part of this exam centre and attack it. Attack it until the exam centre can no longer withstand it and the main control centre is exposed. Why else did we procure so many weapons?"

This plan of theirs was simple and crude, and it got rid of all the twists and turns. Everyone immediately regained their spirits when they heard this.

"The exam centre's core?" 021 pointed back. In the distance, the Twin Towers rose up from the ground against the night sky. It's grey-blue windows shone slightly under the moonlight.

"According to reality, it should be there but this is place is a copy, a replica. It will be hard to find the core." 021's face was furrowed into a frown, "The Invigilator's District is very big. If you include the forest and the sea...it would be equivalent to looking for a needle in a haystack."

"Yes, but it's not impossible." You Huo said.

021: "What do you mean?"

You Huo: "Get someone to take us there."

021: "Which mentally retarded person would be so easy to be tricked into leading the way?"

You Huo: "We'll try and see tonight."

At 11 o'clock at night in the examination centre, there was finally some movements from the large troops stationed at the edge of the Invigilator's District. More than a dozen equipped vehicles started up at the same time and drove out in different directions as planned.

If one were to map it out at this moment, they would see that each of their destinations are very precise. The north, east, south, west and centre were all covered and they are almost evenly scattered throughout the Invigilator's District.

Most of the invigilators and examinees went with the cars but two were an exception.

You Huo and Qin Jiu didn't follow the cars and instead went straight to a certain place —— The conference room. 

According to the system, everyday at midnight, invigilators will gather here waiting for the examinee's response. The place these two are heading for is exactly this place.

The conference room is located in a prismatic building. Each section has a meeting room and the rooms are all connected by a long corridor.

As soon as You Huo stepped through the door, he stopped for a moment.

He was distracted for a moment, because every pillar and every piece of glass could be recalled in his memory.

There are many buildings in the Invigilator's District, and he has also been to almost every place. This place wasn't a place he visited the most, but it was the one that had left him with the deepest impression.

It was because for a long time, he had come and go from here during the day and he would dream of it at night.

The content of his dreams was very simple. It was the scene of the day Qin Jiu returned to the system.

The beginning of the dream was always of himself walking down the empty corridor alone. He would walk and walk for a long time, but the end was never in sight. At the end of the dream he would turn a corner and see Qin Jiu. The other party stood in the brightest place, looking at him for a long time before gently letting out an 'ah' and saying, "Sorry, I don't seem to know you."

This dream of his repeated over and over again for a very long time. Even after getting back together with Qin Jiu, it continued this way. It lasted for about half a year, until the day he forgot everything...

"What's wrong?" Qin Jiu's low voice sounded next to his ear.

You Huo returned to his senses.

His fingers twitched. He habitually raised his hand to fiddle with his earring.

"Nothing." He said, "I just don't think I've been here in a long time."

He clearly hadn't been here in a long time, but he felt as if he had just walked out of this place yesterday.

Qin Jiu took in his usual calm expression and suddenly stretched out his index finger, pull down the hand fiddling with the earring and lowered his head to kiss the corner of You Huo's lips.

He said, "I've wanted to do this a long time ago."

"Do what?" You Huo leaned back slightly.

"Kiss you in broad daylight here in this place."

For a moment, You Huo didn't speak.

His eyes peeked out slightly from under his thin eyelids. Even at such a close proximity, it was hard to tell where he was looking.

After a while, he suddenly said, "I seem to have thought about it too."

After saying this, he opened his mouth and kissed Qin Jiu back.

He suddenly realised that he was a rather dull person. Perhaps it was because he was used to being soaked in ice water and needed time to completely melt and defrost before finally feeling the chill.

But it's a good sign, isn't it?

It is only after experiencing warm spring that he can now be afraid of the cold.