Bearing Responsibility for the Deaths

The most stunned ones were Chen Fei and Huang Rui.

Everything had happened too quickly, and they were caught off-guard.

Chen Fei was planning on mourning for himself but now it was no longer appropriate for him to do that nor was it appropriate for him to be happy.

He was stuck with a shocked expression. He stared blankly at the two great masters.

During the afternoon, everyone was saying that these two were their hope but within just a few hours, their hope was about to get themselves killed.

.

With the attention of more than 30 examinees in the cave on them, You Huo squeezed out a whisper from the crevices between his lips: "When did the retard learn to penalise points?"

"You called it a retard so it would naturally deduct points to save its face." Qin Jiu seemed to think that whispering to each other was amusing so he similarly suppressed his voice, "Something like this isn't unusual. Didn't you also get points penalised in the first exam?"

You Huo: "It was only two points."

Fortunately, he had said that with a small voice. If the other examinees heard the word "only", they would probably experience discomfort and feel faint.

Afterall, the others worked themselves to the bones that afternoon to earn those three points. If their progress was called "climbing", the progress of those two were more like "flying up and down".

Qin Jiu said: "There is a difference in severity between illegible answers and dismantling a ship."

"Is it the hunter's death considered serious?" You Huo said: "Yet no points were deducted, and bonus points were given instead."

Qin Jiu wanted to laugh.

A degraded invigilator was still an invigilator.

He looked at You Huo's calm side profile and waved his hand to signal for him to come closer: "I think there is a need to explain something to this almost rebellious top student here."

You Huo: ".....Speak."

"Here, triggering the exam subject and triggering the system are of two completely different natures." Qin Jiu said: "Of course, it is better not to trigger both."

"...….."

You Huo looked expressionlessly at him.

As an invigilator who dared to trigger anything, he didn't know how he had the nerve to say something like that.

Qin Jiu saw his expression and paused before adding: "In theory, both shouldn't be triggered but if you wanted to compare them, there is no doubt that the latter is more serious. It's not just an issue of one being more serious....You're in fact challenging its authority."

Hearing the word authority, You Huo murmured, "Authority."

A system that would drag people into exams for no reason, a gadget that would casually decide one's life and death, actually had the nerve to mention authority?

"Don't sneer at me." Qin Jiu casually pointed around: "It is everywhere in the exam centre. You can do that a few times to the scoreboard or towards any corner of the cave. You can even do it to the rabbit."

Dead rabbit: "...…."

"Curse it out a few times and get penalised 10 points?" You Huo said: "That's okay. Not bad."

Dead rabbit: "......…."

"It won't be that bad." Qin Jiu said with a grin: "You touched the crow's head in the last round, but did they penalise you? You can just curse it out as much as you want."

Dead rabbit: "............…"

You Huo glanced at Qin Jiu strangely: "Are you speaking up for it?"

After he asked that, he felt that those words of his didn't sound right.

As an invigilator and a part of the system, it was natural for Qin Jiu to speak up for the system.

But his words....unknowingly placed Qin Jiu on the opposite side of the system; into his own faction.

And yet he didn't even realise himself when this change first started.....

You Huo furrowed his brows slightly. He then said almost immediately afterwards: "Forget it. Take it as if I didn't say anything."

Qin Jiu: "I heard it."

"...…."

You Huo's expression gradually turned expressionless.

"If you are really curious about something, we can find an opportunity to discuss it another time. If we are invited back to the invigilator's quarter again, we at least will have some topics to talk about to pass the time." When Qin Jiu said that, he winked his right eye.

You Huo was slightly stunned.

In an instant, Qin Jiu continued: "In short, the system has its own set of rules. Challenging the system far exceeds challenging the exam subject in severity so you would only be punished for violating the rules for killing the hunter and no points were deducted. Dismantling the ship however is not the same. This is something the system cares a lot about."

You Huo looked at him for a moment. He then raised another objection: "Destroying the examination centre is more serious than dismantling a ship but only five points were deducted in the last exam."

"....Looks like this majesty is very forgetful. Let me remind you again." Qin Jiu pointed to himself: "Only five points were deducted because another person had to bear the rest of the responsibility. That person is talking to you right now."

You Huo: "....."

Qin Jiu: "Honestly, I have always been waiting for a gift of gratitude, but it seems that a particular examinee has no awareness of this common courtesy?"

You Huo: "...…."

"But that's okay." Qin Jiu added: "I have a lot of patience. I don't mind waiting a few more days."

You Huo's beautiful eyes finally moved a little. He thought for a few seconds before replying without hesitation: "Coincidentally, I also don't mind."

Qin Jiu: "...….."

.

Not far away, Di Li was utterly shocked: "Are the two discussing about their fates? Why are they still smiling?"

His teammate Brother Li carefully assessed their expressions and said: "The thing is, only one of them is smiling...….."

Di Li: "...Is there a difference?"

Brother Li: "No."

Everyone was worried about what was going to happen, but the two involved parties were calm and was even in the mood to chat.

At this point, Di Li finally understood how the scores of those two came about.

As someone who had undergone a number of exams, he was extremely sensitive to scores. On any normal days, it pained him a lot if he lost a single point but now, he felt pain all over when he looked at You Huo and Qin Jiu.

He even impulsively had a thought: If the system allowed it, he could gift them two points. But he thought about it again and realised that no matter who he gave those points to, someone would always be ranked last.

There would always be someone who couldn't escape the punishment.

Seeing You Huo and Qin Jiu dive straight to last place, he felt uncomfortable.

But would he feel better if they were replaced with Chen Fei and Huang Rui?

Of course not.

No matter which group it was; no matter who it was that was standing at death's door, he wouldn't feel comfortable.

Afterall, the human heart was still soft.

And this garbage system never did anything reasonable.

Before everyone was able to return to their senses following the sudden changes in scores, a strong gust of wind suddenly started inside the cave.

The first to notice were the merchant ship crew members.

These NPC's who had suddenly become sleepy when the dead rabbit spoke was suddenly startled awake.

The first officer with the buzzcut asked with confusion: "Where's the wind from? Was the fire at the entrance of the cave moved?"

He asked the crew member near him.

The crew member muttered: "That shouldn't be. I'll take a look."

The first officer then asked the examinees: "Did you feel it?"

As he said that, there was another gust of wind. It was wet, and it carried the smell of the sea.

Many examinees noticed it this time.

They shuddered for a moment. A feeling of numbness crawled up to their scalp.

The stone cave outside was near the entrance so it was normal for it to occasionally have some wind. They are however currently gathered inside the inner cave which could only be accessed after turning down a couple of bends, and there was also a fire barrier.....How could the sea breeze reach where they were?

And the wet water vapour in the air should also have dried up after passing through the fire!

Everyone looked around trying to find the source of the wind. They became more and more afraid.

Suddenly, someone screamed: "Wait, I hear something!"

Everyone stopped. They immediately froze in place: "What sound?"

"Listen. Don't make any sounds and listen carefully!"

That examinee's eyes were extremely wide, and his eyeballs spun around in panic. He looked suspiciously at every corner of the cave.

He pressed his finger to his lips and maintained that position.

Before his eyes could move around a few more times, he heard a huff. All the fires went out at the same time.

The cave suddenly turned dark. They couldn't even see their own hands.

Exclamations and screams sounded almost at the same time. In an instant, the cave was filled with panic.

"Stop shouting." You Huo warned with a low voice.

He pulled out a lighter from his pocket and flicked the lid open.

Click.

A thin, small flame lit up within the darkness. Although it was not as good as the fires, it was better than nothing.

He and the flame in his hand suddenly became the centre of attention. More than thirty examinees and the few crew members who were awake regarded him as the target and moved in closer together.

The feeling of suffocation by humans was by no means a wonderful experience.

With everyone huddling over, You Huo almost stepped onto Qin Jiu.

.

The voice of the first officer with the buzzcut sounded: "It's here. It's here. Every time we encountered it, it would be like this....Somehow falling asleep, the fire suddenly going out and then a monster suddenly attacking."

Those words of his scared the people present. Everyone stiffened up. No one dared to act rashly.

In an instant, the stone cave became deadly silent.

Then.....a strange sound was heard.

Squeaking. It was hard to describe.

It sounded like something soft being pulled and rubbed...It made those hearing it feel uncomfortable.

Not only that, it was also accompanied with some kind of hollow dripping sound.

It was probably the sound of water dropping from a large height.

Splat———

Di Li suddenly felt something wet on his face. He reached out to touch it.

Splat———

You Huo also felt something wet on him. He squinted his eyes in response to the spatters.

He blinked a few times. Just as he was about to recover, he suddenly felt someone gently grab his wrist and lift the lighter up. The lighter was guided around above his head.

Qin Jiu said: "Look up."

Everyone slowly looked up to find the source of the dripping water.

On the cave ceiling was something they couldn't make out. Its skin was fleshy and pale, its body was spread everywhere like vines and it also sported two large, dark eyes.

It quietly covered the entire ceiling of the inner cave. Twisting its greasy head, it quietly looked down at the people below before opening his blackhole-like mouth.

Huff———

A wet wind carrying the scent of the sea blew through them.

The lighter suddenly went out.

This time, no one screamed.

When faced with true fear, no one had the time or ability to scream.

Only suffocating silence remained.

Di Li felt his mind go blank.

By the time he could make a sound, he noticed that something near him seemed to be missing.

After another two seconds, he realised that You Huo who he was huddled against was gone.

Not only You Huo...

He felt around blindly in the dark. Qin Jiu was also gone.

Soon, more people noticed this.

In an instant, discussions and cries of alarm sounded.

"Where did they go?"

"They're gone! They're really gone!"

"You Huo? He's called You Huo right? Qin Jiu?"

Someone tried calling out their names in the dark.

But there was no response.

Just as everyone was busy making a fuss, the dead rabbit spoke up again.

[Unfortunately, a total of eight crew members died today. According to the examination rules, at midnight today the group ranked last would need to bear responsibility for the deaths. If the number is not enough to make up for the number of dead crew members, it will continue the next day, and so on.]

[This deserted island does not exclusively belong to the crew taking refuge here. During the past eight months, all the prey and nearby fish entered the crew's stomach and the original resident of this island is not happy. It had starved for many days and had always been trying to fill its stomach, but it had never been able to do so until today....]

[To it, today is a wonderful day. The dead crew members could fill its stomach, but the officer ordered for the bodies to be hidden, ruining its plans. But that's okay. These strangers here are just as delicious. Seeing them, it instantly felt an increase in appetite.]

[And so, it took them away.]

The dead rabbit stopped for a moment. It then said in a rigid voice:

[After two hours, the remaining examinees can mourn for their companions. I wish you good luck.]

KK has something to say:

Taken away