When the ship arrived on the deserted island, Qin Jiu followed Examiner A to the deck, and inevitably noticed the belt on the other side's waist.
At that time, it had been a week since the math test. According to Wen Yuan, the sheet stuck to the belt should be self-destructing. During the destruction process, the adhesive surface was corrosive to a certain extent, so it would leave a piece on the belt. Faint traces.
but.
Qin Research has carefully confirmed that there are no traces left where he pasted the sheet.
Then there is only one possibility, that Examiner A discovered and removed the sheet before it self-destructed.
For the first time, Qin Qiu really doubted Examiner A's position, not just his eyes and expressions, which were too subjective to interpret.
Admittedly, he was delighted.
The few days on the deserted island was a stage when their relationship was extremely relaxed and relaxed, and some moments even gave people the illusion that "they were fighting side by side".
But it's only a moment after all...
After coming out of that exam room, a lot of things happened one after another—
Examiner A and Chu Yue, who was called Examiner Z at the time, were called into the main control center and stayed there for several days. After coming out, Examiner A became the "system spokesperson" that was difficult to provoke.
And Qin Research found that the people of the death squad were losing news one by one.
Then, in the next round of exams, he met Wen Yuan again.
The test room that time was set at a military base, and the sky in early winter was always gloomy, gray and cold.
They don't have weapons in hand, they don't have the right equipment, and they're more dangerous than ever.
Qin Jiu was thrown into a war zone by a helicopter, and the landing was a fight, and he didn't even bother to say hello.
When he hijacked a firearms carrier, dumped it into the body, and leaned against the cover to change the magazine, Wen Yuan sneaked over from the side.
He climbed into the car, threw a set of equipment to Qin Qiu and said, "You are too cool, you dare to do this kind of car without wearing some equipment. I just came from there, and I didn't dare to breathe. Dazed for a moment."
Wen Yuan pointed to a certain unloading area in the distance and said, "There's a lot of equipment over there. I brought you a set. It's not easy to meet you in such a large examination room, and you can be considered a friend. What's your name?"
Qin Jiu had loaded two sets of guns and was handing one of them to him, when he heard the words, he was stunned.
"What did you say?" he asked, frowning.
Wen Yuan questioned with an "ah", thinking that he had said something wrong, which made the person unhappy: "I didn't say anything, I just said you were awesome, make a friend and ask your name."
The desire to survive made him praise Qin Qiu again, and as a result, Qin Qiu's face became even darker.
Wen Yuan: "?"
He had the gun in one hand, and neither took it, nor did he take it.
"You don't know me?" Qin Qiu asked.
"I...should I know you?" Wen Yuan said hesitantly.
It's hard to describe how Qin Jiu felt when he heard this.
Above the examination room, the system is everywhere. He couldn't even directly ask the other party what happened, what happened, whether he remembered the purpose of coming here, or the death squad known as "d-to-d".
It took a lot of effort for him to find out what was going on.
It turned out that Wen Yuan also violated the rules in the previous exam. He was taken to the Twin Towers in the proctoring area for three days of BUG cleaning punishment, but he encountered an accident when the cleaning was about to end.
It's hard to say if this is an injury in a pure sense, or if the system has done something in the name of his injury.
In short, the result is that Wen Yuan's hand is no longer as steady as before, and he has forgotten who he is.
Qin Jiu remembered the information he received before entering the system, and it reminded that those who entered the system would be disturbed to varying degrees and gradually forget the connection between themselves and reality.
But he didn't expect to interfere so thoroughly.
He has lived for more than 20 years, and to say who can be counted as friends, there must be the names of those in the death squad.
With the same purpose, they are scattered in a life-and-death situation, both independent and as a whole. Such an implication can even develop into a close friend under normal circumstances.
But they are different.
They didn't actually get along with each other privately, so they weren't really familiar with each other. And because of the special mission, a lot of information between them is even kept secret. The only thing that matters is the mission and life and death.
So Qin Qiu regarded them as special friends, and Wen Yuan was the most familiar one.
Now, this friend has also "disappeared".
…
Various things continue to aggravate the contradiction between the candidates and the system. This smell of gunpowder inevitably spreads between the candidates and the invigilator, and inevitably affects Qin Jiu and the examiner A.
There are many relationships between them, opposing, conflicting, attractive, and ambiguous.
Every relationship deepens and becomes more intense in a strong smell of gunpowder.
In such a dangerous relationship, staying away is the most peaceful approach. But none of them are peaceful people, they are just as crazy in their bones. The more dangerous it is, the closer it is to get close.
The relaxed and peaceful coexistence on the deserted island became a fleeting glimpse.
They began a long period of temptation and negotiation, every word and every contact with a blade.
However, these trials will never yield the desired results, because in the entire system, there is simply no place where one can speak earnestly.
They hate bondage, but they cannot be free.
Until one day, Qin Jiu came out of the mouth of another invigilator and learned that the confinement room had become the most special existence in the examination room.
Because the original design concept of the system is not "deprivation of liberty" and "monitoring without dead ends". The confinement room involves too many people's hearts and privacy, so according to the original design and fundamental rules, this is a place that the system cannot monitor, and a safe haven under the rules.
But the system deliberately ignored this.
Until recently, someone forcibly opened up this safe haven.
This person is examiner A.
This was the reason why he and Chu Yue stayed in the main control center for a long time.
The sudden opening of the safe haven became the turning point of many things—
After being spied on for more than two decades, the two invigilators finally got a place to breathe.
And the trial and deliberation between Examiner A and Qin Research finally yielded a frank result.
Surprisingly, for the two of them, openly affirming their positions and showing their trump cards didn't calm their relationship down. Because the things between them are too intense, it can't be smoothed out with just a few words, and the edge will disappear.
Qin Jiu once felt that it was impossible for them to become "peaceful" forever. Every meeting, every contact is at a certain threshold, just a little bit more, and something happens.
It's not something as tragic as "you die and I die", they are peers after all, far from that.
What should that be
For a long time before that, Qin Jiu never came up with the answer.
Until the night when they were open and honest about their position.
Examiner A was standing in front of the door and was about to leave, while he stood behind Examiner A, his thumb retracted from the side of the opponent's neck, with a touch of residual body temperature and touch.
He twisted his fingers and said, "Your neckline is a little damp. Is it raining outside?"
Examiner A's Adam's apple moved, and after a while, he said, "No, it's snowing."
Qin Qiu nodded.
The confinement room became quiet for a moment.
After a few more seconds, Examiner A said, "I still have something to do, so I'll go first."
When he turned the doorknob, he heard Qin Qiu make a soft "ah", indicating that he knew. But the long, low end sound revealed a subtle regret that couldn't be said.
Examiner A paused with his finger.
After a while, he suddenly let go of the door handle.
At that moment, the critical line that had always been stretched between them also loosened.
Qin Qiu's eyes moved, and he moved from Examiner A's fingers to the other's thin neck.
He lowered his head and kissed the back of Examiner A's neck.
…
According to the time in the proctoring area, that day is the beginning of the new year.
There were no windows underground, but Qin Qiu knew that it was snowing heavily outside. The cold wind in the night passed through the buildings, chilling and chilling.
They kissed together in a solitary cell, and that was the way back from those intense relationships.
The exam on the desert island was probably the closest moment in their lives to being "teammates".
For a long time after that, whether they remembered or not, opposed or walked together, love was always intertwined between them.
It's like there can never be "peace" between them.
If there is, it must exist only in old age and death.
Chapter 146 Reunion ┃ Because he was just halfway through, he suddenly couldn't remember why he asked this question.
Regarding the countermeasure system, examiner A has a plan, which Qin Zhou knows.
He always thought that of course he would be pulled into that planning center by A, but he didn't.
For a long time, Examiner A never mentioned his plans. It seemed to him, as long as he knew that Qin Jiao was a fellow traveler, and they were not really opposed, that was enough.
They have the closest relationship, do the most private things, face the same direction, help each other, but still walk on two paths.
This is the nature of a lone wolf, and Qin Qiu couldn't be more clear.
He thought he was already a top performer, but he didn't expect someone to be more serious than him - Examiner A was not only alone, but also mixed with something else...
At first, Qin Zhen didn't know what it was, until he learned about the real relationship between the system and examiner A.
When he saw those beautiful eyes that were once borrowed by the system, he suddenly understood that it was the inertia developed over a long period of time, and it was a special kind of closure.
The closure of others is for self-protection, but examiner A is different, his protection is outward.
He always draws a circle of danger around him, habitually sits in the middle of the danger, and then forcefully pushes everyone out of the circle. It's like he has been trying to persuade Qin Jiu to leave the system once he passes the exam and don't come back.
For this matter, Examiner A deliberately said a lot of cold words, and Qin Qiu also said a lot of slander.
He will even coax the other party to let go in every possible way at the most intimate moment.
While looking at the light red on the shoulders, neck, or chest of the other person, with his forehead pressed against the back of his hands, and frowning and speechless, he secretly thought to himself that he was an asshole.
Sometimes Examiner A would look at him impatiently while panting.
If it wasn't for the entanglement of his body, Qin Jiu suspected that he would even snort coldly in the next second, but unfortunately, the effect would always be greatly reduced in this situation.
So he often looked at Qin Qiu for a while and said in a hoarse voice, "You're like an undercover agent now."
"Then can I succeed this time, big examiner?" Qin Jiu always asked teasingly along the way.
Then he would say, "No."
This negative answer went on for a while. In fact, it wasn't that long, but in Qin Qiu's impression, it seemed like a long, long time had passed. Later, in retrospect, the reason for such an illusion was only because they had too few opportunities to be alone.
He kept retaking the exam again and again.
As the numbers add up, Qin Jiu can clearly feel the emotion of examiner A at a certain moment. That should represent reluctance and softening, but the next second he will return to cold and hard.
But in the end, Qin Qiu succeeded.
The examiner Z Chuyue was there when he made the confession.
Most of the time, she was talking and the other two were listening. And whenever A opened her mouth to make a supplement, she always looked at Qin Qiu curiously, looked up and down countless times, and even got a little overzealous.
One day later, she told Qin Qiu that it was not polite to look at it that day, but she was really surprised and curious. Because before that, she never thought that one day, A would bring someone and learn about them all.
"For me and him, that's the biggest no-go zone," she said.
***
The plan of the two chief examiners has been prepared for a long time, and it is the optimal plan under the circumstances at that time - the people involved are the simplest, and the scope of casualties can be controlled to a minimum.
"This plan actually only involves one thing, which is the master control authority." Chu Yue explained at the time, "The master control authority is the authority to control the entire system. Usually, it is said that I and A have the highest authority, which is also relative to others. As far as the invigilator is concerned, the real highest level is this master control authority. To put it bluntly, if you have this authority in your hands, you can control the entire system. That’s not what you want to do.”
"So who owns this authority?" Qin Qiu said, "Not to mention the system itself, there should be some other options."
"Amazing." Chu Yue gave him a thumbs up.
"Under normal circumstances, this master control authority is of course controlled by the system itself, which is beyond doubt. But as long as the original intention of the designer is not malicious, there must be a contingency plan. We took this into account at the time, so we kept watching Check in this direction."
After the system got out of control, it was very "witty" to hide this content, but as long as it was still bound by the rules, they always had a way to dig out the hidden content.
"How many emergency plans have you found?" Qin Chen asked.
"Two." A said, "one emergency and one freeze. The two are in order."
If 70% of the system main control center is in a state of paralysis, it will enter an emergency state. In this state, the system will enter the next highest level of self-healing, and the master control authority will be transferred to the "emergency control unit".
If the "emergency control unit" fails to stop the decline, the main control center of the system continues to have problems, and eventually it is completely paralyzed, then the system will enter a frozen state, and the main control authority will be transferred to the examiner.
This is like if the automatic mode is not good, it is turned to semi-automatic mode, and if it fails, it has to be turned to manual mode.
Chu Yue said, "The examiner is currently referring to me and A, so there are very few people involved, as long as we don't lose the chain."
Qin Qiu asked, "What do you mean by the emergency control unit in front of you?"
"We don't know about this either, we haven't triggered it before." Chu Yue said, "In the rules, this thing is referred to as the S group for short, it feels like an emergency team, but where does this team come from? We have discussed it many times. I think this S group should still refer to the evolution of the system, something like emergency procedures."
Qin Qiu thought about it and thought it made sense.
According to this order, the authority of Group S should theoretically be higher than that of examiners A and Z, but they are already the highest among the invigilators. Higher than them, probably only the system itself is left.
"So, our plan is actually very simple. It is to wait for a suitable time, in the shortest time possible, to paralyze the entire main control center and get the main control authority. Let everyone out with the next order. , and the next command closes it permanently."
Qin Qiu asked, "When is the right time?"
Examiner A said: "When the density of the system decreases, when Plan B is completed."
Chu Yue smiled and said: "Speaking of the density, you are a hero."
Qin Qiu raised his eyebrows and asked, "Really?"
Chu Yue pointed to Examiner A and said, "I and he are subject to more restrictions, because we must ensure that we appear to be in the same position as the system, so that it will not take back the master control authority in the frozen state. In order to keep this, We have to act in a proper manner, we can’t really anger the system, and even if we do something, we have to restrain ourselves. The whole progress is relatively slow.”
"But you are different. Do you know how many patches you forced it to apply during the time you came to the system?" Chu Yue gloated, "Oh, you may not know, when you go to the main control center someday, call out the I can count the records at a glance. Anyway, I am in a very good mood. The patches are rushed and many, it is inevitable that there will be hedges logically, and there will be more and more bugs, superficial and potential, which will reduce the system. Density. The main control center has a self-assessment. If the density is lower than 70%, the system will adjust itself. We plan to wait for it to drop to 75%. The success rate of rebellion is relatively high. As for plan B—”
Once this plan goes wrong, there will be casualties if it is not handled well. If the casualties are larger, the consequences will be disastrous. They can't risk too many lives, so plan B is better.
Examiner A said: "I'm trying to figure out how to do a correction procedure, it may take a while."
"Then during this period of time, I will help you continue to reduce the density of the system." Qin Qiu said.
But the plan was disrupted halfway through.
For examiner A, it was because he suddenly received a red warning from the system, saying that he had been in close contact with candidate Qin Jiao.
For Qin Research, it was because he reached the upper limit of re-examination and was directly removed from the system.
This result was not unexpected by Qin Jiu. Before that, he quietly approached the examiner Z Chuyue and asked her to do him a favor—if he was sent out of the system, ask her to leave a vacancy for the invigilator.
He will definitely go back.
The moment he was sent out of the system, Qin Qiu suddenly remembered something—
When the system collapses and they return to life smoothly, they need to find a suitable doctor to help examiner A carefully examine their eyes.
Not really trying to find out, but a result.
In this way, from now on, his big examiner can be completely relieved and no longer have to lower his eyes.
…
When he left the system, the end of summer had just passed, and the beginning of autumn had begun.
For the first few days, he should have been in a coma, and he woke up to find himself in the hospital.
It was a hospital associated with the army, and the layout of the room was always pure white mixed with sporadic army green. He stared at the border between plain white and army green for a long time, until a nurse came over and asked him, "What are you looking at?"
He squinted for a while and said, "It's nothing."
It's just that the two pieces of color put together, inexplicably attract his attention.
In a trance, he asked the nurse, "Your ophthalmologist here—"
As he spoke, his voice suddenly disappeared, because he was just halfway through, and suddenly he couldn't remember why he asked this question.
***
What happened during that time is actually more obscure than ever.
Later, Qin Zhou once doubted whether he had really returned to reality, or was he still spinning around in some corner of the system
He didn't stay in that environment for long.
Early one morning, he was pulled into the system again, in the name of the invigilator.
He heard that among his colleagues, A and Z have the highest authority and are called the chief invigilator. The others are ranked by strength, and the single letters have all been used up. Therefore, the names of their new examiners should be a combination of letters, and his code name is Gin.
That afternoon, the old and new invigilators were called together for a meeting.
On the corridor of the conference room, he saw Examiner A, whom his colleagues called him.
Wearing a plain white shirt and army green trousers, he was talking to the examiner Z beside him. Most of the time, the examiner Z is talking, he rarely opens his mouth, and occasionally nods his head.
When listening to people talking, he always lowered his eyes slightly.
The early autumn sunlight shone through the glass, casting light and shadow on his face.
It was obvious that those eyes were falling into the shadows, but Qin Jiu felt that he had seen them look transparent under the light.
Examiner A stopped a few steps away and looked up.
Qin Qiu suddenly asked mysteriously, "Have I seen you somewhere?"
Examiner A did not speak.
It's strange that he looks calm, but somehow gives the illusion for a moment... as if he's actually very sad.
After a few seconds, Examiner A withdrew his gaze and said, "No."