Chapter 155: Chapter 155: Hell Difficulty, the Examiner Is Helping Her Cheat? Utterly Shameless
At this moment, the viewers from the Dragon Country felt that something was off.
[What are these proctors doing? They keep going in and out.]
[Why do I get the feeling they’re all secretly watching Boss Yun Zhenyue?]
[No way. She’s probably just cannon fodder this time. A true cram-free exam!]
[Even when I go in cold, I at least study a few days in advance. She’s just looking at a few questions. I hope there are a lot of multiple-choice questions on the test.]
[I saw on another stream that there’s only one written exam. It’s really different from the real world, with no distinction between an aptitude test and an essay portion.]
...
At that moment, Yun Zhenyue walked into Examination Room 08 and quietly looked for her seat.
’Number 29. The second-to-last row.’
As she sat down in a spot near the back door, Yun Zhenyue breathed a sigh of relief.
She wasn’t planning on cheating. It was just that sitting in the back gave her a better sense of security.
The examination room was filled with a stifling atmosphere.
All thirty seats were filled with anomalies, and a ghastly, pale light bathed every tense face.
Outside the window, blood-red locust trees swayed in the wind. This, combined with the TICK-TOCK of the wall clock, intensified the tense atmosphere.
Beads of sweat appeared on the foreheads of some anomalies, while others nervously chewed their nails or repeatedly clicked their ballpoint pens.
Yun Zhenyue was the last one to be seated.
Many of the anomalies had their hatred drawn toward her by Cecil’s words.
A veiled hostility lurked in their gazes.
The examinee at seat number 30, behind Yun Zhenyue, was a female anomaly with long hair that completely obscured her face.
When she saw the back of Yun Zhenyue’s head, the long-haired female anomaly’s eyes showed a hint of curiosity.
There was no hostility, but she didn’t strike up a conversation either.
She had seen Yun Zhenyue start looking at the reference book only just before the exam.
’The more people like that, the better!’
’They’re all just stepping stones for me, anyway.’
...
「Meanwhile.」
Yamada Aiko also happened to be sitting in the last row.
She was just far from Yun Zhenyue, seated on the other side by the window.
Seeing Yun Zhenyue’s profile, she took a deep breath.
’Nervous!’
’I’m really nervous this time!’
The gift from her betrothed was a small bottle of eyedrops.
After applying them, she could see very far.
One drop was effective for half an hour.
She had put in two drops before entering the exam room.
This was her limit; any more and her eyes would be ruined.
’If I can’t cheat my way into an official position...’
’...I really can’t imagine how else I’m supposed to complete this mission.’
She couldn’t be bothered to try and curry favor with Yun Zhenyue anymore.
"DRINGGG~"
Three minutes later, the exam began!
She soon saw the test paper.
It was split evenly between multiple-choice and essay questions.
’That’s good news, I guess.’
But when Yamada Aiko saw the actual questions, her pupils froze.
Her brow furrowed deeply.
It was because these were questions she had never encountered before.
Unlike real-world questions, these were extremely bizarre!
Yamada Aiko’s head was spinning just from looking at them.
’Hard!’
’This is basically hell mode!’
...
At this time, Yun Zhenyue also looked at the questions.
The first one was a multiple-choice question!
"If you live in the Ghost City and hear a strange sound in the middle of the night, which sound means you need to run immediately?"
’A, a dog barking. Hmm~ plausible, if dogs can see anomalies.’
’B, a baby’s laughter. C, the sound of dripping water.’
’D, the sound of a suona from a wedding procession...’
Yun Zhenyue frowned slightly, unsure of the answer.
’It seems like all four choices are possible!’
A dog barking means it’s seen a stranger.
A baby’s laugh... why would a baby be laughing in the middle of the night? Is someone playing with it?
As for the dripping sound, it just says "sound," not whether it’s water or blood.
The wedding suona is even more ridiculous. Who gets married in the middle of the night?
Yun Zhenyue checked the question again. It was a single-choice question!
Just then, a spark of insight hit her.
’In the Ghost City... is that the key to solving this?’
’Maybe all four answers involve anomalies, but only one is so terrifying that you have to run the moment you hear it.’
’But I just got to the Ghost City, so I don’t know which one it is. For the other examinees, this is probably a freebie question, but it’s way too hard for an outsider.’
A sense of helplessness filled Yun Zhenyue’s heart.
’Looks like this is going to be a total wash.’
Just as she was about to pick one at random!
"Ayyyyy... ayyyy..."
She suddenly heard a sigh from the ghost proctor patrolling behind her.
At first, it was just a simple sigh.
But then it grew louder and louder.
Gradually, it turned into a stressed, "Ayyyyy!"
After a moment, the sound started to sound suspiciously like the letter "A"!
He might as well have just stood next to Yun Zhenyue and told her the answer was A!
Yun Zhenyue couldn’t make up her mind anyway.
Subconsciously influenced by this constant "Ayyyy,"
she thought it over and finally chose A!
...
Right then, the long-haired female anomaly sitting behind her was completely dumbfounded.
Her eyes showed utter shock and disbelief.
’This is ridiculous!’
’What kind of princess is this, having to take an exam in person?’
’She can’t even answer a freebie question like the first one?’
’Didn’t she see the proctor next to her practically sighing his lungs out?!’
The four options in this question represented four well-known anomalies that lived in the Ghost City.
The last three were all very mild-mannered anomalies.
The Anomaly Dog, however, could sense killing intent and would bark ferociously.
So if you heard it, you had to run immediately.
"Excuse me, Sir, could you please sigh a little more quietly?"
The long-haired female anomaly raised her hand and complained.
"My apologies. I’ve had a lot on my mind lately. I’ll try to control myself," the ghost proctor said apologetically.
But he remained standing right where he was.
’Are you kidding me?!’
’This was a direct order from the current City Lord!’
’I must ensure this VIP gets first place!’
’If I weren’t afraid of making a scene, I’d have just filled out her exam paper for her!’
...
That was only the first question, and it had already left Yun Zhenyue drenched in sweat.
There were still 59 multiple-choice questions to go!
Not to mention dozens of essay questions, both long and short.
All to be completed within two hours!
And that wasn’t even counting the interview!
’This is completely impossible.’
No wonder she’d heard the other anomalies say the exam was difficult.
An exam of this level, limited to only three attempts, was even harder than the civil service exams in the real world.
Yun Zhenyue decided to skip the multiple-choice questions for now.
She looked at the first essay question.
She subconsciously read the question aloud in a low voice.
"A scientist once went on an expedition to Antarctica with a friend. Midway through, they were caught in an avalanche, and the scientist was blinded. In the end, he could only survive by eating raw penguin meat. However, his friend still couldn’t hold on and died."
"He was eventually rescued because of the penguin meat, and he always craved it afterward. But when he went to a specialty restaurant to taste penguin meat again, he had a mental breakdown and committed suicide. Why?"
Yun Zhenyue was completely baffled.
’Why?!’
’Was the penguin meat just not tasty?’
Just as she was pondering this, the ghost proctor behind her spoke up again.
He seemed to be reminiscing about the past, lost in his worries.
"Aigh~"
"This suddenly reminds me of when I took the exam. That first big question was tough back then, too."
"Sometimes the answer is hidden in the question itself, deliberately trying to confuse you. If only I had known that sooner."
Yun Zhenyue tilted her head.
’The answer is in the question?’
’Huh?’
’This question... I think I’ve figured it out!’
’Perhaps what the scientist was eating wasn’t penguin meat, but...’
Yun Zhenyue quickly wrote down the answer.
At that moment, the pen in the hand of the long-haired female anomaly behind her paused.
She flipped her test paper over and, sure enough, found the corresponding question!
She was filled with incomprehension, feeling as if her entire worldview was shattering!
’You can cheat this blatantly?!’
’This is straight-up hacking!’
’Other people get into huge trouble for just using a cheat sheet!’
’Is this proctor playing a game of Truth or Dare or something?’
’Could this be any more absurd?!’
’Have some shame!’
Just when she was about to lose it,
PLAP~
A small slip of paper covered in answers was "accidentally" dropped by the ghost proctor at Yun Zhenyue’s feet.
He even put on an act, saying, "All this reminiscing has tired me out. I’m going to step out for a cup of tea."
"I’ll probably be back in, oh... thirty minutes. Not a minute sooner. I absolutely must take a full half-hour for my tea!"
"Ahem, ahem~ The surveillance camera seems to be broken, too. I certainly hope they don’t cheat. Otherwise, I won’t be able to catch them, and that would be a real problem."
After saying this, he turned and left the examination room with the self-righteous air of someone doing nothing wrong.
The long-haired female anomaly: "..."
’I was wrong!’
’It really can get even more absurd!’
’They have absolutely no shame at all!’
