Rest stop ┃ You know, in some exam centers, you can even find traces of previous examinees. (Continued)

The group walked for half an hour, some supporting others, some half-carrying them, before the monotonous scenery finally changed. The view opened up at the edge of the pine forest, where a main road led down the mountain. A boundary marker stood at an angle by the roadside.

On one side, it read: Foothills of Cockcrow Mountain.

The other read: 100 meters ahead.

The name Cockcrow Mountain readily brought to mind the dead chickens hanging in the hunter's cabin. It was clearly the mountain they had just come down.

But 100 meters ahead meant straight down the main road...

Snow and mist stretched out before them, obscuring everything.

"Wh-wh-what's 100 meters ah-ah-ahead? Is the bottom h-h-half b-b-buried in snow?" Yu Wen's lips trembled, and the cold made him sound as if he had a stutter.

Unwilling to take his hands out of his pockets, he scraped at the snow on the boundary marker with his shoe.

Everyone asked, "What does it say?"

Yu Wen pulled back his foot and shambled back, trembling. "The d-d-dirt's frozen s-s-solid. I can't scrape it off."

The marker still showed only half the message, "100 meters ahead." Apart from being clearer, it hadn't changed at all.

"Don't tell me it's another..." Zhou Jin said under his breath, his face ghostly from the cold.

Yu Wen said, "N-n-no way. Giving us a n-n-new one right after we barely survived the last one? Wouldn't that be f-f-forcing us to die?"

Everyone fell silent, their steps growing hesitant.

"Haven't enough people died already?" You Huo tossed out the remark and walked to the front.

His voice was perfectly suited to the wind and snow. The moment he spoke, it could send a chill through anyone.

Shivering, everyone exchanged glances and hurried after him.

With You Huo leading the way, no one could walk slowly even if they wanted to.

Before long, the outline of a building appeared through the snow and mist ahead.

The shadow of the hunter's cabin still lingered in their hearts, so they weren't particularly delighted when they saw it.

But they soon discovered there was more than one building.

They climbed a gentle slope and found several buildings scattered sparsely ahead.

Calling it a town would have been a huge exaggeration. It was more like an obscure mountain tourist spot, with a few scattered households at its foot doing business with visitors. They couldn't have received more than a handful of guests a year and were ready to close up shop at any moment.

The building closest to them had an illuminated sign, its red characters on a white background reading: Lodging, heating, food and drink.

It highlighted the essentials, and its appeal was deadly.

Everyone immediately found themselves unable to walk any farther.

"How about we make do here for a night?" Old Yu asked cautiously.

He had expected You Huo to give him a cold look and object, since it was hard to tell whether the place was safe.

Instead, his nephew went through the door faster than anyone.

You Huo had been hungry for a while.

As he trudged through the snow, what he regretted most was handing in his paper too quickly.

If he had waited a few more minutes, 922's beef would have been cooked.

He could only blame that invigilator, No. 001, for being so conspicuous and ruining the meal that had been within his reach.

Thinking of Qin Jiu's face...

You Huo touched his ear stud, his mood terrible.

So when the receptionist at the inn looked up, he saw You Huo's cold, listless funeral face.

The receptionist said, "..."

The receptionist was a skinny young man who looked like a monkey. He fell silent for two seconds, then turned and shouted toward the back, "Boss! We've got people!"

"Why are you yelling like you're summoning the dead? Can't you greet them yourself?" The speaker was a woman with a crisp, clear voice. Even through the door, they could tell she was fiery.

"I was afraid I'd scare them off," the receptionist said awkwardly, glancing at You Huo.

"This godforsaken place-where could they run to? You tell me." The door at the end of the first-floor hallway opened, and a short-haired woman came out carrying a cleaver.

The receptionist jumped in fright, and even You Huo was stunned for a moment.

"Boss, what are you doing?"

"Oh, it's nothing," the short-haired woman said. "I didn't feel like eating at the canteen today, so I got some vegetables and meat from across the way to cook something myself."

She lowered the cleaver and smiled at You Huo. "Well, aren't you handsome! Just finished your exam? Xiao Hu, get him registered."

With his boss there to back him up, Xiao Hu finally said to You Huo, "Could you give me your name? I'll see how many days you have to stay."

Old Yu and the others came in, rubbing their hands. When they heard the exchange, their expressions immediately soured.

"Just finished our exam? How did you know we..."

The boss arched her delicate brows and smiled like a mountain demon. "Now that's a strange question. Would you mind looking at these words?"

She banged the back of the cleaver against the wall, and Xiao Hu tactfully stepped aside, revealing the writing on the wall in full:

Examinee rest stop.

Examinee rest stop????

Everyone's expressions grew even uglier.

"I thought..." Zhou Jin murmured.

The boss said, as if she had seen it all before, "You thought you weren't far from reaching the city, right? That's normal. First time at a rest stop? Everyone's like that."

Old Yu asked, "And what do you mean, you'll see how many days we have to stay? Isn't how long we stay up to us?"

The boss laughed even harder. "In your dreams."

Old Yu said, "..."

"All right, enough joking!" the boss said. "There are rules about how many days you get to rest after each exam. You can't stay as long as you please. Stop dawdling and give us your names. Why are you all blocking the doorway?"

The tattooed man was unhappy to hear that, and his street-tough side came out. "Fuck, who the fuck would stay here? This place is obviously going to get us killed. Whoever the fuck wants to stay can stay. I'm leaving!"

But the boss turned out to be even tougher than he was.

She drove the cleaver in her hand into the front desk, making Xiao Hu jump three feet into the air.

"Go on. You're a coward if you don't," the boss said to the tattooed man, pointing at the door.

The tattooed man said, "..."

His eyes wide with anger, he wrapped his collar tightly around himself, held the zipper pull between his teeth, and turned to leave.

Checking in had taken on an air of the martial world.

Everyone else looked at the cleaver in the front desk, unsure whether to leave or stay. Only You Huo gave his name without a change of expression.

Xiao Hu clattered away at the keyboard and said, "Found it. You have seven days of rest this time, starting from now-"

He turned to look at the clock on the wall. "That's 3:12 p.m. You'll be checked out automatically at 3:12 p.m. seven days from now. Here's your room card."