Black Granny | Here's a joke: you can tell where you are by looking at a boundary marker (continued)

"It doesn't want to."

You Huo said this expressionlessly, pushed his earphones in more firmly, and closed his eyes again.

Less than two seconds later, that annoying hand returned and pulled his earphones out.

The fingers brushed his outer ear and earlobe, tickling a little.

You Huo raised a hand to pinch his earring and opened his eyes with a frown. "What else?"

"If it really doesn't want to, I'll have to do it myself." Qin Jiu smiled, picked up the black bag and gave it a little heft, then put it on the luggage rack above You Huo's head.

You Huo stared at him. "Can't you find another empty seat?"

Qin Jiu said, "I'm afraid not. There are nine seats in this whole vehicle, and your group has taken seven. If I don't sit here, I'll have to tie up the driver. It's hard to say about you, but the others probably wouldn't want me to do that."

You Huo said, "..."

He hadn't counted the seats when he got on. Who would have thought space would be so tight in this crappy vehicle?

Qin Jiu sat down beside him.

His coat made him look tall and lean, but up close, You Huo could tell he had a straight, powerful build. Even through the fabric, he could feel his hard arm and body heat.

Fortunately, there weren't many seats in the vehicle, and there was plenty of room between the rows. Otherwise, neither of them would have had anywhere to put his legs.

Even so, their knees still bumped into each other.

You Huo wanted to stretch his legs, but he would have kicked the person in the seat in front.

Besides, at a time like this, it seemed as though whoever moved away first would be at a disadvantage. You Huo thought about it, then decided to hell with it and pressed hard against Qin Jiu's knee.

He pulled up his collar and was about to close his eyes and sleep when he heard Qin Jiu mutter, "Gypsy. Just great."

You Huo woke up in a rage. "Wasn't this the subject you chose?"

Qin Jiu glanced at him and lazily held his fingers a tiny distance apart. "If you put it that way, I've been a little wronged."

Wronged, my ass.

You Huo gave him a cold look.

"Look at the person you picked." Qin Jiu pointed to where Mike sat. "As far as I know, this examinee has quite the colorful background. He's a mix of American, French, Russian and Spanish, and he ended up looking like that."

You Huo said, "..."

"Sorry, that came out a little harsh." Qin Jiu didn't look sorry in the least.

You Huo asked, "You have information on all the examinees?"

"Take a guess." Qin Jiu's voice was low and pleasant to listen to, even when he drew out his words.

You Huo gave a cold snort.

Since it could drag people to this godforsaken place, he believed the Examination System must have complete information on them. But how much did the invigilators know?

You Huo recalled their earlier behavior and felt it probably wasn't much.

The invigilators were also bound by rules. Perhaps... they had to go through a process to obtain the examinees' detailed information? And that process was probably not simple.

Otherwise, he would have been the first person 001, 154 and 922 looked into.

Qin Jiu propped up his head and watched him for a while with dark eyes. "Don't worry. Generally speaking, I'm not interested in examinees' information."

"Oh," You Huo said, making no effort to sound interested.

"In any case, with a treasure like that on your team, it's no surprise you ended up in a godforsaken place like this," Qin Jiu said.

You Huo didn't know exactly what was behind the so-called Examination System, but it seemed to have a tricky, peculiar temperament. To avoid every "native language" in their group, it had gone through all sorts of twists and turns to come up with "Gypsy." That seemed only to be expected.

Now that he had found the reason, he stopped blaming Qin Jiu for it.

And he didn't know if it was his imagination, but Qin Jiu had seemed a little unhappy ever since he got on the vehicle.

You Huo looked at the invigilator, whose eyes were lowered as he sat lost in thought...

Perhaps the light from the snow outside was too bright. His eyes began to hurt again, and they were a little uncomfortable.

He rubbed them a couple of times, put his earphones back in and silently went back to sleep.

After the vehicle had been traveling for ten minutes, it suddenly hit a bump by the side of the road.

The jolting brought the dejected examinees back to their senses, and only then did they notice that the scenery outside had changed.

The snow and mist that had filled the sky had vanished, and before them was a winding mountain road.

The road was in poor condition, and the vehicle had been bouncing nonstop ever since it got onto it. Hardened mud and jagged gravel were everywhere.

The road was also narrow. If two vehicles met, both would have to shift into first gear and inch past each other.

Grass and trees grew thickly down the mountainside, and it was impossible to see how deep the drop was. Anyone who tumbled down would likely leave no remains.

Even so, the driver drove the crappy minibus with particular abandon.

Partway along, the driver took one hand off the wheel to turn the radio dial. The radio crackled a few times, then switched to a station playing old songs, occasionally interspersed with a traffic advisory saying that landslides had blocked sections of a mountain road.

As the announcement played, a warning sign appeared ahead of the vehicle.

Beyond the sign were a huge chunk of rock and a fallen tree. An ordinary vehicle clearly couldn't get through.

But the driver ignored the warning sign entirely, and the crappy vehicle swayed and bounced violently a couple of times.

Everyone cried out in alarm. By the time they landed heavily back in their seats, the vehicle had passed through the landslide area and was continuing deeper into the mountains.

As soon as they entered the depths of the mountains, the sky suddenly darkened.

Although the heater was on in the vehicle, everyone still shivered involuntarily.

As they came out on the other side of the winding mountain road, there was an old roadside sign bearing a road number.

Old Yu wrapped his clothes tightly around himself and huddled in his seat, looking at the number as he muttered, "This road seems to be close to the border..."

"Are we really going out of the country?" Yu Wen's eyes widened.

Old Yu said, "I don't know."

Yu Wen hunched his neck and stared anxiously out of the vehicle. "Can we just go wandering across the border?!"

While he was speaking, the minibus made a sharp turn and plunged into the woods by the road.

Everyone was baffled by the vehicle's unpredictable route. They wanted to ask about it, but the driver was mute.

Another ten minutes passed.

The vehicle emerged from the woods and braked sharply beside a dirt road.

"Bro, wake up. It's time to get off." Yu Wen knelt on the seat with one leg and leaned over the backrest to wake You Huo.