Translation software ┃ Yu Wen said, his face pale: "Fuck..."

It made the doll look strange and pitiful.

But that wasn't the main reason it had caught You Huo's attention.

He had fixed his eyes on it because there was a pattern on one of its legs.

The doll was crudely made, but the pattern was remarkably lifelike. It was like a tattoo on a living person's ankle, depicting a string of bellflowers.

You Huo stared at the tattoo for a few seconds, then reached out and patted the person on the sofa.

Qin Jiu had been watching him with his head propped on his hand. After You Huo patted him twice, he said lazily, "Go on."

You Huo held the doll out to him by the leg. "Look familiar? I'm face-blind, so I'm worried I might be remembering wrong."

Qin Jiu looked at the pattern. "Should it?"

You Huo clicked his tongue impatiently. "The stuff I swept out of the solitary confinement room last time... the bucket I left outside your door. I think there was one of these in it."

Qin Jiu: "..."

You actually have the nerve to bring that up???

Chapter 20: Translation software ┃ Yu Wen said, his face pale: "Fuck..."

You Huo certainly had the nerve, whether anyone else did or not.

He said, "The tattooed piece was right in the middle of the bucket, on top. It should have been obvious. You didn't see it?"

Qin Jiu laughed in exasperation. "You deliberately left it there to disgust me, and I was supposed to take a good look?"

He turned the doll's leg over and examined it for a moment before adding, "Besides... if I gave you a serious answer, would that count as extra help?"

You Huo took the doll back. "Forget it if you don't remember."

The others had never been to the solitary confinement room. They had no idea what the two were talking about and didn't dare interrupt.

As a veteran drunk, Old Yu had shaky hands.

He took a thick needle and kept jabbing the end of the yarn at it, but after five minutes, he still hadn't managed to get it through the eye.

Yu Wen glanced over a couple of times and finally couldn't hold back. He snatched it from him.

"Drink, drink, drink—that's all you do, and look at the shape you're in! Your hands shake now, and your feet will be next. You'll suffer for it."

Muttering, he threaded the needle for his dad and tossed it back.

The others finished threading theirs one after another and picked up their dolls, ready to start sewing.

Only Yu Yao sat holding her doll in a daze for a long while before saying quietly, "These dolls feel really strange. I'm a little scared. Can I not sew one?"

Her voice was so low that she was almost mumbling in her throat.

The only one who heard was Old Yu, who was closest to her.

Old Yu froze with the needle in his hand and was about to comfort her.

Then he heard You Huo say, "Wait."

He had spoken so suddenly that everyone jumped. They quickly stopped and stared at him in confusion.

"What is it? Is something wrong?" Chen Bin asked.

You Huo walked over to the bamboo basket and bent down to look inside.

He rummaged through the arms, legs, and heads, picking up a few crudely made doll limbs before tossing them back into the basket.

"Don't sew them." He brushed the dust from his hands.

"Why?" Liang Yuanhao, who rarely spoke, couldn't hold back.

You Huo pointed at the bamboo basket. "The fabric in here is all about the same color-gray. But the arms and legs on the finished ones on the wooden rack are very different colors."

Liang Yuanhao frowned. "So what?"

"Nothing. I just have a feeling something's strange." You Huo straightened up.

Chen Bin could tell that the group of examinees all listened to You Huo.

He tugged at Liang Yuanhao and gave You Huo an awkward smile. "The colors... are a little strange, but Black Granny told us to sew these. If we don't, are you sure nothing will happen?"

You Huo: "I'm not sure."

Chen Bin: "..."

Liang Yuanhao was about to say something else, but Chen Bin pulled at him and shook his head.

"How many things can you be completely sure of? Listen or don't, it's up to you." You Huo hadn't had much patience to begin with, and the old hag's gibberish was annoying enough.

With that, he pulled up a chair by the stove and sat down to warm himself without another word.

"Cousin... you're really not sewing?" Yu Wen asked cautiously, holding up his doll.

You Huo rested a finger against his chin and grunted in confirmation.

"All right, then. I... I won't sew either." Yu Wen hesitated, then put the doll back in the bamboo basket.

Having learned from the previous round, the others put down their dolls too.

It was a choice they had little confidence in.

But in a world like this, nothing was certain to begin with. Every choice was a gamble with their lives.

You Huo was simply unusually calm about his gamble.

He was like a particular kind of adventurer: cold-faced, but wild and reckless to the bone.

A risky choice like that could convince the others, but it was much harder to convince Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao.

Especially Liang Yuanhao, whose score was still extremely low after three exams. He was under so much pressure now that he viewed everyone with suspicion.

He hadn't been through the previous exam, didn't know the group's scores, and hadn't seen how You Huo had performed before.

As he saw it, You Huo had been testing the limits of the rules ever since he entered the exam venue. Every move challenged the Examination System's bottom line and provoked those things, whether they were human or ghost.

He really couldn't understand that behavior...

Wouldn't it be better to just behave?

Why insist on going against those terrifying things?

Couldn't he just stay alive a little longer?

"Do whatever you want," he said resentfully.

The deaths one after another had left him on edge, and he no longer knew what to do. But compared with listening to You Huo, he would rather obediently do as Black Granny had asked.

With that, he took a doll's leg and began sewing it on.

The coarse yarn passed through the fabric with a soft rasp.

Chen Bin looked at him, then at You Huo, torn between the two.

The sand ran through the hourglass quickly, and it was empty before long.

Liang Yuanhao was clumsy with his hands, and despite rushing, he had only sewn on two legs.

In the end, Chen Bin had also chosen to listen to Black Granny, but he had delayed even longer. He had only had time to sew on one arm, and even that was only halfway attached.

Click.

The cottage door unlocked, and Black Granny came in with her shoulders and back hunched.

She tilted her head and glanced around the room, then took small steps over to Liang Yuanhao and Chen Bin.