Rank A | "Can't you tell? It's twisting around like that, so it obviously wants to go. I'm walking it back," You Huo said.

You Huo watched for a moment, then looked back at the wooden rack.

When Black Granny had counted heads earlier, he had counted along with her.

There had been sixteen finished dolls in all, and he also remembered roughly where they had been.

But looking at them now, a few of the dolls seemed to have... quietly moved?

If he remembered correctly, the doll on the far left of the first shelf had been lying on its side that afternoon, but now it was sitting perfectly upright...

You Huo walked over to the rack and was about to take a closer look when Black Granny returned.

The first thing she did upon entering was inspect their work.

To her displeasure, all her guests were empty-handed. No one had listened to her!

Black Granny stared at them without a word for a moment, then suddenly sneered. She hobbled over to the wall, where the "Judgment" card Yu Yao had drawn was pinned. Giggling, she turned the upright "Judgment" card upside down.

"..."

Everyone was dumbfounded by the move.

The cards had already been drawn, and she could still move them?!

They didn't understand what the cards meant, but instinct told them this was bad.

Yu Yao said shakily, "If it's reversed... it means the opposite."

The opposite of resurrection and hope-wouldn't that be death and despair?

Black Granny pulled out another cloth bag.

She swept all the dolls on the rack into it, then picked four unfinished ones out of the bamboo basket and tossed them in as well. She stuffed the bag into the hands of You Huo, who was closest to her.

All four unfinished dolls were very old. One was filthy, as if it had rolled around on the ground or been accidentally scorched by fire...

As soon as they received the dolls, Black Granny chased them out.

The hourglass was slower today than yesterday, and by the time they finished, the villagers had already finished cutting the ice and returned to their homes.

Once these villagers closed their doors, they refused to acknowledge anyone and wouldn't open up no matter who knocked, so the group didn't waste their time.

They split into two groups. You Huo and Qin Jiu went into the house, while the others followed the frozen river to the woods.

"I still don't get why the villagers are so afraid of those woods," Yu Wen muttered. "They're all graves, sure, but hardly any are aboveground. They're scary, but surely it's better than staying inside?"

Old Yu said, "Who knows."

"There must be a reason they're afraid..." Yu Yao said.

Though they were trying to avoid danger, they couldn't stop worrying about You Huo, so they didn't go deep into the woods and lingered at the edge instead.

"Let's wait here." Yu Wen shaded his eyes and looked out. "Nothing's blocking the view here. We can see my cousin's house directly."

Naturally, no one objected. They sat on the ground, gnawing on rock-hard dry bread as they waited for night to deepen.

Inside the lit house.

You Huo searched the cupboard compartment by compartment while Qin Jiu sat on the sofa and broke the baguette in half.

"Want half?" he asked.

"No thanks." You Huo didn't even turn around.

Even from so far away, he could hear the bread's terrifying crack, which showed just how dry it was.

Qin Jiu spoke again. "Not satisfied? Then I'll give you the bigger half."

You Huo hadn't eaten all day and was in a foul mood.

He slammed the cupboard door shut and walked past the sofa without looking to either side. "If you want to choke to death, don't drag me down with you."

The cupboard, the area by the stove, the wooden chest, the tin cans...

He had searched everywhere he could, from the living room to the kitchen and the bedroom. There really wasn't any other food.

Why didn't this wretched exam room just blow up?

You Huo straightened unhappily, and something touched his face.

He looked down and saw half a loaf of bread held across his face, like a knife held threateningly to his throat.

Behind him, Qin Jiu said, "Stop struggling. I already looked everywhere. There's nothing else to eat."

You Huo remained expressionless and refused to compromise.

The invigilator, who wasn't attending to his proper duties, tapped the corner of You Huo's mouth with the bread again. "I suggest you try it. It's not as bad as you think. I've never had a candidate starve to death on my watch, so don't be so unconventional."

Looking thoroughly disgusted, You Huo held out for a moment before taking it with a heavy hand.

"There are three invigilators, so why are you the one monitoring us the whole time?" You Huo broke off a piece of bread and asked coldly.

Qin Jiu returned to the sofa and put tea leaves into the pot he had boiled clean.

He set the crooked little iron pot over the brazier, then raised his eyes and asked, "Those are the exam room's rules. The head invigilator usually handles the boring job of monitoring the whole time, and unfortunately, I'm the unlucky one. What, who would you rather have?"

You Huo said, "922, 154, anyone."

At least they knew to bring beef.

The simple brazier burned brightly, and the iron pot soon began to sizzle.

Qin Jiu narrowed his eyes in the rising steam. "I'll pass that on to them for you. They'll be thrilled to know a candidate is thinking of them."

The words sounded perfectly innocent, but coming from him, they were full of mockery.

You Huo ignored him.

The tea bubbled away, and the room fell quiet for a moment.

After a few mouthfuls of dry bread, You Huo lost his appetite. He brushed off the crumbs, glanced at Qin Jiu, and asked, "You're the head invigilator?"

Qin Jiu said, "Don't I look like one?"

You Huo asked, "What determines the serial numbers?"

"Ability? Combat strength? There are supposedly a lot of factors."

Qin Jiu seemed indifferent to everything. Even when it came to matters concerning himself, he used words like "supposedly."

You Huo said, "So 001 is first?"

Qin Jiu smiled, stretched out his long legs, and changed position. "Not necessarily. Supposedly there was once an initial value. A... senior, I suppose?"

Chapter 26: Rank A | "Can't you tell? It's twisting around like that, so it obviously wants to go. I'm walking it back," You Huo said.

"The initial value... 000?" You Huo asked casually.

"No," Qin Jiu said.

According to the extremely limited information available, the system hadn't been the way it was now back then. All invigilators had been specially selected, and they were few but highly skilled.

One invigilator in particular had been exceptionally young and exceptionally capable.

"That was years ago," Qin Jiu said. "They used letters for the rankings back then, and that one was ranked A."