Recaps

You Huo drew a commendation and an invigilator’s favor instead of the Guaranteed Admission Card, while the punishment transformed the bald man into the new Hunter A. A sudden snowstorm transported the group out of the cabin, leaving them on a mountain path where they began walking in silence.

• Qin Jiu explained that the Guaranteed Admission Card let its holder pass all exams and return home, then had You Huo draw two cards.
• You Huo drew a top-of-the-class commendation and an Invigilator’s Help card, which granted one request from an invigilator during the next exam.
• The answer wall announced that the guest who sat in the cursed seat would become the new Hunter A.
• The bald man transformed into a figure resembling Hunter A and lunged at the others.
• A burst of snow swept the group away from the cabin, and they found themselves beside a path down the mountain.

After leaving Cockcrow Mountain, You Huo and the others found an examinee rest stop disguised as an inn. The boss explained that their stays were limited by the system, and You Huo learned he had seven days before automatic checkout.

• You Huo led the group down the mountain road through snow and mist toward a cluster of buildings.
• The group entered an inn advertising lodging, heating, and food, where the receptionist called for the boss.
• The boss revealed the inn was an examinee rest stop and said examinees could not choose how long to stay.
• The tattooed man threatened to leave, but the boss challenged him with her cleaver, and he hesitated at the door.
• You Huo gave his name, and Xiao Hu found that he had seven days of rest beginning at 3:12 p.m.

After settling into the examinee rest stop, the group went to a nearby general store, where Old Yu tried to connect with the shopkeeper, Zhao, as a fellow townsman. Zhao rebuffed him and warned that people could die at any time.

• By the next day, the examinees had adjusted to life at the rest stop.
• The group noticed a general store called Cangmai across from the rest stop, and Old Yu explained what the sign meant.
• Old Yu discovered that shopkeeper Zhao came from his hometown and struck up a conversation with him.
• Zhao rejected Old Yu's attempt to bond over their shared hometown and cautioned him not to get close to people who might die the next day.

The group filled shopping carts at Zhao’s store before learning that purchases cost points from their exam admission tickets. You Huo bought clothes, a backpack, cigarettes, and a lighter, leaving with the group’s lowest score.

• The group searched the store for supplies, while You Huo chose clothes and a black backpack.
• Zhao revealed that the store accepted exam points instead of money, charging different amounts for everyday goods, food, medicine, and weapons.
• The group backed away from the checkout after realizing their packed carts could push their scores into the negative.
• You Huo took his cart to the counter and bought clothes, a backpack, cigarettes, and a lighter for three points.
• You Huo returned to his room with a score of 15, the lowest in the group.

After completing the first subject, You Huo and the others faced four exam routes, but You Huo could see only the foreign language option and a mysterious proctor waiting at every entrance. He led the group into the foreign language fog just before the choice deadline closed.

• Chu Yue checked out the examinees and sent them toward an intersection before the rest stop went dark.
• The group found the injured tattooed man, who had been stranded at the intersection for two days.
• A loudspeaker announced that four subjects remained and gave the examinees 30 seconds to choose their next exam.
• You Huo saw every route as foreign language and spotted a proctor beneath an umbrella at each entrance, though Yu Wen saw no one.
• You Huo chose the foreign language route, and the group rushed into its fog as the deadline expired.

You Huo reunited with Qin Jiu before a foreign-language exam, where he learned that the examinees had been split among different rooms and that his group would include two strangers. The chapter ended with Chen Bin explaining that examinees needed a score of sixty to pass.

• Qin Jiu explained that You Huo had no choice over his next exam subject and teased him about meeting again.
• Yu Wen, Old Yu, Yu Yao, and Mike emerged from the fog and joined You Huo and Qin Jiu.
• Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao arrived as the only new examinees, while Zhou Jin and the others were assigned to different exam rooms.
• Chen Bin introduced himself and Liang Yuanhao, then said he had barely survived his first two exams and had low scores.
• You Huo asked Chen Bin what score was needed to pass, and Chen Bin answered that the passing score was sixty.

The group boarded a bus for a ten-day foreign-language exam, only to learn the language was Romani, crushing their hopes of relying on Mike and You Huo. As You Huo pretended to sleep, Qin Jiu woke him and asked him to move his backpack so Qin Jiu could sit beside him.

• Chen Bin explained that the five exam scores added up to 100 points and that they needed more than 60 to pass, while Liang Yuanhao worried about his low score.
• Yu Wen reassured the group that Mike and You Huo could help with the foreign-language exam.
• You Huo spotted an intercity bus stop, and the group boarded a shabby minibus that emerged from the fog.
• The broadcast announced that the ten-day exam subject was foreign language and the language was Romani, leaving the group dismayed.
• You Huo pretended to sleep until Qin Jiu tugged his earbud cord and asked him to make room by moving his backpack.

You Huo and Qin Jiu rode together in the cramped minibus as it carried the examinees through a dangerous mountain route toward a border area. The vehicle stopped beside a dirt road, and Yu Wen woke You Huo to get off.

• Qin Jiu took the only available seat beside You Huo and joked about the examinees and their assigned subject.
• The minibus left the snowy scenery and traveled along a narrow mountain road, bouncing over rough ground.
• The driver ignored a landslide warning and drove the minibus through the blocked section.
• Old Yu noticed a road sign indicating they were near a border, and Yu Wen worried that they might cross into another country.
• The minibus plunged into woods, emerged beside a dirt road, and Yu Wen woke You Huo to get off.

You Huo and the other candidates arrived at a remote village called Chasu, where the driver left them with the village chief. As the chief led them through the village, You Huo noticed that every house seemed unoccupied, despite the chief’s claim that some were still inhabited.

• You Huo woke and discovered that Qin Jiu was no longer beside him on the bus.
• The candidates got off the bus, found a boundary marker carved with the name “kalo phuv,” and learned that the driver had gone to fetch a local guide.
• The driver returned with a man in a fur hat, warned the candidates not to enter the woods, and left them with him.
• The man explained that they had come to see Black Granny, an old woman who had settled in the area with the Russians during the war years and was blamed for making the village abnormal.
• The village chief led the candidates into Chasu Village and said it had eighteen households, though Yu Wen pointed out that there were more houses than that.
• You Huo said the houses the chief claimed were occupied all seemed empty because the village was too quiet.

The village chief warned You Huo and the others that villagers stayed indoors at night because of Black Granny, whose work involved the dead. He brought them to her house, but since she would not open the door until 7:30, he offered to take them to their lodging first.

• The village chief warned the group not to go outside at night or open the door, and explained that villagers hid indoors because they feared Black Granny.
• Yu Wen noticed villagers peeking from their windows as the group passed through the village.
• The village chief described Black Granny’s work with the dead, including gathering a girl’s body from the river.
• The village chief led the group across the frozen river to Black Granny’s stone house, where Qin Jiu gave the time as 6:55.
• Qin Jiu tried to claim he had used You Huo’s Invigilator’s Help card, but You Huo argued that telling them the time did not count as extra help.
• The village chief said Black Granny would not open her door before 7:30 and offered to take the group to their lodging.

You Huo and Qin Jiu struggled with the Examination System’s warning against candidates and invigilators sharing rooms, while the system began the listening comprehension exam. They settled on You Huo taking the room and Qin Jiu sleeping on the sofa, leaving the other candidates to their original arrangements.

• The village chief assigned the newcomers to four cramped rooms, and You Huo and Qin Jiu ended up sharing one.
• The Examination System announced the listening comprehension exam and ordered candidates and invigilators to reassign rooms because inappropriate relationships were forbidden.
• You Huo questioned the crow about who operated the system, while Qin Jiu warned him not to ask confidential questions.
• Qin Jiu tried proposing other room arrangements, but the crow rejected them and continued requiring him to invigilate.
• Qin Jiu offered to sleep on the sofa, and the crow accepted the arrangement with You Huo taking the room.

You Huo interrupted Black Granny’s listening test by gagging her, then used his phone to prepare to record her second attempt. The group still had to answer the questions before the next morning or risk an examinee being placed in a coffin.

• The village chief warned the group that visitors had to draw a card and must not anger Black Granny.
• Old Yu drew a card depicting Death, and Black Granny’s door displayed three questions about her name, family, and household.
• Black Granny began speaking in gibberish, and the door announced that the passage would be played a second time.
• You Huo stuffed cloth into Black Granny’s mouth and paused the test, prompting Qin Jiu to point out that he had broken no stated rule.
• You Huo took out his phone, removed the cloth, and told Black Granny to continue so he could record her.

You Huo and the other examinees entered Black Granny’s house, where she locked them in and ordered them to finish sewing yarn dolls before an hourglass ran out. As the others began sewing, You Huo spotted and picked up an old, dusty doll on a lower shelf.

• The examinees recorded Black Granny on their phones, and she singled out You Huo before leading them into her house.
• Black Granny locked the examinees inside, and they remembered the unanswered question about how many people were in her house.
• Black Granny gave the examinees unfinished yarn dolls and an hourglass, apparently requiring them to finish the dolls before time ran out.
• While the others began sewing, You Huo watched Black Granny disappear into the woods and noticed a dusty, crooked doll on the shelf.
• You Huo picked up the old doll and examined its crude, mismatched limbs.

You Huo suspected the dolls were strange because their finished limbs had different colors from the gray fabric in the basket, so he told the others not to sew them. When Black Granny returned, Liang Yuanhao and Chen Bin had disobeyed and were left with partly sewn dolls.

• You Huo recognized a bellflower tattoo on a doll's leg and asked Qin Jiu if it matched something from the solitary confinement room.
• Yu Wen threaded Old Yu's needle, and Yu Yao admitted she was afraid to sew a doll.
• You Huo noticed that the finished dolls' limbs were different colors from the gray fabric in the basket and warned everyone not to sew.
• Yu Wen and the others put their dolls down, but Liang Yuanhao chose to sew, and Chen Bin eventually followed Black Granny's instructions too.
• The hourglass ran out before Liang Yuanhao could attach more than two legs or Chen Bin could finish attaching one arm, and Black Granny entered the cottage.

After Black Granny dismissed the group, they tried to translate her words but discovered their apps did not support Romani. You Huo refused Qin Jiu’s offer to use the Help Card, and the chapter ended with Black Granny’s recording playing again.

• Black Granny collected the unfinished dolls, smiled, and sent the group out of her cabin.
• Yu Wen tried to translate Black Granny’s recorded words, but his offline app lacked Romani and the others’ apps could not translate it either.
• The group explained the Reward Card to Chen Bin, who realized that You Huo was the formidable person on the team.
• Chen Bin quietly asked Liang Yuanhao whether he regretted going against You Huo’s choice, and Liang Yuanhao said he did not.
• Qin Jiu offered to use the Help Card, but You Huo refused and replayed Black Granny’s recording.

Mike recognized Persian and Russian words mixed into Black Granny’s Romani, but could identify only four words, leaving the group unable to answer her questions. At dusk, You Huo crossed the frozen river to question two villagers, who revealed that locals rarely visited Black Granny.

• Mike realized Black Granny’s speech included Persian and Russian, and identified the words “grave,” “flower,” “needle,” and “sun.”
• Yu Yao spotted a few villagers emerging from their homes across the river as evening fell.
• You Huo crossed the frozen river with the others, while Qin Jiu warned him not to spend points recklessly.
• You Huo approached two villagers and told them the group had visited Black Granny and made dolls.
• The villagers said they rarely went to the other side of the river to visit Black Granny.

You Huo and the others questioned the villagers about Black Granny, the strange male villager, and the village’s past. The woman revealed that the surrounding woods were all graves before darkness fell and she hurried home.

• A male villager grabbed You Huo and Qin Jiu, insisting that he had seen them before, then seized Yu Wen as other villagers dragged him into a house.
• The woman explained that the man had recurring episodes and said the villagers did not welcome Black Granny’s guests into their homes.
• You Huo asked whether anyone understood Romani, and the woman said nobody in the village did.
• The woman said Black Granny had once been accompanied by a Russian and several children, but they had suddenly disappeared.
• You Huo asked about graves, and the woman pointed to the woods surrounding the village and said they were all graves.
• As darkness fell, the woman tried to hurry home, broke free of You Huo’s grip, and demanded that he let her go.

You Huo searched the graveyard after villagers warned that ghosts came out at night, then found a row of tombstones carved by Black Granny. He had Yu Wen photograph one and copy it onto Black Granny’s door, hoping its inscription would reveal her name.

• A frightened woman warned You Huo and the others that ghosts appeared after dark and urged them to stay indoors.
• You Huo headed into the woods, and Yu Wen, Old Yu, and Yu Yao followed with a glow stick while Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao stayed behind.
• You Huo and Qin Jiu walked through the graveyard as You Huo searched for clues.
• You Huo found tombstones carved with the same strange writing as the village entrance tablet and recognized Black Granny’s work.
• You Huo asked Yu Wen to photograph a tombstone and copy it onto Black Granny’s door, realizing her name might be written in the inscription.

You Huo and the others discovered pale things crawling through the woods toward the village, while Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao stayed behind and were confronted by something under their bed. The chapter ended with a deathly pale hand bringing a bone cleaver down on Liang Yuanhao’s leg.

• You Huo and Qin Jiu noticed that someone seemed to have stepped on You Huo’s shoe, then the group found disturbed earth and heard things crawling through the woods.
• You Huo saw several pale figures dart through the grass toward the village.
• Liang Yuanhao persuaded Chen Bin that staying in their room was the safest way to preserve their chances in the exam.
• A voice beneath Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao’s bed asked whether they had sewn dolls, and Liang Yuanhao admitted that they had.
• The voice asked who had sewn more, and after Liang Yuanhao claimed he had sewn two legs, a pale hand raised a bone cleaver and struck at his leg.

You Huo and the others returned from the woods and submitted their first answer to Black Granny’s door, earning five points before receiving a doll-delivery reading-comprehension task. Their relief ended when they discovered Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao’s house covered in blood and the two men missing.

• You Huo knocked on the mad villager’s door for information, but no one answered.
• Yu Wen copied Black Granny’s name from the gravestone, while You Huo stopped him from using up their answer for the next question.
• Black Granny’s door accepted the name Floure Jaroka and awarded the group five points.
• A reading-comprehension task appeared, instructing the examinees to deliver sewn dolls to the correct villagers using a prayer letter.
• Old Yu found Chen Bin and Liang Yuanhao’s house overturned and smeared with blood, with both men missing.

After Liang Yuanhao disappeared and Chen Bin described a mysterious visitor who severed the body parts sewn onto the doll, the group drew the Judgement card from Black Granny. Its promise of resurrection and good luck raised hopes that Liang Yuanhao might be saved, but Black Granny reacted with resentment.

• Old Yu found a blood-soaked bedroom, and You Huo discovered Chen Bin alive beside the bed while Liang Yuanhao was missing.
• Chen Bin explained that a knife-wielding visitor had asked who sewed the most, cut off Liang Yuanhao’s legs, and promised to return the next day.
• The group searched the woods for Liang Yuanhao but found no trace of him and returned when the crow warned that the reading comprehension section had begun.
• Yu Yao drew the Judgement card from Black Granny’s deck and said it represented resurrection, a new beginning, and good luck.
• Old Yu wondered whether Liang Yuanhao could still be saved, while Black Granny glared at Yu Yao before retrieving an envelope from her bedside cabinet.

You Huo rejected the choices of sewing the dolls or seeking shelter in the woods and decided to test whether staying in his room would kill him. As night fell, the others watched the villagers across the river and recognized people from the previous day.

• You Huo concluded that obedient guests had to sew while disobedient guests would die, but the group could find no safe choice.
• You Huo searched Black Granny's house for traces of Russian but found nothing, then decided to stay alone in his room overnight.
• Qin Jiu asked if he did not count as a person, and the examinees reluctantly accepted that You Huo would remain with him.
• Yu Wen spotted villagers across the river and recognized the woman in the padded coat, the madman, and the two fur-hatted men from the previous day.

Black Granny reversed Yu Yao’s Judgment card and forced the group to take a sack of dolls, then sent them out. You Huo and Qin Jiu searched their house for food and discussed the old invigilator rankings, ending with Qin Jiu revealing that an exceptionally capable invigilator had once been ranked A.

• You Huo noticed that some of the dolls on the rack had moved before Black Granny returned to inspect the group’s work.
• Black Granny turned Yu Yao’s Judgment card upside down, gathered the finished and unfinished dolls into a bag, and handed it to You Huo.
• The group left Black Granny’s house and split up, with You Huo and Qin Jiu returning to the house while the others waited near the woods.
• You Huo searched the house for food, and Qin Jiu gave him half a loaf of dry bread.
• You Huo asked about Qin Jiu’s position and the invigilator rankings, and Qin Jiu said the system once used letters and that a highly capable invigilator had been ranked A.

You Huo and Qin Jiu discussed Invigilator A before settling in for the night, while Qin Jiu recalled fragments of the disastrous malfunction that had erased A from the system’s roster. At three in the morning, the cleaver-wielding woman came looking for a disobedient guest, and Qin Jiu stopped her attack.

• Qin Jiu explained that he had little memory of Invigilator A and described the rumors and fragmentary memory linking them to a deadly system malfunction.
• You Huo made tea, went to bed, and left Qin Jiu a quilt for the sofa.
• At three in the morning, the knocking creature searched the bedroom, but You Huo slept through it.
• The woman found Qin Jiu on the sofa and asked whether he had sewn a doll.
• Qin Jiu told the woman he had not, and when she swung her cleaver at him, he caught her arm and turned on the lamp.

Qin Jiu caught the ghost arm that attacked You Huo and brought it to him, and You Huo led it back to the group in the woods. The examinees discussed the strange exam rules and wondered whether the questions had been made harder.

• Qin Jiu tied up the ghost arm with a leather cord and woke You Huo to give it to him as a goodnight gift.
• You Huo fastened the arm to the cord and walked it back to the group in the woods.
• The group pinned the arm down, and Qin Jiu explained that he had not used the help card because You Huo had called the attack self-defense.
• Yu Wen wondered if staying asleep would protect them from the monster, while Old Yu pointed out that they could not simply keep their eyes closed.
• Yu Yao wondered whether the exam questions had gained extra complications to make each exam harder.
• You Huo asked about movement in the woods, and Yu Wen said that fast-moving creatures had been crawling around there at night.