You Seem Delicious

Chapter 54: Fall into the Sea

Soon, the video lit up.

Qin Jiu’s first reaction was to check and make sure the charger was connected properly so that it wouldn’t cut out halfway.

Just as he pushed the charger in firmly, he froze and laughed silently at himself.

How should he put it……

If at this moment he was a bystander and he saw 922 or 154 do something like that, he would definitely think that they’re anxious.

He Qin Jiu had lived for thirty years and, based on the memories that he currently possessed, he had never been like this before.

This emotion that came out of nowhere was very strange.

That person was clearly someone he wouldn’t often think of and he was also someone whose face had never appeared in his memories yet it was as if……..

As if he had waited to see this for a very long time.

.

The scenes at the beginning of the video swept around very quickly. From an empty street to an ordinary apartment building, to a commercial street, it then finally stopped on a man’s face.

The man looked very thin and pallid. There were dark shadows under his eyes, but his eyes were still bright and energetic.

It was Zhao Wentu who had not yet become a villager.

It wasn’t until he saw this video that Qin Jiu realised that the man who had been writing “Brother Qin” here and “Brother Qin” there in the diary was actually a young man who had not yet graduated from university.

He turned on the sound.

Zhao Wentu’s voice sounded: “——–I just came out of the apartment to find something to eat. This is today’s street. Even if I throw a stick around, I won’t hit anyone. There aren’t even any birds.”

The camera again turned back to the empty street crossing.

Zhao Wentu explained: “See that? If you continued down there you will see a mass of white fog. That’s where the examination centre was. We went through that fog to reach this rest stop. I have been wondering about it the past few days; if I went back and walked through that fog, what would I see? Would there be monsters in there? Would I return to the previous examination centre? Or would I be taken somewhere else?”

The camera shook slightly as he walked.

As the man spoke, he even walked towards the fog for a while.

“Forget it. I’m a little scared. I think I’ll just——Huh?” Zhao Wentu suddenly stopped moving.

The camera shook.

“Scared me. Why would someone suddenly appear from there….” He muttered.

Because he was scared, he seemed to have turned around and ran a few steps.

But he then quickly stopped himself.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute…….That seems to be my Brother Qin!”

Zhao Wentu’s tone gave away the fact that he was happy.

The camera then shook again. It was accompanied by a shutter sound.

But it quickly stabilised again.

From the looks of the swaying branches in the background, he seemed to have avoided the road and was standing by a fence somewhere.

Zhao Wentu’s voice suddenly became clearer. He seemed to be speaking closely to the microphone.

“Invigilator A! That invigilator A is also there standing next to Brother Qin. I wonder what they’re talking about. The service desk mentioned that invigilators generally don’t come to the rest stops. This might be the only time I can take a picture of the invigilator…….. In a way, it’s also a photo of the system. I hope I can get through this examination alive so that this video won’t be useless.”

“Here………that’s the god of misfortune……….”

With Zhao Wentu’s words, the camera focused back at the corner of the intersection.

……..

The originally empty intersection suddenly had some life.

A car was parked by the side of the road. It was a low-key black colour. It coincided with the scene from Qin Jiu’s memory.

There were two people standing by the car. They were both very tall, making the dusty newsstand nearby appear rather small.

But the one on the left was several centimetres taller.

With his jacket hanging on his arm, he leaned against the car door while speaking. The buttons on the collar of his shirt were not buttoned and it was casually left open. The outlines of his muscles were very prominent as he crossed his arms.

That was Qin Jiu himself from a few years ago.

His features had not changed much, but his hair was shorter, and he looked prouder. That lazy and arrogant demeanour of his was even more unrestrained back then.

As for the person next to him…….

Even if the camera was quite far away, you could tell that he was an extremely handsome young man. Under the light from the setting sun, his skin was still dazzling pale.

He was wearing a simple plain shirt, army green trousers and his calf was wrapped in high topped leather boots. As he listened to the other person speak, he would always have his brows furrowed into a cold look that also seemed to carry a hint of sleepiness.

That outfit would occasionally appear in the system’s long-forgotten data. It was the earliest version of the invigilators uniform but in those forgotten photos, none wore it as well as he did.

.

The phone flickered and, for a short moment, the screen was covered in static.

However, it was as if Qin Jiu was not aware of this. His eyes remained fixed on the screen. It stared motionlessly.

.

By the time the static was gone, the scene had zoomed in.

Zhao Wentu probably felt that he was too far and that it wasn’t close enough to record all the details of the two men, so he zoomed in closer.

The appearance of that young man could now be seen clearly on the screen……..

Familiar eyes, familiar lips and even the occasional look of impatience and habit of touching his earlobe while frowning………It couldn’t be more familiar.

The only difference was that his earlobe here was empty. There was no eye-catching earring there.

………

Less than two hours ago, he was still standing inside this confinement room, standing next to Qin Jiu.

They haven’t even known each other for more than a month.

Here, Qin Jiu called him “top student” and the system called him “Examinee You Huo”.

But in the video from many years ago, he was “Invigilator A”.

.

Qin Jiu watched his past self move away from the car, straighten up and say something.

From the angle the video was taken, he couldn’t read his lips.

Invigilator A then walked straight past him to open the door to the driver’s seat.

He leaned onto the roof of the car and said a phrase expressionlessly.

This time, Qin Jiu could see it.

He said: “I hope you are true to your words. It’s best that we don’t meet again.”

With his back to the camera, Qin Jiu raised his hand, pointed to his temple and then pointed to his ear. He seemed to be jokingly indicating that he has heard his words and will not meet again.

The scene here probably took place in late autumn. Even the setting sun in the west couldn’t warm the place up.

Dead leaves by the wall swirled into a vortex as the wind blew past.

Invigilator A got into the car.

Soon afterwards, the car turned around and drive off down the street. In a blink of an eye, it had disappeared into the white fog.

.

This time, it should have been 078 who was supposed to let them out once the punishment was done.

This warrior sat in his room for an hour before suddenly realising that he may have mentioned something he shouldn’t have mentioned. At the very least, it was something unpleasant and it made that 001 unhappy.

He debated over it for a long time before finally deciding to find a sacrifice. He quickly swapped shifts with 922.

922 still retained some trauma from the rocket launcher earlier. Fearing that he would be hit as soon as he opened the door, he tried knocking first.

No one answered……….

The sound insulation of the confinement room was pretty good. From outside, it sounded completely quiet.

922 knocked on the door again. Still, there was no response.

He found it strange and decided to go ahead and unlock the door.

“Boss, the punishment time is over.”

He said that as he walked through. The moment he turned around; he froze.

It wasn’t that Qin Jiu wasn’t there.

He was standing there, standing very close to the confinement room door. He held an old phone in his hand from which soft static sounds could be heard.

He didn’t know what it was playing but Qin Jiu was staring at the screen the entire time. He didn’t even notice him coming in.

“Boss?”

“…………..”

922 was confused. He walked over to Qin Jiu’s side.

When he looked at the phone, the video was showing the second half.

After just watching a few seconds, he froze.

922 recognised the first-generation invigilator uniform.

922 also knows what You Huo’s face looked like.

But when the two are put together………….He suddenly couldn’t recognise him anymore.

It wasn’t until the video began to loop that 922 suddenly returned to his senses.

There was a knock on the door. 154’s muffled voice travelled into the room.

“922? Where are you? Did you get lost on your way to release our boss?”

922 was shocked. When he turned his head around, Qin Jiu had already looked back up.

“Boss………..” 922 pointed at the screen and then he pointed outside: “Why would that person be in here? Isn’t that the first-generation invigilator uniform? Why would he be wearing it?”

“Who………….is this?”

There was the sound of the door outside unlocking.

As the confinement room door opened, the light that suddenly poured in blinded Qin Jiu who squinted his eyes in response.

They had been in the room for a while and everyone was waiting outside.

154 breathed a sigh of relief when he saw them. He then said angrily: “Scared me. I thought something happened again. This round of confinement really is………..”

021 next to him added: “Exhausting both physically and mentally.”

154 subconsciously nodded. He then glanced at Qin Jiu and quickly shook his head: “Actually, it’s not that bad.”

Next to them, You Huo was leaning lazily against the porthole waiting for them to finish. He subconsciously fiddled with his earring with one hand. He raised his eyelid and looked over at Qin Jiu with his light brown eyes that seemed slightly transparent under the oil lamp.

For a moment, his appearance overlapped with invigilator A in the video.

It was as if he had never changed after all those years.

………..

Qin Jiu’s lips moved.

As if he was possessed, he turned off the phone and stored it back inside his pocket before looking at You Huo and saying to 922: “Nobody.”

922: “…………..”

Am I blind…………..?

.

On the way back, the atmosphere inside the ship was very strange.

Even 154 who was a rather tolerant person could no longer stand it, but he couldn’t tell why it felt strange.

It wasn’t until the small white ship reached the shore and he watched the two disappear back into the cave that he realised……..

These two gods of misfortune didn’t make 922 make them supper?

“Did something happen in the confinement room? Why do I feel that boss’s mood is strange? You as well. You have been lost in thought ever since you came out. What have you been thinking about?” He nudged 922 who had lost his soul.

922 returned to his senses and look at him.

Everything in the video flashed through his mind…….

He knew that the uniform in there was something only worn by the earliest group of invigilators. After that, it was abolished, and casual wear was allowed.

He had also seen pretty much everyone from the earliest group of invigilators. Even if he didn’t see them in person, he had seen them through photos.

All except for one……….

Invigilator A………..

922 grabbed onto 154 and let out a curse: “Fuck!”

As soon as he was about to speak, he lost his footing.

With two consecutive splashes, 154 was dragged straight into the sea by this unlucky colleague of his.

KK has something to say:

Finally revealed!