"I will send you off one last time" [Global Examination]

[35] You Seem Delicious: New Examinee

After the revelation that 154 was a program... suddenly, a lot of things seemed to make sense to Wen Yuan. Why his friend seemed to know the System so well, why he seemed close enough to use You Huo's name... and especially why he seemed to blame himself for everything going wrong.

To Wen Yuan, it was very obvious; 154 had been discarded a long time ago, so logically, everything that was happening had absolutely nothing to do with him.

But if he looked at it from 154's point of view... If he had been a part of the System at some point, he would have been initially part of that decision making process that dished out punishments... and even after being cut off, it was no wonder that 154 would be partially guilty for all the bullshit that was happening right now.

And perhaps, he also blamed himself on his decision in the past, while still apart of the System. Maybe, if he hadn't been so "soft", he wouldn't have been cut out, and while punishments might be bad... at least a dozen people won't be dying every single day...

He was tired from all the revelations today; from the invigilators actually being super nice and sweet, to learning the Head Invigilator himself had been kicked out and forced to do exams, to seeing that his future self is kind of an idiot, to Shu Xue being a bug, and now 154...

Wen Yuan shook his head.

Too complicated. Too much to think about.

He looked over to his companion, who was lying on the other bed, completely dead to the world.

154 had fallen asleep almost immediately when his head hit the pillow, not even bothering to cover himself with the blanket; Wen Yuan had to do that for him, to make sure he didn't catch a cold in the middle of the night. He wasn't too sure if programs or AIs can even get sick... but he pushed that thought away to the back of his mind.

No matter what, 154 was still his friend, regardless if he was a program, AI, or whatever. If he wasn't able to take care of himself, then Wen Yuan would take care of him.

Sinking back under the covers of his own bed, Wen Yuan let out a small yawn, before closing his eyes, and going to sleep.

Qin Jiu strode into the common room, and started looking for something to eat.

He could smell something delicious in the air, and he wondered who was cooking at this time. It wasn't that late, but they still had maybe three hours until the viewing experience would resume, and since most of the other examinees had spent the night talking about their exams or testing out the confinement rooms... a lot of them were still fast asleep.

Didn't matter that much. If the examinees didn't wake up on their own, then they'll just wake them up later. It was only their first day here, free from any threats and worries, and no one knew what exactly they had been doing before they were pulled here, or even if they had any underlying health conditions...

And after a nice meal and a proper night's rest, You Huo was probably in a better mood, and wouldn't want to punish anyone for something so trivial.

Much to his surprise, he found Wen Yuan flipping some pancakes.

"Morning, Boss!" Wen Yuan greeted cheerily, placing the pancakes on a plate and pushing it over to Qin Jiu, along with a knife and a fork.

"It wasn't a good time to bring it up yesterday... but Boss?" Qin Jiu asked, slipping into a seat.

"Ah." Wen Yuan waved him off, "You know, our future selves kind of do it... and I know we... uh... aren't actually that close, like you're an invigilator but it's still going to be some time until 154 and I become one ourselves, but it's not like we're complete strangers so..."