53 Examined 2 (2/2)

Was he going to die during the exam?!

”…Student, you…are you okay?” Ben feared he would spit out blood and collapse then and there.

”Uh, I’m fine.” Ye Qingxuan squeezed out a smile and the muscles in his face quivered. ”Sorry, a carriage ran into me yesterday, and I almost couldn’t make it. I arrived late too, but thankfully I didn’t miss the exam.”

He worked hard in gesturing as he talked, but his movements were too large and pulled on his wounds. Face twisting in pain, he managed, ”Please don’t worry. I’ve prepared enough.”

But the examiners looked uncomfortable. They had all prepared their sharp tongues and eyes, ready to pick out any of his flaws and put him in his place.

At least he had to understand what this place was. If he thought he had the principal’s support and dared to complain, then even better—he could be forced out for offending the examiner.

Or at the very least, they had to make him unnerved.

No one was going to tell this guy that he had to be calm and focused when sitting before the stone tablet. Otherwise, the results would be negatively affected. The elite children all took depressants before arriving to calm themselves down and not be distracted by the outside world.

But now that Ye Qingxuan was there, their poisonous tongues did not know where to start. All they could say was that sometimes, being full of flaws was like being flawless.

They could not do anything. His status was too sensitive. If something happened and he keeled over, he would hold something over the examiners.

That could not happen!

”That sly b*stard and this dirty boy…” Ben ground his teeth in frustration and sighed.

”Um…can we start?” Ye Qingxuan raised his hand, asking curiously. ”What will the test be on? Do I need to play an instrument or sing?”

He coughed, getting ready to start warming up his vocal chords. Seeing that, Ben quickly cut him off, ”Just sit there.”

”That’s it?”

Ye Qingxuan moved around on the chair, finding a comfortable position. ”Is this okay? I feel like I’m being impolite. I can stand.”

”It’s okay. Just sit there and don’t move!” This talkative guy was driving Ben crazy. ”Just sit there!”

”Oh.” Ye Qingxuan obeyed and sat down properly. A small circle of light lit up on the stone tablet.

Holding their breaths, the examiners waited and stared at the tablet. The dim light gradually brightened. Ben thought happily that as soon as the result came out, the principal’s joke would be over.

But under everyone’s careful eyes, the light unexpectedly…dimmed?

What the heck?

Ben rubbed his eyes in a daze and saw the light gradually brighten again. He quickly focused on the slowly moving light.

And then it dimmed again!

”…” Ben felt like he was going to spit out blood. Before he could utter a word, it lit up again and then dimmed again, just as expected!

The tablet’s design went between activating and resting for a whole ten minutes.

Light, no light, strong, weak…

As if playing with everyone’s eyes, this random light would sometimes flash quickly and then disappear just as quickly.

At times, it seemed that it would be complete soon. Then it would quickly change to another type of light. The examiners all felt that there was something in their throats that they could not spit out.

In the silence, Sydney heard a faint sound come from the stone tablet.

The sound grew in volume until it finally turned into loud snores!

The youth with his eyes closed had literally passed out on the chair. His limbs were relaxed and his mouth was open, a string of drool slipping out. His snores were loud and clear as his chest moved.

This mutt had dared to fall asleep! Asleep!

He fell asleep in this holy examination hall!

Sydney’s face grew red as a tomato. He shot to his feet, but heard someone beside him shout, ”It lit up! It lit up!”

The shouts woke the youth up. In a daze, he turned around and saw the design on the tablet.

--

Under that dim light, the tablet had finally completed reading Ye Qingxuan’s data and displayed the analyzation image. But it was obvious that the design was missing something and no one knew what to make of it.

Something seemed to rotate in the fog, but it was too blurry and no one could see clearly. Crisscrossing, countless thin rays of light overlapped endlessly, interlocking into each other and finally creating a confusing picture.

It was a strange and squiggly line.

In the fog, the line changed every now and then. Vibrating randomly, it refused to stop. Sometimes, it shook like it had leprosy, other times, it was like a lazy bug, unmoving except for random spasms.

In the long silence, the only sound was that of jaws dropping.

”What…is this result?”