Eyes

A normal person wouldn't experience something as exciting as being full to the point of almost exploding a second ago and immediately afterwards becoming hungry to the point of almost fainting.

But if you ate You Huo and Qiu Jiu…..You are blessed with this experience.

Sali laid on the sofa sobbing as tears streamed down his cheeks.

His stomach had sunken in and would from time to time let out aggrieved whimpers to remind him to eat.

There were many humans there and it was rich in variety, but he didn't want to eat any of them.

He would rather starve to death than eat any of those people.

In complete contrast to this pair of siblings, the rest of the living room was filled with cheers and excitement.

To this group of examinees, the past few minutes had been extremely thrilling and they almost had to say goodbye to this world.

Yu Wen still held fear towards the mirrors.

He carefully poked one a few times and was only able to relax when he saw that the blood had disappeared and the mirror had returned to its normal appearance.

Old Yu took the lead and gave a passionate speech to inform Chu Yue and his son about the events inside the mirror.

Yu Wen was still a little puzzled, "So moving a mirror in front of yours is equivalent to looking at yourself? If that really was the case, then why didn't you come out when I was moving those six mirrors around and adjusting their positions?"

"Firstly, it's because it's not aligned. Secondly, at that time we still couldn't touch the mirror." Wu Li said.

At that time, the black fog hadn't separated so they couldn't touch the mirror. As soon as they stretched out their hands, it will become injured so going through the mirror was out of the question.

"Oh." Yu Wen nodded and used his finger to count: "So we had to answer incorrectly first, change the answer, let those bloody hands scare us and then wait for the black fog to move away so that you can touch the mirror. When that happens we would have to rush into danger and place a mirror directly opposite the mirror to let you out?"

"Something like that." Wu Li said.

Yu Wen: "Isn't this stupid?"

"Who said it isn't?" Chu Yue answered very fluidly.

Yu Wen who had shared a slap of friendship with her had now become more friendly. He no longer held back when he spoke: "Sister, I've noticed that you invigilators become very unscrupulous the moment you become an examinee. You would use any opportunity to curse the system out. It's just like how we were when we finished our university examinations."

"University examination? What did you do after your university examination?"

Yu Wen who was suddenly asked this opened his mouth to answer but was surprised to find that he couldn't remember.

He scratched his head: "That's strange. What did I want to say? I forgot just as I was about to say it."

Chu Yue laughed and reassured him: "It's okay, don't worry. It's a normal reaction when you're in the system. Take your time to think."

"Huh?" Yu Wen's act of scratching his head stopped, "What do you mean it's a normal reaction when you're in the system?"

"Haven't you noticed that everyone rarely mentions their past and how their life was outside of the system? Things like what they used to do, who is in their family, what they have experienced…."

"It's okay at the beginning but the longer you stay, the more you forget. Over time, you become someone who no longer has any attachments."

"No wonder...no wonder my brother doesn't get close to anyone." Yu Wen whispered in a small voice, "I had always thought that he was just someone who was very mysterious and difficult to get along with because of his family circumstances."

Chu Yue froze for a moment.

She also hadn't talked about this for a long time...

After a while, she slowly spoke up: "Perhaps. But he really has stayed in here for too long…..much longer than the other invigilators."

"What about you, sister?"

"Me?" Chu Yue blinked a few times and said, "I'm about the same as your brother."

Yu Wen was a little confused again.

He remembered Chu Yue mentioning earlier that the earliest group of invigilators not only consisted of herself and You Huo and that there were others but why was she saying that the two of them have been affected by the system much longer than the others?"

"Talking about me?" You Huo's voice travelled over from above.

Yu Wen shrank back his neck and cautiously looked up.

You Huo was looking down at them from the second floor.

"Taking about your handsome looks." Chu Yue asked, "Have you found the diary?"

"Mn."

You Huo raised his hand which held a shabby book.

"Anything important in there?"

"Just roughly looked through it earlier and haven't found anything for the time being." Qin Jiu patted You Huo and walked towards the stairs.

You Huo continued to read through the diary as he followed behind Qin Jiu. He didn't pay any attention to the stairs.

"If you read while going down the stairs you can fall. Has anyone told you that?" Qin Jiu stopped in place and looked back at him.

"I won't fall if you don't fall." You Huo didn't even look up. He continued to flip through the pages.

Qin Jiu nodded and continued to go down. A certain someone followed behind him.

A couple of steps later, Qin Jiu suddenly pretended to miss a step.

You Huo stumbled and grabbed his shoulder.

"..."

"See, almost fell." Qin Jiu said.

You Huo wanted to beat him up.

He slapped the book shut and shoved it into Qin Jiu's arms: "...…Aren't you being immature?"

"I'm alright. Still two years older than you." Qin Jiu answered.

You Huo's lips twitched a few times. When he turned around, he saw Chu Yue watching them with curved eyes.

"Ah, right." Qin Jiu turned to Chu Yue, "We just remembered something."

Chu Yue was stunned: "What is it?"

"Mn, it's about the place you mentioned before."

Chu Yue was surprised for a moment. She then quickly sat up, "The place I mentioned? You mean....The place we can talk without a worry?"

"Yes."

"It probably isn't the place you thought it is," Qin Jiu said, "but the effect is similar."

Chu Yue was immediately interested: "Where?"

Qin Jiu indicated at the sofa with his chin.

Chu Yue followed their line of sights over and saw the row of mirrors.

She was stunned for a moment before soon understanding: "That's right...….the mirrors!"

Old Yu and the others only heard this last comment and was confused: "What mirror? What did the mirror do now?"

Once swallowed by the mirror, as a default you would be considered as "dead". The system didn't care about the world inside the mirror let alone monitoring what a dead person would do inside there.

That was a safe zone.

Chu Yue immediately decided: "Let's go!"

Yu Wen straightened up: "Go where?"

"In the mirror." Chu Yue waved at You Huo and Qin Jiu, "I have something to tell you two."

Sali and Shirley fell into despair.

A punishment prop like this had somehow become a secret base for this group of evil examinees.

To ensure their safety, the others stayed outside the mirror.

"Watch the time. At 11 o'clock, I will write another wrong answer and change it to let you out." When Yu Wen said this, his face was green.

He had only just sworn ten minutes ago that he would never change another answer in this lifetime.

It had only been ten minutes....

You Huo and the others easily tricked Shirley into crying and entered the mirror.

Those who stayed outside moved the mirrors to make room for them inside.

They had originally intended on facing it towards the living room, but Old Yu was the first to disagree.

"You do realise who painful it is when you can't find the door to the bathroom?" As he said this, he moved another mirror and used it to connect the bathroom with the living room.

"There are six of them anyway. Don't waste it." Shu Xue picked up the remaining mirrors.

This young lady seemed to have found pleasure in building the house. She looked for tricky angles across the house and used all the mirrors both movable ones and immovable ones to frame the entire first floor as well as the confinement room below.

It had to be said that it was quite fulfilling.

***

Inside the mirror.

You Huo and Qin Jiu sat on the sofa.

It was Chu Yue's first time in here, so she looked around curiously first before getting a glass of water from the kitchen and sitting down on the sofa.

The black fog continued to lie in wait on the sidelines with no intention to move closer.

Sali may have suffered enough and didn't want to stir up any more trouble for the time being.

Chu Yue didn't immediately speak.

She took a few sips of water before suddenly laughing at herself: "I've grown used to being watched all the time so now that I am suddenly free, I don't know where to start."

Despite his lack of memory, You Huo still held an indescribable sense of trust and patience towards her.

After a while, Chu Yue lowered her glass. She suddenly remembered something and asked You Huo, "Have you dealt with your eyes?"

"Dealt with?" Qin Jiu furrowed his brows.

That phrase made him uncomfortable.

Those are You Huo's eyes. They're not props or equipment.

You Huo was also at loss for words for a moment. He soon answered: "I have had an eye operation done soon after I woke up. You—-"

"You're asking why I'm asking this, right?" Chu Yue paused for a moment. She seemed to have found the starting point for the conversation.

"You no longer remember what the system was like at the beginning." Chu Yue finished saying this to You Huo and turned to Qin Jiu, "You have probably read about it."

"I have seen it, and I remember….." Chu Yue said, "At first, it was actually very normal; strict and rigid. As you should already know, artificial intelligence like this would always have a little non-human awkwardness to it. At that time, I heard the developers joke that it was like a child; it possessed infinite potential, but it was also quite stupid. There were also some who had said that if it was personified one day, it would definitely have an unsmiling poker face."

You Huo's expression must have been very amusing. Chu Yue laughed when she looked at him.

"You probably find it unbelievable right now, right? You look like you're about to vomit." Chu Yue laughed for a while before becoming serious again, "That was an evaluation from a long, long time ago. The developers at that time installed a learning program into the system. I don't understand the technicalities but from my understanding, its so-called learning is most fundamentally imitating something, like what a child would do. They wanted the system to slowly develop human-like thinking and intelligence through this process of imitation."

Chu Yue looked at You Huo and paused for a moment before saying, "Since it is learning by imitating, there must be something for it to imitate."

You Huo's heart suddenly skipped a beat.

"I don't know what your existing memories of your times as a child and a teenager was like," Chu Yue said, ".....but I think it was probably screened and manipulated with. If not, you would have many memories related to the system. Afterall, you have seen the system very early on. It had seen everything that you saw and experienced everything that you have experienced...."

"All through your eyes."

KK has something to say:

You Huo's relationship with the system is revealed!