The Abstract Concept of Non-Binary Love [Global Examination]

Chapter 4: Cute and adorable little subordinates

154 and 922 had tried opening up applications (there weren't many), trying to access the internet (there wasn't any), trying to open the files a few more times by checking the files' properties (922 had a nagging feeling that this was something very basic and he should know how to do it... for some odd reason. It wasn't like he was good with technology or anything...), and they even tried to fiddle with administrator permissions.

They didn't get anywhere.

After maybe an or two hour of trying to see what else they could do with the computer, they eventually gave up. 922 had several ideas of how to go about doing things, but he didn't fully know all the proper steps about hacking or programming.

Or, to be more exact, 154 had a feeling that 922 actually knew how to do such things; it's just that he had forgotten, and being unsure of himself, his skills, and his poor memory, he was naturally unable to produce results.

Not sure what to do next, the group all decided to sit down and discuss their findings. The room wasn't that big, so even while sitting by the computer, 154 and 922 were still close enough to the others sitting by the tables and chairs so they could have a proper conversation.

"Like I said, there's a kitchen. We found some meat, some leftover grains... er fruits? They might be rotten, though... if we're going to be here for two weeks, we can't rely on snacks forever." Zhe Xue stated.

"We get that, but... do you really want to cook anything you find here?" The middle-aged lady, who introduced herself as Fang, asked, "Who knows what kind of mutated meat that is, or if there are any worms or bugs or parasites..."

Everyone, including Zhe Xue, blanched.

"There's running water too..." Zhe Xue said weakly, "But... the color is... weird..."

"The glass door... it won't open." The other lady stated, holding up an ID card, "I found this near the door. The two guys... they must have used it to open the door. But when I tried, the door won't unlock. The screen just said "Access Denied. Unknown error. Please try again later."..."

She was surprised when 922 blurted out, "You too?"

"Huh?"

"Ah..." 922 explained, "We tried to access the files on the computer. Got a similar message. Ours said "Unable to open file. Unknown error. Please try again later." though. The only thing that opened was a spreadsheet..."

154 snapped to attention, and glanced at the question - Access granted when it is most dangerous.

He was sure that everyone had written it off as the System being dramatic with its wording or something, because what the fuck was that supposed to mean... perhaps the statement was far more literal than they had all expected.

"922, check the spreadsheet again." 154 ordered.

Confused, 922 opened it up.

"What's the time interval for the maximum "danger" level?"

"Oh."

With a few quick taps and a Max() function, 922 quickly identified the row.

Time - 10:40am to 10:45am, 10:40pm to 10:45pm

"Danger" level - 9.84

It certainly did seem to line up with the time that the two guys had access to the room behind glass door.

"..."

"Shitty exam..." Zhe Xue muttered. He had stood up at some point with Jing Ji, the both of them peering over 154 and 922's shoulders to stare at the screen, "Is that why this exam takes two weeks? We can only access the room for 10 minutes in a day? How are we supposed to do anything?"