Proof that I have once existed [Global Examination]

Proof that I have once existed

Wen Yuan let out a small groan as he rubbed his head. His head was still pounding like someone had taken a sledgehammer to it, but he's already been sleeping for quite some time as he tried to recover from the sudden influx of suppressed memories, and Wen Yuan knew that there were still preparations to be done.

"Where is he..." He heard 154 mutter under his breath, furrowing his brow in concentration as he tapped away furiously on his phone.

He had initially been helping Qin Jiu and You Huo raid the rest stop for military gear, before going back to his original task of searching for Du Deng Liu and restricting him to prevent him from once again interfering with their plan to take down the System.

He was also supposed to be arranging temporary accommodations for all the invigilators and everyone else who was going to be raiding the examination center and unearthing the main control center, but that had been swept aside due to the urgency of all the other problems 154 was looking into.

As a part of the System, Wen Yuan would have thought that 154 could do it all mentally... but 154 had been hiding from the System for three whole years, so he supposed that he had already gotten used to using his phone as a front to mask his elevated administration access.

"Still looking for that old man?" Wen Yuan asked, and 154 nodded tiredly, "No idea where he went. He must have gone into hiding. Anything else on your end?"

Wen Yuan shook his head, "Nothing that would help us now."

Wen Yuan used to be part of the research team and equipment design while in the Death Squad all those years ago, so he was trying to sieve through his memories and noting down anything that could possibly be used to help 154 find Du Deng Liu, or to help buy them more time.

So far, he had nothing; a lot of the information he knew was outdated after being in the System for so long, and while the System had implemented a lot of patches to fix the holes that Qin Jiu had made which resulted in other oversights, trying to utilise any of them would take too much time.

"You should get some rest. We need you for the next exam." Wen Yuan reached over 154's shoulder to grab his phone, but 154 tugged it back.

"There's not much time left." 154's shoulders slumped slightly, "By the time they come back... we might only have ten more minutes to get you guys into the exam that leads to the main control center."

"But you've been working tirelessly for the past few hours." Wen Yuan argued, "We won't be able to find anything else in ten minutes; you should take a small break and recover some strength for the next phase of the plan."

"I'll be fine. It doesn't matter anyways." 154 rubbed his eyes.

Wen Yuan frowned. He had always hated how 154 never seemed to care too much about his own well being, and he and Qin Jin had spent months trying to get him to take better care of himself.

Knowing that 154 was a part of the System that had been thrown away, and that he had been sleeping within the back-up station for so many years... suddenly, a lot of 154's odd quirks made sense.

But now, with the potential destruction of the System, 154 was falling back into his old self-destructive habits of working himself to death.

"It matters to me." Wen Yuan reaffirmed, "You are very important to me. You know I don't like seeing you like this."

"..."

154 lifted his head slightly to look at him, before lowering his head again, staring at his phone blankly, his fingers hovering over the screen, as if he were going to type something in.

"922... you shouldn't let yourself be dragged down by me."

Wen Yuan looked up, completely startled.