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

[61] You Seem Delicious: Breaking Waves

With the merchant ship sent back to its original place, they had gone around in a circle and are once again face to face with those pale faces.

"So, they are the ones we're missing?" Qin Jiu sighed almost boredly, glaring at the faces like they had somehow offended him, and You Huo and Chu Yue both nodded.

No one knew what exactly they were talking about... but they didn't say a word, wallowing in depression as they realized that even if they figured out just what was wrong and what they had missed out, they may not ever be able to leave this island unless the System was feeling particularly sympathetic and granted them another day for the ice to melt.

The helmsman was thrown away by the sudden change in movement and almost kissed one of those faces. He screamed and fearfully scrambled away.

"Everyone into the cabins!" The captain stood on a post used for securing ropes and shouted this order.

The wind from the wall of faces was so fierce, he couldn't open his eyes.

After shouting this order, he was pulled down. All the crew members jumped into the cabin as they were trained.

Everyone just watched on silently, feeling completely hollow inside. Yelling at the crew members to shut the fuck up wouldn't do anything, now that they were permanently stranded here.

As most of the people fled in panic, You Huo on the other hand moved closer.

He took a few steps towards the white wall of faces and seemed to want to check something...

"Stop looking! You don't want to live anymore?!" The first officer shouted in Chinese and roughly yanked him away: "Hurry and get in!"

Some moderates grumbled at how roughly their boss was being treated, but they didn't blame the NPCs in the slightest; plus, the officer had been looking out for You Huo's safety, so they couldn't really complain.

In a blink of an eye, the decks of the three merchant ships were emptied. Everyone had entered the ships' cabins.

A crew member immediately slammed the trapdoor shut and tied it shut with a rope before collapsing onto the stairs, his face void of colour.

The first officer leaned against the rope and panted for a while. He had yet recovered from the terror.

"What was that?" He asked: "It was too chaotic earlier. I was too busy pushing people in and didn't have the chance to look closely."

Di Li was also leaning on the same rope. He said breathlessly: "Your angel. Probably here to see you off."

There were some snorts and snickering at Di Li's sass, but it was all rather muted.

They had been so happy and excited and relieved that this exam would be over... only to learn that they had somehow missed something out... and they may never be able to leave the examination for a long, long while, wasting away slowly... because eventually, even the octopuses wouldn't have the energy to regenerate their limbs anymore and wither away, and then they'd all starve to death.

First officer: "..."

He finally began to doubt the authenticity of the legend. He angrily shouted: "Captain-"

The captain was almost out of air from shouting earlier. At this moment, he was fanning himself with his hat. He also looked like he was quite frightened by those faces and wasn't in a very good state.