Before the exam began, the players in Examination Room Five were extremely anxious.
The players who had ranked in the bottom 100 last time were afraid that if they ranked in the bottom 100 again, they would end up in the Reflection Hall for the second time and might permanently lose their memories.
The players ranked between 100th and 120th were worried about dropping into the bottom 100 and being sent to the Reflection Hall.
They had studied hard, but which of the players in the bottom 100 hadn’t studied desperately? Which senior student at Qingyi High School wasn’t working hard?
Entering the exam room, they had to bring along a few players who had lost their memories, which only added to their frustration.
"Can they really help us take up spots in the bottom 100?"
"Is Shi Tianzhu tricking us into protecting them?"
"I’m wondering too. They can’t even recognize or write a single word anymore."
"Damn it! We’ve wasted our time and energy protecting them. If they can't pull through, I'll send them straight to the teacher’s desk!"
The players who lost their memories during the last placement exam had now completely lost all their academic knowledge. They couldn’t recognize characters or write at all.
Perhaps because their memories had been abruptly wiped, their brains seemed damaged, or maybe they just hadn’t adjusted. Several players showed varying degrees of confusion, blank stares, and sluggishness.
They looked like they were mentally impaired.
Those who had taken time and energy away from their intense review to help cover for them now started to feel that this was unfair.
"Sigh, Shi Tianzhu, do you even recognize your own name?"
A male player entered the room with Shi Tianzhu, and as they bumped shoulders at the door, he casually asked her this question.
Suddenly, he found the situation quite intriguing.
In the past, when Shi Tianzhu was about to enter a room, almost all the players would step aside to let her in first. No one would have entered with her like this.
The once lofty goddess of the base, the president of the largest guild, had now become a fool who didn’t even recognize her own name.
He laughed, a twisted sense of satisguild and superiority flashing across his face as he leaned closer and asked, “President Shi, what’s one plus one?”
“Yin Xingyu, what the hell are you doing!” Ji Zeming stepped forward and shoved Yin Xingyu, angrily saying, “If you keep disrespecting our president, do you believe that the moment any member of Yinhua leaves this instance, your entire guild will be hunted down to the ends of the earth?”
Yin Xingyu reluctantly withdrew his hand, which had been reaching out toward Shi Tianzhu.
There were five players from the Yinhua guild in this instance, and no one could guarantee that all five, including Ning Su, would die here.
If he disrespected Shi Tianzhu, and even one person left the dungeon and told the people from the Yinhua Guild, he would be finished.
Ji Zeming: "Did you hear me?"
Yin Xingyu's face darkened. "I heard you."
At that moment, Shi Tianzhu raised her head and looked at him with cold, sharp eyes.
Only then did Yin Xingyu realize that some people, even if they lose all their memories, never lose the aura they’ve cultivated from childhood.
Yin Xingyu awkwardly returned to his seat, muttering under his breath, "We’re supposed to protect her, yet she still acts all high and mighty."
Several players around him nodded in agreement.
Ji Zeming led Shi Tianzhu to her seat and had her sit down.
The exam soon began.
The first subject was Chinese. The time was not too tight, and many players secretly observed the amnesiac players.
In the initial assessment, 79 players entered the Reflection Hall, consisting of 78 players from the bottom 100 ranks and one player ranked first in the grade. Among them, 12 players lost their memories. Four were found by the teachers and dragged away, leaving eight in the exam room.
These eight amnesiac players spent the entire exam quietly bent over their exam papers and answer sheets.
They were too quiet and obedient—so much so that they didn’t whisper to each other or even raise their heads. They sat properly, like elementary school students. Because of this, the teachers didn’t approach them to check on them.
The other players in Exam Room 5 were full of doubts, unsure if this group of people, who couldn’t even remember their own names, could participate in the rankings.
As soon as the exam ended, the players surrounded them, eager to know if they had succeeded.
When Ning Su and his group arrived, the players had just confirmed that every amnesiac player had successfully filled in their name, class, and exam number.
"How did they do it? Don’t they not recognize words?"
"If they don’t recognize words, they could still copy from their exam ID, right?"
"What’s their current state, anyway? Weren’t their memories wiped to the level of a newborn? Do newborns know how to take exams?"
"That's memory loss. Their brain function shouldn’t be reduced to the level of a newborn."
Lu Yue walked over to Zhou Xiang and opened his loosely clenched palm, revealing what was in the center.
Everyone was stunned.
In his palm was a rectangular shape resembling an exam paper, with three lines of text engraved on the left side.
Name: Zhou Xiang.
Class: Senior Year 3, Class 1.
Exam Admission Number:
Because of the fear that the wound might heal, the letters were carved very deeply, with dark red scars grotesquely spread across the wide palm.
Perhaps he had forgotten everything. All kinds of memories were wiped clean from his mind.
He knew nothing—didn't know what an "instance" was, what the exam was, or how to recognize any of the words.
But if he had any bit of intelligence left, feeling the bumpy pain in his palm and seeing the strange "drawing" on it, he would eventually notice the exam admission slip so obviously placed on the desk. He would recognize the match between the writing on the slip and the scars on his palm. Then, by comparing the rectangular area on his palm to the exam paper, he would figure out that he needed to write his name, class, and exam admission number.
All the players were startled, silently staring at the horrifying scar.
Ning Su immediately walked over to Shi Tianzhu, carefully rolling up her shirt sleeve. He saw the same striking carved words on her slender wrist.
It was Zhou Xiang who had carved first.
Before Shi Tianzhu had even mentioned this during the gathering, he had already decided to take the exam no matter what.
While he still retained a sliver of memory, he used a utility knife to carve the layout of the previous mock exam paper onto his palm, marking the spaces where he would need to fill in the details for the next seven exams.
No one knew when or where he had done it.
That night, after a study room gathering in the library where it was decided that they must take the exam, and after securing eight spots in the bottom 100 for players who still had their memories intact, several amnesiac players sat together and saw the carvings on both of Zhou Xiang's palms.
While other players raced against time to study, they found a place and carved the same characters onto their bodies.
Those with large palms carved the writing on their palms. Those with smaller hands etched it onto their wrists and arms.
Players who could still read carved their own writing. Those who no longer remembered their names or classes asked someone who could to help them.
That night, their blood pooled beneath their feet.
They all had to carve, because none of them were certain whether, after total memory loss, they would still understand these basic, childlike concepts.
Shi Tianzhu was right. They couldn't give up, nor could they sit around waiting for others to save them. They were helping the other players, but they were also saving themselves.
