Old Baker stood in place trembling for a while, rubbing his face hard, then slapped his son a few times, finally warming up a bit: "I walked in a huge circle, it was useless! No matter which way I go, within ten minutes, I always see this damn house right in front of me, I can't get out!"

"Did you see anyone? Or any other houses?"

Old Baker replied dejectedly, "No, don't count on it."

Everyone looked utterly hopeless.

No cell signal, time was a mess, all the trees looked the same, no way to tell north from south, nothing at all.

That was their current situation.

Oh, and there was a radio, constantly blaring about exams, exams.

Damn your exams.

As soon as Old Baker stepped through the door, the radio started crackling.

After an entire afternoon, everyone had developed a conditioned response. They immediately fell silent and looked at the radio.

[All examinees, please enter. The following are the exam rules.]

Old Baker and William Baker, who had just come in, both swallowed nervously.

[All exams must be conducted within the specified time.]

[Once the exam officially begins, examinees may not enter the exam room. During the exam, you may not leave the room without permission. In case of emergencies, you may only leave temporarily if accompanied by a proctor.]

[Except for open-book exams, you may not use cell phones or other communication devices. Please keep your devices turned off.]

[Scoring is based on precise timing. Answers must be written on the designated answer sheet (except in special cases), otherwise the answers will be invalid.]

The radio finished and fell silent again.

A moment later, a buzz of discussion erupted in the room.

"Who's the proctor?"

"There's open-book exams?"

"And what's an answer sheet?"

"You guys are actually trying to figure this out? Are you crazy?" The tattooed man stroked a Swiss Army knife, clearly up to something.

"What else can we do?" The woman with the big belly, her eyes still swollen from crying, said softly, "Don't forget about that thing from before..."

She pointed at the ceiling.

The tattooed man remembered the corpse and turned pale. He froze for a moment, finally accepting the situation, then waved the Swiss Army knife in this direction: "Kid."

William Baker looked around, then pointed at his own nose: "You... talking to me?"

"Yeah, you. Come here, sit here." The tattooed man patted the empty seat closest to him.

"Are you f—" William Baker glanced at his brother, who was still dead to the world on the broken sofa. He wisely swallowed his curse and said, "I'm 18."

Besides, the tattooed guy was at most twenty-five or twenty-six. Who was he calling a kid?

"Doesn't matter what I call you!" The tattooed man was a bit impatient. "Sit over here. Let me ask you, are you a student?"

William Baker: "I guess so."

The tattooed man frowned, "Do you know how to take exams?"

Old Baker reflexively said, "Of course he does! He grew up taking exams!"

"Shut up, will you." William Baker was never polite to his drunkard dad.

But after snapping at his dad, he turned and found everyone in the room staring at him hopefully.

William Baker: "..."

He thought for a moment, then said, "I just finished the college entrance exam in June, went crazy for over three months, and now... well, I pretty much forgot how to take exams."

The big-bellied woman, who had been panicking all afternoon, forced a smile at him: "That's still better than us. It's only been three months for you, we've forgotten everything ages ago."

"No, that's not it." William Baker felt it was all absurd, he even forgot to be scared. "Don't you guys read novels or watch movies? Exams during a haunting—do you really think it's a real exam? It's obviously just a metaphor!"

"A metaphor for what?"

William Baker rolled his eyes: "How should I know? In horror movies, people just die over and over, who the hell would test you on math, physics, and chemistry here? Was this house built by the Ministry of Education?"

He still wasn't satisfied, so he added, "Heh."

The cousin who'd been dead to the world on the sofa was finally woken up by his "heh."

William Baker turned to look.

He saw Brian Baker sit up, eyes half-open, scanning the group, then bowing his head to rub his neck. His legs, stretched out on the broken wooden floor, were so long they made the sofa look even smaller and shabbier.

It was as if time had been calculated precisely—just as he finally looked up, the clock on the cupboard chimed "dong dong."

6 o'clock sharp.

The radio's static returned.

[It is now 18:00 Beijing time. The exam officially begins.]

[Once again, after the exam starts, examinees may not enter the exam room. During the exam, leaving without permission is at your own risk.]

[If cheating or other violations are discovered during the exam, you will be expelled from the exam room.]

[Other exam requirements will be specified in the questions.]

After a round of threats, it paused for two seconds and said:

[Duration of this exam: 48 hours.]

[Subject of this exam: Physics.]

William Baker: "..."

[Now distributing exam papers and answer sheets. Good luck.]

The radio finished its last sentence and went dead again.

William Baker: "..."

Aren't the damn exam papers and answer sheets supposed to be handed out first???

The big-bellied woman let out a low cry, panic in her voice: "This wall!"